The last couple of days seem to have been rather busy ... and have left little or no time to do anything to do with wargames.
It started when our land line went dead. Not a problem in this the day and age of the mobile 'phone ... except that the same cabling system carries our Internet and cable TV service. They were apparently not affected, but we were worried that they might also end up going dead unless the 'phone fault was fixed.
We managed to arrange an appointment for the engineer to make a visit (the appointment 'window' was 8.00am to 12.00pm) and he duly arrived at 11.00am. He managed to trace the fault, which turned out to be a break somewhere in the underground cable between our house and the junction box. Luckily there was a second cable that followed the same route (the legacy of a former business telephone line we previously had), otherwise this might have required part of the road, pavement, or our parking area to be dug up.
Whilst he was here the engineer tested our system, and discovered that some of the equipment that had been installed was no longer compliant with the current regulations, and was actually causing problems that might have affected our Internet and cable TV system in the near future. The 'faulty' components were replaced, and the system now seems to be running as well as it always did.
During the afternoon I attended the 'wake' for the last place that I worked before retiring. (The 'wake' was held in The Brockley Barge, a pub that was located in Brockley, South East London, near to the buildings that had housed Crossways Sixth Form.) The centre was already in financial difficulties when I left, and over the past year and a half things had got worse. It had been unable to recruit enough students to run all the courses it offered, and as the course were cut, fewer students applied for places. The local council decided to 'resolve' the problem (i.e. get rid of it) by handing the whole establishment over to another, more successful post-16 educational organisation. So yesterday Crossways Sixth Form ceased to exist ... and today Aquinas Sixth Form came into existence. Same teaching staff, same students, same building ... just a different management and name.
I wish my former colleagues good luck; I suspect that they are going to need it!
It started when our land line went dead. Not a problem in this the day and age of the mobile 'phone ... except that the same cabling system carries our Internet and cable TV service. They were apparently not affected, but we were worried that they might also end up going dead unless the 'phone fault was fixed.
We managed to arrange an appointment for the engineer to make a visit (the appointment 'window' was 8.00am to 12.00pm) and he duly arrived at 11.00am. He managed to trace the fault, which turned out to be a break somewhere in the underground cable between our house and the junction box. Luckily there was a second cable that followed the same route (the legacy of a former business telephone line we previously had), otherwise this might have required part of the road, pavement, or our parking area to be dug up.
Whilst he was here the engineer tested our system, and discovered that some of the equipment that had been installed was no longer compliant with the current regulations, and was actually causing problems that might have affected our Internet and cable TV system in the near future. The 'faulty' components were replaced, and the system now seems to be running as well as it always did.
During the afternoon I attended the 'wake' for the last place that I worked before retiring. (The 'wake' was held in The Brockley Barge, a pub that was located in Brockley, South East London, near to the buildings that had housed Crossways Sixth Form.) The centre was already in financial difficulties when I left, and over the past year and a half things had got worse. It had been unable to recruit enough students to run all the courses it offered, and as the course were cut, fewer students applied for places. The local council decided to 'resolve' the problem (i.e. get rid of it) by handing the whole establishment over to another, more successful post-16 educational organisation. So yesterday Crossways Sixth Form ceased to exist ... and today Aquinas Sixth Form came into existence. Same teaching staff, same students, same building ... just a different management and name.
I wish my former colleagues good luck; I suspect that they are going to need it!
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You got lucky with the phone line. A few months back we had a problem where the internet dropped but the phone was working so I suspected modem trouble. The ISP disagreed. It turned out we had four cables going into the house so all four were tried. No joy. They had to dig up the front garden and lay new cables to the house. No joy.
ReplyDeleteIt was the modem.....
Arquinsiel,
ReplyDeleteWe were very lucky. Had the second line not be there, they would have had to excavate from our house to the junction box ... and that could have involved digging up the road, which is a major bus route as well as one of the main routes used by drivers to cross from one side of Shooters Hill to the other.
We also suspect that the cable provider's modem is not working properly, but the engineer could not replace it as that is done by a separate department. He did, however, suggest ways in which we could test it other than using the provider's self-test system ... which he implied was not very effective as it did not detect where a fault was, just that one existed.
All the best,
Bob
Bob
ReplyDeleteStorage area looks very good - I am jealous of both the bookcase and the Danger UXB sign!
Cheers
Pd
I suspect that we are all going to be attending more wakes than weddings in the next few years :O)
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean that Aquinus College is now a zombie?
Regards, Chris
Peter Douglas,
ReplyDeleteThe bookcase was bought in IKEA ... and the range it was part of was called Husar!
The Danger UXB sign was bought years ago at the Imperial War Museum, and used to be on display in my old office.
All the best,
Bob
Chris Kemp,
ReplyDeleteI am afraid to say that you are right!
Over the past five years I have been to loads of funerals ... but only two weddings. It is my age, you know.
Aqunias College sounds more like a character from a Harry Potter book ... but could easily be a zombie. (Note to self ... is this a new genre for an aspiring writer to take forward?)
All the best,
Bob