The telephone company, Bell Canada. Our land line is down, and yesterday I eventually I got through to an automated line that said it could be back by Friday. Their website says there are no outages in our area and a perplexed human I managed to reach at one point said the same thing, adding that our address doesn't appear on their service map. They don't maintain their lines, which frequently pass through trees with rotten branches. (Another factor around here is a fashion for vandalising cables of any kind). Our mobiles are unreliable, as we're in the bottom of a wooded river valley, but it usually gets better in the winter with the reduced leaf cover. The thing that constantly aggravates me is that a telecommunications company puts up every possible barrier to communicating with them.
I was just about to consign the phone company again and realised that I only needed to repeat myself from several months ago, the only difference being that the line is unusable, with a loud 60Hz buzz on the line that drowns out any voice. I had two failed AI interactions today, and then a lengthy text chat with a human who asked me not to blame him personally for it. Poor man - I was careful to assure him that he was not the problem. It is possible that they will investigate on Thursday.
I don't suppose you can get an in-line noise filter? Not quite the same thing but our church sound system was suffering a similar loud buzz (50Hz in our case) and the solution was a £5.99 ground loop noise isolator.
I am jealous of the free hearing aids. Mine cost $6,000 and I get $500 subsidy on each one, hence my whole economy revolves around paying for new hearing aids every 6 years. They are not top of the range, but the hearing clinic I go to asks that people who upgrade to battery free aids to donate any unused batteries, which they then distribute amongst those of us.
On the other hand my bus service is every 10 minutes during the week and on Saturdays and quarter hourly on Sundays. nd the drivers are friendly.
Our gas meter is faulty. ISTM that we are currently paying less for our gas that we would if the meter was working. Scottish Gas want us to jump through hoops to get it fixed. Specifically, we have to provide elaborate proof of our identity which seems pointless as they know that the broken meter is attached to our house and they know that we live in the house with the faulty meter. The concern seems to be that paying the correct amount for our gas constitutes an attempt on our part to money-launder through Scottish Gas. I have pointed out that it's in their interest to fix it, so apart from reporting it broken, I don't want to have to do anything complicated to get it fixed.
The last time they phoned, my son answered the phone and said that all we wanted was for them to make an appointment to fix the thing, at which point our gas bills will increase and we'll start dutifully paying more. He added that that my husband is a professor and not inclined to be illogical.
We've now got a letter from Scottish Gas saying that we have been added to the Priority Services Register because our circumstances "make us more vulnerable" and "in need of extra help and support."
Should I try to convince them that possession of a doctorate apiece does not, prima facie, make us "vulnerable"?
The telephone company, Bell Canada. Our land line is down, and yesterday I eventually I got through to an automated line that said it could be back by Friday. Their website says there are no outages in our area and a perplexed human I managed to reach at one point said the same thing, adding that our address doesn't appear on their service map. They don't maintain their lines, which frequently pass through trees with rotten branches. (Another factor around here is a fashion for vandalising cables of any kind). Our mobiles are unreliable, as we're in the bottom of a wooded river valley, but it usually gets better in the winter with the reduced leaf cover. The thing that constantly aggravates me is that a telecommunications company puts up every possible barrier to communicating with them.
I was just about to consign the phone company again and realised that I only needed to repeat myself from several months ago, the only difference being that the line is unusable, with a loud 60Hz buzz on the line that drowns out any voice. I had two failed AI interactions today, and then a lengthy text chat with a human who asked me not to blame him personally for it. Poor man - I was careful to assure him that he was not the problem. It is possible that they will investigate on Thursday.
I don't suppose you can get an in-line noise filter? Not quite the same thing but our church sound system was suffering a similar loud buzz (50Hz in our case) and the solution was a £5.99 ground loop noise isolator.
A bit different here, I think. It's always worse when it's wet (thaw, flooding and rain just now), so leaky junction boxes are possible. Also, the insulation on the phone line must be abraded by the dead trees. It's not all bad. A telemarketer was going frantic today while I yelled at him that I couldn't understand a word he said. "But it will only take a minute!" he yelled back as I hung up.
@North East Quine Don't argue. Let them treat you as vulnerable if it improves the service.
When I flew to Wellington last I ticked the disability box due to my hearing - even though it said Deaf not hard of hearing. I was escorted to the general area where domestic flights departed, my ticket was given to a nice man who escorted me to my seat on the plane ahead of all other passengers.
From now on I am always booking as Deaf, which for their purposes I am because boarding announcements sound like the person is gargling.
DPD have not sent the training info through. So I won't be starting Monday. The week after that is 4 days, then we are on holiday, then it's Easter so lord only knows when.
