Tuesday was an additional day's holiday from work, to make the bank holiday really special. The weather wasn't kind on Tuesday, but dinner was.
We had Cornish lamb chops, served with Jersey Royal potatoes along with Hispi Cabbage, Carrots, Broccoli and peas (the latter was the only thing that came out of the freezer).
It was absolutely lovely to indulge in non-fast food, something I missed over the 5 months in the caravan. It is funny the things you think you need, but can manage without and the things you think you can't manage without but can when push comes to shove.
I enjoy cooking, always have, and in a different world, different time I think I would have chosen it as a career. Still might if I have an opportunity to and the offer comes up as it is a very satisfying pastime.
The cooker is getting closer to being purchased, then the kitchen is complete as the other items are purely luxury and not a necessity. The kitchen needs a complete rework as it showing it's age and has the normal wear and tear that you expect but on the whole is not too bad. A set of new doors and fronts would perk it up as would a granite work surface.
We still have a pile of boxes to unpack, but I think finally we can call it home.
03 June 2010
02 June 2010
Progress
I think I am making headway with BT, I now have an order number but it looks as though I am not going to be connected to the broadband until at least 16th June.
Does someone want to explain the delay to me?
After all, if BT can write to the previous occupants of the house using the correct postcode, why can't their system find it on their network of exchanges and cables?
Answers on a comment :-)
Did a bit more tidying at the weekend, enjoyed a day sorting and moving things around to make room for the bikes to go into the garage, definitely smaller than the last garage and space is going to be at a premium; thank goodness for a pitched roof that we can utilise for storage.
Found some things I packed sometime last Summer, just in time for this Summer, and joy we have had the Sky installed; free HD box and installation so not a bad deal and neither of us go out to the cinema much so the costs per month would equate to one evening out and we get the sports channel as well as movies so I have managed to watch the Guiness Premiership Rugby final - I was so hoping that Saracens would win but no Leicester Tigers managed to get a last minute try and take the trophy.
SOH watched the Formula 1 Grand Prix, while I pottered around. Don't enjoy motor racing much at all really, but really enjoyed the Renault World Series at Silverstone.. strange perhaps being there makes a difference.
The DVD recorder finally went back to Comet, after 5 months and two repairs it was returned as unfit for purpose and swapped out for a Panasonic of a similar size and nature. Perhaps we were unlucky, I don't know, but it would put me off a Samsung in future.
Today I am back to work, yesterday I was blessed with mist and grey skies up until evening and today we have blue skies and sunshine.. go figure!
Does someone want to explain the delay to me?
After all, if BT can write to the previous occupants of the house using the correct postcode, why can't their system find it on their network of exchanges and cables?
Answers on a comment :-)
Did a bit more tidying at the weekend, enjoyed a day sorting and moving things around to make room for the bikes to go into the garage, definitely smaller than the last garage and space is going to be at a premium; thank goodness for a pitched roof that we can utilise for storage.
Found some things I packed sometime last Summer, just in time for this Summer, and joy we have had the Sky installed; free HD box and installation so not a bad deal and neither of us go out to the cinema much so the costs per month would equate to one evening out and we get the sports channel as well as movies so I have managed to watch the Guiness Premiership Rugby final - I was so hoping that Saracens would win but no Leicester Tigers managed to get a last minute try and take the trophy.
SOH watched the Formula 1 Grand Prix, while I pottered around. Don't enjoy motor racing much at all really, but really enjoyed the Renault World Series at Silverstone.. strange perhaps being there makes a difference.
The DVD recorder finally went back to Comet, after 5 months and two repairs it was returned as unfit for purpose and swapped out for a Panasonic of a similar size and nature. Perhaps we were unlucky, I don't know, but it would put me off a Samsung in future.
Today I am back to work, yesterday I was blessed with mist and grey skies up until evening and today we have blue skies and sunshine.. go figure!
29 May 2010
Saturday Satire : The Races
A group of primary school infants, accompanied by two female teachers, went on a field trip to Cheltenham races to see and learn about thoroughbred horses.
When it was time to take the children to the toilet, it was decided that the girls would go with one teacher and the boys would go with the other. The teacher assigned to the boys was waiting outside the men's toilet when one of the boys came out and told her that none of them could reach the urinal.
Having no choice, she went inside, helped the boys with their underpants, and began hoisting the boys up, one by one, holding their willies to direct the flow away from their clothes. As she lifted one, she couldn't help but notice that he was unusually well endowed. Trying not to show that she was staring, the teacher said, 'You must be in year four.'
'No, love,' he replied, "I'm riding Silver Arrow in the 2.15"
27 May 2010
BT - an update
I got an amazing response from Ian Livingston...
