Kaput

My laptop is dead again. We've given up this time and admitted that, perhaps, we will have to spend a little bit of money and have paid for a brand new hard drive. It will be here in a few days and hopefully I will be back on line properly and permently. But things will be sporadic until then.

Remember the filling that took 5 months to get, and then my dentist complianed that I had "waited" too long before coming to see him? Well, it didn't take:-( So I've been in some pain for the last couple of weeks. I went back to see him last week and had my first root canal work. So I'm still in pain<:( But hopefuly it will be improving soon - I have to go back on Monday for the new filling which everyone tells me won't hurt at all. Lets hope it works.

LMD is growing at an amazing rate at the moment - and sleeping incredibly badly. Aggie reckons is growing pains making her whinge all night, but I'm inclined to believe it's bloody mindedness!

However, We have finally got LMB's bedroom redecorated to a proper standard. We're waiting to hear what "compensation" they are intending to offer on top. They suggested the idea, so who are we to argue?

No answer yet on the holiday though. Apart from a rather nice letter from Which! suggesting I contact Haven head office trading standards. I really must chase that up. We've definitely decided to go with Butlins next year, which I hope isn't a mistake! I've already buggered ny real hope of a quiet holiday by not only having my mother-in-law staying with us (as usual), but my mother, sister and niece are coming too! *gulp*

LMB loves school - she's staying for lunch now too which is great. It would've been even greater if I had been able to find the money to pay for them without raiding the kids money boxes this morning:-( I'm feeling a bit more at ease at college this year too - the work (so far) is making sense to me - it's subjects I'm more interested in (mostly) and I'm trying to learn it properly as I'm going along rather than cramming for two weeks before the exams again! I'm umming and ahhing about whether to move jobs. I can make a lot more money in Bristol, but it's an hours commute -and an hour away from the family if/when anything happens. The company I'm with is pretty shit on it's employee care/training/relations but the department I'm in is pretty good on all that. I think I'll probably debate it round in my mind a bit more - thereby making a decision by default!

Morons!

I'm surrounded by them!

Did I mention that at work yesterday I sorted out 8 large lever arch files of trial bundle. that's all the documets that have been put forward as evidence in a trial. Most cases reach 1, 2 or even 3 files full, but this particular case is a doozer:-) Our firm needs a copy, as does our counsel/barrister, and also the court. Sometimes we get to make them up for the other side(s) too, and occasionally even the client. Each bundle has to be identical to the others and paginated in strict accordance with court rules. My job was to check the three sets of bundles we had and ensure they were identical and all up to date, photocopy anything that should be there but wasn't, remove anything that shouldn't be there but was, paginate everything, then make up a separate batch of "stuff" that was not included in the official documents but might be useful for us.

Then I wrapped them all up nicely - 2 files to a parcel, labled them and took them down to the post room.

Then the solicitor realised that the front cover on each folder had to be amended. So i took them all back upstairs, unwrapped them all carefully (new wrappings would be an extravagance - I was re-using old ones already), changed the front cover and wrapped them all up again. And carried all eigh bundles back downstairs to the post room.

Then the solicitor realised that she hadn't included three large documents that had just come in so were not indexed yet. Downstairs, collect, upstairs, unwrap, slot in new papaer, re-wrap, take downstairs.

Then at 450pm she remembered that actually, they weren't going to the address she had given me, but to a different one altogether. Quick change of labels, then a mad rush to get them to the collection point over the road. jogging while carrying 8 lever arch files wrapped in plastic is not fun!

Today, the decorators finally turned up to paper LMB's room. They were supposed to come before we went on holiday, but didn't turn up! Then they were supposed to come yesterday, but soemhow, didn't make that either. they finally arrived around 10.00am today. They were supposed to put up new paper, with a sticky big border round the room to break up the pinkness! Which is EXACTLY what they had taken down 10 days ago. By the time I get home at 3.30pm and stick my head round the door they seem to be about 75% through the papering, which seemed fair enough for half way through the day. So when they came down 40 mins later saying they ahd finished I was a bit surprised. That is because the idiots had only papered half the room, then stuck the border on the bottom half. Which is a) not what they were asked to do, b) not what they took down, c) not going to stay up as borders are designed to stick to allpaper not wall! and d) means the border will be completely hidden but he furniture when it is returnd to the room.

