After The Rant

I have mentioned before that there had only been two books in my life that I have not finished reading. The first was James Joyce’s ‘Finnegan’s Wake’, because I couldn’t fathom it; the second was ‘Mort d’Arthur’ by Sir Thomas Mallory because it bored me. I have now managed a third for a combination of the two reasons.

‘Meditations’ by Rene Descartes was so difficult and boring that I did not continue with ‘& Other Writings’ in my Folio Society edition. What I did seem to understand was that this philosophical thinker trusted no perception other than his thought, except that he accepted God as a given. He didn’t trust his senses until he had done them to death inside his head. It did my head in. In fairness, better brains than mine have kept the work in print for almost 400 years. I finally abandoned it last night and began Jonathan Dimbleby’s ‘The Battle of The Atlantic’, which at least promises to flow.

I spent most of the morning trying to unravel my phone problems without becoming too twisted up myself. Do you know, I think Descartes is more comprehensible than our conglomerate corporations.

After going through all the usual hoops, my first call to O2 resulted in my being informed that my long term phone number had been transferred to my new SIM and superseded the temporary one I was given yesterday. The conversation ended abruptly. I cannot say why.

I couldn’t use the new phone which now bore the legend ‘Not registered in network’. I couldn’t even call O2 on it. I wondered if a fuse had blown. It had. Mine.

Using the landline I went through the hoops again and, of course, spoke to a second advisor. He told me that the transfer from business to personal account would take 48 hours. In the meantime I could use the old number on the new phone. I couldn’t. One of the comments this man had made was that if I could try my old SIM card in any phone that it would fit, it should work. I took that card out of the broken phone in order to try it in Jackie’s mobile. I dropped it on the floor. In attempting to pick it up, my lady shot it under the sofa. It’s amazing how much fluff you find when you have to shift a sofa bed.

It didn’t fit Jackie’s phone. I tried a third call to O2. This, once again new, advisor, when quoting my numbers, mentioned one I didn’t recognise. You’ve guessed it. My number had been transferred to the wrong account. This was quite different to either my old or my temporary numbers. Having reversed all this, he told me this would now take four hours to activate.

I will acknowledge that it was difficult to do so through gritted teeth, but I observed that I had been an O2 customer for 30 years and expected better expedition than that. He promised to call me back as soon as he could.

This rant over, I gathered a few more prospective prints for The First Gallery Exhibition. Here is a sample:

table top 23.9.15

This table top illustrates The Head Gardener’s propensity for purchasing suitable item’s from Efford Recycling Centre.

raindrops on sweet pea 23.9.15

The end of September 2015 was quite wet, as shown by these raindrops on sweet peas.

Frozen pond 1

On 19th January this year, a brief freeze gave an abstract quality to the Waterboy’s pool.

Sunrise

Sunrises, like this on 6th April 2015, are often wonderfully dramatic.

Gardener's Rest

By 27th September 2014, The Head Gardener’s Rest had been installed;

Poppies by Jackie 3

on 29th June, when taking this photograph, she had set these poppy seed heads against the red Japanese maple.

bee on cosmos 29.9.15

Here a furry little bee plunders a cosmos.

Despite the O2 representative’s promise, and the fact that he knew we were leaving for the weekend after his call, he didn”t make it. I therefore made a fourth call and spoke to yet another advisor. Hee had to confer with someone on the other side of the business, and put me on hold for a while. I was put through to a young lady who explained that they were working on it at the moment, and it should be resolved shortly. I would receive a call when it was done. I could safely take the new mobile with me. I said this was the second such promise I had received today and asked whether I could trust it. She assured me that I could and that it had been a pleasure talking to me.

Later this afternoon, Jackie will drive us to Leatherhead for the annual family evening watching her cousin Pat O’Connell’s direction of Gilbert and Sullivan. This evening’s choice is ‘The Grand Duke’.

All I can tell you about dinner is that it will be taken at an Italian restaurant before the performance.

 

 

64 comments

  1. sorry you had those challenges – includes Descartes – but it made for an entertaining post. And the pictures are lovely — especially Bee and Cosmos. Descartes might have gotten the bigger meaning of that — on second thought, maybe Wordsworth or Blake.

  2. I feel your pain. I’m seriously thinking of ditching my mobile phone, I hate the damn thing. Originally purchased to be a convenience to ME, it turns out that it’s a convenience to everyone else – it means I can be contacted at every conceivable moment by anyone who either wants a lift, a moan, to pick up forgotten shopping, to remind me to do something I’m already doing…ugh, putting it down on paper (screen) makes it sound even worse.

    1. Buy a new SIM. Give the number only to those people you’d be happy to hear from – like Derrick 🙂 – and warn your list that it will be switched on only, say, twice a day.
      I even use a PAYG one, and though it costs 8p/min to talk, I pay nothing for rental: it’s miles cheaper.
      You COULD even buy a 2nd SIM and switch it over, periodically checking that the other one has nothing important building up on its voicemail.

