I'm guessing regular posting won't resume for quite a while as I am struggling to cope with everything at the moment.
However, I got a spare chunk of time so I thought I'd rant about what the electricity company has been up to.
I first noticed something odd was going on when I got back from holiday. I have a pre-pay key meter and when I left for holiday I was sure I had about £35 on it and when I got back it was more like £20. Given there was nobody there for that week this seemed odd, but I put it down to miss-remembering the amount on it when I left.
However, over the next few weeks I seemed to have to feed a hell of a lot more into it than usual (£110 over the course of about 5 weeks). I therefore started to pay closer attention and specifically noting down the amount left when I when to work and when I got back.
This showed me that, during the 10 hours I was out it was still getting through 70-odd pence of electricity. Even when I turned everything off bar the fridge-freezer, it still said I was apparently using 60-odd p of Elecy when I was at work. Now when you consider that 1 kilowatt hour was about 16.5p, that's a hell of a power-hungry freezer!
Except it wasn't - to cut a long story short, what was actually eating up my money turned out to be a mysterious debt that they'd assigned to the meter. Without telling us.
The meter is actually in the landlord's name and they hadn't received any letters about this supposed debt, yet they'd still assigned it and decided to take it out at a rate of £10.00 per week. We're still not clear on how much debt they assigned, but given it was done via the key at the paypoint, that means it was put on some way before my holiday, so I reckon it was over £200. Certainly when I worked it out there was £140 left and it had been 4 weeks since I'd topped the meter up after my holiday, so it was at least £180.
At this point my landlord basically stepped in and had to go through a tortuous process phoning them, but the end result is that they sent an electrician around and installed a new meter. Interestingly according to this the rate of usage seems much lower.
I therefore suspect the meter was faulty - certainly it didn't seem to be doing things in line with what they said it should (they supposedly assigned a credit to it, but nothing happened when they put it in the paypoint machine).
However, I also suspect I know what might have caused them to think there might be a debt. They obviously put the prices up at ever chance they can (electricity company profits have increased 5-fold in recent years) but a few years ago I decided I was going to put a load of money on the meter and therefore delay the need to get more. this meant that my key didn't go into the paypoint machine for months, so it couldn't update the per-unit information.
That meant I had several months at the old rate after it changed. Now my understanding is that they can't retrospectively apply the new charge, because it is a pre-pay meter. I effectively pre-bought lots of electricity at the old rate. Think of it like buying a load of toilet rolls when they're on offer: Andrex can't turn up at your door once the offer is over, demanding you have to pay 2p extra every time you wipe your arse.
However, the maths also doesn't work. They put the price up by about 10%, which equated to about 3p per unit. IF you do the maths it therefore only works out to be a debt of about £40, which is why I think the amount of debt is due to a faulty meter, but the period they think it occurred was during that period where I pre-bought.
Why ever did people fall for this bullshit about privatisation being a good thing?
I really wish the labour party would grow some balls and promise to re-nationalise them.
The basic services should be in state hands - that's the point of them. Power generation and distribution has a basic cost and must be done at a national level for the benefit of the entire nation, not a handful of shareholders.
Showing posts with label home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home. Show all posts
Tuesday, 26 November 2013
Friday, 27 September 2013
landlord returns
My landlord came back the other day.
I'd obviously set myself a list of things I wanted to get done, which included:
I cleaned the car, but it was only a "normal" clean, rather than being a full-on polish. This wasn't so bad, as I'd polished the car a few weeks back. However, I did also top up things like the oil, washer fluid and tyre pressure, and it was while doing the last of these that my old foot pump finally gave up the ghost.
I've had it ages, and it's been a bit temperamental for a while, but it's just typical of the recent months that it's another thing that's broken that I have to replace. I've blogged about this recently, but I've had some more things go as well. For example, I broke the Ethernet switch I use to connect my computers to the BT hub, so I had to replace that, and some of the buttons on my printer are dodgy (you have to press really hard and they don't always work) so I'll need to replace that.
Anyway, I'm waiting until I get paid this month before replacing the pump, which means I've actually been running on slightly low pressure tyres, as it was the connector to the tyre that broke. This meant it was bleeding out air and whenever I tried to pump it would pop off, so it's deflated the tyres a little - nothing disastrous, but it needs sorting.
I attempted to sort the stuff in the shed, but there were a couple of problems with this.
The first was that my landlord didn't actually go until Saturday lunch. I also missed him leaving, so it was quite late in the afternoon before I ventured out to the shed.
The second was that I had also decided to try to stay up all night. I've mentioned before that I have been having trouble staying asleep and waking in the middle of the night. While I still think stress is a part of this, I think the whole "habit formation" I also talked about is a big part of it. One of the ways I've found to sort this is to basically stay up all night, which totally disrupts my body clock and allows me to reset it.
However, when you're doing that after having spent all day shifting big heavy boxes around, it doesn't quite work. You're not only tired from being up; you're physically shattered from the exercise. And of course, it's not a 1 day job, so going into the night sorting boxes became quite a chore and I wasn't really alert and thinking straight.
In the end I did go to sleep for a couple of hours that night. The night time waking is still not sorted - I am waking up early, but it's early morning (5AM-ish), rather than middle of the night (1AM-ish) so I'm just a bit tired, rather than the walking dead.
However, I did generate a lot of stuff to go on e-bay. And I mean a lot of stuff. So much that I was too tired to put it on that first weekend and instead left it for this weekend, which also turned out to be a free-listing weekend.
This wasn't such a great idea. I'd used the Saturday to clean the car and do other bits in order to leave the Sunday for it, but partly because of the Interview earlier in the week I was so tired I had to have a lie in on the Sunday and it was late before I started.
I then just launched into it without really thinking I would "do x, but not y" so I ended up doing it all day, and even then I had only put on about two thirds of it all. I've also apparently been missing a trick with my auctions - I knew Sunday was the best day for them to end, but apparently he evening is the best and I was ending mine mid-afternoon.
By the time I'd finished I had 85 active auctions. Now to be fair, some of these were re-lists I was doing to take advantage of the free listing, but still, that's an awful lot of stuff!
I'd obviously set myself a list of things I wanted to get done, which included:
- Sort stuff in the shed
- Put some of the shed stuff on e-bay, including some of my figurines, old art books and DVDs
- Clean my car
I cleaned the car, but it was only a "normal" clean, rather than being a full-on polish. This wasn't so bad, as I'd polished the car a few weeks back. However, I did also top up things like the oil, washer fluid and tyre pressure, and it was while doing the last of these that my old foot pump finally gave up the ghost.
I've had it ages, and it's been a bit temperamental for a while, but it's just typical of the recent months that it's another thing that's broken that I have to replace. I've blogged about this recently, but I've had some more things go as well. For example, I broke the Ethernet switch I use to connect my computers to the BT hub, so I had to replace that, and some of the buttons on my printer are dodgy (you have to press really hard and they don't always work) so I'll need to replace that.
