B&Q bathroom installation – day 52

3 comments

As I haven’t heard anything for a while about when the electrician’s coming back or when the new toilet seat’s being delivered, I ring the installation centre and speak to Alan.  Hello Alan I say, happy new year.  Happy new year he says.  I say all I’m waiting for is the electrician and the new toilet seat.  He says what date is it today?  The 8th?  The toilet seat’s coming on the 9th.  I say tomorrow?  I’m not in.  Alan says ah, it’s coming by Parcelforce so they’ll leave a card and you can rearrange a delivery for when you’re in or you can collect it from the depot.  I say I’m never in, I’m at work, unless it’s before 9 or on a Saturday and I can’t go to the depot, it’s miles away and I don’t drive.  Can it be delivered to the store?  Alan says no, he tried that.  I say but the panel was delivered to the store, why can’t the seat?  He says he doesn’t know.  I say no one told me it was being delivered tomorrow.  He says he tried to call me on Friday but couldn’t get through.  Ever heard of leaving messages?  That’s what voice mail’s for.

Alan says that when the installation manager called round I said the fitters were Mayers but he was under the impression that I didn’t want them back again.  I say I only need the electrician, as long as they don’t burn anything, rip anything, leave windows open or anything else that they’ve done in the last six months, I don’t mind.  He says ok then, he’ll see what he can do.

Bloody hell, dealing with B&Q is like wading through treacle.  My six months interest free credit runs out soon and I’m going to have to pay for an unfinished bathroom.  Can’t believe it’s been six months since I first ordered it and it’s taking all this time.

Update
Alan from the installation centre rings at 4:30 and says about your delivery tomorrow, it’s with Parcelforce, if you’re not in, what they do is try your neighbours on either side, I don’t know how well you get on with your neighbours, and if there’s no one to take it, they’ll try to deliver on three consecutive days and leave a card and you can arrange for a delivery when you’re in.  I say but I’m not in any day.  He says I don’t know if they do Saturdays or if you can take a delivery on a Saturday?  I say Saturday’s fine or before 9 o’clock.  He says I don’t know if they do before 9 o’clock.  I say they do because I looked on their website but it will cost B&Q more.  I say I spoke to someone last year, I think his name was Gary, when I was trying to get my panel delivered and he said that you can’t rearrange a delivery until the delivery’s failed.  I say a neighbour took in the sink so hopefully someone will be around tomorrow.  Alan says will they take delivery for you?  I say if anyone’s around, yes.  I say it is just the seat that’s coming, isn’t it?   He says yes, the special seat, the non-banging one.  I say the non-banging one, ha ha.  He says I can’t remember what the proper name is.  I say hydraulic action?  Oh yes, that’s it he says.  Alan says well let’s see what happens with the delivery tomorrow.  I say any word on the electrician?  He says I was going to wait until you’ve got the toilet seat and then he can do both at the same time.  I say oh ok, fair enough.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Gym run

5 comments

My new alarm clock woke me up this morning with its pretend sunrise but I ignored the pretend sunrise and went back to sleep and didn’t wake up ’til 11:15. Damn, day is gone! I wanted to get up early and run to the gym with my new rucksack and then do gym stuff, run back, then go to the supermarket and hopefully still have the whole afternoon to do productive stuff like surf the net all day. Bah.

But I had to try out my new rucksack so off I went to the gym. I love my new rucksack, it’s so easy to run in, I hardly knew it was there. Although, as much as I love my new rucksack, unfortunately it didn’t have any magical properties to make me run better. I think I seriously overdid the overindulgence and slothlike behaviour over Christmas because my fitness is practically down to zero. Oops. A lot of walking was involved today, especially on the way back from the gym when I made up a new schedule which involved walking to one road, running to the next, walking to the next and so on.

Inspired by Angela, who also has a new rucksack and has posted a pic of it on her blog, here’s a pic of mine:

It’s great. Not enough pockets, as you can’t have too many pockets, but it’s just big enough for the essentials, it’s comfy to run with and it’s black and red, which is always a good thing in my book. Or in my blog, anyway. And it was only £12, bargain! (Cat optional extra.)

I’m going to have to sort this fitness thing out as I’ve entered two races, an 8k in February and a 5 miler in March (which I think is probably about the same distance). Although I didn’t realise at the time, but they’re only a week apart, eek! What are two races in two different months doing being only a week apart? I also have next to me an advert for the British 10k London Run on 1 July. Hmm, tempting.

