Friday, December 23, 2005

All I want for Christmas ...

... is to be out of boxes.

Well, to have enough clear space to relax, anyhoo.

We're largely sorted - for the every-day stuff. We've got a lounge area - yes, area: there are still boxes at one end of the room. We've got a working kitchen - if you don't mind stepping round a box or two. We've got bedrooms (though ours looks like a store room). At least, the kids are sorted. We've got bathrooms (count 'em: 1, 2, 3!). So all in all, it's largely sorted.

The garage on the other hand ... well, let's just say you won't be able to fit the car in. Or, in fact, the bicycles. They're in the shed. Buried under a lawn-mower and a barbecue.

Roll on New Year!

Festive greetings to you all.

Friday, December 16, 2005

All together now ...

Well .. okay, so I've been a little lapse in blogging recently. I do have an excuse. Sort of. I've moved house - and the 'puter's been innabox.

Which brings us neatly (erm ...) to the matter of NTL and the bungled transfer of services. We booked the house move for the 14th December. I asked for a slot late in the shift as we knew we'd not be at the property until 2:00 pm. I had a text from their chaps confirming the afternoon of the 14th as the day to connect the new service. On the 5th, our service got cut off at the (old) house. Several frustrating calls later it transpired that they'd got the date wrong somehow. A few more calls later and we had the television services reinstated. Two more calls and we had broadband back again.

Come the big day, we arrived at the new property at around half past 2 to find a "we missed you" card from NTL saying they had called at 12:15. I called the number to contact the installation guy who was reluctant to come back as he had a Christmas party to go to. I pressed him and in the end he called in some help from another team who installed the new kit in double-quick time, and left without fully testing the service. A few calls later (can you spot the pattern here, yet?) we had broadband - but as we had no television yet we couldn't test the TV signal.

The following day - having plugged in our telly - we had interactive services, but no picture or sound. Another phone call got some channels working, some with jerky pictures and the odd squeak in the soundtrack, with BBC1 having no picture and just blips and farts for sound. By now they'd closed their helpline. Sleep well, NTL!

This morning, a last phone call (got straight through .. how does that work?), and a technician [who - no doubt - calls himself an engineer, Grr] who efficiently fixed the problem by fitting the appropriate filter. Seems the signal was too strong. Go figure!

Welcome to Derbyshire!