Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Has it really been a week

I’ve just checked and it’s been a week since we blogged so apologies for that….

So what’s to report from the BOGOF household.

Thursday: went shopping with my mam to the Metro Centre. We normally go on a Friday but she was going away for the weekend with my sister, brother-in-law and niece to Tatten Park. Apparently it’s a smaller version of Chelsea flower show.

Friday: Did some more work on my novel. Yes I’m finally back into my writing so hopefully will get it finished sometime next year…

Saturday: Had loads of things planned including housework and some DIY but we couldn’t be bothered to lift a finger so spent the day doing nothing ! ! !

Sunday: Again had loads of things planned, some carried over from yesterday but again we couldn’t be bothered so did nothing. Watched a great Grand Prix though. Best one I’ve seen for ages.

Monday: Spent the day writing.

Yesterday: John’s birthday. Poor soul had to go into work as he couldn’t get the day off.
Had a couple of bits of shopping to do, like buy yummies for John’s birthday dinner and a new hairdryer from ARGOS.
Had a run in with a blonde driver (apologies if you’re reading this and are a female blonde). To cut a very long story short, she was blocking a road and refused to reverse. A woman resident tried to get her to move, even treating her with the police but she refused. Eventually I had to drive diagonally into a space about the size of a postage stamp and prayed she wouldn’t take my car back end off. To say I had steam coming out of my ears was an understatement.
For the first time in goodness how many years I dried my hair using a hairdryer. One thing I had forgotten was my hair is quite thick and hairdryers have a tendency to create volume so my hair has increased in size somewhat ! ! !
Had a lovely birthday dinner and evening with John.

Today: Did some more writing.

So there you have it…

Marie

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

And then there were none

An update on the three baby seagulls. On Sunday afternoon one of them took it’s maiden flight and investigated the back lane, under the watchful eye of mum and dad.

By Monday evening another one had found it’s wings so that just left mum and number three in the nest. We think dad must be in charge of teaching the other two to swim…

When I checked this morning it looked like mum and number three had finally joined the rest of the family for swimming lessons, as the nest was empty and there’s been no sign of life ever since.

Who needs Bill Oddie and Spring Watch ! ! !

Marie

Sunday, July 15, 2007

He must have a death wish

John’s battery in his mobile phone isn’t keeping it’s charge so I asked if he’d like the Birthday bunny to buy him a new one.

He found one that he liked from T-Mobile website so I ordered it on behalf of the Birthday bunny. It arrived, along with a letter saying the £10 top-up credit that I had to buy with the phone, had automatically been credited to the new mobile phone number.

As John wanted to keep his existing SIM I rang T-Mobile and asked if it could be possible to transfer the credit to his existing number. The little man I spoke to was extremely snotty. Apparently it was not their policy to transfer credits so his attitude was tough…

I asked to speak to a manager as the website made no reference to the £10 automatically being credited to the new phone. If I had known this was going to happen I would have bought the phone elsewhere. He refused.

I asked again very nicely to speak to a manager, Again he refused and then started arguing with me big time. At the third time of asking to speak to a manager he deliberately cut me off.

As Dr Bruce Banner from the Incredible Hulk says, ‘don’t make me angry, you won’t like me when I’m angry’. Yep, guess who appeared, the Customer from Hell ! ! !

I rang T-Mobile again and asked ‘Pat’ very nicely if I could speak to a manager as I had a lot of shouting to do and she wasn’t paid enough to be shouted at.

She was more than happy for me to speak to a manager, but as they operate a call back system, it would be at least four hours before a manager would get back to me, so asked if she could help speed up my query.

I explained about the £10 credit but I was more concerned about making an official complaint regarding the guy I’d spoken to. Although it is their policy not to transfer credits, they have the authority do so in certain circumstances and as their website hadn’t explained what would happen to the £10 and as an apology for their bad customer service, she was prepared to do so.

