Automagic
Posted: Fri 3 June, 2016 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Getting Old(er), Getting Organised, M1, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »I’ve got another weekend of driving ahead of me, and because I’m still not 100% confident in the Saab, I’ve rented one again for the weekend.
This time, for variety’s sake, I went for an automatic – no idea what type yet, but automatic.
I haven’t driven autos that much – I rented one back when I was in Norfolk, which I wasn’t massively impressed with – so figure I might as well get some more experience with them, and see how it goes on a weekend that involves a fair number of motorway miles.
Part of my thinking is that (assuming I don’t mind it) it’s something that I may consider in the next car, because I seem to drive primarily on motorways, and in traffic jams- occasionally at the same time. I’ve noticed that, when I’ve had a really bad day of slow-moving traffic or city stuff, it can make my legs hurt, purely from just using the clutch all the time, so it’s something to consider, at least.
I’ll write more next week, once I’ve done a bundle of driving in it. One things for sure though – it’s going to be interesting.
Long Week
Posted: Fri 13 May, 2016 Filed under: Car Repairs, Customer Services, Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Insurance, M1, Travel 1 Comment »So far, it’s felt like a very long – and really quite unproductive – week in many ways.
I was away over the weekend, and while driving back on Sunday, the car died on me near Leeds. No power-steering, idiot-lights galore – and all while travelling at 80-ish in the outside lane of the M1. That definitely focusses the mind somewhat.
I got over to the hard shoulder immediately, and stopped. Called my insurance company – who also do the recovery part – and got it organised. I knew it was 99.9% likely to need recovery, so they sorted it out and that all went really smoothly. They’d predicted up to 90 minutes before the recovery got there, and they turned up within half an hour.
Apparently, I got lucky – my recovery part includes “Get me home”, rather than the more standard “nearest garage, and then pay through the nose for anything else” policy. So I got one truck that took me back to Milton Keynes in one go (no Relay crap either, thankfully) and dropped the car off at the Saab garage locally, and then I got a cab home. Not cheap, but could’ve been so much worse. According to the recovery driver, if it’d been the normal policy, it would’ve cost me around £500 to get the car home… I broke down at 1.30, and was back in Milton Keynes at 6.00, and home by 7.00. Not at all bad, all things considered.
While I was waiting to be picked up, I’d also organised a replacement hire car – which also reminds me yet again how great smartphones and apps can be, sat by the side of a motorway booking a hire car – that I collected on Monday before heading off to Chesham to be on-site again. All fine. Hassle-filled, but fine.
After doing a bundle of driving and so on, I got home about 9pm, and parked up.
And on the Tuesday, by 7am the battery was completely flat and the hire car wouldn’t start at all. Cue a three-hour farce with the AA not sending anyone when they said they would, and making an utter bollock of the entire process. Not helped by using the hire-firm as an intermediary (although they handled it fine, it was just the AA being useless) but still. I finally got sorted at mid-day.
So yes, it took the AA three hours to find a known address and fix the problem (Epically flat battery, although we don’t yet know why – apparently Fiat couldn’t find any issues with it) where it only took four-and-a-half for another company to find me on a motorway, and drive 180-ish miles. Safe to say, I won’t be putting any money in the AA’s direction any time soon.
Along the way, the Saab was fixed on the Monday – the power-steering belt, which also powers a number of other bits, had snapped, and it was just that part which required replacement. So, a bill of £85 all-in, including VAT, labour and parts. Could’ve been *so* much worse…
The rest of the week has just been busy and ridiculous, and doesn’t really feel like it’s stopped at all. With luck it’ll ease up now for the weekend – but then, this is me, so what’re the chances? Low-to-sod-all , I’d say…
Theatrical
Posted: Wed 27 April, 2016 Filed under: Day Trips, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, London, Travel Leave a comment »Having gone to Hamlet and a couple of other things last year, I decided that this year I wanted to go to more theatre productions – and it all looks like it’s being pretty successful so far.
I’ve already seen Faustus in London, and seen Henry Rollins twice (not quite a theatrical production as such, but still qualifies for these purposes) but the bookings for the rest of the year are starting to look pretty impressive, including…
- King Lear at Manchester Royal Exchange
- Romeo and Juliet at the Garrick in London
- The Spoils in London
- No Man’s Land in London
- Doctor Faustus (again, but by the RSC) at the Barbican, London
- Aliens Live at the Royal Albert Hall (the film Aliens, with soundtrack performed by orchestra)
- The Tempest in Stratford-upon-Avon
I’d say that’s a pretty successful list for the coming months, and certainly fulfils the target of “Getting out and doing more”…
More Travel
Posted: Mon 25 April, 2016 Filed under: 2015/16, Day Trips, Do More, Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »As I’ve said many, many times before, I can be a bit of an idiot – particularly when it comes to what I regard as ‘doable’ for travelling etc.
Today has proven that yet again. Well, I’ve organised it all today, but it’s happening on Saturday.