"I am sorry about this. I will ask one of our high level service team to contact you.
Ian Livingston"
and not only that but his assistant Claire Heaton is liaising with me over fixing the problem. BT cannot apologise enough for the problem which apparently is caused by a fault in the service and partly due to the inconsistency of the postcode for the house. Royal Mail give one postcode, and the Deeds mention another which doesn't always appear on a lookup for the house address (as I found out when trying to arrange house insurance).
Still, they are keeping me informed, without me having to ring them all the time and I think I took the right step in contacting Ian as I don't believe that it would have been resolved without taking that step. To be fair I did give BT four opportunities to handle it at the 'normal' Joe Public level but after a lack of resolution I re-started at the top and it has started to yield some returns. I am having to hold onto the address until I get a working phone line, but really need to send it to family and friends soon.
Anyone who needs to get in touch with Ian over their (BT) services please drop me a line and I will let you have his email address.
Oh.. and by the way.. .when it is finished I plan on contacting him again to thank him for his kind assistance in resolving the order.. see not always the complaining type lol.
"I am sorry about this. I will ask one of our high level service team to contact you.
Ian Livingston"
and not only that but his assistant Claire Heaton is liaising with me over fixing the problem. BT cannot apologise enough for the problem which apparently is caused by a fault in the service and partly due to the inconsistency of the postcode for the house. Royal Mail give one postcode, and the Deeds mention another which doesn't always appear on a lookup for the house address (as I found out when trying to arrange house insurance).
Still, they are keeping me informed, without me having to ring them all the time and I think I took the right step in contacting Ian as I don't believe that it would have been resolved without taking that step. To be fair I did give BT four opportunities to handle it at the 'normal' Joe Public level but after a lack of resolution I re-started at the top and it has started to yield some returns. I am having to hold onto the address until I get a working phone line, but really need to send it to family and friends soon.
Anyone who needs to get in touch with Ian over their (BT) services please drop me a line and I will let you have his email address.
Oh.. and by the way.. .when it is finished I plan on contacting him again to thank him for his kind assistance in resolving the order.. see not always the complaining type lol.
26 May 2010
How Difficult can it be?
When we picked the keys up for Tre Agan, our first thought was phone line/broadband. I know how shallow can I be but I need the internet, socially as well as for my addiciton to just internet browsing lol.
My first call to BT to arrange for the phone line was on 15th May and it was then that I first encounted the problems that were in the way. I spoke to a nice young man who, after taking all my details, tested the line and said there is a 'problem' I can't deal with the order right now until we have established what is wrong with the line. He said he would call back within 48 hours; like the gullible idiot I was I trusted him (hmmm wisdom comes with knowing).
My second call was on Monday, this time I spoke to someone completely different, but there was no record in the system of the previous call, nor of what the problem was, so we started again but to no avail. I even got put through to someone who was on the technical side who asked me if I had a master socket, apparently this is BTtalk for do you have a bt socket in the property. It didn't help much and this time, they were going to call me back in 10-15 mins or 48 hours; so we waited, and waited.
My third phone call to BT took place on Friday, I spoke to yet another person, very nice lady by the name of Claire who also failed to find any record of my previous calls, again couldn't process the order due to this 'fault' that was showing and was going to raise it with the engineers and someone would call me back within 48 hours but as Sunday wasn't included in that they would probably call by Monday. I despaired at the thought of waiting, but like a good little customer I held my tongue; god do you know how hard that was?
My fourth phone call was on Monday, by this time I was an old hand and could almost read Graham's mind as he fumbled for the right answers, and even his line manager was struggling to make sense of the record or lack of it as it transpired. I had explained from the start that this was the fourth attempt to get a phone line, and that I was getting increasingly annoyed but we still ended up with him saying someone would ring me back within 48 hours. Although he did give me a VOL number which apparently is trackable.
Lewis rang me back yesterday, with no idea of what the problem was, in fact I don't even think he rang about that but about the fact that I said I would provide feedback to BT on their customer service. Boy did his ears burn. He also ended his call by saying he would ring back later in the afternoon. Hmmm.. he never did.
This morning, I flipped. No more talking to customer care reps, no I contacted the CEO of BT by the name of Ian Livingston, and to give him credit he emailed a response almost immediately saying "one of the high level service team members will contact me."
Well said Ian, but god help you if someone doesn't contact me to discuss the problem. BT have a monopoly of the installation of Landlines, but they don't over telephone services and broadband and I will simply go somewhere else at the end of the day.