Anyway, I'm waiting until I get paid this month before replacing the pump, which means I've actually been running on slightly low pressure tyres, as it was the connector to the tyre that broke. This meant it was bleeding out air and whenever I tried to pump it would pop off, so it's deflated the tyres a little - nothing disastrous, but it needs sorting.
I attempted to sort the stuff in the shed, but there were a couple of problems with this.
The first was that my landlord didn't actually go until Saturday lunch. I also missed him leaving, so it was quite late in the afternoon before I ventured out to the shed.
The second was that I had also decided to try to stay up all night. I've mentioned before that I have been having trouble staying asleep and waking in the middle of the night. While I still think stress is a part of this, I think the whole "habit formation" I also talked about is a big part of it. One of the ways I've found to sort this is to basically stay up all night, which totally disrupts my body clock and allows me to reset it.
However, when you're doing that after having spent all day shifting big heavy boxes around, it doesn't quite work. You're not only tired from being up; you're physically shattered from the exercise. And of course, it's not a 1 day job, so going into the night sorting boxes became quite a chore and I wasn't really alert and thinking straight.
In the end I did go to sleep for a couple of hours that night. The night time waking is still not sorted - I am waking up early, but it's early morning (5AM-ish), rather than middle of the night (1AM-ish) so I'm just a bit tired, rather than the walking dead.
However, I did generate a lot of stuff to go on e-bay. And I mean a lot of stuff. So much that I was too tired to put it on that first weekend and instead left it for this weekend, which also turned out to be a free-listing weekend.
This wasn't such a great idea. I'd used the Saturday to clean the car and do other bits in order to leave the Sunday for it, but partly because of the Interview earlier in the week I was so tired I had to have a lie in on the Sunday and it was late before I started.
I then just launched into it without really thinking I would "do x, but not y" so I ended up doing it all day, and even then I had only put on about two thirds of it all. I've also apparently been missing a trick with my auctions - I knew Sunday was the best day for them to end, but apparently he evening is the best and I was ending mine mid-afternoon.
By the time I'd finished I had 85 active auctions. Now to be fair, some of these were re-lists I was doing to take advantage of the free listing, but still, that's an awful lot of stuff!
Monday, 16 September 2013
landlord away
My landlord has gone away on holiday for about a week and a half.
This is good timing and bad.
The good part is that it means I can get into the shed. I've a lot of stuff I need to get rid of in there, both from a space point of view, but also from a getting some cash point of view.
He's basically blocked in all my stuff in a corner, which is staggeringly annoying if I want to get something out, but I mean, it's his shed, I shouldn't really expect to have easy access, should I?
I'm particularly expecting to sell a lot of the figures I've collected. I think these were one of my madder moments from the recent years. They take up quite a lot of room and I don't actually have anywhere to put them. Unfortunately they also lose value quite quickly - once a series is a few years old, people don't want the figures. In fact, they don't sell all that well even if they're a current series, in my experience.
Still, I've so many of them I should do okay with getting a bit of money, which I sorely need.
I'm struggling with the finances quite badly. I'm just about living within my means, but I really need to see about getting something done in terms of a loan to replace the credit card debt. The payments for the cards are killing me and obviously being credit cards you're mainly just paying off interest, rather than the debt itself.
It's not so good in that it's a bit late - I had thought he was going away last week, which would have worked a lot better from a timing point of view. It also means the weather is now proper autumn, so it's been raining a lot, making it difficult to do some of the stuff I want to / need to. So, for example, giving the car a clean will be a bit of a trick shot.
This is good timing and bad.
The good part is that it means I can get into the shed. I've a lot of stuff I need to get rid of in there, both from a space point of view, but also from a getting some cash point of view.
He's basically blocked in all my stuff in a corner, which is staggeringly annoying if I want to get something out, but I mean, it's his shed, I shouldn't really expect to have easy access, should I?
I'm particularly expecting to sell a lot of the figures I've collected. I think these were one of my madder moments from the recent years. They take up quite a lot of room and I don't actually have anywhere to put them. Unfortunately they also lose value quite quickly - once a series is a few years old, people don't want the figures. In fact, they don't sell all that well even if they're a current series, in my experience.
Still, I've so many of them I should do okay with getting a bit of money, which I sorely need.
I'm struggling with the finances quite badly. I'm just about living within my means, but I really need to see about getting something done in terms of a loan to replace the credit card debt. The payments for the cards are killing me and obviously being credit cards you're mainly just paying off interest, rather than the debt itself.
It's not so good in that it's a bit late - I had thought he was going away last week, which would have worked a lot better from a timing point of view. It also means the weather is now proper autumn, so it's been raining a lot, making it difficult to do some of the stuff I want to / need to. So, for example, giving the car a clean will be a bit of a trick shot.
Thursday, 19 April 2012
a warm front
So my landlord has had a new boiler installed.
I have discussed before in the blog that I now have a heater in my bedroom / living area that's connected to my landlord's heating. It's proven quite useful and has saved me a considerable amount in terms of electricity cost.
It's not completely removed the need for me to use my own radiators, not least of all because obviously I have no control over it. A good example of this is that I get up quite early (about 6:30 now but more like 6:00 when I was on contract) but my landlord doesn't, so he doesn't have any need for the heating to come on until about 7:00. That therefore means I have to have my radiator on for about half an hour and then the landlord's is effective for the half hour before I set off for work at about 7:30.
Anyway, he's gotten a new boiler fitted because the old one is apparently not up to the job. I'm not sure if my radiator made it more obvious, but apparently he said it's not been very good since it was installed. He reckoned it took a lot of very careful fiddling with to get right and was very sensitive.
However, the problem form my point of view was that this was going to take the hot water out of action for a couple of days. I'm not sure why it was a multiple day job, but it was, so he told me that Monday and Tuesday there would be no heating (I'm pretty sure he'd actually been hoping that by now the temperature would be enough not to have it on anyway) but also there's be no hot water.
My hot water is obviously supplied by the landlord's boiler too and in terms of things like hot water for washing up this was no great issue, but showering would be impossible.
Now to some degree I don't quite understand this as there is an immersion heating in the hot water tank, but my guess is that by taking the hot water out of the loop it meant they would need to drain all the systems, so there would be no water (hot or cold) in it to use. Since my shower is a power shower without any sort of its own heating element, this certainly meant I couldn't have a hot shower, but probably meant I couldn't have one at all (no water).
His proposed solution for this was that he'd put a kettle in the corridor that joins me to his house and I could use that to boil water and "wipe down" instead.
This was not something I felt comfortable with (I sweat a lot during the night and my hair gets really greasy) so instead I took myself off to a travel lodge for the night.
It worked out okay. I unfortunately forgot to take my earplugs with me so I woke up a couple of times in the night, but when I returned on Tuesday the boiler had been installed and was all up and running. I also forgot my comb, but that was not such a problem.
I have discussed before in the blog that I now have a heater in my bedroom / living area that's connected to my landlord's heating. It's proven quite useful and has saved me a considerable amount in terms of electricity cost.
