After breakfast this morning I had a phone call from the appointments office in UHW Heath to ask I could take a pre-op assessment this Saturday morning. A delightful surprise and and indication of my surgeon's commitment to resume normal activities as soon as possible. Determination in the face of a nightmare of a backlog of patients needing treatment if news reports are to be relied upon. If all is well on Saturday I may even get an appointment for my final round of surgery.
Recently, in our area many building companies are working on houses. It's consequence of people having to stay at home during lock-down and not spending much, so money saved gets spend sooner or later on jobs needing to be done or major home improvements. A house opposite in our street has been undergoing a substantial loft conversion for several weeks now, taking advantage of the dry weather, and it's nearly complete. The house changed hands a few months ago and couple moved in that until today I haven't seen let alone meet. Pascal is from Nantes and Miriam from Bilbao. She and Clare got to talk in the street because she'd seen me out and about in my Basque beret, bought in Bilbao back to 2009.
When I got back from my walk of the day, Clare introduced me to Miriam on the street. We chatted in Spanish, occasionally lapsing into English and even French, covering a wide range of subject for over an hour. On my own doorstep, I get to use the Spanish I have learned over the past nine years more than I have done in all my time among expats in Spain. Wonderful! One of God's little surprises, just as I strive to get used to not being able to travel in Spain again.
The new phones we bought last week don't include an answering machine. I needed to get TalkTalk to activate the native answering service. When I visited their website, I discovered that our contract had just expired. I set a phone notification eighteen months ago last time I renewed it, but it hasn't yet arrived. So I did what was necessary, and then tried to find out how to switch on the answering service. I had to resort to usng Twitter's instant messaging service, like I used last time I had a broadband malfunction, and had an exchange with one of their helpline people. The first time I tried, the system wasn't working properly as it was still updating my subscription renewal, but the second time, it did work. That was how I discovered that using TalkTalk's answering service will cost me an extra pound a month. Altogether with my renewed contract, I'll be paying fifty three pounds a month. It works pretty well. Is there better value for money out there? Maybe, but what I have is consistence and continuity where I need it most.
Next up, car insurance renewal at the end of the month. Another tenner on the premium if i pay on-line, but then, I am a year older now, and no matter what my record or how careful I am, the more I am seen as a liability by underwriters. Given how little we use the car these days, using a taxi when we need it would probably be less expansive than have a depreciating asset in need of maintenance parked outside the door.
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