Stars
Posted: Fri 12 February, 2016 Filed under: Day Trips, Domestic, Driving, Food, Geeky, Getting Organised, Single Life, Solo Dining, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »Last year, I started a project to get used to going out for restaurant meals on my own – something that had always been a bit of a “thing” in my mind. Some people don’t like going to the cinema alone, or to pubs.
Part of it became a plan to do more “high-end” eating – if I’m going to eat solo, I might as well make it decent stuff – as well as the usual things, and as a result I ended up eating in a few Michelin-starred places which I really enjoyed. (Far more than I did my previous experience with Michelin-starred places)
I’m keeping up that aim this year, with a vague plan of trying a wide range over the year, and aiming to ‘collect’ a star a month. (Not necessarily at a place each month, but at least averaging it out to one star per month)
So far this year I’ve eaten in a one-star place and a three – with a two lined up for the coming month. From there, I’ve got a couple of others booked up already, and we’ll see how things go from there.
I don’t only eat in Michelin places, by any stretch of the imagination. My tastes are varied – I’m still amused by the Scotland trip I did last year, where I ate in a Michelin-starred place on the Saturday, and a daggy little hole-in-the-wall Mexican place on the Sunday – and I never want to end up the kind of up-myself twerd who’ll only eat at high-end places. This is just a silly side-project that’s also a lot of fun, and is eminently doable. I get to experience a lot of new stuff, seeing what’s good and what isn’t.
I can’t deny, I’m fascinated by the whole thing – the levels of food, the differences (or lack thereof) between places with one, two and three stars, the differences between places with stars and those that haven’t, and the whole experience of the thing. But mainly, it’s fun – and if I’m going to have a ‘sin’, a money-drain or whatever, it’s going to be this one.
Healthy Car
Posted: Sat 6 February, 2016 Filed under: Car Repairs, Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »Following on from the car’s various issues over the last month, it now appears (touch wood) to be all sorted.
However, it means that in the last month it’s had
- MOT (Passed with no problem)
- Two separate broken pipes to the turbo, on different occasions – but weirdly, at the exact same location. (i.e. while driving, both times the engine management light came on at the same junction)
- 150,000 mile service, which included a couple of other small fixes too
Thankfully, it’s not been massively expensive, and the fixes have been small ones. But still, it would’ve been a nicer/easier month without having to do them. (as well as the hire of replacement cars while it was being unreliable) Such is life.
There’s one more bit that needs doing, which is booked in for a couple of weeks time (a bit annoying, as I thought they were doing it at the same time as the service, but such is life) but for now it seems like all’s well again.
Since the main bits of work, it’s had another 1,000 miles added on, so it all feels like it’s settled in again. But as always, time will tell.
Missing Letters
Posted: Wed 3 February, 2016 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Domestic, Getting Organised, Stupidity, Thoughts Leave a comment »Way back in early December, I posted a couple of letters, both by Royal Mail Special Delivery – a service that tracks the letter, requires a signature on delivery, and is guaranteed to be delivered the next working day by 1pm.
In my case, one letter arrived, and the other didn’t.
After a week, I raised this with Royal Mail through Twitter, and they were… pretty slack, to be fair. The letter had disappeared into the system, they needed to investigate, blah blah. At no point did the words “sorry” pass their (online) lips.
Another week or so passed, and they came back with “we can’t find it, can’t you check with the recipients whether they’ve received it or not“. Which is taking the piss, as that was the entire reason for sending the sodding thing by Special Delivery in the first place. And still, no sorry.
I ended up having to file a compensation claim with Royal Mail – again, the person who paid for the service has to jump through all the hoops, fill in the forms and so on – and wait even more. Still no “sorry”.
I finally got the response today to that compensation claim. They’ve taken six weeks to acknowledge that this “guaranteed service” isn’t, has failed, and I’ve finally got my money back.
The kicker, in my opinion, is that in that letter they say…
“If you need to cover yourself against this in future, I suggest you send items by Special Delivery “Guaranteed”
So the fucking clowns recommend I use the service that lost this letter in the first place – because it’s better. What the fuck?
All told, the customer-service experience of this process has been abysmal.
- It’s taken nearly two months to get this sorted
- Once we were past that ‘guaranteed delivery’ timeline, it should’ve been an automatic process to say “Yep, we fucked up, here’s your money back”
- If you can’t guarantee delivery, don’t guarantee delivery.
- If you don’t trust your own tracking systems and still require ‘proof’ that the item was posted into the system, you’re doing it wrong
Car Health – Hopefully Sorted
Posted: Wed 27 January, 2016 Filed under: Car Repairs, Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Thoughts Leave a comment »Another day, another visit to the garage.
Having been repaired last week during the MOT, the same issue (or at least what appeared to be the same issue) recurred on Friday. Annoying, to say the least.
With everything else that was going on, the car didn’t get to revisit the garage again ’til yesterday (Tuesday) for them to find out what the problem was this time.
It turns out to have been *another* pipe to the turbo inlets that had perished and snapped. So – a similar issue, but not the same one, even though it presented in precisely the same way. (And bizarrely, occurred at precisely the same place)
Thankfully, both issues have been resolved quickly, easily and fairly cheaply. All the same, I’m hoping that there won’t be any more for a while.
In a ‘tempting fate’ moment, I took the hire car back today, and I’ll use the Saab for tomorrow Manchester run. If it fails me on that run, then I think I’ll be starting to look for a new vehicle before very long at all.
Final High-Mileage Weekend
Posted: Sun 24 January, 2016 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Gigs, London, M1, Travel Leave a comment »As per previous posts, January has been a busy month, with a fair amount of travelling every weekend. That’s not a complaint – hell, I kind of planned it that way (well, events combined to make it all into busy weekends, but I allowed it to happen, so yeah, that qualifies as planned) but it’s definitely been busy.
This weekend was the last weekend of high mileage for a couple of weeks. (The week itself is another matter, but we’ll gloss over that for now)
Yesterday, I took my dad in to London to see Billy Connolly at the Hammersmith Apollo – and it was a really good day. We got in to Hammersmith really easily (despite a large number of tosspot drivers etc.) and parked, had food, and enjoyed the show. (I’ll write more about the show itself later in the week) Once that was done, got dad back home, and drove home myself. As usual, getting back around 2am. (I don’t know how that’s been so consistent over the month, but it really has)
Today was a far dafter plan, involving a blast up to the outskirts of Manchester and back. Basically, I’m up there on Thursday for a concert that I’m going to with two friends, and it’s been spiking my brain that the tickets are with me, and I don’t want them to miss out on the concert if there’s problems on the M1 for me on Thursday.
So I took the opportunity today to blast up there, drop their tickets off, and come back. It means that whatever happens, everyone’s happy – I’ve got my ticket, they’ve got theirs, and we don’t have to go through hordes of organisational stuff for meeting up, getting everything sorted, and that if anyone’s transport screws up, it doesn’t fuck things up for everyone.
All told, it’s been the best part of 600 miles this weekend.
I must be a complete barmpot…
Car Health – Back On Blocks
Posted: Fri 22 January, 2016 Filed under: Car Repairs, Customer Services, Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised Leave a comment »I spoke too soon – when I took the Saab out this morning, the exact same problem occurred as had been ‘fixed’ yesterday.
Safe to say, I am unamused – and the garage are aware of this unamusement.
It goes back in on Tuesday, as I haven’t got the time to sort it before then, due to travelling. It’s a good job I kept my booking for a hire car for this weekend’s idiocy…
Car Health – All OK
Posted: Thu 21 January, 2016 Filed under: Car Repairs, Customer Services, Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Thoughts Leave a comment »The car, it turns out, was fine. The problem was that the hose(s) to the turbo had perished, and were leaking, which was roughly what I’d thought was happening.
So, that’s been fixed, and the MOT has been passed with flying colours. A couple of advisories that I’ll address in the next month, but really, all good.
This has made me much happier than I’ve been the rest of the week – while I may have been ‘pretty sure’ of what the issue was, I don’t have the confidence in my own technical knowledge to be 100% certain. Knowing that it actually was a minor thing is a weight off my mind.
All good – onwards and upwards, mes amis!
Car Health
Posted: Wed 20 January, 2016 Filed under: Car Repairs, Customer Services, Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised 2 Comments »Last week, my car started playing up – not enough to be serious, but enough that I wasn’t entirely confident in it while I was ferrying others late at night and so on. As a result, I hired a car for the weekend, and as it turns out, I’m glad I did.
Having returned the hire car on Monday, I went out in mine to get some stuff done, and while doing that, the engine management light came on. The performance is still OK on it, and it got me home etc., but still, it’s not something I take lightly.
As things worked out, it’s due for – and booked in for – the MOT test on Thursday anyway, so I’ve let the garage know about the extra issue, and I’ll see what they say.
I’m hoping it’s nothing major, that it’ll be a quick, easy (and generally cheap) fix – but I’m hedging my bets right now, and preparing for the worst. I’ve got another car booked for next week, as I’m doing a bundle of miles and travel, and that’ll give me time to sort out whether I get the car fixed or replaced.
Health Check
Posted: Tue 19 January, 2016 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »A couple of weeks ago, I got a letter from my local GP, asking me to go in for an “NHS Health Check”. It was a bit annoying, as the accompanying leaflet said that my surgery ‘needed to update their records as I hadn’t been in for so long’ and so on. Considering I was in there for a check in November 2014, that was kind of worrying – implying that my records weren’t up to date and so on.
Anyway, they then called me up to chase getting an appointment, and today I went in. It wasn’t anything special, but still, always good to know what’s going on.
It turns out that what they meant was that this Health Check thing needs records less than three months old – which is understandable, things can change in that time. But it would’ve been good if their own bumf had actually said so, rather than implying that the record-keeping at the surgery was bad.
Still, onwards and upwards.
The Health Check is basically a quick check of the key figures: weight, blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and the like, as well as various health factors (smoking, drinking, activity etc.) and comes out with a ‘risk’ factor at the end of it.
All told, the figures came out pretty well :
- blood pressure was fine at 130/80,
- blood sugar was fine – although I can’t remember the exact figure, it was well within acceptable limits
- cholesterol came in at 4.5 (anything under 5 is regarded as ‘good’) with ‘good’ cholesterol of 1.8
- weight is still ‘too high’, but has kept on coming down, so *shrug*
The final “risk factor” figure was 4 – which supposedly means I have a 4% risk of suffering a heart attack in the next ten years. They’re happy with anything under 10, so I shouldn’t need to darken the surgery’s door on that score for a while.
Obviously I’m going to keep on working on losing weight, and being healthier/fitter, but having a quick summary like that is good for pointing out that I’m not doing too bad, and could be doing one hell of a lot worse than I am. I can live with that, to be fair.
Barbican, Rollins and Mileage
Posted: Sun 17 January, 2016 Filed under: Day Trips, Domestic, Driving, Food, Getting Organised, Gigs, London, M1, M25, Travel Leave a comment »Yesterday was another Rollins gig, this time at the Barbican in London.
It was a bit more complicated than last week’s gig in Bristol, as it involved collecting another friend of mine from over by Oxford, then getting a train to London, across to Barbican, getting food, going to the gig, and then a similar journey for the return.
All told though, it went really smoothly. I’d booked pretty much everything in advance, including the train tickets and reserving a table at the restaurant of choice, so it was as organised as humanly possible.
The restaurant in particular was a real success – the Jugged Hare, just round the corner from the Barbican itself. I’d seen it before, but never eaten there, so went for it when the chance came up, and booked for their pre-theatre menu. I am truly glad I did. They specialise in game of all sorts – it’s definitely not a great place for vegetarians! – but there’s enough variety in the menu, if game isn’t your thing.
To be fair, there is a vegetarian option on the menu – well, it says “Vegetarian – £14”, so it could be a fillet of vegetarian, for all I know.
The three-course meal was great – particularly the venison haunch, and their sticky toffee pudding was amazing. (as was the accompanying mince-pie ice cream, which has to be tasted to be believed) Knowing how easy it is for me to drive to Barbican in general, I will be returning. Several times.
The gig itself was great – Rollins spoke for three full hours, with no breaks. The show was about 50% the same as the one I saw last week in Bath, but I can live with that – it’s better than being entirely the same!
The journey home was OK – getting the trains back went smoothly, and then a drive through snow to drop off friend, and then another hour and a bit on motorways in heavy snow (though thankfully not settling) to get home, which happened just after 2am.
So a long day, but an entirely worthwhile one…
Booking Breaks
Posted: Wed 13 January, 2016 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Travel Leave a comment »Having realised that I managed (yet again) to work all of last year without a proper break, I’m working on booking some time out this year. Taking a lesson from Herself’s methods from years back, if I book them now (or at least soon) then they’re a fait accompli, so I can present them to any new contract as “already booked”.
The first one is booked now. It’s ‘just’ a long weekend away at the end of February, sharing a holiday cottage with another friend and her dog, but at least it’s a break.
From there I’ll see how we go, but right now I’m definitely planning on a couple more breaks during 2016 as well – including, potentially, an Arvon break if I can find the right one. It all depends on what’s available, and what I fancy doing, really. But breaks are definitely on the agenda.
That’s got to be progress, I’m sure.
D4D Performance
Posted: Fri 25 December, 2015 Filed under: D4D™, Geeky, Getting Organised, Technology 1 Comment »This year, D4D’s performance as a site hasn’t been that great. I’d noticed a lot of times when pages timed out, or seemed to get lost along the way, but couldn’t find what was causing it, despite looking hard on several occasions.
Last week, I finally found what the problem was – and it wasn’t in something I’d done, which was nice. More importantly, it also wasn’t something that was showing up in code or settings – because it was a plugin that wasn’t doing what it had been told to, for whatever reason.
I’ve got a security plugin on D4D that’s supposed to take automatic backups, to add some safety and recovery to the site. That was set to take a backup every week, and to only store three backups, then overwriting the oldest.
Except that wasn’t what was happening. Somewhere along the line, something had gone wrong, and it turned out that it was taking a full database backup (with a different filename each time, so no over-writing etc.) every fifteen minutes. Then storing them in a folder that was hidden away in a non-obvious location, with a non-helpful filename.
Even on a server that says it’s got unlimited space, that was taking the piss. It was making the server work extra-hard for no good reason, and causing a whole load of problems.
I finally found it all, and ended up both deleting the old files, as well as killing off the backup task completely. (I’ve written my own automated job now which is working fine, and not causing any problems. The moral of the story? Don’t trust other people’s code.)
Since doing that, I haven’t seen the site crash. I’m hoping that the problems are now fixed, the stability will improve, and that 2016 will be a much better year for D4D™
Fingers crossed.
An Organised Christmas
Posted: Thu 24 December, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Festering Season, Getting Organised, People, Shopping, Shopping Leave a comment »
It’s well-known that I’m not the greatest fan of the Festering Season. I do observe it and sort things out for family and closest friends, but still tend to avoid the overboard hysteria of the entire season. There’s a whole number of reasons for being this way, and I can’t be arsed with going into them on this. It’s a subject that’s been pretty much done to death anyway.
This year,the run-up to the Festering Season has all been remarkably organised and gone very smoothly, which is a thing of joy.
Everything possible was done, bought, organised, and (where necessary) posted or delivered a couple of weeks ago. The only thing that remained – albeit in two stages – was food-based, getting the week’s food order in, and then today collecting the final pre-ordered bits, which was all done at Antisocial O’clock this morning, when the roads and shops were still blissfully empty.
I hate food shopping in the week before Christmas – the shops are just full of tosspots going mad because the shops are going to be closed for a whole 30 hours. I never understood why there always seem to be more people at Christmas, all of whom are buying more. Surely if it’s all about entertaining and having guests, there’d be half the number of people but buying twice as much? Only it doesn’t work out that way.
Internet-based shopping (and delivery thereof) has made this whole process as painless as possible. So long as you’re organised, you can book a slot in the week up to Christmas, order everything you know you want, and that’s it. Yes, there’s the slight roulette of out-of-stock items and so on, but that’s more about luck and timing than anything else. In my case, I got the delivery on Monday and everything I’d ordered was in stock and all was easy and fine. Indeed, the worst thing about it was that I had to lock the cats out of the living room while everything was delivered, which disturbed them quite a lot – I don’t think they’d actually realised the door could be closed, let alone be closed with them on The Other Side.
Collecting the final pre-ordered bits today was also painless – in and out, no hassles.
It really is a most civilised way to do things.
Lists
Posted: Mon 21 December, 2015 Filed under: 2015/16, D4D™, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Introspective Leave a comment »As we come to the end of 2015, I’m spending some time making notes, lists, and plans for what I want to get done in 2016. It’s not resolutions or anything similar, but I’ve found over the last couple of years that having lists for things helps me to keep it all straight in my head over the year.
The lists aren’t hard-and-fast structures, more like reminders and ‘this is the stuff you wanted to do’ – but it’s a method that I’ve found to be working pretty well for me. I never used to think it would, that I’m not that organised and so on, but it’s been a surprise.
I don’t know if it’s usual, but I have two formats for the lists – my day-to-day ones sit on the mobile, but the bigger plans for the year tend to sit in my Notebook Of Doom.
A lot of the difference is in how things get crossed off, if I’m honest. Day-to-day “what I’m doing this week” works with just a tick gesture on the phone list, and that’s fine. But there’s more of an emotional and mental ‘achievement’ when it comes to physically crossing things off on a piece of paper, in a notebook, it’s a gesture of finality, of “done that”, which I really like.
Even though I don’t necessarily write about everything on here any more (and there’s some thoughts about that, which I’ll probably write and update over the Festering Season) and I certainly won’t list everything here, there’s a lot of stuff on the lists for 2016, which needs some thought and prioritising a bit.
I tend to over-load the lists too, give myself more on the plans than I’m likely to actually manage. But I’d rather have items as a backup for if I get everything done, or when a planned thing turns out to be unattainable and it’s time for Plan B/C/D.
Regardless, I’m looking forward to crossing off a lot of those items.
