Fifty-Flippin’-One
Posted: Sat 5 November, 2022 Filed under: Domestic Leave a comment »Yep, birthday post again.
Fifty-flippin’-one.
Just About Sorted
Posted: Tue 18 October, 2022 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised Leave a comment »The new house is, I’m please to say, now pretty much sorted. It feels like it’s taken a long time to do – and a lot of stuff has needed to be sorted – so I also have to keep reminding myself that I actually only moved in a month ago.
In that time I’ve had to buy and build two bookcases as well as a new bed, wardrobe, desk, and office chair – oh, and a new hoover, as the previous one packed up. There’s a new sofa and chairs coming tomorrow, as well as a third bookcase – and getting that delivered and build will then allow me to unpack two of the last three boxes remaining.
Along the way there’s also been other stuff – car MOT etc., tip runs, and doing a bundle of other stuff as well. It’s been… busy, to say the least.
I’m feeling fairly settled now, although I’m still looking forward to getting rid of the final boxes. I know there’s another tip run in the offing (another load of Ikea Cardboard!) and a “bulky waste” collection has been organised for the old sofa and chairs once the new ones are sorted out. Once those things are done, it should be all but sorted.
Because of all this, my motivation levels have plummeted at the moment – I think/hope that it’s just the amount of energy that’s been being expended on sorting stuff out, not just of my domestic stuff but also work, and dealing with the ineptitude of organisations galore along the way.
It’s been busy, and I’m hoping that the next few weeks will be quieter/easier, allowing me to get on with things again.
But all told, it’s pretty positive, and I’m definitely happier with the new place than I was with the previous one.
Yet another MoT
Posted: Wed 5 October, 2022 Filed under: Customer Services, Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, MK Kia, Thoughts Leave a comment »This week the car’s been in for its MoT test – it’s October, so it’s been time to renew Insurance, pay Road Tax, and sort the MoT. For the first time with this car, I didn’t bother using the proper dealership (the car’s on 200,000 miles, and I no longer give a sod about service histories and so on) alongside which, the dealership I was using were… less than professional on a number of occasions, so I wanted to try something else and see what they had to say.
I chose (on the basis of other positive experiences) to use KwikFit , albeit a branch/location I hadn’t used before. I booked a service at the same time, just to get everything done in one go.
As it turned out, it did fail the first MoT, and needed a couple of things doing. Which was fine, KwikFit sorted everything on the same day – although obviously it made it a long day all told – along with recommendations of what I need to do (in their words) “sometime in the next year”, which I’ll get sorted at some point soon.
But all told, that little Kia has done pretty well – I’ve put about 130,000 miles on it since I got it in 2016 (just under 22,000 miles a year on average!) and it’s still really running fine. (Mind you, I’ve been very clear to it on what will happen when it becomes unreliable, so no-one’s under any illusions) That was definitely a good buy.
Online
Posted: Mon 3 October, 2022 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Thoughts Leave a comment »Happily, I’m now back to being connected to t’internet at the new house. It’s taken far longer than I’d have liked, and been expensive on mobile data – turns out, I use a lot more than I thought I did.
Even so, I’ve mitigated the mobile data use as much as possible, and I’m also making changes for the future, but yeah, not been cheap. Although the reality-check it provided has also proved useful, and will not be wasted.
It’s still going to be interesting though. I’ve stepped back from the “as much bandwidth as possible” option that was costing me a lot and was almost certainly not being used as much as it could/should have been. I’m looking forward to seeing whether I do notice the difference in the “downgrade” (honestly, I doubt I will) and of course I can always boost it up a level if I decide I need to.
But yes, anyway, back to a level of civilisation and connectivity. I’ve been OK with the mobile data, but it’s nice to be back to normality…
Offline (Kinda Sorta Ish)
Posted: Fri 16 September, 2022 Filed under: Business, Domestic, Getting Organised 2 Comments »So – I knew everything had gone too smoothly. Turns out my Sky internet connection won’t be activated for three [insert snarly sweary words here] weeks.
Now, before I go on, I have to emphasise – at least half of this is my fault. I didn’t read the “What’s Next” email completely, just looked at when the engineer would be out to fit the Sky stuff. I absolutely accept that I should’ve read it all through properly. But I didn’t.
On the other side of that, even the engineer didn’t see the information until I showed him where it was in the email – it is not evident that This Is Important – and also they didn’t send through any confirmation text messages which would’ve also made things clear.
Anyway, despite the new place already having in all the infrastructure necessary (access point, cabling etc.) it turns out that OpenReach “need to check everything” before they can allow the connection to be made. And that takes time, because OpenReach are a) a monopoly and b) fucking useless. I have to stay in on the day of the ‘installation’, even though they admit themselves that it is usually done remotely, and they won’t even book an appointment slot – I have to be inconvenienced all fucking day just in case there’s a problem. You can imagine exactly how impressed I am about that one!
As it is, I’m lucky. I’ve got a mobile-internet device (which is what I’m using now) so I’m not completely offline. I’ve also managed to sort out a desk at a local new co-working space for the month, so that I can carry things on without being too inconvenienced. It’s an absolute pain in the arse, and I’m really annoyed by it all (at least partly because I didn’t read that sodding email and try to push for an earlier connection) But it could’ve been so much worse.
As it is, I’ve got the SkyTV installed, set up, and pretty much sorted, I’ll have three or four weeks in which to learn more about the town’s facilities and centre, and… yeah, it could be worse. Plan C would’ve involved continuing to use my current office in Milton Keynes, and just swallowing that mileage for the month. Which would’ve been even more annoying!
Moved
Posted: Thu 15 September, 2022 Filed under: Customer Services, Domestic, Getting Organised 1 Comment »So, it’s finally happened – and all went really smoothly in the end.
I’m still not a fan of having a removals company doing the packing/driving/delivery – I don’t like telling people what to do, and feel uncomfortable just directing things to where they should be. But the guys on the day made everything easy and efficient. They turned up on time at 9am, and everything was loaded into their van by 10:15. They had a break and then drove up to the new house, whereas I just drove up, they arrived by 11:30/11:45, and it was again all unloaded and sorted by 13:30.
Obviously there’s now a lot of unpacking and organisation to do (as well as construction of things like wardrobe, bookcases, and office desk/chair) before I feel properly sorted, but it’s all gone well so far.
Today I’ve been out and on-site, so not much happened.
Tomorrow I get broadband and Sky installed, and various odds and sods will be delivered through the day.
Mostly though, I’m just happy that the move itself went OK, and that it’s all looking positive so far!
Limbo
Posted: Sun 4 September, 2022 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised 1 Comment »At the moment I’m in the midst of the part of the moving process that I hate the most – stasis. It drives me crackers.
For now, I’ve done everything I can. 85-90% of the house is packed up (probably more, thinking about it) other than stuff I use most days.
I’ve done all the financial bits – the deposit, the first month’s rent and so on – but still don’t have the keys (I collect those tomorrow) so until then I’m not entirely convinced it’ll happen. I know, it’s ridiculous, but until those keys are in my hand it doesn’t feel like it’s real.
Once I’ve got them then it’ll be full-speed ahead. (Although again, that’ll still involve some waiting) I can get utilities here cancelled, and others set up for the new place.And, of course, ordering some stuff I need (furniture and the like) to be delivered to the new place.
I’ve already got a moving date in place, and I need to do some admin around that, but it’ll be fine. Then it’ll be about making sure I get the current place cleaned up (which is also already booked in) and be done and out by the end of September.
But for now, it’s all in limbo, all on hold, and it’s idiotically frustrating. I just want to get on with it now.