It's not completely removed the need for me to use my own radiators, not least of all because obviously I have no control over it. A good example of this is that I get up quite early (about 6:30 now but more like 6:00 when I was on contract) but my landlord doesn't, so he doesn't have any need for the heating to come on until about 7:00. That therefore means I have to have my radiator on for about half an hour and then the landlord's is effective for the half hour before I set off for work at about 7:30.
Anyway, he's gotten a new boiler fitted because the old one is apparently not up to the job. I'm not sure if my radiator made it more obvious, but apparently he said it's not been very good since it was installed. He reckoned it took a lot of very careful fiddling with to get right and was very sensitive.
However, the problem form my point of view was that this was going to take the hot water out of action for a couple of days. I'm not sure why it was a multiple day job, but it was, so he told me that Monday and Tuesday there would be no heating (I'm pretty sure he'd actually been hoping that by now the temperature would be enough not to have it on anyway) but also there's be no hot water.
My hot water is obviously supplied by the landlord's boiler too and in terms of things like hot water for washing up this was no great issue, but showering would be impossible.
Now to some degree I don't quite understand this as there is an immersion heating in the hot water tank, but my guess is that by taking the hot water out of the loop it meant they would need to drain all the systems, so there would be no water (hot or cold) in it to use. Since my shower is a power shower without any sort of its own heating element, this certainly meant I couldn't have a hot shower, but probably meant I couldn't have one at all (no water).
His proposed solution for this was that he'd put a kettle in the corridor that joins me to his house and I could use that to boil water and "wipe down" instead.
This was not something I felt comfortable with (I sweat a lot during the night and my hair gets really greasy) so instead I took myself off to a travel lodge for the night.
It worked out okay. I unfortunately forgot to take my earplugs with me so I woke up a couple of times in the night, but when I returned on Tuesday the boiler had been installed and was all up and running. I also forgot my comb, but that was not such a problem.
Thursday, 1 December 2011
first spam
I received my first spam post on this blog recently.
I made a post about the new heating my landlord has installed and the spam post was basically vaguely aimed at trying to look like a post but then giving a link to some random plumbing company.
I always wonder about things like that - has the company set up its own spambot? Or have they hired someone to do it? Perhaps they've paid some company to get them a higher ranking in Google or other search engines and it's therefore crawling around spamming links in order to achieve that for them (page rankers tend to include numbers of links in their algorithms).
Certainly the fact it was a link to a plumbing company and my post was about something to plumbing (central heating is plumbed in) suggests it was a bot crawling around fro relevant content to spam on.
I have comment moderation turned on of course. I can't say I was expecting vast quantities of spam or loads of nasty comments or anything, but I figured it was better safe than sorry.
As for the plumbing in question, it continues to be a mixed bag.
It comes on slightly too late in the morning and probably goes off slightly to early at night for it to suit me perfectly. And it's still a bit random whether it comes on and how hot it comes on when it does.
The radiator seems to be very effective at heating the room and bedsit generally, although it doesn't actually get very hot to the touch. It is quite a big radiator with a lot of surface area, so I would guess it relates to that - it transfers the heat to the room very well, rather than getting hot itself.
However it has definitely saved me money - there have been quite a few days I'm sure I would have turned my own heating on but the radiator took care of that.
As I say, it doesn't quite come on during when I need it, so I have turned it on a couple of times and on the couple of occasions it's been super cold as well, but even then I've only tended to have it on for a little while and not at full blast.
So yeah, it's save me a bit of money. Indeed, I think it will probably pay for itself, especially if we get a proper cold spell. There were predictions of a cold snap for pre-Christmas, but that doesn't really seem to have happened as it's been very mild for the time of year.
I'm still hearing predictions of super cold temperatures for the post-Chrimbo period, though, and given the last two years have been horribly cold I'm still expecting the worst.
I made a post about the new heating my landlord has installed and the spam post was basically vaguely aimed at trying to look like a post but then giving a link to some random plumbing company.
I always wonder about things like that - has the company set up its own spambot? Or have they hired someone to do it? Perhaps they've paid some company to get them a higher ranking in Google or other search engines and it's therefore crawling around spamming links in order to achieve that for them (page rankers tend to include numbers of links in their algorithms).
Certainly the fact it was a link to a plumbing company and my post was about something to plumbing (central heating is plumbed in) suggests it was a bot crawling around fro relevant content to spam on.
I have comment moderation turned on of course. I can't say I was expecting vast quantities of spam or loads of nasty comments or anything, but I figured it was better safe than sorry.
As for the plumbing in question, it continues to be a mixed bag.
It comes on slightly too late in the morning and probably goes off slightly to early at night for it to suit me perfectly. And it's still a bit random whether it comes on and how hot it comes on when it does.
The radiator seems to be very effective at heating the room and bedsit generally, although it doesn't actually get very hot to the touch. It is quite a big radiator with a lot of surface area, so I would guess it relates to that - it transfers the heat to the room very well, rather than getting hot itself.
However it has definitely saved me money - there have been quite a few days I'm sure I would have turned my own heating on but the radiator took care of that.
As I say, it doesn't quite come on during when I need it, so I have turned it on a couple of times and on the couple of occasions it's been super cold as well, but even then I've only tended to have it on for a little while and not at full blast.
So yeah, it's save me a bit of money. Indeed, I think it will probably pay for itself, especially if we get a proper cold spell. There were predictions of a cold snap for pre-Christmas, but that doesn't really seem to have happened as it's been very mild for the time of year.
I'm still hearing predictions of super cold temperatures for the post-Chrimbo period, though, and given the last two years have been horribly cold I'm still expecting the worst.
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
plumbing / heater
While I was away my landlord had a radiator fitted to my room.
I’m pretty sure I mentioned this before I went, but if not, basically he’s increasing my rent by £5 a month and for that I’m getting a radiator in my bedsit area. It’s plumbed into my landlord’s heating, so I don’t have any control over it (well, I can turn it on/off and I can adjust the “balance” - whatever that is) but it’s better than an increase and getting nothing in return.
Last week was therefore the first week I’ve been experiencing it and the results are mixed, if I’m honest.
The weather has been quite mild, so it's difficult to know just how much they have their radiators on, but there’s a bit of an “all or nothing” effect. When the radiator is on, it’s very effective, but it doesn’t really come on when I would have it on.
It’s been okay in the morning (a little later than I get up) but it soon warms the place up when it’s on. In the evening, it’s on before I come back, so I get back to a somewhat warm flat. However, it’s a bit unpredictable if it’ll stay on all evening or just for an hour or so.
So some days it turns off and I have to put my own radiator on, other nights it’s stayed on right until I go to bed.
The effectiveness of the radiator is partly a function of its size. It’s a lot bigger than I was expecting, which means it really pumps it out when it’s on, but it also takes up a heck of a lot of wall space, which I wasn’t expecting. Indeed, I’ve ended up re-arranging everything and moving my bed across to the other side of the room.
