Wednesday 7 April 2010

The Beautiful Parents

My parents live in what my EBD calls "the place where technology comes to die" I might have mentioned before that I have a gadget mad dad. My dad has a penchant for buying the very latest in technology, I have no complaints that's how I got my very posh Tom Tom but it is guaranteed to annoy the EBD. In their house my parents have...

A 50 inch TV with surround sound and the all singing all dancing every channel going Sky package in the 2nd lounge. In the main lounge they have the plasma one that hangs on the wall like a picture and ditto both the bedrooms.

An Xbox 360 and a Wii, not forgetting a Gameboy, a PSP and a Nintendo DS, my dad will always buy the new version so he can play his "Who wants to be a Millionaire" game on it.

There are 2 Ipod Nano's, an Ipod classic and at least 3 other MP3 players. Not forgetting 2 Ipod touches, my mother has yet to use hers.

There is a replaced every year computer and a laptop because I foolishly pointed out they didn't need the router they'd bought as they only had a main pc, so obviously they needed the laptop to go with the router.

An Iphone and another fancy Samsung touch screen phone which he bought for my mother. She has yet to take it out it's box as she still has £7 credit on her old phone and she wants to use it up first, that'll take her a decade or so. This is really ripping EBD's knitting as her phone is so old it doesn't even have a camera on it and it switches it's self off every hour or so when it's tired and needs a wee rest.

So you get the picture, their house is stuffed full of technology that they don't use to it's full potential. This pains my daughter muchly, she is so jealous of all the clicky finger gadgetry at their disposal that they don't use. Actually she is jealous of them being pensioners which she thinks would be a dream life, getting up and going to bed when you like, no work or studying and no one making derisory and smart arse comments when you want a wee afternoon nap.


Every year my parents spend 2 weeks in May at The Beautiful House in Turkey and every year I tell them to book flights online as it's cheaper. Last year we had the saga where I booked the flights for them online. This year as I'm with them I offer to book the flights on their computer while they're with me and I get a flat no, the last time was stressful enough and the company I used has since gone bust (way after they had flown home).

They will use a travel agent thank you very much, so I leave it and go back to my house and you know what's coming next, don't you? Cue my mother calling in a state of high agitation (my mum is getting extremely anxious as she gets older and me being a smart arse is a real trial for her) The travel agent can't get them on the Wednesday flight they want, can I?

Sure, I've now become God of all flights, I had left the flight details I found for them written down so they could tell the travel agent what they wanted and how much it cost online but she has to try and type in the site and find the same flights, I then spend an hour trying to talk my mother through the online booking process as I have no Internet access, so every screen has to be described and explained, we find flights, she's still agitated but by the time we get to the checkout someone else has bought the last 2 flights.

My mother just about explodes but has to leave as she has a dentist's appointment and she's trying to impress the new dentist (she has a new dentist because she got barred from her last one, yep, that's right Mrs Stresshead fell out with the hygienist over the hygienist's poor opinion of my mothers electric toothbrush which was, of course, a present from gadget mad dad and my mother refused to see the hygienist and this caused a bit of argy bargy so the dentists have asked her to leave) How can I have a mother who's been barred from a dentist? Who has ever been barred from a dentist? Ever, in the whole history of the world?

As soon as she's gone my dad rings and asks me to book the flights myself, I do, in 4 minutes and I send him the email confirmation. Of course their printer doesn't work, actually neither does mine, I know my mother will die unless she has those printed off tickets in her hand so I email EBD's boyfriend Hot Boy and he prints off a copy and posts to my mum, going for the belt and braces approach I ask the ex mr auntiegwen to do the same.

So by the time you read this my stress head of a mother will have 2 copies of her tickets and the next hurdle in this saga will be the inputting of the e border passport information, which will have to be saved for another day as I can't cope with her when she speaks in that tone only dogs can hear.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

My best friend was barred from the orthodentist after she bit him.

She's never lived that down!

