Returning to the Stone Age

Winter has settled in to stay here in Southern Ontario.  After two years of mild winters including last year’s non-winter we’ve been spoiled but it would seem that long, dreamy, warm days full of sunshine and fall leaves are not to be ours this year—Indian Summer has passed us by this year.  The snow squalls that blew in on gale force gusts stripped the last of the brown leaves from our trees yesterday and mightily rattled my bedroom windows during my afternoon nap; even the oak outside my window has a distinctly skeletal look about it.  Bad news it may be but the silver lining, if there be one, is that snow on the ground should encourage Christmas Shopping and gladden the hearts of retailers everywhere. 

 

In the last couple days I’ve been rapidly returning to the Stone Age.  When I got home Monday my desktop computer refused to boot; the fan came on but I didn’t even get a bios DOS screen.  The good news is that I’d just done a complete backup of that computer and transferred many of the programmes including my E-mail to my new laptop.  Do you suppose the desktop was suffering from rejection?  Tired after a long day at the office that began at the ungodly hour of 4:00 AM I turned everything off and went up for my nap—I had neither the stamina nor fortitude to deal with the situation.  The CPU is still under warrantee but since I now have an alternative the matter can wait. 

 

When I got home yesterday, Tuesday, my Vista Phone’s warning light was glowing red and the screen was showing me the Check Phone Line Message.  Every phone in house was not just lacking dial tone but utterly dead.  By some unknown means my internet account which is attached to the same phone line was still functioning but at 3% of capacity.  Again I was too tired to cope at that point and since the preponderance of calls I receive are telemarketers I wasn’t overly concerned in the short term and went up for my nap again. 

 

This morning, early, (5:30 AM is early for most people), I called Ma Bell’s service department to report my problem.  I’d looked out my window yesterday and was aware that one of her minions had a tent erected over the local phone node and had seen them elsewhere on my way home so I had a distinct impression that Bell had disconnected my line in error but the agent I contacted aggressively attempted to sell me their phone insurance to protect against the $75.00 service charge that applies when the problem is caused by the customer’s own equipment.  She was not only persistent but obnoxious. 

 

I returned home today to find things status quo, the bell repairman was not scheduled to arrive until 5:00 PM at the earliest.  I was pleasantly rewarded with a working phone when I came down refreshed at 4:00 PM and called Ma Bell to report same.  Took the time to discuss my future plans with a business agent while I was on the phone.  Of course service is so fragmented these days that a land line agent cannot discuss Bell Mobility and knows nothing about Internet Service let alone WIFI.  Calls for the future or a visit to the Bell Phone Centre if it still exists. 

 

That problem resolved I decided to drive down to my local RPO and pick up the package for which I’d just received a DNC—delivery notice card.  While I was out decided to pick up a battery for my non-functioning underground garage clicker—the local drug store didn’t carry them.  A drive to Oakville Place was in order and I had success at Shoppers Drug.  After all that I’m happy to report the unit works.  Apparently I’m to return to the Twenty-first Century after all.