Worth negotiating...

Today I called Sky and firstly got a nasty surprise, and then a pleasant one! I was calling to tell them that I was moving and all being well, with a fair wind in our favour, I wanted to transfer my package to the new address – no upgrades, no bells and whistles just what I have here, but there. I went from a call centre in India to a lovely Scottish lady based, well, who knows where. She told me that to transfer it would cost me £60 and if I was interested I could get Sky+ for £199 (which we don't currently have but would quite like). This seemed a little rich and actually, after having been a customer for over 3 years, I thought it was a bit cheeky to be charged just so I can carry on paying Sky each month! I am being a little simplistic because an engineer does have to visit and a dish does have to be installed and that all costs money, but I just suddenly decided to cancel the contract. I wasn’t being stroppy but when you move it’s just one expense after another and I felt enough was enough and so very politely said that I would just like to cancel the contract. She equally politely asked me if I would mind waiting on the line for a bit to see what she could “do for me”. It dawned on me she would probably try and negotiate on the price to get me to stay. Which was fine but I was quite certain I would leave anyway...

She came back with two options and let’s just say, I’m getting Sky+ and the installation for less than the installation price! I wasn't trying to be a tough negotiator, and it didn't even occur to me that they might be a little flexible on price rather than lose a customer, but I was tired, and I think I just got a bit overwhelmed with the all the costs associated with moving.

So if you do have a contract – phone, TV whatever, it’s worth asking them what they can do for you. I was polite and had been a good customer for quite a while now and so they offered me a deal which I thought was a good one.

Of course I then called BT (spoke to another lovely Scottish woman!) and they stung me for almost £130 to get a phone line put in at the cottage! Oh well... you win some, you lose some!

I managed to do all my moving house emails/telephone calls/letters yesterday and feel quite smug. Now there’s a job that takes longer than you can ever imagine. I thought my list was fairly comprehensive; credit card, bank, mobile etc., etc., but just when I thought I’d finished, I discovered a whole new list of people you have to notify; magazine subscriptions, charities, pet insurance...

Now to bed. I’m getting better but am still lousy with cold and now with added racking cough! We’re off to the Cotswolds tomorrow to spend NYE with some friends. Can’t wait!

Achoo!

I feel quite rotten today. Being a positive sausage, I think that’s because I’m about to get better – because you always feel worse before you get better! I’ve decided to take my beloved out to lunch in Dulwich and we have a friend popping over this evening. I may be planning a bit too much, but I’m getting bored of being in my PJs watching bad TV...

My partner has been a domestic goddess this morning and has made sweet potato bread and rocky road squares! Both of which I’m dying to try...

I finished one of my Christmas books, Barbara Stoney’s biography of Enid Blyton, already. I couldn’t put it down and will blog about it in more depth later. Needless to say, an excellent book that makes me want to read much more about Blyton.

And talking of writing, I’ve been giving very serious thought to giving up blogging entirely. I suspect it’s distracting me from more serious writing endeavours like finishing my third book. Who knows what the New Year will bring...

Holiday round-up

What a lovely Christmas, it’s been full of thievery, food, presents, love and laughter. Oh and a nasty cold!

The thievery, you won’t be surprised to discover was as the result of Pluto and Bess deciding to help themselves. First to an almost full box of maltesers (human chocolate is very harmful to dogs as some friends of ours discovered recently, but there’s not a lot of chocolate on maltesers and shared about between two large dogs with robust constitutions they were remarkably unaffected!), and the lamb bone from our roast! Bess is a master food thief and managed to pull down the roasting dish and share one large bone between the two of them...

This year we decided to have a Christmas on our own, at home. (Particularly poignant in light of it now being our last Christmas in our London flat.) It was the best decision ever. It’s been so relaxed. We got up when we wanted to, ate when we wanted to, opened our presents when we wanted to and went back to bed when we wanted to! It was bliss. Normally we host Christmas and plan to next year as well, and as fun as it is, it’s quite hard work! And as I’ve been suffering from quite a bad cold and my partner getting over one, it’s meant we’ve really been able to rest and indulge ourselves.

