Tag Archives: insurance

15 April 2008

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Snow in Surrey the other weekend – one of a few pictures I’ve posted on Flickr. I’ve also started a photo page on my own website, and the NCMC one has gone live. Amazingly, I think it makes sense of a kind, and I put three of my poems on it to give it a bit of class. Just kidding: I was merely filling a gap in the Resources section.

Had a really nice time with Stella, who has now departed for Yorkshire. She very kindly gave us a signed hardback copy of Legend – which will replace our own paperback, now much fingered and the worse for wear. We’ve been trying to track down the rest of Dave’s books. I’m sure we once had all of them, but there are gaps now. Obviously we recommend them to everyone and must have lent them a little recklessly.

Still very cold, though sunny. I’ve spent a large part of the afternoon sorting out the travel, health, card assist and document-registering services that come with our Alliance & Leicester current account. I’ve been reeling out numbers over the phone, then going through a health screening (Dot too) to see what exactly our travel insurance will cover. Aargh!

Still, tomorrow in hospital should be restful, especially the bit when I’m unconscious, though I don’t like the way they warn you to bring pain-killers with you. I shall be glad when it’s over. Of course.

11 March 2008

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A rather nice picture of Dot – one of many I took in the garden the other day. Is it surprising that the woman in the bank today asked if we were over 50? Well yes, it’s extremely surprising in my case, but she was trying to persuade us to open a new account. Not so surprising in Dot’s case.

A very busy few days. What happened to those long hours of relaxation that retirement was supposed to provide? On Saturday we had two social events – the first at Hingham, where a former EDP colleague was bidding farewell to a few friends before departing to do some work in the Seychelles. Disappointingly good buffet, so I couldn’t sit back and ignore it. Ralph and Lynne were the hosts, and most of the guests were sub-editors or former sub-editors (or their spouses): Graham and Glenys Bradshaw, now resident in Leicestershire; Bruce and Cynthia Robinson (Sheringham), Robin and Shelagh Limmer (Denton), Brian Caldecott and Tricia (Old Catton); Simon and Anna Procter (Hockham); Tracey Bagshaw (Ormesby); and two of Lynne’s friends. Really enjoyable afternoon. In the evening we were at Menita and Regis’ home in Norwich, with a cosmopolitan bunch including three French, two Italians and a Brazilian, plus someone born in Glasgow (hang on, that was Dot). Excellent continental food, as you might expect, and some nice wine, as you also might expect, but I had to restrict myself severely, as I was driving. I could pick up quite a bit of the French, but when Menita started talking to her Italian friend, and I had to give up. Interesting listening to a conversation where you can’t understand a single word. Regis’ sister, who came from Lyon with her husband Gilles, wanted advice on what to call her upmarket interior design company. Apparently it’s quite chic in France to have an English name, which has to be the height of irony, since the opposite is the case here.

There was another meal at church on Sunday, but I managed to resist the trifle, largely because trifle is not high on my list of favourite foods. Watched too much television again, taking in the odd FA Cup tie and some rugby, in which Scotland beat England in a less than enthralling game (I actually didn’t watch that till yesterday) and Ireland lost to Wales.

There was quite a storm on Sunday night, though it was less severe here than in the south-west. Still, extremely wet and windy: not the sort of weather you’d want to be out in. It lingered a bit into Monday, but I braved the elements to get some website training at the vicarage. Most of it was pretty straightforward, but I was hampered a bit by the fact that the system involved didn’t run very well on either Safari or Firefox, which is not too impressive for a system nowadays. There were four of us learning it, including the vicar, who is clearly happier training than being trained! I think I’m going to be moderating the site when it goes live, though it’s going to be difficult keeping any sort of control.

In the afternoon we eventually managed to bring the motor insurance horror to an end by visiting a local broker, telling the story and showing him the documents. He fixed us up with a new policy at quite a reasonable price: it was such a relief to be able to talk to someone face to face. I wrote letters to Direct Line, who had cancelled our policy, and to Zurich, who had messed us about for two or three weeks and caused the problem in the first place. I hope that will be the end of it.

An amazing number of friends and relatives have been having problems recently. Must be something in the air. I had a really bad night again last night, for no apparent reason. I now have a date for my biopsy – April 17 which, coincidentally, is my father’s birthday. Tomorrow I have to go to the hospital to check if I am healthy enough to lose consciousness.

We went up into the city earlier today to switch Dot’s ISA to online and, as I anticipated, couldn’t avoid opening a current account there after the adviser told us how wonderful it was. I try to keep financial matters as simple as possible, but it’s getting more and more difficult to do so.

The weather improved for a while earlier today, but it’s now got worse again, and gales are threatened in a different part of the country. We may get away with it a second time.

20 February 2008

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A group of eager artists gazing intently at the results of a new photo-etching process during a workshop at The Barn, Paston, on Monday. This was part of the Paston Project, and I spent the afternoon there so that I was up to speed on what was going on, because Annette (who was helping to lead the workshop) and I are working together at the Open Day in the church on March 22.

Part of the work was being professionally filmed, and some of the results of the photo-etching were superb. All very messy, though. Writing poetry (my contribution) is much more straightforward. It was an extremely cold day with only a little sunshine; very foggy early, and by the time I left, before 4pm, there was thickish fog all the way to Norwich.

In the evening I played quite a good game of chess and drew. My position was a little better, and maybe I could have played on, but I was running out of time.

Yesterday was my monthly visit to the chiropractor’s. No problems, it seems, though Dot and I have spent a couple of days this week (well, parts of days) in the living room, putting up new curtain rails, which I have to say look pretty good. And so they should, at such an extortionate price that I’m not even going to mention it. If we’d had them fixed professionally, the three windows would have cost £1500, materials included. We made a very substantial saving by doing it professionally ourselves!

If Tuesday is chiropractor’s, then Wednesday must be haircuts. Well, at the moment, anyway. We ran late out to Reepham, arriving ten minutes in arrears. Dot had some exciting highlights put in, and I went for a walk towards Salle, finding an idyllic spot by a wood just as a watery sun broke through the mist. The moment was interrupted by a phone call from Dave Hall wanting a game of chess tonight. Unfortunately, we are going to the theatre.

I’m still having a battle with Zurich Insurance, trying to convince them that my motor policy was not cancelled at the beginning of last year. I’ve now sent them copious paperwork to demonstrate that it wasn’t. This is all to convince my new company that I have a current no claims bonus, and it’s a waste of time and effort that could have been put to better use.

I’m now in regular touch with three members of my uncle Leonard’s family: his daughter Ann Rumsby from Liverpool; her daughter Dawn Jones; and Howard’s daughter Jeanette Eglington from South Africa. My family treee is shooting out – in one direction at least.

So quite a busy few days, which also included our usual Tuesday meal (at Ed’s) – totally delicious concoction of chicken and vegetables – and Communion on Sunday, featuring the reappearance of our original drummer, Lisa Campling, with her little boy and husband, and the first apeparance at St Augustine’s of Suzanne Cooke and her family. Suzanne cooked (ho ho) the magical soup at the Rohr event in January. More soup to come? Also went to the Robinsons last Saturday for another meal. We’re doing well. The Hamilton-Lowes were also there. Dot drove, so I indulged a little. Not much, though, because it was icy.

And I’m down to just touching 12 stone – a loss of a whole stone in 2-3 months. Feeling much better for it too.