British Gas took £600 from our account

Can you believe they are allowed to do this?

Earlier this year they wrote down a reading wrong and said we'd owed them £600 for electricity. We complained and they admitted they were wrong and would correct it. Next bill - we were £600 in debt. We reminded them they said we didn't owe it. They agreed and said they'd fix it. We decided to leave. They told us we owed them £600. We pointed we didn't and they agreed. We left.

Today they take out £600 without telling us.

I've just been at a conference about web 2.0 and how brands should be using it for research. One theme that came out is that they should be monitoring the negative conversations that are being said about them. So I hope someone from British Gas reads this and realises how crap their customer service is and tries to improve it.

Imagine if i walked into their office and took out £600 worth of equipment. Surely it would be called stealing. So how can they be allowed to get away with this?

We've had to contact our bank to try to get money back and we'll be charged for this let alone charges for going overdrawn and our time in sorting it all out.

I just can't believe that big companies can get away with such blatant disregard to their customers in this day and age!

We've recently just lost lots of money because of Fly Be and Lloyds TSB crap travel insurance and i was going to write about that..

Fly Be cancelled the flight we were meant to take to Inverness. This meant we had to get a different flight to Glasgow. We had to rearrange our car hire - which cost more as we would now pick up from one airport and return at another. We'd booked a luxury B&B near inverness which as we arrived in Glasgow 12 hours later than we were meant to be in Inverness obviously didn't make and they charged us the full price. Plus we had to pay for another hotel. Fly BE refused to refund this money as they cancelled the flight because of safety worries (although they told us at the time it was because the plane had a light on they didn't know what it was). So we thought - at least we have travel insurance - but guess what it doesn't cover this. I'd like to therefore ask what the fuck does it cover if it doesn't cover losing money on holiday.

So Lloyds TSB, Fly BE and British Gas - you are all money sucking big corporations that don't have a clue about customer care or customer service that i plan never to use again in my life and i hope you all go bankrupt and catch horrible corporate diseases.

OK so not a well written blog - but at least it has got it off my chest

What a joke

Johnson is Tory mayor candidate - Boris to be mayor???

Lets hope not.

Has he not noticed that bendy buses are actually very good - especially if you are getting on at a crowded bus stop or in a wheel chair or have a push chair etc etc.

And actually the congestion charge is working pretty damn well and is attracting interest from other major cities in the world (e.g. New York).

He's going to give us all bigger houses.. er ... Nice idea but I'd like to know how

Now I was never a fan of Ken when he was a politician but i think he is a great Mayor.

To all those who voted for Boris because they thought "he was funny": Please stop. It won't be funny if he fucked up the greatest city in the world.

there are 16,000 people out there who don't deserve to call themselves Londoners. Hopefully they'll be to busy watching repeats of have i got news for you to vote in the real Mayoral election.

Although if we are all really lucky they are actually Ken supporters who thought that it might be amusing for Ken to say he beat a monkey in the race for Mayor.

However, on the up side - thank fuck he has nothing to do with education now. Please Boris - go back to presenting TV where you can be funny ......

Kubb

The history of Kubb is shrouded in mystery and there are several theories about the origins of the game. Most of these agree that Kubb evolved in Scandinavia and is over 1000 years' old and came about as a way for the Vikings to wile away the long summers' evenings. It is occasionally suggested that it may have developed in Northern France, but seeing as the Normans were originally from Scandinavia, the source was probably the same.
It has been suggested that Kubb evolved into the version played today from an early form where the Vikings used to play with the skulls and thigh bones of their victims of rape and pillage. Then as Christianity swept across Northern Europe, it was no longer deemed politically correct to kill people for the purposes of a friendly team game and so the Vikings started using wooden blocks instead. The more probable and mildly less gruesome (but far less interesting!) theory is that Kubb started off as a game played using the off-cuts resulting from chopping firewood. This is supported by the fact that in Swedish, the word "kubb" means block of wood

Glastonbury 2007

My favs were:

Just Jack

Mr Hudson

Lily Allen

I want to go next year already!!

Wet holidays

Two holidays in England in the wettest June ever. However, they were fun. Glastonbury was great, made even better by the people we were with and a fab gazebo.

Scotland was beautiful, even through the rain clouds. For once on holiday I really relaxed (in Scotland rather than Glastonbury) and its taking a few days to get back into the hecticness of London life.

