Over a week ago I ordered a replacement remote control for the freeview box, since my size 11s made rather a mess of the original, and my subsequent partially successful attempts to repair it had only made matters worse. It hadn't turned up on Monday morning, so I rang the company to chase. They rang their courier, who claimed that they had tried to deliver but found no one in and had left a card. If they did, I didn't find it. Following a prompt from the freeview people, the courier called me back and arranged to deliver on Monday PM. Monday PM came and went and there was no sign of the remote. I attempted to chase it directly, but not having the consignment number, it was a case of computersezno.
I had also failed to receive the leather repair kit. A chasing email elicited a grovelling apology since it had not been shipped yet. Given that it's coming from the south island, and what with the general poor performance of courier services, I'm not holding my breath that it'll show up any time soon.
Phoebe hadn't been feeling too well, so we kept her off school. Strangely, she seemed to perk up soon after the others went to school, and the telly went back on.
This morning I chased up the remote again. The freeview mob were rather concerned to find that the courier had been so slack. I asked for the consignment number, since my research had lead me to discover that the local depot was a stone's throw from our spot. The cheeky chappy who answered the phone confirmed that they did have it, and said he'd deliver this PM. I thanked him for his kind offer, but declined to take him up on it as I didn't trust them to deliver on it and I had no intention of hanging around all day on the off chance they might get off their arses and drive past. The response was a cheerful offer for me to come down and pick up the remote and slag off their service all in one go. An offer to good to miss. I duly went and picked up, but I chose to vent my spleen on the freeview mob, hoping they'd throw some punches with much bigger clout. Oh yes, and the parcel had a big orange sticker saying "NOT AT HOME NO CAR LEFT". Like, how was I supposed to chase it? Hmm?
The remote works just fine, but sadly the $47 didn't extend to new batteries so these were salvaged from the dead remote. Normal levels of power are now restored, and I can now annoy everyone again my channel hopping incessantly. The power is absolute!
Di had gone to Bayfair with Vicky, and surprise surprise, they had indulged in a little retail therapy. I got a call to come and pick them up. I managed to get them both home just in time for a quick cuppa before picking up the kids. Phoebe was back at school today, and was due to take part in her school production this evening. The school has down rather well here - 5 performances, 200 tickets at $5 each - a cool $5000. And you can buy the DVD for $20. Methinks I might take my own camera with me, not being particularly inclined to swell the school's bulging coffers any more.
Wayne apparently wants me to aid and abet his collection of his stuff from the UK. They have hit rather a problem. It seems that as they don't yet have permanent residence, and actually no passports as they are with the immigration department, getting their stuff from customs may prove an issue, or at least expensive. Allegedly the passport issue can be overcome by a deposit of $1000....which takes two months to return. However, the biggest problem is that as non residents, they are liable for GST on their stuff. The alternative is to leave it in storage, which will of course attract a charge. The moral of this tail of woe is - don't ship your stuff until you have a residence visa.
On a more positive note, today is officially the first day of summer. Seems unreal - December being Summer, but there you have it.
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