Your order is delayed?

I just ordered a new gadget (for a change;-) ), only to receive a message from the shop about 2 hours later 'we cannot send it within the timeframe specified, sorry, we'll do it as soon as possible'.
This was yesterday. Today I received a message from the same shop 'your order was just sent to you!'
This is the second time this year something like this happens. I think I'm getting things faster if they are delayed, than when they aren't....

New phone!

the Nokia 3720 classic.

Not the bestest when it comes to features, but sturdy and water-resistant. Considering my track record not a bad idea for an in-between / back-up phone...

Oh and it does have at least one cool button: press the * for a few secs, and the flashlight goes on...
For those days you have the keys, but cannae find the lock.

Signs you're getting old, part XXVII

Being told by your physical therapist to 'sit up straight' and realising you should have listened to your teachers in school...

Time passing

I find it's usually the small things that make you realize that time is passing and you're growing up, and old(er).

Like the bonus-card from the supermarket that's suddenly hanging on your key chain.
Or the point in life where you start to worry more about your parents, than they do about you.
I ran into another reminder this week. For 1 or 2 years now, I've begun to keep a condolence card ready, replacing it with another as soon as I needed to use it.

I've had to replace it this week again. Goodbye, sweet old neighbour from my youth. Say hi to your wife for me.

Always fun, those helpdesks and customer services…

My phone is broken. Went from near death to almost alive to now completely dead. Happens when you drop it in the toilet, I guess...
Since it happened whilst I was in Italy, I called the travel insurance.
“How did it happen?” “Well, ehm...”
After I got over my initial embarrassment, the conversation went smoothly. The woman on the phone had apparently dropped hers in the toilet as well. Nr. 2 cause for phones drowning. Nr. 1 cause is leaving it in the laundry machine.
At the time I called, it half worked and I told her I waited first, to see if it would start itself again. She said ‘no it’s good that you called, because it will corrode and will probably stop working eventually anyway’.
Two seconds later “I need to know the repair costs”... Huh? Didn’t we just establish it will corrode anyway? Ah well, maybe tech people can do something to stop that. Okay, I’ll go ask in the shop what the repair costs will be.
“And I also need to know how much the phone costs”. Hmm, problem there. I know how much I paid, but that was with a renewal. She needs to know the costs excluding the renewal subsidy. Even though we established the thing is more expensive than the maximum the insurance will pay out anyway. “Ok, I’ll try to find out”.

Of course I cannae find the original bill. I keep bills for all kinds of stuff, but the ones that I actually need disappear into thin air. So I went to the t-mobile shop (granted, not the one I bought the phone, but it’s all one big computer system, right? Wrong...)

Disinterested young salesgirl behind the counter:
‘I can only give you the address of the shop we sent repairs to’.
‘But I don’t need to send it to repair. I just need to know if it can be repaired’.
‘I know, but I can’t say. You have to go the repair shop’.
‘Can you tell me how much the phone costs, then?’
‘No. We don’t know, only the head office knows and they only go look when absolutely necessary’.

Good fortune with the repair shop, they have a website, maybe I won’t have to travel there during office hours! And yes, they confirm quite quickly via mail that my phone is beyond repair. A later phone call to the insurance company further reveals I don’t need to send the phone for official evaluation to the repair shop, a copy of their e-mail is enough. Yay!

Less luck with the head office of the phone company. After listening to usual ‘won’t you go to our website, all the information is there, if not, press 2, then 1, then 4 and so forth’ nonsense, I’m put on hold. Good music on the background, if not for the fact that they keep interrupting the choruses with how many people are on the waiting list before me.
Finally I get a person on the other side. Claims to instantly know what I want and that she can help me with that. Oh dear....
And yes, after about 5 minutes, the lady on the other side of the phone finally understands what I want. Not what my phone bill was. Not how much I paid extra when I received the phone, but how much the phone costs without the renewal subsidy. “Oh, I don’t know that, you need to go to the shop for that!”.
And thank you for calling, glad we could help, yada yada...

Before I go to the shop where I bought the darn thing (not in the vicinity of course, why did I buy that thing near my parents and not near my own house), I decide to call the insurance company again. Maybe I can explain to them that I know it’s more expensive than the maximum anyway and they won’t need the copy of the bill. Fortunately I have proof of my monthly bills and the actual payment in December 2008.

Lady nr. 2 from the insurance company. ‘How much did you pay?’.
‘Well, so and so, but the phone costs more than that. I got a renewal subsidy and I can’t renew until December’. ‘How much is the monthly subscription?’ ’39,95’. ‘Would you please hold?’
Of course, what else is there to do on a working Monday. Hé, no music this time!
‘Okay miss, here’s what I can give you: I can pay you 6 months subscription so you can buy off the contract’.

Now, it later dawned on me she got the ‘buying off the contract’ wrong (I can renew the contract in December, but the contract runs until April next year, regardless of when I renew), but I’m only getting 10 euros less than what the maximum would be anyway, so I’m letting it slide…

Of course, no phone that I would want costs less than 240 euros. And I’ll still going to have to wait until December before I can renew anyway, otherwise I just know I can kiss the mobile number I've had for the past 10 years goodbye. I guess I need make due with the phone my brother lend me for now.
And I haven’t even mentioned yet that I’ve also lost my mp3-player, presumably somewhere on holiday too. It wasn’t that expensive, I’m not even going to bother...

Random observation

There’s this older woman in my neighbourhood, who walks around the block, behind a pram, every day. She used to have a doll in the pram, lately I think the doll has been replaced with a shiny new teddy bear.

The other day I was cleaning the window-ledges on the outside (yes, even I do housework occasionally… ;-) ) and she walked by. Stopped where I was and grunted what I took to be ‘hello’ to me. Then she pointed at her wrist. I pretty much assumed she meant to show off her watch, so I asked if it was a new one and told her it looked very nice.

Her face lit up like a Christmas tree and she went along with her walk around the block, behind her pram with the teddy bear.

I used to feel sorry for her. I’m not so sure now. She might be happier than I am.

Can we update old sayings?

There's this Dutch saying about birds in May:
'In mei legt iedere vogel een ei': "In May every bird lays an egg".

I think this saying needs updating. First of all, I'm pretty sure that it isn't true. I don't think male birds will lay an egg. And many birds will lay more than one egg.

What I do think applies to every bird, at least all birds in my vicinity, is that they s@#t more in May. But why oh why do they always have to do that on my car?