Living the Good Life - mortgage free and living in line with our values

rtandon27

ooooo Vix - my ears pricked up with I read that your gas meter is being decommissioned - I'd love to hear more (or did you already post about this? - Is this because you now have solar and will get a heat pump?  It's something I'd love to investigate at some point as having gas piped into the house gives me the heebie jeebies on some level! 

OH keeps saying he wants to 'show me' how to turn on the gas stove & oven - lol - my response is I don't cook now - what makes you think I need anything more than a microwave, toastie machine & slow-cooker? TBH I'd be happier with it being electric!

themadvix

RT, yes, it's because we'll have a heat pump - we have an electric cooker already, so gas is only used for heating and hot water. The heat pump will do both of those, so we will no longer need the gas! I'm looking forward to gaining some cupboard space (our gas meter is in the cupboard under the stairs) and the £30/month in standing charge. I think the cost comparison for heat pump vs gas is about the same - we're hoping it will be a bit cheaper whilst also being warmer with the heat pump though as we've now got a bigger battery to run the heat pump which we will charge overnight at the 7p/kWh rate we get because of the car. There are heat pump tariffs available through 🐙 for those who don't have a car/battery set up. The solar will power the hot water in summer, but in winter the light levels aren't enough to cover our normal (non-car/non-heat pump) usage, so the battery top-ups will be essential.

themadvix

Afternoon all and Happy Friday!

Felt pretty rubbish all of Wednesday - managed two naps during the day around my Cambridge meetings and really didn't fancy much food. Almost certainly a bug picked up from Disney (the downside to so many people in one place) - Mum hasn't been well either. Fortunately I was feeling better(ish) yesterday as we had lunch booked at the Savoy - a joint birthday present for our 40ths from Mr MV's brother (the distant one, not regular BIL and SIL). Lunch was excellent, but the bill was still £53 - of course the 18.75% service charge is applied on the whole cost of the bill, not the drinks we had to pay for (a small glass of the cheapest wine - £12, a £9 bottle of Meantime beer - a bottle! - and £6.50 for a pot of tea for one!) - a bit of a con really. I think the cost of the service charge should be included in the voucher when it's automatically added to the bill. The service was excellent but I would never tip 18% - and to add it to the bill, especially somewhere where you're not going to quibble, means it is an unavoidable part of the cost. We're fortunate that we can afford it (Mr MV paid as he owed me for some Disney bits) - but it wouldn't have been much fun to be presented with that bill if we couldn't, given it was a present. Spent the afternoon perusing the Harrods food hall, which was fun - some stuff ridiculously expensive, others remarkably reasonable. Bought a foot-long pecan twist pastry as a snack just before we headed home (£2.75 - definitely in the reasonable stakes as it was enough for both of us) and had a drink in a pub. Mr MV wanted a bit more to eat (I think I would have been hungrier had I not been off my food the day before) so we got Indian street food from the station outlet when we got back - by far the best value of the day (£16 for two rice bowl meals (smaller than a full curry and rice, but still perfectly sufficient) and 3 samosas). 

Back to work today and an urgent job for main client (for new company). Deadline is noon on Monday, but given Octopus arrive Monday morning, I will be finishing it today or over the weekend - not sure I'll have a lot of headspace for work Monday morning.

Going to the other tap room this evening for beer and burritos and an escape room game that Sis bought us a couple of years ago and we've not got around to playing - it's a spooky theme, so seasonally appropriate (and the only nod to Halloween I'm likely to give (although I'll grant that I thought Disney did it very nicely - mostly pumpkins and none of the horrible horror stuff that seems to be everywhere these days - sorry NG, imagine that's your favourite bit!).

Tomorrow we'll be preparing for Octopus - Mr MV has some plumbing he wants to get done while the system is drained down, so I think we'll be without heating from tomorrow 😕 And we need to clear space around all the rads they are replacing - so all but the bathroom, Mr MV's office and the living room. And of course, all the rooms will need to be presentable too 😬 Hoping to get out for a nice walk on Sunday though. (And I need to get to the allotment - still have onions, shallots and garlic to plant and broad beans to sow!)

MS things:
* Believe it or not, yesterday could have been more expensive -  I made several MSE choices!
* 1P survey (and they've paid out)
* PA surveys
* Switch over to new company for main client seems to have been seamless
* Lunch was hm cream of tomato soup, using up a jar of passata, the last of a pot of cream and the very stale ends of French baguette from the weekend - delicious!

Gratitudes:
* Lovely day out yesterday
* Sunshine - after yesterday, a welcome relief!
* The anti-inflammatories seem to be helping Ginger cat - he's definitely been jumping up a bit more (I need to book diagnostics, but it won't be until week after next (neither I nor Ginger cat would cope with that), so it can wait until Monday.
* Looking forward to fun at the pub tonight (and the burrito!)

