October Chatty - after the apocalypse II

Chat about anything and everything
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OurCreature
 
 
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October Chatty - after the apocalypse II

Post by OurCreature »

There were two of them. They came fully prepared to change both meters if necessary, but only the gas meter needed changing. They were not bothered about testing meters etc apart from making sure the electricity meter was all right. They knew the gas meter had to be changed. During their time with me a third one arrived but he didn't come to the house, the one who wasn't changing the meter went out to talk to him.

It transpired that I was their second call of the morning. The first one had been an 'absolute nightmare' and had made them late for the rest of the day.

The meter seems to be working - I heated up a ready meal after they had departed and the meter has recorded the gas usage. All that remains is to agree with E.ON my gas usage between 25/4/2022 and 6/10/2022; my answer turns into less than £100 plus the standing charge since 27/9/2022.
Like the late Chaircat Midge, I am not always right.
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eccles
 
 
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Post by eccles »

So that means the free gas you were getting is now being charged for and that makes you happy? Funny old world innit? :D
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OurCreature
 
 
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October Chatty - after the apocalypse II

Post by OurCreature »

So that means the free gas you were getting is now being charged for and that makes you happy?
:lol it would have been free right up to the moment E.ON realised I wasn't paying for my gas and hit me with a huge outrageous consumption estimate that would have taken weeks to sort out. They haven't yet approached me to agree a figure for the unmetered gas that I have used, but I'm ready for them.
Like the late Chaircat Midge, I am not always right.
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Post by Panikos »

I can remember being told many years ago that meters don't go wrong so there's no need to check they are working correctly. That was so stupid it was funny. Every since we rubbed two sticks together to create fire we've known that everything breaks and it's best to have a spare stick tucked away

That was an electric meter, but many years later I had another conversation like it about my water meter. In the end it turned out that their guy was reading the wrong one some of the time so the numbers went up and down wildly.

OC that came down to an estimate in the end because no one was quite sure how long it had been going on for. I argued with them so long they just gave up and said I owed them nothing for the period. :lol
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Post by Furby »

I would be happy paying too because I dont like things hanging over me.

I
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merry
  
  
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Post by merry »

My kids went to Tewkesbury Mop Fair last night - awww they do love a fair!

They actually went on this huge chair-o-planes thing - apparently it was 'terrifyingly high' :eek
mopfair (3).jpg
mopfair (4).jpg
I was in Tewkesbury the day before and photographed this window and I see the charter for the Mop Fair was granted in 1374 by King John. I believe they must hold it every year without fail or they lose the charter. I can't remember what happened in Covid Year, perhaps we were out of lockdown by October!
mopfair (5).jpg
"... not to be told a story, but to live inside a dream." - Hades, The Burnt City
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Post by Furby »

We left lockdown in July for eat out to help out but then schools went back in september and covid came back like it is doing this week. They must have found a way round it unless there's a clause about except in plagues.
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Post by merry »

I wondered if there was an except in plagues exemption!
"... not to be told a story, but to live inside a dream." - Hades, The Burnt City
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Post by OurCreature »

I see the charter for the Mop Fair was granted in 1374 by King John.
Granted from the grave? King John had been dead for 158 years by 1374.

Intrigued by this date discrepancy I looked up the Mop Fair and found that King John granted at least one Mop Fair to Tewkesbury in 1199. The history of fairs in Tewkesbury is interesting, so here is a link which goes to the text that Merry found in the window picture.

https://www.tewkesburymuseum.org/the-co ... -mop-fair/

The first regular annual fair was granted in 1324 by Edward II to the Lord of Tewesbury to be held in June. An increasing number of fairs were granted to Tewkesbury until the town boasted 7 fairs by 1790. The October Mop Fair is the sole survivor of these fairs and operates under a charter granted by Elizabeth II.
Like the late Chaircat Midge, I am not always right.
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Post by asymphototropic »

I did ask the internet what the mop in Mop Fair signified. Servants trying to be hired would carry the tools of their trade, so I reckon there were plenty of charwomen carrying mops. That explanation seems way too cute to be true, but oh well.

I spent from first thing in the morning til sunset manning the ambulance at Waterford Fair yesterday. Lovely weather, and nothing dire transpired. It was mostly a challenge to my diet resisting the giant bags of kettlecorn walking past me. Fortunate for my waist, the lines to buy food were so long, it was easier to resist!
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October Chatty - after the apocalypse II

Post by OurCreature »

Jazzy is in the Brockenhurst garage having his camera software updated as a result of an Urgent Recall. I got him down there for 08:15 and they lent me a Fiat Panda (very new - less than 2,500 miles on the milometer) so I could go home, because the update could take 5 hours. The Fiat is manual transmission so it took me a few gear changes to get used to operating a clutch pedal again.

