Barry was a pretty cool guy. He was about 83. He had been married & raised 2 children with his wife. He had run a business & he & his wife became pretty good potters as well. She passed away from cancer and then Barry began a new part of his life seeking a relationship with another man. This he had found in recent years. The age difference was massive & yet from everything Barry told me they were the perfect pair. I imagine this will be a challenging time for his partner & his daughter. We all adjust to loss and eventually we all come to a position of appreciating what connection we got to have with that person.
I will always be grateful for the friendship I got to have with a hip guy who was very similar in age to my parents. RIP Barry.
On different topics I discovered today that my phone is sending texts even though i get messages that it failed to send. Of course Orange Dominicana are sure the flaw will lie with Nokia, but me, I am not so sure :-)
I managed with the help of a local friend, to send a message to the company responsible for internet to try & improve the speed. I am going to give this company one more month. Sometimes the speed is ok and other times too slow even for loading emails & facebook.
Had some useful conversations about getting a new tv & better air con & fan installed in the apartment without having to pay the extortionist prices that the major store (La Sirena) in DR charge. There really are not enough different stores in competition here and so many items are either top brand or there is a price gouge going on. If this country had a K Mart or dare I say Walmart, then more options would emerge for many. So many people in this country are poor but that does not mean there is no purchasing power. Many Dominicans are lucky to have family & friends in wealthier countries who send between 2 and 3 billion dollars a year to them so if we get some lower priced stores, products will sell. Anyway not all tourists and long term visitors like me are rich or wanting to buy expensive stuff. In Australia earlier this year I bought a new 32" tv for $250AU so my plan is to get something of a similar match. At La Sirena they charge $500!
And finally the gym... what an excellent workout today. Lots of weights & cardio :-)
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