Mobile phones
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♥Aug. 22nd, 2013 // 07:34 am♥
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So, mobile phones don't work so well in The Countryside.
With ee, you can reliably make a phone call if you stand outside the front door. You can often get text messages, and occasionally a bit of Edge, if you leave your phone in a room at the front of the house, but if you try to reply then your signal mysteriously vanishes while you're typing, and then you have to go outside to send it.
With O2, you can get good voice reception if you walk all the way up to the top of the paddock, and you might even get a little data.
With Vodafone, you have no chance at all.
So, we've switched our phones from Giffgaff (O2) to Virgin (ee).
And wow but Virgin is crap. Even when we go to The Big City (er, Canterbury), it's not unusual to have no signal and even when there's full bars of 3G you can't load a webpage half the time. Sigh. |
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We are moved.
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♥Aug. 11th, 2013 // 06:48 pm♥
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And we even have our internet connection, finally if rather slowly.
We seem to be settling in ok, even if Mike can't find anything int he kitchen after I unpacked it, and it's starting to feel more like we actually live here and less like we're visiting someone who isn't actually around much.
The horses arrived earlier in the week, and they seem to be settling in ok as well. GB in particular spent a couple of days being very clingy, and he keeps going to stand by the gate at about 4pm waiting to come in for his dinner and thus failing to realise that he's surrounded by all the food he can eat, but he's calmed down a bit now.
I had a nasty moment on Friday, when his eye had swollen up and filled with icky stuff overnight, but he submitted as well as could be expected to having it rinsed out a few times and the swelling's pretty much gone now. I suspect a fly bite, but it could have been anything, really. They're now going out to the field decked out in full-on KKK outfits, which does seem to be working to keep the flies from being too annoying.
(This morning, we went out for our first little hack. There was almost a Moment when we got to the end of the lane to find a farmer unloading some very vocally pissed off cows from a trailer into the field, but with a little coaxing they walked past calmly enough. I thought that that was a good sign, being the most scary thing we were likely to encounter by a long shot, so I wasn't really prepared when GB caught sight of another horse in a KKK outfit, being led along the road, and promptly did a 180 to try and get as far away from it as possible. I have no idea, as he's not bothered by Jonny in the same state.)
The neighbours met thus far seem like nice people, although the woman who owns the valley seems occasionally to not remember that actually, she sold this house a decade ago and doesn't have a say any more. We've not yet met the people who live a bit further along, but have had it reported that they're a bit odd.
(We did have the odd experience yesterday of watching from our kitchen as some of them cleared ragwort from one of the horses' fields. They were merrily trundling around with their wheelbarrow when suddenly their dog started running around madly, followed by his owner. Then the owner's husband took his shirt off and started running around, waving it in the air over his head, and they all dashed back to the house at great speed. We speculated that it was some sort of strange foreplay ritual, but when we saw them this morning it turned out that the dog had disturbed a wasp nest, and the husband had been badly stung where they'd got inside his clothes. Fortunately, he's not too much the worse for it! Something similar having happened to a chap at our old yard just before we moved, Mike is now a little paranoid about it happening to us, too.)
We're in an annoying state of being as unpacked as it is possible to be, but on the other hand we have two big deliveries due for tomorrow, of bedroom furniture and stuff from Ikea, so that's a few more days of unpacking for me and flat-pack-assembly for Mike.
I still haven't managed to get my job to let me quit, either, so I'd better catch up on that now that we're back online.... |
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Vanishing into the land of no data....
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♥Aug. 1st, 2013 // 08:26 pm♥
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We're off tomorrow. This morning, a nice chap came to do the packing of our china and glass (and picture frames, but I'd already packed them as I wasn't sure they were included). For some vaguely snafu-ish reason, he brought an enormous stack of boxes and expected to be here until mid afternoon, but actually he was reduced to plaintively asking if there was any other packing he could help with after an hour and a half: there wasn't, as I'd already finished it all. In other vaguely snafu-ish-ness, he mentioned in passing that they'd had a van and crew all ready to start the move today, so that it could be done over two days, until someone realised that it was all to be done tomorrow: Oh, I said, you could have done it today, it wouldn't have been a problem....
Mike's spent the entire day at the new house, taking multiple deliveries (only one of which was a no-show, and they did at least call about it) and, in between times, tidying up the out buildings and playing hunt-the-mobile-phone-signal. I think I've had the easier day of it, but I dare say that that will change tomorrow.
Ah, yes: phone signal. Today, at the new house, Mike managed to get voice (but no date) by climbing up to the top of our field.
Then we had an email saying that our internet won't be turned on until the end of next week, presumably on account of BT being crap.
Don't expect to hear much from us in the near future....
In the unlikely event of badly needing to get hold of us urgently, a few easily-guessable people have what we're fairly sure is the new landline number. I'm sure that a plea for one of them to ask us to call you will work. |
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Hot!