My first call to BT to arrange for the phone line was on 15th May and it was then that I first encounted the problems that were in the way. I spoke to a nice young man who, after taking all my details, tested the line and said there is a 'problem' I can't deal with the order right now until we have established what is wrong with the line. He said he would call back within 48 hours; like the gullible idiot I was I trusted him (hmmm wisdom comes with knowing).
My second call was on Monday, this time I spoke to someone completely different, but there was no record in the system of the previous call, nor of what the problem was, so we started again but to no avail. I even got put through to someone who was on the technical side who asked me if I had a master socket, apparently this is BTtalk for do you have a bt socket in the property. It didn't help much and this time, they were going to call me back in 10-15 mins or 48 hours; so we waited, and waited.
My third phone call to BT took place on Friday, I spoke to yet another person, very nice lady by the name of Claire who also failed to find any record of my previous calls, again couldn't process the order due to this 'fault' that was showing and was going to raise it with the engineers and someone would call me back within 48 hours but as Sunday wasn't included in that they would probably call by Monday. I despaired at the thought of waiting, but like a good little customer I held my tongue; god do you know how hard that was?
My fourth phone call was on Monday, by this time I was an old hand and could almost read Graham's mind as he fumbled for the right answers, and even his line manager was struggling to make sense of the record or lack of it as it transpired. I had explained from the start that this was the fourth attempt to get a phone line, and that I was getting increasingly annoyed but we still ended up with him saying someone would ring me back within 48 hours. Although he did give me a VOL number which apparently is trackable.
Lewis rang me back yesterday, with no idea of what the problem was, in fact I don't even think he rang about that but about the fact that I said I would provide feedback to BT on their customer service. Boy did his ears burn. He also ended his call by saying he would ring back later in the afternoon. Hmmm.. he never did.
This morning, I flipped. No more talking to customer care reps, no I contacted the CEO of BT by the name of Ian Livingston, and to give him credit he emailed a response almost immediately saying "one of the high level service team members will contact me."
Well said Ian, but god help you if someone doesn't contact me to discuss the problem. BT have a monopoly of the installation of Landlines, but they don't over telephone services and broadband and I will simply go somewhere else at the end of the day.
25 May 2010
Hot, Hot, Hot
I was lucky, I had an extra day off work to try and get some tidying up done. Moving a few boxes here and there gave us a bit more space in the living room. The washing was hung out on the line, and the sun shone brightly.
I phoned BT again, the fourth attempt to get a working phone line and it is costing a small fortune having to use the mobile and once more we have been told to wait 48 hours and someone will call... I beg to differ and if I have to ring them again there will be trouble!
Then a trip over to the storage container, to pick up the last few things, and hand back the key. If we had waited any longer we would have had to pay more rent, so it was crucial to get things done this weekend just gone, even though it would have been nicer to have had a bit more time to sort things out before taking them to the house; still beggars cannot be choosers.
Into town, and the great address change, now we can do all the licences, insurances, bank accounts etc... a raft of paperwork is about to move so apologies to Royal Mail who are doing well finding us in amongst the building site which is opposite.
Tomorrow is back to work, a more normal day well for me at least. SOH has the heat to contend with as he negotiates his lorry in amongst the holiday makers and traffic works delivering cream and milk to shops and the like.
I phoned BT again, the fourth attempt to get a working phone line and it is costing a small fortune having to use the mobile and once more we have been told to wait 48 hours and someone will call... I beg to differ and if I have to ring them again there will be trouble!
Then a trip over to the storage container, to pick up the last few things, and hand back the key. If we had waited any longer we would have had to pay more rent, so it was crucial to get things done this weekend just gone, even though it would have been nicer to have had a bit more time to sort things out before taking them to the house; still beggars cannot be choosers.
Into town, and the great address change, now we can do all the licences, insurances, bank accounts etc... a raft of paperwork is about to move so apologies to Royal Mail who are doing well finding us in amongst the building site which is opposite.
Tomorrow is back to work, a more normal day well for me at least. SOH has the heat to contend with as he negotiates his lorry in amongst the holiday makers and traffic works delivering cream and milk to shops and the like.
23 May 2010
Whewwwww
SOH and I sweated buckets, literally. The storage container with all our stuff in was in full sun, and we baked like potatoes trying to get the stuff into the lorry. Part 1 on saturday was to get the heavy stuff, the washing machine, fridge etc into the lorry and over to the house... part 2 was on Saturday afternoon which was to load the remainder of the stuff from the container onto the lorry, leaving just a few things for Sunday morning. By the time the second load was on board we were ready for a meal, having a chinese from the Hong Sing in Redruth, such a lovely place and surprisingly empty so we were quickly served.
