Cheery's country living adventure

Cheery_Daff

Morning MSE chums 😊

God, that was a long and packed weekend! Not had one like that for a LONG time! 

Bike ride on Friday, lots of tidying then Mr Cheery's family visited and we stayed out til late chatting around the fire.

Still here Saturday morning, then we had an exhausted day of loafing and tidying a bit and washing before I went for another bike ride.

Yesterday I got up early to join some of my old running club buddies for a run (first time I've run with anyone since lockdown and it was SO nice), then went to town to see another friend. It was SO hot, we got a sandwich and sat in the park, even that was too much effort. Finished off with a quick trip for a cuppa with another friend, and was exhausted and fit for nothing with a banging heat-induced headache by the time I got home 😮

Feeling slightly more human this morning although my legs do rather ache after all that exercise 😂

A couple of our visitors are still in their hotel up the road so we're going to see them briefly this morning before they drive home.

Not seen so many people for months, it's exhausting! Might have to go back to being a hermit for a week or two...

On the money side, things are certainly getting rather more spendy now... and of course I still don't have my new PIN number so I'll need to do a quick sweep of the accounts this morning to make sure the one I'm using actually has some money in it... 🙄

rtandon27

Cheery_Daff said:

...Not seen so many people for months, it's exhausting! Might have to go back to being a hermit for a week or two...

Wow Cheery - you did well surviving the onslaught of people! 😉  Going from zero to full throttle in the course of one weekend would tire anyone out.
I get exhausted just seeing people virtually for meetings & have been taking a 1/2 hour break after each one...
Dread to think what it's going to feel like once I'm back in the office with actual human beans - lol

Cheery_Daff

I know - some days I think I'll enjoy being back in the office, and other days... no. Especially not as we're all open plan and have to squeeze past each other's desks! 

Anyway. Quite the palaver this morning. I'd ordered a 1000 litre IBC to use as a giant water butt. The order form said delivery would be by 18 tonne lorry, but said they could send a smaller vehicle if access was likely to be an issue. I said it was - we had a narrow drive off a narrow lane, that we can't have a normal bin wagon, and sent them a link to the google street view of the turning into our drive. 

Just as we were leaving to meet out visitors this morning, the delivery driver rang, lost... I sent Mr Cheery to the cafe, and spent the next 45 minutes directing the lorry driver, eventually going to fetch him, and trying to work out if he could get his 18 tonne lorry down our drive (answer: no, clearly, which is why I'd suggested they send something smaller). Yawn. 

Anyway, he unloaded the tank at the top of the drive, and offered to drag it down. However, as he had no way of turning round and so had to reverse a good half mile out to the road, I figured I might as well do it myself, as I couldn't get out to the cafe until he'd got out of the road anyway... 

What a palaver. The poor man was quite harassed, and I'm not surprised when he told me the route he'd come - up a giant single track hill and across cattle gates (NO need for him to come that way but I certainly don't envy him doing that route in that lorry!!)

Anyway, the tank made it down the drive, and I made it to the cafe eventually... I was far less harassed than the poor driver - but having paid £58 for delivery I wasn't expecting to have to drag it the last 300 metres myself! 

Cheery_Daff

(I should point out I didn't HAVE to drag it myself, he was prepared to do it, but I wouldn't have made it to the cafe before our visitors had left if I'd had to wait for him to do that too. What should really have happened is they should have taken notice of what I put in my delivery instructions and sent a smaller truck!)

themadvix

Oh what a palaver indeed! I'd get on to the company and make a complaint - you might get some of your £58 back? I'm sure the driver shouldn't have to offer to drag it down for you.

Glad you made it to the cafe in the end!

Cheery_Daff

Thanks Vix - I wouldn't have bothered but I have now dropped them an email Not exactly *complaining*, but telling them that I wouldn't want the driver penalised if he was late for his next delivery because he'd been sent in an inappropriate lorry, and that neither of us should really have had to drag it down the drive, and asking whether there was a different way I should have notified them about our restricted access... 

So I probably won't get a refund. But at least he won't get into trouble, and maybe they'll start reading their delivery instructions... 

Their website does say something like notify them online or by telephone of restricted access - perhaps I was naive to think adding it to the delivery instructions when ordering counted as 'notifying online'??

themadvix

I think they should make it clear if that’s not the way to do it. Sounds like a wise email - and the company’s customer service will tell depending on their response!

Karmacat

I hate to say it, Cheery, but is the ibc container ok after all that?  They're in a metal cage, aren't they, so it should be, but ... here's hoping, anyway.

Cheery_Daff

Oh yes, it's fine - the cage is very sturdy! (The container itself is pretty sturdy actually but on this occasion was several inches off the ground anyway)

Cheery_Daff

So... a couple of money-related things to report. 

Finally got hold of the vets and paid them £21 for medication (including postage, but they haven't actually posted it yet so we're going to pick it up tomorrow, and I hope they'll refund the postage!) Anticipating having to pay another hefty amount to have poor old Bessie fixed up tomorrow too. Trying not to keep count. 

Had a letter from the LPG people - apparently my direct debit hasn't covered our use over the last 12 months, so they want either £790 lump sum, or to increase our monthly payments to £237   Honestly, LPG is SO expensive. I always thought our gas bill in the old house was expensive at £80 a month, but clearly that was nothing compared to this. I know we're at home a lot and have the heating on a lot in the winter, but really?? £237 a month?! 

With LPG you have to tie into a contract for two years (yes, I've checked, yes, it's pretty much all suppliers, yes, it's a complete racket, yes, I follow the MSE LPG thread). However, I *think* my 2 years is up this month (which they helpfully did NOT point out in their letter...) so I'll see whether switching has any effect. The problem I had when we first arrived here was that most of them fix a low price in the first year, then give themselves permission to increase it as they see fit in the second year, and because you're locked in, you can't do anything about it. 

Hey ho - some of them do a hefty discount at the start so we should at least be able to get cheaper than we are now (although it looks like we'll have to pay the £790 upfront if we want to leave them). I think next time I'll pay for it a tank at a time so at least we know what's going on...

Sorry, lots of ranting there! Nothing else MSE to report I think. Had a nice productive day of work today, so going to abandon it now and get out into the garden since it's not raining...