29 Aug 2009

Twice in one week eh?

There must be something wrong with me....or something right depending on how you see things I suppose. Well, due to the photo heavy post on Thursday, I've decided to keep this one short and sweet so no interesting things to view I'm afraid. Actually, the truth is that I don't really have any new photos to share so will just have to wait til I have.

This weekend is a big spring clean...yes I know it's the end of summer but there are a lot of things to get in order on the home front with the new school year peaking eagerly around the corner. Uniform to label and check, stationary to sort, new budget for the year (mostly based around British Gas' inability to manage a simple account...more on that later) meal planners to plan, diaries to update, to do lists coming out of my ears both for the family and Devonstar Twirlers and all this has left no time for scrapping.

I must admit I did think of stopping it all for a while and just selling all my stuff, but I also know how sane it can keep me when Pete is away and how when I'm really pissed off with the kids...sitting in front of a photo of them for a few hours whilst I make pretty pages makes me view things in a different light so I guess i'm just happy now to scrap when I can...or when I need to.

So anyway...British Gas. Well, Pete (in his infinite wisdom which must NEVER be questioned) decided to get paperless billing, not so much for the 'green' reason (he believes it's a complete falicy) more so that it saves a quid or so on each bill. This is great if in fact he had either a - set it up so that the bill is emailed to me....or b - actually READ the email when it comes to his inbox. In this case he did neither. Two years ago, after paying a direct debit of £85 a month, BG (yes believe me we are such good friends now that I address them only as initials) send a letter to inform me that we've overpaid our bill for the past twelve months and they want to drop it to £5!

I call them and give them a right earful about how on earth they can overcharge by such a huge amount for it to drop so drastically and announce that I will infact prefer to pay £20 just so I felt a little more assured that they won't cock up the other way. All is well and then about eight months ago they suddenly change the direct debit to £39. At this point I didn't think much of it, assuming that they really do need to get someone working there that can add up and do averages better but if that's what needs to be paid then fine.

Then I get a call.....completely out of the blue to inform me that we've underpaid our electricity bill by £900 over the past year. Well, I almost reached down the phone to strangle them! Can you imagine how much it would have been if i'd actually paid the £5 a month that they originally asked me for? So now they want the direct debit to be ammended from £39 to......wait for it....£210 A MONTH! Crazy days eh?!

So that has thrown everything into dissaray for the hundredth time this year (ok, slight exaggeration but is beginning to feel like that). Budgets must be redrawn....belts tightened even more to the point of cutting off any circulation that was left to be honest. On top of which the car issue has not gone away. The thing is still spluttering as if to say 'help me' however as noone seems to be able to give a definitive answer as to what's wrong with the thing without costing me and arm and a leg it's a case of keep paying the AA for roadside assistance and hope for the best.

I was panicking about the MOT last week...the guy at the garage could see the fear in my face as they hoisted it into the air......I did at one point just imagine it may do that thing you see on old black and white films where there are lots of bangs, the wheels fall off, doors fall off and then it collapses in on itself. However, it didn't. Of course it didn't pass (that would have been a miracle) however, it was just wheel bearings....nothing major...just over £100 with labour and the MOT price. Unfortunately they couldn't book it to be done there and then so i return a few days later to get it done.

Quick job they said so brought the kids with me (not silly though...made sure they all brough their trusty Nintendo DS's just incase). Two and a half hours later, I leave with a car not fixed and a warning that this could be a problem. Now, I know very little about cars so excuse me if you do and think 'what the hell is she on about' but.....apparently the bearings are inside some housing thing which is attatched on a driveshaft which goes through the wheel. Well the housing thing is completely seized and will not budge. Two hours of pulling, banging, using some sort of pulling machine with a zillion psi or something on it and it still won't budge.

The guy from the garage says that it has happened once before and old matey (for i know not his name) down the road has a bigger machine (maybe 20 zillion psi's worth) that he used and all was fine. The worrying thing is though that apparently this machine could solve the problem of getting this housing thing off....but in doing so could also snap the drive shaft.......and he can't take responsibility for that. So i now have a car which has a simple MOT flaw, however...it ISN'T simple, can't be fixed unless i subject it to the possibility of breaking it more.....and none of this has any bearing on the fact that the bloody thing still doesn't work properly. Cars eh? Love 'em!

Anyway, needed a whinge after the last post........it was far too sickly sweet!

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