Elderberry-Rob said...

gosh you are a real grown up! I can't book flights - 15 yr old researches our holidays and is very good at it, then dad makes the final decision and presses all the buttons - I am consulted as a token gesture rated equal with my 11 yr old (I would make decisions based on the plane decor and onboard menu he on the likliehood of a window seat) hubby goes for cheapest, quickest, free drinks.

Sueann said...

I know this was a very stressful time for you but I am cracking up!!!! I am impressed that they are trying to stay current with technology!! They just need to make that one last step....using it!! LOL!!!! You are a saint!!
And when you said your mom using a voice that only dogs can here...we I spewed coffee all over the screen!! Thank you very much!!
Hugs
SueAnn

auntiegwen said...

Mud - I am assuming that she was a child at the time?

Mrs Y - I have my grown up moments but I wouldn't say I'm a fully paid up member of the club...

SueAnn - oh she's good at that voice, you hear it a lot when she's asked to do something out of her comfort zone

Laura said...

ROTFL banned for the dentist. my dad would love that. Min you when he smiles it looks like he all ready has been. :o)

libby said...

You are a saint...and I agree with EBD as I cannot WAIT until I am an OAP (God willing) so that I can get up when I want, do what I want, and maybe, maybe,just maybe only have to find the money for fun things and food, not mortgages, insurance, utilities, rates, et bloody cetera .... good on them for buying toys and travelling still...my mom needs to work herself up into a state to leave the house...my poor dad has great grandchildren in the USA that he will never see again because she won't travel...and apropos of dentists...I used to visit one who was struck off for putting his lady clients to sleep and then putting something more than his gloved hands in their mouths!! Me and my husband used to go together after work so I was never 'compromised'....or maybe I just did'nt interest him!!!

Jon Storey said...

My youngest would love your Dad, if he has an iPad and a Discovery 4 she will move in tomorrow!

I booked flights to Germany online in the Autumn and printed off so many bits of paper I had to buy a file to put them in! Doesn't that defeat the whole 'online' thing?

Mrs Worthington said...

God your parents sound so cool with all that gadgetry going on even if they don't use it properly. I love the getting barred from dentist - hysterical.

Mine are coming over in a week or so and I am looking forward to hearing all their crazy stories. Parents are a great source for my endless amusement

auntiegwen said...

Lolly - I couldn't believe it, hours of fun we've had with that

Libby - ooh a pervy dentist, I always wanted to marry a dentist, how weird am I??? don't answer that :) sad about not seeing the grandchildren, hope they can make it over here x

Jon - oh yes they will have an ipad each now doubt ! you are so right about the online tickets, they do generate reams of paper

Mrs W - my friend Shirley says she's now become her childrens main form of entertainment !

Shirley said...

You just wanted me to comment, didn't you?!

I was almost barred from my daughter's orthodontist because I had the audacity to wander into the patient area with a question while they were putting her braces on. How dare I??? Anyway, I'd say you've done your civic duty for the week. Next week will be soon enough to make the car rental arrangements. ;-)

katyboo1 said...

I once kicked my dentist in the mouth. I was only seven, but I hated him. I wish he had barred me.

Jason's mother was a nightmare with technology. In the end he installed some widdly wee bit of kit that let him see what she was doing on her screen when she inevitably failed to do what he had asked and then blamed him. Do you want me to find out what it was?

auntiegwen said...

Shirley - no no no no, my mother is anxious and uptight driving in Scotland, can you imagine how she's be driving in Turkey where I swear I'm not making this up, I have once seen a whole family mum, dad, little boy and a baby on a moped, I have also seen a man and a goat on a moped, I swear. I arrange a taxi to fetch them and take them straight to the house, much easier

Mrs Boo - only if he installs one on mine and he talks me through it!!, It is so sad that I am the crappest person in the regular world at technology gets to feel how most people feel when they deal with me in my technological ineptitude.

Muddling Along said...

Your mother got barred from a dentists - fantastic!

auntiegwen said...

Mam - oh my family are so classy doncha think?

Eddie 2-Sox said...

Lucky, rich, AG.

auntiegwen said...

Soxy - nah lucky rich parents of auntiegwen, there will be nothing left for me, my gadget mad dad will be gadget buying till the inheritance is long gone !