I'm at home with my family watching a movie that was recommended to us but which turns out to be incredibly boring. As well, most shots seem to cut people's feet off, just at the ankle. This really annoys me. The more scenes there are with feet missing, the more frustrated I get. Andy appears and asks me if I can help him: he's giving swimming lessons to some young girls further along the beach and he needs me to hold their hands while they float and kick their legs. Will it take long? Oh, only about an hour and a half. I get up and leave with him, thinking I'm not really interested in this movie anyway.
We end up in a store where he had to buy some stuff and at the cash register I take out a package I had under my shirt and show it to the cashier, to prove it's not something I'm stealing. But it contains a furry animal sort of thing that I've apparently picked up and that costs $17. I know I have no bills, but I manage to find $17 in coins and hand them over. But of course, this is the U.S. and they don't accept toonies. I desperately search for bills or something American, while the queue behind me gets longer and the cashier moves off with me to a little bar close by in the store where he has a couple of beers. I finally ask if there's an ATM anywhere and he shows me where to go. I go down some stairs and a sort of mall and finally find the machine.
I decide for some reason to use my new Mastercard which I haven't activated yet. I know that it will activate on first use. But the machine is American and doesn't seem to want to accept it. In fact, it deactivates it so it's no longer useable. I decide to try to find another ATM (the guy said there were two) and use my Visa. I walk down corridors and then out onto streets with unattractive buildings, and almost get lost, but eventually I get back inside the mall and find the machine, but when I put my card in, instead of asking for my pin, it first of all just dispenses $20, than displays the pin of (presumably) the previous client. There seems no way to get rid of this pin, which is long and complicated (and small and blurry). The guy behind me peers over my shoulder and suggests a couple of things, but nothing works, so I remove the card, thinking that with $20 I can at least pay for the furry thing.
As I'm leaving, I realize I have removed not just my card but a large cast-iron part of the ATM machine, so I go back to replace it. There is now a queue of around fifty people snaking back from the machine. I put the cast-iron piece back and walk away.