I’ve still got the other radiator of course, and so my bed is up against that, as it’s on the other side of the room. It’s long winded to explain, but fairly simple in practice.
So yeah, mixed result really - it’s saved me a few quid, but it’d be nice if it was more consistent.
It did also have a weird effect in that it caused me to strain my knee. Basically my bed is very low down (it’s sort of a futon thing) so I have to get in/out in a specific way. Well, moving to the other side means I’ve had to do all that in a different way, and I made a mess of it and strained my knee.
The timing of that wasn’t brilliant, as I was off to Liverpool in a couple of days, which I’ll talk more about on Thursday.
I’m pretty sure I mentioned this before I went, but if not, basically he’s increasing my rent by £5 a month and for that I’m getting a radiator in my bedsit area. It’s plumbed into my landlord’s heating, so I don’t have any control over it (well, I can turn it on/off and I can adjust the “balance” - whatever that is) but it’s better than an increase and getting nothing in return.
Last week was therefore the first week I’ve been experiencing it and the results are mixed, if I’m honest.
The weather has been quite mild, so it's difficult to know just how much they have their radiators on, but there’s a bit of an “all or nothing” effect. When the radiator is on, it’s very effective, but it doesn’t really come on when I would have it on.
It’s been okay in the morning (a little later than I get up) but it soon warms the place up when it’s on. In the evening, it’s on before I come back, so I get back to a somewhat warm flat. However, it’s a bit unpredictable if it’ll stay on all evening or just for an hour or so.
So some days it turns off and I have to put my own radiator on, other nights it’s stayed on right until I go to bed.
The effectiveness of the radiator is partly a function of its size. It’s a lot bigger than I was expecting, which means it really pumps it out when it’s on, but it also takes up a heck of a lot of wall space, which I wasn’t expecting. Indeed, I’ve ended up re-arranging everything and moving my bed across to the other side of the room.
I’ve still got the other radiator of course, and so my bed is up against that, as it’s on the other side of the room. It’s long winded to explain, but fairly simple in practice.
So yeah, mixed result really - it’s saved me a few quid, but it’d be nice if it was more consistent.
It did also have a weird effect in that it caused me to strain my knee. Basically my bed is very low down (it’s sort of a futon thing) so I have to get in/out in a specific way. Well, moving to the other side means I’ve had to do all that in a different way, and I made a mess of it and strained my knee.
The timing of that wasn’t brilliant, as I was off to Liverpool in a couple of days, which I’ll talk more about on Thursday.
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
no water
So I got back last night and discovered there was no water.
I knocked on my landlord's door, thinking he may have turned it off and forgotten to turn it back on (I'll explain why in a future blog post), but actually it turned out there's a burst main and there's no water for the whole street. It had, apparently, been off for more than four hours at that point already.
Why does this stuff always happen to me at the worst possible times?
I mean, I've lived there six years and at no point has the water been shut off (the heater for the hot water has failed occasionally, but that's it) but now, the very day before I have an important meeting the water is totally gone.
And that's the thing I missed.
Water to drink being gone was annoying (I like to drink quite a lot of water) but copable with - I have bottled water, milk and other stuff - but water to do things like wash up, have a shower with, shave with and even use to clean your teeth is really difficult to replace. And as for flushing the loo... well.
But the real key is this was happening the night before I've got an important meeting. I mean, why now? The odds must be astronomical.
And given the amount I sweat during the night I couldn't really get away with not washing at all.
I decided to leave a tap on so that if and when it did come back on and luckily at about 9:00 it sputtered into life.
Of course the water that came out of it was a horrible muddy brown, and the hot water had been emptied so that glugged and gurgled as it filled up for several hours. However, in the morning I was able to take a shower and do some of the other water dependent things, so that was good.
The cold water in the morning wasn't brown any more, but it was full of bubbles and it tasted a bit funny. Hopefully I can run it through a bit tonight and it will clean up and be okay.
I guess somewhere in there is a big indicator of my personality - my reaction was "why is it always me? and why now?" but I could be reacting in a "lucky it got fixed in time" way.
I knocked on my landlord's door, thinking he may have turned it off and forgotten to turn it back on (I'll explain why in a future blog post), but actually it turned out there's a burst main and there's no water for the whole street. It had, apparently, been off for more than four hours at that point already.
Why does this stuff always happen to me at the worst possible times?
I mean, I've lived there six years and at no point has the water been shut off (the heater for the hot water has failed occasionally, but that's it) but now, the very day before I have an important meeting the water is totally gone.
And that's the thing I missed.
Water to drink being gone was annoying (I like to drink quite a lot of water) but copable with - I have bottled water, milk and other stuff - but water to do things like wash up, have a shower with, shave with and even use to clean your teeth is really difficult to replace. And as for flushing the loo... well.
But the real key is this was happening the night before I've got an important meeting. I mean, why now? The odds must be astronomical.
And given the amount I sweat during the night I couldn't really get away with not washing at all.
I decided to leave a tap on so that if and when it did come back on and luckily at about 9:00 it sputtered into life.
Of course the water that came out of it was a horrible muddy brown, and the hot water had been emptied so that glugged and gurgled as it filled up for several hours. However, in the morning I was able to take a shower and do some of the other water dependent things, so that was good.
The cold water in the morning wasn't brown any more, but it was full of bubbles and it tasted a bit funny. Hopefully I can run it through a bit tonight and it will clean up and be okay.
I guess somewhere in there is a big indicator of my personality - my reaction was "why is it always me? and why now?" but I could be reacting in a "lucky it got fixed in time" way.
Thursday, 27 October 2011
last day
So today is my last day in the office for a while.
I'm off on holiday, but it's nothing spectacular - I'm going down to Devon. Initially I'll be seeing my dad over the weekend and then I'm booked in to a travel lodge until the end of the week.
IT was my dad's birthday at the beginning of the month, which is why I want to see him, but I've also not seen him since the British Grand Prix back in July, so that will be nice. It's also a Grand Prix weekend, with the Indian Grand Prix on.
India is new this year, so it will be interesting to see what the circuit is like and how the racing is. Both of the championships are well over after Red Bull wrapped up the constructors championship at Korea. Now it's all just about who can win the races. Some people tend to think as soon as the season's over that's it, but of course in reality, the drivers and teams want to win every race they go to - otherwise why turn up?
Plus, since there are very few rule changes next season, it follows the cars won't be hugely different and it will be important to keep momentum up for the beginning o f the next season.
Anyway, after that I'll stay in a travelodge for a few days. The idea there is I'm going to do lots of walking. This is the same pattern I've done a few times now and it works quite well, so long as I can resist the temptation of eating lots of junk food. I mean, I'll have a couple of treats, but if I can avoid eating junk continuously I should be able to concentrate on loosing a few pounds.
I will also use the opportunity to watch a load of DVDs and read a bunch of manga. I'm hoping that I'll be able to watch a few films mainly so that I can then e-bay them when I get back. t would be nice to eat a chunk of unwatched stuff away.
