Gym thoughts
Posted: Wed 2 February, 2005 Filed under: Health, Resolutions Leave a comment »Last night was the first visit proper to the gym, following on from the induction session last week. And my general conclusion is : “Holy shit, I’m out of shape”. 45 minutes of work-out (including a bit of warm-up and cool-down) including 10 minutes on the rowing machine, 10 minutes exercise bike, and 10 minutes on the cross-trainer.
I’m OK on the exercise bike – six miles in ten minutes is OK. The cross-trainer, well, it’ll increase those “steps per day” for sure, and it’s agreed that I’m comfortable for a walking speed of about 120 paces per minute. The rowing machine I currently feel was probably designed by someone with a degree in medieval torture implements. I still feel utterly unco-ordinated on the bloody thing, and really don’t get how it’s supposed to work. Still, practice makes perfect, I figure.
Title-Bars
Posted: Tue 1 February, 2005 Filed under: D4D™, Geeky Leave a comment »In a fit of boredom, and in a similar vein to the changing of the top image on d4d™ according to certain important days, I’ve now also bunged in a little bit of code to change the D4D title (at the top of the window) every day.
It’s nothing overly special, and just changes it once a day, but what the hell, it was a couple of minutes work. PHP makes things like that really really easy.
Makes mental note of needing to get out more.
RIP Ivan Noble
Posted: Tue 1 February, 2005 Filed under: General Leave a comment »Following on from last week’s post about his last Tumour Diary entry, the BBC today carries the news that Ivan Noble has died.
RIP.
Council Tax Twuntdom – The Response
Posted: Tue 1 February, 2005 Filed under: Customer Services, Weirdness 1 Comment »Well, colour me (slightly) impressed. I’ve had a response from the council already. I quote it in it’s entirety… (and without changing the way it was written)
GOOD MORNING
TO CLARIFY THE SITUATION.
YOUR COUNCIL TAX ACCOUNT IS IN CREDIT OF £38.23, I HAVE TODAY REQUESTED THAT A REFUND CHEQUE IS ISSUED TO YOU, THIS YOU WILL RECEIVE IN THE NEXT 10 DAYS
THANK YOU
xxx (Name removed by me – fair’s fair)
So there we go – sorted. Well, questions remain unanswered about why they do the form in such a twunty way in the first place, but at least it’s an answer.
Time Flies
Posted: Tue 1 February, 2005 Filed under: General Leave a comment »Bloody Hell, February already.
Where’d January go?
Council Tax Twuntdom
Posted: Tue 1 February, 2005 Filed under: Customer Services, Weirdness 1 Comment »One of the joys of moving is getting to deal with whole new levels of bureaucracy when it comes to Council Tax. (for non-UK readers, ignore this post, and simply read it as “Fuckwit cunts, can’t organise a piss-up in a brewery, rant rant, can’t find their own arses with both hands and a flashlight, seethe, seethe, sweary sweary, tossers” and be done with it) Not only do you have to register with a new council, and see what things they can screw up (council tax seems to be a great initiation and benchmark test into just how shite and disorganised a council truly is) but you have to talk to the old council in the place you’ve moved away from, and try to a) convince them you’ve actually left, b) state repeatedly that you are NOT staying within that council’s borders, and c) try to sort out whether you’ve over or under paid the council tax account, and thus try (in my case) to get a refund out of the tightfisted fucktwunt’s coffers. This is nowhere near as easy as it sounds.
Currently I’m now on my fourth letter to Tameside, and about the eighth e-mail. They’ve refused to believe I’m moving, they’ve then charged me for next year’s council tax, denied they’ve ever received the letter to which I’ve just read the reply, and finally said “Oh yes, you have moved. Silly Us. Why didn’t you register it on the website?” “I did. You lost it.” “Oh.”
Eventually, today, the final bill arrived. It’s a wonder of council workings and weirdness.
Amount due 01-Apr-04 to 28-Jan-05 £621.88 Less Disabled Relief 0.00 Less discount at 25&percent; 01-Apr-04 to 30-Dec-04 -£140.59 Less Transitional Reduction* £0.00 Less Council Tax Benefit £0.00 Less exemption relief** 31-Dec-04 to 28-Jan-05 -£59.52 Total Amount Payable £421.77 Payments made -£460.00 CREDIT -£38.23 * I have no idea what this is **I have no idea about this one either
Now, according to that, I’m owed £38.23 by the council because I’ve overpaid by that much. But they’ve listed it as a credit of negative money – which, in English, translates into “You owe us”. I’ve emailed them to ask which it is, and why the language they use is so convoluted and – frankly – fucking wrong.
I can’t wait for the answer on this one. Can you?