IT’S 1940 ALL OVER AGAIN

It’s like living in 1940. I can listen to the radio but cannot use my television or my computer.

It all started last evening, after returning from a birthday party for a dear friend., I tried to turn on the TV and, behold, a framed message from Comcast informed me that my service was interrupted and to call their 888 number. The last time I tried that, I waited over thirty minutes to reach a human being, and I was too tired to go through that Mickey Mouse procedure last night. So, this morning, bright and early, I got through, almost immediately. I was instructed by a very earnest and patient woman customer service person that I needed to get the serial number off all three of my digital adapters, a recent addition to my television sets. Comcast in the middle of June made these adapters a necessity to get the full range of channels. Since we were away for the summer and my TVs were “on vacation”, I didn’t have these adapters installed until our return in September. Two surly types came a couple of weeks ago and installed these gadgets, as if they were doing me a big favor, working me into their busy schedule.

Back to today, I barely had time to drink my black coffee, an absolute necessity to get my old body working. I shuffled from one room to two others, trying to read the microscopic serial numbers on the bottom of these 2 1/2” adapters, finally resorting to a magnifying glass to decipher them. The patient lady said it could be defective adapters or, possibly, the cable to my house may be in bad shape. I’m rooting for defective adapters, which will be gratis, whereas a worn-out cable will be at my expense. She then said she would have technicians come to our house tomorrow, the earliest they could come. I bowed to the inevitable.

I then went to my computer and was able to check my mail online. Among other messages was an email from our lawyer in U.K. that I needed to refill some forms regarding the sale of our house there and that then the deal could be consummated. I barely had time to answer her and thank her when my computer cut out. and I have been unable, all day, to use it. I tried all the old tricks of pulling the plugs on the router and the modem and then, after three minutes, reconnecting them---to on avail. So, the Comcast man will have double duty, and I’ll probably get stuck with an invoice, anyway.

Tonight, my wife and I will have conversations over a drink, as is our usual wont, and then, after dinner, we’ll talk some more and read. I can think of worse ways to spend an evening a good old-fashioned way