The best bit is at the end.

Not the kind of worship I go in for!

Things ain't what they were

Over at Bloggertropolis Steve is bemoaning being 40. I connect with what he says except that he ought not to be feeling this way for another 10 years!

I would love to have my 40s again; I'd do things differently. Assuming I could have them again knowing what I know now, I'd get another job sooner.

Mrs TS and I realised, on Monday, that we had not noticed time flying by. Having just had our kitchen done we decided to buy new crockery. We were given a set we keep for 'best' (Christmas and visitors) and we use a cheap set from Argos the rest of the year. Although we have one everyday set, we also have a hotch-potch of plates, cups and saucers; time to consolidate and get one uniform set which is less cumbersome.

HOLD!

We ask only that a set of crockery have plates, side plates and bowls. Cups and saucers are useful too but can be bought separately.

These days one cannot buy 'a bowl'. They sell soup bowls, cereal bowls and pasta bowls none of which are the optimum size for the kinds of foodstuffs the Saw family eat. Were I to put my 2 Weetabix in one of the cereal bowls we have seen I should have to pour on far more than the amount of milk I usually have in order to dampen them. The bowl is too small for them to touch the bottom and be bathed in the milk; they are OK for cornflakes and the like.

When did this revolution in crockery happen? Where were we looking? When did peoples' eating habits change so radically that bowls have to be large enough to hold a lake of soup or deep enough to wash your hands in?

Where can I buy a Tardis?

Result

I had a phone call from Homeserve customer services today. They had played back the recorded phone call when I asked for assistance. I was, of course, in the right and the lady commented that the young man I had spoken to had 'struggled' to understand the fact I was indeed covered by a policy.

They say they will send me a cheque for £100 so I am quite pleased.

Fail

I failed this test!

I found it on here.

Stand up!

So a young boy refuses to stand up when his Head teacher enters the room. I suppose he has thought this through. The school will, presumably, be asked to write him a reference when he leave to get a job; he may also be sent on work experience before he leaves school and need a reference. What will they say about him?

What use is an oik who cannot follow simple instructions simply because it does not suit him?

We have a parents' evening coming up and our Head made a point of saying that staff should stand up when parents approach our desks for their chat. I have always done this without question (the reminder was for new staff).

This evening Mrs TS and I attended daughter #2's parents' evening and I noted that none of the staff stood up, except one. Furthermore the final teacher did not even offer her hand to shake, which I thought very bad form.

Oh how standards have declined in this country where everybody 'knows their rights' but few know their responsibilities.

Out with the junk

I have cancelled my Homeserve policy. What is more I have done a deal with British Gas. I have a Homecare agreement for the central heating (which we have used in years gone by and gets us an annual service). To renew this year was quoted as £18.82 per month. I have now included Plumbing and Drains cover which they offer and accepted a £50 excess for any repair. My new monthly premium is now only £15.50 a saving of over £100 a year now I have ditched the other mob.

Stuff you Homeserve.

It gets worse - much worse

We tried all the new appliances in the new kitchen today; they all work fine.

Last night I had noticed a tiny bit of water on the grouting between the floor tiles near the sink. It dried up. Today at 6.00 I noticed much more and opened the cupboard to investigate. Water was spurting from the soldered joint just above the stop cock. I turned this off and we cleared up. It was all under the units and washing machine and needed mopping up; how on earth it all didn't start earlier in the day I have no idea.

PROBLEM

We had (have as I write) no mains water and I didn't have contact details for the kitchen fitter. No matter, thought I, I am covered by a plumbing and draining insurance policy with Homeserve.

I dialled the number and the guy took my postcode. I explained the problem and he replied,
"This isn't covered by your Electrical policy".
"I don't HAVE an Electrical policy. Shall I give you a policy number?"

This didn't seem to work so he had to start again with the postcode and he said he had found the correct policy. After the same questions he said,
"You are not covered by the policy because your house is not uninhabitable."

I explained that we did not have any water which presented a health hazard in itself at which he offered me an appointment on Monday. I ventured that the print I was staring at told me that plumbing emergencies could be addressed by a man arriving at my door in 2 hours flat. He said he would ask a supervisor [I thought this a very good idea - a piece of my mind was ready to be shared] and I was put on hold. I heard no more.

As luck would have it we had engaged an electrician who knew the fitter and I called him for Pete's phone number. He was apologetic and said he would come at once. He then remembered that he had had a few glasses of wine and ought not to drive so we agreed upon a 9.30 Sunday visit.

So we are getting by with bottled water and the flushing loos using water in the loft tank [on an if it's yellow let it mellow basis].

I rang Homeserve back to check that they did have a record of my call and was told that I was covered. By this time (8.45) looking at a possible 2 hour wait and up to an hour of work when the guy arrived I decided to stick with the arrangements I had made earlier.

