A little later than planned

I’m getting a new car. A blue Nissan Note. It really should have been green this time as I alternate between blue and green but they don’t do green Notes…

It was due in the showroom on 22nd August and to me on 3rd September. Unfortunately there has been a slight delay so I won’t now get it until 15th September at the earlier. A little disappointing but it can’t be helped.

Back in July we ordered a new living and dining room carpet. The little man from Allied said it would only take three weeks. This was ideal as we’re getting a new sofa and it’s due to arrive anytime after 4th September.

Three weeks came and went but no sign of the carpet. The little man I spoke to said it would be here the following week. Nearly six weeks later and still no carpet.

I rang them again (with the customer from hell on standby….), explaining that the carpet must be down by 4th September otherwise I’m cancelling the order. There is no way the carpet fitters are putting their grubby little hands on my new sofa ! ! !

Allied rang back. There has been a problem with the cutting machine in the warehouse so our carpet is due to be cut next week. The little man has arranged for it to be delivered to the store on 3rd September and fitted on 4th.

I do hope for their sake there isn’t a problem getting it delivered from the warehouse to the store…..

Marie

PS Don’t worry if you don’t hear from us for a while as we started our holiday on Friday night. Yippee ! ! ! ! ! ! !

For sale – one house hardly been used

This afternoon a ‘for sale’ board went up outside our new neighbours house. After giving us a year of hell demolishing the house from within, they are now selling up.

To be honest it doesn’t surprise me as they seemed a couple who had no intention of staying in one place for very long.

In their short period in Neale Street they haven’t gone out of their way to be friendly. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve had a smile or a hello from either of them. We didn’t even get a Christmas card from them ! ! !

So here are some of the things I won’t be missing when they leave.

The herd of elephants running up and down the stairs.

Him coughing his guts up when he has a shower first thing in a morning.

Bob and Mrs Builder (her mam and dad) always arguing when they come on a Thursday to do the housework.

Bob and Mrs Builder arguing when they come to drop off the ironing.

Bob and Mrs Builder arguing anytime they come.

Their every meal from the microwave. No matter what they have it always takes eight minutes to cook.

Her car remote setting off our phantom door bell.

Their horrendous car parking.

Their slamming of doors.

Bob the Builders fetish with power tools and making a lot of noise.


Wonder how long it’ll take for them to move out….

Marie

Competent my ****

All this week Davina McCall is standing in for Ken Bruce on Radio 2 and boy is she terrible ! ! ! !

I had the misfortune to hear her previous attempt at broadcasting when she presented ‘Steve Wright Sunday Love Songs’ a while ago and she was just as dreadful then.

After only ten minutes on Monday morning I couldn’t stand it any longer so switched off. Imagine if you will a very excitable sixteen year old who has just started hospital radio and wants to be a ‘DJ’, yet she’s so horrendous that no amount of training will make her even barely acceptable.

She was so awful that I actually complained to the BBC about her. Today I received a reply from them. As expected they said whilst they valued my opinion, they stand by their decision to appointed her as Ken’s replacement as it was based on her experience and talent, and that they considered her competent and had the necessary ability to do the programme.

If this is the standard of presenters Radio 2 are employing, I will definitely be taking my custom else where…

Marie

We should have stayed for lunch after all

We’ve arrived home from a great weekend away. It was Jenny’s birthday almost-barbecue. I say almost because the weather tried, but failed miserably to ruin the weekend. OK, no barbecue, but still a great night with great friends.

We were also invited to join everyone for Sunday lunch but had to decline as I had to refit the interior doors in Marie’s mothers house after the carpet fitters had done their work.

Only it didn’t work out like that. As the hotel were wanting an extortionate amount of money for breakfast we decided on an Olympic Breakfast at the Little Chef at Trowel Services. It’s not there anymore. So we decided to head on up the M1 until we found a service area that did have a Little Chef. We had passed junctions 26, 27 and 28 when we found the motorway closed and we were diverted off via Chesterfield. The route into town was a decent dual carriageway so it looked like it was going to be just a minor diversion but the road out of Chesterfield to junction 30 was single carriageway with traffic lights and roadworks. It took us 90 minutes to cover seven miles. Then when we got back on the M1 we found three lanes of traffic almost at a standstill. This continued all the way up to the junction with the M18.

We finally got home at 5:15, having set off at 10:00 giving us an average speed of about 25 miles per hour. Obviously I didn’t get to fit the doors. Tomorrow night will have to do. Now had we gone for lunch we would probably have missed the delays and got home at about the same time, but with the bonus of a good lunch with our friends.

And if you’re wondering, Yes – we did get our Olympic Breakfast, at a Travellodge on the A61 on the outskirts of Chesterfield.

John

For Sale - One Careful Owner

Over the years many of our blog readers have stayed at the Pullman Hotel on the sea front. It’s now undergoing a radical make-over (not before time I hear some of you say).

The Pullman carriages that formed the restaurant and reception are up for sale on Ebay. If you’re interested you can find them here.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-x-Pullman-Railway-Carriages-Restaurant-Carriage_W0QQitemZ220139815662QQihZ012QQcategoryZ9883QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

John

For sale – one hairdryer…

…hardly used.

I tried. I really tried, but I couldn’t put up with my ‘long hair’ any longer so got it cut short yesterday morning.