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♥Jul. 24th, 2013 // 07:47 pm♥
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Weather: do not like. Had enough now. Actually had enough about a week ago. Really hope it stops soon, as we're, y'know, moving house next week. Eep.
I have been terribly slack about posting. The previously mentioned has something to do with that, but other factors include:
- having a slacker husband who's now only working a couple of days a week and so is Underfoot (it's fortunate that we're about to move into a new house with more rooms, really)
- going up to Ripon and York for a few days, for a family thing and a break (nice, but how come York has no restaurants? It has masses of pubs-that-do-food, but even seemed under-supplied with chain Italian places. Lovely hotel, though, with a nice restaurant)
- going to the Kent Country Show, where it was hot. We didn't actually buy anything, although we did collect several leaflets from sellers of potential house things
- making pizza, with the gels from work, on a day out / social type thing. I keep trying to quit, on the perfectly reasonably grounds that tomorrow is the last day I can possibly go into the office, but I don't seem to have managed it yet. Must make more of en effort, tomorrow
- going to two events that could reasonably well be called garden parties: one fannish, involving the talking of toot and the discussing of gossip, the other with the future near-ish-neighbours, involving lots of people asking 'and do you hunt?' (more, we suspect, as a way of making conversation with the random strangers, and a general test of views, than as an actual request that you go along)
GB continues in his usual way, added to by the fact that he doesn't much like the heat. The Baby is being a bit of a naughty bugger lately, added to by the fact that I don't like the heat either and so haven't been riding him and making him behave. He had the farrier on Monday; we weren't there, but he was apparently a little shite and broke two tie-up strings. There may be walloping in his future.
The house move is going reasonably well, we think. I've made contact with the horsey neighbour, which has in turn lead to arranging farrier, muck removal and hay; the delightfully named Igor The Builder is digging things up and laying concrete in the stableyard this week; I've spent an absolutely fortune on my credit card over the last few weeks (to the extent that I had to do a transfer mid-month to clear the balance for more spending), but bewilderingly (and pleasingly) haven't had any Security Phone Calls; and I do in fact have the spreadsheet of doom: you can't actually be surprised by this, though. It has been Entertaining arranging everything so that it gets delivered on Day Zero (which I will spend doing the last of the packing wile Mike sits in does various odd jobs around the new house).
Last week, we did actually get a delivery here: 224 boxes.
As of today, the pile has gone down rather, and the bathroom (not the one we actually use much) and spare room are looking like this:
Did I mention that it's too bloody hot...? |
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How does that work?
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♥May. 19th, 2013 // 06:43 pm♥
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Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri has freckles and a ginger 'tash. Is that common in Iraq...?
This morning, Mike and I did a dressage competition. GB was utterly terrified of the judges, which was somewhat irritating. Jonny did very well, and wasn't phased by it all, which was very good. (Jonny has also progressed to the stage where Mike can rest a set of running clippers on his neck without him freaking out, although we've not yet managed to tidy up is mane and get it out of the way of his saddle. On the minus side, it took Mike five minutes to get on him the other day, and that would have been longer if I'd not gone over and glared at him....) As it happens, there's another dressage comp, doing the same tests, at the other end of the lane next Sunday: I'm considering doing it in the regular saddle to see how much of a difference it makes.
That top I was muttering about sizing on arrived: I bought a size 10 in the end and it's not a bad fit. It's certainly not inches too small. I might even get something else from the same designer.
Does anyone have any experience of M&S furniture? Specifically, are the drawers nice and smooth or do they stick in an annoying way? There appears to be something of a gap in the market: lots of places do cheap fake wood stuff with drawers on tracks (eg, Ikea) and lots of places do cheap-ish actual wood stuff with drawers not on tracks, but actual wood and drawers on tracks suddenly becomes fiendishly expensive.
We went to see Travels With My Aunt at the Mernier, earlier in the week. It's really quite good, I do recommend it. Very silly, but rather fun.
We're now even more likely to having the new house from 31 July: the Scottish paperwork the next step up the chain has been signed with that date, so all we have to do now is get a structural engineer in to say "Nah, your surveyor was just worrying about nothing" and we're sorted.
I'm looking forward to that: at the moment, I'm not allowed to buy anything bigger than a duck*, but Mike says that once we've got that bit out of the way then I can start buying things as big as a greyhound**, which is very exciting. The bit where I get to start working out the optimal dates to order furniture so that the delivery times mean it arrives when we're moving in is even more exciting, but that's a little way off yet.
Next Friday is my work summer fun day. I can hardly contain my excitement. I'm not sure how they will top the fun-packed wonder that was the Christmas outing, but I'm sure that they'll manage. (It's all a big secret, I think: the gels keep asking me if I've paid any invoices that might give them clues. I haven't. Well, not unless we're going to a printing factory, or doing a bit of redecorating.)
* But not an actual duck. I have a mean husband.
