There is an incredible hulk just waiting to get out!
I bought the Kite Runner CD book in May or June in a library sale. I have still 2 discs to go. I mean I was driving my old car when I started listening to it and I changed my car in August and I am still listening to Disc 8. One of the reasons is Volkswagen decided to put the CD player in the glove compartment! The effect of which it is not easy to change discs. If this was a safety measure why install a telephone text facility where the CD player in past times would have lived.
10 years ago when I bought my last car I discovered that I enjoyed listening to CD books while I drove. My previous car had a tape cassette player that was banjaxed after the Lion King roared too many times. I drove for a year or two to the sound of my thoughts. I would go through maybe 10 CD books in a year while driving now I can’t finish one in 8 months and counting.
That said I am enjoying the handsfree facility of this car. I am easily amused and I love that a caller blasts through the radio and I can talk without having anything in my ear. My imagination places me in a mobile radio station as I drive. It has the feel of a talk show. These talks are replacing the CD books.
If you get a call saying “ Hello caller 3 what’s your question?” you will know it is me at play.
Back at base camp Virgin Media is failing miserably. For the last 6 weeks, we have been having intermittent problems with the wi-fi. The last two days there has been none. This means no TV as well as no internet. For the first couple of weeks, I let it go not wanting my ‘Customer service Incredible Hulk’ to emerge. It is better for all that he is not awakened. After three weeks and a kid saying it is interfering with their revision I begin dialling 150. The automated service tells me, “There is a problem in your area our technicians are working on it.” This reassures me for a couple of times until I need to speak with someone and get some recompense for this. The customer service agent then tries to tell me that I have not been phoning as there is no record. Please, don’t tell me the opposite of what I know. She reluctantly agrees to £3 off ongoing bills. I am not totally happy but it is a concession. The problem continues and then I try and complain by email. You would think a communication company and internet provider would allow you to complain by email. Not Virgin Media you either complain on the phone or you write and post it.
Tonight I spent an hour on the phone complaining first to Mumbai and then back to the UK. In the end, I decided to end the call. I remained polite and told Tim, “ I have had enough I am going to end this call.” I think he too had enough.
The absence of the internet and the complaining I am hearing makes me consider the internet as a utility alongside Gas, Electric and Water. It feels like the lights have gone out there is an absence of something in the home. Yet another part of me is glad it is absent as we have become too dependant on it. I am back at the local Motorway Services writing this courtesy of their Wi-fi. I did buy a cup of tea for the privilege.
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