Have a lovely afternoon/evening all!

rtandon27

@themadvix - was the service at the Savoy really worth the 18.75% service charge?  I been there for business meetings several times over the years and 70% of the time, the service is not worth that!  As a service charge is a discretionary amount, I have on more than one occasion asked for it to be removed or even reduced to 10% at that establishment.  Only once has this sparked more than a dirty look which I'm tough-skinned enough to take.  When the duty manager came over to ask why I was removing the 'tip', I was more than happy to tell him politely and with a smile why I didn't think the service was up to scratch.  I received a verbal apology and later a phone call follow-up which more than made up for the poor service, but was not worth the service charge.  I have been back, but again if the place is sold as one of those 'all that' establishments then it better be!!!

ETA - W@haca on the other hand which can be chaotic, have the loveliest, kindest staff and I've even added to the tip on occasion!

themadvix

The service was faultless in fairness RT (if anything, I'd far rather they ignored me a bit more and weren't loitering constantly!). If it hadn't been I would have quibbled, but on the basis of the performance, I would have been quibbling purely based on the fact that I don't think any service is worth nearly 20%. And I'm afraid I am put off by dirty looks for being 'cheap' in somewhere like that (despite the fact that I'm 40 and have eaten in plenty of fancy places!) - I could tell they were judging us for having the cheapest wine (not a bottle) and not ordering any sides or extras, which actually we definitely didn't need, but I get the impression most people do as there weren't any carbs included in my main. 

themadvix

Morning all,

Today is the day - the house is immaculate but upended as the crew has arrived to install the heat pump from today (likely to be here until at least Wednesday). They will be in all rooms except the bathroom, Mr MV's office and the living room. I am decamped to the sofa for the week (definitely less than ideal) and relieved that the milkwoman arrived a few minutes ago as was beginning to think I'd need to go and buy more milk for their hot drinks.

I'm out this afternoon with ex-Brownies friends - the first of our three Christmas presents (we're taking one month each and organising something to do - and paying). This afternoon's is a treasure hunt in local market town (more exotic for them than me, I suspect). The other friend is planning a pop-up cafe (we did this for Christmas during lockdown - picnic bench with tablecloth erected in village car park on edge of playing field and had soup and hot drinks before a walk - was great fun!). I have no idea what to do for December.... or maybe more accurately, loads of ideas but they all have a cost. (Can't really invite them here as one has a cat allergy - unless we have a cookout? Is that too similar to pop-up cafe?) Would welcome any thoughts!

Workwise, I have a steady stream from main client I think. And my usual Cambridge meetings on Wednesday, as long as it's not too noisy here.

We have a meal plan to limit the stress in the evenings:
* Monday - veg sausage and mash, with tenderstem broccoli
* Tuesday - Tuscan bean stew (new recipe, but uses borlotti beans, which are hg)
* Wednesday - Mr MV away with work, so jacket potato night
* Thursday - fish pie
* Friday - daal

I need to book in the diagnostics for Ginger cat this week and sort out a long-term cat sitting project with my cat-sitting friend.

Suspect I'll be hanging around here rather a lot this week - I'm going to be very stuck in the house apart from today and tomorrow.

MS things:
* Had drinks and dinner at tap room on Friday. Takeaway came in cheaper than expected as no burritos, so we had gyros instead (Mr MV paid)
* Sat and Sun spent clearing, tidying and cleaning (Mr MV did some plumbing too). Riveting stuff!
* Did pop to allotment yesterday and got red onions and shallots planted; no space there for garlic, so will have to get back down there tomorrow and get them in.

Gratitudes:
* The Octopods team seem like nice blokes
* Had great fun playing an escape room game at the pub on Friday
* The fuschia by the living room window continues to flower, as it does every year - something green and nice to look at!

Have a good day all!

Cheery_Daff

Ooh,glad your heat pump geezers have started work, exciting stuff! Fingers crossed all goes smoothly 😊

themadvix

Thanks Cheery... currently sat on the floor in the dining room as this is where the cats have decided they'd rather be! 🙄 I think my week is mostly going to involve herding and appeasing felines...

ladybird1106

Have you thought about doing an escape room in a box and a picnic. We did one those and really enjoyed. Cost less than £20 to buy the escape room.
love 🐞

themadvix

Prolific apparently want to verify my identity with my govt issued ID... What's the deal with this? Why should I trust them with my ID? They've not provided any information about how it will be used. Has anyone else had to do this? There's not even any mention of what happens to the money I've earned if I decide I don't want to verify my ID but would rather close my account. Why do online organisations think they have the right to see my identity after years of me using their services. Grr.... 😡 (This being the second one, after LinkedIn - which I've still not done and don't want to, but feel I don't have a choice - I can't even message them about it because you have to be logged in to message them! 😡).