Another draw - oh hang on - its not!

Tuesday night - Belper Town away at Gresley (The Duchess and I were at home getting text updates from a mate at the game.)

90 minutes - its 0-0, again, then the Belper keeper drops the ball and it rolls in for a 1-0 defeat in the 94 minute..... Dammit.

The consequence is that Belper Town are only kept off the bottom spot by goal difference and we are the only team in the division not to have won a game this season.

 

Next up is Carlton Town at home, tomorrow. We are hoping to go to the game but I head off for Canada on Sunday morning, collecting my colleague from his home at 6:30 ish. Don't think I'll take the camera if we go - I won't have time to process the pics on Saturday evening - too busy packing but I might blog a report from the road if I get a chance.

 

The only other event in the last week is a major cock up by Plusnet and Orange which has left us with no landline and no broadband connection at home.

 

I had decided to switch to Orange because the 10 Gb cap on internet use at Plusnet was becoming a pain in the bum. So - we upgraded the Duchess' mobile phone and signed up for Orange unlimited broadband and home phone package.

 

The new router duly arrived (1st October) I set it up (2nd October) and we began running an unlimited broadband connection at speeds which were 50% up on Plusnet.

 

Everything looked good then on Wednesday this week (10th October) the Duchess noticed at about 5 pm that we had no wifi to the iPhones and iPad. I reset the router and the PC but still no broadband. Anyway - we were going down to Meadowhall so decided to see what was happening when we got back, thinking it might be a local service issue.

 

On return, we still had no broadband and so I called Orange on 150, from my wifes phone, to see what they had to say. After the usual, "we can't speak to you cos you're not the account holder" (it's in the Duchess' name) we discovered that we had no landline at all because Plusnet had disconnected before Orange could take over so a "new line" order had to be placed and actioned.

 

We were told our landline would be restored on 15th October and broadband 10 days after that!

 

I exploded and asked how we are supposed to operate with no landline telephone until Monday and no broadband until 25th October, pointing out we had been using Orange broadband for over a week!!!!

 

No joy so I decided to call Orange the next day, when I'd calmed down. Got the usual - "we need to speak to your wife..... can't answer you" b*ll*x. So got the Duchess to call them. She got a different tale - a visit from an BT Openreach engineer is needed and has been booked for October 26th. So no landline until October 26th!!!!

 

(Why an engineers visit is necessary is totally unknown - the line has not been moved, the router is the same as we've been using for a week or more but hey - what do I know - I only used to work at BT some time ago!)

 

The Duchess blew her stack at the guy from Orange explaining that I head off on a trip to Canada and USA on Sunday, and our son lives in Holland so she will be totally isolated without the landline and broadband (for Skype etc). Nowt he could do apparently.

 

Later that day - would you believe the Duchess got a call from an Orange customer service guy. "Hello Mrs Allsebrook. Just calling to see how you are getting on with your new broadband and landline service? Hope you're enjoying using it!"

 

After she came down from the ceiling and explained our problem she got a very sympathetic "Oh that's awful, That can't be right. Must be something we can do" response. "Leave it with me" he added - "If I can't help I'll ring back." (Which to be honest - seems a strange response! You'd think he'd ring back if he COULD help!")

 

Anyway - absolute latest is no apparent change in the situation. Although we did call in at the Orange store at Meadowhall last night and the lady who signed us up suggested we wait to see if the line is restored on Monday 15th, as originally promised and if not, the Duchess is to pop back to Meadowhall on Tuesday to see if the staff can "gee up" the job - hoping that "in store pressure" might get some action.

 

We're not holding our breath but The Duchess will let me know via 3G and e-mail because I'll be in Toronto by then. 

 

Pain inthe 'arris - totally.