Now it’s 5 o’clock and the day has definitely gone and all I’ve done is run, gone to the gym and gone to the supermarket and Monday morning is looming. Waa. Still, we get another weekend next week, hurrah!

And now that I’m back from the supermarket, I’m going to pretend to be a domestic goddess and make cranberry cookies.

Stats:
Miles: 4.10
Total time: 52:09
Average pace: 12:43 minute/mile
Average speed: 4.7mph
Max speed: 8.5mph
Total calories: 283
Weather: 50F
Music:
Au Pairs
Toyah
Stereo Total
Soft Cell
Wasted Youth
Killers
Courtney Love
Half Man Half Biscuit
Bobby Conn
Cardiacs

Post Office run

4 comments

I got home last night to find a card from the Post Office saying they had a parcel for me. Hurrah! New running kit! Damn, I was going to go for a run over the marshes tomorrow and do the route up the river and get four miles in, as I’ve been an idle cow for weeks now. Can I leave my new running kit in the PO all weekend and wait until Monday to get my grubby little mitts on my shiny new stuff, therefore allowing me to go for a run along the river? Na, can I fuck. I’ll get up early to avoid the queue that goes round the block and run up there and back.

My new alarm clock fails to wake me up at 8 and I don’t get up ’til 9:30. Ooh no, the queue’s going to be massive and it’s raining and I’m going to be standing outside in a queue for about an hour getting wet. Can I leave my new running kit in the PO all weekend and wait until Monday to get my grubby little mitts on my shiny new stuff, therefore avoiding getting soaked? Na, can I fuck.

So I brave the elements and run up to the Post Office, bit feeble though and have to walk some of it. I’m praying on the way to the god of Post Office queues that the queue’s not too long and, bloody hell, there’s no queue! Result! I get my parcel and run/walk off home with it and inspect my purchases. I am now the proud owner of a nice black and red rucksack which is tiny and isn’t going to hold much more than my gym membership card and a t-shirt and I’m going to spend the rest of the day working out how to adjust the straps, as at the moment they’re set for someone who’s about 26 stone. It looks nice though. I am also the proud owner of a fluorescent yellow long sleeved top. Oh yes, very stylish. And a pair of trousers that don’t have any pockets so I don’t know where I’m supposed to put my keys. Hmm. And the nice people at Start Fitness have given me a pair of gloves and a water bottle. Thank you nice people at Start Fitness.

Stats:
Miles: 2.01
Total time: 24:41
Average pace: 12:17 minute/mile
Average speed: 4.9mph
Max speed: 7.4mph
Total calories: 175
Weather: 44F
Music:
Siouxsie & The Banshees – Cities in Dust
Scissor Sisters – Might Tell You Tonight
Scissor Sisters – Intermission
Graham Coxon – You & I
Graham Coxon – Leave Me Alone
Soft Cell – Where The Heart Is

First run of the year

6 comments

After being gently woken up by my new gadget (no, you mucky lot, it’s nothing dodgy), I felt near enough recovered after the Christmas excesses and tried to decide whether to go to the gym or go for a run tonight. I decided to go for a run and spent all day at work looking forward to it although I did at one point think I was going to be struck down by the mysterious sleeping disease but a trip to the shops to buy a new top sorted that out and I was energised again.

I get home and put my Garmin outside and opened the post. There’s an invoice from the roofer who I spoke to today who said that he’d been round on Tuesday and done my roof. I said great, thanks. Then I thought, but hang on, how do I know you’ve done the roof? I asked him if I’ll be able to see it from the street and he said um, you should do. Hmm, how do I know he’s done it without getting up on the roof and having a look? Ah well, as I said to Bernard, if he was going to scam me, it’d probably be for more than £80. He’s also called me Kirsty on the invoice. Why do people have such a problem with my name? My neighbour across the road sends me a Christmas card each year to Caroline. A woman who I work with sees emails with my name on every day which clearly shows it spelt with a C yet still gives me a Christmas card with it spelt with a K. I should have said something earlier, my neighbour might wonder why I’ve let him call me Caroline for five years.

Also with my post was a letter from my home insurance company saying my insurance is up for renewal and how to contact them if I had a leaking roof. How did they know? Did they come round and throw bricks at my roof so I had to get them to fix the roof therefore allowing them to put my premiums up? And can I get them to pay for it? Even though I’ve got an invoice addressed to Kirsty? Maybe I can get my mate Kirsty to pay for it. I’ll say this came for you. She’ll say but I don’t live there, I live in High Wycombe with a big Scottish man and a small baby, you pay for your own roof to be fixed.

