Category: Journal
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When pleasing the neighbour becomes impossible
Our neighbour returned yesterday after a two-week holiday in Crete. We specifically organised all the ceiling repairs to her flat for while she was away so that she didn’t have to be here for any of it. This is what she wanted. So naturally we thought she’d be really thrilled to see it all done…
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Exposed pipes
The ceiling has been repaired in the downstairs flat. Here are some pics of the damage. The first image is after leak number one, the second image is after leak number two, and the third image is our kitchen floor. It’s quite astonishing how many layers there are between our home and the home below.…
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Thin Ice
A little while ago I donated to the Kickstarter campaign to bring the Thin Ice climate change documentary to US television. My name is even listed on this page. WooHoo! I haven’t heard anything about it for some time and so went looking to see what stage they’re at. It turns out the documentary began…
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Edinburgh
We’ve had a great day in Edinburgh today. First stop this morning was Laid Back Bikes where I got to try out an Urban Arrow. This is one slick bike. It weighs and handles similarly to the bakfiets but has electric assist and so is easy peasy to pedal. I’m in two minds about having…
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It’s only money
I keep pinching myself to make sure I’m not currently starring in a Monty Python skit because that’s how the last few weeks have felt. I only wish I was. According to BT someone was supposed to be moving into our house today but no-one ever did; surprise, surprise. I was a bit disappointed in…
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A hole in the copper water pipe
The leak was finally fixed fairly late last night. Here it is: There’s a nail hole in the copper pipe which supplies hot water to our kitchen sink and dishwasher. The plumbers never showed up yesterday morning; only the gas engineer who fixed the problem the first time but as you can see, he didn’t…
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The leak returns
I’m sure everyone is sick of hearing about my domestic problems but there are more and writing about it seems to make me feel better. So here’s the next chapter. The new ceiling went up in the downstairs flat today and while the workmen were plastering over it water started dripping again. They alerted me…
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Problem solved
I think my BT woes are finally resolved. I changed my strategy when I rang them this morning and instead asked how I find out who my provider is since they say it isn’t BT because I’d like to report this third-party company to Ofcom. After being transferred to three different people and waiting on hold for longer than…
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Problems with BT and autism
We’re still having problems with BT and I’d by lying if I said it wasn’t stressful. I feel powerless and have no idea how to resolve the problem. Fortunately we haven’t lost internet or phone so far but I received another automated email from BT on the weekend, same as the one from a couple…
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In town without my car day
Today is “In town without my car day” and as big advocates of the pedestrianisation of city centre streets we thought we should go along and lend our support. They had closed off some streets to cars which was marvellous and put lots of fun activities in their place like a giant water slide, a…
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Fyvie Castle
My sister rang first thing this morning sounding very upset because she had slept in and missed her flight and was consequently unable to come and visit us this weekend. We were all very disappointed and so we took off for Fyvie Castle to lift our spirits. Fyvie Castle is an enormous 13th century castle about…
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I ate a box of chocolates yesterday
I turned 40 yesterday; I’m officially middle-aged. I didn’t do anything exciting other than eat almost an entire box of chocolates. I didn’t even feel sick and I’m unlikely to put on weight because a) I’m vegan and b) I’ve got Busby. The interesting thing about Busby is that there’s a positive correlation between my age and the amount…
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Incompetence at BT
A week ago I wrote about how BT emailed me to say they were sorry to see me go and that because I had cancelled my contract early I would be charged. I was a bit confused at the time because I had never cancelled my account and nor did I wish to cancel my account.…
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Bad neighbours
In light of our recent insurance woes I have been thinking about bad neighbours. We have lived in quite a few different houses now and most of our neighbours have been really great. Our last neighbour for instance, was just terrific. I wish he could have moved with us. But the worst neighbours we ever had were…
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Insurance woes
Is it possible to insure someone else’s property? Our house insurance doesn’t cover the damage caused by our water pipe to the downstairs flat. They only cover our house. So I rang AXA, our insurer, to look into purchasing a policy for her flat so we’re covered next time should this happen again but they…
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More dramas and a bit of a rant
Yesterday afternoon the lady who lives downstairs knocked on our door to say water was leaking through her kitchen ceiling. Our kitchen is above her kitchen but there was no sign of any leak in our kitchen at all. I turned off all the water and the central heating as no-one was able to come until…
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Frogs in my garden
My father is making a very speedy recovery now and going from strength to strength which is a huge relief. This means I can start worrying about unimportant things that don’t matter like staining white sofas. Some new sofas arrived yesterday afternoon. We got rid of ours in New Zealand before the move and our rental…
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A new home
It has been a hectic and stressful week this week. Settlement for the house we bought was on Friday and we moved in yesterday. But the most stressful part was when my father took a turn for the worse on Thursday night. He had an emergency heart bypass last Tuesday and seemed to be recovering well.…
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Mending hearts
My father had a routine angiogram yesterday and was raced into surgery less than 24 hours later to bypass a blockage. The operation went as expected and he’s now starting his recovery. Phew! I didn’t sleep very well last night but I’m sure I slept much better than my father did before his operation. I’m…
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