Am quite looking forward to tomorrow evening. We're going to see Deacon Blue in Oxford! Now there is a throwback to the 80's! (well, I think it was the 80's, can't really remember, might have been the 90's!!) Anyway, we're off for a spot of nosh before the gig, and then to listen to the pop-like tones of the Deacon Blue's for the remainder of the evening. Should be good I think! Much singing along to real gone kid, or whatever it was!! (well, probably more humming cos I don't know any of the words!!)
Will try and get a few things done on the house for the rest of the weekend. Don't seem to have progressed with the living room as much as I'd have liked to, and still can't find bloody floor tiles... Was going to play football sunday morning, but haven't really been feeling too good this week, so not sure running around like an idiot (which is apparently what I do) for a couple of hours is really a good idea. Will have to settle for MOTD2 on sunday and a firm eye kept on Gilette Soccer Saturday!!
Hey ho!
Friday, 23 November 2007
It's a worry...
A friend at work, Ian, today had a bit of a heart/chest thing going on. Whilst doing an interview in the conference room he started getting chest pains, so Simon (another guy at work and a long term friend of Ian's) rushed him off to Warwick hospital sometime just before lunch. I don't know all the details, but it sounds like they did a wotsername scan thingy and couldn't find anything, but he's staying in overnight anyway, so they can keep an eye on him.
Makes you think really. Am not quite sure how old he is, but can't be more than a few years my elder, so probably mid to late 30's. Is a little worrying. Not really sure how fit he is, I kind of get the impression that he's about average cos I know he goes to the gym a few times and week.
Just made me think that's all, so I thought I'd write about it!
Makes you think really. Am not quite sure how old he is, but can't be more than a few years my elder, so probably mid to late 30's. Is a little worrying. Not really sure how fit he is, I kind of get the impression that he's about average cos I know he goes to the gym a few times and week.
Just made me think that's all, so I thought I'd write about it!
Monday, 12 November 2007
So called celebs...
Just thought of something. That bloody I'm a celebrity thing has started again. Gets worse every time. Annoyingly addictive to watch, purely because you get to see a bunch of complete nobodies, who probably had a career way back when, having to endure a relative uncomfortable holiday in the jungle. There's some bloody awful yank ex-model on there this time. Total biatch, needs a damn good kick up the backside if you ask me. All talk and no substance of course, but that's nothing new.
It's a pretty sorry attempt at a program, but I suspect we'll be watching it every night because Rach loves it. Would rather watch James Bond or something myself!!! (although watched the pilot of Journeyman the other day, which wasn't bad. Might watch a few of them and see if they're up to anything...)
S'it really!
Night night!
It's a pretty sorry attempt at a program, but I suspect we'll be watching it every night because Rach loves it. Would rather watch James Bond or something myself!!! (although watched the pilot of Journeyman the other day, which wasn't bad. Might watch a few of them and see if they're up to anything...)
S'it really!
Night night!
It's been aaaaaaaaages!
...since I put anything on here, so thought I should write something. Not quite sure what I have to say really, but I'll think of something...
So, what's been happening? Well, we're off to Edinburgh this weekend. Am well chuffed with the deal we got on the hotel. It's a dead swanky 4 star place just off the royal mile. Rooms are normally £300 a night, but somehow we managed to get a deal at £205 for 3 nights!! Not quite sure, and took a lot of doing, but we got it! It's the Holyrood Hotel (http://www.holyrood-hotel.com/). Anyway, we had great pleasure once we'd booked it in winding up our friend Gary, who is being a cheapskate and wanted to stay at a travel inn, so we made out we'd booked him into a carbon neutral hostel (even sent him a link to the site) which was a right dive!! Kept him on the hook for a good few hours with that!!
The only down side is that we're flying out of Brum international at 6:55 on friday morning. Stupid time of the day, but the flights were only £2.99 (plus taxes - another £50 in all!!) so not a bad deal really. Looking forward to that.
