What is an essential shop? This question has often been asked and debated in these pandemic times. Only the other day in our local supermarket I found this situation on one of the shelf aisles.
Evidently saucepans and drying-up cloths are not essential. (Hurrah – a good excuse not to be able to do the washing up). Neither are knickers and pants, it seems. Of course, the reason why these items are red-and-white buntinged off is that smaller shops selling these items have been closed. So at least let’s keep the competition fair.
For different customers, anyway, there are different varieties of essential supplies. Nail bars are not what I would consider an essential shop for me – although I realise the Bagni di Lucca fair sex may think differently — unless it’s the sort of nail to hang pictures on walls. The world’s oldest profession has strong claim to state that its wares constitute essential services although I can’t honestly remember when (or if) I last used them since my marriage remains definitely way off the rocks (unless she murders me first).
One type of shop which has of necessity been classified as supplying essential items is the computer sales and supplies outlet. Certainly they have been providing sterling service in an age which has seen the use of information technology expanding almost exponentially. This is especially the case in Italy which frankly was a late developer in using I. T. before the current pandemic. True, pupils of schools in the Lucca area had been supplied with tablets and teachers were increasingly attending training courses as a result (their pupils seemed to already know how to use the technology and, indeed, were instructing their teachers on its use…). However, it was when schools were shut down and when the only method of instruction became distance learning that the use of information technology fully blossomed in Italy. If there is any positive outcome from this ghastly pandemic, which is still holding the peninsula in its thrall despite increasing vaccinations then it is that Covid-19 has assisted in transforming a largely pre-digital population into ever increasingly using information technology.
Of course information technology has to be properly maintained and kept up to date if it is to be efficacious. Despite my own I.T. background I have been very grateful for the PC Start computer shop in Fornoli run by the indomitable Maurizio Canelli. His excellent service was first mentioned in my post at https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/06/09/another-gadget-to-go-wrong/
Wow that appeared already eight years ago!
My laptop seemed to be on its last gasps not so long ago despite its excellent conversion to solid state technology by Maurizio. (See my post on that at https://longoio3.com/2019/09/18/a-new-start-for-my-pc/). What then was going wrong instead? It was an ageing motherboard. But how could one obtain a replacement for it? What is not often realised in these covidian days is that supply chains are ever more difficult to keep up and that includes supplies of motherboards, the working framework of all personal computers. It was truly difficult to find a motherboard, indeed almost as difficult as getting a new laptop to my specifications.
Maurizio performed a miracle and this morning I was able to collect my resuscitated laptop with its new motherboard and all necessary upgrades – it was almost like an Easter resurrection – and the result are here in my first post not written on a mobile phone for some time.
Buying a new IT gadget may just simply mean that you’ve bought another thing to go wrong! If it does do that then I suggest the local shop in Fornoli, “PC Start”, run by Maurizio. (Details:
Pc Start Di Canelli Maurizio
Assistenza E Vendita Informatica
V. Papa Giovanni Xxiii – Fornoli, 27
55021 Bagni Di Lucca
Tel.: (+39) 058386484)
The young man took over from the redoubtable Gino some years ago and he is just as reliable. I didn’t think that the shop would extend to telephony but I went there to enquire about accessories for my new smart-phone and Maurizio was able to supply me with an increased external memory and a USB cable to up/download my phone data and install them without any problems.
Of course, with mainstream computing (if there will be such a thing for much longer – we’ll soon be going around with combined mobile-camera-iPod-pc-torch and shaver to boot, the size of a credit card) Maurizio can assist also with setting up a Wi-Fi network, routers etc. quite apart from selling a range of tablets, laptops and so on. And for accessories, PC start can supply you with that maddeningly frustrating item – the ink cartridge both in original and equivalent cheap variety.
But the best thing is that Maurizio is actually willing to talk and advise you if you are not sure about your IT project requirements and, furthermore, will also make calls to sort out any mess you’ve got yourself into as a result of your own-hands-on experience (not happened to me yet, glad to note).
Long live local shops I say.
So I have no hesitation in recommending Maurizio Canelli’s expertise to anyone who has a computer in poor health and needs some advice on what cure to effect. Whether it’s repairing, upgrading or buying a ne w machine, Maurizio is the man.
Not forgetting, of course, that the shop also supplies all those essential items like printer cartridges, paper, speakers, routers, etc. which are part and parcel of running a computer.
Maurizio has a web site at:
And a Facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/canelli.pcstart/
which includes details about opening times, facilities available and special offers and discounts including the Mammalucco Fornoli traders discount card and the Cashback world scheme.
Main details again:
PC START
V. Papa Giovanni Xxiii – Fornoli, 27
55021 Bagni Di Lucca
Tel.: (+39) 058386484)
IMPORTANT COVID-19 UPDATE FROM MAURIZIO:
As for the previous Lockdowns, PC start in Fornoli remains open as a Shop and Laboratory. In the self-certification form just specify the reason for your journey (PC Repair, Purchase of Accessories and Inks for Printers, etc. …). As has been happening for several months now, the supply of Computers, especially Laptops, is still difficult due to a lack of electronic components. Production is significantly under demand and we don’t know when it will return to normal pace. For now, the printer cartridges are holding up, but I don’t know for how long. In this period, I am successfully carrying out a process of speeding up old Laptops (Francis Pettitt’s included!). For any information, do not hesitate to contact me. Here on Facebook, by E-Mail: info@pc-start.it, or at 327 2217386 also on WhatsApp.
(PS Maurizio’s has full anti -covid precautions in place.)