Grumpy Old Man ?

For the second day in a row I find myself complaining. I wonder if this is all about the ageing process and grumpiness becomes 'de rigeuer' ? Let's hope not.
Today it's about Telstra, the 51% government controlled telco and the largest in Australia. Four years ago we moved into a new home in an up-market suburb on Brisbane's northside. We felt it was safe to assume (makes an ass out of 'u' and 'me') that cable would have been laid in such an area and consequently that both Pay TV and Broadband high speed internet access would be available. Not so. The privilege of Pay TV came with the cost of a dish on the roof and a premium of 10% above the monthly rates we paid in our previous cabled home.
However, it has been the daily reminderof our lowly status as 'dial-up' customers when working at a speed of 28.8 Kbps that has really irked. Technology has, it appears, prevailed and after having had an application in for over three years we were advised six months ago that we could expect ASDL 'soon'. A call from Bigpond last month was reason for celebration...we would be connected late May or early June. The new modem arrived last Tuesday and that evening I studied the manual and put in the disc to follow the assured simple process of 'activation'. Silly me for believing them. At 3.30 AM I gave up in exhaustion as one of the blessed lights on the modem remained obstinately orange. No technical advice from Telstra's Bigpond at this ungodly hour! At 8.00 AM on Wenesday the most helpful Belinda from technical support spent 30 minutes on the phone with me trying all sort of wierd inputs to get it going. She surrended with the observation that the problem was unusual and she would leave a computer note for another technician to investigate and report.
Apparently, someone forgot to 'put in the code' at Bigpond. "Put them in and I will get going" I said. "Sorry" she said "it requires one week for the protocol to be implemented" she said.
I have had to be reconnected to 'dial-up'. I continue now at 28.8 Kbps.
'Grumpy"...a. morosely irritable, surly. (Concise Oxford Dictionary)
Can you blame me?

F**F**F**

I am a "frustrated frequent flyer". QANTAS, the "flying kangaroo", has urged me to increase my horde of FF points through the use of credit cards and the like and indeed, to use them to fly happily around Australia and the world. Well, let me tell you, I tried. It seemed a good idea for our trip to France next year.
A return flight to London is advised as 250,000 points for the both of us. Having just 205,000 accrued to date, I opted for a one-way journey at 128,000 points.We thought a stop-over in Hong Kong would suit us very nicely. Think again. Keep in mind that this is April next year we are talking about...nearly 10 months away!
I spent literally hours on the Net seeking to find flights within a 14 day window in mid-April. It was impossible.
Once you get to Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific comes into play and the rules change and points required increase. For every option I chose from flights offered on screen, the recurring message was "no longer available, choose again". Is it simpler to just buy a ticket and fly away? It probably is. ( I had to pay $400 for fuel levys and so on anyway.) It seems to me that if we all bought tickets, QANTAS FF partners , who rely on us to spend to earn points, would lose significant custom. It is time for QANTAS to think again.
I might add we could not get our stop-over. The only flight offered was virtually direct to London with a few hours break in Los Angeles!
We will try for a stop-over in Hong Kong on the way home. We will have enough points in a month or so for the one-way trip. The airline must adore us F**F**S**'s..."frequent flyer suckers."

Where To Start ?

Donna and I are in our early 60's and retired from full-time work just over 3 years ago. We live on the northside of Brisbane and to date have travelled over much of Australia. It is time to spread our wings a little further and this journal is intended to follow the preparations for,and the notable events experienced in , our planned sorties into Europe.
Our first trip commences on 19 Jul 2005 where we will follow the Australia Cricket team on its defence of 'The Ashes' in England. This adventure includes visits to Ireland,France and Singapore. We return to Australia on 21 August 2005.
The second trip is a 3 month stay in the rural south of France in the Languedoc Region. It is proposed we will stay during the Spring months of April and May followed by June in early Summer.
Our plans have demanded attention to budget, transportation, language, internet searches, emails, and endless phone calls. The plan is set,its hatching should be interesting.!