A bottle of Black Tower Rose went down well and by 8.30pm we were bushed so had a quick shower and slept like logs until 6am. We had breakfast before starting again, to set ourselves up for the day and also for good dietary reasons. The fridge had been settled in and switched on and the novelty of having a freezer again after 5 months meant I could shop later to fill it up.
The contents of the lorry was unloaded into the garage in less than an hour and while we stopped to sort out the washing machine with help from SOH's Dad, we enjoyed a moment in the sunshine before taking the old sofa to the skip and returning the lorry and picking up the car before I could indulge in a little retail frozen food shopping.
I got home to find a team of people, well actually SOH's Dad, starting to mow the back garden and once I had unpacked the shopping it was nice to sit and enjoy the sunshine with a little trimming.
We enjoyed a meal of Roast Pork, with potatoes and vegetables followed by Treacle Tart with clotted cream and a little bit of TV before we crashed into bed for the evening.
A bottle of Black Tower Rose went down well and by 8.30pm we were bushed so had a quick shower and slept like logs until 6am. We had breakfast before starting again, to set ourselves up for the day and also for good dietary reasons. The fridge had been settled in and switched on and the novelty of having a freezer again after 5 months meant I could shop later to fill it up.
The contents of the lorry was unloaded into the garage in less than an hour and while we stopped to sort out the washing machine with help from SOH's Dad, we enjoyed a moment in the sunshine before taking the old sofa to the skip and returning the lorry and picking up the car before I could indulge in a little retail frozen food shopping.
I got home to find a team of people, well actually SOH's Dad, starting to mow the back garden and once I had unpacked the shopping it was nice to sit and enjoy the sunshine with a little trimming.
We enjoyed a meal of Roast Pork, with potatoes and vegetables followed by Treacle Tart with clotted cream and a little bit of TV before we crashed into bed for the evening.
22 May 2010
Saturday Satire : The New Sailor
The Navy Captain noticed a new seaman and barked at him, "Get over here! What's your name sailor?"
"John," the new seaman replied.
"LISTEN TO ME!" the Captain shouted, "I don't know what kind of bleeding-heart, poofy, do - good, politically correct crap they're teaching sailors during training nowadays, but I don't call anyone by his first name," the Captain scowled. "It breeds familiarity, and that leads to a breakdown in authority. I refer to my sailors by their last names only - Smith, or Jones, or Baker, or whatever. And you are to refer to me as 'Captain'. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?", he bawled at the poor sailor.
"Aye, Aye Captain!"
"Now that we've got that straight, what is your last name?"
The seaman replied. "It's Darling, my name is John Darling, Captain."
"Okay, John, now here's what I want you to do ......"
21 May 2010
Brain Drain
With all the heavy lifting duty of the move on-going, we are moving what we can in the car to limit what we have to do on Saturday. The house is therefore full of boxes, probably all in the wrong spot but we don't care. They will get unpacked in time, over time and if not at least are tidy lol
We have a lorry hired for Saturday, and will now move all the heavy stuff like the washing machine, fridge freezer and garage stuff then finally we will be in formally and fully. No more caravan nights for a while, the luxury of a shower or even bath when we want and running water.. it all seems a little dream like at the moment.
With the limited facilities we have in the kitchen at the moment, it is still possible to cook up a decent meal, last night we had jersey royal potatoes, carrots, peas and lamb shanks in mint gravy (the latter being on special from Asda) and it was absolutely gorgeous - who needs a cooker - well actually I do, just waiting on the monies being returned from the solicitors and then I can go and order the one I want... Tesco's here I come, well I might as well bag a swathe of club points which we might be able to use against the hire car for September.
I move stuff in the mornings from the caravan to the house, while SOH moves stuff in the afternoons from the container to the house... still we are both tired, sore and drained by the end of the day and with the warmer weather coming I am finding it a bit stuffy at night so last night I got the window open by me and slept in a nice cool draft of air. Better than the night before when I woke up feeling all stuffy and then developed a migraine which while it didn't stop me teaching, it did stop me driving :-( not too good for work really.
Roll on the weekend, bring the work on... for it is good.
We have a lorry hired for Saturday, and will now move all the heavy stuff like the washing machine, fridge freezer and garage stuff then finally we will be in formally and fully. No more caravan nights for a while, the luxury of a shower or even bath when we want and running water.. it all seems a little dream like at the moment.
With the limited facilities we have in the kitchen at the moment, it is still possible to cook up a decent meal, last night we had jersey royal potatoes, carrots, peas and lamb shanks in mint gravy (the latter being on special from Asda) and it was absolutely gorgeous - who needs a cooker - well actually I do, just waiting on the monies being returned from the solicitors and then I can go and order the one I want... Tesco's here I come, well I might as well bag a swathe of club points which we might be able to use against the hire car for September.