We got some amazing presents and my partner made a big fuss of my birthday. She made me breakfast in bed on Christmas day and on Boxing Day too. And then on Christmas day she bought all the presents in so we could open them in bed. It took her quite a while to bring them all through. We ended up with 4 piles; her xmas presents, my xmas presents, joint xmas presents and my birthday presents! I was in 7th heaven! People really indulged the big kid in me as well which meant I got lots of fun presents.

We decided to have lamb instead of turkey this year and started dinner quite late, but as it was only us, we could do what we liked! Dinner was delish and we had ordered an Italian pannacotta (from Harrogate in Yorkshire surprisingly!) to have as a desert rather than Christmas pud or cake which both of us find a bit heavy and rich. With strong coffee the orange and chocolate pannacotta was lovely!

We didn’t rate the telly very much over Christmas (although loved the new Wallace and Gromit!) so largely listened to new CDs and started to read our new books...

Boxing Day was equally relaxed and the leftovers tasted superb. And to be honest, we’re not doing too much this weekend either! In our defence, with the move coming up, we have a massive amount to do and need to shift these colds to do it all properly. We did have the energy to spend all our wedding vouchers on a gorgeous new bed and very, very expensive new mattress from John Lewis! I also bought a new 32” TV, a mixing bowl and a wallpaper border! I LOVE online shopping!

We did all our family visiting before Christmas, dropping off presents and catching up on news, although we now we have to make sure we see people again before we move as well.

My partner’s grandmother gave me some money for my birthday and Christmas and I spent most of it in a day on heirloom vegetable seeds for the new garden. I chose some flower seeds as well, but mainly it was all my favourite veg! I can’t wait to start planning what to plant and when.

Right now I’m still in my PJs and apart from needing to walk the dogs, I will be having a browse at some of the sales (need a fridge and a washing machine!) and then it’s more good food and more laughter. This has been the best Christmas and birthday ever!

Reflection

Life is indeed strange. I had a job interview about 3 weeks ago and it was the best interview of my life. I came out literally buzzing. I didn’t get the job. Yesterday’s interview went well, but I felt strangely flat and during the interview I waffled. I answered the questions well enough, looked smart and clearly had the experience and skills for the job, but just felt so tired afterwards... anyway, I got the job! You really can’t tell. I start mid-January and I’m over the moon. I was starting to get very anxious about money, especially in light of all the furniture we need to buy!

We pick up the keys tomorrow. I can’t wait! I’m just about to pack my bags – again! I’ve been to Cornwall three times in less than two weeks. I’ll be glad to cut back on the travelling but I don’t feel I can complain really, or if I do, you have every right to call be a selfish git!

New wife, new house, new job – this year really has been quite extraordinary. I’ve made new friends who have become incredibly important to us, we adopted another dog – and three chickens!, I saw Dolly Parton - a musical hero - live in concert, my mum got a great new flat and I finally feel I can stop worrying about her (well, worry less!). I’ve experienced happiness like I’ve never felt before, and we’ve twice had to deal with bereavement...

I know you’re only really supposed to mull over the year past, and the year coming around the 31st, but actually I don’t think there’s ever a wrong time to reflect and feel grateful. So I’m doing that today. The 18th December – happy new year!

Christmas and another road trip

Yesterday was very Christmassy. We finally put our tree up on Saturday night and it looks wonderful. On Sunday, we put the presents around the base of the tree... I suggested my beloved might want to put my Christmas and birthday presents under the tree but she has resisted so far...

Then in the evening we went to the Horniman Christmas fare and carol concert. The concert was in the bandstand and it was freezing! But it was good fun, it was the Crystal Palace band and the English Baroque choir and there was a huge turnout despite the weather. We had cups of tea and Christmas cupcakes and sung along to the bits of song or carol we knew!

Today I have to pack a bag – again! I’m driving down to Plymouth tomorrow afternoon to stay with friends because I have a job interview on Wednesday. Then I drive straight home after the mid-morning interview. Thursday I rest, catch up on chores and pack another bag and Friday morning drive to Cornwall to pick up the keys to the cottage! I’m going to be pretty tired by the weekend, but I’ll be in my new home so I don’t really care!

Ha ha part 2

Best house name ever: a cottage in Fowey called "Baggywrinkle"! Fantastic!

Funny ha ha...

