Work Lies Ahead
The next day we met up with a colleague and his wife, took a walk around the city, and chatted. The details about local life that they shared with me have leaked into other parts, and will surely continue to do so. Much to my regret, this day was a Sunday, which meant I had to work the very next day. I built myself a makeshift little nest out of a regular small table and a living room chair. To level out the height, I put a pillow under me. Pulled out a drawer and laid my favorite puffy jacket on it to save my wrist. Took out my brand new little Microsoft Compact Design Keyboard so I wouldn't have to reach far for the laptop, along with the wireless Logitech mouse I'd brought with me. I ordered the keyboard on Amazon before the flight, and overall it’s fine. However, I completely failed to realize that the Spaniards have their own layout. And although the Latin letters are in the same place, the top row is different from the LV or US layouts, which gets pretty annoying. I type mostly by touch, but when I occasionally glance at the keyboard, I get confused. I gotta say, the Spaniards were very original and added the ¿¡ symbols to their language, which they use to start questions and exclamations. It’s handy, of course, to know right away that you’re dealing with a question, I won’t argue with that. It looks kind of like quotes, first the opening sign, then our usual, closing one. They enclose only the part of the sentence directly containing the question I hope that’s ¿clear?
¡Wonderful!
Interestingly, I ordered the keyboard around my flight time, and Amazon kept scaring me that it would take as long as two or three weeks to arrive. Naturally, it arrived at the parcel locker right away, the very next day. Just another dark UI pattern, I've lost count by now. Apparently, Amazon got inspired by how accommodation booking sites scare you that there are few places left and soon you'll have nowhere to live. It scares you so you'd order express delivery or buy the Prime service. You can't fool us with that, even though the Spanish Amazon doesn't have an English version, unlike the German one. I have to use a Chrome extension with Google Translate. Although I'll tell you, DeepL really does translate noticeably better. Why I had to learn this, and on what unpleasant occasion, I won't be telling you anytime soon, because that happened later in Girona.
