Safe in Heidelberg

After I wrote the above sentence several times, I finally figured out that I should just go ahead and let everyone know that the Mole and I arrived safely home.

We will not talk about rough ferry rides, rain across three countries or all the road construction in Belgium. Nor will we speak about the Dutch petrol station along the autobahn with new automated charge stations at each set of pumps. Facing out into the rain, the little electronic babies had water dripping out of them. Not surprisingly enough, they weren’t able to read a strip credit card. The woman inside did not want to run a charge the first time I went in, but the second time I insisted. We had already wasted 15 minutes at the pump trying different credit cards. Machine insisted on pin numbers: I don’t have chip & pin cards…..

Now I am sitting back in my living room on the more than comfortable couch with the Maus perched next to me. The car still needs to be unloaded but I am taking a break. 0300 wake up on the other side of the channel already seems a life time ago.

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6 Responses to Safe in Heidelberg

  1. Kathy says:

    Welcome back, Holly! How long will you be here before you go to WorldCon and you deploy?

  2. Steve says:

    Ha, just wait, things don’t get better. We have the same issue at many stores, seems the programmer was sloppy or didn’t understand that there are CREDIT cards which don’t require any PIN, and debit cards which do, and in many cases, the SAME card can be used as either (as ours are). Home Depot is an example of the bad programming as they always say ‘Enter Pin’. The trick is to press ‘CANCEL’ at that point, and it’ll go thru as a credit charge. Idiots, would have been so easy to ask which card and then tree the code correctly.

    Glad you arrived safely….

  3. Isobel says:

    Glad you’re home safe and sound.

  4. Pat says:

    Sometimes travel is just nasty. Have a cup of something hot and
    restorative. Bless you. 🙂

  5. Mary says:

    OMG!!
    Now I read the full horror of your day. I’m exhausted reading it!
    Leave the car and curl up, unwind and have a wonderful end to an exceedingly trying day!!

    WELCOME HOME!!

  6. April says:

    Hello glad you made it home.

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