Other than that, nothing much else is happening really. Work progresses, still hate recruitment companies, but work is actually pretty good. House progresses, a little slower than I'd like at the moment. Is hard to get motivated in the evenings, especially when I need to do things outside and it's bloody freezing!
Oh, birthday on monday. Have been really struggling to think of anything that I want for my birthday. Has been annoying everyone, cos they keep asking. But I genuinly can't think of anything (well, nothing which wouldn't cost an arm and a leg!) Of course I'm also struggling to think of anything to buy anyone else for christmas aswell. Bloody nightmare this year, I've just got no idea.
Right, well, that's a really boring post! Must remember to do little posts during the day or something, when I think of something to write...
So, what's been happening? Well, we're off to Edinburgh this weekend. Am well chuffed with the deal we got on the hotel. It's a dead swanky 4 star place just off the royal mile. Rooms are normally £300 a night, but somehow we managed to get a deal at £205 for 3 nights!! Not quite sure, and took a lot of doing, but we got it! It's the Holyrood Hotel (http://www.holyrood-hotel.com/). Anyway, we had great pleasure once we'd booked it in winding up our friend Gary, who is being a cheapskate and wanted to stay at a travel inn, so we made out we'd booked him into a carbon neutral hostel (even sent him a link to the site) which was a right dive!! Kept him on the hook for a good few hours with that!!
The only down side is that we're flying out of Brum international at 6:55 on friday morning. Stupid time of the day, but the flights were only £2.99 (plus taxes - another £50 in all!!) so not a bad deal really. Looking forward to that.
Other than that, nothing much else is happening really. Work progresses, still hate recruitment companies, but work is actually pretty good. House progresses, a little slower than I'd like at the moment. Is hard to get motivated in the evenings, especially when I need to do things outside and it's bloody freezing!
Oh, birthday on monday. Have been really struggling to think of anything that I want for my birthday. Has been annoying everyone, cos they keep asking. But I genuinly can't think of anything (well, nothing which wouldn't cost an arm and a leg!) Of course I'm also struggling to think of anything to buy anyone else for christmas aswell. Bloody nightmare this year, I've just got no idea.
Right, well, that's a really boring post! Must remember to do little posts during the day or something, when I think of something to write...
Saturday, 3 November 2007
I should change the blog name...
...to "The recruitment company haters blog"...
They're at it again! So last week, coming to the end of my first 4/5 week period (they're approximately monthly) whereby I submit an invoice to the recruitment company, I get my timesheets approved and submitted to the recruitment company, they invoice the client, the client pays the recruitment company, then finally the recruitment company pay me (after taking a big fat chunk for their greedy fat faces).
Or at least that's the plan. So Olly (at work) and I hadn't heard anything about how to get the timesheets approved so I rang them up to ask. I fill out my timesheets online, so I naturally assumed that Olly would be able to log into the same site and approve them as and when required. How foolish of me! I ranted a little at their incompetency and generally stupidity before finally being told that I had to print off the timesheets, get Olly to sign them (like they know what his signature looks like) and then fax them to the recruitment company.
Does that seem like an efficient solution to you? No, me either...
Anyway, I got this all done, and got Lorraine to fax the timesheets back. That was 3 days ago. According to the website they're still unapproved. So I ring up to find out why they are delaying. Am told that they're not approved because Olly hasn't logged into the website to approve them!!!! ARGH!
So what Iw as told before was complete bollox. Who knows wether what I'm being told now will turn out to be accurate or not. Who can tell with these fucking idiots. So apparently now Olly will be emailed details of how to log into the site and approve the timesheets. Maybe my invoice will get paid sometime this side of the end of this millenium...
...so I really do hate recruitment companies. I hate how much money they make for doing absolutely nothing accept profiting from my hard work. I hate how utterly stupid they are. I hate how utterly incompetent they are. I hate how someone with absolutely NO IT savvy or knowledge can recruit IT staff. I hate how they lie and cheat their way through life. I JUST HATE THEM!
