Random Ramblings - August 7th 2020 Edition

July 22nd 2020 marked a whole year of me being vegan.

 

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I was going to mention it on here, and let all those who had concerns when I announced I’d be going completely vegan know I’m doing well health wise, and don’t regret my decision.  Except I couldn’t get online to do it on or around that date.  So, I guess I’m doing it today.

 

Because of all the moving related stuff, I didn’t even get to do anything special to celebrate being vegan a year.  Never mind though.  I knew the date had arrived, and I know I’m still glad I did it more than a year later, which is what matters.

 

I thought I’d miss some things.  But I don’t.  Perhaps it’s knowing that the things stopping me making the switch from vegetarian to vegan – like cheese – were also things I shouldn’t actually have been having due to the issues I’ve had with dairy since birth? Whatever the case, I’ve not missed any non-vegan foods I used to enjoy, and have become more creative in the kitchen now I’m well enough to have the energy to do so.

 

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Anyway, speaking of largely ignored important dates that happened recently: the Summer Solstice (June 20th this year) and Lammas (August 2nd) went by unobserved this year too.

 

This year I’d planned to be making more effort with the Pagan holidays, but with everything going on with the moving, and pure exhaustion, I just didn’t have the energy or time.  Well, time I could have possibly made, but energy... Definitely none of that to spare.

 

We watched a little of the live stream from Stonehenge on the Summer Solstice, but were too tired to watch much of it, and did nothing else to even acknowledge either holiday.

 

I’m only mentioning them now because they did happen, even if we all but ignored the fact at the time.

 

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In other news: we ended up without a main phone or internet for almost two weeks.

 

That wasn’t meant to happen.  We’d arranged it that the internet would stop working in the upstairs flat the same day it started working in the downstairs flat.  Even factoring in the moving of the computers the day before that date, we shouldn’t have been without internet for more than a day – two at most.

 

That’s why I didn’t mention it beforehand.  Nobody would have noticed if I was gone for a day or two.  Or, if they did, I’d be back by the time people were starting to wonder where I was.  No big deal.

 

But then they changed the day the engineer was coming out to do the internet and phone in the new flat, while leaving the date for the phone and internet to be cut off in the old flat the same as we’d arranged.  The new date was eight days later, meaning we’d be without internet for more than a week.

 

We learned of the changed date short notice.  I just about had time to throw together a couple of posts for the days I hadn’t already scheduled – thank goodness for having most of my Monday and Tuesday posts already done for this year, being ahead on Friday posts (including writing the one that actually said about us moving) having done enough of a Wednesday post that I could make use of it for one of the Wednesday slots, and having a bunch of quotes I could make use of, that’s all I can say – and send short messages to a couple of people (including the narrator of my most recent book) warning them of the fact.  Then I turned on the vacation response thing for my email.  By the time I’d done those things, it was time to unplug my computer for it to be moved.  So, if you didn’t get notified, or checked where I was and got the generic message, sorry.

 

If it wasn’t bad enough that the date got changed to eight days later, when the engineer came out they didn’t tell us someone was outside wanting in, so when we called a few hours after the end of the time bracket in which the engineer should have arrived, it was to learn the engineer was claiming we weren’t there to give access to the property.  We know the person had been here, because there was a picture of the building’s front door attached to the note.  But considering Kelly looked out of the window to see if he could spot the company’s van every few minutes, and there was no attempt made by them to do what they should have done if they couldn’t get our attention with the building buzzer and call my mobile, we know the person couldn’t have been down there trying to get in for more than a few seconds.  Plus, since we neither heard the buzzer nor got a call on my mobile, they obviously didn’t try very hard to get in.  Naturally, the soonest a new visit could be arranged was a couple of days later, and I spend a lot of time on the phone with them making sure that was arranged, and that the person would have a note on the file to call my mobile if they couldn’t get in.  Like they’re actually meant to do anyhow as standard, but apparently the original person couldn’t be bothered to do.