Over the weekend, I saw some really good reviews and opinions about the production of King Lear that’s currently going on at Manchester’s Royal Exchange, with Don Warrington as Lear. So today I had a look at whether there were any tickets still available.
Turns out, there were. Not many, but enough for me to book one to see it on Saturday afternoon. And that’s what I’m doing.
I’ve also (in the name of something approaching a sensible idea) booked myself on trains to get up there and back. But I did seriously think about driving, too. A 350-mile round trip to see a play. Like I said, an absolute idiot.
The reason I’m not making a weekend of it is because I’m also in London on the Sunday – although not ’til the evening – for another hopefully epic meal.
I am indeed an idiot, and quite possibly a lunatic.
2016 Q1
Posted: Fri 1 April, 2016 Filed under: 2015/16, Business, Car Repairs, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, London, Stupidity, Thoughts, Travel, Weigh Less, Weight Loss, Write More Leave a comment »So here we are, in April already. A quarter of the year gone.
The first three months have been fairly awkward and problematic in some ways, but all told it’s still been a success – although in some ways it’s been a case of looking at grey clouds and finding a silver lining. Work and so on have stayed stable, it’s just other non-work stuff that hasn’t gone as well.
The worst (or at least most frustrating) part has been the car – thankfully that now appears to be sorted, but it’s been an expensive quarter, with repeated re-visits to the garage, along with replacement parts and so on.
I did have plans for writing more and so on, but they haven’t materialised. I’ve done a couple of things and started with some ideas and the like, but the intended plan hasn’t happened. Hopefully the next three months will let me write more, if I’ve got the time and inspiration.
Health-wise, I’ve slacked off a lot on going to the gym and so on. I’ve had a bundle of colds and coughs throughout the last few months, and every time I’ve thought “Ok, that’s finally gone”, I’ve picked up another one. That’s not been fun, but there we go. Admittedly, a lack of gymmage hasn’t resulted in any weight gains – everything has stayed in exactly the same place it was while I was going to the gym regularly. That’s been another thing that’s not helped on the motivational front – if it’s not making any difference one way or t’other, it becomes less important to go.
I do need to get back to it, and doing other stuff as well – because I’m a loon, and have just signed up to the NSPCC’s challenge to walk/run (OK, walk) up the 38 floors of the Gherkin on Sunday 19th June. I must be fucking barmy. This is the kind of thing that happens when Marie Curie aren’t doing their 10km walks. I blame them. 🙂 That’s in ten weeks time, so I need to do some stuff pretty quickly…
Anyway, it’s been an interesting first three months of the year. There’s some interesting challenges coming up – not least that bloody Gherkin challenge – in the next three months, and I just hope it’s a bit more positively motivated than the first three have been.
Time will tell…
Stocking Up
Posted: Mon 21 March, 2016 Filed under: Bankruptcy, Domestic, Getting Organised, Introspective, Rebuilding, Thoughts 1 Comment »Over the last year or so, I’ve noticed that I now have more back-up supplies of the stuff I use a lot of. This is mainly kitchen things – food, and household stuff – but it’s still interesting to me that it’s a behaviour/preference that has developed post-bankruptcy.
It’s not hoarding, by any means – it’s more that I find I want to have back-up items, so I’m never likely to run out.
I suspect a lot of it is still in the “what if everything went tits-up tomorrow” mindset, which I do find is also more prevalent in me than it used to be. Which is odd, as this current situation is about the best I’ve been in for a very long time. That probably makes sense though, in the context of those wonderful words of wisdom – “This too shall pass“. (It’s an all-purpose aphorism, good for hope in times of need, and a reminder of drought in times of plenty, and has been one of my favourites over the years)
I’ve no idea whether this preference for back-up supplies will fade out again or not – it’ll probably depend on how things go over the rest of this year, but equally I have no problem with it if it does stay around, and allows me to have just that extra little safety buffer.
Doing Nothing
Posted: Sun 20 March, 2016 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Health, House Work, Introspective, Single Life, Thoughts Leave a comment »This weekend was the closest I’ve come in a long time to doing nothing – it’s something I am *really* bad at, which I’m coming to terms with.
I try and keep busy on weekends, go out and do stuff, get things done, and that suits me. But I still get to the point (like recently) where I’ve been constantly busy and occupied for so damn long, it feels like I’m completely burned out and I need that down-time, a weekend or two where I don’t do much.
As has been observed before, I’ve been pretty much booked solid since about October, so I really needed a quiet time where I vegetated a bit, caught up on some of the more domestic things, and generally did a bit of recuperation. And that was the plan this weekend – I had some stuff I wanted to do (buying the trees, seeing a film, organising house stuff, ironing etc.) but the rest was meant to be downtime.
That plan was successful, I can’t deny. I did get all the planned stuff done, and I used a lot of downtime.
But it gets to now, 10pmish on Sunday, and I feel kind of guilty, kind of lazy. I know it’s been needed, and I mainly feel better for having not done much – but simultaneously, I feel like it’s been a bit of a waste.
It’s safe to say, I think, that I am phenomenally bad at doing nothing…