Gay Sci-Fi Nerds (GSFN) Podcast Show

Drew and I had a bit of a busy time last week, what with seeing The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Hancock and also Bill Bailey at the Eden Project on Friday night. I’ve had a long weekend, taking Friday off so I could get me one of those fancy new iPhone 3G that everyone wanted.

So Friday morning involved me getting up at the crack of Drew, showering and debating which of the two nearest O2 stores I should try. I decided on the one in Newton Abbot as it’s out of the bay and a smaller town. I remarked to Drew that one of two things would happen.

1. I would be the only person there sad enough to turn up early
2. I wouldn’t be there early enough to get my hands on one to take with me.

So I jumped into the car and made my way through the back lanes (of which I am an expert) to the town that is Newton Abbot, or as Drew fondly refers to as “Newton Armpit”. Having parked my car at the free parking place that is the local hospital (everybody does it), I was amazed at how quiet it was whilst walking through the town centre. Perhaps I was sad enough to turn up that early. The two O2 stores closest to me were due to open at 9am, not the 8:02am time of most of the other stores. I walked past a Car Phone Warehouse, no queue, so I was optimistic that I’d be at least in the first 5.

No. Including the parents I came in at at number 13, not a good sign. It soon transpired that everyone in the queue though the store was due to open at 8:02am. So I had at least an hour and twenty minute wait before I would even be let into the store. Now lucky for me, the guy in two places in front of me had had enough and decided that he had to get to work. He decided this 10 minutes before opening time. Stupid, but hey, I moved one place closer to my dream of having the latest shiny shiny from Apple. Now I could turn this into an incredibly detailed blog as to what happened next, but I won’t. Instead I’ll present them it as a short bulleted list.

1. Store opened at 9am
2. First couple of people ID’d and let into store
3. Lady with clipboard starts to inform people wanting to upgrade that the system is down, so taking reservations on a come first, served first basis.
4. Eventually I’m let into store to play with new iPhone and wait my turn to be processed.
5. My turn.
6. Told that manual activation is occurring so alt hough I’ll get an iPhone (HOORAH), I won’t be able to use it as a phone until following day.
7. Seems O2 can’t set up a debit on a charge card, had to give Drew’s bank details… WTF!
8. Heard my customer service guy tell lady with clipboard that he’s just sold the last 16GB model… To me (HOORAH)
9. Details taken, payment taken and I’m taking my iPhone home.
10. Start playing with new iPhone (WOO HOO)!

Of course, I have been experiencing the same problems plagued by other O2 customers, namely as of writing this post I’m still waiting for the phone to be activated. However, with a trip to London it served me well on the iPod and Safari (using WI-FI) side of things. I’m now waiting on O2 to call me back, but it’s not the best of starts with a new phone operator.

Should I have taken up 3’s offer of a Nokia N95 8GB? Not bloody likely!