Poor Mal. Hope Bella comes back soon
Our two both had cancer, which was pretty horrible, but seeing your cat run over is just a hideous thought! (((((((((((((((((((((((huggles))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Good Evening

Good morning...

Good afternoon drowning in paperwork here still. Hope all grumpies are ok

I actually used the word "drowning" today in the same context as you have Sad, with my boss.

I thought I'd trashed hundreds of hours of work through tiredness (I had it mostly backed up but still a massive pain to restore).

I've just realised if I rename one file it all comes back (it's a virtual machine if that means anything). I'm making another backup of course.

MsKJ the Younger has done better than anticipated in A levels, Dad is very proud. Plus she's got a job for the coming year which I think is better than going to Uni in the current climate, she can think about her future at leisure.

Special reply congratulating mal and commiserating too, I miss my guinea pigs ...

well done to miss kj

Surely your company should be doing automatic backups anyway, e.g. RAID.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID


Well done there. Lot's of people take a gap year out anyway, so going to Uni a year later (possibly), is nothing unusual.

Update.

I got the Orange SIM (*), but it had no credit on it. I was allowed to keep the existing O2 SIM. So, I phoned up CPW and they have credited my bank account by £10 (hopefully).

(*) I asked CPW whether they could do the same deal on Orange, rather than Vodafone.

As for the house clearance, I've been there for the last 4 days, doing various stuff. The house now has gas, electricity and various painting is well underway. The house is going to be let unfurnished, so no beds, mattresses, additional chests of drawers, additional wardrobes, curtains etc.

Yesterday, I got an electric shock from a socket in the bathroom, but luckily I was wearing rubber gloves at the time, so no damage done. The sparkie, who came in today touched the same socket with his bare hand and got an electric shock as well. His words were 'f*cking hell'. He seems to be immune to electric shocks.

So, the general synopsis is, we are going to make a good job making the place habitable, but not an overly good job, as the next tenants will more than likely damage stuff, like most tenants do.

Oh, to be a landlord.

*throws life-belts to Sad and KJ*

Well done, Ms KJ. I think the job things is sensible, too. Both my teenaged cousins took a year off and worked after their A-levels. Quite apart from the income aspect I think a year having a rest and a think is no bad thing. That's what I'm hoping to do this year!

jra, you deserve a sticker and a balloon - what a carry on!

We're off to a wedding tonight, back on Sunday. I have to pack and tidy up before we go so I may not get online... or I may be on here all day, displacing like a mad b*gger. Who knows?

Well done to Ms KJ. What a good plan.

Mine seems to want to be a perpetual student. He needs a job and to get into the real world. I blame myself.

Thanks handy. Indeed it is.

The two of us are taking a day off today. The sparkie is nearly done, the plumber is also nearly done, but both of them need to come in again to do the dodgy bathroom socket electrics, put down the laminated flooring and fix the dry rot problem downstairs.

My friend and I are going in tomorrow to finish off the painting hopefully, and prepare the floors and staircases for new materials to be laid on top, some of which have been 'donated' by my friend. Plus, we need to rid the floors of mouse and rat shit and use PVA in the kitchen, before putting down tiles etc.

Basically, the landlord we are working for, is looking to get things done on the cheap. Whether that will be a wise policy in the long term, is still to be determined.

And one remaining question, which is still to be addressed, is the rodent problem.

ETA. While the sparkie was fixing a double socket in one of the rooms, there was an explosion, so powerful it damaged the new socket cover he was using to replace the existing one. I heard it, but didn't see it.

ETA2. At least the place doesn't stink any more, with flies everywhere, and I'm wondering what happened to the brown stained rubber glove (*).

(*) Don't read if you are not into TMI.

RAID on a laptop?

I remember taking the dog piss saturated carpet out of our first house. MrsKJ put Jeyes' fluid on the floorboard stains and it turned to foam

I got dog flea bites. Bleah!

I guess not, if it is a laptop, but some do come with 2 hard drives, which you can use for backups.

thought RAID was ant killer

Evening/Afternoon all

I've been quiet again .... I hadn't realised for quite how long til I checked back to see whether I'd told you about YoungPlum's arm, which of course, I have. Her arm is coming along nicely and is now encased in a new cast which is purple with glitter, it really is a thing of beauty and sparkles prettily in the sunshine. We had an awful morning at the fracture clinic waiting to get her long-term cast on - we were there three hours in total. We watched people come and go who'd got there way after us and in the end there was only us and an old lady left. I didn't like to complain as there were so many signs warning about verbal harrassment and my temper was a bit frayed around the edges, so I just sat quietly. It was frustrating as I had to go straight to work afterwards and the later I started, the later I would finish.

Getting more hours than I want now - how ridiculous is that! I can't turn them down because I never know when the situation is going to change but I'm working full days, 6 days a week. The money is coming in handy, but I'm left too tired to do anything other than the housework, cooking/cleaning/washing/ironing.... yawn! Worst of all, I bought my digital piano a couple of weeks ago, a lovely Roland F-120, and I don't get time to play it! I sent off for some music from the book depository so hopefully that will get here in time for me to find time to play it! I've started teaching Hannah to play though as that's good fun - if she looks like she might stick with it then I'll get her proper lessons.