Rebuilding and Correcting
Posted: Sat 19 December, 2015 Filed under: Bankruptcy, Customer Services, Domestic, Finances, Getting Organised, Rebuilding, Thoughts Leave a comment »As part of the whole finances-rebuilding process, I’ve recently been paying more attention to my credit score and so on, including getting reports on it via Noddle , Equifax, and Experian. (It’s worth doing all three when you’re checking these things, as some companies report to one or two of the credit scoring agencies, but not necessarily all three – which is insanely frustrating, and most people don’t know it)
Within those reports, I found that three companies were mis-reporting things – primarily that debts that had been included in the bankruptcy were still being reported every month as “Default” (i.e. late) payments, rather than acknowledging that they’d been dealt with by the bankruptcy. I have no way of knowing (although I have some suspicions) if this is ‘just’ a mistake, standard incompetence, or a tactic to keep credit-scores low for people who’ve been through bankruptcy.
We’ll find out soon enough, though. I’ve written to all three companies, giving them the necessary information and copies of certification, and requesting that they update their records. In all three cases, I’ve given them three options for declaring the debt ‘satisfied’ (which is a different status to ‘paid’, but still closes the account) :
- Update it as of this month
- Update it for this year’s records
- Update it, backdating to when the bankruptcy was discharged.
Obviously the final option is the best one – and the one generally recommended by the FCA and Insolvency Service – because once the bankruptcy is declared, all debts are nullified, and all the credit recording should reflect that with immediate effect. So I’m still trying to be reasonable and find a middle-ground by letting it be marked as ‘default’ for a further twelve months.
One company has already come back to me, taking that third option. The other two, well, they’re more ‘traditional’, so letters have had to be posted (recorded delivery, naturally) and will take time to process. In both cases, the recorded delivery gives them a finite timescale to work with – if nothing has been done in eight weeks from proven delivery, I can start to involve the Financial Ombudsman and FCA. That’s a while off yet though (obviously) and I hope things will be sorted well before then.
The thing is, none of this is essential to the rebuilding of my finances and credit-score – although it will definitely help to have these three records sorted. But the rebuilding will continue to happen, with other positive credit-score reports and transaction reports helping over time.
There’s no valid reason for the various companies to not make the changes, though. It’s a matter of correcting the information, of setting the record straight. That shouldn’t cause anyone any problems.
But I bet it does.
Firm Footing
Posted: Thu 10 December, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, M1, Travel, Weather Leave a comment »In the last couple of months, as written about before, I’ve replaced all four tyres on the car with new ones. The old ones weren’t even close to their wear limits, and would’ve probably done me through the winter – but the key word in there is probably.
Because I drive a lot, I want my car to be as safe as possible – particularly as we hit autumn and winter, and the numerous joyous road conditions. Ideally, I don’t want to be driving on worn tyres in snow, ice, rain and the like. It was also the first time I’ve had a full matched set of tyres on the car, which was something where I was interested in seeing the results.
I went with Michelin Cross-Climates, which supposedly cover a wide range of weather conditions from summer through to snow and ice. On current evidence, I really can’t argue with that claim. I’ve also seen other independent reviews since the purchase that have been extremely impressed (not to say amazed) by the tyres, which is kind of reassuring.
Over the last three weeks, I’ve driven an absolute shedload of miles in some of the vilest weather this year. Serious storms, gale-force sidewinds, heavy rain, and absolutely vile roads – and the tyres have been fine, and kept me solidly on-track. I’ve seen others around me losing traction and sliding (which is fairly attention-focusing when they’re sliding in front of you!) but mine has been solid, and really that’s what matters.
I’ve been happy with my choice, and with having sorted the tyres before the bad weather hit. They’ll last me the winter, and well into next year. It’s been a good decision.
Re-tyred
Posted: Sun 22 November, 2015 Filed under: Customer Services, Domestic, Driving, eTyres, Getting Organised, M1, Technology, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »Over the last month, the car has had a complete set of new tyres (admittedly, bought two at a time) as it was definitely That Time Of Year when it’s a good plan., with the onset of winter with added rain, snow and ice. It’s been at least a year since the front ones were changed, and longer since I did the rears, and while they’re still well within the legal limits, I know they were nowhere near as good as they could/should be.
The front ones got changed a couple of weeks back – something I was really pleased about while I was driving last weekend. At that point, the road conditions were vile – heavy rain, standing water, and one particular section of motorway surface that could best be described as interesting – and the car stayed solid on the road, which is something that some others certainly weren’t.
I avoided using eTyres this time – partly because I’m not convinced of their services etc., but also because they didn’t stock the tyres I’d decided I wanted to try out.
Having looked around, I opted this time for Michelin Cross-Climate tyres, which seem to be a good option for going across the full range of road/weather conditions I’m likely to hit in the coming months. I’ve also never had a full set of the same tyres on a car, so it seems like it should be interesting.
The rears got changed today, and the change has been significant, even in the short time I’ve driven on them today. I’m pretty sure it’s not just a psychosomatic thing, the whole vehicle felt more rooted to the road, more stable.
We’ll see how things go. This morning was also the first serious frost of the year – I was driving through snow on the M1 yesterday – and I’m pretty sure we’ll have a few more days like it in the coming weeks. I’ve got the best part of a thousand miles to cover over the next couple of weekends (not including the usual weekly travel) so by the end of that, I’ll know a lot more about how the car feels with the new setup.
2015/16 – Writing
Posted: Thu 12 November, 2015 Filed under: 2015/16, Creativity, D4D™, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Thoughts, Write More Leave a comment »This post has been nagging me – I’d written the title and post-dated it for publication, but been stuck on what to actually, you know, write. And then I did it again.
It’s somewhat ironic that the post about my plans for the coming year’s writing has been published blank/empty not once, but twice.
So – third time lucky.
I’m not honestly sure what will happen with my writing plans over the next twelve months. There’s a couple of options (as well as the fallback point, of “do nowt” or “fail”) which is never a good start, as it leaves me in a quandary from the beginning.
The thing is, I’ve got lots of ideas. Loads. I just haven’t yet clicked on how they could stick together. Or even if they could adhere at all. I’m missing that bigger picture, the whole that all these parts could/should/might fit into. Or maybe each one is a different tale, and I need to focus on one or two of the better concepts, and just develop those. Maybe that will allow the others to rest, or maybe to develop along in their own timelines. Maybe.
I’ve definitely got two concepts which are kind-of similar, but separate. They fit into different moulds, different methods, so I could do both at the same time. Or I could focus on one and then the other. Or. Or. Or.
And that’s what’s sticking me up at the moment. Too many ideas, not enough drive.
I’d love to be ironic (or meta) enough to be able to write about a writer that is stuck on the writing, so that it’s turtles all the way down. But that’s beyond me.
I think the plan for the coming year will be to do just one project, focus on it, see if it works. If it doesn’t there are others waiting in the wings. If it does, there are others waiting in the wings.
Between now and 2016, some of it is just going to be brain-dumping stuff onto paper/keyboard as a record – perhaps that’ll help too.
So yes, I think that’s the plan. But now, which to choose as the first one. Which to choose…
The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same
Posted: Wed 21 October, 2015 Filed under: 2014/15, 2015 vs 2014, D4D™, Domestic, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Looking Back, Single Life, Thoughts Leave a comment »In preparation for another post (one of the usual ones for a couple of weeks’ time) I’ve been looking at things from (roughly) this time last year, and it’s been a bit odd in some ways.
There’s a distinct synchronicity between the two years, which is surprising. Last weekend, I bought some new tyres for the car – and it turns out I did the same a year ago. It also got a full service done – which I’ve just booked in again.
It’s also just under a year ago that I started doing the day-trips when I could (and/or when I wanted to) on weekends, which has continued and been pretty cool. I haven’t done one in a couple of months, mainly due to a madly busy period with no weekends ‘off’, but that doesn’t mean I won’t again.
Along the way, there’s also been a lot of good stuff.
Comparing where life was last October to this is like comparing pearls with cow shit.
October 2014 was a low point, although nowhere near my lowest. (There’s some competition for that ‘honour’, mainly September 2010, April 2012 and August 2012, although I’m sure there’s a couple of other close-runners too) At the start of it, I’d just walked out on ShitCo with nothing to go to, nothing even in the pipeline. That was a bit scary, but infinitely better than the prospect of staying working for them. I know, I still haven’t written much about that time, and probably won’t – safe to say, it was No Fun At All.
I got a new contract within two weeks though, and that was the start of the recovery process and climbing back to where I find myself now. I’m still working for the same people, and will be ’til at least the end of the year. It’s been good – and helped by being a role where I work for/by myself for four days a week. I’ve rented an office in central Milton Keynes, which works best for my schedule and environment, and keeps me vaguely sane. (Which working from home four days a week probably wouldn’t)
I’ve done a lot of rebuilding again in the last twelve months, and I’m pleased with how it’s gone.
Onwards and upwards!
Massive Attack
Posted: Wed 7 October, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Gigs Leave a comment »As regular readers will recall, I’m a bit of a fan of Massive Attack, and have been for a long, long time. I’ve seen them live a good few times, and really love a lot of their stuff.
So I was thoroughly happy to see the news that they’re releasing new music this year, and doing a tour in Jan/Feb 2016.
Pre-sale tickets became available for the tour this morning, and I’m now seeing them twice – once in Manchester, once in London.
Needless to say, I’m already looking forward to it!
Stasis – Weight and Health
Posted: Wed 16 September, 2015 Filed under: 2014/15, Change, Cynicism, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Thoughts, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »It seems to be the season for stasis – and for thinking about it, which is kind of odd. But there we go.
Anyway, one of my goals for this year was to lose more weight – I lost two stone in 2014, and wanted to do a similar thing this year.
Well, that hasn’t happened.
(At this point I know I have to remind myself that there’s still three-and-a-bit months to go of the year, blah blah – but still, two stone in three months is less-than-likely)
It’s annoying in some ways, but in others it’s been an interesting process.
I have definitely, and visibly, lost inches. My strength and muscle have improved significantly, particularly since getting to do regular gym visits. But the weight has stayed the same.
In general, I’m OK with that. I know I’ve improved, and have reduced body fat by about 20% (although there’s a way to go still) over the last eighteen months. I know I can beast through a 10Km walk in 100mins (an average speed of 6Kph) and I’m content with that. I know I can also do more on weight machines at the gym than the majority of the other users I see.
There’s still a good way to go – I’ve got my own targets, both short- and long-term, and I hope to get there. But I know I’ve made progress, I can see it and I can feel it.
I do wish that those bloody scales would show it though. I step on most mornings, so I know it’s not some weird coincidence that only sees me measure when I’m that weight. It varies by a pound or two either way – but that’s it.
I suppose I should be happy that my body is in some kind of balance/stasis, that it’s managing to replace fat with denser (note, not heavier, just denser – that’s a bugbear that I’ll write about some other time) muscle in a balanced way. And in most ways I’m content with it, with knowing there are changes that just don’t show on the scales.
But I’d still like to actually weigh less…
Stasis – Locationally Static
Posted: Tue 15 September, 2015 Filed under: Bankruptcy, Change, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Milton Keynes, Thoughts Leave a comment »It’s somewhat scary, and horrifically organised, but I’ve just signed another tenancy agreement for the current house, so I’ll now be here ’til at least November 2016.
That will make it the longest time I’ve lived in one place since I left home a long time ago. No-one is more surprised about this than me.
In fairness, there’s a few reasons to stay – and not enough to move on. Reasons for staying again include
- It’s well-located, and easy to get to anywhere else (which helps negate the travelling itch)
- It’s a decent enough place, and suits me for 95% of the time, as well as facilitating my anti-social side
- I’m kind-of settled for a while (and so are the cats)
- There’s nowhere else I particularly think “*That* is where I want to be living – let’s go!“
This time next year, things may be different. There’s a couple of significant change things happening over the next twelve months, which will make moving a bit easier in a years’ time (assuming I want to) and which contribute to staying put this year.
Not least among those is the simple fact of time passing. This time next year, my bankruptcy will have been cleared for three years, which puts it an ‘acceptable’ time in the past for credit checks. Still another two years before it disappears completely, but there appears to be a ‘wisdom’ that if someone has kept their fiscal nose clean for three years afterwards, it’s more likely that they’ll continue to do so in the future.
At the same time, I’ll have been done with the repayments plan (that expires in January) and will instead be putting the same amount directly into savings, which will be helping on building things up decently.
So yes, for the next year-and-a-bit I’m staying in the same place. And I’m surprisingly OK and non-twitchy about it…
New(ish) Places
Posted: Sun 23 August, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Milton Keynes, Thoughts, Travel 2 Comments »As has been noted many many times here, I’m a bit of an idiot when it comes to travel, and think nothing of doing a two-hour-each-way drive for a day trip. Somewhere in my head, I don’t really think “locally” for exploring and finding new places. As a result, I’m sometimes surprised by locations when I’m doing other stuff.
This weekend I was helping the Uborkans with a bit of taxi-work to make their lives easier. That involved nipping up to Stoke Bruerne to collect them, and dropping them off in Linslade – a dead easy journey, and not at all far for me.
I’d been to Stoke Bruerne a few times as a kid – school trips and the like – to the canal museum and so on, and I’d never realised how close it actually is to my current location. We’re talking less than half an hour’s drive – it’s really close. Because it was a nice day, I got there early, and had a wander along a decent-sized length of the canal too, for fun – definitely somewhere I’ll return to.
Once I’d dropped them off at destination, I also finally discovered a pub I remembered from years ago, when I worked and lived in the area. So I’ll have to give that a go at some point – we never visited it the first time round, I just remember going past it on a regular basis, but didn’t remember the roads properly for how to get to it – I’d actually decided it was a different pub that I have tried and not been impressed by, which is in a similar location. So yeah, that’s on the list.
And finally, in the evening the Uborkans had come back up to the edges of Milton Keynes, so we arranged to meet at a pub. It was in Simpson, an area I’ve been past on the main roads several times, but not actually been into at all – and it’s really nice, to the degree that you wouldn’t believe you were in Milton Keynes at all. Indeed, it’s nice enough that it’s been added to the “yeah, I could live there” list, for if/when I decide to leave the current location.
It’s just interesting, how you (OK, how I) can still find new places in an area you’ve lived in for a number of years. I regularly bugger off far and wide, but I haven’t really explored a lot of the local area. Maybe that needs to change a bit…
Three
Posted: Thu 13 August, 2015 Filed under: 2015/16, Bankruptcy, Domestic, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised Leave a comment »This one’s not quite on the actual anniversary of it happening – mainly because there was a small matter of D4D™’s birthday happening on the same day – but it’s close enough that it’s all good.
Anyway, it’s now three years since I was declared bankrupt, and it’s been a long old road.
I’m happy with where things are, and it’s all looking positive. There’s still a way to go – the next stage comes at the end of this year, but really from here on it’s all about rebuilding. Much the same as it has been for the last couple of years, but it’s a continuing process. Long may it continue to be so.
Changing Meters
Posted: Wed 12 August, 2015 Filed under: Customer Services, Domestic, Getting Organised, nPower, Single Life, Utilities Leave a comment »Over the last couple of months, I’ve been – again – having issues with nPower and their circus-clown cohorts, Lowri Beck. I’ve written about this before, where they had said they hadn’t been in my house for four years, despite being supposed to be checking things at least once a year. (And having supplied meter readings to nPower – so fuck knows how they managed that without having been in the house!)
Anyway, when they did come round back at the start of July, it turned out the electricity meter was fucked faulty, and so needed replacing. Fortuitous timing, as it’d been OK two weeks previously, when I took a reading from the damn thing.
The problem – as usual, with Lowri Beck – is that their meter replacement teams don’t work weekends. And nPower won’t do anything to compensate their customers for having to take time off to replace a meter (or anything else), even when it’s at nPower’s behest. All of which left us at a bit of a standoff.
Eventually, having progressed through the layers of nPower’s customer services section, I finally got to speak to someone who had the power/rank to be able to book in a job for a Saturday. It was still a bit random, as more urgent jobs would take precedence over a lowly meter reading – but it got done. And only one cancellation before the person came out to do the job.
Because Lowri Beck couldn’t organise a piss-up in a brewery, the fitter had actually come from… London. All the way up to Milton Keynes – so was only able to do one other job on the same day. It does make you wonder just how Lowri Beck stay in business, when they’re that disorganised and cretinous.
Anyway, an hour later, I’ve got a new – well, new to me – meter, and we can hopefully start seeing something approaching account normality.
Mind you, they did still manage to mis-enter the supplied readings from the new meter, and would’ve over-charged me quite significantly if I hadn’t been keeping an eye on the account…
Clowns, the lot of ’em.
Into August
Posted: Wed 5 August, 2015 Filed under: Bankruptcy, Change, D4D™, Domestic, Driving, Finances, Getting Organised, Health, Introspective, Looking Back, Thoughts, Weirdness Leave a comment »Somehow, we’re into August already. The year’s racing by (as usual) and here we are. August.
August is a funny (as in ‘odd’, not as in ‘ho ho’) month for me – for some reason it’s always been rather more eventful than others. It seems to be generally a month of change for me, in ways both negative and positive.
It’s definitely the month I get twitchy about, more than any other. I’m sure that’s because my parents first pointed out what a consistently change-laden month it was (which may have also gone some way to making it a bit more self-fulfilling) but I try to not focus on it. By that, I mean that I don’t consciously go “oh, I’ll do that in August”. August just seems to happen.
As examples…
- D4D™ got started in August. Not intentionally (well obviously it got started intentionally) in August – that was just when everything came together for it to happen
- My bankruptcy was in August. Again, that’s just when it came about.
- I finally passed my driving test in August.
- I’ve had *lots* of job changes in August, contracts ending and so on.
This time round, it looks (so far) like things will be a lot calmer.
I was a bit twitchy, as my current work contract had an end date next week – and even though I was 99% sure it would extend again, there’s always that “But it’s August, and thus could bite me on the bum” nagging doubt. However, it’s been confirmed this week that it’ll extend again, through to October (which will mean I’ve been doing this one for a year) so that’s all good.
To the best of my knowledge I’ll be staying in the current house for at least another year. That’s the plan (and renewal isn’t ’til November, so not a concern) and I see no current reason to change it.
There’s currently nothing else of major import and change looking like it’ll happen. I’ve got stuff planned for the month, but nothing change-laden. All the same, during August I’ll be…
- Doing a 10Km sponsored walk for Marie Curie
- Seeing Benedict Cumberbatch in Hamlet (a happy surprise instance, brought about by a friend of a friend not being able to go)
- Possibly another London visit, or alternative Day Trip
- Sorting out (renewing) car insurance again
And there’s a bundle of other stuff as well, alongside the weekly working normality.
So with any luck, this August won’t be too eventful and change-laden. We’ll see.
Revised Plans/Targets
Posted: Thu 16 July, 2015 Filed under: Bankruptcy, Car Repairs, Domestic, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Thoughts Leave a comment »One of the things that came to my attention last week with the car being sorted was with regard to my finances.
Now, this year is the first one where things have (so far) gone OK, and I’m pleased with where things are in general.
However, looking at what I’ve managed to do this year, I did feel I had done less well than I could’ve done. I’ve saved less than was perhaps possible or ideal – although still far, far better than I also could’ve done, or have done in previous times – but I do also know that there’ve been things I’ve bought and done this year that took some of that money away from being saved etc.
From here on, though, it’s going to be a bit different. I still plan to be able to do what I want when I want, but I’ll also be bunging a but more into savings as well.
I’m doing a full spending-diary at the moment, because I want to know where it all goes, and what it goes on. I’ve already been monitoring my monthly outgoings, and have a far better picture of them now than I used to – and have also been able to reduce a couple of things on there, plus a couple more will be dropping in the next month or so, come renewals time.
So that’s where things are.
The end of this year is the next big change, when I’m done with the repayments plan that’s been in place the last two and a bit years. When I’m done with that, the same monthly amount will be going direct into savings. It’s money I haven’t actually missed (well I have, but I’ve done without it just fine) so it can carry on going elsewhere, but to my benefit instead.
So yes, a way to go yet, but everything so far is at least in a positive direction…
Back on the Road
Posted: Sun 12 July, 2015 Filed under: Car Repairs, Customer Services, Domestic, Finances, Getting Organised, Milton Keynes Leave a comment »Following on from last week’s fun, I can confirm that the Saab is back on the road and (so far) sounding and running OK.
It’s done a couple of decent(ish) runs, although for the moment it hasn’t had my semi-traditional post-serious-work run down to Devon and back. (Yet)
It’s not been cheap, but I’m happy with the decisions and work. Of course, that might change if the damned thing goes ker-fut again tomorrow, but for now I’m happy with how it’s all gone.
Ker-Fut 2 – Getting to the Garage
Posted: Mon 6 July, 2015 Filed under: 1BEM, Car Repairs, Customer Services, Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Insurance, Milton Keynes, People Leave a comment »F0llowing on from Friday’s car issues, it’s been a semi-eventful weekend.
When I got home on Friday, my first job was sorting out a hire car for the coming week (possibly two) as I’m all over the place. That got sorted relatively easily – one place was closed, and I’d have had to call their Glasgow office to try and find out what was available (a ridiculous state of affairs, and frankly, fuck that) and the second one, while closed, enabled me to book a car to be collected the following morning, in a dead easy process.
And then it was a small case of hunting for the necessary identity documents. Driving licence (and the new necessary code from DVLA for the online driving record – needed since the paper part of the licence is now outdated) was OK, as was passport – but finding documents to prove address were somewhat more difficult, as I now do all my bills online, so rarely get anything “official” through the post. (As an aside, I wonder how that will change things over the next couple of years, as more and more paper-based stuff is removed/reduced/made into a cost) I did find the necessary bits in the end, but it’s getting to be more hassle than it should be.
Collecting the car (a new Vauxhall Insignia, which is not at all bad, as Vauxhall’s go) was an absolute doddle. The place is quite new, but was really a case of walk in, do the paperwork, check the car, bugger off. All told it was less than 30 minutes – fairly impressive. Because I’d used the same company before (when the Mondeo died on me) I had a lot less ID-checking to do – which seemed odd, as that was two-and-a-half years ago, and lots could’ve changed since then – but it was a nicely painless experience all round.
I’ve plonked about with it a fair bit over the weekend, and yeah, not bad at all.
I’ve also been looking at replacement vehicles – I suspect the Saab has blown up significantly, and will be more to repair than it’s worth, so I’m sounding out alternatives – and there’s a couple I’m going to check out this week, once I know more about the state of the Saab.
And then we come to getting the Saab to the garage. I’d thought a lot about this, and decided that the best plan would be to drive it (slowly, and along backroads) to the garage on Sunday, avoiding all the heavy traffic and any potential issues. If it died, well, I’ve got recovery as part of my car insurance. I left it ’til later in the Sunday, rather than trying to do it while people were still going shopping and so on. I did have my doubts about the plan – but figured it was infinitely better than trying to do it on Monday evening, let alone Tuesday morning!
Anyway, set off lateish on Sunday afternoon (about 5.30) and it was all fairly successful. I got most of the way fine, but then it did die out properly, so I had to do the recovery thing. In fairness, even that ended up going really smoothly – the recovery vehicle turned up within half an hour, and took me to drop the car off at the garage. (I was actually really lucky, because one thing I hadn’t taken into consideration was the fact it was the Grand Prix at Silverstone, so traffic and breakdowns were greatly increased later on!)
Then it was just a case of dropping off the keys, and getting a cab home – all told, I was home by 8pm, which wasn’t bad, when everything was taken into consideration.
Reducing Available Excuses
Posted: Fri 3 July, 2015 Filed under: 2014/15, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »Over the last month, I’ve been getting back into going to the gym. At first it’s been more about just adding it in to my regular routine – and that’s been fairly successful, I’m pleased to say. I do intend to go through things with a personal trainer and so on, figure out what my goals and targets should realistically be (and there’s some other parts to that too, but more of those at another time) but for now it’s been more about just going, doing some stuff there, and just getting it back into my normal day.
With the exception of last week – where I’d twatted my foot (again) enough that it was painful to walk on, let alone do any serious exercise/workout/walking – it’s worked out fairly well, and I got in at least twice a week.
This week, with the foot back to being OK (or at least OK enough) I was back to going, even though I really wasn’t in the mood, and frankly I was too fucking hot to want to go. But I still went.
My philosophy at the moment is to go when I don’t want to, when the conditions are crap – too wet, too windy, too hot, too whatever – to make sure that I’ve no excuses on normal days. The only time where excuses are allowed are when I’m hurting, and it’ll affect them (and possibly make them worse) by going. That’s it.
So having been on the hottest day of the year, I’ve no real excuses any more when “it’s too hot”. Yes, it’s definitely not nice (and an extra change of clothes was a very good plan!) but it got done, and I can’t make that excuse. (I was actually surprised by how few people were in the gym on that day – I assume ‘It’s too hot to work out’ had an effect on that, too)
So – making progress. We’ll see how things work out from here…
Weekend of Quiet – the nPower farce
Posted: Thu 2 July, 2015 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Domestic, Getting Organised, House Work, nPower, Utilities Leave a comment »As I said earlier, the only scheduled thing for the weekend was a visit from Lowri Beck, the clowns who are nPower’s third-party partner in the area – who needed to check my electricity meter.
Supposedly they legally *have* to do this once a year – and they allege they haven’t been inside my property in four years (i.e. before I even moved in), so it’s hardly a legal requirement in the first place. Saying they haven’t had access is utter bollocks, by the way, as someone from the company was in there to check the gas one a month ago, and I’ve had people from the same company in to do readings before (except they then lost them, due to being useless cunts)
Anyway, the guy turned up, and in his most helpful manner said “Oooh, that’s not good. How long’s it been doing that?”. To which, of course, I said “Doing what?”, as I’m not a fucking mind-reader, and couldn’t tell you one end of a meter problem from the other. “That” he says, and points at the meter. “Go on, give me a clue.”
Turns out, there’s a flashing light that says “I need replacing”. It wasn’t there two weeks ago when I took my own meter reading, but now the clowns are here, we get the full circus lights. *sigh*
So – I now need to get a replacement meter.
But in a fit of truly inspired crap customer service, Lowri Beck’s installers only work Monday to Friday, 9-5. So to get a new meter, I’m going to have to take time off work, costing me money for something that’s entirely not my fault. And nPower won’t offer any alternatives, compensation, or understanding. (Which is no surprise whatsoever)
I’ve got it booked in, but it looks like it may just be time for yet another fight with the asshats at nPower. Oh goody.
The Weekend of Quiet
Posted: Wed 1 July, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, House Work, Milton Keynes, Seeing Films, Sleep - or lack thereof Leave a comment »As planned, last weekend was fairly quiet – and much needed.
The only booked thing I had in was to get someone from nPower’s third-party partner company in to look at my electricity meter. I’m going to write about that in a different post, because it gets long-winded, and slightly farcical. (As do all things nPower)
Other than that, I didn’t do much. The total of activities was
- Visit the cinema (twice)
- Keep up my walking targets, so I did wander round Milton Keynes etc.
- A bit of shopping
- Sorting out the back yard, including buying new pots and plants, and getting them installed/planted.
- Other very small odds and sods.
So it was decent. It would’ve been better if I’d actually been able to sleep well too, but there we go, that’d be pushing my luck too far.
More Practical Stuff
Posted: Sat 27 June, 2015 Filed under: Change, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, House Work Leave a comment »Following on from previous posts, the yard project was something I’ve been thinking about for a while.
Last summer, I saw some wooden decking tiles in Ikea, and thought they’d look good in my yard. I didn’t bother at the time, as there were other things to do, and I was more than slightly mired in dealing with a particular shitbag employer (I griped about them at the time, and can’t be chuffed to do so again) so it went on the back-burner and I didn’t get round to it.
Anyway, it’s stayed in my mind since then. Once I’d done the fence last weekend, I started thinking about it again, decided “Nuts to it”, and went to Ikea on Friday after work. (It’s not bad directly after work, although admittedly I left earlier than standard working hours, and with only one thing in mind to purchase) In the spirit of being organised, I also bought some weed-proof membrane to go under the tiles, which should help keep it looking better.
Purchase successful, I got home and decided that I’d make a start.
Less than two hours later, I was done. Admittedly, it’s not a huge yard, but everything went together so easily and worked so nicely, I was really pleased with the entire thing.
I’m really pleased with it. And for an all-in price of less than £200 (including the weed-proof membrane) I can’t really fault it at all.
The final bits of the project now will be some pots and plants, although I’m yet to decide what stuff I actually want. That’s the next stage though.
Domestic Simplicity (Again)
Posted: Thu 25 June, 2015 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Getting Organised, House Work, Thoughts Leave a comment »A while back, I wrote about not being practical, yet still getting stuff done when the need arose. A similar thing happened last week, and I’m equally chuffed with how it’s worked out so far.
Basically, the fence panels around my back yard haven’t been treated in a long time – since the cottages got revamped, at a guess, which is probably about ten years now. I’ve been in mine for three years, so I know for sure it hasn’t had any treatment in that time.
So basically, I decided to do the whole wood-painting thing, and sorted it all out. Basic preparations got done – purchase of supplies, and cleaning off the fence etc. of all dust, spiderwebs and general grut. The paint is ‘woodland green’ – I kind of like it, and if the landlord doesn’t then I can paint over it easily with something darker when it comes time to move on/out.
And on Sunday, because I was up horrifically early, I just got on with it. I’m really pleased with the results, too. Even better, I didn’t cover myself, and didn’t cover the rest of the yard with it either. Some small specks, but nothing major.
I’ve got a couple of bits still to do – one of the fences also has a lagged water-pipe against it (don’t ask, I’ve no idea) and I still need to do under/below it. (I hadn’t bought any small brushes to get into those tight spots, but I’ve got some now) And it all dried nicely, to a decent colour – and without being trampled through the house by the bloody cats.
I’ve got some other ideas for the yard, for doing some extra stuff with it in the next couple of weeks – once I get ideas in my head, I like to get on with them – but all told it’s been remarkably positive, and I’m deeply cheered with how it’s gone so far.
Sleeping Places
Posted: Mon 22 June, 2015 Filed under: Change, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Old(er), Getting Organised, Insomnia, Thoughts, Weirdness 4 Comments »Following on from the insomnia attacks of late, I’ve also been thinking a lot about the things that do work for me when it comes to sleep.
Because I’ve also been doing a lot of travelling and visiting, it’s given me a wide range of reference points, which always makes things more interesting.
One oddity I have noticed is that I seem to sleep better on sofas than I do in bed. It’s strange, but true. I’ve also had a few occasions of coming home in the afternoon and getting a nap on my own sofa, but that’s more for catch-ups when they’re absolutely needed, rather than becoming a routine.
It’s been true for a long time though – certainly right back to the Norfolk house, where I’d sleep on the sofa-bed when we had bad weather and I had to take Hound in to the smaller bedroom to stop her being an arse. When I think about it, it’s also applied a lot of times over the years, when going to see friends and so on, and preferring to crash on sofas rather than spare beds.
As a result, I’m doing a lot of thinking about whether I change my bedroom and bed, investing instead in a decent sofa-bed. It’s food for thought at the moment, but not going to be a change I make quickly. After all, if I make the change and don’t sleep any better, then it’s been a loss/waste of a bed and so on.
It may be that I leave it until I move house again – which is something that’s on the agenda, but not any time imminently. That’ll definitely be to a bigger place – hell, it’d be a challenge to find anywhere smaller – so I can look at it seriously at that point.
I’ll think about it more – there’s other factors in that kind of decision- but we’ll see where things go, I think.
Getting Back In The Saddle
Posted: Sat 6 June, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Milton Keynes, Thoughts, Weigh Less Leave a comment »Following on from this week’s ‘Heavy Thoughts‘, I’m aiming on getting myself back into more exercise and so on.
Among those plans, I’m heading back to a gym – and it’s another new one.
I signed up with one in Milton Keynes (MK) earlier this year, thinking that it would be a good plan due to working in MK four days a week. However, it didn’t work with everything else – it was a bit in the wrong direction, and a ballbag to get to. It didn’t fit with how things were working for me, so I wasn’t going.
As a result, I cancelled it – no point carrying on paying for something that’s not being used, just because of good intentions, after all. Thankfully it was one of the newer no-contract gyms, so wasn’t any great issue.
This week I’ve signed up with a different one (but still contract-free, and actually cheaper still than the previous one) and went for the first time as well. It’s closer to my office, allbeit still a decent walk, and means I can park near the office as usual – I get in early anyway, to avoid rush-hour traffic – and walk down to the gym, then walk back and get to work.
I’ve not chosen the best time to do this – this week and next are chaotically busy with other stuff as well, so I’m not in the MK office as much as usual. Initially though, it’s aiming to get me into going again, and getting into a routine for doing so.
And from there, we’ll see how it all goes. I’m optimistic for the moment, but time is more likely to tell.
Heavy Thoughts
Posted: Wed 3 June, 2015 Filed under: 2015/16, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Food, Getting Organised, Health, Introspective, Thoughts, Weigh Less 1 Comment »Last year I did pretty well when it comes to weight loss, dropping two stones over the year. (It was actually a bit more, but then went up again towards the year end) The plan this year is/was to do more of the same, and lose a similar amount of weight.
So far, that’s not gone well. It stayed pretty stable through January to April, and then May was – for unknown reasons – really bad. Basically, I had a real desire for sugar, coupled with a lot of idiot days, journeys, activities and meals. It felt pretty non-stop, and for whatever reason from that, my brain/body wanted sweet stuff.
When I weighed myself on Monday, I’d put on nearly a stone, which has really annoyed me. I’ve been pleased with the weight loss, so putting some back on is a bit of a setback.
But it’s only a setback, not a major issue. From here on things are a bit calmer again – although saying that I’ve still got weekend trips to Oxford, Manchester and London coming up – and I’ll reduce that sugar intake again. That has, I think, been the main trigger for weight gain.
I’m going to get back to doing some other stuff too, and seeing how things go. But that’s the plan, and I’m not changing my goal for the year. I just have to work a bit harder than expected to get there…
Successful Dining
Posted: Sat 30 May, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Food, Getting Organised, Introspective, Single Life, Solo Dining Leave a comment »One of my things this year was to get myself being better at going out to restaurants on my own – something I’ve never been keen on, and one of my weaker points when it comes to being single.
So I’d made it a goal – a resolution, if you will – to go out and eat more in places on my own.
Thus far, it’s actually been remarkably successful (He said, modestly) and I’ve been really pleased, if I’m honest.
As well as the ‘proper restaurants’ I’ve been to – Grillstock in Bath, Kitchin in Edinburgh, Meat Liquor in Brighton, and a couple of others – I’ve also been doing the same sort of thing when I work on-site on Mondays. That’s more pub-restaurant than anything else, but it still applies to the ethos. Basically, when I’m on-site and it comes to getting home, I can choose to sit in solid traffic for two hours and more, or I can wait in the pub, have some food, and then drive home in 50 minutes. Really, that’s a no brainer.
All told, I’m getting used to it, it’s not something that causes me a problem per se any more – and that rates as a success in my eyes.
There’s still more places to go, more restaurants on the list, and it’s all good.
Domestic Simplicity
Posted: Thu 14 May, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Housing 1 Comment »As has been pointed out before, I am emphatically Not very practical. I can do some stuff, but I’m not good at it, and more likely to fuck it up than not. And usually I’m OK with that – I accept my limitations on that score, and just pay someone to do it who knows what they’re doing, and is infinitely more likely to not fuck it up.
But I’m always happy to have a go, so long as there’s a back-up plan.
This week though, I didn’t have that Plan B, but the simple job worked out OK.
Basically, one of the brackets on the toilet seat gave out, and snapped. That seat’s been there a *long* time, so it’s not a massive surprise. But obviously it’s something that requires replacing sooner rather than later.
And that’s what happened – I got the new seat, and also some pliers because I had a feeling it was going to be a twat to undo the remaining fittings and screws. It had been there a while, remember. And it’s rusted and nasty. So – pliers.
I got home, used the pliers, got the old seat off, put the new one in the right place, and did it all up. And it’s all gone together fine, first time.
It’s a small thing (story of my life) and I’d fully expect to be told “Jesus, anyone can replace that kind of thing” – and it’s true, they can. But for me, it’s still a nice feeling, knowing it just got handled and replaced with no hassles and hindrances.
That’s all.
Three Years In One Place
Posted: Tue 5 May, 2015 Filed under: Day Trips, Domestic, Getting Old(er), Getting Organised, Introspective, Single Life, Thoughts, Time, Travel Leave a comment »It’s now three years since I moved into the current house – which also means I’ve been single that long. How time flies, and all that rot.
