Well, Lois and I have done it at last - we've completed the NHBC's latest survey of Malvern new-home residents. There have been periodic surveys sent to us from the NHBC (National House Building Council) since we moved into this house at the end of October 2022. But today we have been quite bold for the first time, and we have said flatly, that we wouldn't recommend others to buy a new-build home from these builders.
for the cameras today, I showcase our completed survey (ringed in white above),
detailing our assessment of the builders who built this new-build home,
and we'll be posting the letter off tomorrow - yikes!!!!
And talk about "bold" - we're even waiving our right to anonymity, in the maybe forlorn hope that the builders will come round and offer to put right the continuing "snags" with our house, that they still haven't fixed, after 10 months - it's all a load of madness, really, isn't it !!!!
Also, in our review, I lambasted the builders for their failure to remedy deficiencies in the pavements and roadways, and also their failure to put up street-name signs, or give accurate mapping information to Google Maps. The result is that we can't be sure that delivery vans will find our address and deliver our online orders to us. It's just crazy!!!!
We're keeping our fingers crossed also, that the builders don't get angry and send some of their "heavies" round here to "duff us up" - that would be unfortunate to say the least, and that's putting it mildly haha !!!!!
typical "heavies", employed by a typical national building firm
11:00 I do a bit more work on my so-called "presentation" on Elizabethan English, that I'm supposed to be giving to Lynda's local U3A "Making of English" group next month.
I'm trying to work out why nowadays we only call other people "you" when we're talking to them, whereas centuries ago, everybody used to say "thou" and "thee" if they were only talking to one person, and "you", when they were talking to more than one. What's so difficult about that?
Well, it seemed that a lot of people eventually decided that they were just too busy, and allegedly just "couldn't be bothered" to take a few seconds to count the number of people they were looking at, maybe at a dinner table or somewhere similar, and they just decided that they were going to use "you" whatever.
And you can't blame them really, can you. Life's too short for that sort of malarkey isn't it! Quakers kept "thou" on for a while, but even they've dropped it now, I believe.
But fascinating stuff, isn't it! [If you say so! - Ed]
12:00 The hot weather is continuing, by the way, as I expect you've noticed.
And Lois and I made a decision this morning, to "get our shorts out" of the wardrobe. Well, after all, it could be our last chance for a while, but who knows, living on this crazy planet !!!!!
It's hard getting used to all this crazy weather with all its ups and downs isn't it. Remember, a few months back, that story in Onion News about that woman Vanessa Daro, who, I think, spoke for all of us people, all simply mystified by what's going on.
LA CROSSE, WI—Describing the region’s weather as “totally
unpredictable” and “complete chaos,” local Midwesterner Vanessa Daro told
reporters this week that she could not believe it was snowing when it was 80
degrees just 10 months ago.
“Right when you think the weather is finally warming up,
wham—months pass, and it’s a different season,” said Daro, who complained that
the climate in the region could range from a winter wonderland to a sweltering
summer day in the span of only a year.
“And you just wait, give it another 10 months, and the
weather will be totally different again. I never know if I should be prepared
to wear a sweater and a coat or, a few months later, a tank top and shorts.
It’s whiplash! It’s like my body can’t adjust in a mere matter of hundreds of
days. There’s really no place like the Midwest.”
What a truly crazy planet we live on !!!!
20:00 A nice surprise this evening - a whatsapp video call from our daughter Sarah in Alcester. She says that our 10-year-old twin granddaughters, Lily and Jessica, want to tell us all about their first day at their new school - their first ever English school, the family having moved back to England a couple of months ago, after 7 years living in Perth, Western Australia.
flashback to 2018: the twins, aged 5, in the uniform of
their first school in Australia, at Ocean Reef, Perth WA
... and in 2019, their second school, at Lower Chittering WA
Lois and I have been thinking about the twins all day and wondering how they've been getting on. And tonight they're both obviously really excited and impatient to tell us all about their first day, and about their new friends Elsie and Clemmie, which is so nice.
Their teacher, Mr Palmer, has been explaining to the class about the week's routine - and children have to wear their red school uniforms 3 days a week, but are asked to come in white polos and red shorts on Mondays and Thursdays, because they'll be doing PE (Physical Education) on those days - although not all day presumably haha! And today they've been studying a bit of science, all about space, which I know will have enthralled Jessica in particular - she loves anything to do with space and the universe.
the twins today, about to go off for their first
day ever at an English school
Awww, bless their little cotton socks!!!!
Pictures of kids in their new uniforms all ready to start their new school are always iconic and, later, nostalgic too, aren't they. Remember how I shyly showcased my own shiny-new uniform, back in 1951, all of 72 years ago, on the doorstep of my parents' house in Dover, just about to start my first day at Oakley School in Dover?
Awwww! me in 1951, aged 5, on the doorstep of our house in Dover,
in my shiny-new Oakley School uniform
And it's a shame for parents when that era passes, isn't it, and you no longer have children to get ready for school in the mornings.
I know that Ruth, daughter of my mother's favourite cousin from her Welsh childhood, Howell, really feels that aching void in her life, as we, heart-breakingly, see every September on her Facebook page.
It's sad in a way, isn't it, and do you know, every September there's the same speculation going on on Facebook amongst Ruth's so-called FB friends, about the identity of Ruth's mysterious "smart child", a speculation which I think personally has its slightly cruel side.
21:00 Lois and I wind down for bed on the couch with an old episode of the 1970's sitcom "Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em", starring Michael Crawford as young, childlike husband Frank Spencer, and also starring Michele Dotrice as Frank's almost equally childlike wife, Betty.
Frank's childlike young wife Betty (Michele Dotrice left) with her mother Beryl (Jane Hylton)
Tonight we see Frank and Betty's new marriage under a lot of strain, suddenly, when Betty awakes to find that Frank isn't in the bed.
And it turns out that the marriage is going through a "sticky patch" just at the moment.
Obviously things aren't going well between the young couple just at the moment, that's for sure.
But what could be the reason for Frank's current malaise, and for the malaise in his marriage with Betty? Is it Frank's continuing anxiety about Betty's mother Beryl, and her low opinion of him?
But tremendous fun !!!!!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!
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