Ours just went in the external meter box where the old one had been.
Thinking about it, every one I've known has replaced an existing electricity meter that was indoors.
Our smart meter does both gas and electricity. The old gas meter is outside the front door and the electricity meter is in a cupboard in the kitchen and I assume the new meter bypasses both of them.
We now have a small screened device that sits on the kitchen counter.
One of the Beaky daughters has been known to comment when visiting us that we have exceeded our gas budget for the week!
I have an app on my phone for smart meter readings, Every week or so, I use this to update a spreadsheet, so that I have a daily/monthly record of usage and how much it has cost. That way, I can see patterns and especially see when a day's readings are outside the usual patterns.
I started doing this in my last vicarage, after the diocese had a heat pump and solar panels installed. It was helpful to the project manager to have this information once a month, to assess the impacts of the installation. But I quickly found that it helped me as well to keep a track of usage and expenditure, so that I wouldn't have any unexpected nasty bills.
The Electoral Registration Office hand-in-hand with the postal service. Their combined sclerotic bureaucracy and lackadaisical delivery times have deprived us of postal votes.
The Electoral Registration Office hand-in-hand with the postal service. Their combined sclerotic bureaucracy and lackadaisical delivery times have deprived us of postal votes.
With you on the postal service. Mr Nen called by our previous house today and collected a large amount of post addressed to us. I paid a substantial amount of money last month to have our post redirected for a year. Words will be said.
The Electoral Registration Office hand-in-hand with the postal service. Their combined sclerotic bureaucracy and lackadaisical delivery times have deprived us of postal votes.
You can organise a proxy vote up until the last minute, if that is of any help. Also, most political parties will organise transport to and from a polling station if you need it.
Why was it not suggested? I have small veins and a lot of scar tissue from my blood draws and transfusions. Getting a blood test often results in many pokes trying to find a good vein. The last time I was having a blood draw and it took 4 pokes they suggested I ask for a hot pad when I came in. I did today, easy peasy, one poke done. Why did not someone suggest this years ago. So if you are someone who has trouble with blood tests ask for a hot pad before the poke next time, it helps.
TICTH a fellow volunteer at a community project and possibly myself too for being intolerant 😬- this person finishes nearly every single sentence I say and it drives me potty!
It's fairly wearing over the course of a volunteer session and it also kicks back in to memories of professional situations in the past where my voice was spoken over.
I feel a bit rubbish now.
I am with a person on holiday who never stops talking. If I say something she says ‘ Right’ then carries on with her stories, all about her family and people I don’t know. It is very wearing, but only until Friday.
I am with a person on holiday who never stops talking. If I say something she says ‘ Right’ then carries on with her stories, all about her family and people I don’t know. It is very wearing, but only until Friday.
TICTH a national pub chain that will remain nameless. Mrs Spike and I went for a meal at the weekend. We had booked a table for 8.30 as they serve food until 9pm. On the morning of the booking, we received a polite email suggesting that we get there a bit early as the kitchen closes at 9, so we got there soon after 8.15.
When I went to order the food, I had to wait several minutes to get served at the bar. That’s fine, it was a Saturday evening so I’d expect that sort of thing. However, when I came to order I was told that I couldn’t because they stop taking food orders at 8.30. It was now 8.31 and I’d been at the bar for several minutes waiting to be served. I also pointed out that at no point had I been told that there was a cut off point for food orders, but they were totally inflexible, so we had no option but to look for somewhere else to eat. Not easy on a Saturday evening without a reservation.
I left a review on Tripadvisor to this effect. I would have let it rest there, but the manager has replied to my review by claiming that I swore at the staff, which I most certainly did not. I’ve now written to their head office about this libellous suggestion
Today I consign to hell last night's episode and I'm trying to work out which part is making me the most upset.
Cheery husband refusing a lift home at 8.30 at night from work, he was fine to ride his scooter (yeah, nah). Riding off the footpath into a hole in the road and fracturing his arm, requiring a trip to A&E. I refused to take him home, because this was not my first ride in the rodeo. But I did have to bring him home in the wee smalls, after it was decided he didn't need a cast. I am concerned they may have gotten this wrong, as a break in Cheery daughter's food was missed several years ago and it set itself in the wrong position (grr).
