"Your life is an occasion. Rise to it"

Karmacat

Gill and Taxi, thank you :beer: yes, its very real - I wasn't exactly playing at it in previous years, but I certainly didn't get a sense of being ready to click the button, and I'd been letting client appointments creep into the time I've allocated to trading. I've revesed that "creep", and I'll be starting to trade from next Monday - this week, there's that list of things to do - as much admin as I can, build the table, see to the problem buddleia, that sort of thing.

The buddleia is very sad - the bit thats fallen onto the lawn is still alive, and the bit thats still upright is dead, stone dead - I have to cut it right down at the stump, I think, and thats a *lot* of wood to get rid of, but if I don't the bit thats still alive will get overgrown with grass (I have experience of that ) and I'll just see if it grows back healthily next year.

cherisong wrote: »

Hey KC not much time to post at the moment. Sad and lonely in a cardiff hotel room. Thought of you as I am right next to the Dr Who Exhibition.
Oh Cheri! I'm sorry you had a bad evening .... I know when I was away in hotels on business like that, I used to overuse the bathroom to the point of distraction in the evening, but even that can pall ..... I can't even chat on here back and forth in the evening, my connection just disappears hope you feel better today.
Re TV licence, no you just start paying from the month you decide to get one. Can start and stop if you sign up to pay monthly. As for the letters I just ignore them. I have put no tv licence option on website but they still send them. They are quite threatening to be honest so dont let them worry you. Apparantly it is the way they get people (even pensioners who dont have a tv) to pay up easily.

Aha! Thanks for this - this threat element sounds dreadful - if I was trying to cheat, it would scare me, but I'm not, so I don't care. I think what I'll do is coil up the aerial lead, and pack away the signal booster and freeview box, so any time they demand entry, if they do it courteously, I can show them.

Right now, I've allocated myself another 20 mins on here, then starting work.

redsquirrel80

Hooray for trading on Monday :T

Don't be surprised if the buddleia starts coming back this year - we used some branches cut off ours to build a bit of a fence round the veg patch, and even those are sprouting! The are persistent things

I had a totally different experience with TV Licencing - I told them I didn't use a TV, they sent me a letter saying "are you sure?" which I had to send back (or not send back if I still wasn't possibly..). They were supposed to come and visit but never did, and I didn't hear from them again!

rtandon27

Morning All!

KC - we had a problem here at work with the TV licence - but honestly their bark is louder than the bite!

The previous owner of the property had a TV repair business, so had to have a licence - when we moved in three years ago, a letter would arrive every month or so with threats that if we did not pay up, there would be trouble. Each time I sent it back saying we did not have TV. - Honestly what do builders need with TV?

Finally lost it and called them ready to give a mouthful, but the nicest woman answered the phone and said she would check the appropriate box on her screen - she also advised that we should just ignore any further letters! - lo and behold they have not bothered us since!

So moral of the story? - Don't get wound up by the rudeness that will appear through your letterbox!:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

xo
RT

PS - just realized you said you were starting trading on Monday!!!:j:j:j:T:T:T:D:D:D

Karmacat

Afternoon all! Just switched the computer on to check out the Health Ombudsman, for the complaint about my previous GP's locum, hey ho - appalling letter I received to my initial complaint, so I thought I'd take it further. And since I'm coming online, I thought I'd pop in here

Had one client in today, and thats it, which is good after yesterday's rush - I've been catching up on things - not exactly batching as per Timmy's recommendations, but getting rid of my backlog of stuff, which of course has to be done as I get further into it. I must say, I'm excited at the idea of batching my post and dealing with what comes in *immediately* (unless its in French, in which case I'll need a stiff drink to do that )

Anyway, its all going well so far. My to-do list is ginormous, which Timmy would disapprove of, but its more of a memory aid than "I must do this by such and such a date". Very easy to drop the ball - for instance, I need to pay French VAT by 30 April, and thats quite important!

