Tuesday 2 February 2010

The phantom phone ringer and a creative glimmer


Yesterday I actually wondered if the house might be cursed.

With the heating, hot water heater and drains all still on the blink and the phone line recently joining their strike after a valiant 6 day disruptive action campaign - crackling, disabling my internet and ringing at random times in the night with no one at the other end of the line (and spookily no call registered when 1471 was dialed). Well, maybe it was the internet withdrawal but when my lovely audiobook-playing iphone died and resisted resuscitation the whole curse idea seemed highly plausible. A notion that was only compounded by the electric blanket joining the 'things on the blink' list. Okay, so I've suspected for a while that my skin crackling with electricity when in bed was probably a bad sign but I needed it to keep WARM.

What's next? A plague of locusts?

On the plus side I am now deliriously grateful when anything previously taken for granted actually works. This morning I beamed at the BT man who fixed the "massive circuit failure" and gave me my internet back. It works. It works! I am no longer cast out into the utter darkness :-)

And another smidgeon of hope - I had a new story idea yesterday and an idea of how to fix Secret Billionaire (focussing on the emotion and motivation in each scene and maybe starting completely from scratch again. Gulp). Not exactly a complete demolition of writer's block but it's a start.

And I'm feeling surprisingly zen. Riding on the tide of my internet high I have a dream that one day I will again live in a home with piping hot water and those warm white things on the walls. The internet will flow unimpeded and my iphone pick up emails without my having to climb a tree and... Bother, my dream has just been interrupted by the kettle making a loud screeching noise. No, not the kettle, please spare the kettle (see The Rampage of the Tea-aholics).

I'll be back soon to see what you've all been up to. Plagues of locusts allowing of course :-)



9 comments:

Caroline said...

Glad you are back - and sending +ve vibes for your new story! Caroline x

Joanne Coles said...

Lorraine, I'm so glad you're back. I think I would've grabbed the BT man for an impromptu hug! Glad he has got you back online and your mojo is returning.

But, I agree, the sooner you move from that house the better.

Tara Pammi said...

Glad you get at least the internet back, Lorraine. And here's hoping that the creative glimmer will glow ever so bright.

Having woken up at 4 am, I have no idea what I'm saying, so please forgive me. But I'm glad you're feeling better.

Jackie Ashenden said...

Yay! She's back! Great news re your new idea and for SB! You must tell me more...

Sally Clements said...

Hi Lorraine! Glad you're back, the blogoverse has been quiet without you! Great news about your new idea, dying to hear more about it...

Kat said...

OMG, how do you cope?! It sounds like the elements have really conspired against you lately, lets hope the BT man marks the beginning of things going right for you. At least you have the internet, and inspiration for writing. It's not all bad!
do you have a house move in the pipeline?

Maya Blake said...

Great to see you back in the Land of Internet, Lorraine. You SHOULD have given BT guy a hug ;). And any glimmers on the writing front is a big plus!

Lacey Devlin said...

Yay you're back! I'll lend you my geckos - you can have a plague of geckos??

Lorraine said...

Thanks guys. I spoke too soon though - the internet went down shortly after my post :-(
Seems to be back now though, fingers crossed.

In answer to Joanne P's question about how I cope - erm vodka. Not great for washing in though ;-)
Hopefully I'll be moving soon and once broadband is installed I might actually blog about writing again!