Storms and chickens

[Valkyrie]

Last Wednesday we lost our landline, so no phone, no internet and no TV.  OH was at his folks, but arrived that afternoon.  I only discovered it by trying to phone my mum!  When OH arrived home there was a frantic attempt to get in touch with BT - I have no signal on my mobile and most people contact me on the landline or Whatsapp.  His connection is marginally better.  At one stage he was hanging out of the bedroom window chatting to the guy at the other end!  Eventually he just gave up and went into the garden to talk.  So we were told midnight on the 2nd December.  

Thursday we went to the pub for dinner - it was prebooked and it was virtually empty.  Pretty much the whole village had been affected.  Some had been connected that afternoon.  The landlord has 3 lines but only 2/3 worked.  At least the pub was linked to the world.  Apparently some guy on a tractor doing hedge cutting had sliced the cable!  

On Sunday OH met the landlord on a walk and he said that BT told him there were no faults on his line - he disagreed.  So he rang the number and a lady from another village close by answered the phone - the lines had been connected to the wrong house.  So that meant 2 villages up the creek!  Not only that, but she rang her own number and got someone else - talk about getting your lines crossed!  Our phone rings if we call, but no phones ring.

We did not get reconnected on the 2nd and still have nothing!  At the moment I'm piggy backing of OH's iphone that has a slight connection.  We do have a slight signal I guess - that is the usual weak thing, we knew it was abysmal and so OH opted for a booster because of working from.  It obviously makes a heck of a difference, but even that is pretty rubbish!

Yesterday we saw an Open Reach fellow at our neighbours.  Are you doing us next asked OH. The reply was only if we had an appointment.  What appointment!  BT never mentioned that!  It's because we need access to inside the house and your line from indoors.  Sooooo back to BT (down the field because that's the best spot) and now the BT guy is sending a complaint to Open Reach!  They do not need access to our home!  Now we have next Monday to look forward to - when it's supposed to be up and running again.  We didn't hold our breath before, so not doing it this time either!

So initially where did we go for the best internet?  The common on the opposite hill which has 4G!  That's more than we have!  Funnily enough there were a lot of cars joining us and not all were dog walkers!  

On the other hand, I've started reading a book I bought a couple of years ago to further my education!  Virgil - The Aeneid!  I'm actually enjoying it and the fear that it would be too high brow is unfounded.  It's easy to follow!  

So far all of December has been sunny - we've had spectacular sunsets and sunrises.  A blood coloured bit of a moon last night!  And tonight we have orange sky with no clouds!  I think I prefer the clouds for that extra dramatic look - and the ever-changing colour of them.

So yep, coming offline again just in case our daughter rings.  Which is most likely!

[soapdragon]

Heavens! What a pickle! BT rarely comes out of any scrapes well! I only hope that your standing charge - if there is still such a thing - gets reduced accordingly. At this rate you'll have finished War and Peace 🤪

[Valkyrie]

Done that a couple of times!  Loved it!  Especially the gory bits - which you never saw in the TV adaptation with none other than Anthony Hopkins!  I think sales went up that year!  But I do have Anna Karenina to read!

[soapdragon]

Well good luck with her then! Seriously, do hope that you are back 'on the grid' very soon. Not really the time of year to be out of the loop esp in a very rural location. Trust the postie will keep you in touch with the world!

We go to Gower every late May half term and internet/mobile signals are non existent there and we do quite enjoy it but I totally get that it's different when you are trying to just GET ON WITH LIFE!

[Valkyrie]

Yes Soapy - it affected OH working from home - it wasn't until the other day he could operate his laptop without having to go to the common in sub zero temperatures in the early mornings!  He still had difficulty with the printer because that isn't connected and done wirelessly.  Today he accidentally found it worked.  Not sure how he managed, but he's happier now.

Other than that TV consists of DVDs of All Creatures Great and Small and we've just had a marathon session of Die Hard films!  Yippee ki yay!

And my sewing room is looking much tidier and have been doing a bit of sewing.  Most of my fabric scraps and smaller pieces have now been cut into usable sized shapes ready to sew.  Quite happy without the TV but then we only have Netflix and Amazon Prime.  The worst bit about it was I had to return an item (sledge) which arrived in abysmal packaging - lack thereof - and the thing had cracked - well we didn't have to open up the "package" to see that and so OH was around to sign and said received damaged.  Of course it was only the other day that I managed to notify Amazon.  They wanted pictures, I tried to send but signal too slow and timed out.  So I had to Whatsapp photos to OH so that he could email back because they'd be small enough to send.  Whatsapp works just about for texting and photos - new message sent so awaiting response.

 

[Beantree]

We have a Mifi unit from SFR which gives us 10Gb a month for €16. That's normally far more than we need, but pop-up adverts and software downloads use up a lot of allowance. When you have reached your limit they slow the download rate and then cut you off! Two weeks without internet is a pain, so if I don't post for long periods you know why.

[Valkyrie]

Oh that's awful!  I have no idea what we usually have, but it's a lot less than 4G!  

But today a very nice young fella from Open Reach came at 10.30 and tracked the fault around the countryside!  We saw him again at 3.30 bearing good news.  We are back in the land of the living.  Amazing how one little line can affect the world that we've become used to!  I remember when we never had a phone and had to set times for my grandmother to pop into the midwife next door, because she was the only person with a telephone, while we went round to the telephone kiosk in the little parade of shops.  I remember they were filming Carry on Cowboy at Chobham Common and Bernard Breslaw also came to use the telephone - in his Native American gear!   A giant to a 7 year old he was!!!  And now the world crumbles because everything is done by computer!  Almost!

[soapdragon]

Chobham Common? Valkyrie...I used to live on Gracious Pond Road opposite the common! We went and snooped round the set that was built for Superman. I spent many happy hours wandering around on the common when considerably younger - often out for the day with a picnic and my younger sister and mum didn't turn a hair! Happy days!

[Valkyrie]

Small world eh!  We lived in Trumps Green - just a 5 minute walk over to the golf club and dashed across the path in the middle of the fairway many a time!  Married at Christ Church in Virginia Water and our wedding reception was at Royal Holloway College!  We both met at Barclays in Egham.  Blooming office junior - such a pain in the bottom!  Still is a pain!