Today I didn't need to wear a coat as it was so mild! It's been lovely!
Despite the warmer temperatures, we were still busy at work. I popped off to Booker and when I got back the didicars had been delivered, which was good news. We also had a visit from a friend who manufactures bouncy castles. He'd come in to talk to us about extending our tots area and putting in some new equipment. As he is serious eye-candy we spent a very pleasant hour discussing what we could do to add new things over a cup of coffee. I have no idea what it will cost (too much probably) but we can dream!
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
I set off the fire alarms...again!
Yesterday was not really a very good day. As part of our agreement with the new people who are moving into the space next door, we had to test the fire alarms. Dad turned the control panel to "test" while I stood in the space and listened. They went off, but I still wasn't satisfied so I went to get our long broom and did what I did a few months ago with the smoke alarm - waved it underneath the sensor to make it seem like smoke. It duly went off, frightened my parents out of their wits...and then wouldn't turn off. Ooops!
I raced back to Dad and it stopped, only to start again within the minute, and it did this for the next hour...Dad was marooned next to the control panel because he couldn't stop it. I went and tried to clear out whatever was causing the alarm to go off in the smoke alarm but nothing would stop it. To make it worse, the people who were renting out the space were also in seeing some builders, so it was even more embarrassing! In the end we called Chubb to arrange for an engineer to come out and by some miracle, the noise stopped. I felt terrible and I'm beginning to feel as if I'm jinxed!
Needless to say, the engineer came out, charged an exorbitant price to put things right so I'm not the most popular person at the moment. Maybe I should give myself a final written warning!
I raced back to Dad and it stopped, only to start again within the minute, and it did this for the next hour...Dad was marooned next to the control panel because he couldn't stop it. I went and tried to clear out whatever was causing the alarm to go off in the smoke alarm but nothing would stop it. To make it worse, the people who were renting out the space were also in seeing some builders, so it was even more embarrassing! In the end we called Chubb to arrange for an engineer to come out and by some miracle, the noise stopped. I felt terrible and I'm beginning to feel as if I'm jinxed!
Needless to say, the engineer came out, charged an exorbitant price to put things right so I'm not the most popular person at the moment. Maybe I should give myself a final written warning!
Sunday, 20 March 2011
The first cut is the hardest...
Today has, I suppose, almost been the perfect day (well, one spent at home anyway!). We had a decent lie-in, a relaxed start to the day, a bit of shopping (Mikey needed new shoes), coffee with mum and a very pleasant few hours in the garden. This was then followed by a snooze on the sofa, a deep, warm bath and the prospect of a lovely dinner and a glass of wine.
The weather has been beautiful again today and although there was more cloud around, it was mild and sunny. Perfect for giving the lawn the first cut of the year. Except there was one problem...the lawnmower broke! It sounded a bit rattly when I started it up and made more strange noises as I steered it around the garden. I had a feeling I should have just kept going with it but I had to stop to move the lead and then it wouldn't start again. I left it a while but it was, as I said, deader than a dead dodo. So that's one more thing to add to the long list of things that are giving up on us lately...
I finished off the lawn with the strimmer (hard work and noisy) and tidied up all the borders. A lot of my pots were empty so I scattered the compost that was in them all over the soil to give it a bit of oomph and did some pruning. I was pretty pleased with how it looked when I finished even though the lawn really needs some attention. Keith made me a ham roll for lunch and we ate sitting in the garden with the lovely warm sun on our faces. It was bliss!
The weather has been beautiful again today and although there was more cloud around, it was mild and sunny. Perfect for giving the lawn the first cut of the year. Except there was one problem...the lawnmower broke! It sounded a bit rattly when I started it up and made more strange noises as I steered it around the garden. I had a feeling I should have just kept going with it but I had to stop to move the lead and then it wouldn't start again. I left it a while but it was, as I said, deader than a dead dodo. So that's one more thing to add to the long list of things that are giving up on us lately...
I finished off the lawn with the strimmer (hard work and noisy) and tidied up all the borders. A lot of my pots were empty so I scattered the compost that was in them all over the soil to give it a bit of oomph and did some pruning. I was pretty pleased with how it looked when I finished even though the lawn really needs some attention. Keith made me a ham roll for lunch and we ate sitting in the garden with the lovely warm sun on our faces. It was bliss!
The way we were...
I spent a few more hours grappling with Thomson again yesterday, this time (reluctantly) reserving our seats so that Keith can be comfortable on the flight and have an aisle seat to stretch out his leg. I think it's outrageous that we have to spend even more money to ensure that we all sit together and it's all down to pressure and the fear that when you turn up at the airport for a long flight, you find that you're scattered all over the plane. I'd hate for the children to be sitting with strangers and, no doubt they would probably do something to sit us together, but there's no guarantee and I'd rather be safe than sorry.
