Forever Starts Now

starnac

Absolutely! We were the same when we moved in. Didn't know where the meter was, then was told it was a smart meter so we didn't need to worry about taking readings. Then we couldn't find who supplied the gas/electricity! It was a nightmare. 

We also moved Local Authorities and that caused issues with our council tax. I rang the old LA, told them we were moving "fill the online form in when you move" they said! Excellent. Did that, they charged us council tax. I rang them again and got told to fill the form out again. I did and they charged us a second month! We are also paying the new council tax at this point! I rang them again and the lady said "just cancel your direct debit, that's the best way to stop the payments coming out of your account" She wasn't bothered in the slightest that they had charged us 2 months council tax even though I'd told them I had moved. She just said "we'll get to your form when we get to it"   

Hopefully they'll refund that money asap but I'm not holding my breath!

Cheery_Daff

Gosh, that's outrageous!! What a fiasco. Sounds a little like our bin fiasco - there was only one wheelie bin here, so I rang and ordered the recycling bins etc (and paid for them). They were delivered, and I put them out each week, but they were never collected - every week I had to submit a form to say they'd not been collected, and they had to make a special trip.

Finally after about 8 weeks, someone turned up at the door with a roll of blue bin bags. Turns out we're on the 'rural round', not the regular wheelie bin round, but nobody had bothered to mention it. 

Took a while to get them to come and collect their pointless bins and refund what I'd paid for them, but now fortunately all works as it should (when I remember to put the bins out, that is - difficult when there are no more organised neighbours within viewing distance!) 😂

These minor fiascos do take up a lot of time and energy, don't they??

starnac

Cheery_Daff said:

Gosh, that's outrageous!! What a fiasco. Sounds a little like our bin fiasco - there was only one wheelie bin here, so I rang and ordered the recycling bins etc (and paid for them). They were delivered, and I put them out each week, but they were never collected - every week I had to submit a form to say they'd not been collected, and they had to make a special trip.

Finally after about 8 weeks, someone turned up at the door with a roll of blue bin bags. Turns out we're on the 'rural round', not the regular wheelie bin round, but nobody had bothered to mention it. 

Took a while to get them to come and collect their pointless bins and refund what I'd paid for them, but now fortunately all works as it should (when I remember to put the bins out, that is - difficult when there are no more organised neighbours within viewing distance!) 😂

These minor fiascos do take up a lot of time and energy, don't they??

Wow Cheery. What a nightmare! Yes, the minor ones take up so much more time and energy than what is needed sometimes!

starnac

The kids went back to school yesterday which makes meal planning a lot easier. DS grazes all day if he can get away with it when he is home, but at least when he is at school, I know he is eating a proper lunch. 

We have stuck to our meal list for this week so far. DH had to go and buy another loaf of bread this morning after finding the half eaten one from 2 days ago growing mould! I'm surprised it went that quick. I wonder if it was on the turn when he bought it? No, don't think about it!!!!!!

It's pretty windy here today which is affecting our internet. I've got a few zoom meetings today so I've brought the wifi box thing down here to see if that helps with reception a bit. We do need to look into better providers now we have moved. It was perfectly fine in the other house as we went with V0dAfone which was the best for the village. However, it doesn't seem as great in this village so we need to look into that. 

I hope you've all had a good week. I'd love to know what you are planning for the weekend? We currently have no plans except chop up more of the tree we recently had taken down (it was touching the roof and swayed very dangerously in the wind). 

Cheery_Daff

Pah to mouldy bread! Most vexing. Hope your wifi box works. Ours is no worse in the middle of nowhere than it was in the city, but when I go to work and everything works properly in the office, I realise how slow ours is 😂

I'm having a lazy morning as Mr Cheery isn't here. Nice dog walk, now I'm watching the sewing bee, and I might even sneak in a daytime bath 😁

starnac

Ooh Monday already! Where did the weekend go? 

I spent the weekend organising my new craft room. There is still a lot to do though as I have so much stuff. There is a lot that I don't need or want anymore so I was thinking I might list some bits and pieces on the Bay of e. DH will be happy if I declutter some of my craft stuff anyway. 

DH cut up more of the tree into manageable sized logs. He also made a gate out of offcuts of wood that was left here when we moved in. All he had to buy was the actual hinges to hang it. So that was a cheap win. 

He also attached our retractable washing line to the wall in the bathroom in the basement which means I can dry a lot more clothes inside now as we don't actually have that many radiators. He's always worked and been involved in watersports so he is now calling it our drying room which I think makes it sound better than what it is!  

I made lasagne for tea on Saturday and made extra so we have two more portions in the freezer. They can either be a full portion each or two half portions with something else (chips etc) if that makes sense? 

chicker

Hi starnac 

I’ve just read and subscribed to your diary! Your house sounds like our ideal next house so I’ll be following with interest and dreaming of a large garden and chickens 🐓 

Good luck with your mortgage plans!

Chicker 

starnac

Hi Chicker welcome. Yes this is our forever home now. We stretched ourselves a bit with the mortgage (and the house needs work so it was cheaper) so that we could get what we needed and wanted. 

I had to put diesel in my car on Sunday and it is getting so expensive now! I only use my car for running the kids around and the odd short journey but I have been a bit lazy recently. So yesterday I had a work meeting and I walked the 3 miles there to get some exercise and to cut down the use of my car. It is actually quite a nice walk. I found a cycle path that runs alongside the main road and it was much nicer to walk along there than on the busy road. My plan is walk there a lot more often. That's an easy 6 miles done then so it's good for my waist line as well as the environment. Win win. 

starnac

Both me and DH are working from home today. DH has taken over the dining table which is fine actually because for once in my life I actually have a home office! I work from home the majority of the time so a home office was definitely on the list of things we wanted this house to have. It's also been fab from a clutter point of view. We finally have somewhere for all the paperwork to go! That has made a big difference!

Looking around though it does need a tidy. I had some last bits of filming to do before Christmas so moved stuff around in my office to make a "studio" then just kind of shut the door when I finished for Christmas and left it lol! So the lights and camera tripods are still up but moved to the corner when I moved my desk back into place for my zoom meeting this morning. So that's a job I need to do today. I don't really work well in mess as I can see it out of the corner of my eye and it's distracting me. 

sabsob

Hi starnac, late to your diary, but as a newer newbie, I wanted to wave. Your house sounds lovely, and I totally get how Covid will have impacted a choice to move - we live in the countryside, and being able to be away from everybody within a few minutes' walking was a huge blessing during lockdown. I'll be following your journey