Old Stairs, New Stairs

The old stairs are finally gone. Apparently it was a close thing - the builders claim they just about crumbled in their hands.

Now we have beautiful new stairs with a gate that opens easily, stunning lighting and a post box that fits loads of stuff.

First World Problem - I drowned my iPhone

First world problems have been getting a bit of airplay with that excellent First World Problem rap that has gone a little viral.

Before I showed my newly teenagered Blossom the You Tube video I stopped to explain what a developing world problem would be first. She thought the vid was hilarious. Before I could show my eleven year old the video I heard my mobile phone ringing.

It was the eleven year old calling me from the landline in the upstairs study to say that he was hungry and could I please bring him up some lunch.

Aaaaaaaaargh.

No.

Mind you this system was in place long before mobile phones. I've just watched the most excellent new series of Upstairs Downstairs and they have little buttons in every room which ring a bell in the basement kitchen calling the downstairs staff to attention. To my son I am simply the downstairs staff.

My son's first world problem was that he was hungry, yet busy playing computer games...a dilemma.

My first world problem was that a couple of months ago I drowned my iPhone. Quel Horreur! One day during a typical Sydney torrential downpour when the water pours from the sky as if from a giant bucket my iPhone slipped out of my handbag and into the river that was flowing past my parked car.

The thing is, I didn't realise this for a couple of hours.

Once I realised I went back to look for it. I didn't for one minute think it had survived but the thought that my phone with all its contacts and whatnot was out in the wild was all too much.

I found it wedged up against a car wheel seven cars down the road in a bunch of leaves. Despite efforts to dry it out it was completely drowned. I still had 8 months left on my phone and data plan.

My pennance, and to set an example for my kids as to what would happen if they droppedbrokedrowned their phone, was to buy this phone. The cheapest I could find.

Now I hate to appear ungrateful but I'm going to be.

This phone is CRAP.

Oh it looks deceptively benign, but it is truly evil. The buttons are hard to press and quite frankly once you've had a QWERTY keyboard forget going back. Texting was a nightmare. To top it all off it didn't tell you when there was a voicemail message, didn't receive emails and couldn't bluetooth to my car.

See what I mean by first world problems.

I truly perceived that this phone dragged my life to the dark ages. I mean I've seen homeless men on the street in Sydney with iPhones.

So I was SO relieved today to be gifted an old iPhone in a corporate phone re-shuffle. I feel whole again.

The cheap Nokia will be kept in our house as a reminder of what happens to those who don't care for their stuff.

A Typo to be sure

One of Blossom's favourite stores is Typo - a stationery store. The Greenwood Plaza directory in North Sydney, however, has taken the typo concept seriously and has it listed as a stationary store.

Stationary
Typo

Store Contact Details
Phone: 02 8904 9022
Typo Website
Inspired by the hype of the stationery industry, Typo is a one stop concept store with irresistible product to fill your space with confidence. Taking trends from the fashion industry and applying them to notebooks, decal wall art, printed gift wrap and other speciality, items Typo offers product with attitude and is fast and affordable.

If you love fashion and love stationary, Typo will be your new best friend

Well I guess Greenwood Plaza could mount a reasonable argument that the store is, in fact, stationary.

Spot my car

Parking for my son's swimming carnival earlier this year something about this photo struck me. Do you see what it is? My little Golf definitely was the odd one out (can you find it?).

One clearly needs a 4WD to negotiate school ovals... I must have missed the memo.

Never ever cut through a Telstra lead-in line

 Our fencing contractor did this last week and he is $3000 poorer. I don't think insurance companies pay out claims for those that don't dial before they dig.

A lead-in line isn't the phone line. Well it is but it is Telstra's infrastructure carrying phone lines for more than one house. In this case our lead-in line carried 10 phone lines. It was buried under our fence line in a galvanised metal pipe. Our fencing contractor chainsawed through said metal pipe...

What ensued was a debacle of ridiculous proportions over a week and a half to get a permanent fix. Interestingly the actual Telstra employees who worked on the issue were excellent. The contractors to Telstra, however, were abominable.

 If you want the full story, read on.

If not just remember - always Dial before you Dig. Always.

 Full debacle:

• Thursday June 16 I report that our phone lines are dead.
• Friday June 17 3.30pm - Telstra contractor arrives to fix the phone line. There are 10 lines that need repairing but he only fixes one of them because that's all his order sheet said to fix - despite the other nine lines, which came out of the same cabling flailing about in the breeze. He explains that the other neighbours would have to call for him to fix the other lines, at a cost of $105 call out per line. I tell him that the job was to fix all the lines and he wasn't going home until it was done. This would have taken a total of 10minutes to do. He then grabs his stuff and walks (very quickly) to his van. In a movie-like sequence I run after him but he runs to his van and speeds off, leaving all the other lines dead.
• Friday June 17, evening - I talk to a genuine Telstra employee who cannot believe that this has happened. We arrange for a genuine Telstra technician to rectify.
• Saturday June 18, 2pm - Telstra Joe turns up, fixes all phone lines, is courteous and has a cup of tea and swaps italian recipes with my neighbour Linda and I. Explains that we need to call Silcar (a Telstra contractor) to replace the lead-in line. This will be charged to our fencing contractor.
• Friday June 24 - Silcar sends a sub-contractor to replace the lead-in line. The line they assumed was the lead-in line was actually our neighbour's Foxtel cable leaving them without phones, Foxtel and internet all in one swoop. After some not so gentle conversation they deign to fix this problem before heading off to the pub. They need to return on Monday to finish the job.
• Saturday June 25 - Another sub-contractor turns up on our property to fix the lead-in line. I explain that we've already had someone over to start the job. They produce official paperwork saying it's their job. I get the two contractors to talk together and to Silcar - turns out that Silcar have double-booked our job to two sub-contractors. If I wasn't at home at the time we would've been charged twice for the work and had a fight on our hands.
• Monday June 27 - the first Silcar contractor comes back to finish the job.

None of these sub-contractors had services maps of our property and didn't seem to understand the issues. None of them could relate to the services issues in an old suburb viz the easy to maintain new suburbs on the outskirts of the city.

 Aaaargh.  All of this happened in the last week of term with seemingly a gazillion school events and while my husband was away overseas. I hate first world problems.