My RingGo Ordeal (by alaric)

Many months ago, I happened to park my red van in a car park in Swindon, that had a facility to pay by card over the phone. Which was great, because I didn't have enough cash for the ticket. All was well.

But then today, I parked my new orange van in a car park in Stroud, that has the same facility provided by the same operator. So when I ring the number, it recognises me, and says "To park your red Ford Transit, registration censored, in location some number, please press 1; to park elsewhere, press 2".

So I press 2. And it asks me the number of my location (a number printed on the sign). And it asks me for payment details. Then it says "Thanks! You now have a parking ticket! If you want to contact us, check out our web site on www.myringgo.com!" And hangs up.

I note that it hasn't asked me my vehicle registration; in other words, it's assumed I'm still in the same vehicle since I rang from the same number, and gave me no option to do otherwise. It didn't even actually confirm what I was paying for; it said what the parking would cost, but otherwise just asked me questions, and never said "Ok, are you sure you want to pay amount on this card to park registration in location for three days?" - so I continued through the process, expecting to be asked if it was the same vehicle or if I had a new one, and then suddenly found myself hung up and having paid to park the wrong van.

Anyway, my train is then arriving, so I jump on it, open my laptop, and connect to the wonders of the Mobile Internet: 25% packet loss and an average ping round trip time of 15,000ms (yes, fifteen seconds) but sometimes 80,000ms (yes, a minute and twenty seconds). I go to said URL, and it's reasonably usable; but once I've had my PIN sent to my mobile and logged in, it switches to SSL.

SSL, it seems, is highly latency sensitive, since it then proceeds to take five to ten minutes to load each page, as I excruciatingly navigate their menus. I find a list of vehicles, and lo, there's my red van listed - and marked as "locked" since it's currently got an active parking session, so it can't be edited. But it suggests that you can use the Contact Us form to ask them to edit a locked vehicle for you. There's no number to ring apart from the number to talk to the automated booking system that assumes I'm still in a red van; so I go to the form, and have to jump through all the hoops of the automated systems that try and stop people from actually talking to a human, confirming I've read the FAQs and all that (thankfully, the FAQs are on plain HTTP, so quite usable), and of course having to choose my type of query from a list (where most of the options try and direct you to a FAQ or another part of the site).

There's an option for Incorrect Vehicle! So I go for that. And lo, it takes me to the page to edit my vehicles, telling me I can't edit my red van because it's currently parked. So I had to go back through the system to try and find a generic problem type that will get me to a human, then submit a query. I submit the form, and it says they'll get back to me.

If they've clamped or towed my van when I get back, or try and fine me, I'll be ANGRY...

UPDATES: See the comments for the ONGOING STORY!

Realism and Neck Specialists (by sarah)

Today saw me at the Drs again and we disguessed how things were and I spoke of how I saw things and that I had come to the realisation that I can do stuff and be productive but not in a normal way.

The medical restrictions on me are just too big to be ignored - I tried ignoring them and getting on with things and the result has been the last few months of one medical thing after another.

I said about having just been jumping from one crisis to another without looking at the underlaying problems but that these needed to be addressed or this was just going to carry on.

He agreed and said I was being a lot more realistic than when he first saw me over what is achivable and that thinking in terms of having a 'normal' life is a bad thing to do. I'm just a variation. So I am basically back to pottering around doing me craft stuff as and when I feel like it and trying to look after house and garden.

Mainly I've been making things with Jean and watching films with her though oh and reading the complete works of Winni the Pooh!

The only way I have of controlling the back pain stuff is doing several hours of the physio stuff a day and having hot baths - when you add in the afternoon naps at the moment time starts getting scarce. He prodded and poked my back and made me move my head and stuff and said that he thought that the reason the shoulder surgeon had been so negative about it all is that its not actually a shoulder problem but possibly something to do with my neck.

He thinks I need to be refered to a specialist for MRI scans and stuff but apparently my notes are all in box files up stairs (why on earth they are not in a nice searchable format on the surgerys computers I do not know). He needs to go through all my note (good luck as half of them went missing between London and Gloucestershire) to see what has or hasn't been done.

I'm trying not to get my hopes up that something might actually be done and I might be fixed this time - it only leads to crushing disappointment.

There is the point as well that things that were tested 8-5yrs ago now may not have shown up stuff that has since got worse.

So I am armed with more pain killers and stomache liners and play the waiting game once more - he's even going to chase up the acupuncture they said I could have!

Taps (by sarah)

Yesturday Alaric went to get Jean from pre-school on his own - I was too tired from the weekedn and was flate out in bed. They were an age but it turns out they had lots of fun - first off they went to the playground by the preschool and then on to B&Q to look at taps.

Yes Taps - Jean started asking questions about taps about two weeks ago and Al turn round and said that he would take her on a rainy day to look at a tap shop.

