I had a good time at my Parents for Christmas and we had a Boxing day visit down to West Sussex to visit my sister and her family.
Ivy got a dolls house nearly bigger than she is, which she made sure everything was placed exactly were she wanted it. Freddie got loads of 'Cars' stuff and watched his 'Cars' DVD again and again, and Edie just watched everything that was happening around her.
The other bit of news was that I wrote back to the flat management agents to ask for my flat back. I have to give to two months notice so it may be back in London in March.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Monday, December 24, 2007
A bill for Staples
I just got a note from the insurance company saying they are sorry but they won't pay the invoice for 25.50GBP as I'm now longer covered.
What! er what 25.50, what procedure was that for!
So I rang them and apparently the surgeon only just got around to billing for removing the staples from the surgery all those months ago.They said they would sort it out.
So the whole thing is still not settled
What! er what 25.50, what procedure was that for!
So I rang them and apparently the surgeon only just got around to billing for removing the staples from the surgery all those months ago.They said they would sort it out.
So the whole thing is still not settled
I shan't be using Lastminute.com again
or don't believe what Lastminute.com put on there website.
The upshot of the whole experience seems to be, Lastminute won't guarantee any of the information on its site. It's star rating system is factually wrong as you can't compare quality from one country to another. And they will blame anyone but themselves.
So my advice stay away from them
1) We're sorry.
2) Your feedback is important.
3) We are passing the buck to our supplier, Fleetway Travel.
4) So we're not going to do anything else about it.
and last week in the post from Fleetway Travel. The main points being.
1) We're sorry
2) The description of the hotel is not our fault we blame our supplier
3) We checked the hotel met Greece Health and Safety at the start of the season.
4) The classification is can only be compare to other local hotels.
5) That is what passes for 5 star accommodation in Rhodes.
6) We will pass on your comment to the hotel
7) The quality of the accommodation is your personal option
8) We'll take the comments into account when using this hotel in future.
9) You should of contacted the local agent or the UK office
10) We could have move you to another hotel if you had asked.
11) We're sorry about the flight but you can't blame us.
12) Please travel with us again in future.
Both of which do a very good job of avoiding most of the issues I was trying to make. So I guess I'll try again but this time make it real simple and get across that I was mainly upset at the miss-selling of the holiday.
1) If something is advertised it should be in the holiday. i.e. Sauna, Sat TV, Scuba Diving.
2) When selling to a UK audience, a dreamlike Deluxe 5 star hotel should be described as a decent 3 star hotel if that's what it is.
3) You should not be using a rating system to compare holidays from different countries if in fact they are not comparable.
4) I was not complaining about the flights I was complaining that the advert did not say we would not be getting any food.
5) I did report my complains to the Holiday rep and email again once I got home but its a little difficult to work out who to complain to as you both just pass the buck.
6) If you can't guarantee any of the information about a holiday then you should say so in the advert.
The upshot of the whole experience seems to be, Lastminute won't guarantee any of the information on its site. It's star rating system is factually wrong as you can't compare quality from one country to another. And they will blame anyone but themselves.
So my advice stay away from them
Here's some of the details of the letters I got including on the 17Th Dec received a final response to my complaint letter way back in October
Lastminute said back in 7 Nov 071) We're sorry.
2) Your feedback is important.
3) We are passing the buck to our supplier, Fleetway Travel.
4) So we're not going to do anything else about it.
and last week in the post from Fleetway Travel. The main points being.
1) We're sorry
2) The description of the hotel is not our fault we blame our supplier
3) We checked the hotel met Greece Health and Safety at the start of the season.
4) The classification is can only be compare to other local hotels.
5) That is what passes for 5 star accommodation in Rhodes.
6) We will pass on your comment to the hotel
7) The quality of the accommodation is your personal option
8) We'll take the comments into account when using this hotel in future.
9) You should of contacted the local agent or the UK office
10) We could have move you to another hotel if you had asked.
11) We're sorry about the flight but you can't blame us.
12) Please travel with us again in future.
Both of which do a very good job of avoiding most of the issues I was trying to make. So I guess I'll try again but this time make it real simple and get across that I was mainly upset at the miss-selling of the holiday.
1) If something is advertised it should be in the holiday. i.e. Sauna, Sat TV, Scuba Diving.
2) When selling to a UK audience, a dreamlike Deluxe 5 star hotel should be described as a decent 3 star hotel if that's what it is.
3) You should not be using a rating system to compare holidays from different countries if in fact they are not comparable.
