February, 2011:

I’m starting a new business …. apparently. I’m going into the wedding business.

Well, maybe not, but I could.

OK. I’m not really making myself clear so let me start again.

Over the last couple of days our phone hasn’t been working correctly. We can phone out and our internet is still working but when people try to call us, our phone doesn’t ring. Not helpful.

We only realised the issue today after I’d tried calling home a few times. I assumed that Pauline was out but that wasn’t the case. I eventually phoned Pauline’s mobile phone and got straight through. She was home but the phone wasn’t ringing.

I called our ISP, which also provides our phone service, to try to track down the issue. The support guy was very helpful and guided me as we tried to troubleshoot the issue, ruling out a lot of possible causes. Eventually he decided that he needed to refer the issue to Telstra to get a technician to check things out.

Shortly after that, Pauline checked her phone and noticed an unfamiliar number had called her, right at the time I’d called her from our home phone. We phoned the number and sure enough, our phone rang. Somehow our number has been switched.

The odd thing is, I Googled the ‘new’ number and found that it’s registered to a local “Wedding Decor” company. I don’t know how good business is for them at the moment but we haven’t got any calls for them as yet. I’m wondering if we will get calls for them and what we might be able to sell them. How much do you reckon I should charge to organise their wedding? Should I be a wedding planner like Frank (played by Martin Short) from Father of the Bride? I’m not sure that’d work for me but I might give it a go.

(If you’re a friend trying to contact us, you might like to use our mobile numbers for the next few days.)