Advent
Posted: Tue 18 September, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Festering Season Leave a comment »
We went to Sainsbury’s last night, and there, next to the Hallowe’en gear (Hey kids, only six weeks to buy this shit!) were chocolate advent calendars.
In September. I despair. Hell, the bloody fireworks aren’t in the shops yet, but the fucking advent calendars are.
I suspect D4D™ may be going anti-festive earlier than usual this year.
All Done
Posted: Mon 17 September, 2007 Filed under: Domestic Leave a comment »And now the plumber has departed. It’s taken him a lot longer than expected to do the job (changing controller and thermostat on our heating system) because the previous occupant was a) a fuckwit and b) a DIY bodger.
So it turns out that the heating system is Wrong in several ways (two-way switches in the wrong place, deeply dodgy wiring setup, that kind of thing) but most of it is now dealt with.
Best of all, we have a working control unit, remote-control thermostat, and hot water from the boiler instead of having to use the immersion heater. These are all Very Good Things.
Plumbing
Posted: Mon 17 September, 2007 Filed under: Domestic Leave a comment »And the plumber’s turned up too.
Slack Service – Not
Posted: Mon 17 September, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism 1 Comment »Last weekend I wrote about some of the slack customer service we’ve been dealing with recently.
In order to provide some balance, this week we’ve also had some really good experiences too.
On Saturday we went and saw a local place that supplies wood-burners, coal and logs. We needed some fire tools as well for our wood-burner, but also needed that much-written-about load of logs for our woodpile. We bought the tools, and ordered a trailerload of logs, along with three bags of kindling. We needed a pallet as well to be used as flooring for the wood pile, which they just chucked on, no charge.
It was due for delivery “Late morning, early afternoon” today. It’s already here, and arrived by 8am. Definitely a place we’ll be going back to.
Also, that cycle shop mentioned last week had my bike ready and waiting when we went to collect it- and charged me less than I’d expected!
So yes, all told, fairly impressed.
Now, if the plumber turns up it’ll be a good day…
Getting the chopper out
Posted: Sun 16 September, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Green Leave a comment »As predicted yesterday, today has been mainly about getting our existing wood chopped up and sorted out for the woodpile before tomorrow’s delivery of yet more logs.
We bought a Bosch electric saw for doing a lot of the work – yes, we could’ve done it with a normal handsaw, but well, there was a huge load of wood to do, so chuff it. Anyway, it’s made life a lot easier – we’ve got through about 80-85% of the wood that needed chopping.
So yes, there’s still some more to do. But we’ve broken the back of it – and stuffed my own back into the bargain – so I can get the rest sorted over the coming week, along with all the logs that’re being delivered tomorrow.
And from now on, well, we’ll just have to be more organised, and chop the stuff as it arrives – or soon after, so that we don’t get in this situation again.
It’s coming…
Posted: Sun 16 September, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Festering Season 1 Comment »How can you tell that winter, and the festering season is coming soon?
Because the TV ads are all for Strepsils, perfume, or things that can be perceived as christmas presents.
*sigh*
Fuel to the pyre
Posted: Sat 15 September, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Green Garden 1 Comment »This weekend, it looks like we’re getting prepared for winter.
We’ve made an order for oil through Boiler Juice, which seems to get a decent price for purchases of heating oil, so that’ll arrive next week.
In addition, we’ve also ordered a load of logs from a local supplier, which’ll turn up on Monday. Not bad – £75 for a full load, which can then be stuck onto our wood pile while the stuff we’ve already received (from a number of sources) and chopped, which is slowly seasoning on the pile already. With luck it’ll keep us going through the winter, but if not well, we can always get another load delivered. Happy day.
And before the delivery of logs, we need to chop up the remaining wood to go on the pile first. Joy. That’s most of tomorrow sorted out then…