Sunshine and Telephones
I had to mention the sunshine! It seems like forever since we've had any, although I know that objectively, that's not true.
Still, we had hideous weather over the weekend. During the night of Friday to Saturday, there was one of the scariest storms I heard in a long time. I say "heard," because once we close the volets we can't actually see anything without opening them. With the sounds of wind, rain and probably hail coming down the chimney, opening the volets somehow seemed like a bad idea!
Although there wasn't any thunder, the Diva was pretty terrorized. Thank goodness for her Anxiety Wrap, without which, I don't think any of us would have gotten any sleep. As soon as I put it on, she started to relax and within half-an-hour, she was snoring away.
Still, we're very lucky here in the Possum Kingdom. We never lost our power and there was no flooding, although all three rivers looked full and furious. This was a big blow to many around here, as Saturday was the start of Trout fishing season! I don't know how many actually went out, but a fisherman was swept away near Lourdes, so discretion was certainly called for.
Now, for the telephone part of this entry. Following our new accountant's advice, we decided to ask France Telecom to change the name on our phone account to Lofficier Consultants so that we would be able to deduct part our calls from our taxes. It sounded like a cunning plan.
What we didn't realize, was that by doing that, we went from the residential services to the commercial services. This wouldn't have been a problem, exept for the fact that we had a faboo calling plan! 100% Unlimited calls to France, Europe and North America for about 80€ a month. Clearly for us with family and friends still in the States, this was a tremendous deal.
The fatal flaw in the plan was that as soon as we changed the account, we LOST the Unlimited calling! On Friday, we got our bill and I noticed we'd been charged for a bunch of calls that should have been free. Then, today, we got a letter saying that following our request, they'd cancelled our unlimited service! We never wanted that!!
So, after spending long and complicated time on the phone with Telecom, we are in the process of begging them to return things to the way they were! I hope this works. I know that I can use Skype, but I don't like the sound quality as much as the landline and it is hard to always think about how long you've been on a call with your mother.
Oh, and on a BSP (blatant self promotion) note: my book OVER HERE: An American Expat in the South of France is now published and available from Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Barnes & Noble and Black Coat Press.
Ciao for now!
Randy
Still, we had hideous weather over the weekend. During the night of Friday to Saturday, there was one of the scariest storms I heard in a long time. I say "heard," because once we close the volets we can't actually see anything without opening them. With the sounds of wind, rain and probably hail coming down the chimney, opening the volets somehow seemed like a bad idea!
Although there wasn't any thunder, the Diva was pretty terrorized. Thank goodness for her Anxiety Wrap, without which, I don't think any of us would have gotten any sleep. As soon as I put it on, she started to relax and within half-an-hour, she was snoring away.
Still, we're very lucky here in the Possum Kingdom. We never lost our power and there was no flooding, although all three rivers looked full and furious. This was a big blow to many around here, as Saturday was the start of Trout fishing season! I don't know how many actually went out, but a fisherman was swept away near Lourdes, so discretion was certainly called for.
Now, for the telephone part of this entry. Following our new accountant's advice, we decided to ask France Telecom to change the name on our phone account to Lofficier Consultants so that we would be able to deduct part our calls from our taxes. It sounded like a cunning plan.
What we didn't realize, was that by doing that, we went from the residential services to the commercial services. This wouldn't have been a problem, exept for the fact that we had a faboo calling plan! 100% Unlimited calls to France, Europe and North America for about 80€ a month. Clearly for us with family and friends still in the States, this was a tremendous deal.
The fatal flaw in the plan was that as soon as we changed the account, we LOST the Unlimited calling! On Friday, we got our bill and I noticed we'd been charged for a bunch of calls that should have been free. Then, today, we got a letter saying that following our request, they'd cancelled our unlimited service! We never wanted that!!
So, after spending long and complicated time on the phone with Telecom, we are in the process of begging them to return things to the way they were! I hope this works. I know that I can use Skype, but I don't like the sound quality as much as the landline and it is hard to always think about how long you've been on a call with your mother.
Oh, and on a BSP (blatant self promotion) note: my book OVER HERE: An American Expat in the South of France is now published and available from Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Barnes & Noble and Black Coat Press.
Ciao for now!
Randy
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<$I18N$LinksToThisPost>:
Create a Link
<< Home