Maybe now I can start feeling like things are normal again. Although it still feels like I'm living in someone else's house.

I have uploaded photos - they're the first eight at http://www.flickr.com/photos/paranoidangel/tags/house/

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Life: Moving

I managed to move on a day when it rained pretty much all day. The removal men came, packed everything in an hour and a half, then moved it over to the house. It was so quick that my PVR hadn't lost any of its settings.

Since I've moved in I've discovered that the shower is a trickle (although I think that might be because the shower head is tiny and useless), the light switch in the kitchen is upside down, the oven doesn't work unless you set the time and the smoke alarm just outside the kitchen (which has no door) is really sensitive.

I also have internet, courtesy of BT Openzone, which I have paid for, but it's better value than dial-up or 3G. It is a bit slower than I'm used to, but far faster than the alternatives. At least it exists, which is great.

While I unpacked I listened to The Rocket Men (Big Finish Ian companion chronicle) which I thought was quite clever. And has jet packs in. Once I've had this month's credit card bill I will be giving Big Finish lots of money for a monthly releases subscription, the Benny box set and the Jo companion chronicle coming up.

I've also been watching Game of Thrones this weekend, since I promised people at work I'd marathon it this weekend. I don't know if I'll finish it though, since I'm only halfway through and it's already mid-morning on Sunday. But so far I am enjoying it, with the aid of a character and actor guide. I spend half the time watching it checking who the characters are and then going to imdb.

I had no idea so many actors I knew were in it. I am less keen on all the sex and gore, but I do like the sword fighting. I definitely need to read the book to understand what's going on - the episodes don't make it clear how much time has passed, which has been confusing me. So far I like Ned Stark dealing with his daughters making his life complicated. Which is much more interesting than him dealing with politics.

Permalink | 2 comments | Categories: Life, TV: Game of Thrones, Moving

The kitchen doesn't have a door (to be fair, there isn't much space to have one open and has a smoke alarm right outside(!), but the lounge has a door, so I can still shut away the noise of the washing machine. Which seems to be a washer/dryer. Not that I'm likely to use the tumble dryer that much, but it does make towels nice and fluffy.

I measured my furniture with bits of string, then took the string to the new house to work out where to put everything. I'll get to see on Thursday how accurate the string is... But it looks like I can fit all my bedroom stuff in the smaller bedroom (which only shares a wall with my neighbour's bathroom), so I'll have plenty of space for books and other stuff in the big bedroom (which shares both its walls with both my neighbours. I will take photos after my stuff is moved in, it just might be a while before I can upload them.

I also spent the afternoon ringing companies up to change my address. My car and contents insurance have both gone down, which is good. And all the people I talked to were English, apart from one who was Scottish. But on my list of people to tell my new address is 'Friends'. And I've lost track of who even had my address to begin with, so if you'd like my new address (or phone number), let me know.

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Life: Moving

I am so glad the removal men are packing my stuff because there's no way I'd have the energy to do everything by myself. This weekend I got about halfway through my list of people to tell I've moved (although some are unimportant and can wait), spring cleaned the lounge (except for the book shelves, which I did a couple of weeks ago), defrosted the fridge and did some other odd bits of cleaning. And done some betaing. It's just as well I'm not actually moving until Thursday.

Given that my contract for the new place says I have to have it professionally cleaned before I move out, I hope that means the last people have done that, so I won't have to clean it before I move in. Just buy a few things that I need - so far I know I'll need some airers to put on the radiators, as I don't have any. But I'm still paranoid that things will go wrong. I have to try putting my car in the garage tomorrow - I don't know if I can do it or if I can even open the garage door, having never done either of those things before in my life.

On the plus side, I have a couple of friends who live five minutes walk from my new house. They already lent me their electric cool box, so the entire contents of my fridge fit in that and stayed cold while the fridge defrosted. And I will be borrowing space in their freezer, as I have to defrost the freezer for moving it. But they are getting whatever tea bags the removal men don't drink in return.

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Yesterday I went to London. As the train pulled into Paddington they announced that the only tube line running was the Bakerloo. Which isn't a particularly pleasant line at the best of times, certainly not when it's hot and it's only line stopping at Paddington. So, having established that it was an easy walk, I walked to Oxford Circus. I didn't get lost (although I did consult my map twice). The bit in Hyde Park was quite pleasant, walking through the crowds on Oxford was less so, but I did stop off in a few shops to have a look around, but not buy anything.

Then today I cleaned my bookshelves. I didn't get rid of much because I can't decide, for quite a few books, whether I'm likely to read them or not. But once I've moved I'll have space to buy more bookcases, so then everything will get moved around anyway and I can make decisions. I still have all my other furniture to clean and everything to go through to get rid of stuff I don't want, but at least I've made a start.

