"I've hit my cap again," she grumbled to Bubblewrap Bob. "What a nuisance!"
Bob looked up. "But isn't it supposed to be a soft cap?" He asked. "Shouldn't you still be able to access sites, only more, s l l o o o w w w l l l l y y y y ?"
Keitu shrugged. "When you've used up your international bandwidth, you can still get some local," she said, "and sometimes international sites via that, albeit slowly, but it's easier just to top up!"
She scratched out her credit card and moments later was grumbling furiously. "Can you believe!" She fumed. "The secure payment gateway is unavailable. And they can't say when it will be back! This is almost as bad as badwidth at the Knowledge Factory on the Hill!"
"Perhaps it's a message from the Universe," Bob suggested. "Look how beautifully sunny it is outside!"
Keitu looked out of the window. "Of course!" she said. "It's a pain, but I can still access email and Facebook on my cellphone...."
cross-posted from e/merge2008 blog