The Olympic Logo: Mr L's letter to the Guardian

As the debate rages on about the Olympic logo this is Mr L's letter to the Guardian:

Dear sir / madam

Instead of the traditional vilification of anything different (Edgy symbol of digital age or artistic flop, 5/6/07) the London 2012 team and their brand designers should be applauded for having the courage to create a brand that is truly innovative and unique in the sterile field of corporate Olympic designs.

Leading edge design often makes us uncomfortable at first, particularly if we are outside the main target group. This brand is explicitly aimed at young people, who have been marginalised by previous Games and are almost certainly not to be found voting in online petitions or frequenting the comment pages of the traditional media. Maybe they do have reservations themselves, but none of those opposed to the brand seem to have thought it worthwhile to ask for their opinion. This may prove to be the greatest justification of all.

Sadly, the only thing more predictable than the rush to condemn will be the scramble from the same people to jump on the acceptance bandwagon in a year’s time, when the new brand is a showcase for London as a continuing leader among world cities - brave, bold and embracing change.

Yours faithfully

Glastonbury pre meet

We had a great planning meeting for Glastonbury yesterday.
I'm soooooo excited.

I feel rubbish today - but I'm sure I'll feel worse in 4 weeks time!

Wet bank holiday

What a wet miserable bank holiday weekend.

I have been to the gym though so maybe the rain isn't all bad. I've also been painting my front door just as I said I would. That wouldn't have happened if it had been lovely and sunny. It is just drying at the moment. Although nothing is really dry at the moment as it has been pouring down with rain.

A rainy afternoon likes this makes me want afternoon tea. A crumbly scone with clotted cream and strawberry jam. That reminds me of being in Exeter when it would often rain and we'd go for a drive and have scones and cream or eat them at home in front of the fire.

I've also joined Facebook. I'm still getting to grips with how it works and of course find it funny "poking" someone. You can search on your school and university. I left my school 12 years longer ago than anyone else who is already on it. So I think really does prove the point that we are a generation to old for these social network sites. Saying that - there were quite a few people I knew on it. A clever little thing goes through your address book and tells you which of your contacts are on facebook. There were a couple of people I don't know at all but most surprising was seeing my little bro on there. However the thought of poking him is just to wrong for words.

Tomorrow we're having a pre glasto meet up. I'm getting really excited about going but starting to have doubts about how well I'll be able to cope with it now - it's 7 years since I last went and I am a lot more into my creature comforts now. Mr L and I went and bought a tent yesterday. It was pretty heavy carrying it home (well that is what Mr L said) and he got my thinking about having to carry all my things from car to campsite at Glastonbury. Phew - worn out already.

It is certainly going to be a very different Glastonbury experience than I've ever had before. I always used to work there. This meant less traffic queues arriving and leaving. Staying a week. Safe camping and therefore a pillow, lilo, far more clothes than i really needed, a hot meal every day, a tent with a constant supply of tea.. etc, A shower, a proper flush toilet..

However it did mean I missed some of the bands. Although actually I don't care much for "bands", rather the acts I wanted to see. This year I'm looking forward to seeing Mr Hudson, Just Jack and Jamie T if they are playing.

Lets hope the weather gets better in the next 4 weeks. Last year on this day I was in the desert in America. Standing at a spot where 4 states meet. It was a lot hotter!

Working on a Sunday sucks

Working on a sunday again. It sucks. Hopefully I'll trade this for a day at Glastonbury though.

I cooked dinner for some friends last night and even amazed myself.

Now time to eat some chocolate and watch TV!

DIY

I'm getting back into trying to finish off those last few jobs that i want doing round the house. I really want new windows as we have horrible aliminum ones. Trying to get a quote without a sales agent coming round has proved too difficult though. Someone came from Anglian last night. i didn't think he was too pushy but Mr L is not so keen on the idea of having anyone else round now or having the windows done. It was a bit more expensive than we'd thought it was going to be. the next step is to get a quote from a local firm but i don't know anyone who lives near us who has had their windows done so i don't know how to get a recommendation.

The next job will be painting the front door. It's currently red but I'd like a nice duck egg blue. I think I'm going to be able to paint this myself. I think i would like a nice shiny door knocker on it as well.

