Every street has it's own speciality. This is the junk street.....I mean fine vintage items. I love this stuff. Bought a couple of old books, some fur pieces (No, I don't know why, but they felt soft), and some art. There was a couple selling zines and posters from an art collective. Andres and Laura. We exchanged cards and I'm so glad I took the time to make hand made calling cards. One the way home I stopped at the Mercado de San Miguel. It's a lovely glassed in old market that's been turned into a trendy tapas, drinks and deserts place. I had a Sangria. I'm so not used to drinking that I was tottering home. Smiling inappropriately. A lovely day.
But today, Monday, it was time to face the police to get my NIE number, which is a tax number you need for all sorts of transactions, like opening a bank account. Stood out in the cold at 8:30 for a half hour before the place opened. There were already about 50 people ahead of me. When there was only two people ahead of me to the door, a police officer came out and said that they were not taking anymore requests for NIE numbers today. I went in anyway and found out that I already been issued the NIE number in New York. Great!!!! Except then I went home and tried to make an online appointment to get the actual card. It's a long process. And not in English, so I had to look up phrases I didn't recognize. After filling out the whole form I reached the end at which point it said that there were no appointments available but try again. I tried again, and again. The same result. I googled it and it seems you just must keep doing it for hours or even days and you might get lucky. Or not. In the meanwhile got a note from Fed Ex that they could not find the address I gave them for my luggage. Called and spoke or rather listened to a very rude fed ex woman. No, they would not email me or text me when they were outside. Just lets cut to the chase, and it was a long chase: I ended up renting a space in a storage facility. Thank goodness for the 3 fishes guys, who are renting me this airbnb. They have been so helpful and told me where there was a storage place. So Andrea, that's why I couldn't chat on WhatsApp.
