Our water supply failed twice yesterday. I’ve been driving gingerly of late to avoid potholes that threaten to wreck tyres and suspension, and the water station was a severe test. It seems I was caught on film when I went to collect bottled drinking water, and the clip has now been shown on national tv. It would be nice to be recorded for something a bit more positive. What is our little world coming to?
The change to a greater bit rate has helped a bit, but it didn’t resolve the problem of our being unable to access the internet while the TV was on. Martyn has now hard-wired the TV box to the router, and I think that has helped.
Today our new SIMs arrived. In order to continue our mobile service, we’ve had to move from one department of BT to another, expecting that the old numbers would have moved over automatically. Oh, no! After endless fannying about on line, and after Martyn had grovelled through the garbage to recover his old SIM card, I got on to BT customer service to enquire what we had to do to get continued service. Half an hour later, after yet more muzak on hold, we think it’s sorted, but must wait till some time tomorrow to find out whether it has worked. Paciência.
We’ve had a modest fall of snow, so haven’t been out and about much. I did venture out to the shops yesterday, and as usual the worst part of the drive was the slope down the hill to the through road. I used to be able to defrost the car by using the app on my mobile phone. That no longer works, so that’s another item on the list for the Renault shop.
OK, we’re elderly, but we are compos mentis and not stupid. We’re also grateful for all the wonderful things that technology has given us. But bloody hell: it’s often hard to get - and keep - it working as it oughter.
It has as always been a delight to hear from friends and relatives through Christmas cards and on-line messages. The sitting room is festooned with cards again, and we shall remember the kind thoughts they brought long after they’re taken down.
We had a select family Christmas at home: Martyn’s sister Sandra joined us for the day and stayed overnight. Simple meal: a half leg of lamb from Lidl and a shop-bought small Christmas pudding. We can’t do big eats these days! There was enough lamb left for a shepherd’s pie, using up all the leftover veggies, including the roast potatoes, crumbled over the meat and veg, and topped with grated cheese.
Pleasant day here on Tuesday with the Gandon family: Richard and I were colleagues in the eighties and nineties, and were neighbours back in Tonbridge days. Their daughter and son have developed into sociable and thoughtful adults, and we always enjoy their company. We had apéritifs in the sitooterie, with simple palmiers made with Serrano ham and passata. Mary Berry lamb casserole, a modest cheeseboard and apple crumble for those who had room for it (I didn’t….).
I spent about an hour on the phone yesterday with BT customer service (much of it listening to raucous muzak on hold). The reason I called was that, since we were connected by fibre optic cable, our internet service has deteriorated sharply. We used to have a bundle that included fixed and two mobile phones, broadband and tv. As we haven’t used the tv service more than a few times, we’ve discontinued that. The mobile phones are about to switch over to EE which offers a huge data allowance. It’ll cost a little more, but the whole deal is considerably cheaper than before - and I blagged a further modest discount as a BT pensioner. I did a speed test just now, and was getting about 450-480 Mbit/s. The person who handled the business was friendly and capable. So we’re hoping that’s one problem solved for the new year - which we hope will be a good and healthy one for our readers.