Too tired to blog but two things I saw on my very long journey home today that made me laugh, a pimped up Volva in Bugle (Cornwall) on which the owner had written in large black letters down the side "The Gods Created Heavy Metal". And in Dulwich, a big sign outside a riding stables, "Free Poo Today!"

Made me laugh anyway...

Abbey is shit!

I hate Abbey. They have the worst customer service bar none. Loyal readers will recall previous problems with Abbey that resulted in them sending me a letter and giving me £160 as an apology. Well you would think that was the end of the sorry story but no, they seek new and innovative ways to piss customers off and they always manage to succeed!

There was a dodgy transaction on my card (no not porn, how dare you!) and Abbey called and said, do you recognise this, which I didn’t. So at least we know the fraud dept earn their pay cheque. They immediately cancelled my card and are sending me a new one. But what, said I, if I need money in the meantime? Go into a branch with your card or cheque book and one other form of ID and you can withdraw money said they.

So I did that today and they said, no you can’t!

The Sydenham branch of Abbey is the worst. There’s a woman in there that practically sucks her teeth at me every time I walk in because I had the audacity to be annoyed and say the service was appalling*. I queued up today, gave a bright and breezy hello, handed over my card and driving licence and asked to withdraw some money. The cashier told me I would need my cheque book, not my card because the card is cancelled. My response was, yes I know it’s cancelled, I just told you that! I pointed out that Abbey had told me that this would be ok, that I had valid ID – I also had other ID if they wanted to see that too – and previously when my card had been hit by fraud I had gone into a branch with the card and my driving licence and had had no problems withdrawing money...

But no, this time the rules had changed and no one could help. I would have to go all the way back home to get my cheque book.

The thing with Abbey is that I genuinely believe they don’t care. They are one of the biggest banks in the world and with banks and building societies going under left, right and centre, they know people will stay with them in the belief that customers, if faced with a choice, would opt for financial security rather than a decent service...

I can’t even change the account yet because of the mortgage being processed.

You know when you thought old people were a bit nuts for keeping their savings under the bed? Well actually they’re proving to be smarter than all of us put together!

*We tried to make an appointment, they told us they didn't make appointments, you just had to walk in. We walked in and they told us on two different occasions they couldn't see us they were (a) too busy (b) didn't have enough staff to serve us! We got so fed up with this that we called Abbey two months ago frustrated that we couldn't get an appointment at the local branch, and expplained we wanted to open up a joint account. They were delighted and said they would call us right back with appointment details. We're still waiting...

Sofa trauma

Today is all about the little jobs, post office, bank, car wash, that sort of thing. I’m driving down to Cornwall at about 9.30 tomorrow morning so I have to make sure everything gets done today. I also need to hide a stereo! My partner and I love listening to music but we don’t really have a very decent stereo. Not only that, we don’t have one at all in the lounge which means the TV by default, tends to dominate. So I splashed out on a lovely horizontal loading Phillips, which I have to somehow smuggle down to the cottage (not tomorrow but when we go down for Christmas) and set up without my partner seeing, so that we can listen to music when we go down! It sounds a little complicated I know, but I thought it would be a nice surprise. I’ll have to make sure we pack the Christmas CD! We only have the one... you can have too much of a good thing!!

The dogs are back on the sofa after what was, for them, a traumatic 48 hours. I decided to wash the sofa cushion covers and throw and so I wouldn’t let them get on the couch. In the vernacular of Vicky Pollard they kept giving me evils, as well as the occasional desperate whine, because I could sit on it but they couldn’t. As I patiently explained, when they can afford to buy their own sofa, they can do what they like, but until then, we call the shots. When eventually they could get back on, Bess (who suffered the most and I use the word in the loosest sense) fell into a very deep sleep and stayed asleep until I woke her up for bed!

My partner is away on business (she left Monday morning) and doesn’t get back until Wednesday, long after I’ve left for Cornwall and I don’t get back till Thursday. It sounds a bit soft, but it’s the longest we’ve been apart for years and we’re not enjoying it much. I think it’s healthy to miss someone though and it reminds you of how much you like being together which is nice. I’m making a stew on Thursday night when we’re all back home together. Only one problem, I’ve never made a stew before!

Dogs

Two interesting things happened in the park today. The park was quite busy with other dog walkers but we were all a fair distance from each other, I did notice however one woman looked at Bess a bit warily, and when we saw each other again, she stopped to talk. She straight out asked me whether Bess was aggressive. I was a bit taken aback and some people might think that was rude, but she’d asked me a straightforward question so I gave her a straightforward answer. No.