I’m definitely still here for another six months (that’s when the current tenancy expires) and I’m still undecided on what I do from there.
I suspect I’ll stick with it for another year’s tenancy, to be honest – unless anything in life changes radically in that period. That’s quite scary in some ways, it’s almost like I’m feeling more settled and (almost) putting down some roots.
That’s not the case though – the current place isn’t where I want to stay longer-term, but at the moment it’s just convenient, and – as I’ve said before – makes travelling easy to just about anywhere else.
A Very Good Deal
Posted: Sun 3 May, 2015 Filed under: 1BEM, Customer Services, Domestic, Finances, Getting Organised, Shopping, Weirdness Leave a comment »Over the weekend, my toaster finally died. (You can tell this one’s going to be interesting, can’t you?) It’s done fairly well, daily service for three years, if not more. Over Easter it had started playing up, but then on Saturday it gave up completely.
So – off to the retail superstore of gloom. (It’s closest, I couldn’t be arsed with faffing about too much, and I had some vouchers to use up)
I had a look, and decided on this one, mainly because it’s purple – I’m shallow like that – and because it was £10 off the marked price, so £40 instead of £50. Fair enough.
But when I got to the tills, it scanned at … hang on … £19? OK, I’ll check it with the customer services, but that’ll do.
As it was, I also had a number of vouchers (all in “You would’ve saved £x at a different store, so here’s the difference” price-match vouchers) that came to £25. So I effectively ended up with Tesco paying me £6 for my new toaster…
I don’t know quite how it all worked out like that, but I’m not going to complain.
[Additional] : When I went to customer services to check, in case a) the price was wrong or b) their system was wrong, I waited ages to be seen and then the person involved said “Oh, for electrical enquiries you’ve got to go back upstairs and ask them“. To which my thought response was “Fuck that, if you can’t be arsed to check it, I can’t be arsed to report it any further“.
So – a nice new toaster for the princely sum of minus six pounds. I can live with that.
Creatively Becalmed
Posted: Fri 1 May, 2015 Filed under: Creativity, Day Trips, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Introspective, NCFE Course, Photography, Thoughts, Travel, Weirdness Leave a comment »This year so far – and probably for a bit longer than that, if I’m honest – I’ve not been getting all that much done on a creative front, and I don’t really know why. It’s more a feeling of being bogged down, uninspired, and just not in the mood.
Writing is going better than anything else – lots of ideas, but nothing is particularly gelling at the moment. I’ve got a couple of things started, but it’s still bogging down, and not flowing.
Photography-wise, I haven’t even taken my camera out in ages. Really it’s been since I did the NCFE course, which is a bloody long time now. I don’t know why that seemed to flick the ‘can’t be arsed’ switch, but it has. I’ve tried a few things and ideas, but it’s just all a bit “meh”, with no real desire to take the photos.
In some ways, the day-trips over the last few months have helped on that – I’ve taken photos, even if ‘only’ with the phone (although that’s a surprise, considering how good they’ve come out) but still can’t really bring myself to take the actual camera out for a day. A lot of that is also because I can’t be arsed with lugging it around and faffing about, but mainly it’s just the faff of it all at the moment.
I’m sure things will change again – I certainly hope so – and that the changes will be positive for once. The rest of this year to date has been positive, so I’m hoping that once I have some headspace and time, I’ll be more prompted.
(And I’m sure I’ve written about this a couple of times this year already, so forgive the repetition. It’s just something that’s bugging me at the moment)
Burger Crawl
Posted: Mon 27 April, 2015 Filed under: BurgerCrawl, Day Trips, Domestic, Food, Getting Organised, London, Reviews(ish), Sociable, Travel Leave a comment »Over the weekend, I took part in a very silly event that I’d discussed and come up with – a Burger Crawl in London.
It started off with a conversation about alternatives to pub crawls – I can’t even remember why it came up – but it seemed like a fun idea.
Originally it was going to be four of us as a trial run, but two dropped out, so it ended up just being one friend and me doing it, but that was fine.
Because it was the first one, and my idea, it ended up being my plan for where to go. So I made the choice that it was going to be all new places, nowhere we’d been before, and all in a similar area of London, rather than roaming all over the place.
As it turned out, it almost started badly. The place I’d picked for the first one – breakfast at Honest Burger‘s place near Liverpool Street – wasn’t open, they only do breakfasts Monday to Friday. So, a bit of a trip on the first hurdle, but we had other places on the list of possibles, and went for one of those instead.
So the final list was
- walking up to Dirty Burger in Shoreditch (with a donut from DumDums to start, as Dirty Burger wasn’t quite open when we got there)
- a coffee at Fix 126 on the way to the next place
- another burger at Blues Kitchen in Shoreditch
- walking down to Brick Lane (ish) for an NYC Torta (a sloppy messy burger-type affair which was ace) at DF/Mexico
- a much bigger walk down to Whitechapel, then a tube to Embankment
- Drinks and a break at Scoff and Banter in Leicester Square
- The final meal bit was the “Gentleman’s Afternoon Tea” at Sanctum Hotel in Soho
- And then walked back up to Euston Station in order to go home.
We did well – much more food and it would’ve involved exploding stomachs – and was a brilliant day with all the new venues being excellent. I plan to return to all of them – just maybe not all in one day again.
Oh – and we covered a fair amount of distance as well, which probably helped in dealing with the amount of food…
There will be more BurgerCrawls in the future – and we’ve had a couple of other related ideas too – but for a first go, it all went really well, and definitely a success.
Edinburgh Trip
Posted: Tue 14 April, 2015 Filed under: Day Trips, Domestic, Food, Getting Organised, Solo Dining, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »All told, the Edinburgh trip was fantastic. Thoroughly enjoyed all of it, even though I’m knackered by the end of it.
The travel itself was exceptionally smooth – and all on-time, which made it even better. Coasting past jammed traffic on the M1 (which I would’ve been using otherwise) was a particular high point.
The hotel was great (with the minor exception of a 2am fire alarm on the Saturday night, but these things happen) and everything generally went well.
Over the weekend I walked about 25km around Edinburgh – including being too lazy to wait for taxis and buses, and walking from Leith to the City Centre (and back) – as well as visiting two galleries, which was the kind of thing I wanted to do with the weekend.
Finally, the restaurant was absolutely brilliant. I really enjoyed the entire thing, and really want to go back (as well as going to other similar places) for a different menu and different choices. It also helped that the first person I saw as I went in was Tom Kitchin himself, which I figure is a pretty auspicious start.
So yes – a great weekend, and a great break. More will follow.
Travel Time
Posted: Fri 10 April, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Public Transport, Thoughts, Time, Travel 1 Comment »The trip to Edinburgh this weekend is also pretty much the first time I’ve taken a long-distance train journey since I lived in Manchester. I was considering driving, but looked at a minimum of six hours each way, as well as the consideration of fuel costs etc., and thought “You know what? Eff that”. (Which is pretty novel in itself)
So I checked out the train costs – the journey’s about 5 hours each way by train, and the ticket price is pretty much on a par (within £10 or so) of the expected fuel costs. Plus it’ll mean I get to read, write, or just look out of the window, rather than being stuck having to concentrate on driving the entire way.
All told, it’s really been quite a sensible decision. I’m not sure how it happened – I normally see a sensible decision and run in the opposite direction. I’ll write more about it once I’m back, and know how it all went.
Missing Limb
Posted: Mon 30 March, 2015 Filed under: 1BEM, Domestic, Getting Organised, Stupidity, Technology, Thoughts, Weirdness Leave a comment »This morning I somehow managed to leave my phone at home. (Well, I hope it’s at home – otherwise I’ve done something really stupid with it)
It’s quite an odd feeling really – you only realise how much you use the damn thing when it’s not there. The ubiquity of a smartphone for simple things is suddenly noticeable.
Already today I’ve had several thoughts of “Oh, I’ll just get the phone and…”, followed by the realisation that I can’t.
Calling it a “missing limb” is a bit hyperbolic, but it’s definitely a feeling of something missing, something you’re used to having around that’s not there any more.
I’ll be fine – it’s not like I’m surgically attached or anything – but every so often something will jar, and I’ll think “Bollocks” again.
Let’s just hope the damn thing is at home. I’m sure it is, but there’s that nagging ‘what if you did something dumb?‘ mental voice going on…
Whitstable Day-Trip
Posted: Tue 24 March, 2015 Filed under: Day Trips, Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Travel 2 Comments »The day trip to Whitstable was thoroughly pleasant, and much needed. Among other things, I’m coming to the conclusion that I really need to have more sea and seaside in my life – it’s something that’s been missing for way too long.
Having written last week about feeling down/flat, wondering what’s going on and so on, I found myself feeling far, far better as soon as I got out the car and heard the noise of waves on the beach. I don’t know why it works like that on me, but it does.
Anyway, as a result, I walked along a large length of the seafront. What the hell, I was there early, and most places weren’t even open, so it was pleasant – and I got to meet a huge Irish Wolfhound as well, for added bonus points. Mainly though it was about just walking and appreciating the noise of the sea. (Such a bloody hippie)
There’s also a load of beach huts along the front, all different – not just in paintscheme, but in style – and I ended up taking photos of a number of those, too. Again, no-one else around, and it was a pleasant way to spend a morning.
It was just what I needed as a ‘day off’ activity, and I ended up walking 5km along the front, taking the odd picture, and just relaxing. I stopped off at a few places as well, and also spent some time sat in wind-free areas – of which there were few – just reading amid the sounds of the waves.
The weather wasn’t perfect – it was grey and blowy – but that didn’t bother me. I wasn’t going there to soak up sun, but instead to just have time out from lots of stuff. And I got that in swathes.
Whitstable’s definitely one of those places I’ll be going back to, and could easily consider as a place to live. It’s not ideal – some of the travelling would be more problematic than it is currently, for example – but at the same time it’s a place I like. It’s on the list when I finally do decide to move on, and let’s leave it at that…
Too Long
Posted: Mon 23 March, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Finances, Getting Organised, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »While writing stuff last week, and looking back through D4D™, I realised it’s now very nearly seven years since I was last in Ireland.
That’s too long – I feel the need to return.
Something else to organise as a break for this year, then…
Slowtime
Posted: Sat 21 March, 2015 Filed under: Depression, Domestic, Driving, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »Following on from yesterday’s notes about being a bit flat/tired, I’m taking this weekend as being a bit slower, a bit calmer – well, by my standards, anyway.
Saturday is going to be a cinema-day. There’s a couple of things I want to see, the timings gel nicely, and the weather forecast is mediocre, so sod it, that’s the plan. An afternoon of cinema.
Sunday though is likely to be a bit sillier. Because all I want to do is curl up and do nothing, I’m going to do another day-trip. I’m unsure of exactly where yet – the main options being Reading, Whitstable or Brighton – but all are within a two-hour drive. I’m quite tempted by Whitstable, to go and sit by the sea and generally chill out a bit. I used to work near there many moons ago, so a bit of a revisit too. I did go back there a while back – although a site search has revealed that ‘a while back’ actually means 10 and a half years – so it’ll be interesting to see what’s changed (and what’s stayed the same) in that time.
And that’s the plan for a quiet weekend…
Televisual
Posted: Wed 11 March, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Finances, Getting Organised, Technology, Television, Thoughts Leave a comment »A couple of months back, I damaged my TV. Nothing major – the cats were being arseholes. I chucked a cat-toy near them, and hit the screen, resulting in a broken line of pixels, and a broken bit of display crystal so it had a bit of a blob. (Think how an LCD-display watch used to look when it broke/cracked, and you’ve got it)
It’s been a minor irritation since – not even big enough to be an annoyance, just every so often the line of pixels would flicker white and be noticeable, or the broken bit of display would be more noticeable with the rest of the screen (depending on what was on it at the time) and it was getting worse.
So anyway, this week I finally decided to replace it – and I’ve done so. It’s a bigger unit than the previous one – 32″ from the 24″ I had – which is a significant increase of screen size, that I hadn’t quite catered for in my head. It still fits in fine, and doesn’t dominate the room the way I find lots of the really big ones do, but I think it’s at the upper limit.
What really surprises me – although it shouldn’t – is the difference in prices and screen sizes to fifteen or twenty years ago.
Twenty years ago, when I bought my own first new TV, it was the same screen size as the one now – but it was a massive beast, needing two people to lift it safely, and cost me about £800. It was a serious unit, to say the least.
Now, the same screen size – and I know, it’s an LCD/LED rather than a CRT display, which makes a massive difference – is easily carriable by me, and cost maybe a third of what that old Sony one did. Even the image quality is markedly improved. It’s quite remarkable, the way progress and changes in technology have come on in that time period. Food for thought, of what we might have in the next twenty years…
Sick Day
Posted: Thu 26 February, 2015 Filed under: Customer Services, Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Health, People, Weirdness Leave a comment »Following on from yesterday’s post, last night was vile. I won’t go into details – safe just to say it was bad.
Anyway, as a result of that, I took the decision that I’d take today as a sick day, as I wanted to visit the GP (among other things) and generally Not Do Much. Which was a mistake.
The GP – as usual – was fucking useless. Having waited 90 minutes to see the incompetent git, I was in the room for less than five minutes. I explained that I’d spent most of the night with an insanely sore throat – to the degree that I thought it might end up being tonsilitis – , and coughing up big green lumps. He checked my throat and decided that it wasn’t tonsilitis. Fair enough – I know fuck-all, so I bow to their supposed knowledge. But at the same time, despite being told I’d coughed up a ton of crap, he still didn’t bother to check my chest at all – something you’d think would be pretty elementary.
And the final verdict? “Nothing I can do, take some paracetamol, and maybe Neurofen if you feel the need”. That was it. Useless shyster bastards. (And yes, there’s another complaint in with the practice manager)
After that, I went back home, still feeling like shit – only also feeling annoyed. Never a good stage in the day.
Within half an hour, there was a crunch of noise outside, the sound of plastic and so on getting splattered down the road. It didn’t sound promising – and I had a nagging feeling…
Yep, a driver had managed to smash off the door mirror of my car – which was all parked up, in the same place it usually is. Oh fuck.
In fairness, she’d stopped, and was seeing what had happened. I know any number of people wouldn’t have even slowed down, let alone made an effort. So you know, fair play on that score. She was a very new driver, had misjudged the width of her car while another one was coming the other way, and smack. It could’ve been so much worse – so, so much worse – and she was properly upset.
I spoke to my Saab garage, and got a price for the replacement mirror, and we exchanged details. I showed them where I lived, and all was well. A bit later, her dad came round – in a good way! – and we discussed it, that she was a new driver, and if we did this through insurance, it’d hit her very hard, for something that really wasn’t worth that much money. I’m fine with that – I’m not going to penalise the poor girl for something, when she didn’t even have to stop – and I think it’ll all work out by people dealing with it as adults.
And so I’ve ended up, on my day at home and feeling crap, going over to the Saab garage, getting things sorted – and as it turned out, actually getting a replacement mirror far, far cheaper than I expected. Basically, they’d got a silver car that they were stripping for parts, and I got the mirror. The colour isn’t a precise match, but I don’t give a shit about that.
The full replacement should’ve cost £300, with labour etc. on top of that. The swapped part has cost me £100 including labour, and took less than an hour from start to finish. I can’t deny, I’m pleased with that, and well chuffed with the garage – they’ve always been good with me, as has been shown by what they’ve done today.
It’s all worked out OK – but for a day doing nothing, it really hasn’t been all that successful…
Change is Gonna Come
Posted: Mon 16 February, 2015 Filed under: 1BEM, Customer Services, Cynicism, Domestic, Finances, Getting Organised, nPower, Utilities Leave a comment »As per comments on the previous post about my asshole energy suppliers, I will definitely be looking at changing them this year.
However, because of the ongoing billing fuckups, right now I have no decent figures for comparison purposes. I’m sure I’m not getting a good deal from the cockwhistles at nPower, but I don’t actually know for sure how bad the deal is. I haven’t had a clear and accurate bill in nearly three years – which makes figuring anything else out into quite a struggle.
As always, I don’t see the point in changing anything until I know I’m getting a better deal – so for now I’ll be keeping things with nPower.
However, that’s only for the next couple of months, during which time I’ll be keeping an eye on actual usage and what I’m paying. Once I’ve had the next bill, and know more about the usage and expectations, I’ll be able to make a far better estimation of what I’m spending versus what I could/should be spending.
And from that point, I’ll then have to decide whether I’m going to stick with [current location] for at least another year’s tenancy. If I am, and there’s a good offer around, I’ll swap. Until then, it’s going to be about making sure I’ve got the figures to back up the decision one way or t’other…
Fitbit ChargeHR
Posted: Sat 31 January, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Old(er), Getting Organised, Health, Technology, Thoughts, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »Over the last year or so, I’ve been using the FitBit Flex wristband to keep track of my daily steps, sleep statistics and so on. I’ve been generally impressed with its ease of use and so on, as well as the integration/communication with the FitBit App.
As it worked out, the only thing I wasn’t too impressed with was the strap itself – in that year-ish, I got through two straps, and had just ordered a replacement for the second. That’s not ideal, and is something of a design flaw. (I’ve let them know about it, so we’ll see what happens)
At the time I got it, I was a bit annoyed by a perceived lack of functionality within the Flex, so I was interested to see that they’ve released some more wearable things with more functionality – the Charge, ChargeHR and Surge (which is almost a smart-watch in its own right) – and I ended up getting a new ChargeHR.
Because I’m exercising more and so on, I was wanting a device to track heart-rate and so on as well, and the ChargeHR does that. I don’t need the full functionality of the Surge (plus I didn’t want to be taking myself up to that price point) but this one does pretty much what I want, particularly in combination with the phone.
The strap on this is a bit more obtrusive than that of the Flex – I can feel it as I’m typing this, for example – but all told I’m so far impressed with the device. And it has some of the extra things I wrote about a year back – and the Surge has built-in GPS as well, which was another.
It’s interesting seeing how these devices improve over time. It’d still be nice to see more innovation, but at least they’re doing more, and still maintaining a decent battery life and so on.
I’ve only had it a couple of days so far, but will probably write more about the ChargeHR in a couple of months’ time, as I’m more used to it.
MOT – Passed
Posted: Tue 20 January, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Finances, Getting Organised, Travel Leave a comment »The car passed it MOT with no problem at all. Needless to say, I am very happy with this news.
