WSCC Take The PSS

Oh my lord. Talk about a right bunch of jobsworths. We received a letter from WSCC outlining what we had to do in order to have the container lorry outside our house. Talk about the wrong end of the stick. The "woman" who we spoke to (actually, who shouted at us) wouldn't listen to any sense and seemed to be anally fixated on the word container, and was completely unable to comprehend that it was on the back of a lorry and wouldn't be coming off until it rolled up at the docks. She just would not listen and was very aggressive, patronising and apparently revelling in her own importance. We discussed the letter with PSS, who laughed and confirmed that this useless moo has completely lost the plot. Apparently this sort of nonsense does happen occasionally when some jobsworth decides to loose it big time. We rang up the council again, and this time asked to speak to Madame Incompetent's boss. He was appalled at the dog's dinner she'd made, was very apologetic and basically told us to bin the letter as it was total rubbish. He said he'd be "having a word", which we are hoping means a bit of disciplinary action.

The bus was sold today. I felt somewhat sad at its departure since it has been a reliable old thing, (well, one episode with smoke coming out underneath but still going) and with 130 horses to play with made for some exciting get aways which often upset some of the GTi brigade who had to try really quite hard to overtake. It's gone to a good home and will I suspect get an easier life both from its driver and from its passengers.

I'm on the look out for an NZ SIM card, having bought an unlocked Nokia 3410 (yes really) off fleabay for £8. My original one has outlasted about 15 of the kids newest and latest versions. Sure, it has a black and white screen, no camera, no mp3, no memory, but it MAKES PHONE CALLS which is all I want from a phone. My old one was locked to Virgin, and I couldn't seem to find the right code to unlock it. There are apparently 4 different locks and all the websites seem to give only one or two unlock codes. It seemed about the same price to buy an unlocked phone as to have mine unlocked, and this way I get a spare battery, charger and casing. Di can't believe I've gone for such a jurassic model again, but watching her struggle to read her display in bright sunlight makes me feel smug. I've tried her NZ SIM and it works just fine, so I should be tooled up once I pick up a SIM card, either off fleabay or at the airport when I land.

NZ dollar continues to play silly beggars. I was hoping for somewhere near $2.60 when we leave, but It looks like we'll be lucky to get $2.50. Grrr.

On a brighter note, I've a sniff of some tickets for England V Australia at the Oval, depending on whether I'm successful in the online auction which opens at 12 on Monday. Actually, Di is going to have to give it a go since I'll be at West Dean and won't have access to a computer. Fingers crossed...