Weblog Quotes

Yes, I have used that word before.

Sunday night was a very interesting one for me. I had finally found a phone I was happy to purchase, satisfied with the small number of standard features and the ability to send and receive calls and texts. I am not one to buy the latest flashy model, but had settled upon the Tocco Lite touch screen from Samsung.

At least, I would have; if my order went through. I some-how managed to get caught up in my bank’s fraud protection when I attempted to use my card, three times.

Monday was spent on the phone during dinner time, having the usage block lifted. I spoke to Kay, from the fraud department, for all of three seconds. She was very sweet. The other idiot on customer services attempted to sell me things.

So as of today I have successfully ordered my shiny new phone. I’m hoping for it to arrive tomorrow, as it is my sisters parteh; and I wish to use it for photies, and random touch screenie-ness; and music when the disco is not so good.

I am working Thursday, all day, so I will likely miss the delivery if it isn’t here tomorrow.

Well it must be true what they say, Chef jobs open up during the summer.

So far I have had two interviews this week, the first on Monday, and the second today. This mornings chat was nice and in-formal, but I still wore a shirt.

To see how I cope within a busy kitchen, the Chef has asked me to work this coming Sunday, which is the busiest day of the week. Well I’m all for that. And I earn myself around £40 for the trouble.

If taken on full-time, I will be required to assist in any one of their other businesses; such as a seasonal restaurant in Whitby. That means mini missions trying to find a parking space. .. I will have my petrol paid for though, so if anyone’s in the area . . .

It’s likely, now that I’m almost in a job, that other places will start responding to my letters; and I’ll have to look into which one I’d like to work for and train with.

Either way, I’m still planning on college part-time again for my pastry course.

Whaaa? That’s right! I have a job interview! :D :D

Oh my gawd!

This is my first this year. When I had loads last year. This recession thing is getting old now.

There are, I think, four other interviewees tagging along for the same job, which is a massive shame; and really stupid. I also have transport to the interview, which sucks. I would prefer to drive.

I’m taking my recent certificate with me, to show it off; and will be mentioning my return to college for a Pasty Course in October ¹.

Wish me luck if you see this before I leave, at 2:20pm.

1: when I en-roll.

Oh gawd. I wish I never bothered getting out of bed at 06:30 this morning, after not having any sleep at all.

I had decided the day before to head to town and partake in a bit of grocery shopping; popping to the veg shop; the butchers; the card shop; a few game shops; a few book shops; the fruit stall; and the supermarket.

What. A. Day. Gahh! Never again. From now on I shall promise to go when I need items, and not all at once. It’s a good job I have a car. My boot was seriously full.

How much had this day of suffering cost me? £89.50! I had £1.20 off my supermarket bill due to parking. Worst part? I never managed to find a cake tin!

Oh, I never bought a book either. I did find a set of knives I liked the look of, at £49.99. I shall ask Pertemps if they will buy them for me; but that may only be after I find employment.

Someone employ me so I can have a shiny new thirteen piece set of swexi knives!

As some of you may know, I have been scouring the on-line world for better car insurance quotes now that my policy is drawing to a close.

During this time, I used the three main comparison websites to narrow down my search. Now, for many people, these websites can be useful; as there renewal price is a couple of hundred pounds, or even less.

But for those of us (un-?)fortunate to be freshies, quotes are hitting above £700 or even over £1000. Some people are smart when it comes to saving a bit of money; but some people aren’t.

Whether you know or not, what you need to realise about these comparison sites, is they use something of a ‘best guess system‘ for some of the details in the forms they are retrieving quotes from. Take, for example, the number of years a named driver has held a licence. On the comparison site, you have a limit of 12+; but on a companies site that limit may be higher. Whether or not that higher limit saves a few pounds is open to experiment; but there are other instances where not every field is set to the correct value.

For those people who click the buy button and input their card details, take a look through the companies form for your next re-newel, either by amending the quote; or go directly to the site and start fresh.

Performing this my-self, the quote I received from the comparison sites was over £994. Using the companies site directly, the quote was under £799. Amending the quote from the comparison gave me a quote under £793, saving £4..ish ¹.

So as you can see, I saved £200 just checking details. And this includes an incident; zero no-claims; licence for less than a year; on comprehensive cover, with a named driver and £150 voluntary excess.

It’s a shame I only have less than £5 in my account.

So now you know, if you didn’t already. Amend your quotes!