I had been getting a bit stressed about it, as I hadn’t heard anything from the garage by 4pm. In fairness, they’re normally pretty good about letting me know if something’s going to be expensive, so I knew it was likely to be OK – but all the same, it was a bit worrying.
Anyway, I called them just after 4, to find out what was happening. And all was well – it was just that the garage had forgotten to call me. Bit annoying, but far better than “Oh yeah, we had to do a load of work, here’s the bill”
As it turned out, it passed with flying colours. One advisory (an out-of-balance parking brake, of all things) and that’s it. I’m quite surprised by this – it’s a Y-reg with 125,000 on the clock, after all – but pleased. And considerably better off than I was expecting…
Re-tyring
Posted: Wed 14 January, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, M1 Leave a comment »As I said yesterday, I had to get two new tyres for the car again.
On Monday I drove back from the new contract in Leicestershire, through what could only be described as a deluge. Dire visibility (and of course plenty of dickwhistles with no lights) coupled with heavy rain and heavy traffic – and I could feel that all was Not Right with the back-end of the car. It wasn’t dangerous, wasn’t uncontrolled or anything – but it’s fair to say, there was less grip than I was happy with, and I could feel a bit of movement when it hit low-traction spots.
Safe enough to get home, but also enough to focus the attention somewhat.
I’ve known that the tyres were due for being replaced – they’ve been on a while, I’ve done a lot of mileage etc. – but I also know they were still legal. But in my experience, once I’ve lost the trust/confidence in them, it’s time to change and get it sorted.
So once I got home, I went online and got it all ordered for being fitted the next day. It’s sorted now, and I’m much happier. As it turned out, the tyres would’ve passed the MOT, but only just – and I’m far happier with “absolutely fine” than “only just”.
January
Posted: Tue 13 January, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Festering Season, Finances, Getting Organised, Thoughts Leave a comment »Financially, January for me is always a bit of an odd one – mainly through being slightly disorganised, but slightly through the whole ‘working as a contractor’ thing.
For a number of reasons, January has a number of extra expenses in it that are a pain in the arse. High among those extras is the car MOT/service, and car-tax/road-tax renewal, which come in as well as the usual monthly bills. Additionally, a couple of utility bills come in within that time as well – quarterly billing being the shit-head bastard it is – which also adds to it.
And of course December is always a short month (i.e. I don’t work the full month, because it’s got a bundle of Bank Holidays and so on around the Festering Season) so unless I work the bit between Christmas and New Year, it all becomes a bit tight anyway.
All combines, it just makes January a bit interesting. Doable, but interesting.
The car MOT is booked in for this time next week. I’ve already had to buy two new tyres – I know they’re borderline OK, but that means it’s time to replace them, I’m not risking an MOT fail and having to buy them from the garage! – and also a new headlight bulb, as that went while I was driving last week.
So yeah, it’s all a bit interesting, but still fine and dandy. Life could be worse, frankly.
Health Figures
Posted: Sun 4 January, 2015 Filed under: 2014/15, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Thoughts, Weigh Less, Weight Loss 1 Comment »Back in December I got a number of blood tests as part of the whole “keeping track of things” when it comes to my health. It’s not hypochondria – my family history has a number of fun things including heart issues, diabetes and malfunctioning thyroid glands, so it’s worth getting checked every so often.
Annoyingly, the only information I had about the results was an insanely basic “don’t worry, your heart stuff’s OK” auto-letter from the GP. Nothing about the other figures which were of more interest and/or relevance.
I had made an appointment for last Monday to find out more. Also annoying, as it was something like three weeks between blood-results and appointment, but I figure that if there’s anything important they’d have let me know sooner. And then I forgot the bloody appointment, and the phone’s “reminder” went off an hour after the appointment.
So on Friday I popped in to the GP surgery – they do an ‘open surgery’ a couple of times a week – and got to see a GP.
As it turns out, the figures are actually fine, which I’m pleased about.
My cholesterol level is 4, my blood-sugar 4.5. These are, apparently, great – and the cholesterol level has dropped significantly over the last year. Apparently my thyroid/thyroxin level is fine – although I do find that GPs don’t tend to explain any of this shit in ways that mean anyone can look at other information. I’ve got the actual figure, but I failed to get the reference values, so I don’t have any further information about where my figures sit in the general scale of things.
Apparently though, there is currently only a 4% chance of my developing heart-related issues in the next ten years. Now obviously I’m aware that Fate, Destiny and the Gods are capricious bastards at the best of times, but as these things go, I can live with that 4% chance.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m resting on those figures, or assuming that all’s good so I don’t have to worry. I’m still working on improving my health and so on, and intend to keep on doing so. But at least I’m starting from an OK position for the time being.
Obsessional Issues
Posted: Mon 29 December, 2014 Filed under: 2014/15, Creativity, D4D™, Depression, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Time, Weigh Less, Write More, Writing 1 Comment »For the New Year, and as part of the whole “Write More” part of the resolutions etc., I’m trying hard to get back into writing – and other aspects of creativity – on a regular basis. (Which explains why D4D™ has become a bit more busy this month too!)
2014 hasn’t been a good year for my writing in general, although I have been able to get started on a couple of things in the last three months, and want to continue building those up, making progress.
The thing is, I’m not really good at the whole “writing obsessively” thing – or indeed doing anything obsessively. For whatever reason, I just don’t possess that obsessive section of brain/emotion. I’m a crap collector, because while I don’t mind building up sets of things, I don’t care/obsess enough about it all to get the rarities, the things that true collectors always dream of. It doesn’t matter whether that’s books, stamps, music, or anything else – I just don’t care enough to obsess about the rarities.
As a result, it’s work to write etc., and that’s what I’ve been attempting to build up over the last few months – generally successfully.
With D4D™ I’ve been writing more, but pre-dating some of them, so I’ve got the time. But it’s building up a writing routine.
In the same way, I’ve been forcing myself to get out and do walks round the village a couple of times a day, just to keep things moving, and to get some exercise. I do that whether the weather is good or bad – and actually enforce it more when the weather’s bad, because then I’ve no excuse when it’s good.
So I’m working more on building up routines, getting used to doing these tasks and activities, and making them part of the day. The writing is part of that, the things I have in my head to write this time round aren’t essential brain-splurges of healing ventage, they don’t *have* to be expelled from my brain for my own health and sanity.
I’m getting there, and 2015’s looking like it’ll be an interesting time…
Travel Costs
Posted: Fri 26 December, 2014 Filed under: 2014/15, Domestic, Driving, Finances, Getting Organised, Public Transport, Travel, Writing Leave a comment »Currently, I’m in a dilemma about a bit of travelling I’m doing in April. (See, told you I was feeling all organised)
Come the end of the next contract in mid-April, I’m treating myself to a weekend up in Edinburgh. It’s not a proper ‘holiday’ as such – but it’s a break, and it’s something I want to do. I haven’t been up there since the days pre-D4D™ and I want to go back.
The dilemma is about the method of travel. Looking on Google Maps, it’s about a six hour drive – on a good day, with no jams etc. A Friday afternoon/evening is not going to be a good day. So I’ve also looked at train times/costs – and they actually pretty much balance out.
The full journey will be pretty much two refills of the fuel tank, which’ll be around the £65 mark each time. The train, looking at current prices, will be £120. It’s close enough in price to make no real difference – even less so when I also factor in car-park costs – and the timing is much the same for a direct run.
I haven’t done a long train journey in ages – really not since doing the regular run between Manchester and Bracknell – so it’s pretty tempting. Plus it’ll give me the opportunity to look out the window and appreciate the views without the hassles of driving – and perhaps even the chance to write more.
It’s just that whole “Paying the train company to do it”. I don’t know why it’s an issue in my head, but it is. I’ll figure it out and make a decision, it’s just annoying at the moment.
Worryingly Organised
Posted: Wed 24 December, 2014 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Festering Season, Getting Organised, Shopping 1 Comment »At the moment, along with being quite chilled and content with things (as written about previously) I’m also feeling quite organised – far more so than is common at this time of the year.
With the exception of one present that hasn’t arrived (despite being ordered on the 3rd) it’s all been pretty easy this year. Of course, it helps that I don’t buy stuff for loads of people and all that, but even so it’s all come together and been organised way in advance. By mid-month I didn’t need to buy any more presents – things had suddenly come together for the two more-awkward-to-buy-for people through odd confluences of coincidence, none of which I was complaining about at all.
I’ve managed to avoid all the festive retail bullshit – some of which was due to being organised, some due to the absolute joy of online shopping and letting the stuff come to me – although I did have to make one collection from a local food store. (Mind you, even that was organised to happen between 7 and 8am, enabling me to go in, collect, pay, and piss off without the hysteria of other people’s panic-purchasing) The rest of the supermarket food shop was done online and delivered painlessly – although working from home has helped on that score too, enabling me to be available when I’d usually be at work.
I’ve even got a number of things organised for next year – even down to having pre-booked the necessary parking requirements, as well as pet-sitter/feeder and the like.
It’s really quite worrying – things aren’t supposed to run this smoothly! But I’m going to appreciate it for the moment, and all well and good.
Solo – Holidays
Posted: Mon 22 December, 2014 Filed under: Bankruptcy, Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Introspective, Single Life, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »As has been observed on here many times, I’m shit at taking holidays – and time-off in general, really. This isn’t something that’s related to the bankruptcy etc. (although it’s made it even less easy to do over the last couple of years) as much as it’s related to being a contractor, and to being chronically disorganised. And of course, to being single.
As a contractor, you can’t help but realise/recognise that time off on holiday is bloody expensive. It’s not just the cost of whatever you decide to do, it’s also the fact that it’s a week you could be working – and contractors don’t get a leave/holiday entitlement. So effectively it’s even more expensive, because not only are you paying money out for the break, but you’re also aware that it’s a week of money you’re not earning.
Even for someone as non-materialistic as me, that makes it into a significant dollop of money. Made even more so by being a sole wage-earner, and thus entirely self-reliant for finances.
The other side (for me, at least) is the whole thing of being single. I don’t care that I’m going to different places on my own, but it’s more about the simple knowledge that it’s still ‘just me’. I’m fully aware this makes no sense to anyone else – and I’m hard-pushed to explain it in writing – but there we go.
I suppose some of it is that – unless, I guess, one goes to a B&B/Hotel – I’m still doing the cooking for myself, doing what I want, going where I want, and it’s not really all that different to how things are anyway.
I’m aiming to look at all this a bit differently in 2015, and to take off on a couple of breaks, but also to disappear off for weekends etc. One of those is already organised – a break to Edinburgh in mid-April, when the next contract finishes. It’s ‘only’ a weekend, but will also involve a couple of other things I want to do in the area, and I’m actually really looking forward to it. Plus, of course, being ‘just’ a weekend, it doesn’t lose me any working time, which makes things a lot easier to bear.
I’m looking at some others too – some for new visits to places I know and haven’t seen in a long time, and others for completely new areas/places, which should be fun.
Brighton Images
Posted: Tue 9 December, 2014 Filed under: 2014/15, 2015/16, Domestic, Driving, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, M1, M25, Photography, Travel Leave a comment »On Sunday, I trolled off down to Brighton for the day. I haven’t been there in years – the last time was a flying visit five years ago for an interview, and before that it had been a number of years too – but realised it’s just about the same distance as Felixstowe is (they’re both a two-hour drive time) to get to, so what the hell.
I don’t know Brighton as well as I should, and so having a wander around was also appealing. It’s on the list of ‘places I could re-locate to at some point’, so seemed like a worthwhile explore – and I was right on that score.
Being December, it was pretty blowy and chilly – although less cold than a December Sunday would suggest – but that’s never bothered me all that much. I lived by the South Coast for a couple of years before, and have no real issue with cold. That was the flat where the freezer shut off because it was colder outside the freezer than inside it, and where more than once I woke up with frost on the top of the duvet. Sunday, by comparison, was almost summery.
As it turned out, the weather made it ideal for what I actually wanted – waves, and the sound of the sea on shingle beach. Walking along one of the groynes/piers (not one of the Proper Piers, but the little jutty-out ones) was a joy, just for getting out to be where the waves were hitting the beach.
And then the sun came out, and it was even better…
All told, I think it’s a place I’m going to go back to a lot more in the coming year. It’s an easy run, and I think I could really get to quite like the place.
There’s others still on the list too – something I’ll be writing about at some point this month, I’m sure – but yeah, Brighton is definitely now more of a destination, and pretty high on the possibility levels too.
Confined, Supposedly
Posted: Mon 8 December, 2014 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Getting Organised 4 Comments »Earlier this week, I got a catflap installed in the kitchen back door – which has already made a major difference to the warmth of the house. Prior to this, the cats have been going through an always-open kitchen window (which only opens on to a secure back yard, so it’s never a problem to leave it open) which is fine in summer, but less than optimal in cold weather.
At the moment, while the cats are getting used to this new entry policy for the house – and in fairness to them, neither has ever had to use a flap before – it’s propped open, so there’s still a bit of a draught, but nothing compared to how it was with the open kitchen window.
Of course, the Bengal in particular is (as expected) extremely unhappy about the changes, and keeps yelling at me that She Is Trapped, and It’s Not Fair. She’s using the flap, because it’s now the only way in and out – but it’s still under duress, and the cause of much complaint.
I’m quite sure that the same will be true when we get to the next stage, and I un-prop the flap so that they have to go through the flap itself.
For right now though, having the flap as an open route will allow them to get used to it.
One step at a time, and all that rot.
Home Improvements
Posted: Thu 4 December, 2014 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Getting Organised Leave a comment »This week, I’m finally getting two things sorted that’ve been waiting for far too long.
Firstly, I’m getting a catflap fitted to the back door. (It only leads out onto the yard before the utility room, but it’s still a back door) Until now, the monsters have been going through an always-open window in the kitchen, which is OK in summer, but bloody cold in winter. Both cats are used to being able to go out at will, and the Bengal in particular gets very twitchy, prowly and noisy when I close the window and restrict her movements. (This is part of the breed specifics for a Bengal, in fairness – they’re not good at being cooped-up housecats)
Having the flap installed should mean I’ll be able to keep the window closed, and the house will be warmer, without restricting the freedom of the mogs.
Secondly, I’m replacing the curtain and (revolting) net curtain in the front window with a vertical blind from Tuiss which I’m really pleased with (so long as I’ve measured the bloody thing correctly!) and should look ace. (And purple. But that’s par for the course, with me)
It’s taken me a long time to get round to getting these things done. That’s partly because neither of the problems they’ll fix have been overly huge/relevant, partly because I just wasn’t that bothered, and partly because it’s a rented place. But when I renewed the tenancy last time, I asked the landlord if it would be OK to do what I planned, and he agreed.
I’m getting in a local person to do the work, mainly because I want the things to be done right, and I’m fully aware of my own practical limitations (and completely wonky eyes when it comes to ‘things being on the level’) but also because it’s not my place, so it only seems sensible/reasonable to get it all done properly.
Really though, I’m just looking forward to having the jobs done, to ticking off two more things on the list – and of having a slightly warmer house this winter…
Illuminating
Posted: Tue 2 December, 2014 Filed under: B&Q, Domestic, Getting Organised, Green 1 Comment »When I moved here, I had a “mother and child” lamp, which I’ve used as the main illumination in my living room since.
Sadly, both bulbs in the lamp were halogens, so it’s been a bit of an energy hog – which I realised more once I’d bought my OWL energy monitor and saw the way the usage figures went up when I turned the lights on.
As a result, I said that when the bulb(s) finally blew, I’d replace the lamp with one that was more energy-efficient (or at least was able to use more energy-efficient bulbs) and that finally happened today.
So – a new lamp has now been purchased, assembled, and installed. It’s a similar style of ‘mother and child’, but both bulbs are non-halogen and standard-fitting, with eco-bulbs in.
The drop in power-usage is pretty noticable already, and it should result in a noticeable drop in the electricity bill.
All told, I see that as a success all round.
Backed Up
Posted: Mon 1 December, 2014 Filed under: D4D™, Domestic, Geeky, Getting Organised, Media, Photography, Technology Leave a comment »One thing that’s changed over the last four years is the way that I back up data. I used to have a big-ass (for the time) hard-drive that held all my backup files, but I haven’t (hadn’t) fired it up in years.
Now I use DropBox for most things – at least the things that aren’t commercially sensitive or need extra security, etc. I don’t necessarily trust/rely on them, but it tends to be where most of the stuff sits (as well as on through another paid-for service for my work stuff and so on) and it suits me to use them for the moment. That may change a bit over 2015, there’s a more secure and privately-held service that might do better, but for now, DropBox suits me.
However, I recently realised that all my photos and music files were still sat on that old hard-drive. Which has sat untouched for four years, through four or five moves. Oops.
I fired it up over the weekend, thought I might as well bite the bullet and see if all’s well or if it’s dead and I’m screwed.
Thankfully, everything worked first time. I’ve pulled all the music data off, and that’s now sitting in multiple locations again. Next will be the photos – although I’ve also spent some time looking at old images and seeing what’s what (and just looking back at events of the last eleven years, which is what the drive holds) It’s been quite the journey…
Checking Up
Posted: Tue 11 November, 2014 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Health, Weight Loss Leave a comment »This afternoon, I’m off to visit the GP. Not for anything major, just a checkup.
It’s been two years since I last darkened the door of my local GP. I try to visit GPs as infrequently as possible, they’re not my favourite place, and I’m not a fan of wasting the resources that there are.
However, I know my family history, and I want to make sure that any of those issues are caught early. So there we go, booked in for a check-up.
If nothing else, it’ll be useful to know blood-pressure etc., considering the weight loss this year, and see how all those things are going.
After that, we’ll see.
Stasis
Posted: Mon 3 November, 2014 Filed under: Bankruptcy, Change, Domestic, Getting Organised, Introspective, Thoughts Leave a comment »This year has – as I’ve written before – been a bit weird. In some ways it’s all been very changeable and flexible, but in others it’s felt very static and fixed.
I think a lot of that has to do with where I’m living, and the fact that I haven’t moved in nearly three years. For me, that’s a long time. Additionally, I know that I’ll be in the same place now (unless there’s some major changes I can’t yet foresee) until at least this time next year.
