I am still alive. My broadband was activated on Monday. Sadly, though, BT have buggered something up so it doesn’t work properly. And Wednesday night not only did it not work at all, but my phone line completely stopped working too. I speak to BT at least twice a day, except yesterday and this morning I even spoke to an English person! Now I am at home, though, I have internet, finally.

I am mostly unpacked, I just need to buy a wardrobe so I can put everything else away. And a sofa so I have something comfortable to sit on to watch TV. When my landlord has fixed the aerial – at the moment it’s pretty dead and I’m using an internet aerial, which I have to reposition every time I want to watch something and during that time too.

I am still trying to catch up with all the things I’ve been wanting to do this week, along with reading through the Yuletide archive. I’ve read 45 stories so far (I can tell from the top commenters list).

I dreamt last night that there was a Charley in TR, although threading with her involved moving my freezer through the kitchen cupboards for some reason. It seemed logical at the time…

My flat is gradually looking more like I live there. Although I’m down to three crates to empty now, some of them won’t empty because I have nowhere to put them until I get a wardrobe. I also have a few boxes of things to do something with and piles of crap on my dining room table, bookcases and on the side in the kitchen.

But I also have a plant, which I won in the raffle at the Rotary Christmas dinner on Tuesday night. It’s the first plant I’ve ever owned, so I had to get someone else to tell me how to look after it – which was just as well because I’d never have guessed. And it was just as well mum pointed out I’d have to bring it home because I wouldn’t have thought of that either and it would have died of thirst over the Christmas holidays…

I am sort of reading my friends list, but because RSS Bandit would have so many to download it’ll take forever on dial-up I’m reading the LJ ones on my friends list and saving the rest for Monday. But it’s so hard to read on my friends list I’m more skim-reading things. I don’t know how other people read their LJ feeds that way!

I’ve been watching Leverage and really liking it. It reminds me of Hustle. I love all the exciting stunts and I hope they keep not delving into the character’s pasts because I don’t really care that much. I just like to see them in action.

I recognised the name Christian Kane before it started, although I couldn’t work out why. Once he was on screen, though, it was obvious – he was Lindsay in Angel. But there’s another character in it – Sophie Devereux – and I spent the whole of the first two episodes wondering where I recognised her from. Her flambouyancy seemed familiar too and it drove me mad, until I remembered to look it up on the imdb. It turns out she was Jane in Coupling.

Apart from that I have no broadband at home until Monday But tonight is my only night in this week until Sunday, so I’m probably not going to notice too much. I have a whole load of things on my PVR to watch too, and a Star Trek DVD from lovefilm – when I’ve watched that one I’ll have seen every episode of every Star Trek series. Including the animated ones.

I did get hold of Band of Brothers to try, since so many people on my friends list think it’s the best thing since sliced bread, but I didn’t even make it all the way through the first episode. Which wasn’t that much of a surprise because it’s not really my sort of thing.

Also, I might have a soya intolerance. Or a stomach bug, but I’ll wait till Christmas to find out where I can be ill in comfort. I finally managed to upload my Yuletide fic. It was typical – I got it done before I moved, but then the uploads went wonky if you or your recipient’s name began with P-Z and that includes me since my name starts with P. Once it was back, then I had no internet.

I am moved and have unpacked quite a bit. Well, my sister unpacked quite a bit in the bedroom and kitchen, I’m still working on the lounge.

I have no broadband until next Monday and there’s not even anyone with an unsecure wireless network I can pick up from my flat

And my stomach’s not working any more, so I’m really tired from that and moving.

I want it to be Christmas now, so I can go home and rest.

I’m so tired I’ve been reduced to watching Top Gear repeats on Dave. And it’s currently one I’ve seen before as well. I am still using my internet connection, though, despite my phone being cut off.

It kept raining on and off today, which wasn’t a help. I got to the new flat early and my landlord was already there. When I went inside I discovered there wasn’t a freezer, but I felt sure there had been when I first looked at it… So now I owe my parents money for a freezer, which is being delivered Sunday afternoon. So I can’t move my frozen food till Monday.

BT kept trying to ring me while I was driving, but they came at 1pm, so I could ring Zen and my internet will take 6 working days – I’ll have an exact date by the end of the weekend, but I’m hoping it’s before next weekend and not after.

While all this was going on, and I was trying to clean the new flat, Barclaycard fraud department tried to ring me. I changed my address on play.com and paypal, and they wanted to check it with Barclaycard, who decided it was someone else trying to use my card.

So far I’ve spent £15 on my mobile – it was just as well I had plenty on it to start with.

