There’s a phone number to call, 187, and its free of charge. As is the norm in these times, an overly sweet, but automated, female voice answers the call. I’ve spent enough time on the phone with these computerised women to be able to imagine how it must be like making love to an inflatable Lolita doll. First question: ‘Please enter the Telecom Italia number you want service for’. I don’t have a Telecom Italia number yet, but I’m trying to get one. Not good enough, and I got no further on the phone. I’d probably get more joy out of the doll.
I guess Telecom Italia don’t really care to hear from me as a potential customer.
Having no other options left, I had to leave my comfy couch and go to one of the Telecom Italia shops in Venice, but they’re staffed with sales people, so my expectations were moderate.
At least the trip to Venice gave me an excuse to visit my favourite ice cream shop, the Gelateria San Stae, for a chat with the owner, Chiara.
In the shop the assistante listen to my grievances with the usual expression of “yes, I know, but what I can do about it”, and in the end he cancelled by online order and made a new one with a real paper form, with my correct codice fiscale and with a less attractive price.
The original online offer was for €37/month but €25/month for the first four months. The new offer was for €37/month but €30/month for the first four months, so €20 more expensive 🙁 When I complained about the deteriorated offer, the assistant put on his “yes, I know, but what I can do about it” expression again, and you know that you can do as little about it as he can. The price is printed on the form, and he has no authority to change it.
Somehow this seems to happen every time – you never get the offers you’re presented with initially. Something always happens to your disadvantage.
Now I have to wait. A technician should call within ten days, which should be during the next week, to schedule a visit to setup the box and the phone line.
We’ll see …
Category: General Silliness
-
The Joys of Being a Foreigner – Telecom Italia and Alice
Living in another country always causes problems of one kind or the other. Both public administration and private companies are geared towards the citizens, not foreigners, and justly so. Yet at times you run into problems so stupid its hard not to get a bit annoyed. Telecom Italia is the largest provides of telephony and internet access in Italy. Having found an apartment I turned to them for an internet connection. To order an ADSL from them I had to register on a web site called 187 Alice, filling out some online forms. First question for registration was my codice fiscale, which I have, emitted regularly by the Agencie delle Entrate, the Italian internal revenue agency. The codice fiscale is generated from your name, date of birth and place of birth. I’m born abroad so instead of a province code my codice fiscale if says ZZ, which means ‘abroad’. I entered my legal and correct codice fiscale and clicked next. Now I had to fill in a long form, a part of which was date and place of birth, as drop down menus. There was no option for abroad, just a long list of Italian provinces. So, I just entered Venice, who cares anyway where I’m born. Well, Telecom Italia does. The site refused to continue the registration because the place of birth in my codice fiscale and in the form didn’t agree. After banging my head a bit on the form and the wall, I went back, entered a fake codice fiscale as if I was born in Venice and I could complete the registration, only not quite as me 🙂 I later got a confirmation email for my registration, to which I replied correcting my codice fiscale, but that email on doubt ended in a black hole. In any case, I’ve never heard anything about it. I then managed to place an order for an ADSL. This was all done three weeks ago. I still haven’t heard anything about that either. The order is visible on the web site, and there’s a nice ‘Write us’ link besides it. Clicking the link opens a new window, not with a contact form, but with a short message: ‘We’re sorry. This function is not available at the moment’. It hasn’t been available for three weeks now. All other ‘Contact us’ and ‘Write us’ and ‘We care deeply about our customers’ links on the site behaves similarly.
There’s a phone number to call, 187, and its free of charge. As is the norm in these times, an overly sweet, but automated, female voice answers the call. I’ve spent enough time on the phone with these computerised women to be able to imagine how it must be like making love to an inflatable Lolita doll. First question: ‘Please enter the Telecom Italia number you want service for’. I don’t have a Telecom Italia number yet, but I’m trying to get one. Not good enough, and I got no further on the phone. I’d probably get more joy out of the doll.
I guess Telecom Italia don’t really care to hear from me as a potential customer.
Having no other options left, I had to leave my comfy couch and go to one of the Telecom Italia shops in Venice, but they’re staffed with sales people, so my expectations were moderate.
At least the trip to Venice gave me an excuse to visit my favourite ice cream shop, the Gelateria San Stae, for a chat with the owner, Chiara.
In the shop the assistante listen to my grievances with the usual expression of “yes, I know, but what I can do about it”, and in the end he cancelled by online order and made a new one with a real paper form, with my correct codice fiscale and with a less attractive price.
The original online offer was for €37/month but €25/month for the first four months. The new offer was for €37/month but €30/month for the first four months, so €20 more expensive 🙁 When I complained about the deteriorated offer, the assistant put on his “yes, I know, but what I can do about it” expression again, and you know that you can do as little about it as he can. The price is printed on the form, and he has no authority to change it.