She came home with a 'tap' a.k.a an applience fitting for a washing machine. I put her to bed last night and when I went to check on her later on - there was the little tap gripped in her little paw 🙂

This morning she demonstrated how it could be turned into a wind instrament and what happens if she opens or closses the valve!

This morning on the way to pre-school she announced that B&Q is the tap shop. We also had lots of discuession with her about how vans and road signs are made and why!

Geek in the making - me thinks!

Cheltenham Science Festival 09 (by sarah)

Last year I missed the Science Festival which was a shame as aparently there was a scientific poetry event which would have been right up my street - they didn't appear to be doing that this year (probably due to entry by a graphic gay poet who enjoyed the topic of taboo and writes to shock! It was actually him who told me about the science festival and I am very embarrassed not to recall his name when he has been at several poetry event with me and I think chips in the pub may have occured at some point).

We got into cheltenham and parked close to one of the most bueatiful cars ever - a Ford Mustang!

We then discovered that Aliens had taken over the Town Hall again - these inflatable waving around tubes really excites Jean and we had trouble getting her into the hall past them!

It turned out that we were just in time to catch a circus skills workshop - under 8's had to be accompanied! She loved this and was indignent everytime we wanted to look at something else! She went back three times I think! She wouldn't go on the stilts initially and then I realised that she had bought me over a purple plate to spin and given Daddy all the blue things she could find so I found a pink pair of stilts for her which she loved!

Eventually I remembered how to spin a plate though I couldn't get the diablo to do much nor the devil stick! I realised the last time I had done circus skills properlly I was actually pregnant with Jean! Though very early on 🙂

We bumped into on of our cubs - Holly who was getting wobbly on the monocycle!

Inside there was a large hall full of fun interactive stuff like drum machines and steroscopic viewing of landscapes and many other things! A nice man with piercing spoke to me lots as Jean played with beads and various glasses that cuased optical illusions or made you see as bugs do! Though I think I might have offended him by asking if Gloucester Uni did Science as I'd heard it was only Softy science (then spotted the Gloucester Uni t-shirt!).

For some reason you weren't allowed to take photos in there - I took a sneaky one anyway!

We got icecreams and Jean was very concerned, 'They don't have purple ones I'm afraid mummy, no icecream for mummy! I'm having pink icecream mummy, you pink too?' She didn't quiet get why I wanted green icecream when my favourite colours purple and the concern was quiet touching!

Between goes on the circus skills we found UCL chemists doing some fun things with test tubes, washing powder and zeolite! And hydrophobic sand. Jean wanted to do the test tube stuff but there were too many people there and so we did the sand instead - she didn't want it in her hands but wanted to watch my do the experiment so out went my cupped hands for some sand and then water was added to each hand. One lot of sand was hydrophobic - which as I mentioned it I had to explain what it ment - ie water hating, to the group of kids and perants. Basically one lot of sand mixed with the water and one lot the water just ran off of!

They told me at the end that the sand is basically coated in Scotch guard!

Then to cap the day off we found an ecological arts cornor just beyound the Environment Agency Cafe where the artist and scientist Dr Lizzie Burns was getting people to paint on a large white column with a clay/water mix. It had to be something enviroment/ecology based so Jean painted her tadpoles and I added the pond and then she added her ducks and then the apple tree and then the nesting blue tits and would have carried on forever I think. The Lady running the event was a biologist and makes really cool [molecular earringsand other jewellery}(http://www.molecular-designs.com/), and said she even embroiders ties and things which is so cool! Of course that does mean that another one of mine and Ella's bright ideas has been done whilst we were thinking about it!

There was a guy called Matt with her who was explaining to the children about seeds and trees and how they grow up into trees and stuff - Jean having already grown her own plants from seeds looked at him like he was being a bit silly but then he asked her if she wanted to make seeds out of clay to go in the collection - she earally agreed and chose brown instead of white clay! She was very sad to leave so we had to explain thats why its not a good idea to spend all your time doing one event! ie circus skills!

We got soaked in the rain on the way back to the van and were starving so went on a hunt for chips which resulted in Jean's first ever photography!

Jean’s Photography (by sarah)

Today we had a great time at the Sciences Festival in Cheltenham taking Jean to the free events but more on that later - it tipped it down at the end and we got a bit soggy so decided we'd go and get some chips to it - but being Sunday all the chippy's round here were closed so we went to the Aviator at Staverton for some of their cheesey chips which as we were quiet chilled were most welcome!

I got the camera out to take a pic of Jean and she asked if she could take photos!

Of course I said yes, with trepidation we gave her the camera - there was a little bit of panic over her fingers and the lens! But I think she showed a drastic improovement just from the few she took! They are in Chronological order!

Jean's Self portraite

Mummy: I have to say I wanted to delete two of these but felt I didn't have the right as they are Jean's first photographs!

Portraite of Daddy