It was only after I’d been home for a while that I realised I left the hoover there and didn’t mean to. And I forgot to clean the fridge in the new flat. The trouble was it was 2.30pm by the time I left there and I hadn’t had lunch. Which is partly why I’m so tired.

And I currently hate the new flat on the basis that it’s not home. But I remember thinking that about this place two years ago, so it will pass. Eventually.

I should have known today would be bad when I woke up at 6.30 with diarrhea, which meant turning lights on and putting my glasses on and therefore no chance of going back to sleep till my alarm went off at 8am. This afternoon I found out that it was because Sainsbury’s poisoned me – they put milk in their Free From Chicken things. Which at least explains why I haven’t been right since I had one on Sunday.

Then today got suddenly busy with last minute stuff ten minutes before the end of the day. But I managed to escape half an hour late. And when I got back my work Secret Santa present had arrived – I was getting worried since it has to be in by Thursday, the redirect on my post means anything sent after tomorrow takes an extra day and there’s a postal strike here on Monday.

Tomorrow I get to get up at the normal time, manhandle my hoover into the car (I’ve never picked my hoover up for any more than very short distances as I have no stairs), de-ice said car no doubt, fit some other stuff in there, convince the car it really does want to start, convince the car it really does want to go, put petrol in it and drive to the new flat by 10am to pick the keys up. Then clean it and wait for the BT engineer to come sometime in the afternoon. And hope it’s before 5pm so I can call Zen and tell them to give me broadband. And that’s going to be the quiet day in comparison to Saturday…

Now, last time I moved my phone line cut off at 10pm, but my internet stayed on as long as I was connected. This time it’s getting cut off at noon, so it’ll be interesting to see if the internet’s still working, since my router is permanently connected. Otherwise I’ll be hoping my neighbours with the unsecure wireless network have it switched on (they don’t always).

I have now filled eleven crates with my possessions. Four of those crates are mostly books. I really need to be ruthless with them after I move, I think. I’ve packed most of the pictures on my walls, mostly emptied the bookcases and taken a load of stuff off my desk and TV stand too. So it’s all looking a bit empty. Well, until you see the crates piled up anyway. I have to go round the flat carefully in case I bump into things.

I spent a lot of yesterday morning going through stuff and tidying it. And discovering stuff I hadn’t unpacked from when I last moved two years ago… I’ve binned it now because it wasn’t even that important at the time. I kept on discovering stuff in random places, especially pension statements for some reason. Which included after I’ve packed that stuff and refuse to go back to it yet again.

Next Saturday my sister’s bringing her crates and between those and all my boxes, I think that’ll be pretty much everything covered.

Also, this weekend, I had a bit of a getting things done weekend because I didn’t go out. I was planning to go swimming but I have conjunctivitis (although mildly – it took me two days to work out why my eye was pink) and I shouldn’t take that to a swimming pool really.

But I did listen to the latest Seven & Ace audio: Forty Five. I don’t think I was paying much attention to the first CD, though, so I’ll listen to that again on the way home at Christmas. Then I also finally put my Canada diary up on my website. I have done all my Christmas shopping (which only involved buying one thing, so that wasn’t hard) and nearly done everything for my TR secret santa too.

Now I am downloading Band of Brothers, so I won’t be able to say I haven’t got plenty to watch for when I have no broadband after I move…

I am so tired. Today I went in to work early, worked through lunch (which mostly consisted of running macros in excel while I was on the phone to BT) and then left late. Everyone in my office is stressed, which doesn’t improve the atmosphere in there either.

Time spent on the phone to BT today: 52 minutes (the work phones show the time of your calls on the display)
Progress made: Back to where I was Monday lunchtime
Total number of people spoke to at BT: 7
Number of different pieces of hold music heard: 1, more than once through too

And this is going to be long… Read more…

Time spent on the phone today: 1 hour
Progress made: Backwards
Total number of times called BT: 4
Total number of different stories told by BT: 4

Given that yesterday BT told me that Zen couldn’t possibly sort out my broadband until the phone line is in, I called Zen at lunchtime (since you can only ring them between 9am and 5pm on a weekday). They said that was rubbish, to call BT and get a sim code from them.

So I rang BT, they insisted the sim code number was the same as my order number, even though Zen said it wasn’t. They also told me Zen wouldn’t be able to do anything for 48 hours after the phone line was activated.

Then I rang Zen again who weren’t sure about that story, not least because I was confused about what BT told me. But they checked the sim code anyway and told me it was wrong. Moreover, most of the sim codes they get from BT are wrong.

