Que sera, sera

I ordered a TV to go along with the new house... Not just any TV, mind. I wanted a hang-on-the-wall TV, and this being the last wild fling before mortgage-induced austerity, it behooved me to get a semi-decent one...

Those who know me will recognise the ‘semi-decent’ line... It’s along the lines of ‘tidal waves are semi-wet’, or ‘the universe is semi-big’... The result was a Panasonic TH-65PHD8UK, a 65” plasma model. I’ve just been watching HD footage on it, and it’s simply wonderful. You can’t really get the feel of it from the photo, it’s 65” on that diagonal - over 5 feet!

It wasn’t easy, of course, oh no - that would be ... easy. At first (despite having plenty of funds in my account) the bank wouldn’t authorise the payment on my debit card, and since they’re so far away (nearest branch is San Francisco), I couldn’t pop in to do a wire transfer... So I transferred money to another bank account and did a wire transfer. Ok, just frustrating...

Then I get a notification that the order is arriving on Monday 13th. So, I arrange to work at home, and wait in. The DHL man duly delivers 2 packages, neither of which are anywhere near the size of the TV. Hmmm. On the phone to the vendor - ah, that’s just the wall-support... I swear it’s sitting there laughing at me. It’s probably just the shadows and the designs on the cardboard...

So, a couple of ‘phone calls later, I’m told the TV is turning up on Friday 17th. ‘Phone up on Friday - no it’s now Tuesday. Ok, ‘phone up on Tuesday - yes we can deliver tomorrow... Another day working at home, and another delivery. Yay! This time, the TV turns up. The delivery guy wheels it into the garage. The wall-support shuts up, briefly...

Now I have to arrange for the installers. I ‘phone. They’ll “phone back”™... a week passes with me just getting the answering machine when I try to get in touch... (guffaws from the wall-support)... Finally I get through again - they’ll “phone back”™. Another day passes... I get through again ... they can come on Friday. Good. I’m getting heartily sick of the wall-support - it’s in stitches now...

So, on Friday 2 guys show up (obviously father & son). The bloke doesn’t understand the documentation for the wall-support. I explain it to him. Twice. It takes 6 hours to get the wall-support frame attached (crucifed :-) to the wall. Then they tell me they need more people to lift the TV up. They’ll be back on Sunday... The wall-support can’t laugh (it’s attached to the wall), but a “fixed grin” would be an accurate description...

On Sunday, I casually ask when they’re going to do the hidden-wiring (before or after mounting the TV on the wall-support). Blank looks... I come up with paper proof of the requirements... 5 hours (and lots of holes-in-the-wall, crawling about the attic, etc.) later, we finally have a TV mounted on the wall, and some content being fed to it from the comcast box...

So, now I can’t see that damn wall support any more :-) Thank [insert random deity] for that.

It was all worth it though :-)