Thursday 5 January 2023
Overall, though nothing catastrophic or dramatic, yesterday didn’t go to plan. I thought that with my desk all set up and ready I would miraculously get through everything that’s been piling up since mid-November. I didn’t. Of the elements of yesterday I would struggle to place a positive spin on, everything related to phoning and online shopping would feature at the top. Most of yesterday’s chores required phone calls and online shopping.
Most of these issues related to living in a house where I can’t send or receive SMS (other than up the garden, and I mean up, up a muddy, wet pathway), the only way I can use my mobile phone is by using WiFi calling, which my mobile is not good at holding on to, and the only phone we can currently get to work on our landline is an old rotary-dial phone, on which it is impossible to “press 1”.
I spent far longer online shopping than I would have imagined possible. I resent using Amazon but we had a long list of random things to buy and they are fairly good about getting things delivered out here. I always find myself coming up with excuses when I do use Amazon. Anyway, Amazon. I couldn’t log into my account until I was in possession of an SMS. I couldn’t disable the double verification by going into my settings until I got into my account, having received the SMS. So I called in Chris. He sat at my desk while I put on my waterproof jacket (because, of course, it was chucking it down with rain) and walking boots and squelched and slithered my way up above the house to be able to receive the SMS. I then texted Chris to confirm I could send and receive SMS (I could) and to ask him to click through to the ‘send SMS’ stage. I got cold. No SMS. After five minutes, he sent another request. I got colder. No SMS. So no entry to my Amazon account.
I relieved Chris of his duty and resorted to phoning Amazon. In fairness, that actually didn’t go too badly, though it still took a few attempts to get into my account. The lady I spoke to ended up just deactivating the double verification thing. Anyway, most importantly, I was in.
My own fault, I spent ages – AGES – online shopping. I needed one barrel bolt (I took a photo of it and used Google Lens to find out what it was called to then be able to buy one). Google Lens was adamant it was a Pandora charm FFS. So I now have about 300 barrel bolts on order (to the nearest 300, but I couldn’t just order one so there will be a lot surplus to requirements to finish off the bed frame). I also got myself overwhelmed by choices and trying to sift out the options that would take ages as they’d sneakily be coming from China with vague delivery dates in a few weeks’ time.
I had nineteen items in my basket and I was ready to pay. I put in my payment details and up flashed the screen that requires a code to be sent by [expletive] SMS. So I called in Chris, yadayadayada, repeat of above, up the garden path, rain, cold and, FFS, no SMS. I was offered no alternative, no automated call, no email. I couldn’t pay. FFS.
In the end, Chris put it on his card and everything is now on order, I hope.
That took me up to lunch time, part of the morning also having been spent admiring our new Simba mattress as it grew in size once released from the plastic coating. That was the morning’s highlight, some light relief after the first round of SMS issues.
Post-lunch, I started on the paperwork. I had my relatively new desktop PC finally up and running, a proper mouse, a proper keyboard, a proper screen; a joy after weeks of just having a laptop with a defective internal mouse (but touchscreen, fortunately). On that PC, none of my banking account numbers are stored. So, yes, more problems and delays getting things done.
I failed to get into one account because I couldn’t get the password right. I requested a reset email but the email never came (and, yes, I did look in my spam folder). I couldn’t get into my mortgage account even though I knew I had the right account, password, memorable word, etc. That problem was resolved this morning when I used the exact same information and managed to log on on my laptop FFS.
I then needed to phone about my mortgage. I think this all started around four and didn’t finish until shortly before six when I abandoned trying to call them as I was grumpy and hungry and wanted to make a start on dinner. The issues with the mortgage provider were that everyone is calling in about mortgages these days, for obvious reasons to do with mess we are in from Brexit, pandemic and a shockingly bad government. In that time of calling, once, after 46 minutes on hold, I accidentally hung up when I tried to reactivate my mobile phone screen. I genuinely could have wept. The hold info had said 45-minutes-to-one-hour was needed. So then I phoned again and had to go through all the security stuff again, blah, blah. Then my WiFi-calling cut out part way through being on hold. So I had to call again, through the security stuff for a third time … and a fourth time. FFS. Then I gave up and started all over again this morning by getting up before seven to get on the phone when the automated thing said it would be most quiet, between seven and nine in the morning.
Incidentally, I did get through this morning but I was on hold longer than the five-to-ten minutes predicted. And that was on the third attempt, the first two calls having been disconnected by the [expletive] WiFi-calling falling away.
The only other technical issue was regarding our wildlife cameras. It was raining and windy but I went out first to collect the SD cards (lamenting the fact I didn’t buy the more expensive WiFi-enabled cameras that you can access through your phone), then to put them back. When the access point for the SD card is at the bottom of the cameras, which are attached to posts, it requires an awkward manoeuvre and the pushing up of the SD card to then pop it out is also a delicate manoeuvre. Out one popped, straight into the long grass and mud. With four camera trips in that weather (two cameras, removal and return of the micro SD cards), you can kind of imagine how smoothly it all went. Haha. After all that, the only video footage was of me walking away from the cameras after I’d first put the micro SD cards in and me peering into the camera trying to see if I had turned it on or off. Disappointing and horrendously unflattering; ‘gormless’ doesn’t even cover it. However, last night was not wet and windy, unlike the first night the cameras were set up, and the moon was bright and only two days away from being a full moon. I am wildly optimistic that today’s retrieval of the micro SD cards will result in a video showing badgers, pine martens, hares, deer …
For dinner, I made ramen, the day’s highlight along with the ‘inflating’ of the mattress. Sometimes, a salty, umami bowl of broth with noodles, fried tofu and chunky mushrooms is enough to (almost) make SMS, online shopping, banking, password and connectivity issues just about okay.
As for today, as yesterday wasn’t quite the roaring success of over-achievement I had envisaged, I make no claims about what I will get done. I will, I will, I will, at the very least, publish a blog post. I’m still in November, so about five or six weeks behind. I only wanted to be about two weeks behind.