4) I was not complaining about the flights I was complaining that the advert did not say we would not be getting any food.
5) I did report my complains to the Holiday rep and email again once I got home but its a little difficult to work out who to complain to as you both just pass the buck.
6) If you can't guarantee any of the information about a holiday then you should say so in the advert.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Closed for Christmas
The office closed for Xmas and opens on the 2nd. So I effect I get another 4 days holiday!
However a load of stuff was promised to clients in time for Xmas and so the last couple of days was really mental. Partly this was due to the amount of stuff to do but mainly this was due to most of the people that knew stuff had left for the holidays.
I was in the odd position of being the only 'expert' at a couple of systems despite not actually having seen any of the code.
With you talking to someone about an issue one day only to find out later that that was their last day! In the .NET team we went from 4 people to 2 people as the contractors finished and we got all their stuff to support and release.
So it was busy but I didn't think it was too bad as no-one was actually screaming and I've had the odd mad deadlines before.
Hopefully nothing goes wrong over Xmas and things should be running smoothly when I get back!
However a load of stuff was promised to clients in time for Xmas and so the last couple of days was really mental. Partly this was due to the amount of stuff to do but mainly this was due to most of the people that knew stuff had left for the holidays.
I was in the odd position of being the only 'expert' at a couple of systems despite not actually having seen any of the code.
With you talking to someone about an issue one day only to find out later that that was their last day! In the .NET team we went from 4 people to 2 people as the contractors finished and we got all their stuff to support and release.
So it was busy but I didn't think it was too bad as no-one was actually screaming and I've had the odd mad deadlines before.
Hopefully nothing goes wrong over Xmas and things should be running smoothly when I get back!
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Nipun and the wobble board
This weeks trip to the physio, or jolly psycho as I've started to think of him, was a bit different.
The session was mostly with me standing on a balance board (basically a round board with half a football under it) trying to keep up right while Nipun threw balls at me a different angles for me to catch.
The idea was to make me bend and weave from my knees. It was a bit scary to start with due to a complete lack of trust in my knee but once we got started it was OK and much less of a problem than I was expecting. I guess that was the point!
When he wasn't playing ball, but still on a wobble board (this time a square one with a fixed bar under it) getting me to stand on one foot (my good one), we were mostly talking about letting flats in London! yeah odd, but he ask me about mine and he was of the opinion Ilford was the place to buy in so there!
The other important exercise for me to concentrate on this time was the hamstring stretch. Its not too bad for normal motion but anything more the hamstring is tight. last time I was told to sit in a chair and raise the leg up until I felt the hamstring stretch and hold it for 20. this should take about 6 weeks of doing it every day to get the hamstring back to a good length. However I didn't seem to be having much success. The Physio corrected my posture and told me to sit up straight and not slouch and right away I could feel the pull. bit obvious really but you try remembering all the stuff they say!
To top it all the wobble board fun last major thing he told me, after watching me walk up and down for a bit, was that I should start jogging again. Eek! its a year since I done anything more than a fast walk so this a major step. The feeling at the moment is that if I put to much weight on the leg too fast it will give way and I will crash to the floor. So I'm going to take it real easy.
I went to the gym that evening a did 1K on the running machine, very slowly 6.0KM/h and boy did my leg hurt the day after.
On Sunday I did 1.5K at 7.0 KM/h and so far it feels OK.
The session was mostly with me standing on a balance board (basically a round board with half a football under it) trying to keep up right while Nipun threw balls at me a different angles for me to catch.
The idea was to make me bend and weave from my knees. It was a bit scary to start with due to a complete lack of trust in my knee but once we got started it was OK and much less of a problem than I was expecting. I guess that was the point!
When he wasn't playing ball, but still on a wobble board (this time a square one with a fixed bar under it) getting me to stand on one foot (my good one), we were mostly talking about letting flats in London! yeah odd, but he ask me about mine and he was of the opinion Ilford was the place to buy in so there!
The other important exercise for me to concentrate on this time was the hamstring stretch. Its not too bad for normal motion but anything more the hamstring is tight. last time I was told to sit in a chair and raise the leg up until I felt the hamstring stretch and hold it for 20. this should take about 6 weeks of doing it every day to get the hamstring back to a good length. However I didn't seem to be having much success. The Physio corrected my posture and told me to sit up straight and not slouch and right away I could feel the pull. bit obvious really but you try remembering all the stuff they say!
