Electricians cost part II

Remember this discussion Electricians Cost ?

Well seems not only did they charge me for pointless stuff and over price it, but they didn't do a proper job. My plugs went poof again a  few weeks ago and after having to run an extension cord across my little castle to have an alarm clock for weeks, I finally got an electrician in again (different one this time) and his verdict, the breaker in my board had been overloaded (I assume before I arrived since I moved in with the problem existing)... and the pretty sparking noises? that's the sound that breaker plastic makes when it is melting.

Anyway the efficient chap also replaced my mains breaker because he said there were signs of corrosion (better to be safe I guess..) and then " balanced" my board.

Now while I am pleased that the guy didn't treat me like a moron (may be it was the non-blonde hair...) and actually seemed to know what he was talking about and showed me everything that he was doing...

The board balancing... for the price compared to how long it took him... was not cheap.

Let's say if he was board balancing for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week... he would earn double my annual salary... in a week.

Boy oh boy oh boy oh boy... you would think for the amount electricians charge that they could dress better and drive nicer cars.

(we won't get into the costs of good consulting engineering services... we're bringing power to the nations okay?)

Shopping with Mum

When I moved out of home into my own place one of my secret hopes was that my relationship with my parents would change. We were sort of not really getting on well mostly because I was pushing for independance and my parents were trying to keep control of the home.

Anyway, I am not sure really what I achieved but I do find that when my mum calls and asks me to do something with her, I tend to make time for it as a priority.

I had a giggle today because my mum called and said "Would you like to come with me to my dress fitting for my wedding outfit?" Like it was this huge special treat to be invited along. What she was actually saying underneath the words was "Please come with me to my dress fitting because I would feel weird going alone."

Hee hee I said "Yes Please" anyway. Now I am just waiting for her to come pick me up...

Shopping with Mum! Whooooeeeet!

Boredom in traffic

...it's that bad...
Anyway I hereby announce the changing of the hair.... Glows tinsel-red in the sun (look up definition:irony)
Oh! Oh! And I LOVE Love love my aviator sunglasses...

Proud people carrier

Sweet "child of my child" delights...

Aaargh! Bad Drivers

(This Contains Raging and Whining - Skip to next post)

Some days I wish I had a device to remotely deliver a fat klap to the back of peoples heads. I would stand at the robot at the end of the road around my business park and deliver 5 a minute for the whole of rush hour.

Firstly the road is one way around the business park "island" and unfortunately the entrance to the island is near to the start of the one way road. So lazy people drive up the wrong way on a one way road.... at speed. towards teh people drivign the right way... I work with some of these people - I think it is a sign of sloppy thinking.... and taxi-driver laziness.

Secondly, the road around the island ends in 3 lanes. one for turning left up the road, one for turning right down the road and one in the middle for going straight and taking a slip way across the spruit and to the southern side of Randburg.

(Sidenote: in this area of Joburg, you have to navigate around Braamfontein Spruit. so some places that are 1 km geographically apart are a 30 minute drive apart.)

As the bridge is a single lane each way, you may imagine, the centre lane always has a long line.... so people simply zip up the outer lanes and push in... causing near bumper bashings.

I get road rage over these people. I reserve the dark purple colour dislike for them. Lazy bloddy selfish sods.

I take joy in driving bumper to bumper along the central lane and not allowing them to push in flipping a bird through window at them as I glide past (I suspect they don't see me)

Once though, someone I wouldn't let sneak in in-front of me, was let into the traffic stream behind me instead and I saw in my rear view mirror that he was rubbing his forehead with his fingers making an "L". I wonder what that could mean?

Problem is, while they wait to push in, the people behind them can't turn left or right legitimately.

Similarly, at the next robot, the right turning traffic gets a very generous turning filter while those turning left or going straight across the intersection get 10 seconds to fly across.... and the right turning traffic goes and goes and goes and streams through on green ...and orange ...and red ...and past red... and those waiting forever at the front of the line to go straight have to idle another 5 minutes in zero gear to get their turn.

More impatient selfishness!

Or the 5 people who cross a filled up heavy traffic intersection on orange and have to sit in the middle of the intersection blocking traffic in all other directions until the line moves.

More and more impatient selfishness!

Bizarrely, someone let me into traffic this morning and I was so astonished I almost didn't move...

Anticipation

To follow up... Yes I survived the Germany Meeting, I managed to soften everyone up with German chocolate and sweets and Hot drinks. Win!

Funny thing happened this weekend... but first a little background.

Shortly after my trip to visit Mr-not-X-at-the-time, I went to visit his mum mostly to share the photos of the trip and exchange pleasantries. When I said good-bye I kinda knew  at the back of my mind that there was a good chance that it would be last last time I would be seeing her as the girlfriend of her son.

