When I arrived in Girona in the evening, I still tried to pump up the tires at the bus station's bike stand. The pump there wasn't great, and it ended badly: instead of inflating it, I deflated the tire a bit. I gave up and rode home, hoping to find a bike repair shop along the way. As I mentioned before, they're on every corner here. I popped into one with a high Google rating – Bicicletes Fortia. Inside, a young guy and an older man were working. Luckily, the guy spoke English, and we even exchanged a couple of phrases. They pumped up my tires with an air compressor without any issues, and didn't charge me a dime.
I left the bike at home and set off to hunt for some grub, because I was genuinely too lazy to cook. Not wanting to overthink it, I went to the nearby tavern I already knew, El Drac al Cau Del Llop, where I ordered an assortment of croquettes. This dish consists of a breaded filling that's deep-fried. It's extremely popular in the Netherlands, and was invented, if memory serves, in France. I especially liked the spinach croquette. It features spinach mixed with some kind of very creamy cheese, and the taste is amazingly delicate.
For dessert, I devoured a chocolate cake oozing with chocolate, called a coulant. I must say, in places like this you order somewhat at random. Either you ask, or translate with Google Translate, or just say screw it and eat whatever they give you. I'm not picky, so I do a bit of everything. The original name of this dish is Fondant au chocolat, chocolate fondant, which translates as "oozing chocolate".
When I returned home, I realized I couldn't live like this anymore - the chair was too low for the table. My posture left much to be desired, and I was constantly suffering. Finally, I got around to fixing the issue, and attached whatever I found to the chair – pieces of packing material from the bike box. The idea wasn't the best, because the styrofoam gave way under my solid weight, and I gradually sank back down. I suffered like this for a few more days, until I finally found some loose floorboards on the terrace. I somehow jerry-rigged them to the chair legs using packing tape, which finally solved the problem.
When people imagine how IT guys can work from anywhere, nobody thinks about what you'll be sitting on, where your computer will be placed, what the internet will be like, or whether it'll be noisy around. It's not important to everyone, but for me, it's critical.