The back isn’t as short as when Gillian, my usual hairdresser cuts it. However I’m happy with the result.

I think this hairdresser was wary of cutting it too short seeing as I was a new customer. She kept apologising for the amount she cut off and I kept replying ‘you can go shorter if you like….’.

Marie

It's why I work in IT

Have you ever had your computer go wrong at work and have to call IT to fix it ?

Did they cycle the power – I mean switch it off and back on again. And did that work ?

Cycling the power is no trivial thing. It requires the ability of a trained and skilled operative.

Many many years ago I was sent to London to attend a computer operators course and most of the first day was spent learning just that, the right way to cycle the power. How to hold the breaker, how to move it, what to do if it resists when resetting, and what to do if it jumps back out again. The answer to the last part is that during the day you summon an engineer and if it’s night shift you go home.

Armed with this highly specialised knowledge I knew exactly what to do on Monday night when the television in the BOGOF household misbehaved.

It was, though a strange problem. We were watching a documentary about space flight and the loss of the shuttle Columbia. At the point where the Flight Director realised something terrible had happened the picture changed to black and white – for dramatic effect we thought. Not so. Come the ad break and it was still in black and white. So were all the other channels. The teletext was still in colour as were all the on screen displays. Most odd. Loss of chrominance or something similar.

But I’m a computer specialist, not a television repair man so I set to work. Power off, count to ten, power on. No change. Time for a switch to a mode two methodology. Power off, disconnect from mains, count twenty, reconnect to mains, power on. Success. Colour was restored.

I wouldn’t like to guess how long it will last though. The set is twelve years old so we may need to replace it soon. Looks like we’ll have to move into the 21st century with a silver grey flat screen model or something.

More BOGOF news later.

John

Where has the time gone

You must be really sick of me saying ‘sorry for the lack of blogs’ so I won’t say it…

So what’s to report.

Thursday 26th July: Mustn’t have done anything exciting as I can’t remember! ! !

Friday 27th July: Went to my mams and her new fire had just arrived. It looks really nice next to the black speckled granite (see July 4th blog).

I had meant to blog about this but never got round to it. She put the fear of God into the company about her slate having no veins so they asked her to come and personally choose the bit she wanted. Apparently they all had veins in (or just enough to annoy my mam anyway) so she went back to her original choice of black granite.

Saturday 28th July: Went to Leeds to meet with Sean and Iain about next years hospital radio awards. On the way home from Durham railway station called off at the Wessington pub for something to eat. We had to as it was too early to go home... It’s the air show weekend and as the police close off a lot of the roads, it’s practically impossible to get in or out of the area between 10am and 7.30pm.

Sunday 29th July: Day 2 of the air show so we’re prisoners for the day. John did a bit of DIY to the drawers in the dining room for when we get the new carpet. I went for a bath to easy my back. I set it off on Friday and it was still playing up.

Had a lovely carpet picnic on the dining room floor listening to some music. Alan and Alison (next door upwards) are away until August 13th so thought this would be a great time to see how loud we can stand the music before our eardrums start to bleed. We weren’t bothered about disturbing next door downwards. It’s called pay back time ! ! !

Monday 30th July: As John wasn’t able to get his actual birthday off work, today is his ‘official birthday’. So after a long lie in we went to the Chinese for lovely meal – a always. For a late tea I made pancakes, yum, yum…

Tuesday 31st July: My car’s first MOT and it passed with flying colours. Rang the little man about my new car and it’s due to arrive at the garage on 22nd August.

Yesterday: Made some tomato soup. The rest of the day was spent designing a narrow boat, Ludwell village and a barrel roof cottage... They’re for my novel.

Today: Still designing the cottage, though having problems on where to put the windows and the AGA… Did the biography of one of the characters and felt a bit guilty ‘getting to know him’ when he’s going to be killed off half way through the book.

As usual went shopping tonight at Morrisons and met Kevin and Maria who live over the road. Stood ages having a good gossip about Greg and Kay who live next door to Kevin and Maria. He left her a couple of weeks ago and we were just asking each other if we knew any more details…

So that was the week that was.

Marie

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

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

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

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

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

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…

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

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

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

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

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

So what’s been happening…

… in the Bogof household these past few days.

Monday: Decided to finish off making the summer top I started last year. Judging by the weather I don’t think they’ll get much of an outing, however they will always come in handy for our cruise next year.

Wimbledon started today and as usual it rained.

Oh and we bought a new sofa and armchair….

Tuesday: Did some more sewing in-between watching the tennis and trying to ‘Jan spot’ on court 1.

Rang Carpet Right as their ‘10 – 14 day delivery’ had come and gone with no word from them. They were just about to ring me as it came in yesterday. A likely story ! ! ! So the little carpet fitting men are coming next Friday.

Yesterday: Again did some more sewing in-between watching the tennis. Heard all about Jan’s day out at Wimbledon. I’m not jealous, I’m not jealous, I’M NOT JEALOUS ! ! !

Today: Two tops completed, only another four to go…

Watched Henman’s match. Well not quite true as I fell asleep during the fourth set. I do have a good excuse as I didn’t sleep very well last night as my pains are bad. Some medicinal wine may be called for tonight, me thinks.

Tomorrow: As usual off to my mams and we’re going granite hunting for her new fire surround. I can hardly wait…
Marie