A supremely frustrating day. (My advice is to stop reading here because what follows is basically a bit of a boring moan about BT, which, if it wasn't for the fact that this year I want my project to be more of a journal than it was last year, I wouldn't have bothered to include.)
I had an appointment for a BT engineer to come out between 8am and 1pm today on the pretext of looking into a (kind of non-existent) intermittent fault with our phone line, but really because I want to actually speak face to face with a real live breathing human being about our desperately slow internet speeds (download 1.8 mbps yesterday - yes I AM obsessed!) and to try to persuade him to go to the exchange to flick the switch or whatever or whatever he has to do to get us off the purely arbitrarily chosen old slow crappy wires onto the more recent decent ones that most of our neighbours have.
The first day of the kids' half term holidays usually represents to me the opportunity for a bit of a lie in, but in honour of the long-awaited visit I got up early and sorted the animals out and sat (well pottered about to be more precise) in wait. By 2pm I was beginning to suspect that perhaps he wasn't coming so I phoned the call centre to find out what was going on. After the usual interminable to-ing an fro-ing I was told that we had been crossed off the list of visits for the day because last week BT had been doing some work in the area and had assumed that the problem with our noisy phone line was now sorted. Nice of them to let me know! So I had a slight strop and another appointment has been made for Thursday afternoon. All a bit boring and mundane I know. And if you did bother to read this far - you can't say you weren't warned!
By 3.30pm I decided I needed a treat and so got in the car for a drive around to look for somewhere to take a photograph. I have had a place in mind for some time for a sunset shot, but it seems that I had completely miscalculated and the sun was in completely the wrong place - I really must learn to use the 'The Photographer's Ephemeris' app that I have on my phone for this kind of thing.
Anyway, got a few shots that I was reasonably pleased with. Oh yes, while I was out the BT engineer phoned me on my mobile and asked if he could come round right away to look at our phone problem, of course I was miles away......................
Our lovely nephew Richard came over for the night and we all went for a curry in a restaurant we haven't been to before. These days the kids, who used to love going out to eat, but these days can rarely be 'bothered,' even deigned to grace us with their presence. I assume that that has something to do with the fact that the embarrassment of being seen out with your aging parents was somewhat diluted by the presence of their cool 27 year old cousin - anyway, it was all very nice indeed!
Great to hear about your day, well not great for you - how frustrating! Can you change your ISP - internet service provider? They are very competitive now!
@maggiemae From what I understand Maggiemae, the problem lies with the cabling not the ISP. The cabling is all supplied by British Telecom and because we are in a rural area the chances of it being improved are pretty non-existent. I am looking at wireless and satellite options at the moment, but am not sure if they would be any better here - fingers crossed!
hehe. I like reading the mundanities. It's life, innit. I hope you get Tinternet sorted soon. I hate it when ours goes slow. (Its ok at the moment though ...just used it to look up this ephemeris thingummy.)
This is lovely, even if not what was planned. Such rich colour
My two are obsessed with food (the youngest has ambitions to be a chef), so I think they will be wanting to eat out with us for as long as we continue to pay.
Coincidence that I read in todays paper the 'star of BT ads' fined over his phone bill, they were supposed to give him complimentary broadband but forgot!! He's since changed to Sky ha ha !! Fantastic shot to finish off a very frustrating day..........love your rants!! Youare also a very good writer!!!
In the hills above us the villagers & farmers of Quernmore & Wray are putting in their own caballing. Digging across their land for about 40 miles I think they are digging it in themselves but the end result is the fastest broadband in the country!!! Funding it themselves at a cost of million or two ...was all about it on the TV a week or so ago, might have been Countryfile.
Lovely sunset though!!
@dh Mine used to be too, they both cook lots. I didn't think the day would come when they weren't keen to go to restaurants. Actually, now I think about it, they do like to go, but usually only when there are other people around rather than just the four of us!
@jantan I think up to now it said it had cost them all in the region of £500 per household but need more shareholders to finish the job. They were lucky that some very knowledgeable guys lived in the area.
You found beauty in a frustrating day. The phone/cable guys must have a worldwide union that meets everyyear to go over their methods of torture. Same here. But recently I was without a business phone for two weeks and my husband spent hours and days talking to India tech support before they fixed it remotely!
Both gorgeous pictures - and rant away - I did something similar on the topic of John Lewis non-deliveries I seem to remember!! And I HATE waiting in! It's a beautiful day - I really should take my camera outside somewhere . I also really should do the mahoosive pile of ironing....
Sounds like a frustrating day with the engineer... seems it is much the same where I live... they say 'I will be there between 8AM and 1 PM'... you wait around all day and they show up at 4 o'clock and wonder why you aren't there! LOVE your sunset shot... a fav! And glad the family had some time together around the table!
Sorry to hear of your woes with BT. It is typical not to let you know about the cancelled appointment. Your image however more than makes up for your frustrating day. It is a beautiful Sunset Jan :)
seems slow Internet is a worldwide problem. Im forever fighting with our wireless service and the tower is only 2km away but apparently in the shadow of the tower,you cant win.
Well...at least the day ended on an up note....that must be universal...companies tell you a time and so you step out and they call and say they'll be right over and when you're not there they reschedule! Frustrating for sure.
This is lovely, even if not what was planned. Such rich colour
Lovely sunset though!!
Beautiful shot.