The insurance company called this evening to ask if we were happy with the work. um, NO!!!!! We said they will ahve to come back and do it again. But it means LMB will not be back in her room for her birthday!

AND, on top of that, not only did they do a pretty awful job of clearing up after themselves, but they did it with MY vacuum cleaner, then left all their rubbish (including the old plaster) behind! I have told them that if it not gone by Friday midday we will be charging them for it's removal.

Grrrrrrrrr!!!!!!

Anyway. I ahve written and printed my letter of complaint to Haven. And attached a CD full of photo's of the problems. And cc's it to Holiday Which?, the local newspaper and Tourist Info. I'll post it from work tomorrow. They've got 14 days to make us an offer of compensation so we'll just have to wait and see what they say. I amy even post some of the photo's here for you to cringe at:) I suppose I'd best get on with the letter to the bloody insurance company now!

The good, The bad and the Haven-ly

We've just got back from a week's holiday in Weymouth. I'll probably flesh out the details in another post, but there were some good bits: LMD won the fancy dress competition in a borrowed nurses uniform by virtue of being the cutest one there (everyone was wearing hop-bought clothes. What is the world coming to?). I thought she'd lost when an even littler girl appeared dressed as a bumble bee - but she hung onto mummy the whole time, and wouldn't talk or look at the audience, whereas LMD went up on her own, yelled her age down the microphone, and roundly told off anyone who tried to steal her moment of fame:-) LMB also got to win one of the paltry prizes of "a foil mask" by winning hide and seek on the last day. Admittedly I found the hiding place - but she stayed there quiet and still, so the victory was hers.

There was some bad - we had booked a chalet/apartment thing bcause I hate caravans, and my kids are not just like a herd of elephants but more of the full safari at 6am, and there is no escaping that in a caravan, whereas a cottage offers rooms to be sent to, and doors to be shut on! When we arrived and realised there were only two cottages, right on the very furthest corner of an enormous site we weren't delighted, but c'est la vie. We let ourselves in, and looked around - there was a bit of a smell, but it was slight. I shut all the windows, which were wide open, pushed the kids beds up against the wall from where they had been left in the middle of the room, unpacked, explored the facilities, went for a swim in a disgusting pool wth no changing facilities, but a long muddy walk from anywhere, put the kids to bed and decided to make the ost of it.

The next morning, in the cold light of day, we decided to take photo's of the the cobwebs, mould and dead insects that had obviously not been cleaned for several weeks. Then I went into the gils bedroom - where had pushed the bed back against the all to ensure LMD did not fall out, it was sopping wet. With daylight streaming in, I could see that the whole of the back wall was dripping with damp. The smell was awful no the window had been shut for several hours. next door in Mstr A's and Nanny A's room it was even worse - damp rot and mould on the walls. Nanny A could hardly breathe at all - having only left hospital following a severe chest infection a few weeks ago I was not happy.

We went to reception at 9am, and refused the accomodation. I was expecting a bit of an argument, as it is high season, and they obviously would not be able to offer an alternative cottage as there were only the two! However, i barely had to say what the problem was before they were agreeing with me that it was not acceptable. I feel that they knew that it was uninhabitable before they even put us there! I gave them until lunch time to sort it out. Went back, packed everything up again. Tried to explain to the kids what was going on. Went back at 11.30. They offered us a two bed caravan. i refused. They offered a 3 bed caravan on the next door site until Tuesday. I refused. i suggested they give us a full refund and we'd find somewhere else, and that i expected whatever happened to be sorted out by midday, as we had already lost a day of our holiday. they decided the 3 bed caravan was actually available all week. so off we went, and spent the rest of the week in a caravan after all. Unsurprisingly, come Tuesday, the cottage was occupied again - I expect they told whoever was suposed to be coming into the caravan that they had been given an upgrade!

So, we had very little sleep all week:-(

And now I have to write a letter of compliant again! bah!