Service

This morning I got up early for two reasons. The first was I had to get my car in for the Service and MOT by 8.30am. The second reason was that my Italian friend together with his wife was meeting me at about 9.30am. and then bringing me back to mine for a drink and a talk, thus making the wait for the service and MOT  a lot less of a hassle. So I had time to prepare all my vegetables before hand so all I would have to do was cook them when I managed to get home after the Service and MOT.
 I managed to get at the Garage just before 8.30.am and told the guy that his Father-in Law would be meeting me about 9.30am. and that I was going to do a little shopping.
 Off I went at a slow saunter making my way to the local Butcher Shop. I was not sure when they opened but I thought it was 9.00am. I was wrong because I arrived a little before 8.50am and they were open. One of the partners informed me that they opened at 7.30am. This rather surprised me anyway I bought a Pork Pie, some sausages(best) some stewing beef, a lamb chop the one with the least fat and some lambs liver. In total around £15. I then strolled back to the local warehouse where my colleague who is Railway mad works. Unfortunately I didn't find him there. I bought some scones and a swede and after talking for a few minutes made my way back to the garage. The time though was 9.05am. I had some 25 minutes to kill but noticed my car was coming out of the MOT place. The guy gave me the good news that the first hurdle had been completed and all was well. Now all it wanted was a complete service. A few minutes later the Owner got in the car and before he drove it in to the workshop I asked him how long it would be, he replied that it would be near Noon when it would be ready. He also asked me if Pas, the nickname for my Italian friend had forgotten me. I told him it was not 9.30am. yet. I went out onto the street and all of a sudden the car with him and his Wife was pulling up beside me. His Wife immediately got out of the front seat, it being a 3 door and went and sat in the rear. I told her that I would sit in the back seat but she insisted that she sat there.
 Off we went to my home and I put the kettle on so we could have a cup of coffee. It was great to see that she had improved a lot. She told me she had been given some electric shock treatment and so far the improvement had been dramatic. Let us hope it keeps that way.
 Around 11.00am I suggested that they go and get their shopping done but Pas insisted that he would wait another 15 minutes just to make sure I didn't have to wait around when they dropped me off.
 Sure enough I arrived back at the garage around 11.40am. and the car was ready. I paid the man and travelled back home arriving soon after Noon. Then started to get my dinner ready. I normally eat around 12.30pm. today though it was a little later.
Around 2.45pm. rang Calor informing them that the Bulk Tank was around 5% full and the switch over to bottles was now ready and at their convenience. The lady informed me that most probably this would happen some time next week but she would contact me with a day. So now I wait, just as I have been waiting for my repeat medicines. I took the repeat prescription in on Tuesday. Normally it is here the next day, sometimes the same day. I bet I have to contact them. Bother! More soon.
Wow!!! The doorbell just rang it was the delivery man with my repeat prescription. He just told me he had got stuck in someone's drive as it was muddy. He had an awful job getting out of the drive. By the way, it is raining now so I don't suppose he will be pulling into their drive anytime soon.

Door fixed

I was surprised to find the door bell ringing just after Noon on Friday. I must say the Guy did telephone me stating he would be at mine between Noon and 2.00pm.
 As soon as he arrived he knew what was wrong and had a piece of sealing with him. He informed me that he had come across this situation the odd time before and thought the cause was because the fitting of the door had been too tight. The bottom piece of seal just clipped off and a new piece was fitted within a couple of minutes. He then told me he would adjust the door so hopefully this problem would not occur again. He was gone within 10 minutes so hopefully all will be well from now on.
 I had a word with the young Guy next door asking him when the fence would be done as it looked like a glorified Builders Yard. He told me that he would be busy with the door which soon should arrive. It is a concertina door that stretches the full width of the extension. I reminded  him that the door would be fitted by the Company who was supplying it. He readily agreed but then said that he had to do all the interior. With this I decided to cover my raised beds with some wood that I managed to salvage from the fencing I had replaced. My mate had cut them in half. Anyway I have been busy for these last few days starting to box them in. I have noticed that many of the lengths of wood are in a very poor state but hopefully will get sufficient to do 4 of my raised beds.
 I must admit the weather theses last couple of days have been kind to us on the East Coast, not at all on the West Country and South Wales, they have had the brunt of dreadful weather and to be honest there are no signs of it improving soon.
 I rung my Italian friend last night. To my surprise it was his Wife who answered, it was nice to hear from her as she has been ill for some time. The long and short of it is, that both will meet me at his Son-in-Laws Garage on Thursday morning and bring me back to my home where we will have a coffee and chat thus making it much better for me as waiting in a cold draughty Garage for about 4 hours is not recommended. More soon.