Lastly the pedestrian Cheery husband moved off the footpath to make space for, wandered over and had a look at him lying on the ground. Didn't ask if he needed help, or was he ok. Just walked away. I suppose we should be grateful that they didn't steal the scooter, which we've now ascertained needs a trip to the bike shop as it is refusing to work now. Could be a large sum of money down the drain if it's broken. I will be voting against replacing it!!
The only upside, he was wearing his helmet and doesn't appear to have done anything worse, but I still want to hit him in the head with a brick!! Enough!
Thanks, @Sojourner that's kind. It is a bit of a pain, he has managed to drive today, though I suspect that's probably not appropriate, in terms of healing, we will see.
I may have made an error in also posting about this on another thread, I'm a bit brain dead today, so my apologies.
I hope you get a sensible reply from the head office @spike.
I had a phone call. They were very apologetic and said that they should have taken orders up to 9pm, and definitely shouldn’t have stopped taking orders at 8.30. Also very concerned about the response I got on my Tripadvisor review and promised to investigate. They’ve sent me a £40 voucher to spend in any of their pubs.
Inefficiency, especially in a heritage station cafe, when you’d rather spend your time looking round than waiting for your food. Each order, mostly sandwiches, was prepared from scratch, even though our party had prebooked for a specific train, so the staff should have been alerted to the fact that 40+ people might need feeding within a specific time slot. Those who ordered first were last to be served. There was no proper method of matching up of food to the right customers.
Similarly in our hotel, logistics should dictate that customers should not be needing to queue in the exact spot where staff enter and leave the kitchens. Nor should all staff clearing tables at breakfast suddenly disappear to serve coffee to conference delegates.
I once had a similarly bad station cafe experience (at Tenterden, on the Kent & East Sussex Railway), but I think the problem there was that they simply didn't have enough volunteer staff on hand - and it wasn't an especially busy day. Maybe the Severn Valley was a bit short of (a) volunteers and (b) competent management?
That's certainly a possibility. I'd guess that a mid-week train, outside school/bank holidays, might not carry many passengers. Mrs BF and I once had such a train (on the SVR) almost to ourselves, one very wet Wednesday in late September...
It was certainly booked well ahead. I don’t know if the cafe staff were volunteers or paid, but either way, to have no system of identifying which customer had ordered which item and in what order is inefficient.
I have just got home. It has been a good week, despite some minor snags: beautiful countryside, interesting visits, enhanced by decent weather. Our last evening meal was a good one ( some weren’t.). Today we stopped in Lichfield. I went into the cathedral which was busy as they had an exhibition, but I was disappointed that there was little to clarify that it is a place of worship.
I shall be glad to put my brain back in gear now I’m home and not have to listen to endless twaddle.
The Area Manager of the pub chain obviously “had a word” because the libellous reply has been removed from the Tripadvisor review and has been replaced with an apology for my experience
The Area Manager of the pub chain obviously “had a word” because the libellous reply has been removed from the Tripadvisor review and has been replaced with an apology for my experience
Whenever I sally forth to Marks & Sparks, it's to treat myself a little: those little tubs of Properly Chocolatey bites; their nice salads and seafood sauce that you can't get anywhere else; and pretty, interesting biscuits for cheese - you get the idea.
I saw a packet of such biscuits: hexagonal creations made with sourdough and beetroot, and thought they looked like something I'd like.
Sadly, when I opened the packet, all but one of the biscuits were broken. In a way, it didn't matter, as I was only eating them by myself, but if I'd bought them to look nice with a cheeseboard for a dinner party, I'd have been livid.
Comments
Thinking about it, every one I've known has replaced an existing electricity meter that was indoors.
Our smart meter does both gas and electricity. The old gas meter is outside the front door and the electricity meter is in a cupboard in the kitchen and I assume the new meter bypasses both of them.
We now have a small screened device that sits on the kitchen counter.
One of the Beaky daughters has been known to comment when visiting us that we have exceeded our gas budget for the week!
I started doing this in my last vicarage, after the diocese had a heat pump and solar panels installed. It was helpful to the project manager to have this information once a month, to assess the impacts of the installation. But I quickly found that it helped me as well to keep a track of usage and expenditure, so that I wouldn't have any unexpected nasty bills.
