venta

Aww. When large institutions try to engage with the modern world, it's quite cute.

This morning I rang the doctors' surgery. "Hello," I said, "I want to order a repeat prescription, which I think you now prefer me to do over email. How do I register for this service?"

The receptionist who'd answered ummed and erred for a bit. Then she ahhed. Then she asked me to wait a moment. Then she came back on the line and ummed a bit more, and asked me to hold again.

Eventually she came back on the line and asked: "Do you have a fax number?"

I said no, I didn't. She erred some more. Eventually, she took my phone number so she could call me back to explain the prodecure to me.

She just phoned back. I was braced for a fairly intricate registration process. It turns out that what I have to do is send them an email them stating which prescription I require.

She's now given me the "email number" and I'm all good to go.

Bloomin' 'eck. In an attempt to be down with the kids, I have bravely attempted to interact with the Facebook page that an ex-member created for my dance team. She told me the password when she left, but every time I've logged in, I've immediately run away screaming.

Today I have boldly grasped the nettle, accepted some friend requests, updated my status, and even commented and liked some stuff. Holy crap, it's confusing.

Also: Usenet had cracked comment-threading well over two decades ago. Why do we still have to put up with an impenetrable jumble of comments? It's like the Ancient Brits deciding when the Romans left that they didn't want any truck with this foreign-fangled central heating nonsense, thank you very much.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001767268566, by the way, for people who are into that kind of stuff.