Is there a war on?
December 31st 1999, and I'm working for 999. The call centre was in Newcastle right next to the Tyne Bridge, so pretty much the centre of the universe as North East celebrations go.

I'd been taking emergency calls all evening and things were surprisingly quiet. The manager had been around with some fizzy non alcoholic grape juice, and as we neared midnight, I noticed that the calls were coming in less frequently; in fact with 2 minutes to go I hadn't had the tell-tale bell in my ear for quite a while telling me that somebody had stuck a saucepan on there head or similar nonsense. I was watching the clock count down to midnight, quite looking forward to seeing the millenium in without some ridiculous non-emergency bothering me.

Then, predictably, with thirty seconds to go, the little bell chimes...

'Emergency, which service?'

A frail old lady's voice responds 'There's lots of banging and flashing outside my window'. Looking down at the address, I place a silent curse on Pontefract for starting the millenium a minute before everybody else.

'Yes love, it's New Year's Eve'.

'But it's scary, is there a war on?'

'No love, it's the millenium. It happens once every thousand years. Is there actually an emergency?'

'I think there's a war on.'

'I'm pretty sure there's not. They tell us about these things. Do you actually require Police, Fire or Ambulance?'

'I want them to stop the noise'.

At this point protocol dictated that I had to forward this call to the appropriate police call centre. Having ruined my 'seeing in the new millenium', I thought I'd not spoil some poor police call centre handlers night, and suggested the old dear make a cup of tea and go to bed. I look down at my clock and see that it's 12:01.

I missed the millenium.

On another note, whilst there was no Millenium Bug, a certain major mobile phone network did have problems due to a network overload, and all of their handsets for eight hours showed "112 calls only".

I spent from midnight till 8am on New Years Day fielding calls from folk asking 'Is that customer services?'

'No It's emergency services. The clue is when I pick up the phone and say Emergency, which service?'

'But I called 112'

'Yes, that's the same as 999. Do you require Police, Fire or Ambulance?'

'I want customer services...'

No apologies for length, I was being paid over £50 per hour.
(mongothemagnificent knows where you live, Thu 3 Sep 2009, 14:41, 4 replies)

A millennium lasts for a thousand years
I find it very hard to believe that you "missed" one, as per your above claim.

Pfft.
(Vice Admiral Sir Charles Cockbrush KCB MBE DSO, who is finding it increasingly difficult to log into b3ta.com wants to duck your aunt and kick your puppy, Thu 3 Sep 2009, 15:14, closed)

Timing is everything
It took a real pedant to point out to the other guests at a large party held to usher in the 'new' millennium on 31 December 1999 that, technically speaking, it wouldn't start until 1 January 2001.

Yes reader, that pedant was me.

And just because Douglas Adams is dead, he's still wrong.

www.douglasadams.com/dna/pedants.html
( daikoku has been on a ragga tip since, Thu 3 Sep 2009, 19:46, closed)

"...a certain major mobile phone network did have problems due to a network overload..."

Just the one?
(Pope Jamiroquai III, Thu 3 Sep 2009, 19:33, closed)

Aw, Bless...
( The Incredible Sulk Finally remembered his password on, Mon 7 Sep 2009, 16:22, closed)