To top it all the wobble board fun last major thing he told me, after watching me walk up and down for a bit, was that I should start jogging again. Eek! its a year since I done anything more than a fast walk so this a major step. The feeling at the moment is that if I put to much weight on the leg too fast it will give way and I will crash to the floor. So I'm going to take it real easy.
I went to the gym that evening a did 1K on the running machine, very slowly 6.0KM/h and boy did my leg hurt the day after.
On Sunday I did 1.5K at 7.0 KM/h and so far it feels OK.
Week two and the Xmas do
So my timing was pretty good the company is happy because they just win a couple of major awards and I also join in time for the Christmas party.
They had a little celebration at the awards news and we had champagne in the morning. Which was nice.
The party was good, if a little more tame than I was expecting. It was at a swish Sony place called the colour rooms (basically some neon lights a big TVs) with just lots of free drink and light conversation. Although judging by the rumours and the lack of people making it into work on Friday morning some more stuff happened after I left. Actually I was the first person into the office that morning and had to get it unlocked and the lights on.
They had a little celebration at the awards news and we had champagne in the morning. Which was nice.
The party was good, if a little more tame than I was expecting. It was at a swish Sony place called the colour rooms (basically some neon lights a big TVs) with just lots of free drink and light conversation. Although judging by the rumours and the lack of people making it into work on Friday morning some more stuff happened after I left. Actually I was the first person into the office that morning and had to get it unlocked and the lights on.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
My new niece
A week later than planned I finally made it down to my sisters place to see my new niece Edith May.
We tried got down last weekend but an exploding spark plug meant we saw rather too much of the hard should of the M25 (between Jn17 - Jn16) and had a very long trip home in the recovery truck.
This weekend Dad and me in a fixed car, went down (Mum took the train down last Monday) and despite the weather we got to see Edie.
What can I say 'It's a baby!' and she's lovely!
We tried got down last weekend but an exploding spark plug meant we saw rather too much of the hard should of the M25 (between Jn17 - Jn16) and had a very long trip home in the recovery truck.
This weekend Dad and me in a fixed car, went down (Mum took the train down last Monday) and despite the weather we got to see Edie.
What can I say 'It's a baby!' and she's lovely!
First Week - New kid at school feeling
Well its a very different place to work.
It started with bacon sandwiches at a meeting for the whole company on Monday morning at which the new members of staff are introduced...
Er... Hi.. I'm David...
and the week ended with beers being handed around the office at 5 on Friday. before I headed off for a major leaving do at my old company (partly so I could tell them all about my new job!!)
It's going to be an interesting place to work, very media agency, laid back, casual clothes, music playing type place. They have a few nice perks in the office as well, from free stuff to make breakfast with in the morning (bagels, toast, crumpets) to fresh fruit deliveries a couple of times a week. Of course they have tea and coffee and handily they've placed me near the kitchen to I so don't have to run dry of Tea... (and No its not the new boy makes the Tea, any more than anyone else)
The work hasn't really started yet but beyond the initial front-end designs and the deadlines, how things are done and what technologies I use will be up to me.
The company is mostly designers, producers and front end Flash (its a name of a technology rather than a personality trait) developers. There are a couple of other .NET developers and nothing at all by way of DBAs. So I should have some opportunity to apply some of the things I've learned at my last company about process and the best way to organise things.
The hardest part at the moment is getting up while its still dark. that and learning everyone's names!
It started with bacon sandwiches at a meeting for the whole company on Monday morning at which the new members of staff are introduced...
Er... Hi.. I'm David...
and the week ended with beers being handed around the office at 5 on Friday. before I headed off for a major leaving do at my old company (partly so I could tell them all about my new job!!)
It's going to be an interesting place to work, very media agency, laid back, casual clothes, music playing type place. They have a few nice perks in the office as well, from free stuff to make breakfast with in the morning (bagels, toast, crumpets) to fresh fruit deliveries a couple of times a week. Of course they have tea and coffee and handily they've placed me near the kitchen to I so don't have to run dry of Tea... (and No its not the new boy makes the Tea, any more than anyone else)
The work hasn't really started yet but beyond the initial front-end designs and the deadlines, how things are done and what technologies I use will be up to me.
The company is mostly designers, producers and front end Flash (its a name of a technology rather than a personality trait) developers. There are a couple of other .NET developers and nothing at all by way of DBAs. So I should have some opportunity to apply some of the things I've learned at my last company about process and the best way to organise things.
The hardest part at the moment is getting up while its still dark. that and learning everyone's names!
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