Lots happened in the last week, so - I'll keep it as brief as possible:
Monday - Main event - BT complete installation of ISDN30 lines to accomodate new phone system at work.
Tuesday - New phones fitted at work. Then, in the evening - Belper Town went to Leek Town and got a great 2-0 win! We couldn't go - too far after a day at work - but Snapper Harrison's pics are here:
and here's a pic of my new phone by the way!
I now have Voicemail - and a "DDI" number (Direct Dial In) so certain special people who I give the number to can call me direct to my desk!
I can divert calls to my mobile if I want to and store 50 numbers (If I had 50 numbers to call that is!) Nice to have a new toy now and then innit?
Wednesday - evening - called in at Halifax Bank, Meadowhall branch, to ask why they have cocked up my Council Tax Standing Order for the 3rd time in 4 years! The SO said make the last payment on 5th January 2011. They did that, then made another payment on 7th Feb and planned another on 3rd March until I stopped it! Sheffield Council therefore has £131 of my cash it's not entitled to.
Demanding explanations brought nothing but frustration. It appears that since it's a Standing Order and not a Direct Debit - the Bank can do nothing and it is up to me to ask the Council for my money back! I suggested that the Council hadn't made the error and neither had I. Since it's the Halifax's mistake it's up to them to sort it. Oh No It Isn't!!!
Anyway - after arguing for about 20 minutes - during which time the member of staff I saw told me that she was a single parent and when her husband left her, the bank duplicated a payment from her account (Sorry - not interested btw) I terminated the interview when she suggested that the up side is that I will be in front on next year's Council Tax!! The best she could offer was to fill in a Complaint Form but by this time I'd had enough!
Thursday - day off. Morning spent generally loafing around. After lunch - we went to see "The King's Speech" - our first visit to "the pictures" in about 25 years!
Cracking Movie. Highly recommended! We really enjoyed it and it is easy to see why Firth has been nominated for Oscars and Baftas and so on.
Have to say - we enjoyed the whole experience. "The Pictures" has changed dramatically in the last 25 years! Comfortable seats with a clear view of the screen - excellent surround sound - although I refused to pay about £2.50 for a bottle of Coca-Cola
It was also a help that we went to the afternoon showing so the place wasn't packed. In my day - most films had an evening showing with only the odd afternoon matinee!
Afterwards, we dined at TGI Friday in Meadowhall and had a leisurely wander around the shops before heading back to Nortoner Towers for about 8 pm - just in time for the Duchess to see the repeat of Neighbours and to watch American Idol - the auditions. I got stuck into some crosswords!!
Friday - lie in and then Duchess went to Sheffield Market. Had a brief chat via Skype with my son and then after lunch, the plan was to nip down to the local branch of Yorkshire Bank to make arrangements to switch our current account from the Halifax. We spent about a half hour waiting to be told that the earliest appointment we could have for the interview to organise transfer was 1st March at 10:30.a.m.!!! Three weeks away!! So - we did the supermarket thing on the way back home and decided we'd try the Nationwide on Saturday morning. My son banks with them and has had no problems at all.
Saturday - nipped down to Chesterfield (there's a Nationwide branch in Sheffield but parking is a lot cheaper in Chessy) and called at the bank at 9:15 a.m. By 10:30, we were heading back to the car with a new joint account set up - operable from Tuesday Feb 15th - and Nationwide "Gold" Visa Credit card.
After the usual "Full English" - we set off to watch Lincoln Utd v Belper Town. An excursion of about an hour and a half. The 100 mile round trip was well worth it - Belper won 2-1 and earned the 3 points with a performance as good as I've seen in recent weeks.
RWT (Ruben Wiggins- Thomas) scores the winner
Two away wins in a row and the confidence seems to be returning to the team.
Tim Harrison's record of the game is here:
whilst my modest effort is here:
Sunday morning - Archers Omnibus as usual whilst making the above album then nipped out to Ringinglow to release another trapped squirrel. (Yep - we're still trying to rid the estate of the little blighters!)
Nothing else to report - been raining all day so spent some time backing up my photo files to my external drive and doing this blog.
The Duchess needs the PC shortly to get her Junior League stuff up to date so I'll end it here for now - more follows when I've something to tell you.
Adios Muchachos!!