When I arrived home I parked the Fiat in one of the parking areas because I had no intention of reversing it into my garage in case I scraped the side of the car against the doorframe or inside brickwork. There was a space and I saw that a car adjoining that space was about to leave so I waited for it to go away before I parked the Fiat.

Now I await the call to take it back to Brockenhurst to collect Jazzy.

What used to be a main Honda dealer now is mainly motor bikes, so if I want to buy another Honda from them it will have to be another of their branches, the two closest of which are in Eastleigh (near the M3) and Salisbury. The latter is in fact in a village called Downton south of Salisbury and it is easier to get to if I drive through the New Forest, and the parking looks easier as well.
Like the late Chaircat Midge, I am not always right.
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Post by Furby »

Is that Downton as in Downton abbey.

Nfa when she could drive used to plan where to go and how to get there according to avoiding motorways and where she thought traffic was most horrid. Eastleigh was on her list of bad traffic places.

Closing branches is an evil plan happening in so many areas isn't it? When it's one that's sad but they say the next nearest is only X miles away. But then they close the next one and the next nearest is only X miles away so it's X plus X for the original customers. I suppose car places will the worst as they will rightly say customers can easily travel miles because by definition they all have cars.

The new forest isn't the best place to break down though there's nowhere to stop for hundreds of miles never mind park. Ok exaggeration but that's how i remember it.
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Post by OurCreature »

Is that Downton as in Downton abbey.
No, Furby. Downton is a pretty village not far from the main road between Salisbury and Fordingbridge which is on the way to Bournemouth from Salisbury.

Downton Abbey's big house is in real life called Highclere Castle and it is in North Hampshire about 5 miles south of Newbury in Berkshire. It is the home of the Earls of Carnarvon of Tutankhamun fame. Highclere Castle has been used for location filming for other TV programmes eg the Miss Marple 4:50 From Paddington with Geraldine McEwan as the amateur sleuth, and several of the Jeeves and Wooster programmes in their Fry and Laurie reincarnation.

I agree about the New Forest not being the best place to have a car breakdown. Eastleigh is all right to drive in if you know where to park. Winchester is evil to drive and park in and if you are going shopping there or even just to have a look round it is better to use the Park and Ride.
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OurCreature
 
 
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Post by OurCreature »

Well well well - Coronation Day for King Charles III and his Queen Consort is going to be 6 May 2023 which also is the fourth birthday of Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.

Make of that what you will.
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Post by merry »

Well I have completed 1/5, 20%, of the FreePonyCare I am doing while the kids are in Iceland.

I did take a picture of them but it was exactly the same as all the other pictures I've taken, it's almost as if they do the same thing day after day after day :rolleyes

It wasn't too bad. Juliet has left haynets ready filled and lined up, and a big tub of feed for each (they are on different mixes) which they need one fifth of per day. No water required today (all buckets/tubs mostly full) - not too much poo (one barrow load) - and the electric fence battery is fine, though I expect it will need swapping before they come home.

I have been moping around with a headache since, could it be my eighth run-in with Covid? :huh :ohwell
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Post by eccles »

You've had covid seven times?
In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this.
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Post by merry »

No, I just say gloomily 'I wonder if it's Covid...' every time I get a sniffle ;)
"... not to be told a story, but to live inside a dream." - Hades, The Burnt City
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Post by OurCreature »

I have got to take my blood pressure twice a day for the next 3 days via a special NHS page. It was supposed to be over 4 days, but I didn't realise that I should enter this page only when I have a reading to enter; I went in yesterday to make sure I could get in, and this morning when I went in with a reading it thought it was Day 2 of the 4 days. So they will have to make do with 3 days. Today I took a reading on both days and gave them the average - 153/80. So they asked for another reading and that was (just one arm) 149/85. They want your pulse rate as well but don't tell you until you are in there. Fortunately I had the figures - 50 and 49.

They will send me a text reminder for the readings, but I hope to remember when to do them as I don't have to go out at just before 9:00 to go to Knightwood until next Tuesday.

The page also cheerily told me to seek urgent aid if my BP exceeded 170/115 or I got headaches, got confused (when am I not confused these days? :lol ), have chest pains and another one that I can't remember - maybe that's the one where I go to sleep and don't wake up.....................
Like the late Chaircat Midge, I am not always right.
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Post by Patience »

Finally, the mortgage charge has been removed from my deeds. Not that the solicitor told me. I looked it up on the Land Registry and noticed it had been updated on 15th August. I also noticed that the box called “Interest” which is what’s your interest in the property had changed name to “Real Right”.
Instead of
  • Interest Proprietor
It now says
  • Real Rights Ownership
I popped into the solicitors and they gave me a copy and the bill £230 👀

I also signed my will. The bill for that is still to arrive.
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Post by Furby »

Hooray for patience being a real rights owner. It's a relief in these terrible times when interest rates go up but you do still have all the worry of can't get the repair men.
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