Also, while I'm away my landlord is apparently going to install a new radiator in the flat. The idea is they're going to run the pipes across from his place and put the radiator in the living room/bed area.
The hope is this will cut a big chunk out of my heating costs (now that it's turned chilly I'm starting to put the radiator on), although I'm not getting it for free - it's costing me £5 extra month in rent, and while that may seem a bargain, it's not quite as good as that, because of course during spring, summer and early autumn I don't use heating at all and of course the rise is across the full year, not just the winter months.
Still, it should represent better value at least.
I think he's also a bit concerned about the possibility of pipes bursting. By putting a bit of heating it should stave off the cold a bit, so it's a preventative thing - clearing up after flooding would not be cheap.
I'm off on holiday, but it's nothing spectacular - I'm going down to Devon. Initially I'll be seeing my dad over the weekend and then I'm booked in to a travel lodge until the end of the week.
IT was my dad's birthday at the beginning of the month, which is why I want to see him, but I've also not seen him since the British Grand Prix back in July, so that will be nice. It's also a Grand Prix weekend, with the Indian Grand Prix on.
India is new this year, so it will be interesting to see what the circuit is like and how the racing is. Both of the championships are well over after Red Bull wrapped up the constructors championship at Korea. Now it's all just about who can win the races. Some people tend to think as soon as the season's over that's it, but of course in reality, the drivers and teams want to win every race they go to - otherwise why turn up?
Plus, since there are very few rule changes next season, it follows the cars won't be hugely different and it will be important to keep momentum up for the beginning o f the next season.
Anyway, after that I'll stay in a travelodge for a few days. The idea there is I'm going to do lots of walking. This is the same pattern I've done a few times now and it works quite well, so long as I can resist the temptation of eating lots of junk food. I mean, I'll have a couple of treats, but if I can avoid eating junk continuously I should be able to concentrate on loosing a few pounds.
I will also use the opportunity to watch a load of DVDs and read a bunch of manga. I'm hoping that I'll be able to watch a few films mainly so that I can then e-bay them when I get back. t would be nice to eat a chunk of unwatched stuff away.
Also, while I'm away my landlord is apparently going to install a new radiator in the flat. The idea is they're going to run the pipes across from his place and put the radiator in the living room/bed area.
The hope is this will cut a big chunk out of my heating costs (now that it's turned chilly I'm starting to put the radiator on), although I'm not getting it for free - it's costing me £5 extra month in rent, and while that may seem a bargain, it's not quite as good as that, because of course during spring, summer and early autumn I don't use heating at all and of course the rise is across the full year, not just the winter months.
Still, it should represent better value at least.
I think he's also a bit concerned about the possibility of pipes bursting. By putting a bit of heating it should stave off the cold a bit, so it's a preventative thing - clearing up after flooding would not be cheap.
Thursday, 29 September 2011
shelves of doom
I mentioned last week I would take some pics of my shelves, so I thought I'd present those today.
There are actually two shelves.
First is the one on the right.
A: Ink Cartridges
B: Some of my important documents.
C: Stack of important (and non-important, to be frank) documents that I haven't sorted out yet (though I'll need to go through them soon as I need to find something). Plus this is where I keep my TV listing and all my remote controls.
D: These are basically piles of anime where I've bought and imported the original Japanese anime version (and I wonder why I'm skint). I'm also in the process of collecting the western versions and my hope is that this combo will sell quite well on e-bay. I'm somewhat afraid that actually they won't sell at all well, so I'm also kinda ignoring them.
E: This shelf is where I keep all the unscanned Japanese anime magazines. As you can see, it's a fair pile, but it's a lot smaller than it was. There used to be so many that they lived on the shelf below, which is much taller.
F: These are my PC games. The ones in the front row are those I haven't really played much yet, if at all, and the ones in the back are ones I have played and want to hold on too or want to play a bit more, but feel I should really do something about those unplayed ones first.
G: And this is the core stack of anime. As you can see it's quite a deep shelf and you have to remember that these are stacked in two piles, one in front of the other. That's a lot of unwatched stuff. It's also the stuff I've prioritised to watch "first" which obviously means I have a couple of other stacks of stuff I want to watch "after" :/.
H: This stack (again, double depth) is the real life TV series (or at least non-anime and non-film) all unwatched (well, I'll have watch the majority of the actual shows when they were broadcast, but I've not watched the DVDs).
I: This stack is "films". Again, double depth and featuring a mix of live action, foreign and anime.
J: This is my cheater stack, where I've stacked up all those series I'm in the middle of. It's yet another way of excluding stuff from the to watch pile because I like to marathon things.
K: These cake boxes contain all of the audio books that I've already listened to. I like to listen to audio books while I walk. as you can see I walk quite a bit.
L: This is the main chunk of box files containing important documents.
M: My digital radio which wakes me up in the morning. I got it as a present from my Dad and was worried I might not be able to get a signal, but actually it's great. My digital telly is problematic, but I think it's because the aerial is pointing at the London region antennae, rather than the Meridian, which is a lot closer. Also we've still not switched over to full digital service in either region, so signal strength is lower than it could be anyway.
N: These stacks are original Japanese manga that I'm disassembling in order that I can scan the big spreads and dramatic images. It's really a hang over from when I used to make wallpapers and I used to find new/different/original content by doing this. Now they're just stuck in the huge scanning backlog (they're sell for a pittance on e-bay, so this way they at least get put to some use before being chucked away)
O: My right speaker, perfectly positioned so I get great stereo effect when watching DVDs or Blu-Ray... except of course I stuck a bunch of stuff in front of it :/.
Second is the one on the left.
P: The other speaker
Q: The overspill pile. It's mainly anime, but there's plenty of normal TV stuff in there too. My intention is to watch this stuff after the other stuff... yeah, because I'm ever going to get through all that other stuff :/.
R: My unread books.
S: VHS Tapes - burn the heretic! They're old anime VHS tapes that I felt guilty about chucking away without rewatching at least once.
T: Supposed to be my unread manga pile, but they actually spill down on to the shelf below. I've actually not being doing so bad recently with keeping on top of reading manga.
U: This is ostensibly my western comics to read pile, but it also has a bunch of CD old/empty jewel case I intended to use as spare parts to replace broken ones, but have never gotten around to.
V: These are the CDs I'm hanging on to for now. There's two stacking crates into eh kitchen of CDs I either want to e-bay (god, the effort required) or sell on one of those "sell your DVD sites" (bound to be a rip off).
W: These fans were headed out to the garage. Well, until this current heat wave so now they're sort of back in use.
X: I'm rapidly running out of letter, so, from left to right we've got: The DVDs I plan to take to watch on my upcoming holiday; CD cake boxes containing fansubs (I'm supposed to be sorting through them but got distracted half way); my Blu-Rays (I promised myself I wouldn't let it grow :() and a box of software.
Y: These spindles are the blank ones with DVDs and (out of picture) CDs for burning stuff on too. Oh, and some pants.
So there you go. The perfect shopping list for burglars. Well, burglar nerds. Which is very different to nerd burglars.
