Mobile phone woes

Saturday: Still without mobile phone, and beginning to realise what a serious problem this would be later in the cruise when alone a measure of desperation had crept in. I had tried telephoning Orange on Friday night but after about 16 minutes on the line had got nowhere. The call centre seemed unable to find neither Apsley or Hemel Hempstead and I seemed unable to get my predicament across to them. So this morning, after enquiries of the Sainsbury Customer Service Desk, we set off to the next bridge where we were told we would get the best access to the Hemel shopping centre. It was about a 15 minute walk, after getting directions from passers-by. I decided to play the dumb idiot and asked to be shown how to work the phone. Within a very short time I was in touch with a knowledgable agent on the shop's telephone and as the phone was insured there was absolutely no problem in getting a replacement. The only difficulty was that it could only be delivered to a post code address, and if I wanted it delivered that day between 6 and 10pm, arrangements would have to be finalised by 10:00 am. This I was able to do after racing back to the boat and getting the Grand Junction Arms at Bulbourne to give me their post code. So it was that we were found sitting in the said pub that evening having a few beers when the replacment phone duly arrived. That was not the end of the problems, see later reports.