Somehow this seems to happen every time – you never get the offers you’re presented with initially. Something always happens to your disadvantage.
Now I have to wait. A technician should call within ten days, which should be during the next week, to schedule a visit to setup the box and the phone line.
We’ll see …
 -
Skim Kayaks suspends production
I’ve just received a message, in Swedish, from Skim Kayaks stating that they’re suspending production and sales because they’re having problems making ends meet economically.
Its sad because the boats are fantastic. I have paddled a Skim Distance around Sardinia, and will take it around Sicily in March, and I have recently bought a Skim Dex for use as a guide kayak in Venice, where its combination of speed, agility and stability makes it the perfect boat for paddling in Venice.
Here’s the message in my unauthorised translation from Swedish:
We take a break We started Skim Kayaks in 2002 with the ambition of building and selling sea kayaks which we found missing on the market. And which we believe other paddlers found missing too. The goal was produce boats locally and as environmentally friends as possible, boats with characteristics and details meant to make it more fun and safer to paddle in all sorts of weather, all year. Boats that we ourselves as paddles felt we could grow in. Seven years and many Skim Kayaks later we feel happy, and a little proud, that we have reached our goal. The only goal we haven’t reached is the economic. It is hard making a living making kayaks in the way we wanted. We have therefore decided to take a break and think hard about what we can do to build the boats we want to build. In a way that doesn’t conflict with what we think is important. From now on it will not be possible to order a Skim Kayak. While we ponder what to do with the boats we have, we will continue to sell kayak accessories that we use ourselves and that we think is good. You will find that on kayaksaker.se. See you there. Great paddling! Göran Pehrson och Anders Nyström
and here’s the original Swedish text:Vi tar en paus Vi startade Skim Kayaks 2002 med ambitionen att bygga och sälja havskajaker som vi saknade på marknaden. Och som vi trodde att några andra paddlare också saknade. Målet var att på ett så miljömässigt sätt som möjligt närproducera båtar som hade egenskaper och detaljer som skulle göra det roligare och säkrare att paddla i alla slags vatten, året om. Båtar som vi själva som paddlare kände att vi kunde utvecklas i. Sju år och många Skimkajaker senare känner vi oss glada, och lite stolta, över att vi nått det mål vi en gång satt upp. Det enda som inte riktigt nått ända fram är det ekonomiska. Det är svårt att leva på att bygga kajaker på det sätt vi tänkte oss. Vi har därför bestämt oss för att ta en paus och fundera noga på hur vi ska göra för att kunna bygga de båtar vi vill bygga. På ett sätt som inte tummar på det som vi tycker är viktigt. Från och med nu kommer det därför inte gå att beställa en Skimkajak. Men medan vi funderar över hur vi ska göra med de båtar vi har och de båtar vi vill ta fram, kommer vi fortsätta att erbjuda kajaktillbehör som vi själva använder och tycker är bra. Dom hittar du som vanligt på kajaksaker.se. Vi ses där! Skön paddling! Göran Pehrson och Anders Nyström
Vi tar en paus Vi startade Skim Kayaks 2002 med ambitionen att bygga och sälja havskajaker som vi saknade på marknaden. Och som vi trodde att några andra paddlare också saknade. Målet var att på ett så miljömässigt sätt som möjligt närproducera båtar som hade egenskaper och detaljer som skulle göra det roligare och säkrare att paddla i alla slags vatten, året om. Båtar som vi själva som paddlare kände att vi kunde utvecklas i. Sju år och många Skimkajaker senare känner vi oss glada, och lite stolta, över att vi nått det mål vi en gång satt upp. Det enda som inte riktigt nått ända fram är det ekonomiska. Det är svårt att leva på att bygga kajaker på det sätt vi tänkte oss. Vi har därför bestämt oss för att ta en paus och fundera noga på hur vi ska göra för att kunna bygga de båtar vi vill bygga. På ett sätt som inte tummar på det som vi tycker är viktigt. Från och med nu kommer det därför inte gå att beställa en Skimkajak. Men medan vi funderar över hur vi ska göra med de båtar vi har och de båtar vi vill ta fram, kommer vi fortsätta att erbjuda kajaktillbehör som vi själva använder och tycker är bra. Dom hittar du som vanligt på kajaksaker.se. Vi ses där! Skön paddling! Göran Pehrson och Anders Nyström -
Crab jumping for it’s life
Yesterday I was paddling around Venice with a German couple and their daughter. The girl was almost mesmerised by the crabs scuttling around on the walls and steps on the rii, so daddy picked one up to show her, then put it down on the kayak so it could get on with its life. I tried to get a photo of the crab on the kayak, but the camera wouldn’t obey, and I missed it.
