Resurrected again.

Well, like the proverbial bad penny, I am back again. After a bout of Christmas holiday inspired Influenza. Surfacing again just before the new year festivities began. However, I had a bit of a relapse and ended up in bed again for a couple of days. So at the moment I am the proud owner of a barking cough and a monumental headache. Both of which are looking for a new home.

I have had a friend John go down to the boat each day to tend to the stove, whilst I have been incapacitated. Rosie has stood up well the the frosts which peaked or bottomed depending on how you look at it, at an eye watering -13 Celsius. Now in old money that s about 8 degrees Fahrenheit which like feet and inches has much more of a meaning to me that metres ever will.

Yesterday, I managed to get to the marina, the stove was on the point of going out but the boat was still toasty warm. After cleaning out the grate and bagging up the ashes I managed to resurrect the dying embers back to life. The stove we have is a Villager Puffin and seems to go for 24 hours with the coals banked up and the stove well damped down. The stove is six years old and has been used for the first time this winter. The Puffin seems to work quiet well as is certainly good enough for providing a good level of background heat on a 50' ft open plan boat.

I thought that the thaw had started to ease the icy, iron hard grip on the boat. However, it proved to be an inch or two of ice melt water on top of the ice. The ice is still about 5 inches thick across the marina. I went for a walk along the canal, and came across a small group fishing. One of the lock gates has enough of a leak to stop a short section from icing up. Everyone was seemingly having a good time. Hardy or foolish lot are those fishermen.

BT has managed to lose the phone lines in the area. We have been without telephone access to friends and family as well as broadband for over two weeks. Dealing with BT was problematical - in the main because the command of English of the operator was very poor. I had to say several times - I'm sorry but I don't understand what you are saying. When we reported the fault we were given a repair time of three days. After three days we were advised that it would be another week. After a week we were given the 29th of December. On the 3rd of January we were given a date of the 5th of January.

So I decided to activate a "3" dongle that I had. After waiting for 10 Min's in a queue, to be told that I would be passed on to someone else to deal with my request. A further twenty minutes later, I gave up waiting and hung up. Now- my reasoning for this is - As new business, you would expect me to be fast tracked through their systems. But after half an hour wait on my mobile - I thought, I wonder how long the wait is for any support requests from their subscribers.

BT and 3 - Customer Service - what customer service is that exactly.

So I decided to try Virgin Media. Six minuets on the phone and everything is sorted and I am back on line again. So Virgin will also get the land line and the broadband business as well. Plusnet, who are part of BT have lost the broadband business, though in all fairness I have never had a single problem in six years with them.  But then as their latest adverts go to some length to point out, its all done in "Yorkshire". Maybe the BT call centre should be relocated to Bradford.

Later....