Engineers, incompetence and flaming torches

How I love big industries and their cracking service...................not.  I recently booked my annual boiler service with British Gas and was pleased to get a two hour slot which fitted in well with half term so I would definitely be at home instead of nipping out on school runs.  However, the night before the visit I was telephoned by someone from the service centre.........

Me:	“Hello”
British Gas	“Oh hello, you have a boiler service booked for tomorrow”
Me	“Yes, that’s right, between 8 and 10 in the morning”
British Gas	“Ah well we have cancelled it”
Me	“Pardon? You have cancelled it? Why?”
British Gas	“We don’t have any engineers working in your area.................”
Me	“Well that isn’t good enough, I booked this appointment to fit in with my complicated weekly schedule and at the end of the day I pay you a monthly fee for a service agreement which gives me priority for service calls”
British Gas	“As I said, there are no engineers so, well, I can book you in again for the 28th between 8 and 10”
Me	“Oh great, I will be on a school run for the first half hour of that slot and I can guarantee the chap will arrive when I am out with it being the first job of the day”
British Gas	“I can ask the engineer to call you on your home number to let you know he is on the way”
Me	“Hmmm that will be useful then as I have just said I will very likely be out.  He will need to ring my mobile number instead.  You can expect a letter in the post about this as it is not the first time I have been messed around by British Gas.  Can you also check which engineer you are sending as there are several I will not have over the step – you have the list”
British Gas	“Okay then, I will make a note of that and the engineer will see you on the 28th, goodbye”

Aaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhh!  Why are people SO incompetent?  To put the top hat on it, I received a text from British Gas seven hours after my original appointment time confirming my appointment for that day.  You couldn’t make it up.

Just been looking at the route for the 2012 Olympic Torch travels with the accompanying statement “95% of UK will be within 10 miles of Olympic Torch Route”.  Well unless the vast majority of people are planning on moving house before then, this statement is incorrect.  Northamptonshire where I live is totally bypassed with nearest ‘torch point’ being in Oxford some 30 plus miles away.  Looking at the Scottish leg of the route it appears no towns other than the major cities exist.  On a more informative note though, by giving the dates of when and where the torch is stopping off this enables people to plan their free time to either bowl up and view the glorified birthday candle or alternatively avoid places like the plague as the hotel, food and tourist costs will undoubtedly rocket over the period.  Well it is rip off Britain after all.  I hope on 5^th July when the flame visits the beach huts at Southwold that care is taken by the carrier not to stand too close to the structures otherwise there may be little to observe the following day other than a pile of ashes.