Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Phones and QTel
Since I moved house in January, my mother has been on at me to get a landline connected "in case of emergencies". I tried to point out that if it was an emergency she could probably ring my mobile, but parents are parents and she seemed to be under the impression that a landline would actually prevent emergencies from happening.
Eventually at the beginning of March, I finally got round to filling in the QTel forms, applying for phone, internet and satellite TV all in one handy package. QTel is the only provider here, and they are frankly hopeless. Initially it looked promising however, and a man came round within a week...but apparently the signal was too weak and an engineer had to fix something... somewhere... somehow...
That was nearly 2 months ago, and in that time I've rung them nearly every week. However, when I rang again on the 13 April, the lady told me it was the first time I'd complained and they had no idea there was anything wrong!
Finally yesterday, the QTel man turned up and installed it all. I emailed my mum to tell her the good news...and the bad...I don't yet own a telephone...
Eventually at the beginning of March, I finally got round to filling in the QTel forms, applying for phone, internet and satellite TV all in one handy package. QTel is the only provider here, and they are frankly hopeless. Initially it looked promising however, and a man came round within a week...but apparently the signal was too weak and an engineer had to fix something... somewhere... somehow...
That was nearly 2 months ago, and in that time I've rung them nearly every week. However, when I rang again on the 13 April, the lady told me it was the first time I'd complained and they had no idea there was anything wrong!
Finally yesterday, the QTel man turned up and installed it all. I emailed my mum to tell her the good news...and the bad...I don't yet own a telephone...
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Bahrain
Last weekend I hopped over to Bahrain for the Grand Prix. I've never been to Bahrain, or to a Grand Prix, so I was thinking, "two birds, one stone..."
Before the race, we were treated to a fly-by. Now, maybe naively, I expected a little jet, how wrong I was:
This bloody great thing passed overhead instead.
Then the cars were off. I would like to thank whoever it was who recommended ear plugs, I owe you my hearing.
At first I was so transfixed by how loud and fast the cars were, I forgot to pay any attention to what was going on leadership-wise, and soon I was completely lost. I wasn't close enough to read a screen, and I couldn't ask the ear-plugged person next to me, so in the end I texted my sister in the UK. She turned on the telly and cheerfully texted back something like "2 red Ferrari's in the lead, everyone else following". Brilliant!
If I go next year, I'll have to make sure she's got the day off.
Before the race, we were treated to a fly-by. Now, maybe naively, I expected a little jet, how wrong I was:
This bloody great thing passed overhead instead.
Then the cars were off. I would like to thank whoever it was who recommended ear plugs, I owe you my hearing.
At first I was so transfixed by how loud and fast the cars were, I forgot to pay any attention to what was going on leadership-wise, and soon I was completely lost. I wasn't close enough to read a screen, and I couldn't ask the ear-plugged person next to me, so in the end I texted my sister in the UK. She turned on the telly and cheerfully texted back something like "2 red Ferrari's in the lead, everyone else following". Brilliant!
If I go next year, I'll have to make sure she's got the day off.