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Life, Travel: London, Moving

So my timetable for moving is:

Monday 15th August: pick up keys, clean new house if it needs it (my contract for it says I need to pay for a cleaning firm to clean it before I move out, so it might not need cleaning before I move in), see what (small things) I need for it and buy them

Tuesday 16th August: rest/finish off anything not done on Monday/do packing related things

Wednesday 17th August: defrost freezer

Thursday 18th August: move

Friday 19th August: clean old flat, if I have the energy to do it

Saturday 20th August: clean old flat if it wasn't done on Friday and I can hand the keys back late enough

The good part of it is that since it didn't cost much more to get the removal firm to pack, they're packing. I think I will have to write a list of things they're not allowed to pack because I keep thinking of more.

But all help is gratefully received. Either with helping direct removals men or cleaning the old flat. And with providing the removals men with tea, since I don't have any tea bags or milk suitable for putting in tea...

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Life: Moving

Moving house is all about drama, it seems. Not that it's been very dramatic so far, but it's been enough of a pain.

Two weeks ago I rang three local removal companies, G, P and R. P are the people my friends used to move house - they said P were very good and the cheapest quote.

Two days after I rang, G rang me back. They came round on the Sunday after and I got a quote on the Tuesday. At which point I emailed P and considered whether I could be bothered ringing R again.

Last Wednesday R emailed to tell me to fill in the form on the website that I'd filled in, or to ring. Which just annoyed me, so I decided to ignore them until I could be bothered with them.

On Thursday P emailed and said they'd ring the next day - when I was out on a first aid course and therefore couldn't answer my phone. R also emailed to say I'd filled in the form twice (interesting counting, since I filled it in once) and I should call them. Which I would have done in the first place, had I known. So I did call them. They were really unbending with their options, which put me off them more than I already had been put off.

P called on Friday, and left a message. Usually I don't listen to my voicemail, but since I had nothing better to do during our long lunch break, I did listen to it. Then called them back and arranged for them to come over for a quote that day.

Today, nearly two weeks after I first called, I now have two quotes. The one from the company my friends said were cheapest... is the most expensive. So I'll go with the other ones since I just liked them anyway.

The cool part is that it doesn't cost much more to pay them to pack as well as move. Which means less work on everyone's part and less dizziness on mine. And I don't have to go to my sister's house (45 mins drive away) to borrow her crates.

I was quite amused, though, when the paperwork on one of the quotes mentions that offers of cups of tea are appreciated. I don't have any tea bags and rice milk makes tea taste of semolina (apparently), which I can't imagine would go down well. They'll have to make do with water and watered down orange squash (no one takes theirs as strong as I do).

Permalink | 4 comments | Categories: Life: Moving

A couple of weeks ago we moved offices, so it now takes longer to get there and back. But I have been exploring different routes and discovered they all take the same amount of time. Although there's one I don't really want to do in the winter because it's narrow and has no streetlights - the main road doesn't have streetlights either, but at least it's the main road.

So then I overdid it with work and extra driving and randomly waking up at 5.30am for no reason. I was so tired a couple of weeks ago I slept during the day. And then slept for twelve hours, which would have been better if I hadn't then woken up dizzy.

So then I spent a week being dizzy. Which was just what I wanted when I was already feeling behind.

I went to see a ballet choreographed by my former teacher. Which I actually enjoyed (the only other time I went to the ballet I found watching the orchestra far more interesting than watching the dancing). It was interesting to see them perform movements we've learnt, but I got to see how they're supposed to look.

I did manage to see a house that I liked and now I am moving into it! I had a list of all the things to look at (so I know, for example, that the bathroom mirror is too high for me to see in, but at least isn't over the sink, so won't involve me standing on one foot and leaning over the sink to see in it), but I mostly just liked it. I am moving mid-August. I need to sort out some men with a van to pay to move my furniture, but any help anyone can offer would be appreciated as it's not likely to do my dizziness any help for a start... If anyone is curious I can message/email them the estate agent's listing.

I also signed up for femgenficathon, which is due around the time I'm moving. And 100 drabbles of summer, which is due a couple of weeks later. Neither of them have any penalties for defaulting, so we'll see. The main trouble I'm having with femgenficathon is which female character to write, there are so many to choose from...

I am on the last edit of my Big Bang. I will be done before Wimbledon.

Tennis! As great as it was to see some of the French Open I could have done without the camera work. Any time the players weren't playing a point the shot would change to the spectators and then move along and zoom in on a player and wave about and zoom in and out. I swapped to the radio commentary at one point because it was making me dizzy. I did hear the commentator remark that Federer looked calm after losing the first point in the tie-break. Which of course is nothing like how he usually is... I've seen a bit of Queens so far and I'm much preferring the camera work. And looking forward to going to the final on Sunday. Fingers crossed for nice weather (or at least no rain).

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Fan fic: Ill, Life, Moving, My fanfic, Sci-fi Big Bang, Tennis

I want to move to a two bedroom house (which I've worked out I can afford). So then I'll have more space for my stuff, a garden and I want a garage. And decent heating.

Admittedly I hadn't done much because I was busy and ill. So last Saturday a house came up that didn't have a garage, but given the scarcity of them, I thought I ought to at least consider it. So I arranged to see it yesterday. Then on Monday a house with a garage came up. So I arranged to see it yesterday. Then on Tuesday a big house with a garage came up that apparently hadn't been updated in a while, hence why it was cheap. On the basis that I couldn't tell if that meant it was alright or falling down, I arranged to see it yesterday.

