The to-do list grows and grows… It seems that the phone was just the beginning…
- One of the January storms decided it was our turn to be picked on. One fence panel was blown out and shredded enough not to be worth slotting back in. It’s still lying there on the back lawn, with the fence gap offering free access to anyone who cares to come. Not that anyone has! Once the weather settles a bit, I’ll look at replacing the panel ourself: it’s not a technical job, just that the panel is a bit heavy and needs to be lifted rather high above my head…
- The same storm (on a south-easterly gale) also gave us a rather large damp patch on the two corner walls of the living room. Never had damp before, so decided not to mess about and called in what seems to be a reliable outfit to survey/sort out. – Peter Cox (used to be Rentokil?). £270 for just the survey – OUCH! Apparently, rain had been blown through a passive vent, and walls will need replastering, along with bricking up the vent (which seems to serve absolutely no purpose).
Thought about trying a local firm to do the work, but none called back within a week, so sod it, arranged for Peter Cox to do it, even though the quote was for £2200+ – more OUCH… Did manage to get them to take off the survey fee, though, even though the report said it could not be refunded for the work we needed. Still going to be £2000, of course. Anyway, work to be done 4th and 5th of March. Fingers crossed… - The SKY box is becoming a right pain. Switching channels can sometimes take up to 10 seconds; keep getting “software error” almost every time it records, which freezes bits on playback (suspect internal disk is dodgy). And trying to fast-forward/rewind a recording is very jittery. I’m living with it at the moment as it’s such a pain trying to contact SKY, and their online recommendation means scrubbing all my recodings, which I can’t do yet. Also need to think seriously about cancelling SKY altogether.
- This is turning into a long ramble, so I’ll continue with summaries. Had a nasty virus for almost 5 weeks – not Covid, but a right bugger… Car brake light not working and took a week to fix as it needed a “harness”…Kitchen tap has a weird drip that seems to stop when it gets warm…Tooth filling come out – it was only done in October, trying to hold off till next checkup (April)… And finally, the silicone strap on my smart watch gives me a nasty rash so I’m just wearing it overnight – have to try nylon or titanium, I guess.
- On the possibly plus side, I’m hoping that we were subject to “discretionary commission” when we bought Doris back in 2012. I’ve lodged a formal enquiry (thanks Martin Lewis) with Toyota Financial Services which they’ve acknowledged. Just have to wait till September or whenever now I think.