Woops! No internet

(30th August 2012 Signing on at 17:36)

A little earlier today, at about 15:30, I finished preparing tea, and so I came upstairs to do a little “writing.” I can’t remember why, but I went to check something on the internet. The internet wasn’t working. For a change, the error message was absolutely unequivocal; the problem is between the router and the exchange. I went downstairs to look at the router. The indicator lights agreed with the status report. I restarted the router, this did not bring about any improvement. OK, it looked like I was going to have to talk to Eircom. It had all been working perfectly earlier in the day. I wondered what had gone wrong? I picked up the phone, and there was no dialling tone. I thought that was significant. I wondered if I might be able to see anything so I went to the front gate, and looked down the road in the direction of the exchange. There was a small knot of people, some of whom I recognised as my immediate next door neighbours. It was obvious that something had happened or was still in the process of happening. As I was wearing carpet slippers I went back inside and changed my footwear for boots.

When I walked down to the group of people it became clear what had happened: there had been a car crash and the car had demolished a telephone pole before coming to rest in the grounds of the COPE foundation. To get there it had vaulted a two-foot high wall. It must have been travelling at a fair speed. I’m glad I wasn’t walking out there when it happened!

It appears that the car had been stolen and the driver (and at least one other person) left the scene on foot. I’m glad that nobody (especially innocent passers by) has been injured, but I hope that those responsible are caught and punished.

As there was nothing useful to do at the scene I said that I would go and report the problem to Eircom. Their problem logging system is automated, so it was a bit frustrating going through the problem determination procedure when I knew that the problem was broken wires in the road outside (and could even tell them exactly where the pole was down).

Since then the Gards have been. The scene has been photographed and measured. The wife of the owner of the car has been and viewed the carnage and the car has been collected by a wrecking truck. I have even seen an Eircom engineer looking at the damaged pole (which is horizontal). The automated machine said that the normal standard of service was three days. I don’t know how long it will take them to erect a new pole and do whatever is necessary to the wires.

I have a small problem which I will try and sort out tomorrow. Where can I find an internet connection? This is important, because I have been contacted about work, but I can’t reply (eMail) the inquirer, because I don’t have any connection to the internet. What a nuisance!  Still, it’s an opportunity to demonstrate my resilience.

(Signing off  538 words, 1 page)