This evening I rang BT (at least you can call them till 8pm) and spoke to someone who told me they can only get a sim code when you put an order in. So they cancelled my order for a new line (that cost £125) and then discovered there’s a line in my new address with a different company. Which meant they couldn’t do anything, but put me through to someone else.

After lots of hold music I told someone all this and their computer failed to find my new address. But they checked with the post office to see that it was a proper address. They told me that what they need to know is the current phone number there, then they can see if they can change it back to BT. And if they can’t, then a new line with a minimum contract of 12 months, but you can have your calls and broadband with someone else (I didn’t know you could ever have your calls with someone else) is £125. But a minimum contract of 18 months, with your calls with BT but your broadband with someone else is only £30. I know which one I’d rather have, given that I’d quite like to move never after this.

So now I have to email the estate agent – which I needed to do anyway to send them some stuff and ask them some questions. And we’ll see what new thing BT tell me next…

I tried a different tack with BT today – I rang them up and told them exactly the same thing. Now, instead of not wanting to know, they are sorting out putting a line in, since the one there can’t be changed back to BT and without a BT line I can’t have internet. They tried to sell me broadband as well, but given that they cut my phone off completely twice in two years I don’t trust them. And I want to go with Zen.

Last night was our Human Board Games Event and I have the bruises to prove it. Well, not bruises exactly, but my knees really hurt from kneeling down on a hard floor to tape out a 8×8 grid for Snakes and Ladders and Draughts. My legs ache from walking around the Snakes and Ladders board picking up the big dice (although I’ve seen bigger) and passing it to people. And I have a couple of cuts on the inside of my fourth finger (what everyone else would call their ring finger, but then everyone else counts them wrong too). Those I have no idea how I got.

But I had great fun watching Snakes and Ladders and I got to play a couple of games of Hungry Hippos and one of The Game of Rotaract (loosely based on The Game of Life). Everyone has had great fun too, which was the main thing. Even at the end when there were four of us left on our hands and knees, polishing the floor that we’d cleaned with the masking tape…

Why is nothing ever simple? Since BT require 14 working days notice of moving house and I move in 15 working days, I thought I’d ring them to get that sorted, ring Zen to get my broadband sorted and ring Pipex to tell there where to stick it.

Except that there’s already a phone line with a different company at my new place, so BT refuse to do anything! So I’ll have to ring the estate agent on Monday, get them to find out when the tenant is stopping their phone line, then ring Zen and BT to find out just how likely it is that I’ll have broadband in the new place this side of Christmas.

I’d have gone off moving if my neighbours hadn’t decided to wake me up at 7 this morning with their very loud washing machine.

I have now packed for Canada. Everything fits in my suitcase fine, which must mean I’ve forgotten something. But I started throwing things in there a week ago so I ought to have remembered everything by now. Even though I only have six days worth of clothes (one day of which are on a chair for me to wear on Saturday) it still feels like a suitcase full of clothes. But then my backpack will be full of food.

Last week I saw three houses. The first was just down from where I live now – three blocks away (and by blocks I mean of flats). It’s more than I pay now, but was smaller – the kitchen was tiny, but the bathroom was massive. All the rooms came off the lounge as well, which is a pain for having people over to stay.

Then I saw one in a former foundry. It’s also more than I’m paying now and very quirky. The lounge would be big except there’s a step separating the lounge and dining room. The bedroom doesn’t go right to the far wall and you can look over the rail down to the lounge below. The bathroom doesn’t have a window and all the things in it (bath, toilet, sink) are all dark blue. The walls are also dark blue. So you can imagine how dark that room is, especially as it’s only small. I loved it to bits, but it’s just not practical to live in (there’s a good reason why I haven’t looked at any of the places with a spiral staircase in).

Then I saw one in the next town (that would mean I’d have to drive to work from). It’s less than I’m paying now and about the same size ish. But I liked it. It’s first floor, so no neighbours above and it had red carpets. You can only get to the kitchen from the lounge, but the rest of the rooms are off the hall, so it’s not too bad for having people staying.

So I told them I wanted it and it’s all approved. After I get back I have to give them large amounts of money and work out what date I’m moving in. Then pack and try to get rid of some of my crap and work through my list of people/companies I have to tell I’m moving. And change my doctors, which I’m not looking forward to. But at least it’s all sorted and I don’t have to worry about it while I’m away or when I get back.

I am so tired. My housewarming was this weekend, so I had my bookcases made (I hammered some pins) and we survived that without you gmul . Saturday night was our Cheese & Wine quiz which seemed to go well. Although it always seems to involve a whole load of running around setting up. And Nicola’s teacher marking is a lot quicker.

