It is now a month since I had any internet access and hopefully now it has been fixed, but what a month I have had! How many engineers does it take to get connected again? In my case it was 8 ! I commented last month that an engineer came and told me that I needed a new router, one duly came a few days later but I found I couldn’t connect it, which meant another engineer had to come out and see to it.
The chaenomeles by the back door is doing its usual December flowering, looking very pretty.
This engineer said that he had fixed my internet access ( he hadn’t) but when he plugged my land line in the internet went off. He would get another engineer to come and sort that out the following Monday, but that engineer didn’t turn up, I wasted a day staying in all day.
Narcissus Rijnveld’s Early Sensation is nearly out, it usually is by Christmas, so hopefully will be by next week.
Wasted nearly another week trying to get in touch with Talk Talk once more. By now the internet wasn’t working any more, my landline didn’t work and my mobile could only text! Eventually another engineer came and said that the fault was 65 metres away and would send someone with a cherry picker to go up a telegraph pole. He came but couldn’t find the fault.
It’s snowdrop time! Yipee!! This is Faringdon Double, now making a nice clump since I moved it into the woodland from by the front door.
More engineers came and wandered up and down the road with little machines trying to find where the fault was and trying to find the underground cable. By this time I was relying on my daughter in Bristol to contact Talk Talk on my behalf as most of the time I couldn’t get through to them, they kept sending me emails telling me to go onto their website even though they knew I didn’t have any internet!
Mrs McNamara was also moved from by the front door and certainly likes the soil in the woodland much more than previously.
Eventually 2 more engineers rang on the door last Sunday and eventually were able to dig round the base of the telegraph pole, very difficult as next door had put up a fence that is touching the pole, not leaving any room for if there are problems. The next day another cherry picker came and – voila -everything works once more!!
Jasminum nudiflorum is flowering in a bed in the front garden, only a few flowers at the moment, think the gardener cut it back at the wrong time!
My children are saying that I ought to change my provider, but I think I’ll wait until after Christmas before facing that.
Iris unguicularis is doing really well under the dining room window, this was flowering a month ago when I did my last post, it is still flowering with lots more flowers still to come.
I went and had a look at my other Iris unguicularis Walter Butt, but something has had a good nibble on the flowers that are showing at the moment, not worth photographing.
I can now say thank you to Jim once more for hosting at Garden Ruminations and now that everything seems to be fixed I can wish you all a very happy Christmas and a wonderful gardening year in 2026!
How frustrating for you, I bet you were tearing your hair out. At least it is all resolved now. That iris is beautiful. Happy Christmas to you and yours x
It certainly was frustrating Gill, but all over now thank goodness! The Iris is just getting better and better lots more flowers open today. Happy Christmas to you and your family.
I can see new shoots of narcissi and crocuses emerging from the ground here too, but still no snowdrops…. Mine might be late. The flowers of chaenomeles are always so beautiful this time of year! Happy Christmas to you too and to your family of course.
Lovely to see new shoots of bulbs, a promise of delights to come. Some of my snowdrops are early flowering varieties Fred, most will come in the next couple of months. I always rely on my chaenomeles to lift the spirits at this time of year. Happy Christmas Fred.
Goodness, what a nightmare. I am glad you are sorted out now. Isn’t it a joy to see all the snowdrops coming up? Your iris clump is fabulous.
All sorted Liz, thank goodness. Love seeing all the bulbs starting to show, they will tempt me out into the garden in the next couple of months, the iris too will keep on flowering for quite some time.
A lovely Six and the images helped sooth my nerves when reading about the internet and phone issues! We moved from TalkTalk to BT in October – although we’ve had a few issues chasing BT to pay the early switchover fee (thankfully it’s all sorted now). Happy Christmas to you and yours.
Glad you enjoyed the photos Graeme, so lovely to see the bulbs starting once more. Happy Christmas!
Goodness! what an ordeal with the telco people! I hope it is properly sorted out now. It looks like a lot of loveliness in your garden to cheer you up though. Merry Christmas1
All sorted Cath, thank goodness, just in time for this post! I always look forward to this time of year when everything starts again. Happy Christmas!
That sounds incredibly frustrating! Glad to hear it seems to be resolved.
Your snowdrops and irises look really lovely!
Hopefully everything is ok now Kathrin and I can forget about being cut off from the world! Having a few winter flowers tempts me out into the garden at this time of year, lovely to see things starting again.
What a frustrating time for you, Pauline – we were a fortnight without internet just before Christmas last year after a car drove into a junction box, although it meant most of our village was affected! We are also with TalkTalk but when it’s outside the property the infrastructure is the responsibility of Openreach although perhaps not for you if it was the connection from the pole. Our neighbour regained access before us and allowed us to piggyback onto his wifi, which was really helpful. It just shows how much we rely on it though…
It’s good to see your bulbs coming through and your pretty chaemoneles, which you clearly aways rely on at this time of year. It’s pleasing to know that the snowdrops you moved to the woodland are doing well and I remain grateful to you for prompting me to think of similarly moving mine, which are mostly doing well too.