If you have anything to add to this entry, leave a comment below.

¹ Maybe this is because I went back to the quote after a few days. It would need experimentation.

…you only have £30 in your bank account.

Yep. I have nothing left. And rent is due, and possibly a gas bill; and the internet bill; and cinema card bill; .. wait! .. The petrol I filled up on yesterday hasn’t been took out!

Sh*t.

I am in deep crap.

Having received the renewal notice from my current insurance provider, I have been looking around for cheaper deals; pretty much the same as everyone does.

My current renewal price is, I think, £827.68. I can’t be bothered to re-dig out the letter and check.

I have used the typical moneh-fulled-super-meerkats sites and Admiral comes back with the cheapest and most reasonable quote, of £798.something-or-other-pence. That quote was after checking the Admiral site directly. I think I shall phone them some time and see if I can actually get cheaper.

My main worry is, I don’t actually have enough money to cover the insurance. Eeek. That means I’m having to find money from places; or plan a bank robbery. Somehow, I don’t think I’ll be able to find the money.

I shall comment about the phoning; and status of Operation Bank Robbery soon, if I remember.

Having failed my MOT two weeks ago I finally had my car fixed yesterday; needing to repair a ball joint and the rear parking brake.

First I took her to my uncles for him to have a look, and after some time prodding; un-bolting; wheel turning; brake pressing; and looking confused, it was decided he couldn’t do anything with the ball joint, and was un-sure about the rear brake.

A few days past, and I went to see a friend of the person who I bought the car from (I know the previous owners wife, since my mam and her used to work together). This guy couldn’t get the ball joint off either, but managed to solve the parking brake issue for me; free of charge too.

Knowing my free re-test was close to running out, I had the car booked into a garage to be looked at by my step-dads mate (It’s great when you know people). Not being able to get the ball joint free, the mechanic had to burn the bolts off. During this, he caught his finger and it swelled up.

Needless to say, he replaced the ball joint for me, and at a nice price too.

These past few weeks driving has felt different every time, and it now requires more effort to put the hand-brake on.

The clutch has changed as well, and that was before all of these repairs where started. .. Cars, I should have studied mechanics at college instead of electrical engineering.

Monday early afternoon is the day of my re-test. I have no idea if I’ll be charged the full price; but the way I see it, Monday is the fourteenth day; which entitles me to a free re-test. Guess I’ll just have to see what they say.

This week is one of the busiest, and most expensive, I have had in a long time.

• Over the weekend, the shortfall on my rent was due, costing £80. Still to pay.
• Over the weekend I received a letter stating my car tax was due, costing £120 for the year.
• As the tax is due, I need an MOT by Friday¹, costing a reasonable £35.
• I was informed over the weekend about post office accounts being shut and all the money in them being taken away. I’m now required to move my funds to a bank account, yet to be set up. This will most likely cost £1 to open.
• I need to phone a job back, yet again, to discuss the possibility of me being employed. Cost, the price of a UK phone call.²
• I had to nip to the shop for a few items. Costing £11.
• I still need to build my wardrobe, which won’t really cost anything. Yay!
• I just ate a Jammy Dodger. Mmm.

Ok, I think that’s all for my attempted cost summery list. Total cost of this week so far: £247!

¹ I have only been able to book this in for the following Monday, meaning I have to leave college early to get it sorted. So I shall be breaking the law on Monday, and indeed over the weekend, when I drive around; since no valid MOT means no insurance cover, both finable offenses.

² Phoned this as I was typing, apparently the position has been withdrew. Not fair!

I’ve just been to the opticians for an eye test, as it’s been two years since I last went, which is the advised period anyway and I don’t see the point going until they ask me to.

OMG, the woman who took the test/gave the test/or whatever is definitely worth pulling.

There isn’t much change in my prescription, unlike the previous time, which was a huge leap. This time everything will be a little less blurry, so that’s great.

I’ll be swapping my frames to a swexi designer pair aswell, being un-employed entitles me to a voucher and money off. Wohoo, £40 for a pair of £125 designer frames with Single Vision Pentax lenses; UltraClear; and scratch resistant coating. I’m going to ask about the night driving anti-glare coating, as I never received it last time for some reason. the price may go up though.

The frames have had to be ordered in from the warehouse, so may be here by the weekend where I get to try them on and order my lenses. The fitting may take a week so I won’t have the swanky new specks for starting college.

Take a nosy:

New Frames