My chocolate mousse tasted nice, even though I think I microwaved the chocolate a bit too long. Then we didn’t go to bed till around 3am and for some reason one of my neighbours decided to use a strimmer/saw/something else very noisy about 9am. So oddly, enough, we were awake. My alarm going off this morning was frankly, rude.

I have now put stuff on my bookshelves, so I can find my books again! And I listed to Elisabeth Sladen The Actor Speaks, which is all ladyvivien‘s fault. Course now, I want the B7 ones. And Soldiers of Love.

Why are weekends not three days?

It’s been a busy day today. First the BT man came round to fix the phone. He stayed for a bit, then I went back to work and he used the box outside. When I got back I had a voicetext, so Tom Baker told me my line was now fixed, which is the funniest thing I have ever heard.

And then my landlady and her boyfriend came round. She gave me her number as doing things direct through them got it done much quicker. He fixed the washing machine, so I am now not going to run out of clothes, yay! He’s coming back on Saturday to fix the hall light, which is simple. And it turns out there’s a trick to the shower but it also requires something to hold the knob up, so he’s going to sort that too.

And while I was out with the BT man, my freeview PVR turned up. The manual is 86 pages long because it does so many things. I’m going to have to rearrange everything to work out where to put it. Although I did realise I still have my old DVD remote control out whereas the DVD itself is in the box. There’s nothing on till Doctor Who on Sunday, so I might be playing with that later because…

…my broadband is up! I rang Pipex yesterday, and although I rang them on 18th December to get it turned back on, which was the earliest they would let me, for some strange reason my file said I had requested it to be on on 4th January. Whereas in reality I wanted it on on 17th December. But it is on now. Not noticeably faster yet but then I had been getting used to dial-up, so it’s harder to tell.

I had a letter this morning dated 29th December from Barclaycard to say they couldn’t sort out getting me a refund for the bed until it hadn’t been delivered for 30 days, and I needed to contact them by 3rd January if it had turned up. Which goes a long way towards explaining why the bed people rang me yesterday to try and tell me they’d had delivery problems. Which of course explains why they hadn’t answered their phones for three weeks. They said they’d refund me and Barclaycard are too, so we’ll have to see what happens and how many times I get refunded.

Although my magnetic pinboard has no way of attaching it to the wall, despite saying it came with fittings, so I’ll have to ring them up to get that sorted.

I went to Tescos last night, in the fog, which was scary, and hard. Not least because the car wouldn’t behave and kept feeling like it was going to stop whether I put more choke on or less. The roads were nice and quiet though. I thought since I’ll end up having to drive in the fog sometime, it might as well be when I’ve got someone else with me. It’s not something I’m planning on doing again out of choice though.

I realised I’ve got loads of reading and email writing to catch up on at the weekend when I’m home with a fast internet connection. As well as TV and radio that dad’s taping for me. And shopping to do. But I thought it was great that reading LJ through RSS feeds meant I can read them offline. Which I can, it’s just so slow to update I’m not getting them all. So I’ll probably have absolutely masses to read once I get home.

After last night’s Rotaract meeting most of us went back to mine to have a look. And one of them understand storage heaters, so now I have them sorted. Well, mostly. The one in the bedroom is just an ordinary heater with a timer but is crap. Hopefully after a few days I’ll be able to get it up to a temperature where I don’t freeze. And I think I needed both plugs turned on on the one in the lounge because that’s freezing. But the fan heater in the bathroom warmed my clothes up nicely while I showered this morning (with the aid of a plastic jug). And it is nice to have my bathroom smell of white musk afterwards.

It’s not feeling like it’s home yet. Probably because I’m still living amongst crates and can’t find anything and because I’ve not put anything on the walls, due to not being able to find anything or get to anything.

I did still manage, on Sunday night to post chapter 8 (definitely of 11) of Doctor Who: The Soap Opera where I continue to not actually torture Sarah.

• The analogue signal from the TV is crap – but the digital one is good. I thought my issues with the Freeview card were due to lack of RAM (even though I have 7768Mb) but no, it was the signal. Only problem is frequency at 850 is crap, so no ITV or Channel4 (or ITV2, 3, 4 and More4). Dad found a digital signal booster in Maplin, so we’re going to try that. And maybe get a Freeview box for the TV. So I’ll still be able to tape one channel and watch another
• My bedroom heater doesn’t work. I don’t really need it that much but it would be nice not to get up in the freezing cold
• The shower doesn’t work due to lack of hot water pressure. Only solution is for the estate agent to see if the landlord will get an electric shower put in
• The shelf space on top of the wardrobe is a really annoying size, as is the space under the rail. But I have moved my clothes so I have two free big drawers
• I’m still waiting for Comet to call me about picking up the hoover and microwave. Apparently it’s in a queue and they can’t do anything until it reaches the front of the queue. Which is helpful
• I want my broadband connection!