Three and a half years in the same place will actually be the longest I’ve been in any one house since I first moved away from home (which is pretty much a quarter-century now) – by then it’ll even have exceeded the Norfolk place, which was the previous record-holder.
It would be more of a concern for me if I hadn’t also been changing jobs – I usually find I’m either stable (or at least stable by my standards) in work, or in location, but rarely both at the same time. During the bankruptcy period was the closest I came to being stable at both, although that was because everything else in life was up in the air, so the stability of location and job was A Good Plan.
On a more practical level, moving right now would’ve been more problematic than I’d like. Because of the work-based changes and issues, funding a move would’ve been a challenge. It makes sense to stay put. I think that might be some of the issue, to be honest – that it feels more like I can’t move, which isn’t a good place to be.
Now though, I don’t know. Even with the changes of work – and they have been many – I feel a bit rooted, a bit static. I’m sure I’ll address it and fix it- or at least find a way to reduce the play of that in my head- but for now it’s just a bit odd, a bit of that old scratch at the back of my head that it’s time to be moving on.
This time next year though, things may well be different…
Staying Put
Posted: Sat 27 September, 2014 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Old(er), Getting Organised, Introspective, Thoughts Leave a comment »In other news, it’s the time of year again where I renew (or not) the tenancy agreement on my current place. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been here two and a half years now, but that’s how long it’s been. Time flies when you’re having fun, and all that.
As always, I do some thinking when this comes round, deciding what I want to do, where I want to be, all that tat.
I know that at some point I will want to be moving on, going somewhere new, doing all that stuff again. But the time for that isn’t now. In some ways I really do want to move on, but the time isn’t right, and I don’t know where I want to be. So this’ll do for the time being.
I’m signing up for another year. By then, I’ll most likely have decided what’s next. Or I might stay another year. I don’t know. There’s lots can change in that time.
By the time of the next renewal, this will have been the longest I’ve been any one place in a very long time. And yet I don’t feel settled – and I don’t quite know why. I’m sure I’ll figure it out at some point.
Renewal
Posted: Sun 17 August, 2014 Filed under: Bankruptcy, Domestic, Driving, Finances, Getting Organised 4 Comments »This month is renewal month for my car insurance. Always iniquitous, this time they’re really taking the piss.
After two years with the same company, with no claims, and no need to contact them at all, they’ve *raised* my premium – and not by a small amount. For no good reason that I can see, they’re trying to charge me no less than £30 *a month* more.
Amusingly (if you find sheer profiteering cuntishness to be amusing) they’ve also quoted me via an insurance comparison website at *half* what I’m currently paying.
Needless to say, I’ll be moving. And I’m really looking forward to the call where I tell the current set of shitbags why I won’t be renewing with them.
Submitting Writing
Posted: Sat 16 August, 2014 Filed under: 2013/14, Domestic, Getting Organised, Write More, Writing Leave a comment »As usual, one of my projects for this year has been about writing more. (Not that you’d know it from D4D of late, but that’s different, more about having time than anything else)
Anyway, I’m doing more along the way, but also trying to send it out into the world, so I’ve submitted bits to a couple of competitions recently.
Nothing major, and if I’m honest I don’t expect anything to come of them. But at least I’m writing, and making the effort.
Anniversally Regular
Posted: Tue 12 August, 2014 Filed under: D4D™, Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Thoughts Leave a comment »Yesterday it occurred to me that this week has actually had quite a lot go on with it over the years.
Among other things…
- On the 9th August 2002, D4D™ came into being
- On the 9th August 2012, I declared myself bankrupt
- On the 11th August 2003 I passed my driving test (at long last)
There’s been other stuff too over the years, but it is a bit odd to have even those three semi-major events all in one week…
Two Years On
Posted: Tue 13 May, 2014 Filed under: 2011/12, 2013/14, Domestic, Finances, Getting Organised, Thoughts Leave a comment »It’s now two years (well, just over, as it was the early May Bank Holiday weekend) since I moved into the current house. That move was probably one of the most stressful ones I’ve ever done, as it all happened while my dad was in hospital with heart issues, and the move itself was done in just one day.
You know how they say that the most stressful things in life are moving house, changing jobs, and relationship breakups? Try doing all three at once, with added health concerns of a parent. It makes for an interesting weekend, it’s fair to say.
A lot has changed since then – most of it for the better. The job stayed the same ’til July last year, and then I’ve been back on the contracting side and done a fair variety in the remaining time. Finances have improved beyond measure – at least relatively speaking – along with my own health, sanity and stability.
Dad’s fine too, still with us, and far healthier than he was.
Two years ago I couldn’t see this far, couldn’t see the light that was beginning to glimmer at the end of the tunnel. I’m not yet out of the tunnel completely, but that light is all too visible now, and I know things are well on their way.
Inspection
Posted: Fri 25 April, 2014 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Housing Leave a comment »Back on Tuesday, I had a (pre-arranged) visit from the Landlord, needing to do the annual gas safety checks and so on.
Compared to a lot of people I see on Facebook et al., I’m pretty lucky with my landlord. We get on OK, and he always calls (or sends a text, anyway) to let me know it’s happening, and that he’ll be there to keep an eye on the person doing the checks. He doesn’t organise unannounced random visits, take the piss, or generally do a lot of the stuff I hear about, but have never experienced from a landlord. (And that’s probably a different post entirely)
Getting the checks done is always fine with me, and if nothing else it’s good to know that everything is tested and safe.
This time though, it was a bit different. Everything passed and was all OK, but when I got home I found that they’d managed to close the cats upstairs for the best part of the day. With no food or water. Or litter tray. So yeah, that was fun – and necessitated use of the washing machine. We’ll leave it at that.
There were a couple of other niggles as well – nothing major, just stuff that’d been moved to get to the boiler etc., and hadn’t been returned to their original places and so on – and a broken shower-head bracket, meaning the shower wasn’t working properly.
He came round again yesterday to fix the shower head, and we had a bit of a chat about the other stuff. It’s nothing major – indeed, you feel pretty petty mentioning it – but it’s my place, and it annoyed. (I know, rented etc., but still – my place in all but mortgage)
I’m pretty sure it’ll all be fine again now, but it just annoyed for a while this week. Such is life.
Gabriel Again
Posted: Wed 23 April, 2014 Filed under: 1BEM, Domestic, Getting Organised, Gigs, Music Leave a comment »Back in October, I was supposed to go and see Peter Gabriel at the O2. Tickets paid for, car-parking paid for, all prepared. And then my body rebelled, so I didn’t get to see the concert. Which was seriously bloody annoying.
Today, tickets went on sale for another concert, this time in December at Wembley Arena.
I’ve got a ticket.
I’m going to go. I am, I am.
Mislaid
Posted: Fri 28 March, 2014 Filed under: 1BEM, Domestic, Films, Finances, Getting Organised, Kindle, Reading, Stupidity Leave a comment »I am, on occasion, a bloody idiot. Last night was a prime example of that.
I went to the cinema to see the new Captain America film, and also had a meal. Because I was out like that, I took my Kindle, and because it was chiffing cold, I also took a jacket. (I’m normally pretty immune to cold, and don’t bother with jackets or coats at all)
When I got to the cinema, I put the jacket down by the side of the seat, with the Kindle in its inside pocket.
When I left the cinema, I also left the jacket – because it’s not in my mental software to get it, I completely forgot about it. I am, in short, a complete fucking idiot.
I went back this morning first thing (I had a day off anyway, for a number of reasons) to see if they’d found it, but no-one had handed it in. I’ll check again, just in case it’d been held over somewhere, but the odds are that the jacket and the Kindle are gone.
Of course, things could have been so much worse. It could’ve been an expensive coat/jacket, I could have left my wallet in the jacket as well. The Kindle could have had my payment details in it, or personal information. A couple of years ago, the loss of something like this would have knackered me, would have led to some financial juggling and so on just to replace it.
Now though, I’ve already registered it as lost, ordered a replacement, and it’s really not a big problem. It’s annoying – and of course a reminder that I’m a fucking idiot – but it all could have been so much worse. Indeed, it’s gone some way to showing me the changes that have happened over the last year or so, and in that, it’s no bad thing.
All MOTd And Done
Posted: Tue 21 January, 2014 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Finances, Getting Organised Leave a comment »Today was the day for getting the Slab’s MOT done (for non-UK readers – MOT test is an annual test/certificate of basic vehicle roadworthiness for cars over three years old)
I already knew it needed a new front wheel bearing which needed replacing before it would pass the MOT, so I got that done as well. And that was all it needed – passed with flying colours, and all good.
The difference in driving noise now the wheel-bearing’s sorted is amazing – it’s now running almost silently. I hadn’t appreciated the change it would make, but now it’s done it’s really surprising.
This is A Very Good Thing, and has made me happy.
Organising and Recycling
Posted: Mon 13 January, 2014 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Green Leave a comment »Over the weekend, I got a couple of things done that’ve been on the to-do list for way too long, but I’d simply not got round to doing.
One of them, getting the batteries on two watches replaced, hadn’t happened because I hadn’t spotted a place in Milton Keynes where I could get it done. It turns out, I’d just not explored all of the shopping centre, because at the end I rarely go to I discovered last weekend there are two places that do it, virtually next door to each other. (Last weekend I had a proper wander, and found lots of bits I didn’t know about in central Milton Keynes, but that’s probably just my idiocy)
So – that got that done, and now for the first time in a couple of years I’m wearing a watch again. I should note they’ve not needed batteries for that long, but I got out of the habit of wearing watches, shoved them in a drawer, and re-discovered them recently – at which point I also found they needed batteries.
The other big task was also drawer-related (and yes, the two were connected) in that I wanted to do a clear-out of stuff I no longer wear, or don’t like. That one took a bit longer – there was a fair amount, particularly in the ‘don’t actually like‘ category. Again, it’s been put off mainly through having other stuff to do, and/or knowing it’s all part of a process, that once it was sorted, there’s no point leaving it hanging around.
So Sunday involved doing the whole thing: going through everything, deciding if I wanted/liked it (with one key point being ‘have I worn it since I moved here?’), sorting everything out, filling a couple of bags with stuff I didn’t want/need (or that was knackered) and then hoying it all to the local recycling centre (they used to be called tips, or dumps – now it’s ‘recycling centre’, go figure)
As always, the local tip recycling centre is a pig to get to, and invariably populated by ballbags in 4x4s with no idea how to drive, pack, or any idea of the width of their vehicle. It meant I got to have a laugh with the council guy directing everyone, generally abusing bad drivers, but it does amaze me how twunty so many people are.
All told though, it meant I got rid of a load of stuff, and recycled about 95% of it. I couldn’t recycle my old pillows – which is kind of understandable – but that was it.
It means I’ve got two watches that work again, some more hanging space for shirts, trousers etc., and about three drawers of empty space that I can store stuff in properly again. Pretty successful all round.
Monitoring Sleep
Posted: Thu 9 January, 2014 Filed under: 2013/14, Domestic, Dreaming, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Insomnia, Project 42, Sleep - or lack thereof, Technology Leave a comment »Over the years, I’ve kind of got used to sleeping really badly – although I’d still like to know the causes, and whether it really is as bad as I think/feel it is.
The reason I’m not sure is because – as I think I’ve said before – according to partners, sometimes I’ll have slept through the night, but woken up and been convinced I’ve had a bad night. Yes, I apparently manage to dream that I’m waking up and having a bad night. And yes, that is really really fucked-up, however you look at it.
Anyway, as part of the whole ‘weighing less’ part of this year, I was also wanting to monitor (or at least better monitor) my activity, steps-per-day and the like. So I’ve ended up ordering a FitBit Flex which should let me keep an eye on all of that at once. It’ll also integrate with a couple of other apps on the phone etc., which will make for some interesting reading over time. The only downside is that I’d have liked one that also allows me to check/monitor heart-rate (and really, why can’t you get a wearable wristband device that’ll do that? It can’t be that difficult, surely?) but there just isn’t anything like that around at the moment. The closest would be the Pulse from Withings – but that doesn’t do the integration stuff, and doesn’t keep track of heartbeat in the way that I wanted.
I’m not relying on it, or assuming it’ll be the thing that changes everything for me – but it should at least answer some questions, particularly about how I sleep. And that at least will be interesting, and make it worth what I’ve paid. Anything else is a bonus, really.
Pillows
Posted: Fri 3 January, 2014 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Health, Insomnia 1 Comment »I snore – always have, likely always will. I hate it, but it’s one of those things. Maybe it’ll change as and when I lose some weight, but honestly, I’m not convinced.
Anyway, over the years I’ve always had firm pillows on the bed, and tend to sleep with my neck crunched as high as possible. Some of it’s to do with reducing snoring (i.e. rather than sleeping laying on my back etc.) but also it’s just how I’m now comfortable. Basically, the higher and more solid the pillows, the better.
When I moved into the new house, I got some new pillows, and went for the hefty memory-foam ones. I thought they’d be great. Oh wow, was I wrong. While it was OK when going to bed, the memory foam would mould itself into the strangest shapes, and be generally really unpleasant by halfway through the night, which would mean I woke up and had to move the pillows, change them round, or just generally do something to them. I assume my head gets hot in the night, meaning the foam moves and loses support, or something. Anyway, vile.
I’ve stuck with them for a fair while – probably for too long, if I’m honest – but they haven’t improved, and I never got used to them. But Lord knows, I’ve tried.
After Christmas, I finally gave in and bought some new ones – at long last. Overfilled, firm, but not memory foam. Wow, what a difference. I mean, I still wake up during the night and so on – insomnia is business as usual – but at least I’m not fighting weird and solidly squelchy pillows. This makes me happy.
(And yes, I know, this is likely to be of no interest to anyone else. I don’t care)
Preparation
Posted: Sun 29 December, 2013 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised Leave a comment »This weekend has been my equivalent of spring-cleaning – a dollop of preparation for the new year, going in with as clean a slate as possible.
There’s not been masses done, it’s been about domestic stuff, including
- Giving the house a damn good clean/ tidy
- Sorting out Laundry, Ironing, and all that normal tat
- Stocking up on some stuff that bugs me, just generally being prepared
- Organising business stuff – invoices, outstanding work etc.
- Doing some other organisational stuff, meaning I won’t lose things (as much) in the new year
It’s all just scut-work really, but some of it was things I don’t get round to often enough, so I’m quite chuffed to have got it all done and sorted in time for Wednesday.
Those Tyres
Posted: Tue 17 December, 2013 Filed under: Commuting, Customer Services, Driving, eTyres, Getting Organised 2 Comments »As you probably already know, over the weekend, I got my car fitted with two new front tyres by eTyres. (This is relevant later)
What I didn’t know – and what Blue Witch pointed out in her comment on that post – is that actually, this isn’t the best plan when the car is a front-wheel-drive car. Basically, it means that the tyres with the best grip are on the driving wheels, and you’ve no way of knowing if the rear tyres are losing their grip, particularly in snow, ice, or heavy rain. So on a front-wheel-drive car, the tyres with the best grip should go on the rear tyres – meaning eTyres should’ve swapped things round, replaced the rear tyres with the new ones, and put the used rear tyres on the front wheels. (The eTyres fitter even confirmed that the rear ones will be OK for a good while yet)
Indeed, as BW then pointed out by email, eTyres even carry this advice on their own website.
Yesterday morning I emailed eTyres about this…
I recently ordered two new tyres from eTyres, order ref [xxx] to replace the two front tyres on my front-wheel drive car.
I have since been referred to various manufacturer information that says that on front-wheel drive cars, it is safest/best to have the new tyres on the rear wheels, and in a situation like mine, to move the used-but-safe rear tyres to the front, replacing the rear tyres with new tyres.
Can you explain to me why eTyres
- Do not inform their customers of this
- Why their tyre-fitters do not recommend/do this ?
This isn’t a one-off – earlier this year I did the same thing with eTyres on a different vehicle (also front-wheel drive) and had no advice on how this work should be done.
This is also the recommendation of Kleber Tyres and Michelin – see point 6
I’m interested to know why eTyres apparently ignore such advice, and potentially endanger their customers as a result.
As yet, I’ve had absolutely no response from the useless fuckwhistles. If I haven’t heard by the end of today, I’m going to call up and make a pain in the arse of myself that way…
Milton Keynes
Posted: Mon 16 December, 2013 Filed under: Domestic, Festering Season, Getting Organised, People, Shopping Leave a comment »On Friday, I realised I needed to do some stuff in Milton Keynes that couldn’t be done/sorted anywhere else. On the penultimate weekend before Christmas. Oh tits.
As it worked out, everything went really well. I was in, parked, and ready to do everything I needed to by 8am. One thing was a look round the M&S to see if there was anything that appealed – and a bit of web-checking had shown that they were open from 7am. (God knows why they felt the need to be open for 13 hours when the rest of the shops weren’t open ’til 9, but I digress)
So – a quick belt round an almost-deserted M&S proved there was nothing I actually wanted – excellent. Back to the car to wait for 9am when everything else opened.
From 9am, I got everything done within 30 minutes, and was completely out of Milton Keynes by 10am. By that time there were already queues of cars to come in to the car parking, but my deeds were done.
Surprisingly organised, and surprisingly easy.
Even better, I think I’m now done and dusted for the entire Festering Season stuff. Next weekend should be spent avoiding retail environments completely, all being well with the world…
New Tyres
Posted: Sat 14 December, 2013 Filed under: Cynicism, Domestic, Driving, Finances, Getting Organised 4 Comments »Today, the Slab has had two new front tyres, from eTyres. As I’ve written previously, I’ve done a goodly number of miles on them since getting the Slab, and I’ve no idea how long they’d been on the car before I got it.
While I’ve not noticed anything particularly wrong with the previous ones, I also don’t/didn’t trust them as much as I should. There’ve been little niggling ‘well, that doesn’t feel right‘ moments that’ve felt like momentary loss of grip – particularly at very slow speeds – and my previous history of tyre loss isn’t positive, so I decided it was time to get replacements.
For those who don’t remember, so far my tyre losses have both been fairly explosive blowouts, and both times in the outside lane of a multi-carriageway road. (It turns out I didn’t write about the second one, which was in August 2012 – I must’ve had my mind on other things!) In both cases, I can certainly tell you that adrenaline is somewhat brown.
So yes, with that kind of history when it comes to tyres failing at the most inopportune moments, I figured it was best to be pre-emptive and get them changed sooner rather than later.
