two and a half hours later

Still nothing.

And now Tim's gone AWOL. If anyone sees him could they let him know the fax hasn't arrived yet.


I found him.

Having chased it up again, it was apparently faxed 3 hours ago. They're faxing it again now, so within a matter of minutes all the pieces of paper should be at all the right places.

3.40pm still no fax, even though it's 'definitely' been faxed twice today at least. I phoned the solicitors, and gleaned 3 interesting facts
1. Our solicitor has gone home sick
2. There's been a mechanic working on the fax machine for thelast half an hour
3. They have a second fax machine

I phone Tim on his mobile (he's on the landline trying to get through to the people with the fax) and give him the third piece of information. He's going to try that
The lovely Christine (our solicitor's secretary) will phone me if/when it arrives, but she's going home at 4pm.
More news as it happens

4.12pm still no fax. Christine has gone home, and so after another call to our solicitors I have someone on fax watch between now and 5pm. If anything arrives I'll be getting a call. They have my landline, my mobile, my e-mail address, and also a carrier pigeon is on standby.

Just so you know, of all the painful days that Tim and I have been through, I think this one is the most painful. The feeling of utter disbelief and helplessness is beyond anything else we've experienced. Even worse than these little beauties

• the lost contract posted in October, that was only chased up a week before xmas
• the 17 day xmas holiday our solicitor enjoyed
• the forms that were sent to Glasgow, instead of Birmingham, which were then sent to Birmingham only to be sent back to Glagow again.
• The things that couldn't be faxed because an original was needed and then all of a sudden a fax is fine.
• The 4 letters (so far) that have been lost in the post.

I'm actually in pain today.