Water and Electricity Stupidity! (by sarah)

Grrrr!!!!

Well today I opened a letter from our electricity supplier - I wasnt expecting a bill as we have recently payed one. Unfortunatly two weeks ago we'd had our first meter reading since we had moved in - add this to the fact they hadnt changed us off of economy seven and I cant remember if I posted the letter asking them 🙁 We have a bill for £1000!!!!

This is a magnitude different to previous bills - it incorporates all the extra we havent been paying over the last yr that they didnt know about cos they hadnt read our meter 🙁

The economy seven is a right pain! Al works with computers - we prepear most meals at home - during the day! For those that don't know about economy seven it is a tarfir that changes less at night that standard but almost double! during the day.

This bill would have included all the excess from heating over the winter too. This was exceptionly high becuase a) we have no gas or oil heating and the fire only heats a small patch of down stairs. We only managed to put the thermal curtians, mum made, up towards the end of the winter - plus I didnt unpack synthia the carpet snake draft excluder until spring. Ontop of that we have no double glazing and we have found a couple of 1/2 inch gaps in some of the windows!

We are peed off with the gas people as we have been waiting for the quotes and stuff for over six months now - they came and did the free servey! We still want gas for cooking but we now thinking that oil central heating might well be the way to go!

I am slightly worried over the ecological-ness of our house at the moment 🙁

Still we phoned them up and have arranged to pay this nasty bill a bit every month though the household budget is now completely up the creek 🙁

The other stupidity is the water company - I could strangle them!

Now when the first water bill came it was obviously in Babaras name - I phoned them up and advised them of the change and who we were etc...

Bow I got one more bill and that was it - this was becuase for some reason they started sending our Bills to Babara - wrong address, wrong name. She kept phoning saying she had payed her bills - they look it up on the pooters and yes she has etc... but then another letter arrives and nother - she phones up each time - then one threaterning solicitors - then she noticeses that it our account.

I phone them up and they apologise and say they have taken our account off the 'bad' list and a new bill will be sent.

Then over a month later I'm thinking I've still not got a bill and lo! We go to feed the cats and sitting on top of the post at the Mill is a letter from the water company saying - with the wrong name but our adress - this again was threatening balifs and stuff - I have sne t the cheque off along with a peeved letter. But am still expecting the balifs to flipping kinock! Incompetance!!!!

What is wrong with the srtructures of these companies that this can happen?

ok thats all folks!

I don’t like carpets :-( (by alaric)

It seems I'm always having to try and clean liquids out of carpets.

In our previous place, there was carpet in the bathroom; cream carpet. With damp barefooted people getting in and out of the bath, plus the carpet often getting wet due to the leakage problems then being walked on, this meant it was a right pain keeping it dry and clean.

Then there's the problems we've had with flooding here, in our carpeted kitchen. Again, having a carpet in the kitchen is a bit of a pain, since it's a nightmare to clean if you spill anything.

And now we have kittens, who it turns out the mother of hadn't quite finished toilet training, so we're having to encourage one of them to use the litter tray. And I'm having to clean kitten turds out of the carpet... which isn't so bad, if a little labour intensive compared to the simple wipe/spray cleaning stuff/wipe again routine required when they go on a HARD surface; but when they pee on the carpet, all I can do is to keep making the carpet sopping wet with disinfectant-laced water and then sponge it up again a few times in the hope of diluting the urine in a greater mass of water, then trying to get most of it up again.

Ugh.

Gimmee tiles any day. With rugs laid down for comfort in places where we might walk barefoot, that can be easily lifted to be hosed down if they get mucky.

Jeans Crawling!!! (by sarah)

Last Thursaday thanks to David and Michelle Jean did some small amounts of crawling - add this to the kittens which Jean has been more than entranced by and well....

This morning she was loose on the carpet and not in her play pen - she spied the kittens and to mine and Als happy amazement, she made a bee line for the kittens on the other side of the room. She got a fair speed up too!

She got to the kittens who were stupid and sat there whilst she clumsily stroked them! I was suprised I thought she'd try and grab them but she didnt but she did get a bit heavey with them, resulting in them running away! I really thought I'd be dealing with a scratched baby but no - they appear to have a reached a mutial understanding - ie the kittens stay slightly out of reach. they all sit and watch each other;)

Today (by sarah)

Today I went for a walk, this was fanastic - approximatly a year ago I was in a wheel chair or bed bound, unsure as to weather or not I was ever going to see my child.

Today I remembered looking into the uncertainty of the abyss and how I came back from the brink.

Today I rejoiced in my slow amble.

Today I was the poet, the artist, the photographer

Today I saw buety in everything

Today I was grateful that I have a buetiful duaghter and that having a potentially fatal illness ment that I was in a hospital bed with Al by my side instead of going into London on that fatful day for so many - it could well have saved all three of our lives.

Today I sought out the meaning of me

Today I felt the explorer, the geologist, the scientist reawaken

Today I said hello to lots of random villiagers I met on my sojourn upon the common

Today I hugged my duaghter and read her a story and she was happy

Today I chased kittens to help them with thier house training and they were cute!

Today felt good

Today the sun shone

Today I remembered, and felt and planed for the future

Today I felt hope

Today I was free

Today I was happy

p.s. sorry guys I was just over whealmed by the buety I saw even if I did get bitten by a horse fly thingy - I took a picture of it and of the blood afterwards - I was in that sort of mood! hence you all have to read the gushy, moppy soppy emotions!

The Dead… Shrew? (by sarah)

Ok this probably isnt a good post to read if you are a)squimish b)eating.

We went over to feed the cats in the Mill yesturday when we noticed a silvery slime trail - so whilst Al was feeding the cats I was on my hands and knees searching for the culprit be it snail or slug - I was wearing my lovely LED head torch that Rob got me for my birthday, to help with the investigation. I spied something under the table and chair but it seemed it be a small rodent - a bit larger than the shrew I cuaght before but not mouse sized. So I got one of the cats spooms thinking that as it was probably something Tim had cuaght I'd put it with the rabbit I fell over earlier.

Once on the spoon it appeared to be moving so I brought it up to face level to see if it was injuried - It had not head and there was a gash along its stomache which was full of small white maggots 🙁 Now as some of you know I am petrified of maggots - snalis, spiders, toads, catipillars, snakes, scorpions, sculls - all fine - but maggots - especially meat eating maggots I just freak with 🙁 Al had to recue me but I still cuaght the escapies on the carpet - even if Al desposed of them!

Exorcist The Beginning

Sigh oh well - now we have kittens - I just hope we find any kills before they reach that stage! Oh and I didnt find the silver trial culprit either - sigh!