A triumvirate of annoyances

Mindful of how easily blogs can turn into whinge-fests, I think I will get a few things off my chest from the past couple of days.

1) At Waterloo Station yesterday I went to buy a coffee to one of the numerous stands that sells hot drinks, greasy pasties etc. I handed the guy a £1 coin, a 50p coin and a 20p coin for a coffee costing £1.60. His hands went behind the till with my money as I awaited his colleague preparing the coffee and he went on to take another customer's order. About 10 seconds later, rather than giving me my 10p change, his hands came up showing me two 20p pieces and saying that it was £1.60 for the coffee and that I needed to give him another 20p. I pointed out that I'd just given him £1.70, he pointed to the 2 20p pieces in his hand. I stupidly handed over an additional 20p, there being no way that I could prove the change I'd given him. This guy obviously thinks he's a latter-day Svengali, and was probably really pleased with himself, having just conned me out of 30p.

What he hasn't reckoned with is just how much it irks me when I get ripped-off. I am probably going to go back there, order the same thing and see what happens when I hand him the same change. What will happen at that point remains to be seen, but I can tell you now that I will not be letting him have his way a second time.

2) I've been in Winchester over the last day, to look at a potential flat that Naomi has found for me, in a nursing home that's been converted into rental studio flats. When we went to see it last night, I must say that it did strike me as a lovely place, and somewhere I'd be happy to live for the next year or so. The landlady seemed nice enough, and the agent showed us around. However, the rental values that the landlady is hoping for are practically at central London levels, so I decided that I would opt to offer a bit below the asking price and see what happens.

The property is being dealt with by an agency called Lindesay's. Click the link and marvel at their unbelievably tasteless use of intro music to their site.

So after lunch today, I went into their office to speak to Kirsty, the girl who'd shown us around yesterday. She wasn't there, so instead I was directed to speak to another girl behind one of the three forward-facing desks with people at them. She looked at me like I was a piece of dirt, she didn't ask me if I'd like to sit down, and she sure as eggs is eggs didn't go out of her way to be courteous in answering my questions. And all of this before I'd suggested offering the landlady £530 per month for the room rather than £550. Bear in mind also that this agency intends to charge me £125 for administration in connecting me with the landlord, and then take a month's rent + £100 as deposit (no doubt they intend to try and con me out of that when the rent expires, by dubious charges for cleaning that they will probably never actually pay for). I don't understand how salespeople (and that is all they are) think they can be so lacking in courtesy, and it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.

3) I also wanted to get some work done this afternoon, after speaking to the agents. I'd borrowed Naomi's Powerbook, and once I'd exhausted its battery, was left trying to find a way to get some power to it. Cafe Nero doesn't have any power sockets, Costa Coffee doesn't have any power sockets, and there's no Starbucks in Winchester centre. These places do offer wireless internet access, however, which seems like a wierd service on its own if you're not going to provide the means for people to use it for any sensible length of time. The next port of call, you'd think, would be the county's libraries. Maybe I've been spoiled being able to go and use the libraries in Oxford (either College or University) and then those in London, where power for laptops is always readily available. Well, when I asked if it were possible in the County Reference Library (where you'd expect that this sort of thing'd be important for those engaged in serious study), I was met with bemusement and asked to repeat my question (I really love it when people do this to me), then told no.


Gah.

50

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Originally uploaded by ambroseneville.

I find that I spend an inordinate amount of my time complaining about things, in a geriatric-inspired way. There are actually lots of things to complain about, if you look around you!

Yesterday, for instance, I was complaining about having to pay £1.80 for tie dry-cleaning. You may point out that if I were able to eat without food falling out of my mouth, then maybe I'd be able to get away without having to have 3 of my ties dry cleaned in the last week. You would be right.

When I mentioned paying £1.80 per tie at the pub last night, it prompted Jack to claim that his dad went somewhere where you could get ties cleaned for 50p each. Frank and I greeted this with no small amount of skepticism. So we started challenging Jackie about where you would get this done. He proceeded to state that not only could you get ties dry-cleaned for 50p, but that his dad has no fewer than 50 ties.

Not content with one exaggeration, he'd chosen to try and confound us by reusing the same number! The photo above was taken while Jack tried to tell us this was the truth.

Slightly more believable among last night's conversations was that Jack is the owner of 24 ties.

More wierd news soon, readers.

Result

Boy oh boy, it's been nearly a month since I've posted something here. I wouldn't blame people if they'd completely stopped checking back here to see what I'm up to .... but to you, my stalwart friends who are reading this now, here are my updates.

Most importantly, I found out yesterday that I've secured a job in Winchester. This is fantastic news and allows me to get on with planning the rest of my life. I haven't yet received the offer letter, but the post will be for 6 months, working as a project officer for Special Educational Needs in Hampshire County Council as maternity cover. Fingers crossed that will then lead me into other things there. For the time being, I have a database project to complete for the Foundation over the next few weeks, so I'm actually back in the office, and will be helping with their move to new premises at the end of this month.

Apart from the obvious advantages of having gainful employment, most importantly of all, it will stop Frank from calling me "an unemployed". From a man I have known for over 6 years who has yet to take up a full time job, there has been no small amount of irony in these exchanges.

Let me see, what else have I been doing? Oh yes, trying to make arrangements for the wedding, which is all still at quite an early stage. I've been down in Winchester a fair bit, looking at hotels and that sort of thing for the reception, and considering our options as far as churches are concerned.

The less pleasant backdrop to all of this is that I'm rather poor at the minute. Scratch that, I'm "laughably poor" as Frank would have it. I got paid too little for the freelance work I've done over the last month, and am right at the limit of my overdraft, which is causing me some concern, seeing as I've just had payday! Oh well, hopefully things will work out soon enough.

No real band developments on the horizon at the mo. We've been trying to figure out a way of recording some new songs for a proposed mini-album (and maybe a single of some sort). Unfortunately we're constrained by drummer Chris' holidays (which are school holidays seeing as he's a teaching assistant now). It'd be great if we were able to record something before I leave for Winch, but we'll see what happens, I suppose. We have been writing some pretty interesting cut-and-paste music recently, and I'm actually really keen to get it recorded.

Promise I'll write again soon, now that my employment worries are over (touch wood).

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edit: Frank now tells me that I've caught the degenerative disease known as employment. The laughter never ends.