Things to try the patience of a Saint!!

Telstra/Bigpond, need I say more. Well, yes indeedy I do. On the downside of living in Australia, these interlinked companies would be top of the list in 36 font sized letters. To recap, when I bought my new laptop and found I could go on broadband I asked the Telstra people at the shop, which plan would be good comparing my useage on dial up to a new plan. A 400 MB plan was decided upon given that was twice as much as I had been using and I went merrily along my way. In fact, by the time I had downloaded whatever needed to be done to kickstart the new laptop, I started getting nasty emails saying I had exceeded my plan by 250%. I then rang Bigpond to increase to 1G being the next step up. More nasty emails saying I had use over 750% - another phone call and it transpired that I had not been changed over at all - arrrrhhhhh. During that conversation, the person on the other end changed me to 1G but during the process said I had already gone over that and 3G would be better, OK I said - do it. You think that that would have worked!!! but wait there's more.

It would seem you can only change useage amounts once during a billing period (mine ends on Nov 7th) so the change to 3G did not go through - no one let me know that however so I merrily continued to use broadband and ended up with another email re another 250% over usage. Cleared the decks to contact them again this morning (you need to allow at least an hour from initial dial up on the phone until you complete a call - most of the time taken up with pressing ph buttons following robot commands!!) and eureka, got someone called Charlene, who could speak English and had a good grasp of what was going on. She explained what had happened and why I had not been changed over to 3G but then came the kicker - my bill is up to $400 with the over useage (small choke and heart arrythmia due to shock while I assimilated this information). As Iwas seeing my life flash before my eyes, she then said she would send me documentation to put a request in to nullify the extra charges and said only to pay the actual plan cost while my claim was sorted - can take up to 3 months!!!!! Charlene then put soothing classical music on while she wrote up our conversation and the path my attempts to get the correct plan had taken. She then suggested I not use my internet until the 7th (immediate close down and removal of wireless connection) and told me that since I had initially rung re the 3G plan, there is now a 5G plan for the same cost and she has noted that to go through for me on the 7th. She has also given me two direct dial numbers to follow this up should it not go through on that date. Bless. This is a very long winded way of saying that there will no be more Skype until next Sunday!!!!!! I did get one small comment in about the difference in NZ where I had broadband, unlimited useage for $39 month!!! Memories.....

I will only be using the laptop this week to play mahjong on, LOL and to maybe figure out how the rest of the new programs work which will not be a bad thing either. Just as well that I also got to talk to sister Kay, Mum and another friend from NZ last night for a good catch up with all their news.

Had a fairly laid back weekend - I was quite tired and slept most of Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon - mind you I had been reading late both nights, LOL and have finished two books since Wednesday. Went to Morawa with the WMH and several of the girls on Saturday for a bit of a grocery stock up - slowly perused the shelves and got some interesting bits and pieces. The WMH got me to get a bag of green apple licorice and OMG is it delicious (and fat free, LOL) After our shopping we decided to stop in the only cafe/bakery in town to have a coffee and to pretend we were like real people for a change, LOL and had a delicious cappucino and a home made pie. I seldom eat pies, and never a mass produced one anymore, so it was a nice change.

On the way, I finally got to see one of the camels that live on a farm not far from our end of the trip. I missed seeing the snake that crossed the road. Have come to the conclusion - I keep looking for something the size of an anaconda - at least as thick as my arm, when in reality the snakes are often pencil thin and quite small. It was a bad day for birds as several flew into the car and became ex birds - felt like I was in an Alfred Hitchcock film after the 5th one!!! The best part of the trip was seeing two fairly large, wedge tail eagles just sitting in a tree on the side of the road. We backed the vehicle up to try and getsome photos but got just that little bit too close and they flew off. It was only by chance that I noticed them as they were sitting on a dead tree and it must have been a small movement that caught my eye. We had seen a black cockatoo on the way with it's distinctive red wedge of colour in it's tail so a good amount of livestock was seen on the journey.

Am off to Mullewa this afternoon to drop one of our girls off at the bus stop. She is our only year 12 and has finished for the year. Have some pickups to do as well and will get this weeks mags to go on with. It's morning tea so will grab a coffee, catch you later.