Progress is...

edinburgher

Congratulations on the speedy rate of payment, it's amazing the difference that overpayments can make, particularly when they're meaty! Future you thinks you're cool

I share your rant re. being a citizen. We had someone out from the planning department in March to try and finalise our loft conversion. They left with a few questions to ask of their senior officer and a promise to email again in a week. I've never heard from them again!

rtandon27

@edinburgher - I don't think I've ever in my life been referred to as 'cool' by anyone but my adoring god-daughter when she was 4 or 5 - but I will take the complement in spirit in which it was intended!  I agree whole heartedly that those large payments give me a rush of dopamine every month, even more do than a bit of mindless scrolling 😉

When you do get a hold of that planning department, do knock a head or two together - that is just not on!

I have a sideways story about my council actually actioning something in record time!  Yesterday morning, on the way to the train station I spotted the fattest well fed rat underneath an over-flowing biffa waste bin!  Being the good citizen that I am (and given that the bin was less than a 5 min walk from home) I called in the sighting.  Low and behold today, the rat man (pest control) called up to double check it was the bin he thought it was & the business it belonged to, and within 15 mins of confirmation, the environmental inspector wrote me an e-mail to say she will be spot checking them this week!  I'm well impressed with the response time, but the cynic within me says a) the rat man lives on my street b) our councilor lives a few doors down from me c) the lady who took my call got that I wasn't best pleased to see the fat little fellow gorging himself in plain daylight & she sat up straight when I asked who's pocket my council tax payments were lining.

badmemory

You've reminded me about when one of our local councillors moved house.  They have been one for a lot of years now & have moved house twice.  You can see where you turn off the main road to their house by where the pothole repairs stop.  As she lost last time the rest of us have been getting a look in finally.

Cherryfudge

One of the things about pot holes is that there's no such thing as the pot hole finder: Councils rely on the public to ring them (if you can get a signal from the bottom of whichever hole you've fallen into). The county where I live has over 9000 km of roads, so it would cost a bit to pay someone to go over that a few times a year. I wonder whether the Councillor who moved house was also the person who rang to alert the Highways department? Of course other people may have and the magic title of Councillor has pushed them to the top of the list, which wouldn't be fair, but it could also be that there's now someone local to you who is ringing up.

It's also worth noting that if a pot hole isn't reported, the Council is unlikely to give any compensation for damage it causes, so it's worth letting them know. At least that way you can claim if your car suffers.

rtandon27

@badmemory & @cheerfudge - sadly the pothole theory does not apply in our town!  Our councilor/neighbour regularly stops out front to chat with OH and is constantly moaning about the state of the round-about at the end of our road - it's now 4 years on from when we bought the house and they are finally patching the defects!

She does however have some say about the street cleaning, as ours gets done about twice as much as some of the others nearby!

...which reminds me I need to do another clean up of our front area (parking spot) which seems to be ankle deep in leaves!  Not sure where they arrived from!

rtandon27

Grrrrrrr - council came back a THIRD time saying I need to upload a photo for my blue badge - !!!!!! is wrong with their system?  First time i sent a passport photo - it's good enough for my passport but not for my badge?  Second time I sent a selfie as per their instructions - my glasses happen to be tinted because I have a visual problem due to my disability & I wear them all the time, so it is a true likeness of me!  !!!!!! now they want a third one - OMG the freaking system needs to be hauled over the coals!  I might be marching myself a few doors down and moaning at the councilor if the third one does not take!  My last blue badge photo I was gaunt & drawn having just come out of the hospital - heaven forbid I want a nice photo on my ID that's left on the dashboard of the car for all to see?!?

At least my blue badge means I don't have to hand-water the garden come Monday.  I can see them of the plastic grass being shirty and reporting me for doing so, but I will have the last laugh as I actually got an e-mail saying that due to being on the priority register & having a blue badge I can still water my garden with a hose (which tbh is all of a 5-10 min job once a day - and uses less water than a shower does in the morning!

Rant & side story over....
...now back to regular scheduled programming...

ETA - seems that post was a bit too sweary - please use your imagination to insert your best foul language acrynoms where the exclamation marks are!

beanielou

I had the syame with my bus pass & my blue badge recently. They must think we have nothing else to do!

rtandon27

@beanielou - you hit the nail on the head - there should be no faff given that it's a renewal and the condition will not be going anywhere anytime soon!

I took the day off work today to cope with my monsterish summer cold & rest up.  First thing however, I decided to get OH to take a new photo of me to submit.  I forgot that when you are not well and have not a stich of make-up on photos end up looking like death warmed over!  So that one will NOT be submitted.  I will need to put on some make-up once my nose is not all red and get him to take another one to submit over the weekend!

I dread to think what nonsense I'll be going through to do my bus pass?!

ETA - trying to do my minimum steps every hour despite the cold, I've managed to do some indoor and outdoor minimal gardening - have looked after the windowsill orchids and the orchid babies, pruned and repotted the kalanchoe, harvested and strung another dozen red chillies, picked a bowl of blackberries, rinced and flash frozen them.