There are actually two shelves.
First is the one on the right.
A: Ink Cartridges
B: Some of my important documents.
C: Stack of important (and non-important, to be frank) documents that I haven't sorted out yet (though I'll need to go through them soon as I need to find something). Plus this is where I keep my TV listing and all my remote controls.
D: These are basically piles of anime where I've bought and imported the original Japanese anime version (and I wonder why I'm skint). I'm also in the process of collecting the western versions and my hope is that this combo will sell quite well on e-bay. I'm somewhat afraid that actually they won't sell at all well, so I'm also kinda ignoring them.
E: This shelf is where I keep all the unscanned Japanese anime magazines. As you can see, it's a fair pile, but it's a lot smaller than it was. There used to be so many that they lived on the shelf below, which is much taller.
F: These are my PC games. The ones in the front row are those I haven't really played much yet, if at all, and the ones in the back are ones I have played and want to hold on too or want to play a bit more, but feel I should really do something about those unplayed ones first.
G: And this is the core stack of anime. As you can see it's quite a deep shelf and you have to remember that these are stacked in two piles, one in front of the other. That's a lot of unwatched stuff. It's also the stuff I've prioritised to watch "first" which obviously means I have a couple of other stacks of stuff I want to watch "after" :/.
H: This stack (again, double depth) is the real life TV series (or at least non-anime and non-film) all unwatched (well, I'll have watch the majority of the actual shows when they were broadcast, but I've not watched the DVDs).
I: This stack is "films". Again, double depth and featuring a mix of live action, foreign and anime.
J: This is my cheater stack, where I've stacked up all those series I'm in the middle of. It's yet another way of excluding stuff from the to watch pile because I like to marathon things.
K: These cake boxes contain all of the audio books that I've already listened to. I like to listen to audio books while I walk. as you can see I walk quite a bit.
L: This is the main chunk of box files containing important documents.
M: My digital radio which wakes me up in the morning. I got it as a present from my Dad and was worried I might not be able to get a signal, but actually it's great. My digital telly is problematic, but I think it's because the aerial is pointing at the London region antennae, rather than the Meridian, which is a lot closer. Also we've still not switched over to full digital service in either region, so signal strength is lower than it could be anyway.
N: These stacks are original Japanese manga that I'm disassembling in order that I can scan the big spreads and dramatic images. It's really a hang over from when I used to make wallpapers and I used to find new/different/original content by doing this. Now they're just stuck in the huge scanning backlog (they're sell for a pittance on e-bay, so this way they at least get put to some use before being chucked away)
O: My right speaker, perfectly positioned so I get great stereo effect when watching DVDs or Blu-Ray... except of course I stuck a bunch of stuff in front of it :/.
Second is the one on the left.
P: The other speaker
Q: The overspill pile. It's mainly anime, but there's plenty of normal TV stuff in there too. My intention is to watch this stuff after the other stuff... yeah, because I'm ever going to get through all that other stuff :/.
R: My unread books.
T: Supposed to be my unread manga pile, but they actually spill down on to the shelf below. I've actually not being doing so bad recently with keeping on top of reading manga.
U: This is ostensibly my western comics to read pile, but it also has a bunch of CD old/empty jewel case I intended to use as spare parts to replace broken ones, but have never gotten around to.
V: These are the CDs I'm hanging on to for now. There's two stacking crates into eh kitchen of CDs I either want to e-bay (god, the effort required) or sell on one of those "sell your DVD sites" (bound to be a rip off).
W: These fans were headed out to the garage. Well, until this current heat wave so now they're sort of back in use.
X: I'm rapidly running out of letter, so, from left to right we've got: The DVDs I plan to take to watch on my upcoming holiday; CD cake boxes containing fansubs (I'm supposed to be sorting through them but got distracted half way); my Blu-Rays (I promised myself I wouldn't let it grow :() and a box of software.
Y: These spindles are the blank ones with DVDs and (out of picture) CDs for burning stuff on too. Oh, and some pants.
So there you go. The perfect shopping list for burglars. Well, burglar nerds. Which is very different to nerd burglars.
Monday, 25 July 2011
deutsch uber ales
So, the German Grand Prix this last weekend and it was another cracker.
It saw Red Bull clearly not as dominant as they have been previously, with both the Ferraris and McLaren's really taking the race to them. Of course it's going to be a real struggle for anyone to catch and overtake Sebastian Vettel in the standings. And somewhat ironically the fact both McLaren and Ferrari seem resurgent could actually make it more difficult for them to catch Vettel, as they may effectively end up taking points off each other
Vettel's so far in front that it would probably need Vettel's car to expire for several races in a row and that's a pretty slim chance as the cars are way too reliable for that nowadays. I have to say he did seem a bit down throughout the weekend.
I'm not sure if it was the added pressure of it being his home race or the general increase in competition from the other guys, but I half expected him to admit to having a stomach bug or something. He really did seem out of sorts and his performance wasn't that great.
If the comments that he's just not that good a 'racer' as the like of Lewis and Alonso (meaning he's not that good at overtaking) have been getting to him then he did nothing to dispel these, as he seemed to get stuck behind several people - Massa in particular - and was unable to overtake having sailed up to the back of them, when you get the feeling the like of Lewis would have gotten past.
It was a good race, though, and that without the forecasts for rain not coming to anything. And it's a quick turnaround for the next race in Hungary this coming weekend, then we get the summer break before the race at Spa in Belgium, which is always a highlight.
In other weekend news my e-bay auctions I had on went well, with nearly everything going. A few things didn't sell and I relisted them at cheaper start prices. That happens occasionally and I always puzzle over quite why some things sell and others don't.
Actually, sometimes I find it really rather dispiriting, as some of the stuff I'm selling I've held on to because they represent the core of my nerdom. They're kinda the defining elements that define me as a fan of certain things and when I can only sell them at what it would cost to post them (or even at a loss or not at all), it almost feels like a slight against me.
Obviously I know it isn't, but it can be depressing. Heck, it's depressing full stop - I'm not a hoarding pack-rat because I like getting rid of stuff!
The thing that does annoy me, though is when I reduce something (say it started out at £20, it doesn't sell, and then I reduce it to £15 and it does) and it ends up going for what I originally had or more (so people bid it up to £20+). I especially don't get that when there's lots of watchers - if no-one was interested at all, you'd expect it to get no watchers, but if 10 people are watching it and that happens I find it a bit mystifying.
And I still don't have a shower.
There were some bullshit excuses about pipes and stuff, that were basically "we're too cheap to get the plumber in like we promised".
To be frank I'm now resigned to having to use my landlord's shower for the foreseeable future. And I've decided to turn the negatives - can't do scanning, can't dl fansubs - into positives and use that time to watch stuff on DVD so I can start to clear backlog and have more stuff to get on e-bay.
