The Portal of Power...

Ok - so I have done it. With a bottle of wine, an excellent curry and a very encouraging pal I have ordered a 'new friend.' Apologies to my Dad if he is reading this - but thankfully he is an understanding man.

It wasn't, as you can probably guess in my world, a simple task.

There was an array of new friends to choose from, and as I like to know that my money is going on a fairly safe bet,  it seemed only appropriate that I should read the reviews on the relevant products;

'Too loud', said one - 'Don't use when you have guests in the house...'
OMG! You must have some really boring friends over for hotpot if halfway through dinner you need to excuse yourself for some 'me time'.

'Fantastic,' said another - 'my boyfriend is jealous that he is unable to reach the heights that this can' - Oh, ok, sounds more promising, I thought.

So apart from the fact that it would have been more beneficial to have a starter pack for the newbie, we (my understanding pal and I), placed items in my shopping cart and went to the check out - suddenly, there were three items in my basket rather than the orginal two (ahem).

'We think you will need these', shouted the headline - and a picture of a pack of triple A batteries along side it. 'Remove if you don't need them' it suggested in bold red writing - well, unless I'm just gonna stare at it for a few weeks it made sense to click yes, I'll have the batteries as well. Quite considerate of them to remember really.

Checking the delivery information I note that they are also considerate enough to ensure that the packaging is discreet - that is unless you are ordering a dancing pole. I suppose that comes in a long box, with DANCING POLE written on the side, THIS WAY UP!!!
Come to think of it, there was a long cardboard box outside my elderly neighbour's house just last week I consider, nice to know that I'm not the only wanton female in the street.

So we click, click away - alas I dont receive a confirmation of my order.  Have I done something wrong? We talk about this for some time and try to call their helpline. Unfortunately they are closed, clearly not as considerate as I had hoped as they are not on hotline 24 hours a day. "Go into the store" my lovely pal suggests. Now, I have just ordered this new friend from the comfort and secrecy of my own laptop, the thought of boldly strolling into a store on a sunday morning asking whether or not they have my order for batteries and more, sends me reeling.

No, no, no, I protest I will wait until Monday and call them.

So on Monday evening a lovely lady called Claire takes my call. I explain that I have had some problems with my order confirmation, so she takes a few details, thankfully, not the details of the actual order.
"I'm not sure why you had problems with the confirmation" she said, "Perhaps it was an unusual order?" She enquires.
"No", I stutter, "Quite a simple one really".
She quickly confirms that my order is on it's way, and perhaps my confirmation email has gone into my Spam box - so I check, and yes there it is, winking at me seductively. I can now relax, can't I?

Hmmmm....

Now since I placed this order I also placed a seperate order for the hobbits.  Not on the same website you understand, but they had been saving up their pocket money to order new Skylander figures. If you haven't heard of this game, it comes with about 40 characters to collect and you connect to a Portal of Power, which connects to the Wii and you can change your character depending on where you are fighting in the realm - with me so far? Can you see where this is going?

                           Portal of Power and one of the Characters from Skylanders...

The hobbits are very excited that their parcel is coming. They are checking every day to see if the postman has been. I am beginning to envisage them seeing a parcel tucked behind our bin outside our house, and them ripping the contents open in sheer hobbit excitement.

Can you imagine?
"Hey mum, I don't remember ordering this character?"
"It doesn't even fit on the Portal of Power!"
No that would be because it has it's own Portal of Power, that are run by the triple A batteries.
"But I ordered Sonic Boom...it doesn't look like Sonic Boom."
Again, no, but I'm hoping that it will have the same effect.

So I am currently praying.
Praying that Sonic Boom and Stump Smash arrive at least a day before my new friend does. Or I may have a lot of explaining to do!