I would like to recount the final steps in this drama.

You may remember that I cancelled the Oystercard from the website on Saturday
morning two weeks ago. When I hadn't been contacted by Thursday, I decided to
call their number to enquire.

The person on the phone looked up my number and said that, no, it hadn't been
cancelled but no, it hadn't been used since Friday. I had a little shiver of
1984-style Big Brotherism, in that someone in an office somewhere could tell
where I'd been on the Underground or on the buses...but anyway. She then
cancelled the card and I got my new one a week ago.

The moral of the story is: if you lose your Oystercard, don't cancel it on the
website--call the number (it's on the website) and report it in person. This
will guarantee that you'll get the old one cancelled and a new card soon.

Oddly enough, the people who do all the new card processing are in Ireland. No
suitable organisation could be found in London?
--
Chris Hansen | chrishansenhome at btinternet dot com
The British philosopher J. L. Austin came to Columbia and
pointed out that although two negatives make a positive,
nowhere is it the case that two positives make a negative.
"Yeah, yeah," Dr. Morgenbesser said.