Spent a good chunk of the afternoon yesterday on the phone to First Utility, who for the last three years supply me with electricity, gas and inflated estimate bills that they send to me in duplicate as they have me with two different customer account numbers. To try and make that simpler, they have issued a third account number and decided that I ( Read more... )

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Right, so the man from First Utility came to change the leccy meter, because this was going to sort out the gas meter readings' problem.. I think that's how it goes. I'm beginning to lose track of this mess.. ok, guy turns up at the same time as a pupil does for his lesson. Guy from FU looks at the meter and says "but this has already been changed ( Read more... )

Well, it's been a funny week.

Got a new toy. Yes, that one... no, not that!. It's fantastic so far ( Read more... )

Reading the hundreds of articles in the contract for the new flat, it turns out that apparently I've agreed not to request a resident's parking permit (except disabled permits). As there is no parking in the building, this means I cannot have a car. This is a major problem as it would greatly diminish my income, and I've already signed and given ( Read more... )

It looks nigh on impossible that I'll be getting the mortgage to buy the flat, even though I have a 48% deposit and the amounts required are tiny. There is one more thing to try but I'm not holding hope. At least this time I got an explanation on what is happening. Back to plan B. Or C.

Pronoia: “the delusion that others think well of one, the unreasoning belief that your superiors think you are indispensable, that your colleagues adore you, and that you are doing brilliantly in your work"
a word coined by Fred Goldner, in an article in Social Problems (1982) -nicked from a music theory site.

... Earthquake in Italy, in a region where some of the Italian side of my family live. Have spoken to them and they are all well, although they had been worried for a young cousin who is a student in L’Aquila -where the Uni students’ residence hall collapsed, if I understood ok. She’s ok, though.

This day is bringing never-ending joy...

Apart from global warming, nuclear war, bioterrorism, grey goo, the asteroid and Gordon Brown,, one more thing to worry about, another doomsday scenario to come from the skies... killer plasma flares from the Sun..

.. that, like every year with the first cold snap, the boiler broketh down...