And also with my post (who knew post could be so interesting I can get three paragraphs out of it?) was a card from the Post Office saying they had a parcel for me. Ooh, I love parcels, it’s either a book or some new running kit. Yes, I need new running kit. I need another long sleeve top as it’s too cold for running in short sleeves and I only have two long sleeve tops and I’m going to be running a lot more, honest, and I need a rucksack with a chest strap so I can run to the gym because the one I have is impossible to run with.

Anyway, after getting my mega-exciting-three-paragraph-worthy post (although I could stretch it to four paragraphs but do you really want to know the contents of my NTL bill?), I went for a run and it wasn’t as feeble as I thought it’d be.   In fact it wasn’t feeble at all and I really enjoyed it.  I didn’t enjoy almost getting knocked down by the car I ran in front of though. Oops, sorry driver. Better luck next time, eh?

Stats:
Miles: 2.25
Total time: 23:55
Average pace: 10:38 minute/mile
Average speed: 5.4mph
Max speed: 11.3mph
Total calories: 186
Weather: 48F

My no smoking anniversary

5 comments

Phil asked me to do a write up about the agonies of stopping smoking. Well, agony’s the right word, it was BAD! My first attempt lasted all of oooh, 20 minutes. I’d finished the Allen Carr book on the Friday night some time in late November, all excited about waking up a non smoker on the Saturday morning. So up I got, put my tobacco and lighter on the shelf, put the ashtray in the dishwasher, made myself a cup of tea, then retrieved the tobacco and lighter from the shelf, the ashtray from the dishwasher and rolled myself a cigarette. Oops, well, I was going to the pub that night, obviously I couldn’t give up that day. But I’d been up for 20 minutes, so it was a good practice run.

I read the Allen Carr book again a couple of weeks later and finished it on the train to work one Friday morning (3 December, not that the date’s ingrained in my head or anything) and decided that was it, I wasn’t going to smoke anymore. It’s only a couple of minutes’ walk from the tube to my building and every step I took I was thinking “want a cigarette, want a cigarette”. I paused outside the building and thought, oh, just one last one? Then I decided that if I really wanted one later then I’d have my usual mid-morning one. My boss went out for his usual cup of tea around 11-ish and again I thought, hmm, shall I go and have a cigarette? Na, I’ll wait until lunchtime. Lunchtime came and I thought I’ll see if I can go all lunchtime without having one. Walking out of the building at 1 o’clock and not immediately lighting up was HARD! I’d left my tobacco and lighter in my desk so it wasn’t too easy for me. I came back from lunch and resisted my end of lunchtime cigarette, feeling very pleased with myself. Mid-afternoon came and went and still I hadn’t given in. I was meeting some friends in the pub that evening. Fuck, how am I going to go a whole evening drinking and not smoking?!! Eek!! I left my tobacco and lighter in my desk and went off to the pub and announced that I’d given up smoking. When, they asked? Today. Yikes, you’re brave they said. Although I don’t think they said yikes, as I don’t think anyone actually says that in real life, only on blogs. I breezed through the pub although I did get some strange looks when I started sniffing the ashtray and felt very pleased with myself. This giving up smoking’s quite easy really I thought as I went home feeling smug.

Saturday morning, eek! I WANT A CIGARETTE!!! I spent most of the day pacing around the front room and lying on the sofa biting a cushion chanting I want a cigarette. Blimey, could have sworn Allen Carr said something about no withdrawal symptoms. Lying git. (Shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, I know.) I spent the whole weekend obsessed with smoking and reading smoking cessation websites. Monday morning I said to my workmate that if I was acting a little strangely it’s because I’ve stopped smoking and feel weird.

The next couple of weeks I suffered from severe insomnia, waking up at 3 and not being able to get back to sleep ’til just before my alarm went off at 7. Not good. I found though that instead of lying there feeling pissed off because I couldn’t sleep, that if I got up and made a cup of tea, then I could drop off a bit easier.

I continued being obsessed about smoking/not smoking until Christmas Day when I ponced a roll up off the barman and kept it in my pocket while I pondered over whether to smoke it or not until I thought fuck it, I’m smoking it. And I went outside in my friend’s garden and smoked it and bloody hell, that was good!

