Sunday, 12 September 2021

The gas man cometh - UPDATED

Well, he sent a sub-contractor, who cameth and wenteth away again, leaving the job incomplete, because British Gas don't provide sub-contractors with the parts they need to clean the magnetic filter.  True to his word, sub-contractor Charlie ordered a further visit, and they have written offering a date that is inconvenient (incidentally requiring us to be at home on the day from 08:00 to 18:00).  I have spent close on an hour yesterday and today trying to reschedule the appointment.  I shut down the web site enquiry after a half hour of 'Loading'.  After a quarter of an hour on the phone, I got as far as an offer to visit some time in November, and hung up, resorting instead to a major snarl on Facebook, which got results last time.  We shall see.  [Later: I eventually remembered that I’d had a Messenger chat with British Gas in response to my last Facebook rant about them.  So I found the earlier thread and fired off a message.  This got results quickly.  It just emphasises the uselessness of their telephone and website booking machinery.]

On a happier note, we took a ride down to Hastings the other day, and sat having our sandwiches on the shingle beach.  Quite a few intrepid souls were in the water, and of course the herring gulls were interested in anything edible.  The fun really began when a fishmonger dropped a box of fish offal at the waterline!  We spent a week's pension on plaice, haddock and a dressed crab, but they'll make at least four meals between them.

A while ago, I ordered a couple of bedside cabinets from Dunelm, which debited the account promptly, but defaulted by a good week on the delivery date.  In the meantime, when I rattled their cage, they apologised, promising a goodwill gesture once we'd reported the delivery.  Well, yesterday morning Hermes delivered not two but four bedside cabinets.  Assembling the first one was, even for a regular IKEA expat, a sweaty experience, but once we'd got the hang of it, the production line fair whizzed along. We can accommodate all four, so have thanked Dunelm for their generous goodwill gesture, somewhat tongue-in-cheek.  [Later: after various conflicting messages from Dunelm, we get to keep the two extra cabinets.  Good, eh?]

The new mower has had its second outing.  I find that I can amble along fairly comfortably using its second gear (one up from the tortoise symbol, the fourth being a hare!)  It does the job rather better and more quickly than its predecessor, well though celui-ci served us for 11 years.  Cutting our grass demands less than half a charge.  Martyn, meanwhile, is making with the strimmer round the edges. As for other domestic preoccupations, two loaves and a batch of smoked salmon palmiers have just come out of the oven.  We may have fishy-tasting toast this week.

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