Biding time

Woke up. Switched the internet wotsit off and on again. Nope. Fred is the Keeper of the internet, so he started troubleshooting from Inverness. At one point he had me on Facetime, the internet company on chat and a chap coming in to help him dismantle the kitchen arriving all at once. The internet company promised to send an engineer within 48 hours. 

I tried working using my phone as a hotspot, which worked to a point, but no use for uploading and downloading, or video meets. I resorted to ringing the designer like in the olden days. We couldn't see each other's faces! (I didn't need to brush my hair!) 

At one point, I got so frustrated by the non-connection that I gave up and had to lie down to calm down. Right at that moment, the doorbell rang and the internet engineers came to the rescue. They quickly realised that I had no idea what package we were on on if there was more than one box – I rang "the husband". I must try harder to be more of a woman of the times. When I said this, one of the engineers said "my mum wouldn't know either". Mum. Sometimes, I am surprised that I am indeed the age of someone who could have a child the age of this engineer! He also surprised me by calling me Sophie. He then asked if he could speak to Tom. Speaking to Fred later, I said it was uncanny that he called us by the names of our neighbours upstairs. It has since dawned on me that as an internet engineer he spotted "TomandSophieWifi" on the WiFi list. Maybe I don't look like someone who has "QuizzicalToaster" as their WiFi name.

It turned out that the outside cable needed to be replaced and strengthened. I asked if it was squirrel damage, thinking of yesterday's fountain incident, but no rodents were to blame this time – just wear and tear. However, the engineer said that squirrels are often the culprits.

The internet is back! I'm horrified on how much I rely on it.

Fred showed me around the Inverness kitchen – now completely bare bones. One of the joists was very wet so he's glad he stripped everything back. Now to dry it out and decide on which insulation to use.