It all used to be so simple years ago when we went on holiday. I flew abroad for the first time in 1986, with Dan Air to Mykonos in Greece. We turned up at the airport, checked our luggage in, were allocated our seats and that was it. No looooong queues at Security, no baggage restrictions and just one price - no numerous add-ons! No charges for adding baggage, or having a meal (always included), no charges for paying by credit card or - horror of horrors! - daring to actually check-in and deal with a real live person rather than doing it on a computer. I should imagine if we'd been told back then we'd have to pay an extra charge for reserving our seats we would never have believed it. The internet was in its infancy in those days so we did everything in a travel agent or on the phone. We had no idea if the hotel we were going to was any good (no TripAdvisor) but we had no other option.
The host of add-ons are part of daily life now. It seems every company has the right to charge for different things which just bumps up the cost. When we upgraded our rental car the other day the man I spoke to gave me a run down of the costs included - Airport operating fees, Florida surcharges, various different types of insurance...it went on and on. No doubt when we actually get to Florida there will be a whole host of different charges to bump up the price of our holiday. The last time we went we were given the option of paying an extra $50 as an added insurance for the netting around the pool in the villa. If it was damaged we would be liable to pay to have the whole section repaired, at a huge cost. Understandably terrified of causing damage and being liable, we coughed up the $50 without a murmur. At the parks, Seaworld in particular, there was a long list of "extras" such as Shamu preferred parking, Shamu preferred seating, dine with Shamu, etc, etc. Universal charge extra for a "Fast Pass" to bypass all the queues. I'm not sure of the actual price but I think it's about $50 per person!
In a lot of cases these extra costs are optional so you can decide whether you really want to have them, but in some cases they're not. Are these price breakdowns a good idea? Do we really need to know how much we're paying for fuel surcharges, local tourist tax, airport operating fees, etc etc? I think I would just prefer one price and be ignorant of what I was being ripped off for!
Anyway...rant over. Yesterday was a beautiful Spring day and in the afternoon Mum, Soph and me went off to Market Harborough to see Duncan and buy some wine. The tasting was officially over but we still managed a sip or two of three wines - a French white, a French Rose and a Spanish red. I had come to buy some more Romanian Chardonnay so along with a couple of bottles of that (a bargain at £5) I also bought a bottle of Romanian Pinot Noir and a white in a lovely blue bottle which had been a favourite of mine when I worked at the shop. After choosing the wine we wandered around the town in the Spring sunshine and had a good look in the shops before heading for home.
It was great to see all the children out playing when we got home - is our gloomy winter over at last?
It all used to be so simple years ago when we went on holiday. I flew abroad for the first time in 1986, with Dan Air to Mykonos in Greece. We turned up at the airport, checked our luggage in, were allocated our seats and that was it. No looooong queues at Security, no baggage restrictions and just one price - no numerous add-ons! No charges for adding baggage, or having a meal (always included), no charges for paying by credit card or - horror of horrors! - daring to actually check-in and deal with a real live person rather than doing it on a computer. I should imagine if we'd been told back then we'd have to pay an extra charge for reserving our seats we would never have believed it. The internet was in its infancy in those days so we did everything in a travel agent or on the phone. We had no idea if the hotel we were going to was any good (no TripAdvisor) but we had no other option.
The host of add-ons are part of daily life now. It seems every company has the right to charge for different things which just bumps up the cost. When we upgraded our rental car the other day the man I spoke to gave me a run down of the costs included - Airport operating fees, Florida surcharges, various different types of insurance...it went on and on. No doubt when we actually get to Florida there will be a whole host of different charges to bump up the price of our holiday. The last time we went we were given the option of paying an extra $50 as an added insurance for the netting around the pool in the villa. If it was damaged we would be liable to pay to have the whole section repaired, at a huge cost. Understandably terrified of causing damage and being liable, we coughed up the $50 without a murmur. At the parks, Seaworld in particular, there was a long list of "extras" such as Shamu preferred parking, Shamu preferred seating, dine with Shamu, etc, etc. Universal charge extra for a "Fast Pass" to bypass all the queues. I'm not sure of the actual price but I think it's about $50 per person!
In a lot of cases these extra costs are optional so you can decide whether you really want to have them, but in some cases they're not. Are these price breakdowns a good idea? Do we really need to know how much we're paying for fuel surcharges, local tourist tax, airport operating fees, etc etc? I think I would just prefer one price and be ignorant of what I was being ripped off for!
