I have my first Coast to Coast injury. I was just taking toast out from under the grill at breakfast time yesterday and something went at the bottom of my back. I don't know what caused it, but whilst the toast was the trigger it seems unlikely that it was the cause. I could have pulled something in the gym Friday, or it could be bedroom related, or it could be old age. More likely it is a repetitive strain injury caused by a week of washing the pots by hand. That's it. I blame the dishwasher, I've never really got on with it, and last week after a couple of engineer visits it was condemned. So until we've selected and had fitted a replacement it's washing up by hand or dining on take-aways. And I can't push that too far because Carol doesn't trust food that has been cooked by strangers. I regard this as a compliment in favour of my cooking.
The injury wasn't initially so bad that it stopped me walking. I popped a couple of pain killers, rubbed on some muscle relief and set out for my long Saturday walk as usual. It was an enjoyable if slightly testing afternoon actually. With the snow-thaw well underway the already sludgy fields had turned into mushy slushy swamps, and for a change I had selected a route that was almost entirely off tarmac. Good exercise, although I was pleased to get home. During the walk I developed a nagging pain in my foot, and the condition of my back had not been improved by exercising. I'm not worried about the foot. It's sure to be too much walking on hard surfaces or over-correction to ease my back injury. By last night though the back had almost entirely seized up and I was popping codeine just to help me get comfortable in any position. This is not good.
Not such a good week then, with a few niggles. Some may consider my resulting mood to be a return to normal after several weeks of persistent optimism and upbeatness (?). To set my week off I had another run-in with my TV, phone and Internet provider. Please read on to see if you can make the link between this and Coast to Coast.
A couple of months ago we changed our provider. For many years we had been with the one where you need a dish on the side of the house, and were pretty satisfied. The service gave us everything we needed, it rarely broke down, and when it did they were generally helpful and quick to fix. Then I was seduced by the witty advertising interplay between the record breaking athlete and the famous airline executive, and the promise of the best way to watch TV in the world ever. I should have known better. After all, I was a victim of NTL in the bad old days.
Anyway, after making the mistake of calling overseas to family at Christmas (humbug) and running up a bigger than average telephone bill, in their wisdom my provider decided to act in order to protect me. To prevent me from running up a large debt they blocked some of my services so that I couldn't spend any more money. What I found out is that this protection in fact stops me making any telephone calls at all, even ones that are free as part of the package for which I have already paid in advance. The only number I can dial gets me through to them, which has been kind of handy this week. In addition, this protection not only stops me spending any more on movies but it also blocks all On Demand TV, even services that are free or for which I have already paid in advance.
All I have to do to stop them protecting me is to hand over a large wodge of cash that is enough to pay off not only my entire telephone bill but also cover in advance for my base services until sometime in March. It is indeed a very neat scheme. In addition to the clear benefits to me it also boosts their cash flow. I think it's what they call a win-win.
Despite this I politely declined to make an advance payment and so will continue to receive protection until my direct debit is paid in a few weeks. I was then advised that they will go on charging me for the services I am not receiving. I feel well and truly protected.
The moral of this story is: Not all that glitters is gold. You have been warned.
And the connection to Coast to Coast is ..... Backs. I hurt my back, and this was the straw that broke the camel's back! Well almost. Whilst I can claim some sort of moral victory by resisting their demands with menaces, I have in reality retreated with my tail somewhat between my legs. Faced with a hefty cancellation fee and the hassle of changing providers yet again I threatened but in the end stopped short of using the ultimate sanction.
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