Things are work are mentile. So, to balance my life out, I’m keeping very busy at home too. I suppose the ‘things at home’ divide up in to subheadings:
Car:
The car hasn’t had much use since I got it. It’s been in to the centre of Rugby for wheel-balancing and tracking alignment. And that’s about the sum of its journeys.
Yesterday I took it in to Kwikfit to have the brakes checked. They said the pads were fine but the disks needed replacing. And then they quoted me £500 for doing the job. FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS? I told them not to bother.
A little investigation reveals that I can get four new disks and four new sets of pads for £100, so what the hell is the hourly rate Kwikfit charge? And their mechanics must all be as rich as fuck. Except they’re not, obv.
I’d like to do the job myself – fitting new disks and pads – but I’ve never done it before. And mucking about with the braking system of a car doesn’t seem to be the smartest place to start learning car mechanics.
So I’m going to call a couple of local garages, to see how much they’d charge for the job, if I supplied the parts.
Bike:
The VFR continues to be my daily commuter, as well as my weekend runabout. It is, obviously, much cheaper per mile than the car, but whereas the car drips comfort and luxury, the bike drips fun, smiles, and racy excitement.
I am keeping the bike scrupulously clean. I tend to wash the VFR down every evening when I get home. At weekends I take the seat off and give the frame a very thorough clean, and then lube the chain.
I took a gentle trip down to Daventry today to buy a pair of winter gloves. Ended up travelling 150 miles, familiarising myself with the environment.
I have a hankering for a Triumph Daytona 955i. In bright yellow. I’d keep the VFR, as the every-day form of transport, have the 955i as the scary-but-fun weekend bike, and the car would be my bad weather transport.
Don’t look at me like that, it’s perfectly logical!
House:
I’m almost unpacked. Erm. Almost. Except for the bits that aren’t unpacked. Ahem.
I have received an estimated electricity bill from nPower. £80. I can’t help wondering what the former occupants of this house did with their electricity, if their typical monthly bill was eighty-fucking-quid!
Oh yes, and I’ve been broadband-upgraded. But the speeds are mediocre at best, and unimpressive at worse.
TV:
I am still struggling on with The World’s Dodgiest Freeview Signal. And when I say ‘struggling on’, I mean ‘largely not watching’. The bad quality comes and goes. Some days every channel is unwatchable. Some days only the majority of channels are unwatchable.
To compensate for this I’m watching The West Wing on DVD, broken up by occasional episodes of Breaking Bad on DVD. The jury is still out on Breaking Bad, but I’m only on episode five of the first series.
I might open up the boxed set of Buffy The Vampire Slayer sometime.
I may also go out and buy a Freesat box, as we’ve discussed here before.
Geekage:
The great geekage continues too.
So yeah, all in all I’m keeping pretty busy at home and at work.
My next project, now that I’m (almost) unpacked, is to build the studio, and get the podcast back on track.
I have music for the next ten shows playlisted, and there are also many tracks that I have been sent, by bands, artists, and labels, that I haven’t yet been able to listen to.
Oh, and I took a ‘which side of the brain do you use most’ test on FB. It’s completely accurate and designed by brain scientists and that.
Anyway, I’m a balanced genius.
Apparently.
Ahem.
Changing disks and pads isn’t too difficult. Just take your time. Mind you KwikFit are always expensive, local garages are always far better value and a good one won’t mind you providing the parts either.
Is your TV aerial good enough for Freeview, I read somewhere that sometimes they need to replaced.
Stick with Breaking Bad, it’ll be worth it by the end of Season 5.
Good to hear you are settling in well mate.
Hey Perp. Thanks for the tip re DIYing the brakes. I’m giving the gig to a local garage for a supply and fit of £180. My TV is (currently) Freeview. It’s a modern aerial, but a dodgy area.. Going to stick with Breaking Bad. Even though the jury is still out, it’s miles better than the dodgy TV. Email to follow
Re television: one word: Netflix. Has all of Buffy from the Pilot, all of Breaking Bad, and Orange is the New Black.
Then I just stream television via my wifi, because here in the Georgian wreck in Yokelville, the only thing that works is the wifi (certainly not the hot water or central heating as there is neither …)
I’ve got Buffy and The West Wing on DVD, but you suggestion is a good one. I’m going to open an account with Netflix this evening.
I don’t have a Georgian wreck. I don’t have central heating and don’t have too much by way of hot water.
Well you have a landlord to fix things — I have no-one to blame but myself! And the council planners who have taken 5 months to give me permission to do the needed renovations. I’m getting fit though, because I have to shower at the gym.
Hey Bren, have you moved house then? What’s the story? If your Freeview is crap, you should do what I do – I have got a laptop rigged up to my TV screen and just watch on-demand. And I don’t have to pay for a TV license 😉
Cheers, Annie. I’ll consider it when my licence expires in a couple of months. I’m probably only here temporarily anyway. Yes, have moved to Rugby.
What the blazes are you doing in Rugby? That’s miles away!