Since receiving the devastating news of our mate Mags' death 10 days ago, my friend Hayley and I have been seeking to have a conversation.
One mild complication has been the fact that Hayley lives in Brisbane, Australia. The more significant difficulty was that the White family's home phones have been on the blink for the past two weeks. (How I've missed those cold calls).
I'm not good with technology, but I tried everything to get them to work.
I turned them on and off. I shuffled the batteries. I pressed their many buttons in every conceivable combination. I swore at them. I even bounced one off a wall. All to no avail.
Last weekend Vanessa and I came to the collective decision to buy some new ones, but didn't quite get round to it. So the plan was to do that this weekend instead. Until last night, that is.
Because, last night, I decided to have a final fiddle with the "main" phone i.e. the one that's plugged into the BT socket thingy.
And guess what?
Got it first time; it wasn't plugged into the BT socket thingy.
So Hayley, if you're reading this, I'll give you a ring first thing tomorrow morning (our time). Make sure you have your phone plugged in.
