Zorac's LiveJournal

Random thoughts:

1. On the subject of my political aspirations (or, more correctly, somebody else's political aspirations for me), I decided after due consideration not to have any. Thanks to everyone who commented - if you're interested in the whys and wherefores, you might find them in the update and comments on the original post.
2. I've been busily sorting and clearing out the junk in my attic (most of which has been there since before I moved in). Alas, no lost Rembrandts or the like - mostly old paint tins and curtains. One missed opportunity was a T-shirt draped over one of the joists - I am now resolved that when I move on, I shall leave in the attic a garment emblazoned with the slogan "I cleared out the junk in my new attic and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt", and I encourage all of you to do likewise. One day, the new occupant will find this Item and think "Wow, whoever used to live here thought he was a real funny guy!".
3. The incentive for the above is so I can get more plumbing work done to resolve my ongoing issues with hot water pressure (or lack thereof). This may be of interest to some of you as it means that there should be shower facilities available to future visitors to the t00blerone. Oh, and I really ought to get that window fixed...
4. Van Helsing - somebody really needs to tell Stephen Sommers that while you can do just about anything with special effects these days, just because you can doesn't mean that you should. Plus, if he was trying to get in a pissing contest with Peter Jackson, he lost badly. It's not just that they were horribly overdone (ooh! entirely CG environment! I can do really insane camera moves!), but in some places (mostly when doing a CG stunt double) looked downright fake. Way more over-the-top than The Mummy Returns, but without the redeeming features that allowed that to still somehow be a great movie. On the plus side, new PoA trailer.
5. WTF happened to the weather? It was a real scorcher today. Apparently this is the same bizarre weather that hermorrine has been reporting in Chicago.

I'm sure I had more to say, but it can wait until ... er ... I remember what it is...

(Most of) my plumbing issues have been fixed now. Apparently the immersion heater took two fuses and a trip switch with it when it died - impressive! Anyway, time to break out the Lush!

Plumbers are here!

*does t00by dance*

Update: Remember how I called the water board? They gave me the location of the stop tap:

in cover in pavement
opposite fish shop
try one off them

(and yes, the amusing misspelling is theirs). Unfortunately, the plumbers have tried all the covers and located no water taps. This means that I've got the water board coming out agin tomorrow to do their job properly so that the plumbers can then do theirs.

*does the dance of d00m*

Gacked from a magazine:

A man gets into a cab in Washington and as they're driving along the driver asks: "Say, buddy, you heard the latest George Bush joke?"
The passenger leans forward and says: "I am George Bush."
The driver replies: "OK then, I'll explain it really slowly..."

Well, it made me laugh. A lot.

In other news, I finally have a plumber organised for Monday - this means that I'll be shopping for taps tomorrow.

...or so it seems. Finding a plumber is proving to be a tricky business. Yesterday I had the joy of a plumber who never called back. Today's attempts have failed to find a plumber who isn't already booked solid for at least the next 2-3 weeks. Tomorrow, I may be reduced to working through the entire plumbing section of the Yellow Pages. I was amused, however, to discover that there's a plumber by the name of P Crapper...

See that icon? That's one of my windows, that is. Happened ages ago, but the building management folks never returned my call and the Christmas happened and I never got around to sorting it (it's only the outer pane of the double glazing that's bust). Now, I have a more urgent issue - after a week or two of increasing ropiness, my hot water has died entirely. To add to the fun, the main stop-tap for the flat is sheared off - meaning that there's no way to cut off the water supply and facilitate major plumbing work. I called the management people last week and spoke to a nice man who couldn't answer my questions and told me that the guy I really needed to speak to was on holiday. Just now, I called back to discover that rather than being back as expected, this chap is trapped in Cyprus and they have no idea when he'll be back. Oh, joy, oh rapture.

Hopefully, somebody there will be able to help me soon - at the very least I need to know where the building stop-tap is so that I can get the one in my flat fixed (I'm leaning towards the "beg forgiveness rather than ask permission" option as regards to turning off the building at this point). Thankfully my gym membership is really coming in hand - at least I can use the showers there to stave off smelliness for the time being...

Update: Shock, horror! I got a call back! Unfortunately, it was mostly to say "Now't to do wi' us. We don' know nuffink." and tell me to RTFLA. Unfortunately, while the lease agreement does tell me whose responsibility the repairs are (both mine, alas), it doesn't (as he claimed) have information leading to the whereabouts of the stop tap. This leaves me Up the Amazon on a Rubber Duck (any minute now, piranhas will infest the not-hot water tank...) Say it with me: d00med.

Update 2: Two thumbs way up to Thames Water! I got straight through to a nice chap who knew what he was talking about and arranged for someone to come out and do a trace and leave me a note with the details (including which, if any, of the other flats will be affected). The downside is that it will take 5-7 days, but as they're not charging me to do this, I can't really complain (he did also point out that a rebutable plumber can freeze the pipes to allow work, but as there's about half an inch between the stop tap and the floor, that's not an option for me).

Further to this post, I have decided that my flat shall be henceforth known as The T00blerone - partially because I like that name best, but mostly because the walls of my lounge are in fact the colour of a Toblerone box. hanacandi wins a ( Collapse ) for her suggestion. Also, I'm pleased to report that no further trick-or-treaters dared to darken my door.

Saturday saw me making my usual foray into Oxford. This time, head of the agenda were some hair reduction measures, followed by lunch and a movie. I even managed to resist the temptation to spend money on CDs/Games/DVDs for once. The movie in question was the highly entertaining Intolerable Cruelty - we certainly seem to be doing well for rom-coms at the moment, with last month's Down With Love and the upcoming luvvie-fest Love Actually. Also went to Lush and must un-recommend the Xmas Pud ballistic on the grounds of it generating nasty scum and leaving a horrible ring around my bath.

Yesterday followed the usual stay-at-home Sunday formula. An unexpectedly large chunk of the day was taken up by an extended game of Warblade (see the second comment), so it was gone four before I even had lunch, and I have no idea what happened to the rest of the afternoon... After dinner I had a brief Y!M with malachan regarding T00bage Revolutions, and a longer chat with hermorrine (although Y!M's webcam functionality seems to have become unreliable since I upgraded to Panther. Grr).

Oh, and just in case no-one on your friends list has pointed it out to you yet, you can now but more userpics. Unless you have a permanent account, in which case you've already had your limit increased for 15 to 20. No, I'm not gloating, why do you ask?

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