...oh, and the recruitment chap wants to meet for lunch next week! Well, I'll have a free lunch if he's paying, but he can expect a frank and unedited version of my feelings towards his company (although I think he's already getting that impression - I wonder if he's trying to butter me up a bit by buying me lunch?! He even had the cheek to ask if I knew anyone else who HE could put forward for jobs!!! Ha! TWAT!)
They're at it again! So last week, coming to the end of my first 4/5 week period (they're approximately monthly) whereby I submit an invoice to the recruitment company, I get my timesheets approved and submitted to the recruitment company, they invoice the client, the client pays the recruitment company, then finally the recruitment company pay me (after taking a big fat chunk for their greedy fat faces).
Or at least that's the plan. So Olly (at work) and I hadn't heard anything about how to get the timesheets approved so I rang them up to ask. I fill out my timesheets online, so I naturally assumed that Olly would be able to log into the same site and approve them as and when required. How foolish of me! I ranted a little at their incompetency and generally stupidity before finally being told that I had to print off the timesheets, get Olly to sign them (like they know what his signature looks like) and then fax them to the recruitment company.
Does that seem like an efficient solution to you? No, me either...
Anyway, I got this all done, and got Lorraine to fax the timesheets back. That was 3 days ago. According to the website they're still unapproved. So I ring up to find out why they are delaying. Am told that they're not approved because Olly hasn't logged into the website to approve them!!!! ARGH!
So what Iw as told before was complete bollox. Who knows wether what I'm being told now will turn out to be accurate or not. Who can tell with these fucking idiots. So apparently now Olly will be emailed details of how to log into the site and approve the timesheets. Maybe my invoice will get paid sometime this side of the end of this millenium...
...so I really do hate recruitment companies. I hate how much money they make for doing absolutely nothing accept profiting from my hard work. I hate how utterly stupid they are. I hate how utterly incompetent they are. I hate how someone with absolutely NO IT savvy or knowledge can recruit IT staff. I hate how they lie and cheat their way through life. I JUST HATE THEM!
...oh, and the recruitment chap wants to meet for lunch next week! Well, I'll have a free lunch if he's paying, but he can expect a frank and unedited version of my feelings towards his company (although I think he's already getting that impression - I wonder if he's trying to butter me up a bit by buying me lunch?! He even had the cheek to ask if I knew anyone else who HE could put forward for jobs!!! Ha! TWAT!)
Tuesday, 30 October 2007
Local Councils, Local Government, Central Government... They're all S@#T!
Serious gripe time I'm afraid. How's this for a story...
My folks live in a street where there is very little available parking. They are lucky enough to have a driveway where they can house a couple, if not three cars, with a gate at the front, and a lowered curb. From time to time annoying
people park in front of the gates, so you can't get out (or in). Usually it's someone in the pub next door, so popping in there to get them to move isn't too much of an issue.
Anyway, a few weeks ago, at 7:30 on a sunday morning, for no apparent reason (certainly not requested by my parents) some workmen turned up and put a single yellow line accross the gateway. All a bit bemused by it, but weren't going to complain. It didn't actually stop people parking there, but no harm done...
A week later, at about 7:30 on a sunday morning, some workmen turned up and burnt the yellow line off the road surface. Again, rather bemused at the whole thing really. But hey, no harm done...
A week later, at - yep, you've guessed - about 7:30 on a sunday morning some workmen turned up and painted two large white lines, parallel to the curb, about a cars width apart, with a large white cross between the lines, thus marking off the spot as a parking place completely. Utter bemusement!! No idea why this keeps happening, but again not going to complain. Bit unsightly, but it actually has stopped people parking there.
So, the other day, my dad ventured outside to see a strange woman in an orange overcoat pacing around outside the gate. Dad approaches and asks if he can assist in any way. "Do you live 'ere" she says."Well yes" replies my dad. She continues to say that she is from the council, and apparently she's been looking for the white lines for months!!! (My dad did point out that they'd only put it there a week or so before, but this seemed to have no impact). It turns out that the lines (both yellow and white) were intended for the end of the lane the other side of the pub. All of 20 yards away!!