Then I smoked on and off for a couple of days until I was back to my usual 15/20 a day (although more at the time because it was Christmas and a lot of drinking going on) and decided that I would stop again when I went back to work on 3 January. Every cigarette I had in that week I hated but I couldn’t stop, I was addicted again. Bollocks. But I got a feeling of deja vu when I was on the train on 3 January and thought right that’s it, no more smoking. And this time I didn’t obsess over it, I didn’t make a big deal of it, I just got on with it and apart from a few very minor cravings (which still happen now and again) it was surprisingly easy, I must have not undone all the good work I’d put in by stopping for three weeks before Christmas.

So thank you Mr Carr for writing that book and motivating me to stop smoking. Apart from the cravings, lightheadedness, dizziness, insomnia, feeling like I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and not being able to think about anything except for smoking, I can now breathe properly, don’t cough all day, have no nicotine stains on my fingers (yuk!), have cleaner teeth, brighter skin, get a huge kick out of asking for a no smoking table in a restaurant, have the freedom to go anywhere I like and not think “can I smoke in there?”, hangovers are 95% better, I now have a sense of smell after being convinced that I was born without one (it’s not always a good thing though!) and I am going to do a half marathon this year.

Oh yes, I recommend stopping to all smokers.  In fact, I recommend that smokers take up smoking, just so you can feel the benefits of stopping.

Happy no smoking anniversary to me, yah!

I have been quit for 1 Year, 13 hours, 50 minutes and 2 seconds (365 days). I have saved £548.36 by not smoking 5,483 cigarettes. I have saved 2 Weeks, 5 Days and 55 minutes of my life. My Quit Date: 1/3/2006 08:45

Yes I’m sad, I’ve still got my counter going, but I’m not obsessed, honest 🙂

Yearly round up

4 comments

Woo, we’re in 2007 already. How did that happen? Almost a year since I started running (apart from a majorly feeble effort in December) and stopped smoking and started writing a blog (not necessarily in that order). I used to think blogs were for seriously sad people, now I wouldn’t be without mine. It was supposed to be about my progress at running but soon turned into a place for me to rant. And then it turned into a soap opera about B&Q.

Right then, here are my 2006 heroes:

Joggerblogger for being the first person to comment on my blog and for continuing to do so. He has encouraged me so much, he’s even managed to get me to do a half marathon this September. And I’m going to try very hard to call him Rich and not Joggerblogger when I meet him. I have 9 months to practice.

Phil, aka Sore Limbs. A very honest blog. He swears a lot, even more than I do in one of my B&Q posts. Everyone is jealous of his job.

The other bloggers who comment on my blog, i.e Julie and Adam, thank you.

The pizza delivery people. Not Pizza Perfecto who I sacked due to them taking over an hour and a half to deliver my pizza ages ago, but Pizza Gogo who are extremely polite on the phone and can speak English, which comes in handy. It was getting embarrassing phoning Pizza Perfecto anyway, as the man who answered the phone got to recognise my voice and knew what I wanted to order. One day my mate was round and wanted chicken pizza and the man said, chicken? You don’t usually order that, don’t you want a vegetarian hot?

Bobby Conn for being the greatest musician in the world. Ever. And he’s playing in London 3 weeks tomorrow, yah!!!

Cardiacs for being the greatest band in the world. Ever. And for continuing to play their once a year gig at the Astoria. Which is closing down. Where will they play? Life without Cardiacs is not worth contemplating. I have only missed them play in London twice since 1988. They used to play more than once a year but they’re getting on a bit now, bless their little cotton socks.

My cyberpals over at Designers Block. Some not so cyber now and actually friends in real life. Sometimes I remember to use their real names too.

And as for the 2006 villains, guess who’s straight in at no. 1? Yeah, you guessed it:

B and bloody bastard Q. For being the most incompetent bunch of fuckwits ever. As the Sex Pistols said, I can’t stand these useless fools. Although they were talking about EMI, not B&Q but if Sid Vicious had ever been straight enough for him and Nancy to take a Sunday afternoon trip down to their local B&Q Superstore to buy a flatpack shelving unit, then undoubtedly they would have changed the title to B&Q instead of EMI.

So what am I giving up this year then? I’m giving up drinking. As soon as I finish off the lager and wine that’s in the fridge. I’m going to be thinner and richer and as the saying goes, you can’t be too thin or too rich. Yay for me.

Happy new year everybody.