  3. I thought that in England those services are better than in Romania. It seems that I was wrong. They are the same everywhere. 🙁

  4. Such a classic first world problem 🙂 I thought there was a reflection of a flying geese (wow!) on the pond but it turned out to be just a leave. It still like that photo best.

  5. Great photos.

    Not keen on mobile phone companies.

    Managed to get through Moby Dick this year, though my patience was tried by the discussions of whale anatomy. Failed with Don Quixote last year (dull and incomprehensible), Mansfield Park a couple of years ago (just couldn’t connect) and War and Peace in the 70s (family tree issues). There have been others but I can’t recall them. It happens. Life is too short to suffer when there are thousands of great books waiting to be read.

    1. Thanks Simon. Quite so. I’m learning. Actually I’ve read all those you mention, except Mansfield Park, but that is because after ‘Pride and Prejudice’ I decided that a writer who didn’t like any of her characters was not for me.

      1. I have decided to absorb my Austen from TV and film. I’d like to see someone give “Don Quixote” the “Death Comes to Pemberley” treatment. 😉

    2. I thought Derrick’s comment about Descartes being clearer than the ethos of most conglomerates ought to be posted on every such boardroom’s wall (always assuming they’ve HEARD of Descartes, or what he stands for, or can pronounce “philosophy”. I mention that here, because I still had that in mind while reading your comment, which I mildly misread [is there a subgroup of poof redders who ADD words to the text, rather than spotting missing ones???]
      Having set up the line about your frustration with mobile phone companies, I thought the next line read “Managed to get through TO Moby Dick this year”. Assuming “Moby Dick” (in this context) to be yet another of those abstrusely clever-clever branded phone-companies, I thought this showed some admirable persistence on your part, if they hadn’t returned your calls after THAT length of time. 🙂

  6. Renee Descartes should have stopped thinking when he first thought ‘I think therefore I am’ because with that statement he proves his thought processes aren’t that great – well that’s my thought anyway! Corporations – grrrrrrrrrrrrr!! Italian food – yummmmmmmmmmmm!! 🙂

  7. Your photos always make me feel better . . . about everything!!! So if I want to rant I just need to come check out your blog, Derrick!

    1. However, in return, YOU’ll have to post some photos, so Derrick has something to look at instead of ranting. That a deal?

  8. The poppy heads before the Japanese maple are wonderful! Take heart – you have a phone, therefore you am. Stick with Aquinas – “How do I know things exist? Kick it.”

  9. We were told at university that Descartes’ “I think therefore I am” had now been proved incorrect so I gave it all up more or less on the spot. Always read what you want to, not what’s supposed to be good for you!

    1. We hardly want to get all deep ‘n’ meanin’ful on here, but: while it’s hardly a catch-all proof that one is alive, it’s hard to dispute that recognizing that you are thinking IS proof that you’re a sentient being (essentially, what Descartes was addressing). It’s a funny University that claims to have disproved THAT!

      1. That said, Derrick, I once submitted myself for a sleep research medical trial. One of the stipulations was not to indulge in substance abuse for 48 hrs beforehand. The advice was: no mayonnaise. What??? Salad cream?? It often contains poppy-seed extract (naturally, poppy-seed bread is another culprit) and, if food companies could get poppy seeds without such effects, i’d guess they would have done so by now.
        So, the next time you see someone in Waitrose* and enormously oversize, you might wonder if they’ve been trying to get high by over-eating poppy-seed bread 🙂
        * archetypally middle-class supermarket chain, in UK [for the understanding of those abroad, where they probably don’t operate]

  10. Ah well, Descartes…Pascal said that the first moral duty is to think clearly. I think you had some clear thoughts and put that book down. Soooooo sorry for your phone issues. Ugh. Customer service is often awful. I was surprised yesterday when your phone wasn’t working when you left the shop…In any event, that bee, like many of your bees, is sweet and huggable looking.

  11. Wow! I really like the looks of those poppy seed heads a lot! I also read a portion of ‘Mort d’Arthur’. I wasn’t really bored, but I didn’t finish it and I have no plans to pick the book up again to finish it. Dink said, “That’s what Spark notes are for.”

  12. Arghh! I hate dealing with such technology challenges and the often infuriating customer service technicians. Of course I would have ended the day with three bottles of hefty IPA and a piece of chocolate cake

  13. The gorgeous photographs just stop my mind from focusing on the other parts of your post, Derrick. The flowers are exquisuting, pristine details. I like the plump bumblebee and hope they never bother you.
    I like light hearted and fun operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan. I hope you had a wonderful evening and weekend. I apologize for falling behind in reading. . .

  14. Lol@how much fluff you find when you shift a sofa bed 🙂
    I’ve read about the progress with your phone. All the best!

    The photos are beautiful.

Leave a Reply