It saw Red Bull clearly not as dominant as they have been previously, with both the Ferraris and McLaren's really taking the race to them. Of course it's going to be a real struggle for anyone to catch and overtake Sebastian Vettel in the standings. And somewhat ironically the fact both McLaren and Ferrari seem resurgent could actually make it more difficult for them to catch Vettel, as they may effectively end up taking points off each other
Vettel's so far in front that it would probably need Vettel's car to expire for several races in a row and that's a pretty slim chance as the cars are way too reliable for that nowadays. I have to say he did seem a bit down throughout the weekend.
I'm not sure if it was the added pressure of it being his home race or the general increase in competition from the other guys, but I half expected him to admit to having a stomach bug or something. He really did seem out of sorts and his performance wasn't that great.
If the comments that he's just not that good a 'racer' as the like of Lewis and Alonso (meaning he's not that good at overtaking) have been getting to him then he did nothing to dispel these, as he seemed to get stuck behind several people - Massa in particular - and was unable to overtake having sailed up to the back of them, when you get the feeling the like of Lewis would have gotten past.
It was a good race, though, and that without the forecasts for rain not coming to anything. And it's a quick turnaround for the next race in Hungary this coming weekend, then we get the summer break before the race at Spa in Belgium, which is always a highlight.
In other weekend news my e-bay auctions I had on went well, with nearly everything going. A few things didn't sell and I relisted them at cheaper start prices. That happens occasionally and I always puzzle over quite why some things sell and others don't.
Actually, sometimes I find it really rather dispiriting, as some of the stuff I'm selling I've held on to because they represent the core of my nerdom. They're kinda the defining elements that define me as a fan of certain things and when I can only sell them at what it would cost to post them (or even at a loss or not at all), it almost feels like a slight against me.
Obviously I know it isn't, but it can be depressing. Heck, it's depressing full stop - I'm not a hoarding pack-rat because I like getting rid of stuff!
The thing that does annoy me, though is when I reduce something (say it started out at £20, it doesn't sell, and then I reduce it to £15 and it does) and it ends up going for what I originally had or more (so people bid it up to £20+). I especially don't get that when there's lots of watchers - if no-one was interested at all, you'd expect it to get no watchers, but if 10 people are watching it and that happens I find it a bit mystifying.
And I still don't have a shower.
There were some bullshit excuses about pipes and stuff, that were basically "we're too cheap to get the plumber in like we promised".
To be frank I'm now resigned to having to use my landlord's shower for the foreseeable future. And I've decided to turn the negatives - can't do scanning, can't dl fansubs - into positives and use that time to watch stuff on DVD so I can start to clear backlog and have more stuff to get on e-bay.
Friday, 22 July 2011
cleanse me
So I'm still shower-less.
And it's really starting to get a bit boring.
Basically, as mentioned earlier this week, it stop working last Friday, so it's now a week since it's been out of action and I've been using my landlord's shower. Now this isn't exactly convenient from a showering point of view - I have a 'slot' from 7AM to 7:30AM, which means I don't really have any flexibility - but also it really highlights how interconnected things can be.
So it's my shower that's out of action, but this is stopping me from doing things on my computer like scanning magazines and downloading fansubs. But why?
Well, the stop cock for the shower are in the roof. In order to get up into the roof, you have to go up through the hatch. And my computers sits underneath that hatch. So, to get up, he has to move my PCs out of the way so that the ladder will fit and he can go up.
I download fansubs by leaving my computer on while I'm at work and it gets on with it. It's hardly safe or practical to leave the computer running if he's going to be moving it. Also, the other day it was clear he'd loosened the power lines (either accidentally or deliberately), as I had to push them in properly for my main machine to boot up.
Which also explains why I can't do any scanning. Basically, when I'm in scanning mode, I leave the scanner on the desk and the magazines in various states of disassembly. Unless it's the weekend, it's basically impossible to do an entire magazine in one sitting, so this is a necessity. But I can hardly leave them lying around if he's going to move them about to get up into the loft.
Of course there's the attendant problem that, being anime mags, most contain plenty of pics of scantily clad women, which would hardly be a good thing to leave lying around for him to see. I'm sure to his eyes it would look like a bunch of porn mags - especially the megamis and nyan types, which, let's be frank, are basically soft core porn mags.
The most annoying thing is that it doesn't seem like it's going to be fixed any time soon. Basically, if I get back tonight and it's not done, he's said he'll get the plumber in. Trouble there, of course, is plumbers are often rather heavily in demand, so God knows how long it will then take.
This weekend it's the German Grand Prix. I think they rotate the race in Germany between two different tracks. I think I'm right in saying it's Nurburgring this year, but it's not the full Nurburgring, it's a shorter loop circuit they have there.
Anyway, I'll be watching that this weekend, as well as hopefully polishing off this summary of my holiday so I can post it all next week.
I'll also be hoping to make lots of money via e-bay of course, if I'm going to afford all this dental work I need doing!
And it's really starting to get a bit boring.
Basically, as mentioned earlier this week, it stop working last Friday, so it's now a week since it's been out of action and I've been using my landlord's shower. Now this isn't exactly convenient from a showering point of view - I have a 'slot' from 7AM to 7:30AM, which means I don't really have any flexibility - but also it really highlights how interconnected things can be.
So it's my shower that's out of action, but this is stopping me from doing things on my computer like scanning magazines and downloading fansubs. But why?
Well, the stop cock for the shower are in the roof. In order to get up into the roof, you have to go up through the hatch. And my computers sits underneath that hatch. So, to get up, he has to move my PCs out of the way so that the ladder will fit and he can go up.
I download fansubs by leaving my computer on while I'm at work and it gets on with it. It's hardly safe or practical to leave the computer running if he's going to be moving it. Also, the other day it was clear he'd loosened the power lines (either accidentally or deliberately), as I had to push them in properly for my main machine to boot up.
Which also explains why I can't do any scanning. Basically, when I'm in scanning mode, I leave the scanner on the desk and the magazines in various states of disassembly. Unless it's the weekend, it's basically impossible to do an entire magazine in one sitting, so this is a necessity. But I can hardly leave them lying around if he's going to move them about to get up into the loft.
Of course there's the attendant problem that, being anime mags, most contain plenty of pics of scantily clad women, which would hardly be a good thing to leave lying around for him to see. I'm sure to his eyes it would look like a bunch of porn mags - especially the megamis and nyan types, which, let's be frank, are basically soft core porn mags.
The most annoying thing is that it doesn't seem like it's going to be fixed any time soon. Basically, if I get back tonight and it's not done, he's said he'll get the plumber in. Trouble there, of course, is plumbers are often rather heavily in demand, so God knows how long it will then take.
This weekend it's the German Grand Prix. I think they rotate the race in Germany between two different tracks. I think I'm right in saying it's Nurburgring this year, but it's not the full Nurburgring, it's a shorter loop circuit they have there.
Anyway, I'll be watching that this weekend, as well as hopefully polishing off this summary of my holiday so I can post it all next week.
I'll also be hoping to make lots of money via e-bay of course, if I'm going to afford all this dental work I need doing!
Friday, 15 July 2011
water, water... nowhere?
So this morning, as is my usual routine, I took a shower.
