The phone line went dead again. They have obviously read the previous blog entry. LSS called Orange from the Aged FIL and, for the first time ever, managed to speak to someone intelligent. They ran a test, and said that the line was “unbalanced”. Although as far as I can tell, the telephone poles look vertical enough.
A “stabilizing program” was then run. The technician said he would keep an eye on the line statistics over the next two days, and if the line became unbalanced again an engineer would be sent out.
The phone then came back on. It seems to be fine unless you actually use it.
Friend E came around in the afternoon, and we had our first barbecue of the year; some wild boar chops. And funnily enough, we realised that the food miles were zero for pretty much the entire barbecue. Charcoal: made on site. Wild boar: hunted on site. Lettuce, potatoes: grown on site. Beer and wine: brewed on site. The only exceptions were the seasonings and the dessert; a chocolate mousse-type thing brought by Friend E.