The Slab is a front-wheel-drive car, so for now I’ve left the back tyres alone. (Yeah, I know, they’ll be the ones to blow now) I’ll probably change them early in the new year though – and I did get the nice man from eTyres to check them, just in case they were more chuffed than I suspected.
I’ve no idea yet whether the change will make/ have made any difference, but I certainly feel happier for having had them changed.
Nailed It
Posted: Sat 23 November, 2013 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Gigs, London, Music 2 Comments »Regular readers will know that I’ve been a fan of Nine Inch Nails for a very long time now – indeed, since way before D4D came into existence.
However, I’ve had a pretty checkered history when it comes to seeing them live. The history goes…
- I managed to see them on the NIN/JA tour in 2009,
- Failed in 2007, due to Ticketmaster sending the tickets to an old address
- Failed in 2005, due to Brixton Academy not letting me in with a digital camera
- Failed in 2005 at the Astoria, due to the tickets selling out
I’ve seen them twice prior to that though (although pre-D4D, so no record/links to when)
So this week, knowing that the ticket sales were coming up, I was determined to get to see the new tour.
When the pre-sales ones came out, I couldn’t get ones for the gig at the O2 on the Friday, so got one for Manchester on the Sunday instead – I’ll worry about travel closer to the time.
And then when the normal sales came out yesterday, I got them for the O2 on the Friday as well.
Of course, I still need to make sure I actually go to the gigs, but at least I’m prepared and ready this time…
Location, Location
Posted: Wed 30 October, 2013 Filed under: 2013/14, Domestic, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Travel Leave a comment »Even though I know I’m going to be in the current place for at least another year (tenancy agreement all signed and sorted etc.) I still find myself thinking about moving on. I don’t plan to do so in the next year, but I’m thinking about it all the same.
Primarily it’s more about “Where would/do I want to be next?“, and then looking at current prices and places, just so I’ve an idea of what might work, along with what and where might be practical.
I’m not sure yet what’ll happen, and whether I’ll move on or not. Looking at the changes over the last year or two, it’s pretty much impossible to plan where I’ll be in a year’s time. For the moment I’m just doing my research, and hoping to keep my options open.
Wavering
Posted: Tue 22 October, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Gigs, Introspective, London, Music, Self-Doubt, Stupidity, Travel Leave a comment »This afternoon/evening, I’m supposed to be going to see Peter Gabriel at the O2. I’ve booked the afternoon off work, I’ve paid for the parking at the O2. As an aside, I always feel that parking cost is an iniquitous extra, but such is life – while it might be feasible for me to get there by public transport, it’s completely unfeasible for the return journey.
I will go
But right now, my brain’s wavering and havering, thinking “Yeah, but…” on a number of reasons, a range of logical excuses to not go. Tired, distance, time, return time, work – it’s all in there, all making me doubt.
I will go. I want to go.
I just wish my brain would be more certain, and shut up a bit.
Utilities 7 – Water Meters
Posted: Mon 14 October, 2013 Filed under: Anglian Water, Customer Services, Domestic, Finances, Getting Organised, Utilities 2 Comments »[For the rest of the story, you can click here]
On Saturday, I was due to get my two water meters replaced with “Smart” meters by Anglian Water. Supposedly these transmit data, and mean they can be ‘read’ from the street, rather than needing access to the house in order to read them. It also replaces/removes the ‘outreader’ displays, which were supposed to do the same thing (or at least would if they hadn’t been installed by a moron) and which in my case were utterly screwed from the start.
Thankfully, the actual installation went OK – or at least seems to have done. The engineer turned up when he’d said he would, the work got done, he left, and there’ve been no water leaks since.
Of course, that doesn’t cover whether Anglian Water will actually manage to correctly swap the meters on my account, close the previous meters with the correct readings, or be able to read the meters correctly in future.
As I’ve recently had my half-year bill, that means this could still go on, as my next bill isn’t due ’til Feb/March 2014…
(And yes, BW, I have taken timestamped photos of the meters on installation, and also have a note in my little book about time/date/reading, just in case)
Another Year
Posted: Mon 7 October, 2013 Filed under: 2013/14, Domestic, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Thoughts Leave a comment »In a fit of being organised, I’ve already sorted out another year’s tenancy on the current house. The agreement was signed yesterday, and went in the post, so it’s all sorted.
It didn’t need to be done for another month – it actually starts on Nov 4th – but I’m far happier with knowing it’s all done and sorted.
My landlord would actually be happy with just doing the entire thing on a rolling monthly agreement, but for the time being I’m happier knowing that I’m tied in (and so is the landlord) for the year. Monthly-rolling is just a bit too easy for my liking, too easy for a landlord to say at the start of the month “Ok, here’s your notice” (and I do mean any landlord, for I don’t think mine would actually do this) and then it’s an organisational (and financial) nightmare for that month.
I used to do 12-month tenancy agreements back when I was in Manchester, and I was fine with them then, too. I had some hassle when it came to moving out mid-term (when I moved to be with Herself) but that was fair enough, and kind-of expected. Even then though, they got another tenant, so I only paid I think two month’s rent once I’d moved out. Could’ve been a lot worse. (And the rent now is significantly less than I was paying for the place in Manch, too. Mind you, the house is also about a third of the size of the Manch place)
At worst it’s something I don’t need to think about for the next twelve months. At best, it’s off my mind, so I can fill that space with other ideas and plans. I’ll be in the same place ’til at least my birthday 2014, and that’s fine with me.
Up For Sale
Posted: Sun 22 September, 2013 Filed under: Domestic, House Purchase, Norfolk, People, Weirdness Leave a comment »Having just done a random search, I’ve found out that the house in Norfolk I had with Herself is back up for sale.
It’s kind of weird, seeing the changes that have been put in by the new owners – some make sense, and are things we’d talked about doing. However, others are – somewhat mental.
As a prime example of the latter, the new owners have brutally trimmed the cherry tree in the front garden, and completely removed the huge weeping willow that was in the back garden. (and was one of the factors that made me like the place) I can see why they would have got rid of it – it was a pain in the tits to mow around, and dropped crap on the grass all year round – but it was such a fantastic tree, I’m actually kind of sad to know that it’s gone.
Interestingly, despite the work the new owners have obviously done, the price isn’t actually any different than we paid for it six years ago.
Progress, eh?
Utilities Part Three – Smart Meters
Posted: Sat 21 September, 2013 Filed under: Anglian Water, Customer Services, Cynicism, Domestic, Getting Organised, Utilities Leave a comment »Today, as per the post from yesterday, Anglian Water are supposed to be here fitting new ‘smart’ water meters.
I’ve no idea when they’re coming – the timescale I’ve been given is “Saturday” – nor what will need to be done when they arrive. Nor even how long the work is likely to take. I will be clearing the areas around both meters, to make sure they’ve got easy access, but other than that, *shrug*, no idea what the plan will be.
As such, my Saturday is looking to be somewhat random. They could be here at 8, done by 9, and I’ll have the day to myself. Alternatively, they could get here at 4, be here til 6, and my day’s kippered.
Fortunately, I’m pretty laid back about it all, and not going to get stressed one way or the other. But it does strike me as a pretty shit way of doing business…
Utilities Part Two – Anglian Water
Posted: Fri 20 September, 2013 Filed under: Anglian Water, Charm School, Customer Services, Domestic, Finances, Getting Organised 2 Comments »Following on from yesterday’s post about nPower’s abysmal customer service, I’ve also been dealing with Anglian Water for far too long since moving in to the new place.
It’s not been anything quite as drastic as the farce with nPower – at least Anglian got my name right from day one. It’s just they’ve never managed to get my bills right.
Part of the problem is the metering setup. For some godforsaken reason, my house (and the others in my section) all have two meters: one for the main property, one for the separate outbuilding. This seems to cause them no end of confusion – my first meter reading, they managed to put the same reading in for both meters which overcharged me on one by some sixty units! Since then, despite no end of times telling them the outbuilding one only has a washing machine in it (and is thus epically low on usage) every damn bill or reading needs to be done twice, because they don’t believe the first one. (Personally I’m not keen on what this also says about their attitude to their own meter-reading people, but we’ll leave that for now)
Compounding this has been an ongoing issue with their ‘outreaders’ – little grey boxes that (supposedly) connect to the main meter, and mean the meters can be read without the person needing to access my property. Except that
- Some twat decided that they should both be situated within the courtyard bit between house and outbuilding. Yes, the bit with no access from the outside, without going through the damn house. #slow_handclap right there.
- At no point have the outboxes read the same as the actual meters.
I’ve had Anglian out twice to have the outreaders recalibrated to the meters now, so one would hope they were working. But no…
Back in July I had a meter-reading done. It was one of the days I wasn’t working, so that was fortuitous. And then I expected a bill – it normally comes in August. Nothing. So I called them this week to find out what was happening – the last thing I want on my record right now is a “late payment” flag, particularly for a utility company.
Only they hadn’t sent a bill. As usual, the outhouse’s meter reading had tripped all their flags, so they needed to check the reading. (Done by a person, don’t forget) I said I’d do a reading that evening, and then they could sort it out. I also said I’d do both the outreader and the meter itself.
Lo and behold, the outreaders are under-reading by about ten percent. The meter on the house says 98, the outreader says 88. The one on the outbuilding says 22, the meter says 25. Yep, they’re still buggered then. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind their readings under-reporting by 10% – except I also don’t want hassle at some future date when someone reads the meter instead of the outreader, and suddenly I’m getting hit (again) for 50 units more than I expected.
They’re now coming out on Saturday to fit two ‘smart meters’, replacing the existing meter and outreaders. Supposedly these ones upload straight to a website, so I can monitor the usage and see if there’s a problem. Considering the issues so far with them, you can be damn sure I’ll be keeping an eye on those reading for the rest of the year!
Utilities Part One – nPower
Posted: Thu 19 September, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Customer Services, Domestic, Finances, Getting Organised, nPower, Utilities 2 Comments »Since moving in to the new place, one of the banes of my life have been the utility companies for the property.
nPower in particular have been stunningly shit. It’s taken them eighteen months to get the name right on the account – the letting agency notified them of the change, and they did nothing. I’ve gone through the process no less than six times, sending ID and proof of tenancy, and it all disappeared into the black hole of “Fuck-All Happening” that seems to define nPower. Even their complaints team were so bad that they didn’t even call me within the expected timescale, despite repeated requests. The best one was emailing the proof documents the fifth time, putting on ‘read receipts’ etc., and getting one back saying “The message was deleted without being read“. That was when I started getting really pissed off.
Additionally, because of ‘moving to a new system’, they managed to not send me any bills – and not be able to send bills, because gawd knows, I asked! – for a year. I then got four bills in a day – all printed on the same day, all sent out, all for different amounts. And all with one week in which to pay.
It appears to have now been sorted. I totally lost the plot, and requested that they just send me a “we can’t be arsed to fix the problem” deadlock letter so that I could take it up with the Energy Ombudsman and get them properly screwed over. Suddenly I finally got through to nPower’s one efficient person, and everything was done within twenty minutes, with her not even being able to understand why it had taken so long. I think her phrase “Well I can see that someone put the documents in the system. They just didn’t bother to do anything else with them” pretty much sums up the entire painful process with nPower.
I’m going to wait for the next bill so I can see whether they’ve finally got things right or not. I’m remaining pessimistic for the moment, but who knows, maybe miracles do happen on occasion…
Furnishing
Posted: Wed 18 September, 2013 Filed under: Bankruptcy, Domestic, Finances, Getting Organised, Shopping Leave a comment »Over the weekend, I finally got round to buying myself a new bedframe. It’s been a long time without one – basically, the one I had from previous house was too big to get up the staircase in the new place. (And by new I mean ‘the one I moved into in May 2012’)
It’s been an absolute ball-ache to find a decent bed that’s short/low enough to get up the staircase, which is one of the most awkward I’ve ever lived with – narrow, enclosed, jutty-out bits in the ceiling, steep, and with a 180° bend that needs to be negotiated with larger items. In short, it’s a bastard. And shifting a mattress up there is an exercise in swearing and sheer physical labour.
Coupled to that, crappy finances meant that investing in a new bedframe was – well – not a priority. But with new job, and all that, I thought I’d get round to doing something about it at last.
Anyway, having done some research, Ikea now do a low bed, so on Friday I went to the nearest one, and ordered it for delivery. (A downside of now having Saab instead of Mondeo – a bedframe and/or mattress won’t easily fit into a saloon car!)
Come Sunday, it finally got delivered at about 5pm. No timescales or delivery warning, just blew a Sunday waiting for it to arrive. Bastards. But it’s all assembled (one bit being a pig, due to the necessary methods not being listed in the actual instructions – cheers for that, Ikea) so onwards and upwards in this great game of life.
Saloon vs Estate
Posted: Tue 17 September, 2013 Filed under: Change, Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Thoughts 2 Comments »Over the last couple of weeks, for one reason and another I’ve been lugging a lot of stuff around in the car. Shopping, tip runs, that kind of thing. It’s still be OK, but it’s made me conscious of how different it is to do this kind of stuff without an estate car.
With Mondeo, I simply dropped the back seats, and could chuck any amount of stuff in there – the loadspace was amazingly capacious. It gobsmacked people on a few occasions, the sheer amount (or size) of stuff it could handle with no problem whatsoever.
With Saab, it’s a different prospect. I can still get stuff in, but it’s far more of a hassle, and there’s a few things that simply become impossible – or at best a nightmare. What would have been a simple ‘chuck it in the back‘ becomes more about ‘how the hell am I going to do that?‘.
I’m not unhappy with Saab at all – it’s doing me very nicely in general – and this is by no means a deal-breaker. What it will do, though, is make me think more about what I want as and when Saab goes to that great garage in the sky.
And you know what? I think the next one may well be an estate again. I don’t need that loadspace often – but when I do, I really like being able to just have it there, ready for use.
Scoring
Posted: Sat 7 September, 2013 Filed under: 2013/14, Bankruptcy, Domestic, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised Leave a comment »As part of both the Five Year Plan and rebuilding post-bankruptcy, one thing that’s really useful to know is one’s credit score, as well as what records are being held, and what they say.
So I’ve signed up (briefly) to Credit Expert, the happy smiley public face of the credit-reporting/scoring agency Experian.
It’s been an interesting process so far. When I registered to look at the record, I got told I’d got an existing account. Surprising – I did use them about eight years ago while with Herself, but nothing since. So I’ve had to go through a bundle of hoops in order to resurrect the old account, on a defunct email address/domain, because ‘we can’t have two records/accounts for the same person’ (according to their customer services clowns) despite that second account having a new email, address, phone number, and details. (Indeed, it’s kind of spooky that they can make the connection at all, based on the sheer level of change that’s gone on)
Annoyingly, this ‘use your old account’ process means I can’t take advantage of their ’30-day free trial’ offer, but I can live with that, to be honest.
Still, it’s letting me check all the relevant information, and I’m quite surprised to see that things are more positive than I’d expected. I was fully braced for seeing a score down near zero, and rebuilding from there. Instead, because of the ongoing accounts I’ve held over the last year (and more) it’s sat in the “fair” bracket. Which is quite amusing, when you think about it.
There are some bits I want to check out, particularly a couple of accounts that still say there’s large amounts outstanding – despite them being part of the bankruptcy process. I’ll find out what needs doing with those, as (I think) they should be sat along with the other accounts that read “closed”, rather than “In Default”. But I’ll find all that out, and figure out what needs doing.
There’s a long way to go yet, and I have no intentions of ending up back in the same situation I was in last year. But I do want to rebuild, to know I can make use of these things should I ever have to, want to, or need to. It’s not a quick process, but these first steps have shown me that perhaps – perhaps – the process won’t be quite as slow and drawn-out as I was expecting initially.
11
Posted: Fri 9 August, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, 2013/14, Change, D4D™, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Old(er), Getting Organised, Thoughts Leave a comment »Somehow, D4D™ has now made it to its eleventh birthday. I never expected it to do so, but I can’t deny, I’m actually fairly proud that it has.
Events over the last eighteen months have meant that the writing here has slowed down, and lost its frequency (and in some ways I feel it’s also lost its way a bit) but I’m going to see how we do over the next year, and wait ’til this time next year to see what happens. I might close it down, I might just keep it with irregular updates. Right now, I just don’t know.
The last couple of years have been – interesting, I think it’s fair to say. D4D’s been through that time with me (well, obviously) and will continue to do so, I think. There’s still a long way on this old journey, and I think/hope the next year (or two) is going to be instrumental in whatever comes next.
Ongoing Reductions
Posted: Mon 24 June, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, Diet Coke, Domestic, Getting Organised, Health Leave a comment »Since last November I’ve been cutting down on my intake of Diet Coke, and doing OK on it. I’ve written about before, and will no doubt write about it again in the future.
We’re now six full months into 2013, and I’ve kept the intake down. It’s not zero – I don’t want it to be – but in general it’s about a quarter to a third of what it used to be, if not less. I’m still quite proud of that reduction, and of keeping the reduction going. My water intake has increased significantly as a result too, which is also supposedly a good thing – it’s certainly doing its thing to keep my kidneys in working order!
I still have good days and bad days – but less bad days than I used to – but overall I think it’s fair to say that the reduction might just be here to stay. Time will tell of course, but I think this is the longest sustained cut-down I’ve had in years.
Data Migration – Kindle
Posted: Mon 10 June, 2013 Filed under: Charm School, Customer Services, Domestic, Finances, Geeky, Getting Organised, Technology, Thoughts Leave a comment »By contrast to the ease of migrating data to the new laptop, resyncing a new Kindle is an absolutely shite experience.
The actual purchase/delivery of it is great – ordered on Friday, arrived today. But synchronising it is crap.
Rather than a simple “download everything” option – or even having a “download everything on this page” – you have to choose to download each eBook individually. Even on the website, it’s a list with individual controls. Not even a checkbox against each item and a ‘download all’.
Why? I’ve no idea. But it means that what should be a simple “connect this device to my Amazon account” to download everything becomes a nightmare of (in my case) roughly 1,000 mouse-clicks. That’s no exaggeration. I’ve got 260 books on my Kindle. For each one you’ve got to click on “Actions”, then “Download”, then Select the device (there’s only one device – at least fucking auto-select it!) . For each book.
