Wed 03:19 AM - Odd Calls

I've just taken a call from someone returning a message left on their answer machine earlier yesterday. What made her think that the person who had left that message was still at work now!!!

Prior to this I spoke to a lady who was so busy panicking that she wouldn't actually listen to anything I was saying to her. Eventually after 10 minutes I solved her problem, (7 Min's later than I would have if she'd initially listened to what I was trying to say to her) if she didn't want my advice then why on earth did she phone?

It's very strange, we always get these calls at this time of the morning,

(the 3am weirdo's)



what makes it doubly odd is that I thought that this was the time of the day when the body was at it's lowest ebb and that if people were NOT going to be awakened by strange noises then this would be the time when they weren't - if that makes sense.

So what happened on Tuesday?

Home as normal yesterday morning looking forward to bed. Received a call just before I went up the stairs to Bedfordshire that nearly lead to a real mix up. The called asked to speak to my wife, I replied she was at work and could I be of assistance. It wasn't very easy to make out what the guy on the other end was saying but I did make out the word allotment and naturally assumed (made an ass out of you and me) that he was speaking about our existing allotment whereas he was calling about another site that Deb had made enquires of about 10 months ago. As you can imagine this lead to:

an hilarious half an hour of mutual incomprehension that caused us to eventually become locked into a viscous blood feud of cosmic proportions that effected the future of innumerable galaxies and lead to the resolution of all the great metaphysical questions that have plagued humanity since time immemorial

See How We Battled



Well no, not really, in fact we just ended up initially speaking at cross purposes with the caller wondering who and what it was I was referring to when I spoke about out existing plot. So you see, it's not just the people who call me who don't listen, I'm just as guilty!

The Plan : to bed to listen to the rest of the Economist mp3 on my Nokia N95.

The Result : to bed to fall asleep and not listen to the rest of the Economist mp3 on my Nokia N95.

Awoke knowing a lot less about the World economy than I though I would know about it before I went to sleep. Came to the conclusion that the Russian theory of sleep learning is in fact deeply flawed, although ironically, I had learned this fact whilst I was asleep!

When I say I awoke, I had actually woken up on a number of occasions already, in order to go to the loo. It was from this experience that I learned that it's not a good idea to drink

TOO MUCH BEER



before you go to bed. Perhaps, today, I’ll try it after I’ve gone to bed or even have some ready for when I wake up to go to the loo, killing two birds with one stone, and thus ensuring that the lost sleep time has not been wasted.

WHATS HAPPENING

Apple iMac 24in - 2009 Edition - Still the Best PC? Look and Lust Deb, you know you want one!

Terrifying plight of Afghan actress
And they want us to respect their religion of tolerance that persecutes no one and is God's will here on Earth - What a load of Rowlocks.

US boy wins smelly trainer glory
I think you'll find that he only won it because I didn't enter!!

Photos of Alaskan Volcano's Eruption

101 Great Free Sites and Downloads You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

Persona Non Grata - Sunday 15/3/2009

Tonight, Mathew, I’m going to be Leper Man:

I have advised me colleagues (as SF & HL used to put it in “a bit of Fry and Laurie”) to keep their distance in case my cold is still infectious, Deb finally came down with it this A.M. I will try my best not to cough in any particular person’s direction, (unless said particular person has managed to really really really piss me off in some way, in which case f**k-um) if I possibly can and I will, unlike Prash, cover my mouth when I sneeze.

Very quite this evening, (mild weather?) didn’t take a call for first 45 minutes.
Quick Buzz (meeting) just B4 10pm nothing of import discussed. We’re quite short staffed tonight, 4 on holiday and one no show (Julie B – I understand her Dad’s ill so her absence is possible related to that) so lets hope it stays slow.

02:51 – My wish came true it’s been dead, taking a call perhaps every 15minutes. I managed to sort out a number of water leaks, over the phone, which saved the engineer a visit and the customer from suffering any additional damage. It astonishes me how ignorant so many people are about where things are or how things work in their own houses. So many assume that I should know where their stopcock / gas-meter / fuse-box is and are genuinely astonished when I explain that it’s their responsibility to know these things! I’m usually able to talk them through the process of locating the required thing however.

snippet – based on a few years worth of calls, it seems that most people under 30 are unable to either wire a plug or change a fuse. However, often times they can tell you how to rectify the software fault that caused the computer crash that caused the power failure in the first place.

Once again I displayed my ignorance of all things celebrity when Carol mentioned that Jada Koren Pinkett had opened a kindergarten. Jada Koren Pinkett [September 18, 1971 (1971-09-18)(age 37) Baltimore, Maryland United States] is the wife of actor Will Smith and a well known actress in her own right. I have no recollection of ever, ever, ever having heard of her - EVER!

Almost forgot, Gail brought in home made rock cakes tonight and they were very Moorish. Well done Gail, more please.

I have kept trying to start reading John Harrison’s book, Vegetable Growing – month by month. Each time I start I am distracted by something, for example his allotment website which he mentions in the very first line of the introduction. Not the best idea, I would suggest, if you are trying to get people to buy your book, if I’d come across it and noticed the web address I would used that resource and not bought the book (please note – Deb bought this book on-line).

04:15 – My phone alarm, reminding me that Hannah has Cubs, went off 12 hours early and nearly gave me a coronary. Time for lunch, Tomato and Mozzarella pasta bake, catch you la8r respected reader.

Oh God, my stomach feels so full, and boated, I’ve got to lose weight,



I’d take long walks if both my legs weren’t so painful. I don’t understand why the calf muscles in my right leg are still so tender. By now I would have thought they would be back to normal.

Listening to the Economist Audio edition, which I downloaded as a torrent, and I’m enjoying it immensely. I’ll have to see if the person who seeded the torrent does this for every issue. The only problem with this idea is that it means I’ll have even less time to listen to the Podcasts I already subscribe to. I’m currently listening to an article about Congo and Rwanda working together to defeat the rebel armies (FDLR & LRA) that plague them both.

Ran out of black pens on my return from lunch so had to finally salvage what I could from my broken down set of draws. Grabbed everything that looked like it would write plus a file full of desk aids. Removed and destroyed out of date desk aids will restock file tonight.