BACK ON BOARD

                                                                     BACK ON BOARD

The reason there has been no space to watch over the previous month has been down to two situations .  One was the complete demise of our PC, which got to the point where, having asked it to print at 4 pm, just one letter I'm talking about, it would then print at 4 o'clock in the morning.   My son-in-law, who is an avid supporter of AppleMac, told me that  what we needed to purchase was  an IMac.  The thought of visiting a computer shop fills me with dread, especially when the only AppleMac shop around is in Basingstoke - double dread!   I'm not good with shopping centres or shopping.

The other problem was that our physical location, ie beautiful downtown Ash Vale, is at the end of the cable run from the Aldershot exchange.   This means that our Broadband suffers continuously and whereas one would normally be able to type this in seconds, to get this far would have taken several days!   Many phone calls to India and two weeks of frustration later  I received a phone call from an extremely pleasant chap in Newcastle who had been advised that I was not a happy bunny and had noted that our computer had actually failed on no less than 500+ times in two  weeks.   Another engineer was sent and two days later a new hub arrived.   For those interested, it's a type 4 and is replacing our aged type 2.   Now I wasn't even aware that we had a type 2 or that it was ageing.

What impressed me was the fact that the extremely pleasant Georgie gave me an ex-directory number with my very own pin number in which to tap into their immediate service, without going via any sub-continent and an accent,  which to be fair,  was slightly more easy to understand than the Geordie!

So, all has come at once - armed with a PC that may not be working, but with Broadband that is, I made haste and good speed to Basingstoke shopping centre, where I managed to locate the AppleMac store.  There were tables with computers everywhere.   I eased my way past the excited throng of adults and children to the counter at the end of the store, which informed me that it was the "Genius Bar".  A young man who looked barely over the age of consent smiled and said, "Good morning, you look bewildered".  I told him that he was looking at the greatest fish which would ever be out of water.   I told him I wished to purchase an IMac, the only option according to my son-in-law, was whether I bought a 21" or 27" screen.  Very politely and  efficiently he escorted me to a table displaying both options and within a minute the sales rep appeared and for once, it was a pleasure not to be sold something I didn't want, but to be  informed what it did, which was basically to be turned on and work!   I must have made the quickest purchase they have ever had as I deduced that the 21" was the right screen size for me.   I am now minus £1100.   I made my way back home and the following day Tim, my son-in-law, came round and connected the new computer.   Hence why my wife has been able to type this in record time and get it posted before I leave to take a brewery tour at the Hog's Back  Brewery.

Tomorrow morning, the first of the month, I look forward to being able to contribute regular musings and jottings with the newly acquired toy and just hope BT is good to its word and that the type 4 hub will continue to give years of good service as will my wife at the keyboard!