Anyway...rant over. Yesterday was a beautiful Spring day and in the afternoon Mum, Soph and me went off to Market Harborough to see Duncan and buy some wine. The tasting was officially over but we still managed a sip or two of three wines - a French white, a French Rose and a Spanish red. I had come to buy some more Romanian Chardonnay so along with a couple of bottles of that (a bargain at £5) I also bought a bottle of Romanian Pinot Noir and a white in a lovely blue bottle which had been a favourite of mine when I worked at the shop. After choosing the wine we wandered around the town in the Spring sunshine and had a good look in the shops before heading for home.
It was great to see all the children out playing when we got home - is our gloomy winter over at last?
Saturday, 19 March 2011
End of the week relaxation.
I seem to be running a day behind with the blog at the moment! Friday was very relaxed and enjoyable. Keith and I went out in the morning to go to Tesco and the Post office. I sent off my letter to Hewlett Packard by registered post so we'll see what happens next. We had a cup of coffee in Costa Coffee while studying the form and I went for two runners in the 1.30 race - Unaccompanied and Sam Winner. I placed an each way bet on them and kept my fingers crossed I'd have more luck!
Back home we waited for the dishwasher repair man to come and I pottered about doing little odd jobs and just enjoyed being at home. The weather was lovely, but still on the chilly side, so I washed my car and opened up the conservatory to tidy up after Sophie's sleepover of a few weeks ago. I'd asked her to take all her stuff back upstairs, but in the way of teenagers everywhere, she'd left a quilt and various hair products behind!
The repair man came and found the problem - a piece of broken glass that had managed to work its way into the pump and stop it from working. The bill was £80 which was a lot better than having to get a new dishwasher! Sadly, my winnings didn't cover the bill. My two horses came 2nd and 4th so I think we won £1! Keith did have a winner, Bobs Worth, but it didn't make us rich beyond our wildest dreams, unfortunately!
In the evening Sue came over bearing a bottle of delicious Vouvray and we had a good natter with some lovely nibbles. It made a great ending to the week!
Back home we waited for the dishwasher repair man to come and I pottered about doing little odd jobs and just enjoyed being at home. The weather was lovely, but still on the chilly side, so I washed my car and opened up the conservatory to tidy up after Sophie's sleepover of a few weeks ago. I'd asked her to take all her stuff back upstairs, but in the way of teenagers everywhere, she'd left a quilt and various hair products behind!
The repair man came and found the problem - a piece of broken glass that had managed to work its way into the pump and stop it from working. The bill was £80 which was a lot better than having to get a new dishwasher! Sadly, my winnings didn't cover the bill. My two horses came 2nd and 4th so I think we won £1! Keith did have a winner, Bobs Worth, but it didn't make us rich beyond our wildest dreams, unfortunately!
In the evening Sue came over bearing a bottle of delicious Vouvray and we had a good natter with some lovely nibbles. It made a great ending to the week!
Friday, 18 March 2011
Money, money, money...it's not funny...
Yesterday was all about money and not in a good way! Keith was in at work with me and I said I'd have a bet on one of the Cheltenham races. I picked a horse called Buena Vista purely because there is a Lake Buena Vista in Florida. Keith moaned and said that he had a horse in the same race and I should pick another. Being the dutiful wife (!) I chose Poquelin in another race and placed a £5 bet for the horse to win.
Over lunchtime I happened to be browsing on the TripAdvisor forum and noticed that someone had mentioned they'd had a free rental car with their package with First Choice but that it hadn't included insurance... We have the same package with Thomson so I started to worry. Keith suggested I give Thomson a call, which I did and found out that we, too, have a car but no insurance. I was quoted £294 for two weeks and both of us were understandably not very happy. This was another cost we hadn't budgeted for. In the past we've always hired cars separately and they, of course, came with full insurance. The last time I went to Florida with my parents we were stung at the car hire desk for an upgrade and I certainly don't want it happening again!
I then spent the next half hour scouring the net for car hire rates but they were all coming out at the same price, about £270. We could have told Thomson to stuff their free car but for the extra £20 we phoned them back and upgraded our "free" car to one with full insurance. Nowhere had this been mentioned on booking so we'd have got a nasty shock on arrival in Florida. The Thomson man assured me that I had everything I needed because I told him that if we got to the desk and they informed me we needed to spend more money I'd probably explode!
While I was finishing my call to Thomson, Keith came back into the office looking a bit shell-shocked. He'd been watching his race (the one where I'd wanted to back Buena Vista) and I asked how he did.
"I don't want to talk about it," he said, not looking at me.
"Why?" I said, thinking that he'd won and was winding me up.
"I don't want to talk about it," he repeated.
A sudden thought dawned on me. "Buena Vista won, didn't it?" I asked.
Poor Keith looked really sheepish. "It did," he said. "At 20/1"
Then followed a good impression of me doing a Victor Meldrew scene as I would have won £100 which would have come in bloomin' handy!!!
Needless to say Poquelin, ridden by the excellent Ruby Walsh, lost. Oh well!