Friday, one of the estate agents rang to say the house without a garage wasn't available because the tenants had decided to stay. Then another estate agent rang to say the big house wasn't available because someone had let it that day. Which left the one I liked most. So I went to see it and the estate agent had arranged for twelve sets of people to view it, all one after another! It turned out it had electric heating, so I don't want it.

So now I'm back to waiting for more houses to come up that I can go and see. This time I'll go at lunchtimes in order to get in first...

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Life: Moving

But first I have to find somewhere. Houses with two bedrooms and central heating are easy to find. Houses with a garage are more tricky because there's a lot of terraced housing with accompanied obstacle courses round the cars on the road. Street View's quite handy in that respect.

I have written a list of things to look at when I'm going round houses so I won't choose one based on the colour of the carpets. Which worked out well in this flat, but isn't really the best thing to base it on.

What's complicating it is that I am on two month's notice so I don't want to move any time soon. In fact, as long as I don't move in the middle of winter I don't care when it is. And the last time I moved I looked round three places in the space of a week and chose one of them. So I keep thinking that if I look now I'll just find something too soon. And the ones I like the best, based on the photos and description, are a bit more than I want to pay really and if I go and see them I might like them...

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Life: Moving

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).

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Life: Moving

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!

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Life: Moving

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.

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Fan fic, Life, TV: Leverage, Moving, Yuletide

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.

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Life: Moving

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.

Permalink | 2 comments | Categories: Life: Moving

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).

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Life: Food, Moving

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...

Permalink | 2 comments | Categories: Life, TV, Website: Doctor Who (Classic), Moving, Website

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...

The estate agent either can't or won't help me with the phone number at the new flat, except to tell me it was Virgin Media there (which I'd guessed) and I could go with them if I wanted to. But since they're worse than not having a phone line at all, I'm not going to be doing that.

So I rang BT and spoke to a person to tell them I needed a line putting in at the £30 rate. They put me through to someone else. I told them I needed a line putting in at the £30 rate. They put me through to Customer Options, who are the only people who had heard of the £30 rate. I told them I needed a line putting in at the £30 rate, so they put me through to Broadband Home Movers. Since I don't have broadband with BT and don't want broadband with BT they couldn't help me and put me back through to Customer Options.

I told them I needed a line putting in at the £30 rate. She could do that, but didn't know what to do about the sim code to give to Zen. So she found out that it was the same as the order number (that's what BT told me last time and they were wrong). But she couldn't do that part of it so she promised me Home Movers did know all about the £30 rate and put me through to them.

I told them I needed a line putting in at the £30 rate with a sim code. They swore blind there was no such thing as the £30 rate and put me back to Customer Options. I told them I needed a line putting in at the £30 rate and didn't want to be transferred any more. So he did it.

However, it turns out that one of the conditions of the £30 rate is you have to make at least 10 calls a month, which I don't think I do at the moment. So I need to do that, but since I automatically have free weekend calls if I call the speaking clock ten times on the first weekend of the month that'll sort it out.

So then he told me he needed details so I could pay by direct debit. I told him I didn't want to pay my direct debit. He told me there was no other way to pay your phone bills. I told him there was and I paid on the BT website. He told me that wasn't possible. I told him it was and I didn't want to pay by direct debit. He put me on hold and discovered someone in his office pays on the BT website. So he believed me and told me it would cost me £1.50 a month to pay that way, which I already know. Then he said that was £4.50 a quarter. I told him I wanted to carry on paying monthly. He gave in and believed me on that one.

Also, it turns out that I'd forgotten that in August BT rang me up and persuaded me to have the free weekend and evening calls option added to my account for free. As long as I didn't cancel my account in the next year. I can't believe moving counts as cancelling, although I didn't think of that at the time. I'll have to call them again, but it can wait till the weekend now.

So then I thought I'd ring Zen. Turns out the order number isn't the sim code. It doesn't have the right number of characters and doesn't have any letters for a start. The bloke I talked to basically said the same as the last person I spoke to at Zen. Out of fifteen people he'd dealt with this month with sim codes from BT, only one worked. Even someone who worked at Zen couldn't get the right sim code from them.

At which point I admitted defeat because I just can't take the stress any more on top of the work stress. Spooks on Monday night actually calmed me down, which is a new thing. Although I did watch it while cuddling a bunny, so that probably had something to do with it. But several times during my phone conversations today I just wanted to bang my head against the desk - it would have done just as much good.

Now my new phone line gets installed (ie they flick a switch) on 12th December. At which point I can ring Zen and it'll take six working days to get broadband working I move in on 13th December. My phone line gets taken away on 15th December, so I'll tell Pipex to stop then too. On 16th December I go back to work. So I will have some broadband access every day at least. And I should have it before Christmas, which will be an improvement on two years ago.

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Life: Moving

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...

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Life: Moving

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 8x8 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...

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Life, Rotaract: Moving, Rotaract