 

I only learned afterwards that they should have sent out an emergency hub I could use to connect to one of their hotspots to get temporary internet.  Though I think that would have only worked for my Kindle and phone.  Still, it would have meant I could keep up with some things, since I was already behind on eMails and blog post notifications with all the moving related stuff, so I’m sure you can imagine what a mess my inbox is in right now.

 

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Yes, I technically have internet on my iPhone.  But because I don’t use it much when I’m out of reach of my home internet anyhow – since I don’t spend much time online with my phone if I’m not at home, and only use it a lot at home because Facebook and Twitter are easier for me on the phone – I don’t have much data allowance on it, so didn’t want to becoming online with that.  I’m already dreading next month’s bill with the calls to numbers that would have been free on the landline but cost on the mobile I had to make during the time we had no home phone.

 

Anyway, the engineer not only did show up on the new date, but actually called us to tell us when he was a few minutes away so we knew to expect him soon.  Naturally, with him actually letting us know he was out there, we were able to let him in to the building so he could do his job.  And what a job it was, since it turned out there wasn’t a wire connecting the socket where the phone and internet cables get plugged in inside (the little plug part in the wall) with the telephone wires outside.  Poor guy ended up spending all morning and almost all afternoon dealing with it.  On one of the days we’ve had when it got up in to the high 20s C too.

 

Of course, as you can tell by the fact I was able to get online to post this, we do now finally have internet and a home phone again.  Though we also have two weeks worth of stuff to catch up on, along with what we were a bit behind on before we lost connection.  So, guess what I’m doing for the next however many days it takes to get caught up? *sigh*

 

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If that wasn’t enough, we've also had an interesting time of it with the switchover of the gas and electric.

 

First we had to get someone to come out and clear the debt on the meters from the previous people – since I wasn’t about to be paying someone else’s bills, especially with how much they were – and set it up so we had some temporary credit.  Then we had to arrange for the gas and electric that’s in our name to switch from one place to another.

 

Like with the phone and internet, I’d arranged it nicely so they switched the same day.  Except it never worked out like that, because the order for it to start up in the new flat didn’t go through, and we didn’t know this for over a week.  In fact, we’d have gone longer without knowing if I hadn’t had a call from the company saying they were sorry we were leaving them, and wouldn’t we consider staying with them in our new place.  I eventually got it straightened out, but it means the temporary credit has had to last longer than planned.

 

Luckily, the combination of us not being in the new place at first, and mostly nice weather – so not much hot water being used, and no need for the heating to go on – means it’s so far lasted well, and hasn’t yet run out.  Hopefully it will last until they come fit the smart meter – whenever they’ll be doing that, since I don’t have a date for that yet - because we have no way to add more until they come do that.  At least, with the gas we don’t.  We have a temporary key for the electric, so can put more on that if needs be.  But we have to hope for the best with our gas, and call them if it runs out beforehand. *sigh*

 

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If the weather continues like this, it should last, because we’ve had nice weather, like I said.

 

I mean, sure, we’ve had some mild rainstorms from time to time, but they never lasted long, and since they were stopping it from getting as hot as it might have done, we’ve been glad of them.  As it is we’ve had quite a few days where it’s gone up in to the high 20s C.  We’re glad to not have had more of those.  Especially with the moving.  Moving is tough enough as it is, without adding extreme heat to the mix.

 

Plus, as long time blog followers likely know, I don't do well with temperatures like that even when I don't have to be dealing with moving related stuff, so the storms mostly stopping us getting very high temperatures is definitely a good thing in my opinion, and I'm incredibly relieved we haven't had more 25 degrees C and above days.  We've had too many for my liking as it is.

 

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Anyway, once we were done dealing with all the moving, I treated my aching muscles to a nice soak in the bath with the butterscotch bath bomb I had in one of those Harry Potter boxes I was getting for a while.  Then I curled up with the dogs and a book for a quiet evening.  I figured I deserved some relaxing and pampering time.  Needed it badly too.  After all, I’ve been neglecting most of my self care and Hygge activities lately, so it was about time I took some time for some of those again.

 

And, yes, I did get some much needed rest last weekend before starting to catch up online (which I'm doing slowly so as to make time for other things).  Just thought I'd mention that, in case someone is wondering.