Monday's posting - late!

Not a good day, not at all a good day. Today I feel very much at the mercy of my emotions.  The roller coaster is definitely on a downward journey right now and I’m in the first car not particularly enjoying the ride.

I woke up with a headache and it hasn’t really gone. It’s right there at the back of everything.  I ate a calorific, carbohydrate-laden breakfast which is not a good way for me to start a day when I already feel fat. (Is it strange for me to talk about this stuff – don’t other people wake up like this?  Am I weird? I know I’m self-obsessed but that’s another story.) I figured I would deal with some of the paperwork details that are outstanding so I printed out my tax submission and phoned them to check that I owe nothing more.  Great – all fine there.  Then I phoned my insurance company to make a claim for my scratched glasses – success!

In mid-conversation my phone went dead, my internet connection died and then I had to search my house for a phone book to find out the fault reporting number for the phone company.  Phone books? What phone books – get rid of them we said, we have internet, we said, we’ll never need them.  Hah! Try finding the right people to talk to without the internet.  I phoned a number I found on my bill (on my mobile phone at exorbitant rates) and got through to an automated repair line that kept telling me my home phone line, dead as a dodo, was busy and to call later. Frustration was building by the expensive minute.  Eventually got through to an Indian man in a call centre in Bangalore and after another expensive conversation he finally announced that he knew what my problem was – I needed to report a fault and he would have to transfer me to the correct person. Brilliant! Eventually, I reported the fault to a human being, not an automated line and was told to do the following before they would deal with the fault:

Find the box where the phone line enters my house. Done.

On the box there are two screws – Yes, found these.

Unscrew the two screws and take the cover off the box – HUH? Total panic! Find the screw drivers, crouch down in a dimly lit corner of the room. Try desperately to see the screws and finally, after much painful bending and contorting, the screws are off and the box cover off.

Replug the phone into the secondary connection point and see if it works there.  Nope.

Well then, madam, the fault is in the street and we will text you to let you know when it will be fixed.

This whole episode upset me much more than it merited. This is how I know this has not been a good day. Anxiety, distress and headache all in one afternoon feels pretty bad, plus an appetite that could enter the Olympics and compete against nations, all add up to much self-pity and woe is me.

My phone and internet will not be working for at least the next 36 hours, so I will post this late.  I am going to bed. I am calling a stop to this day. I have had enough. I feel awful. I am not spending anytime today re-framing this and turning it into a positive experience.

“It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to.”