Myle's says, Monkey's do

Hi all,
I have such a problem getting to the point - I wish I could be like these bunnies http://www.angryalien.com/ but I can't. The worse part is in my job, I do tend to nag my beloved and most hard done by consumers to get to the point, espacially when writing letters to evil rouge traders. And here I am, unable to say something in less then a dissertation. Its really not unlike me to reply to emails with "You have raised various points and I shall address each one. Individually. And in to such depth you regret sending the bloody email in the first place". Even my blogs are getting much longer (albiet my last one line one - but that was because I had 2.30 mins of video which could have been summerised in a photo). I guess in this crazy age of ever changing information, 24 hour shopping and instant communication, I just like to chat and gently get to my point over 3 -4 cups of tea.

Anyho, on with the update of us wives located on Mars. You know what actually, I just popped to the vet (no, not to get Allie put down you'll be sad to hear gary) but to get some flea treatment (which is prevention not cure - Allie only got them the once when she was nearly eaten alive as a wee kitten) - and its not just flea killer - appearantly from these few drops Allie can now laugh in the face of adult fleas, eggs and larvae (what I expected), adult roundworms (she already gets a treatment for that), heartworm disease (that sounds nasty), ear mites (sorry, say that again), biting lice (yuck) and the ever loveable adult intestinal hookworms. I guess Allie wouldn't qualify as organic and will no doubt glow in the dark tonight. Really, that can't be good for her - these parasite killing drops were literally drops as in not much at all. Anyway - who's laughing now adult intestinal hookworm??!!!!

So, doing some test purchasing last night and the volunteers, two very sweet chaps actually go to school with the guy from skins (one in about a boy) - apperantly he's a nob and so as his storylines were not all that favourable last night H and I were giving all the big ones (what an idiot - can't believe him - who does he think he is??). TV went off and we sat in silence and contemplated our out burst at an 18 year who has no choice (presumably) in the storylines. It was a senior moment.

Senior moment, that brings me on to a text this morning I got from the ever good looking Captain Jon - "why have you bought an antique car?".

Oi, captain, NOoooooooooooo! You may well be only months from completing your Phd and thus becoming a doctor, be enjoying the good life in Newcastle, and own the latest Apple MP3 technology but you do not go around dissing my wheels. Clifford is 32, hardly antique! Bit old, yes, tax exempt, well definitly, but antique. well I never! what a liberty!

But, fair question all the same. As such. Actually we have been after a triumph for sometime (somthing planning officer and Harlow gangster MC Davidson can attest to) and it came along. I don't belive in fate per se (I do believe H and I were meant to be, most times), but that said - the number plate begins KUH that's either Kat, Ursheila (Allies new name) Helen or, what I like Kat und Helen (und being German for and). It was for sale in Portsmouth so dad checked it out good and proper. My Grandad had a white version when I was little and sadly too young to remember. It's brown, which is the colour we had hoped to get. Anyway we lost the auction but got it on a second chance offer as the winner tried to strike a deal with the seller. The story is, it was once the labour of love of a chap called Kenneth who died and it got passed to a neice. She hated it and wanted to scrap it when a friend of Kenneth offered to sell it. The car came with a scrap book that Kenneth had made of evey singe thing he had done to the car including notes on garages and pictures of work being done before and after.

My favorite bit is when he is writing about a shoddy garage. "The first time I have not done my own repairs in over 80+years. I must have been mad". We've not been out in it too much since acquistion as we do try our best to limit car use, even when your car is a damn sexy classic! When we do go out we get nods from old men and let in to gaps in traffic with a smile (Ranj suspects its becuase they are scarred to have a car like mine behind them as it has drum breaks which although I am use to now, were a bit odd at first). Its mechanically sound but needs some body work to bring it back to a former glory so we are going to see how we get along until MOT time and make a desicion then whether its a keeper or not. That said, it makes us smile a lot. We stand in the garden to stare at it. So very sad!

As a side point, Allie has an enemy I call Spots who chases her and generally plagues her little life and it just peed on the car's cover - the swine! How much are you paying this cat Tove!

So, passed my Trading Standards exams. I can now opt to specialise, but am pleased with passing. I have an operation this weekend which I have been threatened with "if you don't bring the van back, dont bother coming back!" as I am hoping to sting some cowboy clampers with the cops (that's the offical terminology). I am glad I am worth less then a white van, because at least I know!

So, the flat. Things took a nasty turn. We were offered the basement for £5k plus any legal fees/costs incurred by the freeholder, the cost of amending the lease and of course our own fees. we did some research and gave it some thought but came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be a sound investment for us. We, in the sprit of capaitalism then realised we had something that the freeholder might like, i.e. easement rights to the basement which they don't have and they need to maintain it, so we said "if you have a figure and ideas for the terms of the lease lets start negioations". I was called a law breaking bandit and cheap! How harsh! They soon realised we were not breaking the law, didn't apologise though and have said they have felt stupid for supporting us over the leak. Supporting us - its there fucking roof that is causing the rain to piss down in our bathroom. Which, incidently is now coming through orange with stuff in it. |ZZZZZZZZZ (allie just typed that last bit - must be a cat swear word or a message about needing to go to sleep) .

So we said, we want a date in the next week when the leak will be fixed or we take you to court, so they respond with the "we need to start a 60 day consultation then". Why does he even bother messing? I have now reported him to the council and hopefully they will be serving a notice on them. The point is, another 60 days is too much, you can't use the loo or the bath when its coming in. And i hate being called cheap. Fingers crossed, this will stimulate some action and we can have this God forsaken place on the market soon. Myles our builder told us to do all this ages ago, we had hoped that people would have been more pro-active in fulfilling responcibilities - but no.

So that's it I think. To the point, as best I can.

Lots of Love

Kat x