will somebody put me out of my misery please?

having a discussion with the wife.
of all people.( throwing-up smiley needed ).

who was that cheapo phone company that virgin took over?

Do you mean Telewest, Eric?

nope.

NTL? They were another arm of Twest, IIRC

YES!
that's the one.
cheers mate.

No probs. Phone service with NTL/Twest used to be fantastic, TV as well, internet was good but could be temperamental of an evening. Virgin's service was lesser.