However transferring the £10 wasn’t quite that simple. I knew John’s mobile phone number but didn’t know his password. Well actually I did, but she couldn’t tell me that it had three letters missing from the end as their passwords will only allow six characters.

So I had to give her John’s work number so she could speak to him direct. He then had to ring me to let me know his password so when she rang me back I could give her the details – I do hope you’re keeping up….

If that wasn’t enough John had to phone me at home from his mobile so she could verify that he really was who he said he was – apparently they are able to track what calls are made.

Having proved that John really was John and given her the correct password, the £10 was transferred to his original SIM.

As for the nasty little man, an official complaint was made and even though I only knew his first name, every call and telephone number are logged so it won’t be hard to find the guilty person.

Hah, that’ll teach him to upset the customer from hell ! ! !

Marie

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

A threat to national security

That’s what the passport office thinks of John’s glasses…

He sent in his passport for renewal and they have rejected his photograph on the grounds that his glasses are too small. They claim that they obscure his eyes and are therefore a threat to national security.

I’ve looked at his photograph in more detail and his eyes are perfectly visible. Knowing the Civil Service the way I do, they would probably have scanned the image and found it to be a thousandth of a millimetre below their guideline….

They have suggested John may like to remove them the next time. Given that glasses can change a person’s appearance, isn’t that a stupid suggestion considering this pathetic government will be introducing new ID passports at the end of the year. You know, the one’s that Hitler would have been proud of…

What next, will they be asking Colonel Dick (‘It’s not easy being green’) to shave off his moustache as it obscures his top lip.

Marie

Sunday, July 08, 2007

Bonk, bonk, BOING

We’ve bought a new bed. To look at it’s just an ordinary bed. Five feet wide with drawers underneath, but it hides a secret. It’s decided that all who sleep in it must be chaste at all times.

When we have a cuddle and a couple of good night kisses before settling down to sleep, the bed’s fine. However when we want to take things further so to speak, the bed BOINGS.

It’s very off-putting, not to mention hysterically funny when you’re trying to be romantic and all you hear is kiss BOING kiss BOING kiss BOING.

We’ve even tried to pretend we’re saying goodnight but it’s no fool. It knows what we’re up to and BOING BOING.

I’ve heard of a chastity belt but never a chastity bed ! ! !

Marie

Saturday, July 07, 2007

A tipping we shall go

As mentioned yesterday we spent the day doing a mini spring clean following the arrival of the new carpet.

Poor Noo-Noo* worked it’s little socks off picking up all the new carpet bits.

Once the housework was done we then had three trips to the council tip to dispose of all the bits of carpet, old and new.

Tomorrow thankfully is going to be a day of rest as we flick through the various television channels to watch the men’s final at Wimbledon, the British Grand Prix and the Tour de France.

Who’s bright idea was it to have them all on at the same time ! ! !

Marie


*Our vacuum cleaner named after the one in the Telebubbies…

Friday, July 06, 2007

Out with the old…

..in with the new.

Our new hall and stair carpet was fitted this afternoon. I was told the carpet fitters would arrive by mid morning but they didn’t show up until 1.45pm. The customer from hell was on standby ready to shout at the little man from Carpet Right if they hadn’t come.

Not to disappoint the customer from hell she did make a slight appearance when one of the little fitters asked if he could have the door plates (the thing that butts two pieces of carpet together). I didn’t have them and neither did he.

It turns out that the little man hadn’t ordered any for us. Was not amused as John had removed the old ones yesterday when he took up the carpet. It has though saved us money as Carpet Right charge £8 per plate whereas the little fitter said we could get them from any DIY place for a lot less money.

The carpet looks nice with the brown and ivory paintwork, and we're glad that we removed the old brown paint as it would never had stood up to the roughness of the fitters.

Now all we have to do is clean up…

Marie

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Hair-raising

Today was my mobile hairdresser last visit before she goes off on maternity leave.

The last time Gillian went on maternity leave I didn’t get my hair cut for at least three months as I hate anyone cutting my hair other than her. However as I began looking like a female vicar I had no option but to get it cut.

