More call centre woes and a good old burn up

This weekend we managed to get a few things done in the garden finally. We have been making piles of vegetation from the various jobs around the garden all year. Remember the incident with BT and their 'we couldn't possibly climb our pole to fix your phone line' fiasco? Well we've had a 6 foot high pile of Ivy made by the very helpful Western power distribution men hanging around. It finally got burnt, yay! Some yew that was overhanging the cabin and some leylandii cuttings went on the pile. We also burnt a whole host of wood pulled from the house in the last few months renovations. We even found the old gate that we replaced well over a year ago now and put aside for God knows what. As the burn up was so close to the cabin we very carefully kept the bonfire small but burnt things over the course of a few hours.

We also finally got some seeds planted, a bit later than normal but satisfying none the less. I have tried to be more choosy and not plant too much this year in deference to the busy schedule we have planned.

We had a guy come to quote for the damage to our front wall as the insurance company wants a number of quotes. Well neither of us took to him so we're hoping to get the builder for our extension to quote for it.

Talking about the extension, we're in the middle of getting quotes for the work. We had a builder all set that has been friends with James for many years. Unfortunately after months of asking for an official quote and repeated promises of bringing one round I decided enough was enough. He's had some sickness in the family so I think it's just too much for him at the moment and I can't help but think it's just too hard for him to say he can't do it anymore. So we're hoping it won't bring an end to a long friendship. We've asked for recommendations from friends and have had a number of people round for a quote. We've had one back and we're waiting for a few more to see what the going rate is. We had a good feeling about a few of the people so if they're not overpriced we'll choose 'the one' from amongst them. I am hoping for one guy in particular and if he's the one then I'll get him to quote for the front wall too. Someone may be recommended but if you don't like them you don't want to give them your hard earned cash. It's a balance between money and personality.

The washing machine I had last week to replace the old one gave up after 10 years faithful service is no bloody good. I rang AO.com who will only pass you to the manufacturer. It doesn't matter what the consumer rights websites say that your contract is with the retailer and not the manufacturer, you simply cannot speak to someone at AO. They said if Zanussi come and say it's broken they will replace it, otherwise tough shit (my words not theirs!). It's another fight to add to the ever growing list, one day you'll see me on the news having lost my cool (you may chuckle once again at the thought of me on the phone going tonto).