It’s been a quiet week compared to normal. I haven’t heard anything from the copyright trolls but I doubt I have heard the last of them.
I have 2 dogs. Both were OK with fireworks until about 3 years ago. There is a school nearby and they have a fireworks display. They hold it in their playing fields which are probably no more than 75 to 100 metres away from our street. It was never really an issue until 3 years ago when they decided to get industrial size fireworks. You could feel the house shaking and it was more like a war zone than a happy family event.
The dogs freaked out. Also these days it isn’t just November 5th. They go on for about 3 weeks. The dogs won’t go anywhere near the garden to pee and poo. They will happily go out for a walk but as soon as a big firework goes off they are pulling to get home. Evenings used to be spent on the sofa with one dog pressed up against my left side while the other is trying to get on my lap. They are both around 30kg. Now that we have new leather sofas they are not allowed on them so I end up sitting on their dog bed with them.
Just when it seems to be quiet outside I try to get them outside to empty their bladders but within 2 seconds of my opening the door a firework goes off and there’s no way they’re going out.
I have found that if I put the radio on in the kitchen and have it turned up quite loud it blocks almost all the fireworks. We haven’t had many of the really big ones yet though I’m not sure if the school have their display this weekend or next. I’ll be taking the dogs out after midnight for the next week or so as well as their usual longer walk during the afternoon.
I have had a bit of hassle with my phone this week. I have only had it for 3 months and the bluetooth is acting up. It will connect to the car but then disconnects once a minute and reconnects which cuts off the sound for 2 or 3 seconds. I have spent hours trawling google for solutions. Its a Huawei P Smart. They seem to have given it to some students as a project so try some new things with it. Not a bad thing to try something new but some things just didn’t work out as they expected. For example there was just 1 volume setting. For everything. Calls, ringtones, media etc were all controlled by 1 slider. To be fair they have now corrected that with an update and there are now 4 sliders.
When you find what might be a solution to a problem it is usually the case that the menu path you are told to follow doesn’t come close to what you see on this phone.
I tried Vodafone’s support chat. The first guy, Rohit, asked me to remove the sim card, clean it and leave the phone off “for some time”. Not surprisingly that didn’t change anything but you have to jump through their hoops if you’re going to get anything sorted. The next day I tried again. This time it was Sanjit ( or was it Sunil?). Anyway he told me to follow these steps. Turn on the car’s bluetooth. I told him that I was not in the car but if he gave me the steps I would try them. He gave me a few other basic instructions and it dawned on me that he was just telling me how to connect a phone to the car’s bluetooth!
“Now, are we connected to the car?”.
I told you that I am not in the car. Are you seriously just telling me how to connect my phone?
“Yes. That should sort your problem. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
I won’t type out my reply as it might seem like I was a little rude. I have had 20 years of the complete bollox that Vodafone call customer service. When things are set up their products are excellent but God help you if you need an actual person to get involved. I actually use it to my advantage. They ALWAYS screw something up. Last year I moved my broadband to them. I already have mine and my wife’s mobiles with them. They offered me a good deal as a long term customer. By the time they had lost my order twice, left the 40Meg cap on the line and cocked up my request to keep the same land line number they also realised they had left me on the wrong price plan. I ended up telling them that I would accept the contract if I got the 70Meg connection for the price of the 40Meg. They agreed. £15 a month for 70 Meg ( and I get 70 Meg).
Anyway after a lot of chasing up they finally agreed to send my phone off for repair so I am back on my old iphone until it comes back. If it comes back. I can’t believe how small the iphone SE is and that I managed with it for 2 years.
The fireworks have just cranked up a gear. I’d better get on the dog bed.
