Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. The lurgi appears to be in retreat today but the blocked sinuses are still causing headaches. Still decided to give the club a miss tonight, I don't want to spread it about. I told my energy supplier months ago that I didn't have any reading on my newly installed 'smart' gas meter. They informed me that they had a reading and everything was ok. I have just received the latest bill which apparently shows my gas usage as zero! I will be getting in touch with them in the morning about it. Just as well I have kept all the correspondance of when I informed them that the meter wasn't working. Its possible that the meter is working but not transmitting the data but you'd think that someone would have queried the zero figure by now.

[PhilJ W]

48 minutes ago, brianusa said:

 

There's no McDonald's near you, then?

      Brian.

More likely this side of the pond to be a Greggs, they have more outlets than McD's and are doing better than most other fast food outlets.

[newbryford]

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Except that on Harbor Boulevard you could have "Alice" or at least someone who would be happy to say he/she was Alice.

 

Duly amended

[leopardml2341]

^^^ Phil, don't get me started on smart meters

 

My energy supplier keeps telling me that if they install a smart meter for me I WILL save money, when asked to quantify they savings they don't/can't. Anyway, the last time they pestered me I spoke to someone with some nouse who told me the most likely reason for saving money was the compulsory transfer to a different tariff (with lock in clauses) rather than any real benefit from using less energy.

 

Now, noting my Yorkshire heritage, I'm not in the habit of leaving lights on unnecessarily, nor devices on standby.....

[newbryford]

Just now, leopardml2341 said:

^^^ Phil, don't get me started on smart meters

 

My energy supplier keeps telling me that if they install a smart meter for me I WILL save money, when asked to quantify they savings they don't/can't. Anyway, the last time they pestered me I spoke to someone with some nouse who told me the most likely reason for saving money was the compulsory transfer to a different tariff (with lock in clauses) rather than any real benefit from using less energy.

 

Now, noting my Yorkshire heritage, I'm not in the habit of leaving lights on unnecessarily, nor devices on standby.....

 

Gets smart meter fitted.

 

12 months later changes energy supplier.

Asked to read meters.

"But I have a smart meter"

"not one of ours - we don't support them yet............."

 

You couldn't make it up.

 

Changed energy supplier 12 months ago to a fixed rate - happy with the new rate apart from having to read meters manually (see above)

Just before Xmas, receive email saying that fixed rate was due to end.

Contacted them and new fixed rate bill is £50 less per month (!!!) so duly signed up.

Now find out we're over £700 in credit anyway - and that's in 12 months FFS.

Paying at the new rate - this will still put us £120 in credit (plus the £700) based upon what we were paying and credit accumulated for the past 12 months.

 

A couple of months ago, my niece was in credit with her energy provider and then they went bust. That's £200 she'll not see.

 

My provider will be called in the morning to see if I can retrieve some modelling tokens.

I still have 6 days to cancel the new agreement.

 

Currently raining but tomorrow's FOREcast is dry......

 

See what I did there?

 

Have a good Thursday folks.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

[PhilJ W]

The reason that I accepted a smart meter was that I was getting (over)estimated bills it was a bit of a buqqer reading the meter. 

[leopardml2341]

I've lived at my place ever since it was built, 2002, and the estimated bills are quite accurate - mind you it took em nearly 15 yrs to get em something like.

[newbryford]

2 minutes ago, leopardml2341 said:

I've lived at my place ever since it was built, 2002, and the estimated bills are quite accurate - mind you it took em nearly 15 yrs to get em something like.

 

Yorkshireman - easy to estimate bill.

 

B&gger all..................

[5 C]

The chap who came to install my smart meter admitted that it wouldn't save me money. He said I was clearly very energy saving conscious and already doing everything they recommended to minimise consumption. The only people who do save money he said, are the ones who are shocked into action (no pun intended) by their usage when they can see it in real time on the screen.

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, AndyID said:

... nuisance telephone "robocalls" are reaching epidemic proportions here. We get at least five such calls per day.

Andy, I'm not experiencing that scourge. I do get a number of robo-dialled calls where no one picks up when you answer. I presume these to be human telemarketers with robo-diallers calling multiple people at once.

 

I do not have any messaging system for my land line.

 

The spate of Mandarin/Cantonese (one of them) calls to my mobile number seems to have stopped.

 

2 hours ago, AndyID said:

I was hoping our dear leaders would do something about this ...

Supposedly they have. In the large omnibus bill signed late in the year giving something to everyone (no shutdown like 2018/19, wall money, military pay raises, space force, funding for gun violence research, etc, etc) I thought there was a "no bad robocall" component.

 

Actually S.151 (Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act or the TRACED Act) was separately passed and signed into law at the end of 2019.

 

Having said that, looking at H.R. 3375, (Stopping bad robocalls act) it does not appear to have moved in the Senate since July.

[Barry O]

We have a smart meter. It has helped to save money..but this is where a canny Durham lad runs rings around a "tight" yorkshireman..we use a holistic view of how we use our money..in this case smart meter cost nowt..no more readings to take so quids in before you start. Of course you can better monitor overall usage and to see what systems  use the energy..so you can have a  better idea of what to switch off/replace..simples.

 

Baz

[Barry O]

Goodnight all!

