Monday 16 February 2015

Orange email problems

Just what's going on please with Orange?
(A word with which no other rhymes),
I can't seem to access my emails:
This keeps happening too many times.

Last week, and again on a Sunday,
My messages were not displayed.
The service was back in the morning,
So I wasn't unduly dismayed.

But the problem recurred only yesterday,
And today it's the same sorry state.
It is Monday. I need to get going,
And the glitch only serves to frustrate.

"Oops sorry" the words I am seeing.
"We're trying to fix..." it's insisted.
"Contact us," I am invited,
"Choose your subject..." but email's not listed.

In time I discovered some numbers,
On which callers could ring with their moans.
But not one related to email:
They were only for broadband and phones.

"How to get round this?" I wondered,
"When the service from Orange is rotten?"
I've another account I remembered,
The password for which I'd forgotten.

So I told "Live" I needed reminding.
We'll email a new one's imparted.
But they're sending the details to Orange,
Which leaves me right back where I started.

Saturday 7 February 2015

The mystery of Mary Celeste 1872

A merchant brigantine,
Sailing all alone is seen,
Those aboard a passing vessel note she's *yawing.
So they go and take a look.
There's no first mate. There's no cook.
There is nobody at all - not reassuring.

Her cargo seems intact -
With alcohol she's packed -
There's sufficient food to see the journey through.
The ship's condition's fine.
Of a struggle there's no sign.
So what's happened to her passengers and crew?

Have they sailed off? Have they jumped?
This has all the experts stumped,
And no one has been able to explain.
It seems - a cause for worry -
They departed in a hurry.
And none of them was ever seen again.

Possessions left behind
Mean investigators find
It unlikely pirates went on board to plunder.
Had alcoholic fumes,
Pervaded "Mary's" rooms?
Empty barrels give inquirers cause to wonder.

For our vessel, what comes next?
It seems she might be hexed.
In an accident, her owner's father drowned.
Yet another life she's claimed.
The famous ghost ship's blamed.
She's sold, as bad luck follows her around.

She changed hands plenty more.
Her condition now was poor.
The last to own her did a thing he shouldn't.
Worthless cargo he insured,
(His objective's being fraud)
Then tried very hard to sink her, but she wouldn't.

In a courtroom he appeared,
And of barratry was cleared,
He is guilty but the jury won't convict.
The verdict had arisen -
He faced death instead of prison -
As the penalty was thought unduly strict.


*twisting or oscillating about the vertical axis of
  a moving ship (or aircraft)


Ⓒ Maggie Ballinger 2015