Category: Rants

It’s the start of my 5th week working from home during the time of Covid19. I am lucky to be living in South Australia where we have had a relatively low death rate from the virus. So far only four deaths and over 90% of people who have contracted Covid 19 have fully recovered. Our restrictions have not been as severe as in other states of Australia. So we can still go to the shops and make so called non essential purchases. This is of course tenuous and could reverse if people become complacent about social distancing and hand hygiene these are basic public health initiatives.

We have not ventured out in this time other than to the grocery shop and hardware shop. We have started leaving our shoes outside or just inside the front door. We wipe down the car door handles steering wheel and anything else that we may touched when out. This also includes the door handles in our house. We have even been washing our reusable shopping bags. On the plus side we have done lots of work around the house. Catching up on maintenance and gardening. Far from being bored we are trying to use our time productively.

I have taken a self imposed break from the news limiting myself to a 15 minute bulletin in the morning and no TV news. The media are really caught up in a cycle of disaster porn. Endlessly repeating the stats that are publicly available and speculating on what horrors are in the near future. This is embellished by experts who really do not know more than the published information. Largely our politicians seem to be behaving more sensibly than they usually do and listening to sound advice from the relevant bodies. Maybe that why we are having such a low rate of community transmission of Covid19 in this country. We are of course fortunate to live on a large island which prevents people sneaking in.

This does not take away from the absolute tragedies that are taking place in Europe and the United States. The death toll on the United Kingdom will no doubt be much higher than the stated numbers when deaths in nursing homes and domestic dwellings are taken into account. The likelihood of a miracle cure or vaccine seem distant now we can only hope that something will emerge.

It is great being able to use a computer to write, you can move the words around, delete add or whatever else you want to do. The tragedy is all the other things that a computer can also do, worse still if it is connected to the interwebs. I will just quickly find another source or just check my email. It goes on and on, perhaps I could tag my photos or rearrange my music catalogue. I am pondering this as I am supposed be beavering away at a rather large writing project. Ahh the old pooter the original waster of my time. The possibilities are endless create another graphic, perhaps there are some updates for my software. Oh there is a new version of the word processor should I update or wait till my project is done. But I suppose it beats ink on my fingers and having to chase birds for their feathers.

After the initial attempt to get the Air-conditioning unit repaired I had to contact the Office of Consumer and Business Affairs (OCBA). Their advice was to write to the retailer, Origin Energy, as it is their responsibility to organise warranty repairs. On the advice of OCBA I sent a registered letter outlining my troubles to date. The outcome I wanted was a response in 7 days. I received a phone call from Origin Energy four days after the letter was sent. I was advised that they had called Mecair (this being the company that does the warranty work) and they were going to fix the air-conditioning. I waited a further 4 business days and called Mecair to see what progress was being made. I was then told that the part had been ordered. However they were unable to give me an estimated time of repair. They put the blame firmly on the door step of AHI-Carrier who manufacture of the air-conditioning unit.

I then tried to contact Origin Energy as OCBA advised me to. Try as I might I could not get through to them to clarify the situation. I was continually confronted by a phone message saying that “due to unprecedented demand they were not able to answer the phone”. I rang nearly every number on their website, but was unable to speak to anyone. In the end very  frustrated I went to their store in Adelaide. The unprecedented demand was being met by one person on the phone the rest of staff wandering around a nearly empty store! I expressed my frustration very loudly! This is now nearly two weeks after my letter demanding action in 7 days. They are apologetic, nothing can be done today…blah blah. However tomorrow , always tomorrow.

The next day and I get a call from AHI Carrier the manufacturer of the lame air-conditioning unit. I have to re-tell the whole saga which only gets my temper going. He denies that there are any supply issues with spare parts as detailed by Mecair. He promises me that sort it out and get back to me the next morning. He also adds that the initial service guy who came to our house could have made a temporary repair which would have made the unit functional! He promises to get back to me the following morning. Needless to say I have to phone him at the end of day. He promises that the part will be in Adelaide next week and that Mecair will have someone on standby to come out and repair the air-conditioning unit.

This is now about 7 weeks since I started on this ludicrous journey.

The air-conditioner is still not fixed……..