At least I thought I missed it. When I zoomed in a bit I found that I had caught the crab in mid jump 🙂
-
Two weeks and already notorious
This evening I felt I had deserved another ice cream, since I had been very productive at the computer. I had been down for one in the afternoon, but why not two on a warm and sunny day.
I go down to the Gelateria S. Stae, 50m down the salizada, I say hi to the girl behind the counter, who remembers me from the afternoon, so I tell her that I’d been working hard all day and that I feel I’ve deserved a second ice cream of the day. She asks what I’m doing for work. I answer “kayaking in Venice”. She starts jumping up and down, screaming “It’s you. It’s you”. I no doubt looked rather baffled, but she was delighted with her discovery, so I just waited for the explanation.
They had realised that in this modern world, if you don’t have a web site, you don’t exist, so they have started making a web site. In preparation of that, they entered “Gelateria San Stae” in Google, and found the above photo, which I had taken and uploaded to Flickr a while ago, to express my delight that I had a quality ice cream place near my new home. Via my Flickr profile they arrived at Venice Kayak, where there’s a photo of me, hence the “Its you. Its you” cry 🙂
I was then forced to leave a stack of my cards for their clients, and to accept an ice cream on the house, which I reluctantly accepted 🙂 Their zabaglione, called Venexiana, and an ice cream with pear grappa are really good.
-
Bridge of the Skies
They’re restoring the back side of the Palazzo Ducale and the corresponding side of the Prigioni Nove, both facing the Rio Canonica. The Bridge of Sighs connect these two buildings across the canal. To get funds for the restauration works they have sold advertising rights to the façades being restored, and the sponsor have clad them in blue. It makes a paddle down that rio an almost surreal experience, and even if the Bridge of Sighs is still visible, it just isn’t the same experience. On the other hand, we can hardly complain that the city is maintaining our common heritage. -
Severe warning
Most mooring places in Venice are given in concession to private or commercial users by the Magistrato delle Acque, the magistrate of the waters, and they’re not supposed to be used by any others. This is not always respected, and the concessionary of this space have had enough of free riders.
The sign reads: “Don’t moor (here), or at my return I will untie your boats, leaving it to its destiny. Tired of moving boats. Concession N. XXXX”
Seen in Rio di S. Severo, May 17th, 2009. -
A room with a view
Houses are close to each other in Venice, and apartments often a bit dark because of the narrow streets. Here’s the view from my bedroom. The salizada below is even rather wide compared to many calli around the city.
(view out, view left, view right) -
Phone unloaded
I have a quite decent camera in my mobile phone, and often take photos where I go, but I also often forget to download them to the computer. I did that today, and here’s a selection of point-and-shoot photos from we left Denmark in early April until now here in Venice. The phots are in chronological order, from April 2nd until May 14th.
We met this rather violent viking lorry somewhere in Germany – every surface was covered with painting of savage vikings murdering and pillaging. Notice the monk being attacked on the beach.
Its a bit tiring driving long hours, so I had a nap on a lawn somewhere in France.
Fancy a nap with your head on this pillow? We spotted it in a parked car in Port de la Selva in Spain.
At the symposium dinner they prepared a special Catalan drink which had to burn for a while before being drunk.
Paella is good – we shared this wiith a bunch of Sicilian friends, Nigel Dennis and one of his coaches.
This is a patisserie in Carcassonne, in the city below the walls.
This fellow we met at the markets in Nîmes. I smiled back and walked on 🙂
The Pont du Gard just outside Nîmes.
In Venice I found a place to stay in the city, and here is all my stuff in two Ikea bags as I wait for the vaporetto at Piazzale Rome.
The apartment is close to Campo S. Giacomo dell’Orio, which is a very cozy place.
There’s a small supermarket at S. Giacomo dell’Orio, and one day I found this fellow tied to the old well outside the shop.
There’s a small war going on Riva degli Schiavoni. The area is full of tourists, and therefore also of illegal immigrants selling counterfeit goods, like designer bags and belts. The local shop keepers have put out signs warning people not to buy the counterfeit products, and complain loudly that the police don’t do anything. The other day there were some policemen on the bridges, and the immigrants had moved somewhere else.
This is an Italian monument, but still with a fiece lion of St. Mark’s.
I know this guy who’s having and ice cream on the steps at Campo S. Stae. There’s a very nice gelateria in the Salizada S. Stae about 100m behind the church.
In the Salizada S. Stae there’s a house with model wind mills on all of the first floor. I have no idea why.
One day on the vaporetto stop returning from the Lido to Riva degli Schiavoni they had these huge water bags lying on a platform. It wasn’t clear why, but it might be a stress test of a new vaporetto platform.
I saw this beagle at St. Mark’s. He’s French, thirteen years old and in fine health.
