Home-Made
Posted: Fri 6 January, 2023 Filed under: Domestic, Food, Getting Organised, Thoughts Leave a comment »When I moved, I decided that I was going to be doing a lot more of my meals from scratch, and I’m happy to say that so far it’s been a pretty successful change.
At the old place I fully acknowledge that I’d got lazy – not crap food as such, but more of the prepared ranges (still with fresh ingredients etc., but packaged and just shoved in the oven for 20-30 mins) alongside steamed veg and so on. So not particularly unhealthy, but also… not exceptionally healthy.
I have an odd relationship with food at the best of times, to be honest. While I can be a foodie when going out (Michelin restaurants etc., although obviously that’s not every time I go out either) when it comes to my own meals I.. really can’t be arsed a lot of the time. I don’t go for fancy stuff that requires recipes and effort, because by about halfway through I’m just bored with it, and by the time it’s done I don’t even want to look at it.
Alongside that, food really isn’t a major driver for me – I’ve had to build a kind of routine around times to eat otherwise I can easily go through an entire day and only think at the end “oh yeah, I haven’t eaten yet”. It’s not a fixed framework, not like “eat breakfast at 7am, lunch at 12, dinner at 6 and throw a strop if that schedule is disrupted at all“, but it’s more about general “Have something in the morning, somewhere roughly lunchtimeish, and something in the evening” reminders.
As a result of those, the easy stuff became the norm, stuff I don’t really need to think about or make an effort with.
But when I moved I wanted to change that a bit, make use of the kitchen gear I’ve got (and the space I’ve now got where I can use it!) and cook more from fresh, see how I do. It’s all more along the “make several portions at once” plans like soups, slow-cooker stuff and so on, but so far it’s been successful and I’ve been enjoying it.
I can’t claim perfection – there are still days where “beans on toast” or “a sandwich” is perfectly acceptable, for example – but it also helps to have made enough [whatever] for three or four portions, so it’s easy to just grab and eat when I want to. (Another side of that weird food relationship – I don’t really care about what I’m having, so I can have the same thing for three or four days on the trot and that’s fine)
I might slip back to “easy” over time, but I’m hoping I won’t – because at least with the current stuff I know what’s gone into it all, and that can’t be a bad thing.
As with all things, we’ll see how it goes. But it’s been three months already, so it seems to be fixing itself in my head quite nicely.
Bureaucratised
Posted: Mon 2 January, 2023 Filed under: Accounting, Business, Customer Services, Domestic, Getting Organised 4 Comments »One of the things that always surprises me when it comes to dealing with my accountants is how gob-smackingly disorganised a lot of their clients must be. They send out reminders through the year for people to get their receipts in order, to make sure they match what’s in the online portal, and keep on saying about when the deadlines are, when everything has to be ready by.
Personally, I hate being like that – all the stuff I can do for my accounts for last year is already done. My receipts are scanned and linked, my bank statements and transactions files are all completed, all the expenses and so on are logged, it’s basically done. When my accountant sends out their request for everything, I can supply it all by return of email.
It’s still a frustrating experience, though. They’re really geared towards the late submitters, the last minute merchants – so even though I submit rapidly, I still have to wait ’til the processes are done and so on, and that seems to be reliant on the disorganised ones.
I’ve said repeatedly to the accountants that they should have a team that specifically deals with “easy” clients, the ones who are organised and who just get stuff done. Nothing in my accounts is complex – I already know what my 2022 Corporation Tax will be, because the prediction on the online portal is (for me) rarely out by more than a couple of quid. So sorting out clients like me should be at most a week’s work, just get the files in, agree them with what’s been submitted, calculate the figures, and job done. It really can’t be difficult.
But while they always say “Oh yeah, we could do that“, they never do. So I’ve done what I can, and I’ll just wait for the accountants to catch up. It’s deeply fucking annoying, but at least I know I’m on top of things and have done what I can.
Tipped
Posted: Fri 23 December, 2022 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Green 3 Comments »Earlier this week I finally took my (currently) last load of cardboard to the local recycling facility. (Or “tip” as it used to be known) It was, I think, the last stage of the whole moving process, although I’ve kept the cardboard moving boxes just in case.
