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{ Monthly Archives } October 2011

Smokovaca

Three years ago (Is that all? It seems longer) Christopher and I went on a study tour to Split in Croatia with the Kent Archaeological Field School, and had a really good time exploring the stunning Roman remains there. On the last night of the holiday, as is traditional on such trips, the whole group […]

One leak fixed, one to go

I’d arranged to work at home on Tuesday so that Tony could fix my dripping hot water tank. But when I was still having my breakfast that morning, I got a phone call to say that the supplier had delivered the wrong part, again. So we rearranged for Wednesday. I’d run out of sensible things […]

More lousy customer service

It feels like I ought to award the IcyJumbo Prize for Appalling Customer Service at least monthly, as there is such a high standard of competition! Today I’ve fallen out with AXA about my home insurance renewal. AXA, or at least someone purporting to be AXA, sent an unsolicited email over the weekend to one […]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Malvern is well out in the sticks. We do have a single-screen cinema, but it is at best several weeks behind London and the big cities when it comes to showing recent film releases – if we get them at all. However, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy finally arrived here on Friday for a two-week run. […]

The Wrong Valve

I arranged to work from home this morning so that Tony, the boiler service man, could come back and fit a new valve to my hot water tank, to stop the drip which he discovered on Tuesday. However, I got a phone call at 8:30 this morning to say that, unfortunately, he had ordered the […]

Problems with the hot water tank

One of the rather spooky Google Calendar Reminders I’ve received recently has been to tell me to get the boiler serviced. It’s oil-fired, and it’s good practice to get it serviced every year before the weather turns and I start to need my central heating. So I arranged to work from home this afternoon, and […]

A murder mystery weekend

Chris and I went on several murder mystery weekends over the years, and thoroughly enjoyed them. My college friends, Tom and Katie, had wanted to go on one with us for years, but never managed to get around to it. We did once get so far as all booking to go on one – I […]

Google Calendar from beyond the grave

When Chris was first made redundant, almost exactly two years ago, he was keen to take on the role of  “house husband” and do more of the running of the house. But he really wasn’t a details person and was concerned that he’d forget something. So he decided to use technology to help, and set […]

Yet another view of the garden

I realised that, although I’ve mentioned before that my garden has multiple terraces, I’ve only actually posted pictures of the bottom two.  So to remedy that, here is a picture of the top two terraces. On the right is the new fence running along the top of the second terrace. On the left are steps […]

Earthquakes in London

My original plan was to have a quiet few days this weekend.  It’s been a pretty tough week at work, including a 7.5 hour meeting at our Hampshire headquarters on Wednesday. That turned out to be harder work than I expected when my colleague texted me whilst I was on the way there to say […]