All else is fine here .... or if it hasn't been then I've forgotten, in which case it can't have been that bad

Congratulations Mal on getting to the end of your course. A First would of course be excellent, but a 2:1 would be a real achievement too. Keeping my fingers crossed for you .... and that your Bella comes home. Have I ever mentioned that DestructoPup's real name is Bella, DP suits her better though

Speaking of DP - she's been on a bit of a roll lately and has torn to shreds a vinyl mat from outside the back door, she's smashed a huge ceramic plant pot, although that wasn't entirely her fault, she's stolen a tobacco pouch and spilled the contents all over the lawn, she's chewed up a hose (again), shredded several soft drink cans...... and those are only the crimes I remember off the top of my head, I'm sure there are more!

jra - glad you had a good day at the cricket, I used to go to the Oval to watch Sunday League one day cricket and travel round the country too watching it ... lovely day out when the weather was good. I miss it.

KJ, congrats to the young MsKJ on her better than expected A levels, you must be a very proud dad!

handy - hope you have a lovely weekend! I enjoy weddings, I'm just not going to ever have another one

Big hugs and stuff to all the grumps, old and new .... . yes I did notice we had a new person - how very lovely is that!

I'll try and post again more frequently.... and yes, yes, more succinctly ... *sighs*

What Ima said, regarding the other regulars on here. Sorry, if I've been a bit me, me, me recently, but I've literally had my hands full for the last few days.


It is.

Ant and cockroach killer.
Fly and wasp killer.

I've had one infestation of cockroaches, introduced initially by a former tenant, so I literally RAIDed the whole house.

I've had one mouse infestation, as mice can get in through the air bricks, which is why I have mouse traps and bait permanently set up, to sort the problem out, before it gets out of control.

Tenants can be a real PITA at times and I've got to sort all their shit out.

=

The sparkie and plumber haven't yet turned up, but it's not my problem for my friend and I, as we are only there to do the painting and cleaning at the moment. There is no electricity again in the house. Why? I do not know.

There is still a fair bit of painting to do, but we are getting there.

Now tell me this. Would you show a potential new tenant around a house that is not fully done up to acceptable living standards. I certainly wouldn't, but the landlord of this property did. I mean, come on. That will be a lost new tenant, almost guaranteed. Some people don't know what the hell they are doing, just want the money, but are not prepared to do the job properly, in terms of making a property habitable.

In the case of my house, the former landlord, that I bought it from was a professional plumber, electrician and builder, so the electrics and plumbing have been done properly, not on the cheap. Even some of the pipework inside the house, under the floorboards has been lagged with insulation. I've made a substantial number of improvements in the meantime, which I won't go into detail, as frankly it is bedtime reading for most people.

Afternoon grumpies!

We had a fabulous time. Warsaw was hot and sunny and there was lots going on. We even made it to a Chopin concert in Lazienki Park - I used to go as a child but that was a long time ago (obviously ) so it was a real blast from the past for me. It's quite magical and as Batman and the boy loved it too we're going to try and fit it in as often as possible when we're there.

The only grrrr bit were the kids on the plane back. I don't do it often, but I got as far as telling one of them off. She was running up and down the aisle, picking fights with other kids (as in actually hitting them) and knocking my arm, at the end of which was a glass of Merlot.

Little Victoria took the telling off rather well - went crying back to mum. And I got a thanks from a stewardess who said she felt like she was going insane. Parenting classes for Victoria's mummy I think!

Morning

Kidding, obvs. Hello darkness my old friend... I'm talking to the walls again....
And waiting for Mr Sad to return from town with the marooned daughter. :yawn:

afternoon....hope all is ok sadp

all ok here just knackered

All is well SnowBes And the scrabble is a welcome distraction from the pants stuff.

House beginning to look normal; lawn mown, banana cake in the oven. Everything's okay. Am soooooo tempted to post that link here.... (FB folk will get it).

And we're about to have cheesy scrambled eggs on toast for tea, comfort food at it's finest. Hope all grumpers are having a good weekend. I'll catch up properly next week - meanwhile I do think it's a shame Plummy doesn't FB as I'd love to see the twinkly cast

*waves*

Plummie, I love your big long wittery posts, don't stop them!

Wedding was a total blast and we all three had a brilliant time.
The unfortunate part is that the house is now a total sh1t hole as I didn't have time to tidy up before we left, so I've got that to straighten up tomorrow. meanwhile, Melony is knackered and mr M started what he thought would be the quick job of making a list of all the magazines he has filed away (with a view to selling them) at about six pm... and he's still going!
Poor boy has to be up for work tomorrow as well!

Never mind - back to normal soon...

BTW - I finally cleared some PMs out of my box, so if you'd like to try those again...

Hugs to all

Morning!

Domestic day with a dash of catching up on stuff thrown in awaits!

It's only Monday and I'm a bit over this week already.... I think I might back out of my offer to work Saturday as I think a two day weekend is in order.

Had a lovely visit round to a friend's house yesterday afternoon for tea and cake. Her daughter used to be in YoungPlum's class but she changed school a couple of years ago but they've kept in touch. She breeds Boxers (as in the dogs ) and there are puppies on the way soon .... I love puppies! Her pregnant dog has taken a shine to me and spent much of the afternoon sharing my chair ... and my lap ... and pressing her face against mine, she's in love - but what can I say, I'm irresistible dammit!

Glad you had a good family holiday Batty, it's cool when you get the change to share/relive childhood memories with your loved ones.

Wassup Sad? Tell OldAuntyPlummers your woes.... I'll be no help whatsoever of course but still..... That's actually an ongoing joke with YoungPlum, she has a "friend" whom she doesn't actually like all that much who ends nearly every sentence with "but still.... " - ever since I found out how much it irritates YoungPlum I've started doing it, and now she's doing it back at me. Little things/Little minds and all that

I'm going to get back to my book now, YoungPlum has me reading the Percy Jackson series, sooner or later I'm going to get to return to grown-up books!

Hope you're all having a tip-top splendiddley-endidly marvellous top-hole sort of a day.