I managed to forgive Keith and when I got home later, very tired and looking forward to a glass of wine, he had some more bad news. The dishwasher was behaving strangely. We both took a look and there was a puddle of water in the bottom.Keith suggested we try and empty it so for the next hour we both grappled with pipes and tubes and huge puddles of water on our kitchen floor. I was soaked up to the knees but we managed to drain the water out, mopped the floor, put everything back in the cupboard under the sink (a nasty place) and switched it back on. After a few moments it stirred into life and we did a little dance of happiness...which was shortlived. Fifteen minutes later it ground to a halt and when we opened it the whole bottom was covered in water...
So that was our day. We've no idea how much it will cost to fix it...£100 maybe...Grrrrr! Compared to the poor people in Japan we have nothing to moan about and at least we have a nice clean kitchen floor!
Over lunchtime I happened to be browsing on the TripAdvisor forum and noticed that someone had mentioned they'd had a free rental car with their package with First Choice but that it hadn't included insurance... We have the same package with Thomson so I started to worry. Keith suggested I give Thomson a call, which I did and found out that we, too, have a car but no insurance. I was quoted £294 for two weeks and both of us were understandably not very happy. This was another cost we hadn't budgeted for. In the past we've always hired cars separately and they, of course, came with full insurance. The last time I went to Florida with my parents we were stung at the car hire desk for an upgrade and I certainly don't want it happening again!
I then spent the next half hour scouring the net for car hire rates but they were all coming out at the same price, about £270. We could have told Thomson to stuff their free car but for the extra £20 we phoned them back and upgraded our "free" car to one with full insurance. Nowhere had this been mentioned on booking so we'd have got a nasty shock on arrival in Florida. The Thomson man assured me that I had everything I needed because I told him that if we got to the desk and they informed me we needed to spend more money I'd probably explode!
While I was finishing my call to Thomson, Keith came back into the office looking a bit shell-shocked. He'd been watching his race (the one where I'd wanted to back Buena Vista) and I asked how he did.
"I don't want to talk about it," he said, not looking at me.
"Why?" I said, thinking that he'd won and was winding me up.
"I don't want to talk about it," he repeated.
A sudden thought dawned on me. "Buena Vista won, didn't it?" I asked.
Poor Keith looked really sheepish. "It did," he said. "At 20/1"
Then followed a good impression of me doing a Victor Meldrew scene as I would have won £100 which would have come in bloomin' handy!!!
Needless to say Poquelin, ridden by the excellent Ruby Walsh, lost. Oh well!
I managed to forgive Keith and when I got home later, very tired and looking forward to a glass of wine, he had some more bad news. The dishwasher was behaving strangely. We both took a look and there was a puddle of water in the bottom.Keith suggested we try and empty it so for the next hour we both grappled with pipes and tubes and huge puddles of water on our kitchen floor. I was soaked up to the knees but we managed to drain the water out, mopped the floor, put everything back in the cupboard under the sink (a nasty place) and switched it back on. After a few moments it stirred into life and we did a little dance of happiness...which was shortlived. Fifteen minutes later it ground to a halt and when we opened it the whole bottom was covered in water...
So that was our day. We've no idea how much it will cost to fix it...£100 maybe...Grrrrr! Compared to the poor people in Japan we have nothing to moan about and at least we have a nice clean kitchen floor!
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
Doing some research!
It was great to get out today and visit the INPAS trade show at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire to see what's new, meet up with people we know in the industry and buy some new things for our business. The show was a lot smaller than I expected, but as it was geared more towards what we do, we were able to find lots of interesting things. We ordered some new little ride on cars called didicars at a very good price and I'm sure they'll go down really well with the children who come to play.
We also saw some lovely little bouncing toys called HappyHopperz which we'll be ordering soon. They are in the process of putting in a new sort of valve to make it more difficult for people to...ahem...deflate them and then walk off with them, so as soon as that is done we'll be buying some - a couple to put out and some to sell.
The weather has remained gloomy all day with the early fog lingering and making everything look dull and grey. We got back to work to find we were quite busy which was a very pleasant surprise as we've been a little quiet during the week over the last few days so it's always a worry. Maybe all my Facebook posts and special offers are beginning to work!
We also saw some lovely little bouncing toys called HappyHopperz which we'll be ordering soon. They are in the process of putting in a new sort of valve to make it more difficult for people to...ahem...deflate them and then walk off with them, so as soon as that is done we'll be buying some - a couple to put out and some to sell.
The weather has remained gloomy all day with the early fog lingering and making everything look dull and grey. We got back to work to find we were quite busy which was a very pleasant surprise as we've been a little quiet during the week over the last few days so it's always a worry. Maybe all my Facebook posts and special offers are beginning to work!
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