Pottering Around

I'm still getting used to this new house and its quirks. There are a couple of things that are really bugging me at the moment. The first is a lack of hot water - something many people in this country would probably consider to be a basic human right. I have no idea why this isn't working and the only thing I have managed to deduce is that the boiler is simply refusing to acknowledge the existence of the hot water pipe. It works fine if you tell it to heat up the radiators and if you turn the hot tap on at the same time as it is doing this, then you can - by proxy - get some hot water simply because the pipe happens to be passing through the flame.

I know it is simply by proxy because turning down the temperature of the radiators reduced the temperature of the water. I will be moaning about this to the letting agency tomorrow. Next up on the list is the gradient of the house. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a problem but when the gradient is in the middle of the hallway and goes horizontally rather than vertically, it makes you feel drunk when you walk anywhere. It's not even a small distance either. The house level varies by five inches which is represented as a step on one side and simply ignored on the other resulting in the uneven floor.

Next up on the list is the lack of daylight. My room faces the rear of the house and is freezing but at least it has two windows. The kitchen, shower rooms and lavatory have no natural daylight whatsoever. This means that even in the middle of the day, you have to have the light on to see anything - something that really annoys my energy concious side.

Other than that, I'm getting used to it. I've learned how to use the microwave, relabelled the cooker since the marks were wearing off as with last year's and I quite like knowing how hot the oven is or which knob operates which hob. My room still looks very bare so I shall be investing in some posters this year I think. I could also do with a pin board - something I have gotten used to after having at least one if not two or three in the main rooms for the last two years. I'm hoping that there is still one lying around at home as I recall my mum trying to get rid of one several years ago.

I also got pretty bored today and so I did what I normally do in times of boredom. Internet shopping. It is a costly remedy to boredom but sometimes fairly fruitful and as I am usually so stingy with my money, it is nice to indulge a little sometimes. As a result, I will soon be the proud owner of a 32" full HD Sony LCD TV. It even has the capability to play movies from a USB stick, something I find incredibly useful although I suppose I could have coped with plugging my laptop into the HDMI port of a slightly cheaper model, I was very impressed with the picture quality of my mum's Sony TV that I decided to go for that one. I'm hoping it should last a long time too unless 3D TV does actually catch on in the next ten years in which case I may have to upgrade.

I very nearly bought myself a new phone as well (I really was bored!). I mentioned my quandary about buying a new phone a while ago but I now think I have found my perfect one. The Sony-Ericsson Vivaz Pro looks perfect - optimal word being looks. From what I read of the reviews, there is still some work to be done on the UI front with an outdated OS and resistive touchscreen. I hate touchscreens enough already so splashing out on one of these would only make this hatred worse. I hope there is a trend towards more qwerty style phones because with text entry needed for entering URLs and typing messages a touchscreen simply isn't good enough. I think I'll carry on waiting a while before I go buying a new phone.