She seemed to sense that she’d been a little blunt (she wasn’t English and so may not have meant to sound so direct). At this point Bess decided to lean on her legs, wag her tail and demand to be stroked. The woman explained there was a group of young men that had been hanging out with “similar type dogs” and they’d been engaged in the sort of play that generally increases the levels of aggression in a dog and strengthens their jaws. I’d also seen them and had avoided them (I seem to recall that on one occasion I’d actually left the park and we continued our walk elsewhere). Whilst I don’t think they are training their animals to fight, they are clearly training them to make up for their own inadequacies such as small brains, small genitalia, parents that were related before marriage and heightened levels of aggression to make up for a complete lack of compassion and empathy for anyone or anything other than their own pointless lives.

We chatted for quite a while about Bess and Pluto and how, despite the awful start in life they both had had, they were fantastic pets. Not perfect – not by a country mile, but beautiful, loving and gentle. She seemed grateful that I had taken the time to talk and I was pleased that I put her right on her misguided belief that certain breeds (in this case Staffy’s) were inherently bad dogs. I’m not sure she was totally convinced but then it’s not my job to educate other dog owners that all dogs were created equal...

We then bumped into another walker and he started chatting to me as well! Unlike the woman (who’s dog, although not purebred, was purchased from a breeder), he also had a rescue – a beautiful white German Shepherd who seemed fairly bomb proof despite Bess getting over excited and barking right in his face! When the Shepherd was a puppy the owners threw him out of a moving car on the motorway. He broke a leg and dislocated a hip and it was a month before he was seen living by the side of the road and rescued.

We eventually carried on our walk but I was feeling very reflective. Humans consistently fuck up – sometimes through ignorance, other times through cruelty and sadism – and animals (and of course other humans) bear the brunt of this. If our dogs can forgive and forget we’re grateful but actually, if we’re really honest, we expect them to anyway because we don’t like dealing with the problems caused by others. And besides, shouldn’t these animals be grateful that they are no longer being brutalised? We’re the good guys; we’re the ones adopting the dogs no one else wants? That, apparently, makes us special.

But if dogs don’t manage to get over what was done to them, if there are problems, we blame them. In extreme case, we blame the entire breed. But what we don’t realise is that actually we’re fucking up all over again because our chronic lack of self awareness means that we continue to perpetuate the problems that allow dogs to be mistreated and used as accessories. We’ll take the side of the humans, even when those humans do bad things, because dogs are lesser creatures, they’re not human and we are most definitely the pack leader – in name if not in deed.

There should be quite simply better dog laws in this country. If a dog is suspected of being toughened up for fighting (even if not professional fighting), it should be taken and the owner banned from keeping pets for life. There should be huge fines, which if cannot be paid, immediately revert to a community sentence. No extra paperwork, no long delays: can you pay this fine? No. Then you have a 100 hour community sentence effective immediately.

There should be more dog wardens and a freephone number displayed where people walk their dogs which will get you through to a local dog warden who can immediately respond to incidents and problem behaviour. We should also be looking at the conditions in society that cause people to think they need aggressive, volatile dogs. Because believe me, if someone is deliberately cruel to their dog, or uses it for fighting, that won’t be the only thing they’re doing wrong. Scratch the surface and I guarantee you’ll find other crimes including, often, domestic violence...

People often say to my partner and me how lucky Pluto and Bess are that we adopted them and care for them so well. I have to say, we’re also the lucky ones that they have such beautiful natures and don’t seem to hold us responsible for the terrible things that have been done to them. I’m honestly not sure I could be so forgiving.

If you go down to the woods today...

We decided not to go to the cinema last night and instead stayed in and watched Strictly Come Dancing and Merlin. We’re absolutely hooked on Merlin and it’s the best thing I’ve seen on TV in ages! We will go and see the film but last night just wasn’t the best time in the end.

