This afternoon, it will be 28 days ago that I reported my phone being out of order.

This morning I tried to phone the local Telkom office.  047 535 1133, if anyone else wants to try and see if they can find a literate person on the other end.  Usually the number is never answered - this time it was.  Or you can always try OFaultB@telkom.co.za

I asked about the status of my phone line, and was told by the woman who answered that I had to report the number to Telkom's fault line.  I told her I had.  She said I should report it again.  I told her I'd reported it several times - with weekly enquiries.  She said I still had to report it again.

The problem is that each time I report it, they are perhaps unable to read the report here in Umtata.

I asked if I could speak to her manager.  She said no, he was out.  I asked for his name, and she refused to give it.  I asked for her name, and she refused to give that too.  After a while, she did mumble a name, and when I asked her to repeat it, she mumbled it again.

When I asked her to spell it, she refused, saying she couldn't.  On clarification, she said she was unable to spell her name.

Was she just hiding her identity to avoid reprimand if I got hold of her superiors?

Or was she really illiterate?  Was she really incapable of spelling her own name?

If the local Telkom people here in Umtata can truly not spell their own names, the following scenario would explain the mess Telkom has made:

• 2 technicians figured out the problem, but the first couldn't communicate that in any sort of record, and neither was able to use a telephone to communicate with me
• 1 technician was unable to find my place because he can't read street names
  
• 1 technician could not read a watch, and perhaps judges time by the temperature, arriving well after 10am when she said she'd be there at 8:30am.
• Weekly e-mails can't be understood if they can't be read, and phone calls don't get responded to because they get logged in a central place by literate people, and the local Telkom people can't read the logs

Is that really the state of Telkom in Umtata?

Judging by their actions, and by their telephone skills, maybe it is.  Or maybe they're just too incompetent to do their work.

Headless Snake Bites Hapless Man


So says Scientific American, which also refers to the NEJM article:

Dead rattlesnakes can bite? Mayo Clin Health Lett 1999;17:4.
PubMed

Suchard JR, LoVecchio F. Envenomations by rattlesnakes thought to be dead. N Engl J Med 1999;340:1930.
PubMed
Excerpt at NEJM

So be careful.  Don't be bitis.

Skillie might have a new friend, if I can persuade Wolfgang to adopt.

Yesterday, a baby puff adder was found in Jeevs' garden.  Very cute, and about 25cm long (an estimate - he didn't stretch himself out for us.)  Species name: Bitis arietans - you have to be careful because they bitis!  Apparently quite common in Mthatha.

He was very cold, and hiding under a box, safely stowed away in the back of a bakkie.  We put him in a smaller box, and took him inside.  He took a liking to one of the pieces of the box he could hide in - maybe just because we were inspecting him and he didn't like that.

Luckily he wasn't in the mood for biting, although we didn't touch him while he was able to get a nip in.

Here is is getting into his little corner:


More:


A close up:


Even more:


All the way in:


People here are terrified of snakes ... this one is sweet, though, and well behaved.  He's quite safe to look at if you're careful - snakes don't carry viruses that can transmit to humans.

Now it appears that the Post Office has joined Telkom in making a mess of things in Umtata.

They've locked my postbox, and on their website the postbox number is listed as unpaid.  I've logged a complaint on their website, but will try to visit them tomorrow to show them the receipt.

Perhaps they don't keep records themselves.

Update 10 August: The unpaid status doesn't seem to affect them.  They didn't need to see my receipts.  They think it's a lock problem ... so hopefully it'll be sorted out soon, and the unpaid bit will be ignored.

I've just been informed that there will be another Anna Vissi concert in South Africa, this time on 14 October, in Johannesburg.

Thanks George!

See the Άννα Βίσση blog.