 - Last login: 14 days agoRenate555
- Renate is a married 77 year old person from Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
- Likes 9 pages, 2 videos • 44 fans • Received 20 reviews
- Member since May 25, 2007
I am an:
1. artist, traditional and modern painting.
2. Poet - writing poems you can understand about various subjects. 3. The author of 'From the
Promised Land to the Lucky Country'
Favorites » Their Blog
-
-
Home coming
You won't believe it, but it all started when I asked my son to email me my list of `Favourites',
`I have no keys to your home' he said
`You have' I replied.
`Dad took them and did not return them.' He wrote.
`I ask Dad. Dad says he returned them'
`But I don't have them'
I say,
`Gerry, he says he cannot find the keys, and I need my list...'
`Why not send him a set of ours?'
We pack the keys well and mail them express.
He comes back to us,
`The keys don't fit.'
We are surprised, but what can we do?
We send him our second set and hope for the best.
He gets in and I get my list.
The time has come to return home, and we still have one key in our possession, which may or may not work. It does, and we sigh with relief.
We connect the water the electricity, the dishwasher... but the dishwasher is already connected ... funny... did we forget to disconnect it? Not likely... And what are those mouldy dishes doing in it? We wonder...
We lift the shutters - three are stuck. Gerry sighs; he hates this job; but it is his and he has to do it.
We look for keys to unlock the windows that are still locked. Our son & co. opened some to air the house, dusted and swept floors, AND, you would not believe it, they filled the fridge with foods we like, and it is beautifully arranged.
We smack our lips, and lift the phone to thank our daughter in law, but the phone is dead. It's not reconnected as yet.
We resort to the mobile - the mobile is empty. We recharge and dial the number,
`You have only $5.90 left, add more money ` a voice tells me.
It's okay, but give us a break, we just arrived...
We cannot find the keys to the windows.
We click the remote to open the car. The remote decided to quit.
We use the key, and Gerry reconnects the car's battery- the battery is empty.
We call the RACQ (the car road service we belong). They come with new buttery; we buy it.
We drive to our son's place. It's 2 minutes away from us.
They don't seem to have any of our keys, but there is a heap of keys we can look through.
We do.
We find some, but we still have no window keys.
We used to have a big bunch of them, as well as some spare keys for the car and another remote, but there are none.
Gerry buys new locks and changes all of them.
We get a new remote for the car. It has a lot of high-pitched sounds, and a book on how to use it, in a print one cannot see.
Some doorknobs decided to fall of continuously. We take the opportunity, and Gerry changes them all with handles. Poor Gerry, he does it all without saying a word, but I know he rather do something else.
I put my computer on. A female voice is telling me something repeatedly, but I cannot decipher it. I call Gerry,
`What is she saying?'
`It's something about the CPU.'
O' yes. The CPU. It decided to quit as well. We need a new computer. But before we look into that, we need to reconnect our phone and the Internet. That should take just a minute or two. Right? Wrong.
The telephone people sign us on an electronic voice activated contract. We cannot read the fine print on it, but it's okay; we need the phone and the choice is much of a muchness.
`It'll take a day to connect' they say, and we have no problems with that.
We ask for Internet reconnection, and sign another electronic voice activated contract.
`Would you like `cable'? A voice asks. `It's much more reliable'
Would we like `Cable'? We would love cable. We didn't know we could get it in our area. They must have put it in...
`It will cost you $60.00 for the technician to come and set it up. You must have a technician. He will come within ten day."
Why ten days? We ask. Overseas you get it within a couple of days.
`This is not overseas, this is Australia' we are told...
A couple of days pass and there is no phone. We phone with our mobile, press all the required buttons, and after about tem minutes, we are asked to sign an electronic contact. I object,
`I did it already.' I say
`O' you did?'
`Yes. I did.'
`Okay, All will be fine.'
Another day passes, and it is not fine.
Gerry phones again on the mobile. This time he goes direct to `sales'.
There is never any problem getting through to `sales'.
`Sales' tells us we have been assigned a wrong number. No wonder we cannot use the phone.
We get that corrected.
In the meantime we order a new computer with all the jazz I want and ask for my old hard drive to be added. It will take a week to get it. Never mind. We do not have a phone or the Internet, so we can wait for this one as well.
We get the computer, but there are several things wrong with it and it go back and forth till it is right.
Ten days are gone and no technician. We find that nothing has been done; no booking took place. We get a booking. It will take another two weeks before we get connected.
I object, but I can do nothing about it. We try to complain, but they have closed ranks.
Three weeks pass. The technician phones,
`I am at 27 O'Conner Street, but you are not there!'
No wonder we are not there. We do not live at that address.
We give him the correct address, and he says,
`Phone the company and ask them to make a new order with the correct address and give you the number, so that I will have it when I arrive.'
`Will do' I say.
I phone the company. I press all the buttons as required. I explain the problem.
`The computers are down and we can do nothing for you. We expect them to be down for most of the day.'
The technician arrives. I tell him,
`Their computers are down and they can do nothing about it."
He says,
`Sorry I cannot do a thing without a new order. You will have to arrange for a new time'
I phone every couple of hours. Press all the buttons. The computers are down. Nothing can be done.
At 4.30pm the computers are back on line. Someone obliges me and transfers me to `activation'.
I get the wrong connection.
I put the receiver down, redial and press all the required buttons,
`Can you transfer me to activation please?'
`Why do you want `Activation'?'
`I was told to go there'
I hear a chuckle...
I get to Activation. The man tells me,
`I can see you asked for cable'
`Yes I did'
`There is no cable in your area, that's why the technician got the wrong address.'
`I was offered cable'....
`I can arrange ADSL for you. No problems there.'
`How long will that take?'
`About a week to ten days"
`I cannot wait another week. I cannot get on the Internet for three weeks already.'
`You know, if you go to our shop next to you, you can arrange everything with them and you can be connected in two to three days.
We get to the shop five minute before it closes. We fill in all the papers and sign at the bottom.
`How long will it take to get connect?'
"It will take about a week...'
I got the computer working okay, but the printer does not want to connect. It's too old. Never mind. Will need a new one. We get a combination one Gerry fell in love with. It is a printer/scanner/ phone / fax / answering machine/ you name it...it even makes you breakfast hahaha...
It comes with a university course attached...
don't laugh...
Now I need to reinstall all my programs and get all my material: Docs and photos, paintings and writings etc and get them reorganized. This is good. I didn't reorganize for years, and I'm still at it...
Our telly is snowing badly. We can see nothing. Not that there is something to see, but one does like to click the remote. Good finger exercise and very relaxing...
We buy a new telly. Delivery in three to four days. We can pick the date. We do.
In the meantime, we call the antenna man. He fixes it. The old TV comes to life.
Now we have a spare one...
Our son says,
I have it and give you our old one its smaller and you can find a place for it.
We put his old one in a corner of the dinning room, as we don't know what to do with it.
One telly is more than enough for the two of us.
The new one is beautiful. Love the clear larger screen. However, the programs are the same. What a shame...
Gerry sits on the coach clicking the remote; I stand there with some snacks,
`Gerry, Did you spill something? The floor is wet.'
`No. Nothing was spilled.'
I shrug my shoulders and sit down.
Next day Gerry gets a drop of water on his head. He lift his head - the ceiling is wet and sagging...
I meet a neighbour,
`Welcome home. Did you have good vacation?'
`What vacation? Can't remember any.'
`How do you enjoying being back home?'
" Don't know; I didn't have the time to think about it as yet....
The festive season is here and I wish you all the best for the coming twelve months.
Enjoy every day of your life. This is what life is all about
Renate
promisedland-renate.com [promisedland-renate.com]
|
Add them as a friend >
Renate555's blog