Going Public

A citizen of ancient Athens would be expected to march out to battle with his fellows until he reached the age of 45. I am well past that age now. I would be condemned to line the city walls with the toothless old men and youths, and watch the phalanx marching proudly out. The Athenians had a point: I am not up for a fight like once I was.

So lets step back into the dark side and see what TV Licensing got up to in April 2007. Oh, those unnecessary, alarming, aggressive phrases are spreading to the envelope now. Maybe the postman needs to know about this as well.

Contagious Phrases

Do You Need To Read It to Know What is Says?

At this point they have annoyed me so much I have to respond. The innocent telephone survives a short battering as I phone 0870 241 7204. I press a few options as directed, and get put through to a speech recognition system. That works surprisingly well, managing to understand sentences spoken in a clipped snarl. But the automated system doesn't give me a 'no TV license required' option, and then the system tells me it can't connect me to a human being. Not because its scared of the emotional caller, but because it's broken. Silly me: money from the call goes to TV Licensing and I, fool that I am, have wasted money on a premium rate phone call. CaChing! And the phone does well to survive ungenerous handling as it is replaced.

I am now unlicensed property number 2998908642. Good to know that. But I thought I was 2926392796. have I really dropped back some seventy million places in Michelle's affections? These people hurt you in the most unexpected ways!

I must just simmer down and wait. At least the Enforcement Division will be proceeding with an investigation of the address. Action is impending: so is this the end of the beginning, or the beginning of the end?