"Well, I better ring them up and get them to come and remove it" she says.
"There's really no need..." says my Dad, "... we don't mind it being there. Seems daft to pay to have it removed if it's not doing any harm"
"'Ave you paid for them?" she asks, "Well no, we never requested them. How much do they cost?", "£50" she says. "You wanna pay for it?". "Well, no, not really" says my Dad, "as I explained we didn't ask for them to be put there in the first place, so I don't want to pay for it".
"So I'll ring them up and tell them to come and remove them then, and I'll also book them in to come and put the lines in the right place aswell..."
Now, is it me, or is this woman, a complete f*@#ing twat?! Surely the cost of removing this thing it going to be greater than leaving it there? Of course Dad pointed this out, and that actually, as the council are paying for it, it's the tax payer who ultimately pays. She didn't give a flying wotsit of course, a) because she's too thick to know any different, and b) because she doesn't get paid to care that the general public (including her I hasten to add) will foot the bill for such utter incompetence and stupidity. It just makes me so bloody mad that these idiots are not only in a position to spend our money, but they rarely, if EVER make a good job of doing so! AND the bastards keep upping our sodding council tax year on year, above the rate of inflation, in order to pay for these monumentally dense decisions. BASTARDS!
I can't possibly put down the words as to how angry I am at this stupidity and incompetence, as no doubt I'd be stricken from ever using blogger again!! But needless to say I'm not a happy bunny. I'm disgusted with the current 'government' (that word is really not appropriate for them...), disgusted with the local 'government' (again, inappropriate) and utterly horrified with the local council (now that's an appropriate word, cos in my book it means a bunch of useless fatcats who sit around ensuring they get a decent pension).
Comments very very welcome! Please come and rant about similar stories. I'll not go into Oxford Council's decision to a) lay the same road in the city centre with paving not once but twice at the cost of millions, and b) pay £80,000 (yes, eighty thousand pounds) for 10 (count them, TEN) benches, each of which is uncomfortable and inappropriate to the city setting...
I could go on, but I won't, because this post is far too long already!!
My folks live in a street where there is very little available parking. They are lucky enough to have a driveway where they can house a couple, if not three cars, with a gate at the front, and a lowered curb. From time to time annoying
people park in front of the gates, so you can't get out (or in). Usually it's someone in the pub next door, so popping in there to get them to move isn't too much of an issue.
Anyway, a few weeks ago, at 7:30 on a sunday morning, for no apparent reason (certainly not requested by my parents) some workmen turned up and put a single yellow line accross the gateway. All a bit bemused by it, but weren't going to complain. It didn't actually stop people parking there, but no harm done...
A week later, at about 7:30 on a sunday morning, some workmen turned up and burnt the yellow line off the road surface. Again, rather bemused at the whole thing really. But hey, no harm done...
A week later, at - yep, you've guessed - about 7:30 on a sunday morning some workmen turned up and painted two large white lines, parallel to the curb, about a cars width apart, with a large white cross between the lines, thus marking off the spot as a parking place completely. Utter bemusement!! No idea why this keeps happening, but again not going to complain. Bit unsightly, but it actually has stopped people parking there.
So, the other day, my dad ventured outside to see a strange woman in an orange overcoat pacing around outside the gate. Dad approaches and asks if he can assist in any way. "Do you live 'ere" she says."Well yes" replies my dad. She continues to say that she is from the council, and apparently she's been looking for the white lines for months!!! (My dad did point out that they'd only put it there a week or so before, but this seemed to have no impact). It turns out that the lines (both yellow and white) were intended for the end of the lane the other side of the pub. All of 20 yards away!!
"Well, I better ring them up and get them to come and remove it" she says.
"There's really no need..." says my Dad, "... we don't mind it being there. Seems daft to pay to have it removed if it's not doing any harm"
"'Ave you paid for them?" she asks, "Well no, we never requested them. How much do they cost?", "£50" she says. "You wanna pay for it?". "Well, no, not really" says my Dad, "as I explained we didn't ask for them to be put there in the first place, so I don't want to pay for it".