Monthly stats – November
Miles: 17.08
Time: 3:23:29
Average pace: 11:54 minute/mile
Calories burnt: 1442

Monthly stats – December
Miles: 11.31
Time: 2:13:21
Average pace: 11:47 minute/mile
Calories burnt: 1067

Yearly stats
 Miles: 186.05
Time: 35:50:18
Average pace: 11:33 minute/mile
Calories burnt: 16,482

B&Q bathroom installation – day 46 (I think)

2 comments

I really didn’t want to have anything to do with B&Q during the Christmas break but thought I might as well go and get the light replaced while I’ve got the time off. So I found the receipt, put it on the lights which I’d put on the coffee table so I didn’t go out without them and trekked down to B&Q.

I found some lights I was ok with and thought that would be installed easily as the fitters are fuckwits and can’t do anything that might involve some initiative or skill and took them up to the till. Then I thought, eek, I’ve left the receipt on the coffee table, bollocks. I say to the girl on the till I want to swap these lights for these ones, but I’ve left the receipt at home. She says did I buy them in this store? I say yes. She says she’ll have to call someone over to check and also to check when I bought them. She sent someone off to check that I wasn’t lying and that I did buy them in that store. Then she sent him off to do a browser check to see when I’d bought them as I can only return them within 28 days. He comes back and says £19.99. She says no, a browser check, not a price check. So he goes off again then she says if it wasn’t within 28 days I can’t return them. I say I’ll take them home and come back with a receipt but anyway, I got them on a credit note as it’s the second lot I’ve had to return because your fitters can’t fit them. She says hang on, he’s gone to check. He comes back and says no lights like that were sold in November or December, I must have bought them somewhere else. I say it was only about 3 weeks ago, is Azhar or Maryam here, they helped me when I bought them, they can explain, it’s only taken me this long to return them because I’ve been waiting ages for your electrician to come round and now he’s come round and says he can’t fit them. He says Maryam’s here. I say can you call her over then please? He comes back and says you must be Mrs White. I say yes. He says Maryam recognised you, it’s fine for you to return the lights, I’m sorry about that but it’s company policy, if it’s over 28 days we can’t have anything returned. I say that’s ok, Maryam knows the background, she can explain the hassle I’ve had. Maryam comes over and says to the girl on the till, you can give her a credit note. The girl on the till opens the boxes to check everything’s there and says there’s some parts missing. I say well I haven’t opened the boxes so they must have been missing already. Maryam says to her don’t worry about it. I say to Maryam thanks for your help, sorry to have to get you involved again, happy new year. So I get my credit note which I’m going to give to someone as I never want to go to B and bastard Q ever again.

I get home and look at my receipt that says I bought them on 25 November, so when the man said there were none sold in November or December he was talking bollocks.

How many people does it take to change a lightbulb? It must be up to 6 or 7 by now 🙂

Time to get my act together

2 comments

After barely leaving the sofa for two days, let alone leaving the house, and after my diet of cheese, chocolate, champagne, wine and lager, I got up today and tidied the house which took about an hour and a half.  Who’d have thought two people could make such a mess?  I then decided that as I was feeling relatively energetic, I’d attempt a short run.  And short and feeble it was.

Now I have to decide when birthday celebration no. 3 is.  Yes, I get three birthdays this year, I’m posher than the queen 🙂

Have I really not been out for a run since 14 December?  Eek!  Will do better next year.

Stats:
Miles: 1.34
Total time: 15:29
Average pace: 11:31 minute/mile
Average speed: 5.2mph
Max speed: 8.3mph
Total calories: 109
Weather: 46F
Music:
Soft Cell – Numbers
Secret Machines – Lightening Blue Eyes
Graham Coxon – Freakin’ Out

B&Q bath…. no wait, it’s XMAS!!!

3 comments

Yah!!! My favourite time of year. I have my birthday celebrations, the day after I stay in bed saying ouch I’m hungover a lot, then it’s Xmas Eve, and last night me and Mark went round Tracey’s and drank lots and then this morning we got up and drank champagne, as it’s the only day of the year when you can drink in the morning and not look like a complete pisshead, but now I’ve been banned from the kitchen while Mark’s making dinner. He said why are you in here? I said, why am I in my kitchen? Because I own it. He didn’t think that was a good enough reason so I said well then, I’m going to go and play on the internet, so here I am, and I would just like to wish everybody a very very merry Xmas and a happy new year, especially my new blogging pals joggerblogger, sore limbs, and adam, who comment on my blog, even when there’s nothing worth commenting on 😉

Have a good one, everyone 🙂

1 … 99 100 101 102 103 … 118