A telephone call

To be honest I had given the Company, who fitted my window and door, up as lost for they have messed me about so much.
 Well on Tuesday I rung the Company up and was answered immediately by a young lass. I told her what had happened and she promised me that the message would be passed on.
 Sure enough about an hour later I had a phone call from a Salesman asking me what I would be having done to my property next. I told him I would be having nothing at all until my door which had developed a fault in November last year was mended. He told me he understood and that a guy had my details and would be contacting me later that day. I wasn't disappointed when nobody rung me as it was what I had expected.
Surprise of surprises! a few minutes ago the guy contacted me and told me he would be calling on me tomorrow afternoon. We will see.
 I did have the bottles of LPG delivered yesterday as promised and now it is up to me when the fitments are done and the disconnection of the bulk tank is completed. I expect that by next week end I will contact Calor and have the gas switched over.
Today has been, once again a dreadful day but one mustn't grumble as we haven't had the flooding like lots in the Southwest have had for several weeks. Solar has been next to zero. A couple of days ago I generated 70 watts, today it was even worse just 50 watts. Still things can only get better.
 I did go to the local Garden Centre and get 4 bags of soil based compost, my mate tried to get some but was informed that it would be about 1 month before they had any in. Anyway I have set a few potatoes in tubs so hopefully they will have a head start on those that will be set in March.
Finally saw the Postman friend and gave him a packet of Savoy seeds, they cost me only 50p a packet. The postage was just £1.15 for 5 packets of seeds so well worth getting. More soon.

A member

I went on my usual travels today. Namely Pension, T.V magazine and shopping.
 I went to the Co-op and waited patiently whilst the man on the checkout was generally talking to each customer. When it came to my turn, I asked him for a couple of plastic bags. Normally I take my own but not this time.
 The man was friendly and asked me if I had a members card. I replied that I had not. It was the first time anyone has asked me if I wished to have an application card. I told him I would like to have one.
 He left his check out and got me a card and told me it was the last one there. He also told me that it was easy to register online. I have heard things like that before but this time it was true.
 It took just a couple of minutes and had an e-mail a few minutes later informing me I was now a member of the club and my card would be with me within  10 working days.
 Later in the morning the phone rang. It was the sales man from Calor, he informed me that all was progressing but I think what he really wished to inform me was that the unit price for each bottle was not as he had quoted me but another £2 a bottle. I told him that this was O.K.
Early this afternoon I had a call from the Calor Agents. I was told that the 4  bottles  would be delivered tomorrow and the price would be £6 above what I had originally been quoted. I pointed out the fact the Salesman had informed me this morning that the original price he had quoted was not acceptable to the Agents and a further £2 a bottle would be accepted. I was then asked to hold the line while this was being checked. After a short time she informed me that this was fine.
 It was at this time she told me I had signed up to a direct debit but unfortunately they did not accept this. I had several alternatives given to me Pay by debit card, pay the driver cash or cheque or go on a budget plan and pay a set amount each month.
 I informed her I would pay by debit card and immediately paid in advance for the 4 bottles.
 When we ended the conversation I checked to see if I had any messages. Sure enough I had one. It was from Sally from Calor. She was checking to see if I was alright for fuel and it was her that had arranged for the delivery. I then told her that I would contact her, probably late on next week to arrange to have my bottles fitted and the bulk tank disconnected.
 So it looks as if all is now more or less sorted.. More soon.