"So I'll ring them up and tell them to come and remove them then, and I'll also book them in to come and put the lines in the right place aswell..."
Now, is it me, or is this woman, a complete f*@#ing twat?! Surely the cost of removing this thing it going to be greater than leaving it there? Of course Dad pointed this out, and that actually, as the council are paying for it, it's the tax payer who ultimately pays. She didn't give a flying wotsit of course, a) because she's too thick to know any different, and b) because she doesn't get paid to care that the general public (including her I hasten to add) will foot the bill for such utter incompetence and stupidity. It just makes me so bloody mad that these idiots are not only in a position to spend our money, but they rarely, if EVER make a good job of doing so! AND the bastards keep upping our sodding council tax year on year, above the rate of inflation, in order to pay for these monumentally dense decisions. BASTARDS!
I can't possibly put down the words as to how angry I am at this stupidity and incompetence, as no doubt I'd be stricken from ever using blogger again!! But needless to say I'm not a happy bunny. I'm disgusted with the current 'government' (that word is really not appropriate for them...), disgusted with the local 'government' (again, inappropriate) and utterly horrified with the local council (now that's an appropriate word, cos in my book it means a bunch of useless fatcats who sit around ensuring they get a decent pension).
Comments very very welcome! Please come and rant about similar stories. I'll not go into Oxford Council's decision to a) lay the same road in the city centre with paving not once but twice at the cost of millions, and b) pay £80,000 (yes, eighty thousand pounds) for 10 (count them, TEN) benches, each of which is uncomfortable and inappropriate to the city setting...
I could go on, but I won't, because this post is far too long already!!
Monday, 29 October 2007
A tile too far...
We're trying to find 6" square quarry tiles to match the existing tiles in our house. This, it would appear, is an impossible task! The tiles in question are inch thick old, dark red (victorian red I think) clay tiles. I have, thus far, found only one tile which comes close to being a match, and that is a Daniel Platt Ferrolite red tile. Great, I can just buy some... NOT! Daniel Platt went bust about 3 years ago and now it seems their tiles are rarer than hens teeth, so I can't source any of them.
I found a website which had some tiles which looked like they might be a good match. So I ordered 3 samples, from 3 different ranges. They arrived today and are basically nowhere near! All modern tiles appear to be a much more orange red, whereas the ones we're trying to match are a more purple/brown type red. There is another tile on their site which may be a decent match (named as Victorian Red) but they're octagonal!! So I've sent them an email to ask if they could source the same tile in 6" square size. We'll see...
Other than that I have no leads at the moment, and the only other option I can see is to rip up the existing floor and replace it entirely!!
Oh, the reason I need these tiles is that we knocked out a wall in the house which had behind it an outside loo, and a pantry. The pantry was tiled, but the outside loo was not. So I now have a decent sized area of concrete in the living room which rather needs tiling!!
Other than this I'm progressing with bricking up the doorway (from the pantry) and plastering the walls in the living room. Must also get hold of some fire resistant board to box in the RSJ...
...I digress...
I found a website which had some tiles which looked like they might be a good match. So I ordered 3 samples, from 3 different ranges. They arrived today and are basically nowhere near! All modern tiles appear to be a much more orange red, whereas the ones we're trying to match are a more purple/brown type red. There is another tile on their site which may be a decent match (named as Victorian Red) but they're octagonal!! So I've sent them an email to ask if they could source the same tile in 6" square size. We'll see...
Other than that I have no leads at the moment, and the only other option I can see is to rip up the existing floor and replace it entirely!!
Oh, the reason I need these tiles is that we knocked out a wall in the house which had behind it an outside loo, and a pantry. The pantry was tiled, but the outside loo was not. So I now have a decent sized area of concrete in the living room which rather needs tiling!!
Other than this I'm progressing with bricking up the doorway (from the pantry) and plastering the walls in the living room. Must also get hold of some fire resistant board to box in the RSJ...
...I digress...
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