As you can imagine I was not best pleased and the incident has now been logged, given a reference number and I shall enjoy letting the customer service people know what I think next week.

This is not the only story of crap customer service I had had to endure this week.

SENTINEL

A while back, Halifax card protection service contacted me because they could not get funds to renew my policy. I needed to phone them anyway to change a few details so I did this at the same time.

At the end of the call I queried that fact that although he had asked me various security questions he had not asked for characters from my password - this is what I had expected. The answer was "Your details do not have a password but your wife's do". As Mrs TS has never contacted these people I was surprised and he tried MY password in her area and her maiden name; none of this worked. I asked him to get somebody to look into this and phone me back. They never did.

Eventually, this week, I called back and had to set up a new password as did Mrs TS. I was then given a reason why mine had disappeared, "It wasn't transferred when we upgraded the system". I was cross that I had not been told this before; perhaps they had needed time to work out an excuse.

I asked to speak to a supervisor not least to get a free month of policy because I had had to spend 10 minutes on a phone call (and pay for the call) to sort out their problem. No dice.

• What is this country coming to?
• Do these people want my business or not?
• Is there a credit crunch?
• How is it they can afford to piss people off so much?

What a week

I am extremely frustrated.

• I was ill last weekend and thought I had slept it off.
• I was fighting fit on Monday.
• Tuesday, I was OK although less energetic.
• On Wednesday cracks began to show and by lunchtime I'd had to resort to Anadin to keep going. I managed to get through the play rehearsal in the evening and left school at 7.30pm feeling dreadful.
• On Thursday I was able to drive in (at 7.30), knowing I only had a half day, but by 9.30 I felt terrible; I lasted until after period 3 (with more Anadin) and left at 11.00. I slept from 11.20 to 6pm. I had arranged to take Friday off. I spent Thursday evening setting cover and emailed it in.
• Friday I slept in and eventually got up, got dressed and sorted out a few simple money matters. I was starting to feel better. By the evening I was slipping back.
• I set the alarm for the usual 6.30am this morning and got up to phone the Deputy Head to say I would not be in today. I have been hot all day and unable to think straight.

I simply must go in tomorrow (although a colleague has offered to play the organ for me) and I must be in for the remaining 3 days of this half term.

I am just fed up of being ill.

There are two things which have made the week the more unusual.

Our kitchen was ripped out this week and the new one is practically finished. The fitter is excellent and we are glad we did not opt for one of the large DIY store kitchen offers.

I am on new medication and I have wondered if this is what has upset my system so much.

I had a phone call this morning to remind me I had agreed to ring in a quarter peal; I'd quite forgotten as my mind has been elsewhere and the kitchen diary was not in the kitchen, obviously.

What else can go wrong?

Still ill

Well I am taking a day off work tomorrow. I woke up with a very damp pajama top but I still went in to work; pretty soon I regretted this decision. I started to shake and shiver at 9.00. It was my half day but I had to get somebody to cover a break time duty and leave. I slept from 11.15 until 6pm. It's not good.

Still here

I am still here but have nothing to say except I wish I wasn't bloody ill! Whatever this was it came to nothing. Now, however, I have been sleeping for 3 hours each afternoon during the weekend and at the moment I am very hot having ached for two days.

I cannot afford to have time off as I need to teach the boys the songs for the musical and we are behind schedule.

Outlook

Having been an Outlook Express user for years I have moved to Outlook as I use this at school. However, there are things Express will do which Outlook will not.

[1] You cannot view the message source of an email [only I would want to do that] although you can get to see the whole header.

[2] It will not warn you if you are about to send an e-mail with no subject. I found a natty little VB routine which works a treat. It is HERE.

Poorly me

I'm pretty sure I now have a cold.

We broke up for Leave Out today, no school until Tuesday (and no weekend school or duties).

Buggeration!

Alternatively I could use the F-word: I always laugh at this spoof.

Poorly car

My car is ill again [it has done pretty well since last year] although I have to say that my computer has been replaced with a brand new one.

• The handbrake [on the car not the PC - try to keep up!] is practically useless; OK to park with but hill starts are scary.
• Also the rear struts need replacing. Annoyingly I had had two quotes £180 and £299 to do this work, with the first garage saying I need only actually have the faulty one replaced (£120) but the second garage saying what I have always thought to be the case, that shock absorbers and so on should be replaced in pairs. I have yet to have this job done as the MOT is not due until January.
  
• Finally the headlights are playing up. On full beam the left one didn't work last week (so I thought I needed a new bulb). On Wednesday neither beam worked then, miraculously, they both started working on Thursday. Today the left one is unreliable.

Perhaps I should buy a newer car to get me through the winter. Beans on Toast for Christmas lunch methinks.

Given that Tenon mansions is about to have a new kitchen, dishwasher and washer-dryer (current one on 10 years old), the money situation is a bit tight.