Sunday, January 09, 2005

The Misanthrope – Sunday’s Lighter Side

Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone?
James Thurber (1894 - 1961), writer, cartoonist, and humorist

London Calling. Daughter is now in London, to be more precise, in a university in the outskirts, but nonetheless she is not home. The Misanthrope is incredibly worried, but her political science advisor told her that the United Kingdom was better prepared for terrorist attacks and other emergencies than the United States, because of their clashes with the IRA. That makes sense.

Daughter was hoping to meet one of the princes, we forget which one, but it makes no difference since our lineage is problematic, in a nutshell, the family tree has root rot.

Daughter acts like a princess. She packed two large suitcases to the maximum weight allowed before extra airline charges kick in. She had a carry-on that had enough extra garments to clothe a small country, “just in case they lose my luggage.” Her backpack would have wobbled the legs of the sturdiest Sherpa carrying equipment up Everest. Navigating the luggage was supposed to be easy, push one and pull the other while the carry-on rests atop. The weight almost splayed the wheels of the luggage.

Playing off The Misanthrope’s worries, Daughter was able to have a driver pick her up in London, ended up with a portable DVD player, and coyly packed the Bose headphones. To top it off, there were apparently no seats in coach as she checked in, the attendant said for a $100 cash she could fly business class, which sent her scurrying for the nearest ATM. Her goal is to be a lawyer, which we just hope is with a large firm, so she can continue with such a lifestyle.

Just Try Calling. We tried, admittedly at the last minute to get Daughter a cell phone or a calling card, but the cell phone was too expensive unless you have five lines. We called SBC for a calling plan. We opted for the Europe plan to get 3,000 minutes, but the operator said that London was not on the Europe plan. We asked, “is the United Kingdom covered in that plan?” She said, “oh yeah.” Once the plan was selected, she was supposed to connect us to the calling-card group or person, but that didn’t happen. We were transferred from one person to the next, each dumber than the previous one. The whole lot of them didn’t have the IQ of a hoe handle. Almost one hour later, the matter was not resolved yet, The Misanthrope must be the dense one. But, it’s no wonder jobs are being outsourced overseas.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The root rot is on your father's side.

Cattiva said...

Root rot - FUNNY!

I hope the Princess gets settled in OK.

Anonymous said...

Have the Princess visit any Orange shop (they are everywhere) and pick up their cheapest cell phone with a pay-as-you-go card. She should be out the door for less than $100. The Brits are far ahead of us Americans in this department.

Anonymous said...

This is Daughter- I know have a cell phone from Orange and it was fairly inexpensive, I must say that I left the store with a purchase much less than 100 which was great. For the record, I would hardly say that I was a princess. The other American girls studying with me are the true Princesses. For example one of the girls has a real Prada book bag, me I will have to wait until I am judge to even consider that one.

Anonymous said...

If you would like to afford a Prada bookbag, stick with lawyer instead of judge.