solving the plumbing bill issue

ok, so went down to the agency that deals with this and met the guy who sent me the 'serious legal non-reminder' for non-payment. after about 5 mns, i said fine, if you don't believe me, talk to my insurer. so we called him a i passed him over and apparently my insurer then started shouting at the guy. at least that's what he wanted me to believe, although i didn't hear the shouting that was supposedly going on when he put the receiver far away from his ear. anyway, we agreed that this was an insurance issue and that as long as my insurer sent me the papers he just promised to send, i shouldn't have to deal with it anymore.

i wanted this meeting so i could go home and never have to hear about this problem again, but i guess that just wasn't on the cards. i just can't wait for this new paperwork to get through!

scrabble

as a child, i was never a fan of this game. i couldn't think up enough words. but yesterday was fun.

some friends came over for pancakes at around lunchtime, and once we'd eaten them all, we were all feeling a tad lethargic as we'd all been out late the previous night (and for some, the night before). to wake us up, i found the scrabble game and three teams were soon competing for the best words. one team did, indeed, find a scrabble, but my team finished first (yes, this is really important), although we weren't actually counting points or anything: no-one could count, at that point. but it was lots of fun.

after that, Mr. J did the washing up while T and N did the drying (i'd made the pancakes, so i was just supervising - although fighting would probably be a better word, seen as the washer and me had different ideas on how best to do it...)

love = work?

i was watching a programme on tv about love at work etc. there was a 1 minute slot with this guy talking about, in this case, love. and it was hilarious. he was comparing love to work. ie, you have a girlfriend, and she'll walk in looking pissed and you feel just like you do when your boss calls you in to have a shout. or how, when the girlfriend sits there on the couch refusing to say what's wrong, the guy has to use this crazy soothing voice to try to coax stuff out of the girl. it's not as funny when you write it down, but hell, i was pissing myself laughing!

more plumbing problems

i thought this was over. the last time i sent these people a letter saying it wasn't up to me to pay the plumbing bill, but that it was up to them to contact their insurance about it, i didn't hear back from them, which i took to mean they'd got it. alas, no such luck (apparently, being French mother tongue speakers doesn't help them understand polite French).

so, after checking with my insurance company once more, i called the guy who sent me this letter (not a reminder, a letter saying 'you haven't paid yet, you have a month to, if not this and that will happen - which is funny, cos the this and that in question has already happened, twice) to make an appointment. after all, just because they can't communicate with me doesn't mean i have to stoop to their level and be an idiot too.

the guy seemed surprised i wanted an appointment. so he asked if i was coming to pay, to which i replied that no, absolutely not. when he asked why, i said it wasn't my bill to pay. when he again asked why, i didn't have the time to repeat what my previous letter said before he said it himself. so technically, if he didn't know before, he sure as hell knows now that i'm not about to pay this ludicrous bill. why keep the appointment? i'm sick and tired of being taken for a ride and figure that meeting me in person should help dispel any notion that i'll go along with whatever they say just because i'm nice and polite and don't make much of a fuss. if not, we'll just have to go to court.

having a lie-in

it's been the longest time since i last had a lie-in, but as i had absolutely nothing planned for today, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. unfortunately, i woke up hungry at 10am, so got up, made breakfast, sat down in front of the tv and watched what cartoons i could find and felt like a 12-year-old all over again. the cartoon quality not being the same, however, i ended up back in bed with my book, and after about an hour fell asleep again, to wake up at 1pm. took a shower, had some lunch, talked to friends online. it's nearly 3pm and i haven't actually done anything at all yet. how nice.

pride

against all hopes and despite obvious problems, i found out today that all my 7 students passed their first certificate last December. i'm so proud of them! i'd talked to most of them after the exam, and while some were optimistic, others had fully expected to fail and have to register for the June exam, but it turns out i trained them well! my only disappointment is that nobody got a B, which at least two of them should have been able to get... oh well. at least it's a perfect record. ;)

Much Ado About Nothing

there was nothing on tv last night and i was too tired to go out. so i decided to watch one of my all time favourites, Much Ado About Nothing. it was also one of my mother's favourites, and we must have seen it more than a dozen times together. i hadn't watched it since she died and all the way through, i couldn't help imagining she was next to me, laughing at the funny moments. it was nice.

singles party

T. told me to reserve my evening at the end of the month. at first she wouldn't tell me why. which was fine, except i'm anal about certain things, one of which being that i like to be able to write something down in my diary. just 'reserved' doesn't do it for me. so she ended up telling me she and Mr. J. were organising a singles party. and i thought, oh god... not my kind of thing. meeting guys is all very nice and well, but actually going to a singles party, that simply adds pressure. but T. was adamant, i couldn't not go. after all, she said, it was organised for me, as a result of her poor performance in finding me a boyfriend. well, that's her version anyway. his version, when he sent me an email asking me to be there, was that i would be essential in making people meet, as that's what i do best. that and if i couldn't make it that day, the event would have to be postponed. bloody hell...

birthday surprises

so i knew some people knew it was my birthday. for example, i knew that my best friends had taken a day off to go shopping for what turned out to be really amazing gifts. crazy people... what i didn't expect, was the extra surprises.

at some point, one of them started going around the living room, looking at all the corners. i asked him why, whether he was looking for something specific but he said no, he was just looking. i can't believe i didn't see it coming. but another friend was asking me all these questions about this Japanese musical instrument i have, so i went back to explaining things to him. and then the lights went out and even then, i did not get it! i thought someone had just accidentally leaned on the light switch, can you believe it? and suddenly, there was a cake and candles and my opera singer of a friend singing the birthday song with her amazing mezzo-soprano voice. i had to blow out the candles, but was laughing so hard that it took me 5 times to blow them all out! it was quite funny.

and then we all had cake and i got to open the wonderful presents. it really was a great party!

it's a jungle in here!

it was party time last night, and despite my best efforts to keep my birthday secret, people came bearing gifts and lots of flowers. here's what some of them look like. aren't they just gorgeous?