Walking down the Salizada S. Stae you hardly notice the campanile towering over your head. -
Dear Venice, happy 1588th birthday
On Annunciation Day in AD 421, on the 25th of March, three Roman tribunes from the nearby Roman city of Padova participated in the consecration of the St. Giacometo church at Rivus Altus in the Venetian lagoon, thus formally founding the city of Venice.
In the years that followed the Roman Empire broke down and Italy was invaded by barbarians, and many inhabitants of the city of Padova moved to Rivus Altus in the lagoon to escape the unrest and pillaging following the invasions, giving rise to the first city nucleus of Venice.
The Rivus Altus means the tall brink, probably because the islands around there were just that little bit higher so the high tide didn’t flood them very often. With time the name Rivus Altus bacame the shorter “Rialto” which has been the commercial centre of Venice ever since.
This much is firmly founded in ancient legend.
While legends usually aren’t all real, the effects of legends can be very real, and the 25th of March has been considered the birthday of Venice since time immemorial.
Today is then the 1588th birthday of the beautiful city of Venice. Happy Birthday. -
III Symposium Internacional de Kayak de Mar
So, now we have signed up for the symposium in Spain – the III Symposium Internacional de Kayak de Mar – held in Llança/Port de la Selva in Catalonia on April 4-5-6 followed by additional activities in the following week, until April 12.
We’ll be going to Spain by motorcycle through Germany and France and we’ll stay for the symposium and a few days extra, just to hang out and enjoy the place. We’ve rented kayaks from Pau at SK Kayak in Llança and we’ll share a bungalow in the Port de la Vall camp site with some Sicilian friends.
Once all the symposium fun is over we’ll take a short Easter holiday in Southern France, still by motorcycle. I have always had a predilection for old things, and I want to see the walls of Carcasonne, the Roman ruins in and around Nimes, such as the Maison Carrée and the Pont du Gard, an ancient Roman acqueduct over the Gard river. If we can find it, I’d like to go to Montaillou too, even though I don’t think there’s much to see anymore except the ruins of the castle. In any case, I don’t think we’ll be bored with all of Languedoc and Provence to explore. Neither of us have ever been there, unless you count driving straight through two years ago.
After Easter we both have to head back to work. Valentina returns to Denmark by plane, and I take the motorcycle to Venice to start up the 2009 season of Venice Kayak tours. -
Ancestors: Wils
My mothers maiden name is Wils. We’ve long believed it was of Dutch origin, without having any proof, but I’ve been in contact with a relative of my mother’s who’ve done an extensive genealogical study of the family, and in fact the name does come from the Netherlands.
Henrik Wils Hendrich Wils, born in Luikgestel in 1793, moved to Denmark in 1809 at the age of 16, to work as a travelling tradesman in copper pots and pans. At a later time he settled in Horsens, where he continued to trade in copperware, employing other travelling traders. He then moved to Faaborg, now under the more Danish name Henrik Wils, and from trading in copperware he extended into the production of linseed oil, and he was among the founders of the local savings bank Faaborg Sparekasse where he also served as bank manager for a period. He married a Danish women with whom he had four children, and he was granted Danish citizenship by law in 1865. He died in 1866 as a wealthy and respected citizen of his town.
Henrik Wilhelm Wils and Karen Christine Christiansen His son Henrik Wilhelm Wils was born in Faaborg in 1841, and took over his father’s business, but apparently he did have his father’s talent in trading, because at his death in 1894 there were only enough left to cover the expenses of the funeral.
Henrik Wilhelm Wils married Karen Christine Christiansen and they had six sons and one daughter.
Hans Peter Marius Wils Hans Peter Marius Wils, the third son of Henrik Wilhelm Wils, was born in 1875 in Horsens. He worked as a shoemaker in various cities, first in Randers, then he moved to Copenhagen and later to Hillerød where he died in 1924.
He married Maren Caroline Sandø who passed the name Sandø on to her children, and it still runs in some branches of the family. They had eight children, three daughters and five sons.
Harry William Sandø Wils Their fourth child was Harry William Sandø Wils, born in 1909 in Hillerød. He worked as a house painter.
He married Mona Etta Christine Milling from Hillerød, and they had six children. Harry William died in 1940 before the birth of his last daughter.
That last daughter is Kirsten Wils, born in 1940 in Hillerød. At the age of twenty she married bookkeeper Svend Erik Seindal and they had three children, one daughter and two sons, before their divorce fifteen years later. Kirsten is alive and well, and is enjoying her retirement between piles of books and CDs.
Kirsten’s second child is René Seindal, great-great-great-grandson of Henrik Wils, a pennyless immigrant from North Brabant in the Netherlands in 1809, two centuries ago.