 

Baz

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[andyram]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

On the subject of which, good to see you back Andyram, but I agree trade in the hobby wasn't that great this year, the Ch&^%$£s rush started late (election) but then went bonkers, thankfully.  Still down on last year though, toy trains are one of the belt tightening things that get hit in tight times.

 

Thanks Neil. I agree that Christmas trade was delayed although my November downturn was more down to acts of God than acts of Boris! The flooding that hit Derbyshire in November resulted in a single day closure due to the main road through Matlock Bath being closed due to being flooded at both ends. Although the flood water subsided the following day, Google maps showed the road being closed for another two and a half weeks. It was this that led to a significant reduction in trade and footfall. December was slightly up on the previous year.

 

Thank you to everyone for the kind comments. It has been a tough time, but I am hoping that 2020 will bring better times for the business, and also in the battle with the black dog. 

 

Today has been Sarah's birthday which was celebrated with an evening at a local Indian restaurant. It was much needed time together.

 

Best wishes to you all.

 

Andy

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Well after the warm(ish) dry daybthat we’ve had today, it’s now chuckinitdarn. This morning’s swimming session was fairly quiet, but I only managed to do a mile (64 lengths) so I’m assuming I’m a little out of shape having had over a month off. I got back home to find another MERG package on the hall stand, so a few more kits to do in a coup”e of weeks time!

 

The kids enjoyed their tea, minted lamb koftas and vegetable rice, however despite max saying he didn’t like white rice, he polished the lot off!

 

One of the big things with dieting, especially for diabetics is snacking in between meals, this really is a no no. When you eat any food stuff, your blood sugar goes up because of the food intake and then slowly comes down again as you burn off some of the calories. So, if you really must eat cakes, biscuits or sweet stuff, the time to do it, is during or straight after a meal, as your blood sugar is rising anyway and the bit extra won’t be that bad. BUT, if you eat sweet snacks in between meals, your blood sugar levels go up rapidly when they should be going down and this really isn’t good for you. As Neil has said, watch the carbs and protein, fat too if you have cholesterol trouble, but portion size and being sensible is really the key. This is all Sheila has done and she has lost over 3 stone, dropped 4 dress sizes and is now in diabetic remission. 

 

Goodnight all

[newbryford]

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

We have a smart meter. .....no more readings to take so quids in before you start. 

 

 

 

Yeah right.............

[skipepsi]

1 minute ago, newbryford said:

 

Yeah right.............

Proper Yorkshire folks will have shut the heating off now the days are longer...

[newbryford]

3 minutes ago, skipepsi said:

Proper Yorkshire folks will have shut the heating off now the days are longer...

 

Pity I can't mark it as funny AND agree......................

[TheSignalEngineer]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I have just received the latest bill which apparently shows my gas usage as zero! I will be getting in touch with them in the morning about it. Just as well I have kept all the correspondance of when I informed them that the meter wasn't working.

I moved into a new house about 20 years ago, the gas meter reading was 00004. The following year the company came to do a reading to check I was paying the correct amount on my direct debit, estimated on my previous consumption. The meter reading was 00009. They changed it and took it away for examination and found it had a mechanical fault where the meter was going round but the counter on the display wouldn't step onto the second wheel to get from 0009 to 0010.

Edited January 9, 2020 by TheSignalEngineer

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[BR60103]

2 hours ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

I moved into a new house about 20 years ago, the gas meter reading was 00004. The following year the company came to do a reading to check I was paying the correct amount on my direct debit, estimated on my previous consumption. The meter reading was 00009. They changed it and took it away for examination and found it had a mechanical fault where the meter was going round but the counter on the display wouldn't step onto the second wheel to get from 0009 to 0010.

If it had been 00003, they woud have billed you for 99999.

 

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

It is a relatively mild, but wet morning in this part of the world.

 

We don't have smart meters yet.  At the moment, they are very rare in Germany.  Despite being "required"  there hasn't (until very recently) been a smart meter that fulfills the standards set down for data protection.  Even when they eventually become more widespread they will only be required in houses that use more than 6000kwh a year (about double our usage!)  At some point in the future, that may change - but for the moment we have the good old fashioned analogue meters.

 

Have a good day everyone...

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all.  Possibly.

 

Without wishing to appear indelicate, I have a head full of snot.  I've been coughing for most of the night and now I have a headache.  If it were this time next week I would not even think about going anywhere despite the threat of being spifflicated if I don't.  The first objective right now is to be fit enough to go out tomorrow, for I must not forget my hormone injection again.  It's so embarrassing when Checkpoint Charlene rings to remind you that your appointment was three hours ago.  It's hard enough to secure surgery appointments as it is. 

 

Assuming that I can summon up the required energy, the process of catching up after my holiday continues.  Helpfully, the travel company has sent me a feedback questionnaire to complete.   This would be fine and dandy if it asked the right questions.  My response will be in two parts - what you want to know and what I want to tell you.  This means among other things that I will have to submit it as a hard copy instead of on-line.  For me this has the advantage that I can share my response with others.  Surely they wouldn't mind if I did that?

 

A couple of days ago something strange happened.  When I received the renewal notice for my buildings and contents insurance I noticed that a lower premium was proposed for the coming year.  That's one argument that I don't have to have!  Let there be more pleasant surprises like that.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris