back on line, probably

You will have guessed that there is a happy ending to my internet story.

A fat man in a van came with such a smokers cough that he could hardly climb the step ladder that he asked me to provide. He ummed and ahhed in disgust at the previous engineers work, like one of those hairdressers who tell you that your hair was butchered last cut. He did nothing, but the step ladder scratched the paint work.

Then another nacelle arrived full of men who twiddled things…and then went away.

“Your trouble, Madame, is instability, and the fault is intermittent. The whole telephone line down to the village must be replaced. It will be done by the end of the week. ” (It is about 500 metres long!)

Meanwhile, Porridge was eagerly awaiting suitors by the garden gate. She sat for hours playing Lorelei, gazing wistfully down the hill, waiting for the pheromones to work. Yes, it was that time of the year. However, there isn’t much talent in the neighbourhood.

We decided to ignore the weather, and leave our troubles and her suitors behind and have a weekend in the camping car.

When we arrived at Noirmoutier (salt capital of France), it was so windy that the camping car was mercilessly buffeted during the night. I couldn’t sleep for worrying it was going to be blown over. In retrospect, perhaps we could have chosen a less exposed destination…

We braved the beach, and wondered whether Porridge’s ears would blow off.

The colours were extraordinary, the clouds dramatic, so Mysweet took some photos and we came home early, to warm ourselves up.

And here is the happy ending:

This morning, another man in a van arrived, with his own ladder.

Aha, I thought, a professional.

He was out in the road, testing the box, and, just like all the others, was completely ignorant of the passage of the previous engineers.

He laughed when I told him about changing the cable.“That will never happen”, he grinned. “It would cost too much money. We have followed the anglo saxon model, and we are a private company!”

But then he found a fault in that box, and he fixed it. And just before he left, he wrote down his personal mobile phone number, and name, and said to call him direct if I have any more problems.

We have had internet with no interruption for about three hours now.

Move over Porridge, I am in love…

Damn..it's just gone again.