Only I got about half way through when suddenly water stopped coming out of the shower. It's a power shower and the motor was still running, but no actual water was coming out of it. It was all a bit odd, actually, as it was more like the pipe had become blocked somewhere than something bursting, but it's quite a big pipe.
Anyway, as I say, I was only about half way through, which is always a tricky thing to negotiate. I decided to go and grab a half bucket of hot water and, not wanting to get too graphic with details, wipe myself down with a flannel.
It worked okay, but I'm not at all keen on the idea of continuing it as a general practice. I've let my landlord know it wasn't working (I stuck a note through his letterbox - he doesn't tend to get up until several hours after I've gone to work!) and hopefully it'll be a quick fix. If not I could be shower-less for the next few days.
I guess timing wise it's not too bad and I can wallow in my own funk over the weekend, but Monday I've got an important meeting, so I want to clean myself up before then. I guess in theory I could use my landlord's, but as mentioned he's a late riser and I've never found shower before bed to be particularly successful. Partly because my hair always seems to end up badly mussed up, but also because I sweat a lot at night (I sweat a lot in general).
I've been lending some serious thought to moving, actually. I'm a bit bored of where I am at the moment and with the ever rising cost of fuel, living closer to work looks increasingly attractive. Also, in terms of work, our customers tend to be across the other side of Alton to where I am, so it would tend to simplify any meetings and trips.
Ideally I'd be looking to rent somewhere in Alton. That would mean I could generally walk to work, saving a lot of fuel. Also, if I get somewhere with better facilities I'd save on some of my other expenses. In theory these two saving might cover the additional expense of a place in Alton (property is not cheap, especially as it's a commutable train journey to London), though I'm currently getting away with not paying certain bills - water and council tax in particular.
The other barrier of course is you generally need to put down a deposit and pay the first month or two in advance and at the moment I just couldn't afford to do that. Well, also, there's the issue of the vast quantities of stuff I've still got (DVDs, books, comics, CDs, games, magazines). The ironic thing of course being that if I was to watch and then sell or throw away as appropriate it would likely solve both problems - the stuff would be gone and the stuff would be converted in a wedge of cash I could use to pay the deposit, etc.
Sorry, this turned into a bit of a random moaning session. Plans for the weekend are pretty boring - clean the flat and then do the sorting out that's left post GP, which will hopefully include some slightly more interesting posts about the GP for next week.
Only I got about half way through when suddenly water stopped coming out of the shower. It's a power shower and the motor was still running, but no actual water was coming out of it. It was all a bit odd, actually, as it was more like the pipe had become blocked somewhere than something bursting, but it's quite a big pipe.
Anyway, as I say, I was only about half way through, which is always a tricky thing to negotiate. I decided to go and grab a half bucket of hot water and, not wanting to get too graphic with details, wipe myself down with a flannel.
It worked okay, but I'm not at all keen on the idea of continuing it as a general practice. I've let my landlord know it wasn't working (I stuck a note through his letterbox - he doesn't tend to get up until several hours after I've gone to work!) and hopefully it'll be a quick fix. If not I could be shower-less for the next few days.
I guess timing wise it's not too bad and I can wallow in my own funk over the weekend, but Monday I've got an important meeting, so I want to clean myself up before then. I guess in theory I could use my landlord's, but as mentioned he's a late riser and I've never found shower before bed to be particularly successful. Partly because my hair always seems to end up badly mussed up, but also because I sweat a lot at night (I sweat a lot in general).
I've been lending some serious thought to moving, actually. I'm a bit bored of where I am at the moment and with the ever rising cost of fuel, living closer to work looks increasingly attractive. Also, in terms of work, our customers tend to be across the other side of Alton to where I am, so it would tend to simplify any meetings and trips.
Ideally I'd be looking to rent somewhere in Alton. That would mean I could generally walk to work, saving a lot of fuel. Also, if I get somewhere with better facilities I'd save on some of my other expenses. In theory these two saving might cover the additional expense of a place in Alton (property is not cheap, especially as it's a commutable train journey to London), though I'm currently getting away with not paying certain bills - water and council tax in particular.
The other barrier of course is you generally need to put down a deposit and pay the first month or two in advance and at the moment I just couldn't afford to do that. Well, also, there's the issue of the vast quantities of stuff I've still got (DVDs, books, comics, CDs, games, magazines). The ironic thing of course being that if I was to watch and then sell or throw away as appropriate it would likely solve both problems - the stuff would be gone and the stuff would be converted in a wedge of cash I could use to pay the deposit, etc.
Sorry, this turned into a bit of a random moaning session. Plans for the weekend are pretty boring - clean the flat and then do the sorting out that's left post GP, which will hopefully include some slightly more interesting posts about the GP for next week.
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
it's that fine rain...
...that soaks you through.
Weather's miserable here again today - drizzling away. Plus it's not getting any warmer. I'm getting a bit fed up of all the cold weather, tbh. Not least of all because it's costing me an absolute fortune in electricity - just at a time when I'm being serious about trying to clear down some debt.
Really I should move. It's a bit of a false economy where I am at the moment as, although the rental is cheap, my heating is electric (which is always more expensive) and I'm also on a key-meter, which is much more expensive than regular electricity. Also, I've not got a washing machine, so I have to get my stuff laundered. Plus I live some distance from work, so I get through a tank of gas every two weeks (even though my new car is super efficient).
I'm pretty sure it would be much cheaper for me to rent somewhere decent in Alton. It'd cost more for the rent and council tax, but my outgoings would be much reduced. Trouble is, since I'm trying to clear this debt I've not got a lot of spare cash to pay a deposit with.
All this in a year when I'm going to the Monaco GP for an (expensive) holiday, my sister turns 30 (so I have to get her an expensive gift) and my Dad turns 65 (so again, expensive git time)!
Plus I'm pretty sure my tyres will need doing when I have my car serviced. Sigh...
Weather's miserable here again today - drizzling away. Plus it's not getting any warmer. I'm getting a bit fed up of all the cold weather, tbh. Not least of all because it's costing me an absolute fortune in electricity - just at a time when I'm being serious about trying to clear down some debt.
Really I should move. It's a bit of a false economy where I am at the moment as, although the rental is cheap, my heating is electric (which is always more expensive) and I'm also on a key-meter, which is much more expensive than regular electricity. Also, I've not got a washing machine, so I have to get my stuff laundered. Plus I live some distance from work, so I get through a tank of gas every two weeks (even though my new car is super efficient).
I'm pretty sure it would be much cheaper for me to rent somewhere decent in Alton. It'd cost more for the rent and council tax, but my outgoings would be much reduced. Trouble is, since I'm trying to clear this debt I've not got a lot of spare cash to pay a deposit with.
All this in a year when I'm going to the Monaco GP for an (expensive) holiday, my sister turns 30 (so I have to get her an expensive gift) and my Dad turns 65 (so again, expensive git time)!
Plus I'm pretty sure my tyres will need doing when I have my car serviced. Sigh...
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