I suppose it's not peculiarly British to punish miscreants with silence. If she won't discuss and won't ignore, I suspect she'd not listen to apologies either. Been there.

I assume you know that solder contains a lot of lead (or used to, I think modern versions are lead free). Before using it, I think I'd boil some water in it and send it for testing (you can usually find labs in the Yellow Pages since this is a concern with lead plumbing).

To you, sodder.

Maybe they've always wondered what wild (as opposed to farmed) baby chickadee tastes like.

In my experience, there's no point in eating them unless they've been drowned in cognac.

Hey, someone said that to me one time, but it was because of the bad smell.

My department has just spent tens of millions doing just that.

So, was there a table available?

Ah yes, weren't Siemens also the architects of the failed new system for the passport office in the UK?

v

[edit: my simple little pay-as-you-go mobile phone is a Siemens, and I'm most happy with it ]

Yup. With the proviso that we give it up by 8 for an incoming reservation, which was nonsense. We ended up staying until 8:30, schmoozing with the women at the next table who had been at the same trade show we had, as had quite obviously to me many of the other patrons. The bar was very crowded though.

They make pretty decent MRIs. Partly because they appoint engineers and scientists to senior positions. By contrast, GE is filled with MBAs who don't know their arses from their elbows.

So, while it is not a premium rate, there is that annoying kick-back to the business owner.

And I made my 0870 call to find that their bloody systems are down and they couldn't check my problem of modem non-receipt. Told me to call back - I suspect because they are in Indian somewhere

v

You should observe the cunning use of the words national rate.

The National Rate charge is about 7p per minute.

The Local Rate charge is about 2.5p per minute.

So even if your supplier is in London, you will pay the same amount you would pay if he were in Wolverhampton. And of the extra 4.5p you're paying, almost all of that goes into your supplier's pocket.

The important thing about this is that (I guess) most people just don't know. It's a scam introduced by BT to increase their revenue without telling people. It's noteworthy that if you go into BT's website at www.bt.com, nowhere do they publish any of their call rates. I wonder why not


Oh, and another thing. Note how many of these 0870 numbers have hugely long voice messages leading into a long series of option menus. These will keep you on the phone longer, and the people you're calling get their revenue per minute that they keep you on the phone !!!!!

I am going to start a campaign. Whenever I talk to a new potential supplier, I'll ask them for their customer services number. If it's 0870, I'll just tell them I won't do business with them, and I'll tell them why.

for the sake of 4.5p?

if you get that worked up over 4.5p, you're gonna give yourself a heart attack...

But if I make 17,562 calls at an average of 3.236 minutes, then I will have saved £2,557.38, which is nearly enough to pay for a meal for six at Gordon Ramsay's. Now surely that is worth a heart attack or two.

:triumphant:

they're certainly not in me. wait, let me check. nope, not in me. shashi kapoor, maybe? lots of room in him.

Oops

They are in India - I asked next time I spoke to them. And got the modem today but kitten concerns got in the way of attempting to install it. The outcome will almost certainly be that broadband won't work on this computer which will be the incentive to buy a much-needed new one. My current internet connection stops functioning in 2 days time so there may be an interregnum of silence....

v

Hey, I sent that to Pim in the first place.

v

He did indeed.

thanks much kiku.

...must...have....more.....

A very strange thing: I sent it to 4 people at work, including my boss. 3 loved it. The 4th could get it to load on her computer. So we tried going directly to Pim's blog and loading it from there. No joy.

So she sent the link to her home and tried opening from there. No joy. Tried from Pim's blog. No joy.

So what do the puzzle experts think of that?

v