Service

I've taken today and tomorrow off, and if today's anything to go by, heaven knows what tomorrow will bring.

The main thrust of today was to get my car through the MOT, which for readers outside of the UK is an annual roadworthiness test, without which you cannot obtain road tax or insurance. The car passed first time, but came with a list of 'advisories' which mean that you need to start looking at these things before they become problems. There's a problem with the front brake pads, a link arm, a tyre and a couple of minor things. Also, the cam belt will need changing soon.

While I was carless (or careless depending on your outlook), I did all those little things that you don't get to do when you're at work. A trip to the bank, a little shopping, a chat with the council, and I joined the local library. Hell, it's something I've been meaning to do since I moved to Swindon in January 2000... six years and eight months later, I finally managed to do it :)

In other news, I was disappointed to see that Quidco have received notification from Equitalk that they're not going to pay me my £14 cashback. I've lodged queries against this bearing in mind that I am using the service and generating them some income. On the other hand, I have received trickles of cashback from The Hut which is pleasing. Let's hope that Unibet come up trumps with their £50.... I really hope they do.

If you can see this, you're now receiving service from my new webhost. Hopefully, things will load faster and everything will generally be quicker. If you have any problems, please let me know.

Well, my unhappy experience with Smile, the internet bank over the past month or so has left me with quite a bad taste in my mouth. As I said to them on the phone, I can handle a cheque going missing, and I can understand that it occasionally happens. What has really managed to get under my skin is the fact that virtually not one 'promise' that the bank made was kept by them. Indeed, I had the 'personal word' of one senior member of staff that the money would be in my account the next day. Five days later I was still waiting. Oh, and so much for the secure message he was going to send to check that I had the money!

I'd probably tolerate a couple of broken promises from a retailer, but this is my bank for Gods sake! Of all the organisations that should be able to keep a simple promise, it's the bank that looks after pretty much all of your finances.

I've managed to move two of my savings accounts from them, I've closed my credit card account, and the ISA will hopefully move to Kent Reliance very soon. In the meantime, the personal car loan remains with them with the current account, as, unfortunately, all of the credit searches in moving the other four accounts has resulted in my credit score taking a hit, and me beginning to look like a bad credit risk. Indeed, Alliance and Leicester's rather competitive rate of 5.7% quickly shot up to 8.9% following a credit search, plus I was yawned at on the phone. Not exactly great service. Hopefully Zopa will take the loan at 7.7%... we'll see.

There's been movement in the Bathroom area. B&Q delivered the missing radiator, and this was installed last Wednesday. Sadly, the fixed leak has come back with avengance, and we're having to turn off the isolator after each shower, or risk the kitchen ceiling fall in.

Has anyone seen the proce of petrol lately? It's working out at almost £1 ($1.70) a litre, and with a 70 mile round trip each working day, it's really racking up. Indeed, it's not unusual for me to fill the car up with £45 ($76.50) of fuel each week. Look like I need to move closer to where I work.