** Ditto. I have pointed out that *he* bought something that was in fact as big as a horse, but he says that it doesn't count because it doesn't have to be stored in the flat. Hmph. |
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The rest of the holiday
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♥Apr. 16th, 2013 // 06:56 pm♥
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I had thought that God was at a disadvantage in not having a bar, but it turned out that they were more than happy to serve drinks in the library, complete with lovely squishy sofas. I think God won.
(Oddly, though, God and the Commies use the same brand of toiletries. This probably says something deeply significant.)
Yesterday, we headed back towards town and went to see the ponies in the morning. Afterwards, we went to the Museum of Kent Life, where we fed the lambs and didn't really get value for the tickets on account of having been there recently enough to make it not really worth going into the buildings as we remembered what was in them. We thought about going to the National Fruit Collection, but in the end just wandered around the shops ("Tiddly Pom" is a great name for a cider seller) and didn't pay to go in: may be worth doing so later in the year, when we can better see which kinds we might like to plant in The Garden.
We did go for a wander in Canterbury Cathedral, though (God got us free passes), and then went out for a really fabulous dinner at Deesons, which I suspect we'll be going back to after we move. The food was lovely, and they produce lots of it on their smallholding, and the wine - Chapel Down Bacchus - was really rather fabulous; I'm not surprised that they served it at the Royal Wedding. I think I last had a bottle of Chapel Down about seven years ago, and the quality's really come on.
This morning, we were back in Bexley, where Mike had a jumping lesson: I figured that we really should take advantage of having a HOYS-winning showjumper running the place and get Mike at least the basics before we move. He was on GB, who really is a spectacular horse for learning to jump on. I got on first, both to make sure he was actually moving properly (I should probably say "spectacular horse for learning to jump on provided you can make him move"...) and because he's done very little jumping since he's been in Bexley and, in particular, since he had that problem with his leg. I needn't have worried, as he was in an 'ooh, good, jumps!' mood: I just popped him over it twice and then said "Ok, carry on".
For his first time, Mike did very well, and by the end of the hour he managed a very creditable stretch of canter with two times over the jump and no breaks.
We're back home, now, but Mike's still off work for the rest of the week: we're off to try out Jonny in the school tomorrow (after my riding lesson), and we're off to The House for a meeting with a guy who'll look at the horse-related work that the house need on Friday: fingers crossed that it won't cost too much. My real fear is that the membrane on the sand school will need replacing, as it's had a bit of interest from the local rabbit population....
(GB really needs a hair cut: his mane's starting to go all floppy. Must do that, and get his feathers off, now it's warmed up.)
This entry was originally posted at http://flick.dreamwidth.org/882701.html, where it has  comment(s). Add comments here or there, if you feel like it. |
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The rest of the holiday
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♥Apr. 16th, 2013 // 06:56 pm♥
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I had thought that God was at a disadvantage in not having a bar, but it turned out that they were more than happy to serve drinks in the library, complete with lovely squishy sofas. I think God won.
(Oddly, though, God and the Commies use the same brand of toiletries. This probably says something deeply significant.)
Yesterday, we headed back towards town and went to see the ponies in the morning. Afterwards, we went to the Museum of Kent Life, where we fed the lambs and didn't really get value for the tickets on account of having been there recently enough to make it not really worth going into the buildings as we remembered what was in them. We thought about going to the National Fruit Collection, but in the end just wandered around the shops ("Tiddly Pom" is a great name for a cider seller) and didn't pay to go in: may be worth doing so later in the year, when we can better see which kinds we might like to plant in The Garden.
We did go for a wander in Canterbury Cathedral, though (God got us free passes), and then went out for a really fabulous dinner at Deesons, which I suspect we'll be going back to after we move. The food was lovely, and they produce lots of it on their smallholding, and the wine - Chapel Down Bacchus - was really rather fabulous; I'm not surprised that they served it at the Royal Wedding. I think I last had a bottle of Chapel Down about seven years ago, and the quality's really come on.
This morning, we were back in Bexley, where Mike had a jumping lesson: I figured that we really should take advantage of having a HOYS-winning showjumper running the place and get Mike at least the basics before we move. He was on GB, who really is a spectacular horse for learning to jump on. I got on first, both to make sure he was actually moving properly (I should probably say "spectacular horse for learning to jump on provided you can make him move"...) and because he's done very little jumping since he's been in Bexley and, in particular, since he had that problem with his leg. I needn't have worried, as he was in an 'ooh, good, jumps!' mood: I just popped him over it twice and then said "Ok, carry on".
For his first time, Mike did very well, and by the end of the hour he managed a very creditable stretch of canter with two times over the jump and no breaks.
We're back home, now, but Mike's still off work for the rest of the week: we're off to try out Jonny in the school tomorrow (after my riding lesson), and we're off to The House for a meeting with a guy who'll look at the horse-related work that the house need on Friday: fingers crossed that it won't cost too much. My real fear is that the membrane on the sand school will need replacing, as it's had a bit of interest from the local rabbit population....
(GB really needs a hair cut: his mane's starting to go all floppy. Must do that, and get his feathers off, now it's warmed up.) |
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