Category: General Musings

What the….

I think that Steve and I are fairly positive people. We often try to see the positive side of things and compliment each others moods quite well so when one is down the other is up and can raise the others spirit. Today however this is proving to be hard. Sometimes this country just really does your head in!

Today I worked from home. Thankfully the technology we have available and the type of work I do makes this possible. Personally I prefer going into work but when the need arises it is always fab to have the option to work from home. The reason I stayed home was to wait for a delivery.

We paid a premium price last Friday for a quick delivery. Being reasonable people we figured we would let it slide for Saturday but should expect it Monday. No, they advised it would be Tuesday. No worries. I call Tuesday to make sure it is on the truck for today. Yes it is and will be there before 5pm. 5pm comes and goes. I call again. Oh, no it was dispatched from our warehouse to the courier company, it will be there Wednesday. Well I won’t be here Wednesday which is why I got Tuesday as a work from home day (can you visualise my pulsing neck muscles about this time – not helped by the copious amounts of caffeine I have consumed today – another reason not to work from home).

So it will be here Thursday, apparently, which means Steve can take the day off to wait for it. Oops, no, he’s not off on that day either. Bugger. Believe me this is not a one off occurrence. I have heard many stories similar to this. There is no point complaining as they have your money, you want the goods and you are held to ransom in the meantime. You vow to never use them again, which you stick to, but it is rare to find a company that does provide a good service.

Don’t get me going about trying to get a doctors appointment! Next to impossible so don’t get sick!

In short, so this doesn’t come off as a whinge, there are many things and wonderful people that we do really enjoy over here however it is always interesting to reflect on what we did have back home and believe me in many ways we do have it incredibly sweet in Oz and NZ. I always thought that population density was a big disadvantage in NZ. Now I realise that because we have such a relatively small pool of clients in Oz and NZ you need to set yourself apart from the competition or sales walk. This results in a far better level of customer service. Bring back old fashioned, decent customer service I say.

By the way…

Day light savings has started so we are now currently 12 hours behind NZ and 10 hours behind Oz. It is currently 7pm at night at the moment and the sun is still bright, warm and shining. I had a wee nana nap this afternoon as it was so warm that it sent me straight to sleep. Bliss.

I’m knacked

This week has been a full on one. Tuesday afternoon I made my way via train to Bolton (near Manchester) for work. I spent two nights up there as I was conducting six training sessions over these days.

The first night in the hotel I was rudely awoken by an evacuation alarm at 2am! For the number of times I have stayed in hotels I am usually quite diligent about the following things 1) always take something decent to sleep in, 2) know your fire exits from your floor, 3) have your phone, torch and room key next to you for quick access. I have been very complacent it would seem, at least on point number 2. Also I did spend a precious 2 minutes trying to figure out what alarm I had set off (in my 2am groggy state of mind) before realising it was the fire alarm! The hotel guests then spent the next 30 minutes or so outside in the rain and gusting winds while the fire engines arrived. It turned out to be something burning in the kitchen – smelt like toast! The highlight of the night (of course be that it wasn’t a severe emergency and we were all safe) was the attire that people wore outside. One lady had obviously grabbed the nearest shoes and ended up with one Ugg boot and a sneaker.

The two days of training was full on with very little time between sessions. By the time Thursday afternoon came I was rearing to go home. I believe the sessions went very well, even the session with key managers that I had been forewarned about. They definitely tried to unnerve me and display their displeasure at “yet another system” but I believe I managed to successfully hold my own ground and more importantly had some positive grumblings about the benefits of the tool by the end.

This weekend Steve had to work and I was helping a friend move into her new place in Wales. It was a big day but I have been quite surprised that my muscles aren’t hurting as much as I thought they would today. We have spectacular weather here in Bristol today although there is still a chilly wind blowing. With that, I am off to enjoy it.

Another trip to Newport

Saturday was another day spent in Newport helping a friend look at some rental properties. As she has already booked a moving company at the end of March is was getting fairly urgent that a decision was made. I am glad to say she has finally picked one.

The first place we went to clearly had damp coming through the walls. The house had been freshly painted and the real estate agent even had the audacity to say it was going to be re-painted. Like that was going to help?
The second place had huge living room windows that looked out across farmland but the kitchen was incredibly bad.
The third one was the winner. As soon as you walked in it felt warm and homely. It really helped to have a lot of furniture already in there which went with the period style of the house. Lots of warm, dark honey coloured woods and soft, blue walls. It has a fabulous, tiled kitchen with a huge cooker, built in fridge and freezer, conservatory room with washer and dryer, one bedroom downstairs, three bedrooms and bathroom upstairs, under house storage, garden shed and a backyard. The bedroom downstairs will be changed back to a dining. Two bedrooms upstairs each have fireplaces and the living room and front room also have fire places. The front room (currently a bedroom) has a fabulously decorated fireplace with the most luscious coloured blue tiling. As soon as my mate saw it she couldn’t sign on the dotted line quick enough. Job well done.

Front of the house
Parquet floor boards at the entrance
Fab fire place
Fireplace in the lounge
Great cooker
Backyard and garden shed

Why I love Australia

One of the many reasons I love Australians is their, sometimes quirky, perspective on life as this article below regarding the recent flooding in North Queensland points out. The world could be falling down around your ears, tormented by floods, crocs and snakes but there is always something more pressing to deal with – ensuring the beer keeps flowing at the pub 🙂 Aussie rocks!

Excerpt from the BBC news site:
Manager of the Albion Hotel in Normanton, Donna Smith, said a four-metre (13ft) crocodile had been seen stalking residents and dogs in the flooded main street.

She also warned the town was expected to run out of beer in two days.

“We can put up with a lot of drama, no fruit and veggies, but nobody wants a pub with no beer,” Ms Smith told Brisbane’s Courier-Mail newspaper.

Friday the 13th

Well besides having an incredibly busy and slightly stressful day at work today nothing spooky happened. Not that I was expecting it to.

Sitting at home now after having eaten a lovely dinner and thinking about tomorrow, Valentines Day. Generally we don’t do anything for Valentines. Why? Call me greedy but I quite enjoy feeling loved every day of the year not one day in particular. Call me cheap as I really dislike the inflationary pricing because of the date. Call me an old fart as we have been together long enough now that our idea of a posh night out is getting a clean pair of jeans on and heading down to the local Thai takeout. No the last point is a bit of a stir, but we do enjoy a good Thai meal.

However, I am not that cynical that I don’t appreciate the fact that many people do celebrate Valentines. Good on you. It is especially lovely hearing peoples stories about what their special someone did for them on Valentines. Nice to hear good things for a change.

Anyway, if that’s you, have a great Valentines and I look forward to giving all the correct sounding oohhh’s and ahhhh’s when you tell me all about your special outing.