**^%$£"£*&$"!!*&^!!!!!

I am not crabbit. Not cross either. Just angry. Very angry. Let me take you back to last Monday (27th Oct). The garage very kindly managed to squeeze me in (and the van) to fit a new fan belt. A half hour job. Already had a belt in stock. Braw. Except my particular model of van has 3 different belts to choose from, and the one in stock was too short. But no worries, the storeman (Sandy?) had thought to order the other 2 on the very next Dingbro delivery for 10am. Sitting in the waiting room there was a huge clap of thunder overhead and all the power went off. Back home, Mrs BC had unplugged the computers and modem. Hail fell, inches of the stuff. The wind roared. A lady came into the waiting room and we got chatting. Told her about Cubbies Counties, and would you believe it, she dipped her hand in her purse and held out some money for the cause. Sometimes you need moments like that to realise that there are still some good peeps left in the world. Big thanks to that annon lady. Van ready to go, power restored to the garage. Back home, plugged pooters in and fired the modem up. No connection. Great. Ran a few tests and tried different things, still no connection. Reported it to my ISP (the one thats a kind of an Orange colour) who said it was a fault with the connection. Said to call back in 24 - 48 hours. Phoned BT next day and they traced a huge fault on the line, at the exchange, which they fixed on the Weds. Made no difference though.

Meanwhile, loads of snow appeared. Temp dropped so that there was a thick layer of ice crystals on my shed, oh woe is me and woe is shed. Orange kept telling me to call back in 24 - 48 hours. Friends down the road had a similar problem and had fitted new micro filters so I copied them, but no change. Took my modem in to the computer shop and the guy tested it, saying in plain terms, that its bust. This is Friday by now. Have been calling Orange every day only to be told that they are updating their engineers, whatever that means, and to phone back in....you guessed it. Man in computer shop sold me a funky new wireless router thingy, but I can't get it to work.

So here I am at Trickys hoosie, borrowing his internet so that I can pop in here and read your concerned comments. Cubbie is outside waiting for me and its just beginning to get dark...and unfortunately the stator I borrowed doesn't seem to have solved the problem so I still can't run with the lights on.... But the good news is the petrol tap leaks nicely again, and theres a huge puddle of oil on the drive, so all normal on the score.

Will I have to admit that Cubbies Counties has come to an end for 2008? After all, it is November now, and I'm having to work most weekends. But it's not something that I want to utter. I'm frantically thinking of ways to solve the situation, but with the car still in the garage (over £400 for a zorst manifold, can anyone out there source me a cheaper option???) and a poorly dog (Ringo) and a poorly sheep to look after and this cold 'snap' stretching on for longer and longer it may be the only option... Now you know why I'm not crabbit, I'm angry!

Right, well, thats me feeling better after ranting for a while. The sun has almost disappeared, I've checked my emails, and I should make a move before I need a torch on the front of my helmet. And Tricky has offered to come over to GBC towers on Tuesday to sort this new funky wireless wotsit out, so with a bit of luck, I should be back a-blogging next week, so y'all make sure you come back. Thanks for the comments chaps, and no John, I haven't banned you, even though I could if I wanted to, hehe.

Over 'n' oot.