When
the need arose for me to terminate a Virgin Media broadband account I found out
that there is no easy way to do it. It requires persistence, determination and
a couple of hours on the phone just to reach the disconnection “team”,
protected as they are by ranks of gatekeepers.
“May
I ask why you wish to terminate? Are you unhappy with the service?”
asked the disconnection lady.
“No,” I said, as calmly as I could, “As
I’ve
explained several times to your colleagues, the service has been fine but the property
is being sold and so it is no longer needed.”
The
process is certainly a test of one’s
self-control and not recommended for those inclined to apoplexy but,
fortunately, I had been prepared by an earlier experience which was so
ridiculous that it took me beyond exasperation and left me in the bemused zone.
The Post Office had turned down my application for a credit card because its
system jumbled up my address whenever the man tried to enter my postcode.
“Can’t
you enter the address manually?” I asked.
“No.
Sorry.”
he said, with no acknowledgement of the irony inherent in the fact that the
postcode had been allocated by…the
Post Office.
These
irritations - the teething problems of a technological society in its infancy -
are best endured stoically. There are pleasures elsewhere which compensate us,
not least the annual Manchester Jazz Festival. Performances take place at
various venues but there is a hub comprising a giant marquee, a temporary bar
and several food stalls erected in front of the Town Hall. Surrounded as it is
on three sides by roads, it’s
not a quiet location and this year, as the organiser pointed out in his
introductory speech, the MJF coincides with the Manchester Roadworks Festival.
The programmers might perhaps have considered putting the quiet, reflective
artists in the permanent venues and reserving the marquee for acts which have a
fighting chance of being heard. No matter, the central location of the hub
appears to be an important factor in bringing jazz to the attention of people
who might otherwise not go out of their way to hear it. Accustomed as I am to
jazz gigs being thinly attended, I marvel at the difference a Festival can
make. Not only in the marquee but also in other venues the habitual audience of
older white men and sundry jazz aficionados is swollen - sometimes to capacity
- by a more diverse mix of age, gender and ethnicity. Even small children are
present - though this might have more to do with the fact that the schools are
closed and the weather is poor than it has with parents being keen to share
their enthusiasm with their offspring.
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