I’ve been making a list – or trying to – of homemade Christmas presents. I know I will be making chocolate, biscuits and maple and walnut scones, possibly bread and possibly jam but who to give it to, and how much? Last year, the theme was the best of English, the best of French! So we did french chocolate, tea and preserve, with organic Satsuma’s, fresh homemade bread, mince pies and apricot pies. (We didn’t make our own jam last year, this year we will.) We only did it for about 4 people and it was very well received. People seemed to really value the time we’d put in to making up the baskets – and how tasty everything was!

I’m back down to Cornwall on Wednesday as I need to visit the cottage. Yay! When we saw the house the stairs to the attic room hadn’t been finished and the sale was on the condition of them being done. So the owners are letting me pop round on Wednesday evening to view the newly installed staircase – plus we have a list of questions we’d like to ask them. It will be the first time we meet the vendors so I’m looking forward to it.

Today we’re off to the woods with the dogs. We need to wrap up warm (which means Bess will be in her rather fetching sheepskin coat!) and take a flask of hot chocolate. All of this means I need to get a move on – there’s housework to do before we leave, and I haven’t even had a shower yet. So toodle pip for now...

The secret life of surveyors reports...

Because I’m a little stressed...oh alright, very stressed with buying the house my partner went out this morning on a mysterious mission. She came back with a goodie bag for me! An enormous and very beautiful bunch of flowers, a comic (ahem, clearly that was a mistake because I don’t read comics...), a de-stress face pack and a card telling me I how much she loved me. It did the trick! It was very sweet, thoughtful and loving and I appreciated it a great deal.

I feel a bit pathetic for being stressed because generally I’m a stoic little sausage that just gets on with the job at hand, but the problem with buying a house is that you fall in love. You can’t help it. Intellectually you deal with the practicalities of buying a house – not least that it might fall through, and that it is, at the end of the day, only bricks and mortar. But your heart is having none of it. In our heads we have already moved in and if for some reason that couldn’t happen, we would be simply devastated. So that’s where the stress comes from; wanting something so badly and wanting it all by yesterday!

We’re reading the surveyor’s report today. Not to be recommended for light bedtime reading. But our surveyor (JP Baldwin) is excellent and as far as possible, the report is accessible and easy to read. I would imagine there are some surveyors that couldn’t give a monkeys that you yourself weren’t a structural engineer and therefore didn’t understand a bloody word of the report. But this firm seems to actually care about its clients. Shocking concept I know.

We’re also making a list of furniture/things we need: bed, mattress, washing machine, fridge freezer, dishwasher (!), chest of drawers, sofa bed and some fencing. I’m not sure whether you were interested enough to actually want to know what’s on our list, but there you go...

Bess – having been prevented from raiding the chicken food – is much better this morning and hopefully we’ve seen the back of the excessive wind problems. No pun intended. We all had a lovely walk this morning and now we’re all squashed onto the sofa: Pluto and Bess asleep and my partner and I working on paperwork.

Tonight we plan to go and see the Secret Life of Bees. I bought the book in San Francisco a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it, as did my partner when she read it after me, so we’re determined to see it at the cinema and are keeping everything crossed it’s just as good!

Dog farts

My partner made an important discovery this morning. The cause of Bess’ upset stomach and loud and smelly wind problems. She’s been eating chicken food at night! When we go to bed, she goes to work...

My partner discovered the hole in the bag she tore and it also explains why she’s often not that hungry or keen on her breakfast. Ironically I've been making her scrambled eggs to calm her stomach!

We will be putting the food in a Bess proof container forthwith!

Oatey goodness!

I just made some oat, apricot and pecan bars! I’m really pleased. They’ve not cooled down yet but licking the spoon was a lot of fun! Really easy to make and unlike the cereal and health bars you get in the supermarket, these aren’t full of crap and sugar. There’s not that much sugar in these – the sweetness comes from the honey. I’ll make some more when we move down to Cornwall and distribute some to our favourite Plymouth neighbours ;0)

Moving

My day started a little earlier than I intended! We got the Pickfords quote the other day and it seemed very high and not quite as competitive as I had hoped. So I decided to get some other quotes which is generally a good idea anyway. So this week I have three other companies coming in to do quotes – one on Monday, one today and one tomorrow. Today’s appointment was booked for 12 noon, so imagine my surprise when he showed up at 9.30! Anyway, I can’t be sure that in the chaos that is my life at the moment, I didn’t write down the wrong time. And he was the perfect gentleman. I was still in my pyjamas and he offered to wait in his car until I was more suitably attired!