It’s a truly painful and shit experience, and there’s an email going to Amazon to explain that.
Data Migration
Posted: Tue 4 June, 2013 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Technology, Thoughts 3 Comments »Every time I get a new computer – laptop, PC, work machine, whatever – and/or change jobs, one of the biggest challenges is always taking existing data and moving/copying it to the new device. And it’s not just the data, it’s also the applications – the programs that make use of the data.
But it’s also always getting easier. The process this time was the smoothest to date, and a lot of that is down to ‘cloud’ services. I store a lot of my stuff now with Dropbox, although there’s also plenty of other services. I store my data in an encrypted fashion, so it’s also secure – while I like the ease of storage on Cloud-based services, I don’t trust them with my information – but it means that once I’d installed Dropbox on the new laptop, then my key files were all being synced and downloaded.
The other thing I like about using Dropbox and it’s ilk is that if you save your files there immediately, it’s not just a saved file, it’s automatically backed up. The risks of my losing important documents is pretty much gone, because I save everything to the folder on my machine that links to a cloud-based service. All my work stuff (which is also backed up with Subversion Version Control) goes to one service, all my personal work, writing etc. goes to a different one. But the key thing is that everything’s safe, and I don’t even need to remember to do a backup.
For larger stuff, it’s still a case of “copy onto portable hard drive” – I prefer the speed of that to doing it via wi-fi – but even that is easier now with the much larger sizes of portable drives. At some point, I could add a NAS (Network Attached Storage) box, so all the data is in one central location, and the machine(s) just access it off that box/server. But for now that investment isn’t worth the time, energy or money.
All told, getting New Laptop sorted out has probably taken the best part of a working day – but that includes learning the idiosyncracies of a new Operating System and downloading/installing the apps, odds and sods that I want/need, as well as getting the data over. It’s been a pretty easy process, I have to say.
Equipment Failure
Posted: Sun 2 June, 2013 Filed under: Bankruptcy, Change, Domestic, Finances, Geeky, Getting Old(er), Getting Organised, iPhone, Shopping, Technology, Thoughts, Weirdness 1 Comment »Don’t worry, this isn’t another post about the joys and pitfalls of getting older…
No, instead it’s about technology, and why the bastard stuff all ends up failing at the same time.
First of all, this post is being written on a new laptop – which I really could’ve done without having to get, but needs must when the devil drives (and/or you’re a web techie and wannabe-writer). The old Dell laptop – which it turns out I bought back in September 2009, so I shouldn’t whine so much, I guess – had been getting flakier over the last six months, but I’ve been eking out the life of it since then, suffering the occasional (and then more regular) hard-drive crash, and the ropy keyboard with some keys that only worked intermittently.
This week though it’s been crashing every time it was in use, and was obviously getting to the point where I needed to a) pull all the relevant data off it like NOW, and b) replace it with something else. And with a trip up to Manchester this week where I’m *really* going to need a reliable laptop, this was the weekend for it.
So I’ve bitten the bullet somewhat, and the new one is a (dirt-cheap) Asus thing, running the already-much-disliked Windows 8. To be fair to Windows 8, the old laptop was on the much-loathed Vista, which I never really found all that annoying. Eight annoys me more so far, but I’ll get used to it.
The other two equipment failures are both iPhone related, allbeit power-related rather than device-related. (Although I did think one of them might’ve been the phone being fucked, which was a real worry) First the Mophie battery case has failed. Again. (More accurately, the cable/charger for it, which will no longer charge) I love the Mophie cases, but they do seem to be somewhat crap, and only last about a year. And then the normal iPhone charge/sync cable also went kerfut and wouldn’t charge the phone. So I’ve had to get a new cable for that as well – considerably less expensive than the laptop purchase, but still, why all at the same time?
Oh yeah, and the fridge in the house also played up this week, with one day where it didn’t appear to be working all that well. Fortunately it’s now back up and running.
But why the hell would four things, two fairly major, all decide to kiff out within the same week? Weird things, I tell thee, weird things.
Roy Lichtenstein, Tate Modern
Posted: Mon 27 May, 2013 Filed under: Creativity, Domestic, Getting Organised, London, Reviews(ish), Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »Over the weekend, I took a trip down to That There London, primarily to see the Roy Lichtenstein retrospective at the Tate Modern. It’s been on for a while, and I’d meant to see it earlier, but then checked last week to realise yesterday was the final day. And so, the plan was born to get down and see it.
I’ve loved a lot of Lichtenstein’s work for many years now, and the exhibition had the originals of a couple of my all time favourites (Particularly “Whaaam!”) so it was definitely a good reason to go and see it.
But what I hadn’t realised was that this sort of stuff was only a small part of his work – although the style remains the same, there’s a lot more that I’d never known about.
My own particular favourites (in no particular order) were the Lichtenstein versions of other classic artists (including Mondrian and Picasso) and also his versions of classical Chinese landscape portraiture, which are just excellent.
I was really pleased that I’d got down to see the exhibition – although I do find that most of the stuff in Tate Modern is unconscionable piss, every so often they throw out a gem.
One Year
Posted: Sun 5 May, 2013 Filed under: 2011/12, 2012/13, Change, Domestic, Getting Old(er), Getting Organised Leave a comment »Exactly one year ago today – date-wise, rather than weekday-wise – I moved to the new place.
It’s been one hell of a year, and eventful in many ways. Looking back, in some ways it’s raced past and feels like only a few weeks. Indeed it’s only when I look back and list the amount of stuff I’ve actually done in that time, check out all the changes and occurences in that time, that I realise how much has been done, and then it seems amazing how I’ve fitted it all into such a short span.
There’s still a lot to do, many changes to be made, many things to be tried and worked on. Some I’ll do, some I won’t. But this last year has been a good building block, and it’s laid the foundations for a lot of the upcoming stuff that should be really quite interesting.
Increased Security
Posted: Sat 13 April, 2013 Filed under: D4D™, Geeky, Getting Organised, People, Security, WordPress 1 Comment »At the moment, there is a huge attack going on against blogs using WordPress.
It’s primarily attacking the blogs who’ve kept a lot of the default settings – particularly keeping the primary user as “admin” with weak/known passwords – but still, it’s better to make sure that things are secure.
D4D™ has always been on an altered install of WordPress – mainly because I’m really bad at leaving things alone – so I’m less concerned about it, but all the same, I’ve added in a couple of security plugins just to reinforce things. I’m also making use of Cloudflare to add another level of security.
It’s going to make things interesting for a lot of Blog Owners on the WordPress platform, though. Basically, if you’re on WP you need to :
- Make sure you’re not relying on the “admin” user
- Add a new user to WP , give it admin rights (and a strong password)
- Set “admin” to have the lowest possible permissions (contributor), or delete it completely.
- If possible, make sure your database isn’t using the wp_ prefix for all wordpress tables.
- Use Cloudflare or similar
- Install the Limit Logins plugin
- If you know what you’re doing, also install the Extend WP Security plugin
- Take backups!
There’s other stuff along the way, but those really are the key points.
Photo Resurrection
Posted: Thu 28 March, 2013 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Old(er), Getting Organised, Photography 2 Comments »One area where I’ve really slacked over the last few months has been on the photography front – I just haven’t been in the right mindset, and haven’t really had any locations where I’ve wanted to take photos at all.
Last weekend, Lori held her “Rarely Wears Lipstick Awards“, a celebration of the ten years of blogging, and a whole bundle of other reasons. I was going already, but it turned out the person who was meant to be taking photos couldn’t make it, so I volunteered to do so.
I can’t deny, it felt good to be doing it again. I really enjoyed the night, but I loved taking the pics as well, seeing the people and the scenes, and grabbing the images. It was also a joy (as always) to be using my f2 portait lens, which is so excellent in low-light, and lets me grab photos without needing flash.
All the photos on the resulting blog article are mine, but there’s a lot of others as well- obviously – some of which I’m really pleased with. Some less so, but more through issues with the lighting and focussing, rather than the shots themselves. I might add some more up here, I don’t know.
Hopefully, though, it’ll be the kick to get things going again on the photography score, though.
Reporting Potholes
Posted: Mon 4 March, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Customer Services, Driving, Getting Organised, Pedantry Leave a comment »One thing I’ve become a bit of an arse about over the last few months has been reporting potholes and road damage to the local council(s).
I’m not the only one doing it, I’m sure – but particularly with Bedfordshire it’s interesting to see the speed of response from when I’ve reported stuff to when it gets fixed.
I’m drawing the conclusion that it’s down to me because in some cases I’ve left the report for a month or more, with nothing happening. When I report it, it gets checked and fixed quite shortly afterwards. Now sure, it could be that my report is the one that breaks the limit on reporting – but not every time, I’m sure.
I know that councils are reducing their road repairs as part of all this austerity and cost-saving bollocks, but it’s a false economy. The costs/claims for damage are a big factor – and particularly claims are more likely to be paid up when the pothole has been reported (but not repaired) because that shows more of a disregard for maintenance.
I’m not interested in that side particularly. I am interested in getting decent road quality without dangerous potholes causing issues – both to myself and others.
Water Works
Posted: Tue 26 February, 2013 Filed under: Bankruptcy, Customer Services, Domestic, Finances, Getting Organised Leave a comment »Today I’m working from home, waiting for Anglian Water to come and fix things.
It’s nothing major – well, it is, but it’s not like a water leak or anything. Basically, whoever installed the little grey boxes to ‘read’ the water meters (for whatever reason, this house has two) fucked it up – or the boxes are faulty – and have been reporting roughly three times the actual water use. Which, of course, I was getting billed for.
The last bill came in, and I queried the figures. Anglian had screwed up something else as well, just for chuckles, so the entire thing was nearly four times what the corrected bill is. Which is, needless to say, impressive.
Anyway, today they’re replacing both readers, and providing Anglian with correct ‘start-up’ figures, so hopefully from here things will be a lot more stable.
Needless to say, I’ll be keeping a close eye for a while on both the readers and the meters, making sure they match. And waiting for a significant refund.
January Progress
Posted: Mon 4 February, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, D4D™, Diet Coke, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss, Write More, Writing Leave a comment »Back at the end of 2012, I said I’d got two main plans for this year,
- Weigh less
- Write more
So, one month in, where do we stand?
On Point One, I’ve lost half a stone. Obviously that’s not insignificant, but there’s a long way to go still.
As part of it, I’ve been keeping a food diary for the last month, which has been interesting. It’s allowed me to keep track of what I’m eating and illustrate any bad foods (or even bad days) although it’s shown more that the intake side is lower than it should be. (I’m averaging about 1600 a day, from current evidence)
As I’ve written before, I’ve also had the health MOT this month : blood pressure, cholesterol, thyroid, blood sugar, the lot. It’s all come through OK, so that’s another thing.
And, of course, I’ve cut down my intake of Diet Coke significantly. It’s still got a small way to go if I’m to cut it out completely, but it’s still massively reduced from where it was.
Now it’s a case of upping the exercise levels as part of that project point.
For Point Two, I’ve managed to do some writing, although not as much as I’d hoped. I’ve got a short story mostly done, which I want to get completed in the next few days. I’ve also been writing a new idea, and that’s currently about a fifth of the way through it. Again, it’s something I’m working on, and it’s already better than it was last year, but there’s a long way to go.
Still though, it’s been a good start to the year.
Death of a Mondeo
Posted: Sun 3 February, 2013 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised 1 Comment »Just under six years ago, I bought my first car, the Mondeo estate. (It’s actually annoying in an OCD way that it’s so close to six years – it’s five years, ten months, two weeks)
Two weeks ago, it crapped itself on the M1, diagnostics pointing to a fault on the Fuel Injection pump – which it turned out had pretty much exploded. That’s pretty serious, lots of money, and probably more than the car’s worth.
I’ve had to hire a replacement car in the meantime, which is a Renault Megane, and a more gutless piece of shit you couldn’t hope to find. In my opinion it’s actually dangerously underpowered, making overtaking manoeuvres into a really un-fun situation. I hate it, it’s a bucket of crap.
Anyway, I’ve now put the Mondeo onto eBay (as spares/repair – it’s been a good car up til now, but the costs outweigh keeping it) and I’ve started the process for buying a new car. Well, new to me – definitely not new!
On that one, more when I collect it (Wednesday) and know that everything’s good.
The Mondeo’s done me well for the last six years, during which I’ve put 130,000 miles on it. I hope the new one serves as well.
Snow Shopping
Posted: Sat 19 January, 2013 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, People, Shopping, Thoughts, Weather 4 Comments »Where I am now, the snow hasn’t been too bad so far. Some of the roads on the way to work are entertaining (the village where work is based is at the top of a hill, so all routes in/out involve some fun slopes) and the lane to the office is deeply dodgy, but where I live has been OK. Snow, but nothing epic.
Compared to the Norfolk and Suffolk places, it’s been a doddle. It helps that all the roads around here are major – M1, and A421 are the two main ones – which means they’re part of the gritting plan and so on.
Anyway, I hadn’t worried about the snow, but did need to do a small amount of shopping today, just basics of veg, bread and the like – but having seen the media reports of people panic-buying, of empty shelves in supermarkets and the like. (And to be fair, the village shop has/had no bread etc. today)
So I girded my loins, and prepared for a shopping trip into chaos, with the supermarket full of idiots. But it didn’t happen. The roads were virtually empty, which boded well. When I got to the local(ish) Te$co, it was virtually empty. Spaces throughout the car park, and virtually no-one around at all.
Inside the store was the same- really quiet, no problems with stock, and very few idiots. (There’s always some, but well, nothing’s perfect) It was probably the best shopping experience I’ve had in that particular store – certainly the one with the fewest people. I got everything I needed, and only wanted to beat one gormless muppet to a pulp with a tin of beans.
So from my side, it just meant that for all the purported problems with snow, it actually made my life easier, better, and less stressy than usual. Which is kind of odd, when you think about it.
Diet Coke – Progress
Posted: Fri 18 January, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, Diet Coke, Domestic, Getting Organised, Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss 1 Comment »A while back, I started cutting down on my intake of Diet Coke, and I have to say, so far it’s going pretty well. It’s been a bit turbulent, and while I halved it when I started back in November, by mid-December it was back to normal. I properly dropped it again once I was on leave over Christmas, and it’s been kept down for near on a month now.
I’d decided that I wasn’t going to cut it all the way out – or at least not immediately – and opted instead for a phased withdrawal. It’s a drink I like drinking, so I don’t know that I’ll cut it all the way out.
Anyway, so far I’ve done pretty well. I’m down to about one-third of what I was drinking, and I’ve replaced the majority of the intake with water, which is supposed to be a better alternative. (I’m not yet convinced – I don’t feel masses better for it, it’s – frankly – fucking boring, and it makes me piss like a horse)
I’m pleased with how I’m doing – I have good days with even less intake, and I have shit days where I have more, but most importantly, even on the shit days I’m drinking no more than half the Diet Coke I was doing.
It’s not been part of the weight loss plan – the calorific intake wasn’t that high, even when the intake was high – but it’s part of the general plan for this year, regardless.
There’s still a way to go – but I’m happy with where things stand for now.
GP Results – Thoughts
Posted: Tue 15 January, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, Cynicism, Domestic, Food, Getting Organised, Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »In some ways I’m quite happy about the GP results – they were a lot better than they had any right to be. In another, I’m almost annoyed, because I can’t deny, I kind of hoped there would be some kind of medical explanation for why I don’t lose weight.
I’ve done the food diary – admittedly only for a week, although I’m going to continue doing it for a while more – and my intake averaged out at 1750 calories, give or take. That’s *low*, my basic maintenance should be around the 2,500 – 3,000 mark, so I should be losing weight quickly and easily. But I’m not. It’s much the same as it has been for ten years, with the exception of losing a stone through Slimming World three or four years back. (Even that was fucked- the time I went with their exact plan, I gained weight)
And now there’s no visible medical reason for it either.
I know I need more exercise, and that’s part of the plan for this year.
But basically, right now, there’s no sodding reason for me to be the size/weight I am. And that pisses me off.
GP Results
Posted: Mon 14 January, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, Cynicism, Domestic, Food, Getting Organised, Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »So, having (finally) seen the GP this time – only half an hour late, that’s almost early compared to usual – I’ve got the final figures…
- Blood Pressure : 120/80
- Heart rate : 75
- Cholesterol : 5.7
- Thyroid : Normal
- Blood Tests : Normal
Being a pissbag, the GP wouldn’t give me exact figures for the thyroid results etc. – I remain cynical about “normal” until I can check – and refused to give me a referral to the dietician service. Instead I’ve got to see the diabetes nurses next week for diet advice. Because, of course, they’re the ones who know.
Luckily I’m also getting the diet advice from someone else I trust, so it’s not hyper-relevant to get the referral, but I do want the request on my NHS record. I asked for the same thing in Norfolk, and Suffolk, and nothing happened at all. So I’m more serious about it this time round.
Anyway, all told I’m bordering on healthy – with the exception of my BMI and weight, which I still want to work on. Considering the BMI and weight, there’s no way the rest of the figures should be as good as they are. So all told I feel quite positive about things, for once.
I’ve still got bits to work on, obviously – I do want to reduce my weight, and work from there, but knowing that the basics are OK is a big thing too.
Peter Gabriel, Next October
Posted: Fri 23 November, 2012 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Gigs, Music Leave a comment »Following on from getting tickets to Cowboy Junkies next January, I found out via Twitter that Peter Gabriel is touring next October, two nights at the O2 in London, one in Manchester at the MEN, and one in Glasgow at the Hydro.
So, following more than a year of no concerts, 2013 now already has two excellent gigs that I’m really looking forward to.
41 to 42
Posted: Mon 5 November, 2012 Filed under: Change, Domestic, Finances, Getting Organised, Thoughts Leave a comment »As usual, the road to hell is paved with good intentions and plans of things I’d like to do in the forthcoming year. So yeah, this is one of those posts. Again.
To be fair, I do get a decent(ish) lump of stuff off the list done when I post and then review a while later, but I do also have a tendency to want to do more than I actually have the time (and, more importantly, the inclination) for. But still, good intentions, and the knowledge of more personal time, we’ll see how this one goes.
Over the next year I would like to…
- Write more
- Weigh less
I might add some others along the way, but for now I think that’s enough to be going on with.