Mostly lemon based

Day: June 12, 2006

  • Big bloody sigh

    I am so totally fed up. Totally. Totally and completely.

    Despite a really nice lunch with a Ali and Lauren I am having the most frustrating day. The GP fucked up my prescription which meant I had to go and tell them that no, I didn’t just want one random item off the list; and although it’s now sorted it’s a pain.

    I had a look at the mog’s exhaust, which had been ‘a bit noisy’ having lost it’s back silencer had got ‘a bit noiser’ then ‘quite a lot noiser’. I went and had a look today. The weld’s given up around the front silencer now. It’s fucking shite, that’s what it is, so I’ll take that down to C’ware’s tomorrow, I might even see if they can fit the new one, ‘cos I’m so strapped for time.

    However, I’ve found out why I can’t book tickets – and I’m quite glad I failed to book tickets. It turns out there’s a signalman’s strike on the 20th, and so they’re not able to guarantee train times, or tickets, or anything very much. *sighs*. I’m trying to coax ‘TheTrainLine.com’ into refunding the ticket I did buy, because they can’t actually honour it. I guess since I bought it with my Visa card I could tell them to put a stop on the payment actually. I’ll see what they say. I do just feel like I’ve been repeatedly slapped down today though. Still, I’ve got a day off in Manchester on the 19th. Anyone live in Manchester who wants to show me that it’s a rockin’ place which I shall want to live in?

  • Customer experience:

    Total price to travel by car (assuming you own one):

    Servicing cost: ~20 per 3000 miles
    Petrol for journey: ~50ukp

    Total: 70 quid.

    To take the train: 90 quid + hotel (required) at 80 quid + left luggage in Birmingham and Manchester.

    Cost benefit analysis:
    Train – easier, can get up and wander round however involves over an hour of trying to persuade website to take cash, prices rising when you try to actually buy tickets.
    Car – less comfortable, potentially substantially quicker, approximately half the price, no risk of being on the world’s most cramped train with broken air-con.

    Car wins, hands down.

    As I’ve said in the comments on this post it was a big change for me to choose the Railways over driving; and not one I’m likely to repeat. Since I’ve booked the hotel and one of the train tickets I may see if they can at least get near the price of petrol (since I’m not unbooking the hotel now. *sigh*.). It’s fucking pathetic, is what it is.

  • Fucking trains

    No, seriously. I looked on ‘The trainline’ earlier found my tickets, but was unable to buy them due to their site being a mangy piece of crap which had got stuck in a loop where it wouldn’t accept my address details, but nor would it accept that I should be able to log on. I just logged on to try again and although it displayed tickets, when I went to buy them the ‘value’ tickets became unpurchaseable.

    It is getting close to the stage where I say ‘fuck this’ and take the car.

  • Wilting

    So, let’s try that again.

    It’s too hot here, and it’s only 1128 (now, it was 1045 when I first started).

    We tried an experiment in visualisation; the second monitor calls to me when it’s not on and and it’s nice to be able to see more stuff on screen; if you know what I mean. However, experiements with getting visualisation to work on the second screen lead to my machine freezing, which is not good.

    Anyway, so I spent the morning attempting to beat the civil service into submission. Let me give anyone a tip; telling someone who’s waited 6 months to be told what they should have been told, say, 2 weeks after applying that they get 98.7% of applications turned round in 7 weeks, that isn’t a good plan, that’s likely to annoy someone more. Claiming that there’s sufficient information when there isn’t, otherwise they’d’ve got the information the first time is also annoying; finally claiming you have no offical means of complaint; that’s likely to get someone’s goat. Specifically mine. It’s got my goat, taken it’s food, dumped ice cold water on it and then spent an hour insulting it; so now my goat is pretty angry.

    On the plus side, they’ve now said that all they needed in the first place was a 6 year old letter, which I have a copy of. So I shall send them a copy of that. Fucking useless arseholes. If they’d’ve *said* then I’d’ve *sent it*. Gaaah. Not that I’m happy to send it, given that it contains an awful lot of confidential information about my life, and they have *no need* to see it. Voeyeruistic arseholes.

    I’ve just discovered (everyone ready for a rant) that using public transport from Bristol, you can’t travel the 168 miles to Manchester and be there by for 9:30. I’ve just discovered that I can’t make it from my interview. I have to go up the night before, or spend several relaxing hours in the middle of the night in railway stations. I think I have to give up and use up my extra day worked, lose my weekend off and stay in either Manchester or Birmingham. Oh I’m *so* fucked off. Why does public transport have to be so utterly, utterly useless.

    It’s hard to persuade myself to travel by train when they make it so fucking hard. I’m now completely *argh*, it probably makes more sense for me to go up to Manchester a day early and spend the day getting a feel for Manchester since I’ve never been there before. Oh balls. Really.

    What was I going to say? No idea. I’ve done a letter for Trey; not that she can see this, but I’ll stick it in the post today or tomorrow. I’m gonna have some lunch, sling some laundry in and do more dissertation. I was going to do it this morning but civil service and  public transport’s kind of knocked it all on the head really. 2 nights in a hotel, vs: cost of driving and risk of not getting there on time. *sighs*