That car again!

A couple of weeks ago, the skipper said that my car was sounding a "bit fruity"!  I did suggest that perhaps he meant "throaty" but he just grinned.

I eventually found time to get it to the garage today and after it was taken away to put up on the ramp and be inspected, the lovely Diane came over and told me it was my cat.  I thought "it must be the neighbours' cat, as we haven't got one and OMG is it dead....?"  

Thankfully, before I opened my mouth, I suddenly realised she was talking about something called the catalytic converter which sounded seriously expensive to me. However, as I think I must have been helping to kill the environment for the last two or so weeks I have to bite the bullet and get it fixed!

8 July 2014

On the 8 July 1984 my son was killed in a car accident.  He was a back seat passenger in a car which was overloaded with youngsters and went out of control.  The other youngsters all survived with minor injuries.

He was 17 years and 9 months old when he died and even though it’s now 30 years since his death, he will always be loved and remembered by his family and friends.

A walk on the outskirts of Norwich city

Although I’ve lived in Norfolk for nearly forty years I’d never turned left down a lane on the outskirts of Norwich, which had intrigued me for many years.  I think at one time it was signposted to Eaton village but then become a ‘dead end’ road with access for cycles and walkers only.

I met a friend in Norwich today, intending to go for a walk at Whitlingham Country Park but when we set off I turned in the wrong direction!  I could have easily found my way back to our original destination but then my friend said she knew of a walk by the river and to my delight she directed me down this little lane which had intrigued me for so long!

There was a small car park so we got out and it was a journey of discovery for me, with the network of footpaths through fields and marshes, alongside the river (we debated which river it was and she felt it was the Tas whilst my instincts told me it was the Yare *)

Masses of butterflies and damsel flies were on the thistles and nettles along the footpath, which meandered by the crystal clear river. 

We came to a junction and my friend suggested we have a look at Keswick Mill which was well worth the detour.  What a beautiful spot just outside Norwich although the occasional train, probably heading towards Ely, and the distant hum of the by-pass told us that civilisation was only a short distance away.  Keswick Mill

Back up the path, across the railway line and we walked past Eaton Vale scout and guide activity centre and then on to the road which quickly led to Waitrose where we stopped for a welcome cup of coffee.

Back down the road, off to the right and we were back on to the footpaths and then it was a short trek across the slightly damp and marshy fields to the car park.

What a revelation for me and I really enjoyed it.  Will certainly be going again.  

Thanks Hilary!!

• I checked on Google Earth and it was the Yare, of which the Tas seems to be a tributary which runs south

How long will I live – do I want to know?

“Steve Webb, the pensions minister, says Government wants to provide pensioners with rough life expectancy guide to allow them to make better financial decisions.”

Won’t the Government be concerned that they run the risk of being sued if people die before the forecast time?  Not by the person who has had their life cut short, obviously, but by the family members who had certain expectations for their relations.

I was a bit bored today so decided to take a test on how long I was expected to live and it came out at 94 years, possibly 99 years!

A bit scary actually, but I’ll try and achieve it!

Oh how we laughed!

A good friend and I had lunch together last week and, as it was a nice day, after lunch we decided to drive to a pretty nearby village.

Before getting to the village we saw a sign advertising eggs for sale so drove up the lane to the farm and were met by an elderly chap and his four (or maybe five) dogs.

He told us that his wife dealt with the eggs and went off to ask her if she had any; in the meantime we noticed a box by the house wall with some cauliflower bits in it.

When the chap returned to say they had sold out of eggs, my friend asked him if he had any 'caulis'.  His response was “no, they’re spaniels”.  I don’t know how we kept straight faces and my friend spluttered “I know they’re spaniels, I meant cauliflowers”.

We’re still laughing about this, nearly a week later.

 

An electric shock

When we first moved to our current house, which is ALL electric, I researched the best deal for paying for power and decided that the StayWarm system was a good option.  The criteria were as follows:

• You or someone living in the house is over 60
• Less than 4 people living in the house
• There are no more than 3 bedrooms
• You take both gas and electricity from E.ON StayWarm
• You pay by monthly Direct Debit

We could not use electricity to heat a swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna, greenhouse or workshop, none of which we intended to do.

The rules at that time stated that we could use as much electricity as we needed!  Woohoo, no worries!!

The ‘set rate’ was not supposed to be based on usage and started to rise slightly each year, which was fair enough and we were happy for around 10 years.  Talking to other people on our small estate it appeared that we had a good deal.

Now, whether StayWarm decided that we pensioners were abusing the rules or just decided to change the rules I don’t know but suddenly the rate quoted for the next year increased dramatically so I called them and asked for a quote for going back to a standard rate.  Bearing in mind that the latest StayWarm quote had been around £110 per month I was very surprised when I was quoted around £20 a month.  I realised that we wouldn’t be able to use as much as electricity as we wanted but, to be fair, we had never really done that, always trying to be thoughtful about our usage.

I queried the new low amount with the adviser at the time and she reassured me that this was the correct rate so I told StayWarm to get lost and changed to a standard rate around October 2012. 

Yesterday I received a letter from EON asking me to ring them urgently which I did only to be told that we had been on the wrong rate for the last 15 months and had been charged at the NIGHT rate instead of the day rate!  The only explanation they could give was that a new system had been installed at EON and when the information was transferred it got in a muddle!  The adviser assured me that we would not be back charged for the difference and the direct debit would not change immediately as we had over £250 worth of credit!

From this week we will be charged at the correct rate – time to turn down the radiators, or maybe time to move house?

The photo has no relevance apart from being the view of the sunrise from the bedroom window.

NB It's now July 2014 and we are still on the low amount!! 

Christmas card 2013 survey

CATEGORIES

RELIGIOUS  -  4

SCENERY  -  6

ASSORTED ANIMALS  -  10 (includes 2 x kittens, 1 x blue tits, 1 x polar bear, 1 x teddy bear, 1 x various birds, e.g. partridge, swan etc, 1 x pigs)

FATHER CHRISTMAS  -  5

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS  -  5

BOATS  -  3

CHRISTMAS TREES  -  6

ROBINS  -  1

WORDS (e.g. “NOEL”)  -  6

There were also 4 electronic cards which, although nice to receive, are not the same as being able to put them on the mantelpiece.

4 handmade cards this year 2 in the Boats category, 1 in the Scenery category and 1 3-dimensional card which I put in the Father Christmas category and was very impressed with so have attached a photo