Wrong Number

As does everybody, The Wayside Tavern has a telephone number listed in the White Pages (the telephone directory).

Out of the blue a letter from Telecom arrives, informing that effective the end of the month, "service 07 9876 5444" would be withdrawn from use. (This is the Wayside Tavern's number as published in the White Pages)

A "Waddya mean by this?" phone call was placed to Telecom. Reply: "You shouldn't have that number, so it is being suspended from use"

Telecom had allocated that number some decades ago, when STD phones were connected.

The response did not waver: "You haven't the right to that number sir, thus it will be removed from your account"

There wasn't a person in Telecom, with or without personal clout, to whom Mine Host did not appeal.

At the end of the month that one number went dead. Pleadings to Telecom to return the number fell upon deaf ears.

For the next three years that number remained listed in the White Pages, despite every attempt by Mine Host to remove it & have it replaced with the new phone number.

Heaven only knows how many phone calls we missed because diallers could not find our number. Local businesses would resort to walking down to see us, because the number they had for us didn't seem to ever work.

In the years since Mine Host has sporadically dialled the number, it remains dead. It was never given to anybody else. Mine Host cannot fathom why it suddenly was suspended, after umpteen years of it being the Wayside Tavern's published telephone number.

The new number is: (say)
07 9876 3444.
The old number was: (say)
07 9876 5444.
Other numbers we had before, & still have include: (say)
07 9876 5443
07 9876 5445

You couldn't make up this stuff.