But enough of that - today i must finish writing a report. Tonight we are going out to dinner at the lovely Pumphouse. Yum.

my phone is amazing

Have eventually worked out how to download music on to my new phone (Sony Ericsson W880). How cool. No wonder the kids want to play their phones on the bus. It's a pretty amazing thing that music is now so portable. I remember when we were kids and when we wanted to carry music about we had a boom box. Of course that was considered pretty anti social and you certainly wouldn't have got two or three of them going with different songs on the bus in the morning. So the downside of portable phones with music is that now in the morning I have to listen to crap R n B from several different sources. Maybe next week I'll be competing with Just Jack on my phone (which of course is of better quality!).


Whilst looking for a picture of a boom box i found this blog that I've quite enjoyed - Techie Diva. Its pink and girly and about technology. Cool.

My garden blog

I've learnt how to mobile blog. So now I have a mobile blog as well where i can keep a photo diary. This year, after planting some bulbs last year, I've discovered how wonderful it is to grow things. So I've planted lots of seeds in the garden. Before it was mainly shrubs; although this may be because I "weeded" up all the previous flowers. I planted some Gladioli bulbs last month and already they have started to grow. So I thought it would be could to keep track of where everything is and how quickly things are growing with a picture blog. You can find my gardening blog at mrslsgarden.blogspot.com.

I love my nano though

It is so small and tiny and light. I love it. If only it was pink.



I also got a new phone this week. It is lovely as well. It's a Sony Ericsson W880i. So small.



Mine's silver though with lovely pink flowers on the screen.















I know need to learn how to blog from it and be down with the kids.

poo to itunes

well I'm now in a really bad mood. A couple of weeks ago I lost all my itunes folder on my computer. I had most of my songs and playlists on my ipod mini. I've spent the last couple of weeks trying to work out how to get these from my ipod to the computer but despite several arguments with my husband and hours searching on the internet no luck. I really wanted some new music on my ipod that I've bought so wanted to be able to update my ipod.

So anyway, this evening I've bitten the bullet, downloaded all my cds again and uploaded my ipod. So I've lost all the ratings and playlists I had. My husband is cross as I've been pissing around trying to work it out for the last 2 hours and I'm pissed off because I've been pissing around with it for the last two hours and now it looks like I'm going to have to sit here for another hour whilst it wipes it all and updates it. Poo.

Not happy and its nearly Monday morning.

poo.

Home and away

Arsenal have just beaten Tottenham which is excellent news. I can imagine my hubby jumping for joy. I imagine he'll have a sore throat again when he comes in tonight. I'm nice and chilled out on the sofa, however. Lets Hope we can beat Chelsea in the final now.

I'm going to Dubai in a month. I'm really looking forward to catching up with my best friend who lives in Kuwait. It will be really nice to have some sun as well. My plan to lose some weight before I go hasn't got very far yet. It took until yesterday, the 30th, to get to the gym. So that New Year's resolution was a bit late getting started. The other - not to get drunk - has already been blown out of the window....

Last Saturday was H's leaving do. She is quitting a life of marketing to go off round the world. It all sounds very exciting. I don't think I would have the guts to leave the UK. I'm sure she is going to have a fab time though. She is meant to be writing a blog - and I look forward to hearing about her adventures. And I'm sure she'll have some. In fact she manages quite well at that in the UK. I spent the Saturday afternoon before looking after her in hospital following a bike accident and some serious concussion. So bike riders out there - wear a helmet. And A&E nurses and doctors - you really are amazing.

I really don't get how bankers can earn such high bonuses when it is nurses and teachers that really deserve them. That just doesn't seem fair to me. I've recently been looking at graduate recruitment as part of my job. I was shocked to see that £30k+ is the average starting salary for grads in banking and law. How much? That seems a lot to me. If I had my time again would I choose banking over Market Research.. urrmmm?

And grads seem to expect so much more now. Students in general seem to be so much more in control of their destinty thanIi remember being. ButIi think the internet and mobile phones are a lot to do with that. How much easier must it to be a student with a computer, the internet and a mobile phone..

umm anyway mr L is on his way home..I could just about hear his excitement over the noise on the bus he was on. Which allows me one moan before I sign off. Bloody kids and their bloody mobile phones with the crappy music and no head phones. I'mm sure we spent most of our teens and twenties trying to get better and better quality music equipment and now that it is available the kids nowadays insist on playing crap R&B on a tinny mobile phone. It is particularly annoying on the bus when several of them are competing to see who can have the rudest badest tunes... grrrrrr. rant rant.

xx