I’ve been fighting the good fight for months!
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| Not this type ... thankfully! |
Now “Good Bots” are just that: Good. They include the likes of search engine ‘crawlers’ that index web content for results, and those customer service ‘chatbots’ we’re all familiar with.
However, “Bad Bots” are also just that: Those used for malicious purposes, and they’ve been targeting my “All Things Modica” page.
Not in any ‘buy my dubious product’ or ‘here’s a controversial political comment’ way, thank heavens! But the number of old or unused, and blatantly false, accounts either liking my posts, or worse, trying to become followers, has now reached silly amounts.
F’instance, I’ve blocked 180-plus accounts trying to follow my page in the last 60 days.
Why these ones? It’s because most were accounts that haven’t posted anything in (at least) the last two years and, in some cases not since 2019 or earlier! Or, if they have, it’s all been huge amounts of ‘re-posted’ content, from other social media accounts, with no actual comments accompanying them. Of course, some may be real, but I’m not taking the risk, not when I’ve been nurturing my page for years now, thank you very much!
The shame is, I’d reached 2,550 followers, which has now shrunk to under 2,400.
Nevertheless … the battle goes on!
Weep
You gotta laugh! Because, if you don’t, you’ll likely end up sitting in a puddle of tears of frustration.
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| F'sure, a handyman's fever dream |
Okay, the vast majority of houses for sale here are in that state that used to be called ‘a handyman’s dream’, ‘a doer-upper’ or maybe ‘just needs some TLC...’ And, of course, that’s down to them having been abandoned. Sometimes for decades.
It’s f’sure a ‘given’ here in Modica, in Sicily and, in fact, right across Italy.
Don’t get me started on ‘lazy as’ either! "Here’s our listings ... if any appeal, give us a call. Now go away..." About sums up our experience with most of ‘em, I’m afraid.
Then they’ll post images that’d make any respectable estate agent weep! I’m talking: Roofs caved in, mould on the walls, pigeon poo everywhere, weeds all over the place ... else pics of the exterior of homes only ... no internal shots at all! How are you supposed to make a decision based on that?
I only bring this up because, for shits and giggles, I still follow listings. They amuse me. Now. They surely didn’t back in the day!
Y’see, the other day. I came across a hilarious 75m² one for €80,000. For that (over)price you’ll get mouldy, peeling walls; a renovated (albeit windowless) bathroom; loadsa old furniture; and this general looks-like-a-bomb-went-off interior! Laugh? You so gotta!
Thankfully, we bought our ‘kiwi4everhome’ privately…
Drinking Culture
Living in Sicily, one of the ‘givens’ is that there’ll always be wine!
There pretty much always has been: It was being made here 6,000 years ago!
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| A glass of Nero d'Avola ... in Avola |
Anyways, I’m bringing this up because this is a problem.
Y’see, I’m something of a ‘binge drinker’. I know this because my grandfather was certainly an alcoholic. My father was f’sure a binge drinker.
Many years ago, a friend of mine (and recovering alcoholic) told me that admitting this was half the battle.
Now, I’m not an ‘extreme’ case. I don’t need to get piddled quickly by downing several glasses in only a few hours. However, I will (and happily!) polish off a whole bottle of rosso by myself over the course of an evening. And, I’ll admit, more, if the vino is flowing freely!
So: I do have a problem, because it’s so cheap and uber-plentiful here.
What to do then? Well, use some will power, and learn to pace yourself. That took some doing, but given my heart condition, and the fact I have a wife who’s always looking out for me, I (we) did it! So, for 10 years now, I’ve restricted myself to two bottles of red wine a week.
Which I thoroughly enjoy!
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