This time I’ve decided to let it grow in the hope that I can avoid the female vicar look again.

There is however one flaw to this plan. I haven’t had ‘long’ hair for years so won’t be able to ‘wash and go’ for very much longer, which means I’ll need to dry it with a hairdryer. I do have a dryer but I haven’t the faintest idea where it is ! ! !

Once I find it I have no guarantee that it’ll work – shows how long I’ve had it. So I’m going to have to buy a new one and this is where I start to panic.

There are so many to choose from and each with descriptions that I haven’t a clue what they are on about. Such as: ion generator; ionic conditioning; variable ionic; cool shot button; hinged rear filter; diffuser and concentrator attachments; salon cable.

I must becoming a gummy old woman as all I want is a simple hairdryer that does what it says on the tin…

Marie

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

But you wanted granite

As mentioned on Sunday my mam wanted me to take her looking for more granite today. I have to admit I was sorely tempted to take Jenny up on her offer…

For a start my mam didn’t know where the place was. Well that’s not quite true. She had been there once but it was raining and things look different when it’s raining apparently…

The A to Z wasn’t really much help as a huge retail park had been built since my edition was printed so things weren’t as they should be.

All I had to go on was ‘if you get to Tesco’s roundabout then you’ve missed it’. We visited Tesco’s roundabout several times as I couldn’t find the place.

I asked my mam if she could remember anything that was familiar. She couldn’t. Not wanting to visit Tesco’s roundabout again we pulled into a builders yard and asked for directions.

It was all coming back to her now, ‘Oh I remember we turned left at this pub’…

Anyway we found the place.

Last Friday she wanted granite as she didn’t like marble. She wanted black but not too black; the pattern couldn’t be too big but neither could it be too small; it could not have any green or blue in it as she didn’t like them colours. She did find one that she sort of liked but said no because they didn’t have a huge slab for her to look at – she wanted to see the full sheet of granite, not just the 12 by 12 inch sample.

The first sample she really liked was a green patterned piece of granite – she’s now gone off black. Then she like a brown and cream patterned piece of marble – she’s now likes marble. She also liked a green piece of slate – not sure where that fits into things ! ! !

She asked if she could have samples of the marble and slate as she wanted to see which would go best with the stove she likes. So off we went to the stove place. Thankfully she had asked directions of where to find it when we were in the builders yard.

She propped up the two samples next to her chosen stove and decided that the green slate looked best. Then she bought the stove.

Back at the granite place she then decided that she wasn’t sure about the slate and asked my advice. I refused on the grounds that if I said yes and she then hates it, I’ll never hear the last of it.

She decides on the slate.

I’m not finished yet…. She then asked the little assistant if she could have a look at the actual slabs of the green slate they would be using as she didn’t want her piece to have any veins in. I did point out that slate was a natural product so veins tended to happen. If it had any veins in, she wasn’t having it.

Having told them where to cut her piece from the slab to avoid the veins she’s ordered the slate. The little assistant then asked her to sign the order sheet to confirm her measurements were correct. She would only do so after the assistant wrote on the sheet that her piece must not have any veins in…

I hope I’m not at my mams when it’s delivered ! ! !

Marie

Monday, July 02, 2007

A truly mucky pup


I found this on cute overload and just had to share it with you….

With that expression you couldn’t help but forgive it.

Marie

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Reporting in

I’m afraid there isn’t really that much to blog about but as they have been a little thin on the ground lately, I thought I better make the effort.

Took mam to look for some granite on Friday and as expected it was traumatic… She wants to go looking for some more on Wednesday, but I really don’t know if my nerves will stand anymore ! ! !

Hardly did a thing yesterday afternoon which made me feel slightly guilty as John was busy painting. Today though the tables have been turned as he spent a leisurely couple of hours watching the Grand Prix while I ironed.

The three baby seagulls are getting much bigger so it probably won’t be long before they take their maiden flight. Camera at the ready…

Marie