Anyway history happened and ever since then I have been wondering exactly how it would go down if I saw The Lady again. To get things straight, I really liked His mum. She is a very pleasant person and I think I would have been quite sad if His mother reacted in a Hollywood-esque manner of disappointment. (yeah, yeah, reality is so not as dramatic as that)

So in traffic I would notice the number plates of all the gold Volkswagen's driving past. I mean Joburg is not such a huge place....You always see random people in passing. In shopping centres, morning traffic, malls, movies... I wasn't obsessed... just curious, wondering, rationalising.

Bizarrely I did not see the lady in question for 19 months and weird as it sounds, I was a little concerned that they had moved countries or were avoiding me or something equally paranoid.

Anyway this past weekend I went shopping for ribbon and Mr Thursday came along to look for fabric (that's a story of it's own - No jumping to conclusions now). And as I pull into the parking lot, who should be parked behind me, but the very gold golf with the very number plate I had been pondering upon with The Lady in question climbing out. 

Anyway I kinda felt a little freaked out and Mr T and I zipped into the shop unseen. And after shopping for almost an hour looking over my shoulder every few minutes, I sucked it up (19 months later) and managed to "run into her" as we were leaving the till.

I managed the right level and tone of voice in the the "Hi, How are you? How are things going? Fancy seeing you here." I really thought I was doing well exchanging news and being friendly and (honestly) pleased to bump into each other. Like a real adult..

...and then I f-ed things up...


...bad...


...and forgot to introduce the charming man by my side.

And so 10 minutes into the conversation, the Lady took it upon herself to introduce herself....

and I felt about this small...


Honestly really I wasn't actively trying to exclude him from the conversation. (Subconsciously, who looks forward to introducing your new boyfriend to your ex-boyfriends mother?)

Anyway - I think I hurt Mr Thursday's feelings only because I am an ill-mannered unthinking girl... Now I have to figure out how to restore bruises to his ego.

But at least now that I have got the conversation with The Lady over with...  I can stop wondering if she's still alive and start being paranoid about new and more current things. (Like meeting Mr Thursday's family in a few weeks... :/ )

Truth Be Told: Germany

I was fresh back from Germany by a week or two this time last year... and despite what I have said these 12 months, the honest truth is, 80% of the feelings about the trip is regret.

I wish I had never gone on my trip to Germany.

Wheew there I said it.

To tell the story in reverse, when my father fetched me from the airport at the end of the three week trip, one of the first things I said in the car to him was, "I have never been so unhappy for 3 weeks of my life." (This was compounded by the disappointment that I was expecting my hip cool older brother to collect me from the airport instead of my trusty old Pa.)

The reason why I am rehashing all of this is that it was my responsibility at the end of the trip to organise a reunion of all the participants and have a feedback session about the exchange trip. We set a date and the reunion did not happen. and then again it didn't happen, and again. 20-something women are busy people and given my negative feelings towards the trip, I wasn't exactly dying to rehash the entire event again.

Trouble is, The Germans are visiting us in a few weeks and we need feedback...

Mostly these past 12 months have held shame, the longer I left not having the reunion, the worse the problem became and the worse I felt.

I could have solved this problem with a handful of phone calls to all the necessary parties months ago.

Anyway - someone with more authority has stepped in and we are meeting this evening and I am really really scared of what will happen. I have been a bad little piggy.

I have letters that were given to me in January for distribution to the girls who were in Germany that I haven't managed to distribute. More Guilt for that forgotten task too.

I actually can't think about the German trip privately without wincing. That is how ashamed I feel. I let the problem drag on and on and on for so long. Trying to ignore the elephant in the corner of my conscience.

The reason why I feel so badly about my trip is not that the exchange programme is flawed - The reason is (as these things usually go...) several reasons compounded.

In July when we left, I had only been broken up with Mr-X for 4 and a bit months. I was still in a very emotionally shattered state. (another confession there methinks). Now add that to the stress of spending 3 weeks in a foreign country with women a few years younger than you... Bad for the nerves - and temper tantrums Did Happen.

The other problem is that I failed to really bond with any of the South African girls as friends. Superficially I got on great with a few of them. (bonus points scored for singing in Zulu/Tswana) But that is a pretty poor basis for finding some one to lend an ear when you're not having a good day. (due to afor-mentioned emotional issues I may have not been that approachable)

Finally, it is my belief that even though I know the theory of being a good leader, I am not a particularly responsible leader. I fail to respond to emails, I don't keep track of the group and I tend to take disrespect personally. And I am not proud of the type of leader I was on the trip.

The trip, It wasn't all bad. I can't say that I took nothing positive out of it. I made friends, I saw some cool stuff, I took some really nice pictures and I got another stamp in my passport for a relatively small investment.

But the guilt, oh the guilty guilt, The being a bad little piggy who doesn't respond to emails, the feeling of getting dirty looks, the memory of a temper tantrum… It ruins the happy memories.