Today wasn't as sunny as yesterday, and I spent a long time in bed just snoozing. Wow, isn't it great to be able to do that. If I don't set the alarm, I don't even stir before 9.00 – at home it's more like 6.30 when I wake, so definitely in the holiday spirit. This morning it was 10.00, probably as a result of yesterdays exhertion.

The day started slow, and progressed even slower. First of the bat was laundry. Adam had mentioned that he'd seen at least 3 laundries in La Spezia, which I had failed to notice. Sure enough, I found one – which turned out to be dry cleaning only. They pointed me to another, which turned out to be wet-wash, but not a whole load – just single items only. What the? Anyway, they got me on track for a serlf service place, which I was happy to do. Well, I started out happy, at any rate. It was the usual type of laundromat: pay at a machine and it fires up the cycle.

Well, I worked out the Italian instructions after a fashion. The machine only accepted 50c, €1.00 coins, and there was a machine for turning €5.00 and €10.00 notes into 50c coins. No matter how much I flattened my €5.00 note it wouldn't read it. I scrounged up enough for the wash, and hit play on the washer exactly at the moment I realised I'd forgotten the detergent.. So, guess which coins the detergent machine took? I fed it a coin and it made all the whirring sounds and gave me nothing. I dashed out and up the street, looking for a change machine. I thought I'd seen a whole bunch of them, and most towns have them every few blocks. But no, for the entiure wash duration all I found were condom vending machines – more than I've ever seen anywhere. They were on every block on the cross streets. Why? Do people have that much sex in the street? Not while I was there. In the end (I tried asking in the two or three shops that were open at this hour) I had to buy some chewing gum from a tobacconist in order to get some change, and by the time I got back (found it again!) the wash has stopped. So I had to just leave it. The supermarkets were shut and the machine was empty. I did the drying cycle twice because I couldn't actually work out how to change the temperature of the machine. Anyway, the seemily simple process of washing clothes had turned out to be a confusing and complicated operation which put me into about 2.00pm – yes, 3 hours of buggerising around trying to work out the basics where every step was against me.

I put my instant cameras in for developing, which is an overnight thing unfortunately. But they are becoming difficult to pack – flat photos will be much easier, and about the same weight.

After a seemily long walk it decided to rain just enough to be annoying. I did the emails and stuff and called it an early night. The room gets MTV, the only channel that isn't completely Italian, so I watched that for a while (Pimp your Ride!). Popular music is still boring in this hemisphere.

Tomorrow I decide where next!

2005-01-31T19:13:27