I have to say, at the moment, the customer is definitely king. I would like to think that was due to improved standards in customer care and service over the years and good training, but I think that whilst that’s true, there’s also a little bit of a scrabble for your business at the moment. We are very much in the minority buying a house (as well as getting in professional movers – when things are tight, it’s one of the first costs to get cut. People try and save money by moving themselves.) Either way, I am very impressed with the good service from 3 out of 4 of the movers and after tomorrow’s visit, maybe 4 out of 4.

I finally finished my job application last night. I took so long to do it. I would literally open up the application and then go on the internet, or walk the dogs, or watch some TV. But eventually there was nowhere to hide, not if I wanted to meet the deadline and so I finally got a move on. I think I’m a little fatigued when it comes to applications. I’m not approaching them with the same zest and zeal that I was six weeks ago! Let’s hope I get this job and I can have a break ;0)

We heard yesterday that we might even complete before the 12th and this morning the final part of the mortgage was approved. From what I can gather (and feel free to comment if I’m wrong) there are 3 parts to the mortgage process where things can go wrong and potentially you can fail to get a mortgage.

1. Mortgage in principle: this is obviously not binding and you can do it before or after finding a place. You go to a bank or broker and they take your details and agree in principle to give you a mortgage.
2. This is formalised after your offer has been accepted. This is the point where they want the ins and outs of your life since forever and where a lot of mortgages can fail if they uncover bad or undisclosed credit history. This stage is a big deal and once this has been done, it’s unlikely – not impossible, but unlikely you will have any further problems.
3. The mortgage is approved by the underwriters. Between stages 2 and 3 you might be asked for some more details – maybe bank statements etc. But once you’ve got past stage 3, you’ve got a mortgage baby! Then the mortgage confirmation goes to your solicitor who can close the deal.

We have passed stage 3! So from the solicitor and mortgage people thinking that completing on the 12th was very tight and maybe not possible, they are now saying it might happen even earlier! Good stuff, eh?

We were chatting in bed last night that despite how stress-free this process has been (in relation to how stressful it could have been), we’re still stressed! Don’t underestimate how draining buying a house can be.

Finally if you want a recommendation for a broker (and I would always choose a broker over going straight to a bank or building society) then London & Country are brilliant. A broker will search for the best deals on your behalf and they shouldn’t charge you for this service – they charge the mortgage provider. We’ve been very impressed with the efficiency and customer service at L & C.

Anyway, enough of all that, I may not have a job application to do today, but I do have a million other things to do!

Christmassy

Yesterday was very Christmassy. I opened the first window on my advent calendar. I wrapped most of the presents (the rest I’m wrapping today) and I posted our cards, including to such exotic locales as Australia, New Zealand, the United States, France, Germany and Slough...

And it’s only 23 days to my birthday. I will be 35 on Christmas day! So it’s perhaps not surprising that I love December so much!

We heard back from the surveyor last night – a few small issues but otherwise the cottage is in very good order. Not surprising really, it was built in 1847 and it strikes me that the older the building the better quality, and more solid it is. Our mortgage company called to say they are also fairly confident about completing on time as well. So whoever is keeping their fingers crossed for us, thank you, its working! We’ve also now agreed what furniture we want to buy including the impressive dining room table and chairs – hand made locally in Cornwall I believe.

So now I have to crack on with my job application which, I was supposed to do last weekend. Now unless I do it today, I miss the deadline....no more excuses!

Ding dong the bells are going to chime!

Two of our dearest friends are getting married and I’m very excited. I’m an old romantic and I think marriage is brilliant! They got engaged tonight and over the coming days, weeks and months, I presume they will set a date. We actually set a date quite quickly; we thought a year was perfect, not so long that you’re forever waiting, but not so quick that we couldn’t save the money we needed.

Ironic isn’t it, there are people in the world that will tell you that gay marriage or civil partnerships are fundamentally wrong, and I think I could counter that with a pretty intelligent, compelling and persuasive argument that not only is gay marriage not wrong, but that those that claim it is, are flawed human beings implicit in the fragmentation and disengagement of society and the abuse of young people. But I won’t bang on about all that now, I will simple pose the question, when are adult relationships based on love and happiness, trust and respect ever wrong?