it smells of spring
Time passes so quickly, it is a little bit terrifying. I actually wrote this post last Friday... but then time got away with me. I went for a walk after an early dinner, it smelled of spring - and burnt tyres, cannabis and dog poo, welcome to the delights of city living.
I measure my life in weekends now, even though I rather enjoy my work at the moment. I am still covering for a sick colleague and will do for a while but there are two exciting career development opportunities just around the corner and I still buzzing after our last podcast recording, which went very well.
I found out that James was offered College places for two sport coaching courses he applied for and he chose not to mention it, nor did he act on it. The College has now withdrawn the offers. I am no longer angry, just bewildered. He can of course stay at school for a final year but considering his latest report card, I am concerned it will be a frustrating year for us all, but most of all for James.
On Friday morning, I found that our gas supply was off. No cooking, heating or hot water. The gas meter was not functional. Richard, the lucky man (and energy provider account holder), is in Kathmandu, leaving me no choice than to deal with this myself. I am quite capable really but it is an unspoken agreement in our house that Richard deals with all things energy and I make sure the kids see the dentist for checkups (etc). The call centre man tried to convince me it was the boiler, definitely, and even more definitely not their problem. In his world of gas appliances, the stove is most certainly connected to the boiler... eh?? He was very surprised to learn that we were cooking on our gas stove when we didn't have a boiler in January. He eventually agreed to an engineer callout but I lost ten minutes of my life explaining gas appliances (not counting the wait in the phone queue). Now ten minutes is not much but ten minutes here and ten minutes there add up. I imagined being without fuel for some time, maybe up to the summer solstice but I was wrong about that. I called at 8 am to report the error, the engineer was here at 10 am and the gas meter was replaced by 11 am. Then Richard got an email saying thank you for getting in touch and notifying them of our moving out date... I don't know how that happened but that's a problem for another day.
Richard took me for a virtual walk around Kathmandu. The delights of modern technology! A busy place, that's for sure but definitely a place I'd enjoy visiting. The time difference is weird, plus 5 hours and 45 minutes. It looks like Richard is having a good time. He mentioned the best ever pakora he had eaten, and buffalo curry. This man loves his food. I hear the conference he is attending is also good and the workshop he was organising went well, too.
Early night tonight, I feel wiped out, so much so that I am skipping ballet. I have not missed a class since I started! I make bad decisions when I am tired. Today I made mash from 2 kg of potatoes. For three people, and one of them doesn't like mashed potatoes.
Thanks for visiting 😊
Oh dear, not your best day, but there is a bright new day tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteWhat a week you had Christina . No wonder your head wasn't in the right place to deal with mash potato. Maybe you could suggest that Kathmandu would be a good place to hold one of your conferences! I hope that those career opportunities turn out well for you and sooner rather than later. Wishing you a less chaotic week with some much needed rest x
ReplyDeleteI love mash - send it to me! I am still having a chuckle about the gas - these call centre people have no idea have they - wait until they start running the country - or maybe they are already!
ReplyDeleteMash is always nice fired up another day - Marguerite
ReplyDeleteMake that fried, but I guess if you get tired of it you could fire it - M
ReplyDeleteLovely photos Christina. What a week you've had, I hope things pick up and you have a better time this week. Hoping that you get to ballet next time. Are you still managing to fit in your daily 20 min craft time? I find that's really important to me to unwind. Ps I've found my boys decisions or lack or decisions have often frustrated us over the years. All the best 😊
ReplyDeleteI too make bad decisions when I'm tired and I too hate losing 10 minutes at any call centre. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteYou have had an eventful week, Christina, and good for you in dealing with the gas meter issue even if it provided to be a bit frustrating and time consuming. In the end, you got it sorted out! Whenever I am tired is also not the best decision making time and thankfully there's always the next day, most times. Now that the sports coaching classes are no longer available to James, what will he do if he doesn't stay in school for a final year. Are there other options available?
ReplyDeleteI think you dealt with the issue brilliantly. I sometimes wonder how many hours of my life I have lost by talking to call centres. Xx
ReplyDelete