I move stuff in the mornings from the caravan to the house, while SOH moves stuff in the afternoons from the container to the house... still we are both tired, sore and drained by the end of the day and with the warmer weather coming I am finding it a bit stuffy at night so last night I got the window open by me and slept in a nice cool draft of air. Better than the night before when I woke up feeling all stuffy and then developed a migraine which while it didn't stop me teaching, it did stop me driving :-( not too good for work really.
Roll on the weekend, bring the work on... for it is good.
19 May 2010
So funny, what makes Drunks such a target?
I was soooo drunk the other night. Absolutely and utterly plastered. What a state I was in! I don't normally get like that.
I got to the bottom of the stairs and I quietly took my shoes off, followed by my socks.
Then I took my jacket off, and my shirt too.
Then I removed my trousers and my underpants.
I then crept upstairs, trying to stay on my tiptoes, and trying so hard not to make a sound. Very difficult, bearing in mind the state I was in!
It was only when I got to the top of the stairs that I realised I was on the bus......
I got to the bottom of the stairs and I quietly took my shoes off, followed by my socks.
Then I took my jacket off, and my shirt too.
Then I removed my trousers and my underpants.
I then crept upstairs, trying to stay on my tiptoes, and trying so hard not to make a sound. Very difficult, bearing in mind the state I was in!
It was only when I got to the top of the stairs that I realised I was on the bus......
18 May 2010
A Flow Chart of Responsibility
My workplace is no different, I don't suppose, indications are strong that the Admin staff are in a high turnover. Not necessarily due to financial reasons, nor the change in government and their policies, but it could simply be that it is not fulfilling enough (and they get too much work landed on their desk).
Still something to think about if you are at the top of the ladder hmmmm
17 May 2010
What fun it is
We had a busy weekend, we are luckier than most in that we can unpack slowly due to the bulk of the goods being in a storage container. I think those people that have to move out of one house and into another the same day or the following day are brave souls, and probably have a removals company to help.
Costs were limiting, we couldn't afford the house and a removals company so have had to do the bulk of the work ourselves and by that I mean SOH has as he provides the muscle; apparently I have a wonderful knack of doing the wrong thing at completely the wrong time even though I think I am helping. So I get to move things that I can move like boxes, and he directs operations.
We have got some stuff in, and we have had our first meals cooked at the house albeit with a combi microwave and a steamer but even so it was more than edible and we enjoyed it very much. The cooker has yet to be brought, and reluctantly even I have come to realise that the lustful item is not going to happen instead I am looking at a double oven by Indesit that is a fairly unique colour of stainless steel (it almost appears to be a pale gold colour). This gives me extra money to spend out on a dishwasher and tumble dryer; I prefer where possible to dry clothes naturally, and I hate spending money on drying clothes but I have a lack of drying space in this house unlike the other house which had a car port I could use to put a clothes line up so hopefully I won't be using it very often.
The curtain poles are going up, they are satin steel extendable ones and apart from a lack of curtains hooks we have at least got one pair of curtains up. and have a working television for those moments when we sit down and have a cup of tea surveying all that we have done and all that we have yet to do.
It is nice to be able to shut the door and know that we are in our own home, all brought and paid for, every single brick and tile :-) we are very lucky people.
Costs were limiting, we couldn't afford the house and a removals company so have had to do the bulk of the work ourselves and by that I mean SOH has as he provides the muscle; apparently I have a wonderful knack of doing the wrong thing at completely the wrong time even though I think I am helping. So I get to move things that I can move like boxes, and he directs operations.
We have got some stuff in, and we have had our first meals cooked at the house albeit with a combi microwave and a steamer but even so it was more than edible and we enjoyed it very much. The cooker has yet to be brought, and reluctantly even I have come to realise that the lustful item is not going to happen instead I am looking at a double oven by Indesit that is a fairly unique colour of stainless steel (it almost appears to be a pale gold colour). This gives me extra money to spend out on a dishwasher and tumble dryer; I prefer where possible to dry clothes naturally, and I hate spending money on drying clothes but I have a lack of drying space in this house unlike the other house which had a car port I could use to put a clothes line up so hopefully I won't be using it very often.
The curtain poles are going up, they are satin steel extendable ones and apart from a lack of curtains hooks we have at least got one pair of curtains up. and have a working television for those moments when we sit down and have a cup of tea surveying all that we have done and all that we have yet to do.
It is nice to be able to shut the door and know that we are in our own home, all brought and paid for, every single brick and tile :-) we are very lucky people.
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