Fix Up, Look Sharp

GeorgianaCavendish

South_coast said:

At least it was on the way to the MOT and not back, having paid to get it through the test 😱!

Haha, that is very true @South_coast ! I feel a bit better about it now, although did spend some time last week looking at possible replacements. A dream for now!

GeorgianaCavendish

savingholmes said:

Good luck with the selling for parts thing. That sounds like you should get something at least. I once got £95 scrap for my car - sad day.

Thank you @savingholmes ! The garage called to say one of the potential buyers wanted some photos, which they've taken and sent off ... so fingers crossed! 

GeorgianaCavendish

The electrician is starting next week, so DH & I spent a fun day at the weekend doing a walk through of the house and marking where we'd like the plug sockets, light switches etc. It was surprisingly tiring!, but nice to start planning where furniture will go etc (or more accurately, where it absolutely can't go). 

We're also getting a tree surgeon to remove a dying old tree that is extremely close to the house (i.e. if it fell, it would land right on our newly repaired roof!) and to cut back some of the out-of-control bushes in the garden. He's coming to do a quote at the weekend, I know he's very busy at the moment but hoping he can squeeze us in over the next month. 

There is a bit more garden maintenance that needs to be done that I can handle myself like mowing the lawn, trimming the hedges etc, and we'd like to do some DIY on the shed to make sure it is properly waterproof before winter. But I'm not planning to do too much to the garden beyond this fairly basic maintenance, looking forward to working on it a lot more next year. I'm contemplating asking my mum for gardening "lessons" for Christmas, she's so good at gardening and I think she would be a big help in planning what to do with our garden so I'll see if she's up for it  

I would love to spend some time on it with her, but she has her hands full between work and looking after my dad so it might not be possible. Maybe when the house is more hospitable and they can both stay for a few days in proper comfort (not that I'm planning to make my poor mum sleep on floorboards!) 

I did another bank account switch ... I'm a bit worried that I uploaded an old version of my driving licence (along with the correct version of my passport) as I couldn't check the files or delete and amend them. It seems to have gone through for now and they are supposed to contact me within 5 days with next steps, so I'll just have to wait and see. I'm kicking myself about making such a basic mistake but at least I've got the new version so I can update it right away if they ask.

savingholmes

LOL at uploading the wrong version. We've all been there in some form. 

I'm having garden work done and it is really transforming the place so if you can find someone at the right price worth doing.

Lots of Utube on garden design or you can get books that help you with the basics... 

redofromstart

Car thing sounds awful, I was car behind on a cross roads crash about 20 years ago and watched the car in front turn into a fire ball (all out safely), never forgotten it. It burns so fast, really glad he realised and got out quickly.

Garden design ideas, don't forget free online magazines and books via the library for ideas. How big is it, what type of soil, where is the sun etc? I did circles in a small new build that worked well, here we do English romantic squares for the dry stone walls etc.  sometimes the space drives it.

EssexHebridean

Thank goodness your OH was able to get out of and away from the car swiftly - that at least was one good thing. On the insurance thing I can't blame you - they make it so unpalatable to claim now if it can be avoided don't they. On the protected no claims, while it might at least mean not losing any of that, it doesn't in any way stop them increasing premiums subsequently unfortunately so doesn't really come into a "whether to claim" debate in any event. Another thing to be aware of is that you may well find premiums increase regardless sadly - jut on the basis that you've informed them of what happened. Immensely frustrating - they make it so you have to tell them and then penalise you even if no claim has been made. Something I really wish was clamped down on. 

Scariest thing I ever saw on the road was seeing a car that was on the hard shoulder of the motorway get hit at speed by a Luton van that veered off the road. Utterly terrifying - not least going back to it once I'd come safely to a halt wondering what I was going to find inside. My relief when the driver came rushing up to reassure me that there was nobody inside was unbelievable. 

savingholmes

I wouldn't tell insurance if not claiming 

EssexHebridean

savingholmes said:

I wouldn't tell insurance if not claiming 

Which is fine so long as nobody else tells them, or in a situation where you don't have to remove the car from the policy like GC's situation. (If they subsequently find out that something has occurred that they've not been informed about in most cases it is in the T's & C's that they can terminate the policy and you then have to tick that nasty little box next to the "have you ever had insurance cancelled, or had cover declined" and then things get REALLY expensive! ) 

GeorgianaCavendish

savingholmes said:

LOL at uploading the wrong version. We've all been there in some form. 

I'm having garden work done and it is really transforming the place so if you can find someone at the right price worth doing.

Lots of Utube on garden design or you can get books that help you with the basics... 

Oh I know! It was such a basic error. But luckily they approved and opened the account for me anyway   

I'll have a look for some youtube garden design accounts, it would be good to get some ideas I feel like we are in the archaeology phase at the moment - uncovering the gems underneath the neglect! 

GeorgianaCavendish

redofromstart said:

Car thing sounds awful, I was car behind on a cross roads crash about 20 years ago and watched the car in front turn into a fire ball (all out safely), never forgotten it. It burns so fast, really glad he realised and got out quickly.

Garden design ideas, don't forget free online magazines and books via the library for ideas. How big is it, what type of soil, where is the sun etc? I did circles in a small new build that worked well, here we do English romantic squares for the dry stone walls etc.  sometimes the space drives it.

It was really scary just hearing about it on the other end of the phone, I can't imagine what I would have done in DH's position. So glad that he is ok

I need to get the full measurements of the garden but it is quite big, and our house sits fairly centrally in the plot so we also have a big front garden. Front garden is south facing and the back garden is north facing, one set of our neighbours have vegetable plots in their front garden which may be something that I copy! 

We're in a valley and our back garden slopes downwards towards the house, with a small patio and (very dodgy and steep) steps going up towards the lawn. In the future we would like to landscape the garden more to have a gentler graduation up through the garden, but this is a consideration for 5-10 years in the future!