Apologies

First I must apologise to a blog reader. He sent me a reply to one of my posts and unfortunately for me I didn't notice it until yesterday and it was because I hit a wrong button that I finally checked some of my recent postings. The gentleman will know who I am referring to and I humbly apologise for my ignorance.
Now back to normality.
 I was watching the early evening news on BBC, well not taking a lot of notice as I was trying to do something else. Why? I don't know as I am not capable of single tasks let alone multi tasking. Anyway it was this Woman who was talking and to ne honest I didn't understand a word she said. I know that I am going deaf and my eyesight is not good but I was sure there were no subtitles. I started to laugh thinking to myself if this is the start of my complete decline. I laughed so much that tears ran down my face. Eventually I managed to pull myself together and I could hear what was being said by all other spokespersons.
 I went to watch the 10.00pm news on BBC and one of the items was once again this Woman. I specifically listened hard to what she was talking about but once again I couldn't understand what she was saying apart from the odd word and I mean the odd word. It turned out that the woman was in fact Nick Clegg's Wife. As she is, I believe  Spanish it made me feel a lot better but I guess he is used to how she speaks.
 I have not gone completely though because yesterday my mate came and the day before there was  Peer on the Lunchtime Politics Show. When I saw his name it immediately rang a bell. My mate had told me a few years ago that this Peer who he has known for many years when he was living in Lancashire. He contacted him and the Peer asked him if he would like to travel to the House of Lords for a guided tour. Both he and his Brother had a most enjoyable day. He did tell me that he saw several Peers including Betty Boothroyd and a prominent Irish Lord. He told me that they went and had coffee and a sandwich. I can't remember if he said they had a cake too but the total cost was £1.80. That was for the three snacks. This was about 6 years ago. He said it was subsidised. For that cost very heavily subsidised.
 What I decided to do was video the clip with the Lord he knows and as it was raining heavily yesterday morning I put it on for him to see. I told him I was sure this was him. As soon as he saw it he confirmed that it was Tony, that is what he called him. I was pleased I had managed to video it for him to see. He told me he looked a little older. 6 years or so is a long time when one is getting older. He thought he would now be around 70 years of age.
 The rain did relent after 1.00p. so we managed to cut up a lot of wood. He bought a sort of electric mitre saw. Although we had about 80 pieces of wood. 5ft long and about 9" wide he managed to get them all done in about 20 minutes. A good afternoons work, as all I wanted was them to be cut into two equal lengths. More soon.

At last

On Monday, the man from Calor contacted me and asked me if the next day was possible to meet me. Naturally I told him that there was no problem at all.
Tuesday morning was very frosty and foggy. I had cause to go see a colleague at the warehouse and take him the Railway book he had lent me. I also gave him to read a book which told about the last days of Mablethorpe Railway. Before that I parked up and went to get my Pension and my T.V magazine. Off I set and immediately found my rear end of the car starting to slide, it really was slippery. Even more so when I parked in the warehouse parking area so I took it steady. I managed to get back home without any trouble.
 I thought about the man from Calor because it was still frosty and foggy at 11.00am.
 I received a call a little later and the guy told me he was in Boston and would travel to me. I told him it would take around an hour.
 It would be around an hour later when he arrived at mine. I found out he was not from this area and was working  here because of the guy whose area it was, was on sick leave. He was less than impressed with the rural roads and many tractors that travel around making travel a bit of a problem. This was especially so as it was foggy and vision was severely diminished.
 He looked at where I proposed to have the gas bottles and agreed with me that it was a good position and no problems should arise at all. We then had a long talk about things in general. He told me that he had been to University and had run up debts of many thousands of £s but he would eventually manage to pay off his debts.
One thing he did tell me was that I must not put any wooden protection as this would be a fire hazard. This being so I have decided to leave the bottles open and he was happy with this suggestion. Eventually he left and had to travel back to Stoke, a journey I would not envy him at all.
So now I wait for the change over from my bulk tank to my bottles.
While we were talking the door bell went. It was the man who had delivered the Compacter(whacker plate). He told me that originally it was supposed to be here for 1 day but a phone call told him that it had been extended. I did inform him that I was relieved to see it go for it must be an expensive commodity and I was worried in case it would be stolen but now all is well. I still have sand, cement gravel and fittings etc. but this doesn't worry me at all. More soon.

The very latest

I must admit I expected Calor Gas to contact me and sure enough this happened. I have said this before, they have been most helpful and this morning was no different.
 The lady first asked me what was happening  so I filled her in with all the details. First telling her that as far as I was concerned it was a no go especially as the engineers told me that the barrier had to be sited 1 meter from the tank, this meant it would be nearly 6 feet on to my driveway and would look an eyesore. I then informed her that I would like to have gas bottles instead of the tank and that as I had signed a 2 year contract would of course honour the agreement and would pay. After the 2 years or even before the 2 years was up they could remove to tank but I would keep using the bottles.
 I was somewhat surprised at her remark, she was sue they would not charge me for the 2 year period if I was not using the bulk tank, she went on and asked me if it would be alright if she contacted the Bottle representative to come and give a quick survey as one of the engineers had noted that the site was suitable for the installation of gas bottles.
 I readily agreed with her, she gave me the guys name and that was that. Well not quite because she then told me to contact her if I got low on LPG and she would arrange a top up. I thought that was very considerate of her.
 About 30 minutes later I had another phone call, this time from the area representative saying he had just received an e-mail. He asked me where abouts I was, then was very apologetic because he couldn't get to me until Monday. So hopefully I will finally be getting somewhere. More soon.