Edit: You’d think that ul for Unordered list and ol for Ordered list would be simple, but no…

Because this is very long: Read more…

I have survived my move, although yesterday was v stressful – more details later. I’m currently on 1p a minute dial-up because freeserve changed their number, so it’s no longer my best friend. Will be staying late at work to catch up on the internet!

My freeview works, so I can watch Torchwood. My computer works. I still need to make my bed, wash up everything so I can eat and find whatever I need for tonight and tomorrow morning, but still…

Just been to see Casino Royale and I really enjoyed it. Even though there was no Moneypenny or Q. But I liked the technology in it and the chase sequence at the beginning had me biting my fingernails. I wish Craig Daniel had kept his clothes on more often, though, that was not a pretty sight. But then he’s generally not a pretty site. I hope they go back to dark haired handsome men next time. The part I didn’t like was when I left and my car was not only steamed up but trying to ice up as well. And the water I left in there nearly froze my tongue off.

I did discover though that Ewan McGregor is in that film about Beatrix Potter. With a dodgy moustache. So I might have to see it. Contrary to all expectations, I don’t like Peter Rabbit. I don’t know why, so I’m not that excited about seeing a film about her. Or Ewan McGregor in a moustache. But then I saw two Star Wars films with him with long hair, a beard and doing a dodgy accent, so I expect I’ll cope. I’m just glad his wife is sensible and prefers him clean-shaven.

I really enjoyed last night’s Torchwood. So I was really surprised to read all the posts this morning from people hating it. It was a bit different because it didn’t involve most of the Torchwood people but it was an excellent whodunnit. There were some things that didn’t quite make sense but it was really interesting. And I’m reliably informed by my dad that the answer is a parabola; I didn’t hear the question.

I went to get my post redirected this lunchtime. Which involved queueing in the post office for 10 minutes to get a form, then I joined the back of it again while I filled it in, then handed it in. I almost decided to come back later but it’s not going to get better till after Christmas. I took a stack of things into work to phone to tell people I’m moving but only managed my car insurance (which doesn’t change price, unlike my house insurance which saves me 64p). I know what I’m doing every lunchtime this week.

And lastly, I posted my entry to the SG Rare Pairings Ficathon: Never Easy, which is Jack/Elizabeth. There looks like being loads of interesting pairings there, I just need to find the time to read them.

I have nearly everything I need for the new place, I just failed on the toilet cleaner brush front. But since I’m only going to be there a week till I go home, it’s not desperate. I do love Wilkinsons though, they sell everything, even though it’s only a little shop (in comparison to the one in Poole).

I’ve packed seven crates, one is full of clothes, the rest are all books, DVDs, paperwork and other things. The rest is going to wait till Friday when I have two more crates left (I’m sure I had one more spare though, so I don’t know quite what I’ve done there) and take down the rest of my posters, so I have even more depressing walls to look at. I do have quite a lot of things in boxes, which seem pointless to put in crates. I can foresee several trips – it’s just as well I’m only going five minutes down the road.

I’m so tired though. Last night I went to the District Christmas party, which was good, apart from it being freezing out on the walk home from the bus. And I didn’t get in till 1.30, so I was hoping my system might realise that sleeping late to compensate would be a good idea. So I woke up about 8.15, which is half an hour after my alarm goes off for work and still fifteen minutes before the heating comes on. I was fine this morning but since about 3pm I’ve been quite happy to just go to bed, if I thought for one minute I’d sleep. I’ll go to bed to watch Torchwood and if I sleep till my alarm goes off, I’ll be happy.

I did stop the packing because I was so tired and watched the last Seventh Doctor story I had to go, which was his first, Time and the Rani. I enjoyed it, the first episode particularly was delightfully silly. I liked him misquoting proverbs too. It could have got really annoying if they’d kept it up, but for four episodes it was funny. I remembered why I really like Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor. You can’t tell so well in the audios because it’s his actions that do it. He’s always doing something, usually in a silly way and I love that. He did look quite funny in Colin Baker’s costume too.

Work looks like not being too bad next week after all, but the week after (ie the week before Christmas) will probably be hideous. But since I have less on then, that’s not so bad. Tomorrow I’m going to see Casino Royale, which I’m looking forward to.

And as I’ve actually remembered, I posted chapter 7 (of 11, probably) of Doctor Who: The Soap Opera. This one’s back to a Sarah & Harry chapter, after Lavinia’s cameo in chapter 6.