Fixed coding - Nenya, All Saints Host
With you on the postal service. Mr Nen called by our previous house today and collected a large amount of post addressed to us. I paid a substantial amount of money last month to have our post redirected for a year. Words will be said.
You can organise a proxy vote up until the last minute, if that is of any help. Also, most political parties will organise transport to and from a polling station if you need it.
Proxy note application - you can send it in online up to 6 days before polling date
It's fairly wearing over the course of a volunteer session and it also kicks back in to memories of professional situations in the past where my voice was spoken over.
I feel a bit rubbish now.
Thank you
In the grand scheme of things I know it's minimal but commiserations gratefully received.
Asthma - I haven't had it for years, and although it's now winter here the local weather has been sunny for two weeks solid - so why now?
Has the rain and sunny days made for mould or new grasses @Huia? What a pest!! And a bit scary too! Thinking of you ...
Yes, avoiding and/ or ignoring said behaviour will be my chosen approach!
Yikes, not much of a holiday for you! I'm sorry.
When I went to order the food, I had to wait several minutes to get served at the bar. That’s fine, it was a Saturday evening so I’d expect that sort of thing. However, when I came to order I was told that I couldn’t because they stop taking food orders at 8.30. It was now 8.31 and I’d been at the bar for several minutes waiting to be served. I also pointed out that at no point had I been told that there was a cut off point for food orders, but they were totally inflexible, so we had no option but to look for somewhere else to eat. Not easy on a Saturday evening without a reservation.
I left a review on Tripadvisor to this effect. I would have let it rest there, but the manager has replied to my review by claiming that I swore at the staff, which I most certainly did not. I’ve now written to their head office about this libellous suggestion
Cheery husband refusing a lift home at 8.30 at night from work, he was fine to ride his scooter (yeah, nah). Riding off the footpath into a hole in the road and fracturing his arm, requiring a trip to A&E. I refused to take him home, because this was not my first ride in the rodeo. But I did have to bring him home in the wee smalls, after it was decided he didn't need a cast. I am concerned they may have gotten this wrong, as a break in Cheery daughter's food was missed several years ago and it set itself in the wrong position (grr).
Lastly the pedestrian Cheery husband moved off the footpath to make space for, wandered over and had a look at him lying on the ground. Didn't ask if he needed help, or was he ok. Just walked away. I suppose we should be grateful that they didn't steal the scooter, which we've now ascertained needs a trip to the bike shop as it is refusing to work now. Could be a large sum of money down the drain if it's broken. I will be voting against replacing it!!
The only upside, he was wearing his helmet and doesn't appear to have done anything worse, but I still want to hit him in the head with a brick!! Enough!
I may have made an error in also posting about this on another thread, I'm a bit brain dead today, so my apologies.
I had a phone call. They were very apologetic and said that they should have taken orders up to 9pm, and definitely shouldn’t have stopped taking orders at 8.30. Also very concerned about the response I got on my Tripadvisor review and promised to investigate. They’ve sent me a £40 voucher to spend in any of their pubs.
{{{Cheery Gardener and Mr CG}}}
Similarly in our hotel, logistics should dictate that customers should not be needing to queue in the exact spot where staff enter and leave the kitchens. Nor should all staff clearing tables at breakfast suddenly disappear to serve coffee to conference delegates.
Hotels, of course, should be better organised!
I have just got home. It has been a good week, despite some minor snags: beautiful countryside, interesting visits, enhanced by decent weather. Our last evening meal was a good one ( some weren’t.). Today we stopped in Lichfield. I went into the cathedral which was busy as they had an exhibition, but I was disappointed that there was little to clarify that it is a place of worship.
I shall be glad to put my brain back in gear now I’m home and not have to listen to endless twaddle.
Good!
Whenever I sally forth to Marks & Sparks, it's to treat myself a little: those little tubs of Properly Chocolatey bites; their nice salads and seafood sauce that you can't get anywhere else; and pretty, interesting biscuits for cheese - you get the idea.
I saw a packet of such biscuits: hexagonal creations made with sourdough and beetroot, and thought they looked like something I'd like.
Sadly, when I opened the packet, all but one of the biscuits were broken. In a way, it didn't matter, as I was only eating them by myself, but if I'd bought them to look nice with a cheeseboard for a dinner party, I'd have been livid.
[/rant]