No T.V

What a relief, today there has not been a delivery of a Television thank goodness.
Yesterday I received my renal form for a tax disc for the coming year. As you know, everyone who has a car has to show a current tax disc, also when applying for a renewal, one has to produce a valid Insurance Certificate. I was happy this year because last year I bought an eco friendly car so my duty for the year is NIL. My last car was about £170. I do believe that they altered the charges based on the emissions of the car. Mine being an eco friendly produces less than 100 particles so is exempt from duty.
I also went to have my hair cut. I think I must be getting forgetful because I always have to take my spectacles off and I put them on a shelf. When I got up from the chair, I paid the guy and left.
When I got in the car, I started it and turned into the sun, I thought my eyes were deteriorating badly because I could not see the speedometer at all. The low winter sun pouring in to the car. I bat I went the best part of 1/2 a mile before I realised I had left my specs in the barbers. I hurried back to the barbers, there they were where I had left them.
I must admit my sight was somewhat better for wearing my specs.
I then went to the local dispensary to pick up my prescriptions up but sadly for me, one is still not available and the nurses there told me that the substitutes that Dave(Louth Hospital) had suggested were not suitable for me. Not surprised at all.
Managing to produce a little electricity, still waiting for British Gas to contact me. More soon.

T.V time again

Well I couldn't believe it. Around lunchtime the doorbell rang and once again it was a delivery man trying to deliver the said Television. I told him the whole saga and told him that I had told the guy on Friday what had happened. I asked him out of curiosity where he had come from. He told me Nottingham. That is about 80 miles away. I was surprised as I expected him to say Lincoln. Anyway, I will wait and see what happens next as he told me he would pass the information on to his superiors.
The doorbell rang late in the afternoon. It was the lady from next door, the one with the chickens. She asked me if I would help her round up the chickens as they were proving a problem for her. I of course helped her, they were a little reluctant to go back in their pens and as it was getting a little dark, they soon went into their coops ready to roost for the evening.
I think reqally she asked me to help as an excuse as I had an offer from Saga Magizine to give someone a years subscription for £1. I told her to give me her full name and address, this she gave me today so tomorrow I will go and post the application form.
I am having trouble with the internet, not enough speed, whether it is me with perhaps a virus I don't know but to write this blog, I have had to go offline to load this page. Sad I know but true.
If I find it is my provider I will tell them in no uncertain terms just how I feel and threaten them with an official complaint as this is not the first time this has happened.
Finally for my American friend. I apologise profusely. A chip buttie is a common snack especially in the norht of England. I must try to remember in future. Mind you, I laughed like anything at your comment. More soon.

Much improved

Yesterday I felt much better in general, however I now have a heavy cold with an irritating cough.
I would have wrote about it yesterday but as I had just gone online, I had a phone call from an old employee and he asked if it would be O.K to call and see me. I of course agreed. I decided to do a chip buttie, something I rarely have, but I decided to have one too. I do them in the oven with a coating of olive oil. Anyway it went down well with him, a couple of biscuits and a couple of coffees.
I think I mentioned about a delivery of the dreaded T.V. Well today once again the guy tried to deliver it to me.
It never ceases to amaze me. British Gas contacted me just before Christmas full of apology for the way I had been treated and that a Gas Service Engineer would call and service my boiler in January and gave me a date and an A.M time. The service engineer never appeared. Yet I did not ask for the T.V to be repaired and delivered back to me but in 2 days, I have had the said T.V delivered to me well attempted to be delivered. Yes once again today the doorbell rang and it was the same guy. He was apologetic and told me he would NOT be calling again.
By the way, for the first time since I have had solar panels installed, I managed to produce just 2 kw. hours. So there is hoe for me yet. Mind you, the FITT team have not got back to me since they requested some form of identity. If it takes as long to reply this time as it did to contact me from my initial registration, I will not be having any news for a couple of weeks at least.
I will of course keep anyone who is interested, fully informed.
It is talking of a sunny week end so hopefully I will do reasonably well generating some electricity. More soon.

Not too good

Yesterday I had a dreadful day. I have never felt so ill in ages.
My eyesight was blurred and I culdn't pee very well at all. I felt dizzy and sick all morning. However later in the day, I gradually improved so that at tea time felt well enough to have a bite to eat.
I normally go and get my State Pension and get my shopping done but not yesterday though. I did manage it this morning and although I am not 100% I will accept how I feel everyday.
Just had an e-mail from the Television Company telling me they were delivering me another T.V tomorrow 12th January. Just replied and told them that I have cancelled the order so I do not require another T.V. When will this saga end.
Phone call. It is from an old employee. Mind you he worked for me as a young lad until he was in his early 20s. Went chasing a lass. I told him that she was not for him and unfortunately was proved right, but after a divorce and a while on his own found a nice lass and the long and short of it is that they were married and have 2 girls. Mind you they are more or less grown up. One as I think 21 and the other 18. He now lives in Exeter so do not see much of him. He is going to his Aunts funeral tomorrow so will come and see me. He told me he will be here in about 30 minutes time. It will be nice to see him as I haven't seen him for just over a year. I must now stop what I am doing and get him something ready to eat. More soon.

Is it me?

To be honest I have not been 100% for the last 3 weeks or so. This virus seems to almost go then it comes back with a vengeance. This has happened today and to be honest I have felt a little under the weather. Let us hope that tomorrow will be a better day.
To compound this, I was supposed to have a free service from British Gas this morning. As it seems to be at the moment, nobody came and no explanation was given. I don't think I will bother again as it seems to be a waste of time.
I forgot to mention it but I asked my mate if he saw a set of scales, with or without any weights. It is primarily for my bread rolls. As I get a little older I don't seem to have the ability to evenly portion dough pieces.
Well my mate told me he had digital scales and he though I had. I told him I had so out they came. Unfortunately the battery was flat. I don't know what you would call them but they are flat like a smaller size of a 10p piece.
When I went to see him on Friday, I was fortunate because he had bought one for his girlfriend. He fitted it and gave me the scales.
last night I decided to bake a batch of bread rolls. I only do about 18 maximum at a time as it is the proving and cooking of them that limits me.
Well, like an idiot I mixed the dough then when it came to weigh the individual portions out, I turned on the electronic scales. When I switched it on the scales went to 8888 which is normal, then went to 0, then it started to go haywire. Just like the T.V I bought. I couldn't believe it and stared in amazement. I then put the scales away. The next time they come out will be when my mate looks at them. To be honest, I think they will be beyond repair. Had I felt good I would have probably rung my mate up but I guess there is no hurry as I generally only have 1 roll a day. Let us see what tomorrow brings. More soon.

Visiting

This morning, with a smile on my face because the sun was shining, I went to see my mate in Skegness. As anyone who bothers to read my blog will know that he usually comes to see me once a fortnight but for the last two months or more, his Mother has been ill and as he is the official carer, he does not stray far.
Anyway, he is good to me and I give him my order which he gets from the local supermarkets and if he sees anything he thinks I want he will get it, only if it is the right price.
Well, when I rung up last night to let him know what I wanted and what time I would be there, he told me he had bought me a Phillips Digital Radio and the price was only £15.00. I told him that it was great and the price was certainly very cheap. He told me he had got one for himself and one for his lady friend.
I arrived there just before 10.30am. Went in to see his Mum and wish her A Happy New Year. She was in good spirits and that was nice to see. I told her I was having a bit of smoked haddock for my dinner today, she then told me that her other Son had bought her her Christmas dinner, she then told me she had chicken brussel sprouts roast potatoes and peas. Christmas pudding as a must and she told me that he also bout round a sherry trifle. That was nice of him. He has recently managed to find another lady. His partner of some 14 years died a couple of years ago. I told his Mum that this was the best news I had heard for ages as he was not the type who would live alone happily. I think he is about 54.
My mate showed me the cooker he bought. Looks great. He told me this woman had bought it but wanted to go back to gas. He got it for about £150. It is A rated, but with his solar panels facing south he is doing very well. I get about 50% of what he is managing but I am not too worried. All I am waiting for is to see what tariff I will be on. I will of course keep all who are interested informed.
I purposely never stay too long. From experience I find that the old folk who are not too well like to see you but for not too long. They then look forward to seeing you again.
Anyway my mate set up the radio for me, I just stayed for a few more minutes then off I went home. I purposely looked to see how many solar panels were fitted to other houses. NONE. Well I didn't see any anyway.
The first thing I did when I got home was to see how much electricity I had generated. Not a lot but I produced more than the last 3 days put together. I finished up producing about 1.0kw Hrs.
The other day I set some broad beans in pots in my greenhouse, so I will have something to look forward to theses coming weeks. I do expect however some winter weather before too long. But as I have always said, the days are gradually getting longer so winter if it comes next week will not last as long as if it had arrived a week ago. Enough rubbish for now. More soon.

What a performance

I can't believe all that has happened these last 3 weeks or so.
It is hard to believe but I wrote to Comet Customers Service so many times that I told him that I regarded us as Pen Pals. He he he. To his credit, he did get things done and today, yes today the T.V has finally been picked up and I have been reimbursed.
Mind you, I had another episode. With the Customers Service there is a help line . I foolishly decided to call them. The first message was that I would be charged at 10p a minute plus my normal providers charges.
As you would expect there are menus to go through and eventually I managed to talk to a young lass called Sarah. Very nice too, of course I had to explain everything to her and then she tried to find me on the system. Was I surprised when she told me there was nothing on the system? No. She then put me on hold, well it seemed an eternity but I think it would be no more than 5 minutes. When she came back she told me that someone would call me later that night and explain why no pick up had occurred and why I had no had a refund. needless to say, no call was made to me.
However today January 5th just 21 days after ordering the T.V it was picked up. Thank goodness for that.
Now to my Solar Panel saga.
I registered, well that is not exactly true, the installer registered the system for me. I did the following day, check up to see that all was O.K and was told that out of 10 he was 9.99 sure all was well.
Today, yes today almost 4 weeks after registering, I had a letter. Where do I start. It was questions. I really think they wanted my inside leg measurements. Questions like. As you are not a British Gas Customer we want proof of who you are and where you live etc. Send a passport or driving licence, utility bill and other proofs of being who you are.
I wrote a nice letter telling them that I was an old man, I have never heard of anyone disbelieving me. I told them that I did not have a passport and at my time of life had no intention of having one either. So I am at present in limbo. What a start to 2012. Such is life. More soon.