Hey ho. Off to check out a few threads, then to the Ombudsman.

EssexHebridean

Wow - amazing what a boost a few days away gives you KC, you sound *so* full of the joys of spring now! So glad you had a fab time - Sounds like you got really inspired by having a good look at Liverpool too!

Another one here by the way giving a vote to having a look into your family history - Mum and I have been doing this on and off for a good many years now, and some of what we've found has been fascinating (A relative with the outstandingly fantastic name of John Morgan Thomas Slawson - for a start!). The internet should, in theory, make things easier, but in fact we've almost found the opposite - there are now a lot more dead-ends or false trails available to be stumbled upon, and you don't get the same reliance on gut instinct as you do when dealing with actual pieces of paper. I remember years ago at St Katherines House (?) ploughing through books and books of information even after it appeared I had found the right details simply because something didn't feel right about what I'd found - several hours later I stumbled across the correct bit of information and was proved right!

gilligansyle

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Wow - amazing what a boost a few days away gives you KC, you sound *so* full of the joys of spring now! So glad you had a fab time - Sounds like you got really inspired by having a good look at Liverpool too!

Can I just add that you've inspired me too KC. Having taken you round some places that were on my doorstep and I'd taken for granted, I have been looking at guided walks round the area.

Karmacat

Hi EH! Yes, I adore family history - most of it is English, but some of it is Irish, of course - I've yet to go there for research.

The break did energise me, incredibly so, and since I booked everything bargainously, it must only have cost me £110 or so. I'll certainly be doing that again later in the year, even tho I can't afford a full length holiday away.

It was tough to get going this afternoon after a break, but I did - phoned the ombudsman, after the download link for the form dead-ended, then went out for a walk to post the letters I'd written and found another footpath, then since its so beautiful, I managed to get straight out into the garden and tidied up the rubbish bags, and did another one and a half bags for the bin. My sad buddleia is still laying on the grass - the area outside the kitchen door, which in permaculture terms is zone zero, meant for easy access to herbs and whatnot, other things being equal, is actually overgrown with ivy, to the extent that I've pulled up a couple of dozen stalks that have come over the top of the fence and rooted in the soil - but because there's so many of them, they haven't rooted very deeply, thank heavens. I refuse to let things get out of control in this garden, though if anyone else looked at it they'd *say* it was out of control already :rotfl:



EDIT - Gill, just seen your post above! Thats lovely, I'm so glad - its a beautiful, beautiful city.

oceanspirit

Hi KC :wave:

You really have been cracking on with things this year and it's wonderful that the break has given you some more oooomph.

I used to get letters from the TV licence people and always ignored them (haven't had TV for 20 years) however when I was in hospital in '08 my friend opened a letter and was so horrified at the tone of it that she rang them up in a rage, terrified the poor man on the end of the phone and I've heard nothing since!

It's great that Tim's book is helping you to make so much progress. I think I need a big boot up the behind. Whilst I am doing well with the physical decluttering (my desk now has elbow room around the laptop ) but the brain decluttering is taking longer. I'm sure it will all come together eventually.

Not long to go 'til you're wearing your fab new dress at the wedding :j.

Lula-Hula

Sounds like another succesful day

Cant imagine not having tv with DD here, but I did go without for a couple of years back in the day ... when I had a social life

Karmacat

Hello Ocean! How nice to see you I haven't read any of Tim's book today, as such, I've been bashing away at the to-do list, tho its all very slow, especially to print letters, as nothing is connected up permanently, and I'm dodging between laptops.... but the patio looks better, and quite a few letters are written.

I'll see how the no-tv thing goes: I downloaded Total Wipeout, and I've been watching and listening to videos made by Stargate fans: people take a song sung by someone famous and substitute their own video - one of the funniest I've ever seen is that Geri Halliwell song, Its Raining Men - someone combed every Stargate episode and found every single scene with rain in it, it was very funny. A lot of three year olds were dancing round to it, apparently :rotfl: