November 2010 diary

At the moment I feel that the world is against us.

We have still had no joy from our insurance office in spite of telephoning Mme Talons on a daily basis last week (just 3 days as Monday was a holiday and she does not work on a Friday).

We went to our Bank on the Friday 5th November and spoke with our ‘conseillere’ Mme Sourire who was expressed her disgust with what was happening with our insurers. We explained the predicament we were in what with the extra taxes we have to pay this year on top of dipping into our fioul money to pay the builder. We have no heating in the house at the moment and it is getting colder and colder.

God bless Mme Sourire, she did no more than telephone the insurers and advise that they would be receiving a fax to be put on Mme Talons desk for Monday morning.

At last, someone who is willing to help us sort out this mess.

Mme Sourire said for us to give her a call if we receive nothing within two weeks…..

And so the weekend looked good.

We were invited to a lovely Anniversaire meal with some French friends on Saturday night, had a lovely relaxing Sunday and then…..

Monday morning …. 8th November

We had a violent storm – short and sharp – and it not only gave us a power cut but took out the telephone line…..

I phoned France Telecom helpline via my mobile and got very angry at listening to a 5 minute message repeated very quickly. Now this is costing me money!! Free from a landline – yeah but I don’t have a functioning land line!!

I got angry, very angry and just wanted to speak with someone in a language that I am fluent in and they are also – i.e. English!

I phoned again in the afternoon, when I had calmed down, and eventually spoke to a young woman who confirmed that my line was inactive and that an engineer would call either Tuesday or Wednesday.

By 5.30 Wednesday no one arrived….. Armistice Day on Thursday …..

As I said I feel that the world is against us!

I am writing this Wednesday evening – will finish it on Friday and maybe even post it on Friday!!!

Friday……

Yesterday was Armistice Day. I did remember the fallen in both wars, especially my Grandfather who lost his life on May 16th 1915 in Normandy.

When I was a ‘youngster’ I would, with my family, visit the local War Memorial and leave a poppy on a cross on Remembrance Sunday. My Grandfathers name is inscribed on that war memorial which has a beautiful bronze statue of a soldier.

I would ask my Father if that was a statue of Granddad… he would squeeze my hand and smile…. It makes me sad as my Father never knew his Father – my Father was born in July 1915.

The weather is still foul, very high winds and lots of rain; at least there is water in the river now!

Had a visit from a French Immobilier this morning. He is a guy that we have known a long time and has been selling property all his working life. He arrived and we went through all the necessary regarding the size of the property, what renovation had been done, why we want to sell etc… He is a very charming man and will let us know his valuation next week.

He also mentioned that the 1st house in our little hamlet had been flooded 10 years ago.

Now this is interesting; When our (new) neighbours enquired of Mme (pre purchase) whether the house was ever flooded she said ‘No, never, never, no!’ I have also heard from a French friend as well as one of Mme’s nephews that the house had been flooded in the past. We have been here 9 years and have seen the river rise very quickly and cover the meadow until it looks like a lake – a stunning sight – then drop again. But it has not, apparently, reached the proportions of 10 years ago. Will the weather bring the river up to levels of 10 years ago this winter? It will be interesting to see as we have had no flooding to speak of for 3 years now.

And so, back to the saga of the telephone. It turns out that in our little hamlet all the phones are out, our neighbour Gilles had reported his line went down on Wednesday, two days after ours. I phoned France Telecom just after lunch today (no good phoning during) and spoke to a charming young man who said that our line would be fixed aujourdhui, après-midi….. I verbally confirmed what he had said and ‘Oui Madame, aujourdhui, après-midi’. I thanked him.

Ha!!! He was having a laugh!!!

So it is Friday evening and we have no telephone or internet.

We also have no cheque from the insurance company……………..

Grrrrrrrr.

Gilles telephone line went back on Saturday afternoon. He phoned FT for us and they confirmed that ours would be fixed Monday.

Monday 15th arrived. I phoned FT in the morning to confirm that the line would be fixed. The advisor told me that it was a collective problem and that I would have a line by 6.00 pm.

Wrong!

I have phoned today (Tuesday 16th ) nine days now since losing the line. Spoke again to another guy and guess what – he spoke and understood English!! I explained that I had been promised a line on three separate occasions and that I was still without a telephone line after 9 days.

He will get back to me.

And so the saga continues.

Still no cheque from the insurance company.

Wednesday 17th

Phoned FT again this morning and was told, again, that it is a collective problem, yes I said I know. My neighbour lost his line last Wednesday and it was reinstated on Saturday and I am still waiting since Monday 8th, she paused then said that I must be patient. I said I have been patient, she paused again and apologised saying that it would be fixed soon.

And I am fed up having to update my spell-check to UK English from American English!

I also phoned Mme Talon at the insurance office – there is a letter on the way!

I go to the UK to visit family on Friday and I am travelling with friends rather than solo.

I need the break but would like all these niggles resolved before I leave if not I will be leaving my husband to cope with it all. He is not happy at the prospect as I am the one who manages better with the language.

Thursday 18th
Phoned the English helpline and got through fairly rapidly.

I spoke with a charming young man and explained the sorry saga of my non-functioning telephone line.

At least I wasn’t stumbling through the explanation in my inadequate French and I could understand him perfectly! (hmm I wonder if BT has non-English helplines?)

I asked why it was taking so long and what the problem was. I also explained that my French neighbour lost his line on the Wednesday and that it was restored on the Saturday!

The explanation was that there was a power surge on the Wednesday afternoon that severely damaged the telephone relay equipment. We didn’t have a storm on Wednesday afternoon – if I remember rightly it rained a bit but nothing drastic!

The upshot is that we have to wait another 72 hours (that takes us up to Saturday) and I won’t be here.

The guy I spoke to was very helpful but when push comes to shove it is all out of his hands – he is only the go-between (Hmm, but he did ask me if I had internet connection).

Now I have a theory about this.

We lost our line Monday morning due to a storm. I let FT know Monday afternoon and I was told that it would be repaired Wednesday. I think that the Engineer sent to fix the problem possibly caused a greater one by damaging the equipment he was working on. I might be wrong but you never know!

Letter from insurers has not arrived today. Went to the UK on the 19th November.

Arrived back home late on the 29th November, leaving the snow behind in the UK and Normandy.

Whilst I was away my husband dealt with FT and eventually an engineer arrived on Friday 26th, checked the internal phone sockets, checked the connection to the house, checked the line back to the junction box. He then ran a new line through to the house, re-checked the sockets; hey presto! It is fixed!! We can phone out and receive calls again.

Why on earth they couldn’t have done that in the first place I will never know, engineers and the way they work are a mystery to me.

Letter arrived from insurance company, they need an invoice. They have had an invoice but the wrong type. They need a detailed invoice which has now been prepared. I will forward it to them and see what happens next….

Still waiting………soon be Christmas