Mostly bad

[vilakins]

Good: We live down a long driveway which we share with three other houses. It's lovely being that far back from a very busy road because it's relatively quiet and peaceful in the trees and the cats are safe.

Bad: The driveway has huge potholes. And the people we all booked to reseal it at some point during the last three sunny and dry weeks didn't.

Good: They showed up this week.

Bad: When it was raining.

Worse: And promptly cut into the neighbours' water main.

Bad: The foreman was ill yesterday so they didn't work.

Worrying: We have to park on a very busy road for several days, or down the hill in a quiet cul-de-sac and walk up an alleyway in the dark which I'm not prepared to do.

Good: A friend from Australia is coming to stay at the end of next week.

Bad: She's bringing her two little girls which is scaring the hell out of me.

Also bad: The taps in the guest bathroom don't work properly. You have to make 3 or 4 complete turns, then the bastards gush on so hard, water goes everywhere.

Good: I found a local plumber who said he can come tomorrow.

Bad: He can't, because our driveway is up.

I'm not even going to tell you about the crap new system management forced IT to put in at work. Sigh. I want something to go right.

Comments

[kerravonsen]

{hug}

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Lovely icon!

[kerravonsen]

It's one of the William Blake ones by wingedfigment.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Ah, thought it was one of your new ones!

[kerravonsen]

No, but I am thinking of doing my own version, with one of my own flower photos.

[kernezelda]

I feel for you with the bad road and the plumbing. I live on a fairly long driveway, too, with twists and turns, so that my home isn't even visible from the road. It's great for privacy, but bad for developing ruts.

IT systems - ack!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

You can just see our roof from the road.

As for the new system, I have written up a report of bugs and necessary enhancements to make it easier to use. Why the hell did they replace a perfectly usable one though? Office politics. [rolls eyes]

[lizamanynames.livejournal.com]

...this would be very, very, very, very funny if it weren't actually happening, you know?

As it is, *HUGS*

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'd probably laugh if I wasn't so stressed out about it. Hey, if it all comes together, I can amuse my friend with it. We make a point of telling each other excruciating disaster stories like the time she got sick in the Sydney Opera House after some dodgy seafood and couldn't make it to the end of the line and vomited in her purse. Than she closed it and forgot till she opened it to pay the taxi driver...

[lizamanynames.livejournal.com]

Oh LORD! Yeah, that's definately one of those "look back and laugh, but HORRIBLE at the time" things.

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

Oh plumbing problems, know ALL about that... am sending lots of sympathys and hugs, if (unhappily) absolutely no practical help...

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Sympathy does help some. :-)

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

look on the (tarnished) silver lining. At least the loo isn't blocked and/or overflowing just as your visitors are about to arrive.

Now THAT'S a black cloud and a half...

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

You had that happen? Eep. The worst we had was the water heating going off just before Greg's mum arrived to stay, but that was fixed very quickly and it was the utility's fault so we didn't even pay. And the washing machine blew up (well, poured out lots of smoke) just before Christmas one year. :-P

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

((hugs)) Unto each life a bunch of Entropy falls, and generally in clumps. *sympathy*

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It does! I had problems with the lens in one eye today too which was all I needed. Sigh.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

Look on it this way, you *must* be building up credit for some really *wonderful* days.

[hafren.livejournal.com]

Oh bugger.... God never closes one door but he shuts another, as my granny used to say.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Things seem to come in threes, but I think my eye problems at work today account for the last of it. I hope.

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

Aaargh! I'm sorry, that's just one thing after another! *hugs* I hope things will be sorted out by the time your friend arrives.

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

P.S. And management should never be allowed near IT. There should be some law about it.

Is there any chance of them changing their mind about this system?

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Nope. :-(

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Me too. Those taps are a pain. I'm home now and half the driveway is down. It looks good but no one can drive on it for three days.

[spacefall.livejournal.com]

Aargh at the combination of evil stuff all at once. Hope things sort themselves quickly.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And I hope the same for you. [hugs]

I love your icon. Deva-cuddles! Aww.

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

::hugs::

I'm sure you'll do fine with the little girls. There's no one who's less fond of dealing with children than I am, but when it's friends' children, I always muddle through. Children seem to pick up on how their parents feel about one.

I hope it all works out before you know it.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I'm usually fine with kids I know because I never quite grew up myself. I just have no idea of what these kids are like, or what they like doing.

This weekend will be fraught as I have to do all the tidying up and cleaning then as I have so little time during the week. :-( Oh, yeah, and vote!

[communicator.livejournal.com]

Good: I found a local plumber who said he can come tomorrow.

Bad: He can't, because our driveway is up....

I know it must be wearing, but you make it funny in the telling. Hope it all sorts itself out soon.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I think that bit will. There's more gone wrong now which I'll have to do a post about. :-( I'll try to see the funny side.

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

Don't worry about your friend, at the very least she'll be so pleased the chaos isn't in her house that she'll rally round and help sort things for you. And she'll have something to talk about when she goes home, it can be so boring going away and all you do is sit, eat and sleep.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Oh, there's heaps to do here; they'll hardly be home. But they have a beautiful house and ours needs renovation so I feel a bit anxious.

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

Then they'll enjoy the opportunity to relax and not have to keep everything just so.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Thanks! You're very reassuring. :-)

[snowgrouse.livejournal.com]

Bum. *squeezes* Good luck with everything. Neep.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Other things have gone wrong since, but one's come right. Yay. Maybe the tide has turned.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I was woken by the plumber arriving the other morning. I was a bit surprised, because when the same firm send the joiner they ring at least once first to make sure I'm awake/at home. But he just rang the doorbell, and seemed surprised that I was surprised. I vaguely knew he'd be coming some time or other, because the joiner came and did several jobs last week and said he thought I should have the plumber to fix the last thing. And that reminds me I still haven't rung the contact number he gave me for the bloke who might replace the rotten windowframes while preserving the original leaded windows.

Anyway, never mind all that, I hope the plumber makes his way in eventually, and when you're expecting him, and that the little girls turn to to be fun.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sure they will be; their mother is. It's just that I have no idea what they're like now, having only seen them as pre-schoolers before, and that was 6 years ago. One of Greg's nieces had nothing in common with us (she was into ponies and fashion and teenage languor) and in the end we parked her in front of the TV with earphones and she watched DVDs and music videos while her brother had fun on the PC with our games.

I shall ring the plumber tonight and see if he can come in first thing sometime next week.

[daiseechain.livejournal.com]

Erg. Housing issues. Plumbing issues. They're never any fun. Why do they say you can't drive on the next 3 days? Is it because it's too damp for the tar to dry?

Still, at the end of it, you should have a shiny new driveway! Hope it all gets sorted out soon.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Apparently it takes a few days to set completely. We could drive on it as we just go straight down it, but the two lots of neighbours have to do right-angle turns to get into their drives off it and it's turning that churns it up. So I think it will be blocked off for all of us.

The same applies to roads: driving over them the next day is fine because people aren't usually making sharp turns.

[trixieleitz]

Eep, that all sounds dreadful :(

Me, I'd be most nervous about the impending child-visitors [looks around room], because then I'd have to tidy.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Yep. [looks worriedly at messy pile of fannish stuff, some of which has had a mini-landslide] At least they're old enough for me not to have to put all the breakables up high as we do when Greg's two-year-old nephew comes round.