My day has been brightened by this "gem" in my inbox.
"Hi Adrian,
I came across your posts re job search-I hope you find a suitable job soon.
Have a look at Universities for jobs, could be professional services, temporary positions, or research contracts."
Why, thank you, I'd never have thought of that, and I certainly haven't been doing it since July 2024.
Heh. I had someone scold me for writing a Lenten series that covers six weeks and that does NOT deal with a single event per day (of Jesus' life, not our time) in chronological order. Think about that one a moment.
TICTH people who anonymously donate useless crap to the church instead of taking it to the tip. Some well-meaning person appears to have donated a very ancient lawnmower to the church. It was almost filling the garden storage box and I had to remove it (with difficulty - it is awkwardly shaped and very heavy) to get at the small tools I actually need to use. The lawnmower is an electric one, estimated date around 1970 and held together with bits of duct tape; definitely wouldn’t risk using it. Someone, probably the same person, has also donated a rotivator, a leaf blower and a device for pruning high branches from trees, none of which we will ever use (we have no trees). All these are using up well over half our garden storage space.
One of the church wardens is hoping to arrange collection of these items and then we can look at purchasing a new lawn mower which actually works - plus a replacement part for the strimmer. The man who normally mows the lawn brings his own mower but he hasn’t had time for a few months, and the grass is so thick we’ll probably need a strimmer to start with anyway.
@Aravis . We had the same problem with the church thrift shop, even though we had a sign that said all donations must be made during thrift shop open hours. Do not leave donations on the porch. People would leave trash junk stuff on the porch that we would have to take to the dump and pay to deposit it there. This of course cut into our profits which went to help women and children in our community.
TICTH people who anonymously donate useless crap to the church instead of taking it to the tip. Some well-meaning person appears to have donated a very ancient lawnmower to the church. It was almost filling the garden storage box and I had to remove it (with difficulty - it is awkwardly shaped and very heavy) to get at the small tools I actually need to use. The lawnmower is an electric one, estimated date around 1970 and held together with bits of duct tape; definitely wouldn’t risk using it. Someone, probably the same person, has also donated a rotivator, a leaf blower and a device for pruning high branches from trees, none of which we will ever use (we have no trees). All these are using up well over half our garden storage space.
One of the church wardens is hoping to arrange collection of these items and then we can look at purchasing a new lawn mower which actually works - plus a replacement part for the strimmer. The man who normally mows the lawn brings his own mower but he hasn’t had time for a few months, and the grass is so thick we’ll probably need a strimmer to start with anyway.
We have this problem because of Mr Lamb’s soft heart, which cannot say no to a gift, even when (to my jaundiced eyes) the gift is made with the intent of avoiding a trip to the dump. Which is why our garage holds three non-working lawnmowers, mostly “given” To him, plus a brand new one we purchased this week.
Town and community councils always think that the church is the ideal repository for civic stuff that nobody can think what to do with. A hundred plaster Remembrance poppies? Portrait of some local worthy by painter of modest talent? Why, the church could house it. The price of peace harmony is eternal vigilance.
There used to be a six-foot tall polystyrene ear circulating Oxford's ringing chambers for, I suspect, much the same reason. I've not rung in tbe City for long enough now that I've no idear whether it still exists.
I think people think that placing their unwanted stuff outside the charity shops after hours will save them the journey and cost of taking it to the tip.
TICTH the plethora of evaluation requests that come from all the people involved in our house move, and workmen who will be doing things in preparation for our moving in.
I get especially annoyed by businesses that want a rating when they still haven't done the work, but have just answered some questions.
Right with you there, LKK; what gets my goat is getting requests from delivery companies like Evri or Yodel to rate their service. I've most likely had the item delivered at my work, and am unlikely to have seen the person who delivered it.
If company A use courier B to deliver their products then it is A that we should be telling how good the delivery was, not B. Our contract is with A and if it goes wrong they should be told and they should fix it and if it goes well they should be told and encouraged.
Today ICTH the NHS which has put back surgery I’ve been waiting for for four years by a week, just two days before it was due. So daughter is travelling north to help care for me too early, and the work schedule has to be re-done as I can’t take sick leave before the fact! I know it’s only a week, but as the good book says, ´Hope deferred make the the heart sick’ and four years of battling to be sent to the right department means a lot of deferred hope. So the 24th had better not be changed again.
Today ICTH the NHS which has put back surgery I’ve been waiting for for four years by a week, just two days before it was due. So daughter is travelling north to help care for me too early, and the work schedule has to be re-done as I can’t take sick leave before the fact! I know it’s only a week, but as the good book says, ´Hope deferred make the the heart sick’ and four years of battling to be sent to the right department means a lot of deferred hope. So the 24th had better not be changed again.
Fervant prayers ascending. Our friend J has had her op similarily delayed .... they can't get the parts ......
B*gg*r.
Mrs RR and I were, not long ago, intimately involved in local Cursillo pilgrimmages. We loved meeting new people and just being with the the staff and pilgrims.
Since a change of leadership and venue things have changed. More and more meetings are now by the accursed 'Zoom' which I loathe and helps my stammer not at all, and I for one feel aliented and not sure how I can now authentically take part. There even now appears to be no closing eucharist. ????
The lack of physical contact and face to face prayer reminds me of the horrid world envisaged in EM Forster's (1908) prescient short story, 'The Machine stops'. That society ended in alienation and destruction.
Comments
I don't suppose you can get an in-line noise filter? Not quite the same thing but our church sound system was suffering a similar loud buzz (50Hz in our case) and the solution was a £5.99 ground loop noise isolator.
On the other hand my bus service is every 10 minutes during the week and on Saturdays and quarter hourly on Sundays. nd the drivers are friendly.
Our gas meter is faulty. ISTM that we are currently paying less for our gas that we would if the meter was working. Scottish Gas want us to jump through hoops to get it fixed. Specifically, we have to provide elaborate proof of our identity which seems pointless as they know that the broken meter is attached to our house and they know that we live in the house with the faulty meter. The concern seems to be that paying the correct amount for our gas constitutes an attempt on our part to money-launder through Scottish Gas. I have pointed out that it's in their interest to fix it, so apart from reporting it broken, I don't want to have to do anything complicated to get it fixed.
The last time they phoned, my son answered the phone and said that all we wanted was for them to make an appointment to fix the thing, at which point our gas bills will increase and we'll start dutifully paying more. He added that that my husband is a professor and not inclined to be illogical.
We've now got a letter from Scottish Gas saying that we have been added to the Priority Services Register because our circumstances "make us more vulnerable" and "in need of extra help and support."
Should I try to convince them that possession of a doctorate apiece does not, prima facie, make us "vulnerable"?
A bit different here, I think. It's always worse when it's wet (thaw, flooding and rain just now), so leaky junction boxes are possible. Also, the insulation on the phone line must be abraded by the dead trees. It's not all bad. A telemarketer was going frantic today while I yelled at him that I couldn't understand a word he said. "But it will only take a minute!" he yelled back as I hung up.
When I flew to Wellington last I ticked the disability box due to my hearing - even though it said Deaf not hard of hearing. I was escorted to the general area where domestic flights departed, my ticket was given to a nice man who escorted me to my seat on the plane ahead of all other passengers.
From now on I am always booking as Deaf, which for their purposes I am because boarding announcements sound like the person is gargling.
DPD have not sent the training info through. So I won't be starting Monday. The week after that is 4 days, then we are on holiday, then it's Easter so lord only knows when.
"Hi Adrian,
I came across your posts re job search-I hope you find a suitable job soon.
Have a look at Universities for jobs, could be professional services, temporary positions, or research contracts."
Why, thank you, I'd never have thought of that, and I certainly haven't been doing it since July 2024.
I have heard it said that the whole of the triduum should be considered a single event.
Ah, I see. "Give an account of the hope that is in you" in 330 words or less.
One of the church wardens is hoping to arrange collection of these items and then we can look at purchasing a new lawn mower which actually works - plus a replacement part for the strimmer. The man who normally mows the lawn brings his own mower but he hasn’t had time for a few months, and the grass is so thick we’ll probably need a strimmer to start with anyway.
We have this problem because of Mr Lamb’s soft heart, which cannot say no to a gift, even when (to my jaundiced eyes) the gift is made with the intent of avoiding a trip to the dump. Which is why our garage holds three non-working lawnmowers, mostly “given” To him, plus a brand new one we purchased this week.
I get especially annoyed by businesses that want a rating when they still haven't done the work, but have just answered some questions.
As long as it's been delivered, I'm happy!
Fervant prayers ascending. Our friend J has had her op similarily delayed .... they can't get the parts ......
B*gg*r.
Since a change of leadership and venue things have changed. More and more meetings are now by the accursed 'Zoom' which I loathe and helps my stammer not at all, and I for one feel aliented and not sure how I can now authentically take part. There even now appears to be no closing eucharist. ????
The lack of physical contact and face to face prayer reminds me of the horrid world envisaged in EM Forster's (1908) prescient short story, 'The Machine stops'. That society ended in alienation and destruction.