All told it’s been four carloads, and I’ve spread that over a few weeks (mainly through my own idleness and disorganisation, admittedly) so it’s taken time, but it’s been good and pain-free, which is what matters. One thing you can say for Ikea – fucking hell they use a lot of cardboard! The packaging for three bookcases, a bed, a wardrobe, two chairs and a sofa takes up a fair amount of space.
Thankfully I’ve had the garage to hold the cardboard in the meantime, rather than it clogging up the house – although that also contributes to why it took longer to get done, as it was a case of “out of sight, out of mind”.
Anyway, I’m happy that the jobs are done. It’s a good feeling.
Handbrake
Posted: Sun 27 November, 2022 Filed under: Customer Services, Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, KwikFit 1 Comment »When the car got its MOT recently, one of the upcoming issues was that the handbrake was set too high, and not being particularly effective. Not awful, not dangerous, but not great.
In fairness, it’s been similar since I got it. Every year at Service/MOT time the Kia place I used would fuck around with it a bit, but it was always high, and I just figured that’s how it was for that car. It’s never slipped or caused issues, so *shrug* what the hell, it’s fine.
Anyway, last week it stopped being fine. It was still working, but once released the handle would “bounce” back up enough to trigger the “brake still on” idiot light on the dashboard, and was showing all the signs that it now needed replacing. Like, soon.
So anyway, I rang up the KwikFit where I got it serviced and MOTd this time, booked it in (for yesterday) for the work, and that’s all fine. These things happen.
Once they’d looked at it, it turned out that it wasn’t ready to break (pardon the pun) but there was something in the run of the handbrake cable that had jammed, which they released and checked the entire thing (including a re-check of handbrake efficiency) and all sorted. Additionally, it now doesn’t need to be set as high when engaging it. (I assume because I’m not fighting against whatever the jammed piece was doing)
And the price for this? Absolutely nothing. I tried to pay, I wanted to – even if there weren’t any replacement parts, they’d spent workshop time on investigating, sorting, and re-testing – but nope, they insisted it was fine. OK, then – but they’re definitely getting any return business from me.
UPS – Utterly Pathetic Service
Posted: Fri 18 November, 2022 Filed under: Customer Services, Domestic, Getting Organised 2 Comments »Ages back, I ordered a cool thing from the US. I knew it would take some time (it was backed through Indiegogo) so that wasn’t a worry.
About six weeks ago, I got notification that it was finally pretty much ready for sending out. I made sure they had my new address and so on, and was told when it had been sent out, although they didn’t let me have a tracking number, which was a problem.
Sadly, it was sent by UPS. Who are, in my experience, utterly fucking useless at least 90% of the time. And this was no different to usual.
Because it was coming in from the US (and emphatically Not Cheap) I knew it would get held up at Customs etc., and that was expected and fine. (Well, not fine, but… just the way it is)
What was not expected was that UPS would take three weeks (Three. Fucking. Weeks!) to send me the invoice for the VAT that was due to be paid. With no notifications, not even a “we tried to deliver, please contact us” card. Maybe I’m meant to be telepathic and to Just Know when things are wrong/waiting.
Allegedly they tried to deliver the parcel (which is a noteworthy achievement, considering it was being held by Customs/UK Border Force until the VAT was paid) but considering I was working from home and no card was left etc. (and the delivery man agreed that he hadn’t been here before, when it finally did arrive) so we know that as well as being fucking incompetent, they’re also useless bastard liars.
Anyway, it all got sorted out in the end – although not with any help at all from UPS, despite contacts from both the sender and myself to ask what the hell was going on, and why they were being so useless. All those messages went into a black hole of incompetence, never to be responded to again.
Thankfully though, despite the length of time it took to get the invoice, I did finally get the thing this week, and I’m pleased with it.
But again, dealing with UPS has been an absolute ball-ache. And now, because it’s finally been delivered, any customer service effort ends at “But you’ve received your package, so everything’s OK”. Ignoring completely the fact that it eventually took more than a month from being despatched to being delivered. Apparently that’s fine, and I should probably just be happy that it finally arrived. Nothing else matters.
So, in conclusion, yet again UPS are shite, and I wouldn’t ever give them money for anything.
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.