Week of 17th May, 2004

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Monday, 17th May

Well, I've got the other driver's insurance details, and the repair estimates are horrific - about UKP1000 for the full insurance works. And since Ally only cost me UKP800 last year, I think I'm looking at an insurance write-off. This is crazy - it'll be the second time I've had a car written off from under me, through no fault of my own (nor yet of the driver of my car)

I have to say that the estimates include replacing the damaged doors - at UKP180 plus VAT per each, which seems rather more expensive than necessary. I'd settle for filling in the gouges and repainting, especially if it saves me the hassle of finding another car. And if I did buy another vehicle, I'd have to spend weeks installing the electronics that I still haven't finished fitting to Ally. I still need a few 12 volt power sockets for assorted electronics, notably the GPS receiver.

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Tuesday, 18th May

And now the insurance company want an accident report form filled out. Most of this I can do, but specifying the exact location of the accident is a little difficult - I wasn't there, and Katy doesn't know Kingston, and didn't write down any street names. We may have to make another visit, just to get the geography right. Assuming, of course, that we can find a mutually convenient time.

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Wednesday, 19th May

Comes now a nonsense at work. They're so obsessed with throughput in the VT area that we are now instructed to pass complex editing jobs in favour of simple copying - the complex edits are supposed to be done in an edit suite.

First off, the edit suites are busy all week - five day weeklings - so they'd have to employ a freelance editor at the weekend. Then we'd have to instruct him on formatting. Then we'd have to check his work. And do VHSs for subtitling. Then the programme could be sent for transmission. And some of this stuff is coming in mere weeks before air date - the accountants don't like spending money on licence fees when it could be earning them interest.

A case in point - they've bought a reality TV series called "The Amazing Race" which is an elimination contest involving rushing about all over the Pacific Rim, following clues, in hopes of winning a big cash prize. 13 episodes in the series,  1 commercial hour per episode (read: 43 minutes real programme) I can do one of these - 6 edits in the programme body to close up commercial breaks, followed by a second pass to remove in-vision English subtitles - in less than 2 hours, plus a VHS run afterwards. But while the VHSs are running I can start on the next episode. I did 5 episodes in the day, plus some other work, and I'll be accused of not working hard enough - they count finished jobs, not time consumed.

Which is a total nonsense. What if the job mix includes lots of commercial half-hours? If you're lucky, you can get 2 jobs running in overlapping fashion, and probably 20 jobs in the (12-hour) day. Contrast that with a shelf full of 2 hour movies. Best result there is likely to be a maximum of 10 jobs in the day, but you're working just as hard.

And they still try to crucify you if you miss something - a recorded dropout on the master tape, a subtitle left in, anything...

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Thursday, 20th May

More of the same, plus I've been asked to write a summary of the work done in the VT area, so that the suits have a better idea of what will be needed in the event of future expansion. A screed like this will be vital, because four years ago, the higher suits were of the opinon that all we did was take tapes out of boxes and label them. They didn't think we needed a VT area, so our present cubby-hole is an afterthought.

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Friday, 21st May

Okay, so apparently even if your insurer writes off the car, and pays out the current value, thus buying the wreck, you can buy it back for the salvage value - that is, not very much. Or so my tame Skoda garage tells me. If I do that, they'll see what they can do about cutting the repair bill. I found this out when I went in to ask about merely filling the gouges in Ally's doors, rather than fitting new.

But before that, I had to shop for things. And discovered an ambiguity in the signage relating to parking near one of the shops. The controlled zone is only active at certain times (9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. - nicely set up to clobber the school run and commuting) according to the signs at the entry points to the area controlled, known as "Zone G". But the parking bays are all marked "Zone G Permit Holders only" with no mention of a time , unlike other similar zones in the area. So, are these bays solely for permit-holding residents, at any time, or does that restriction only apply during the defined hours? Deponent sayeth not, and the local parking Gestapo will probably take the most pessimistic reading. I decided to take the risk, successfully. Otherwise the 4 nuts and bolts I purchased would have been very expensive.

Then away to Wales, in time to sort out some banking.

At the flat, I discovered that the central heating programmer is borken - it doesn't obey my instructions. I thought I'd turned off the heating completely last time I was down, but no - the hot water tank is still hot. No wonder the gas bill hasn't dropped much. Albeit, the gas supplier thinks I've used more gas than I actually have, since he's using estimates based on last year's consumption, before Mum had her fall. And I must find the electricity meter. The electricity bill is estimated, as well - which will mean I've used a lot less than the supplier thinks I have.

I've also noticed that every time I come down, the timer on the video is flashing - which suggests occasional momentary mains dips. A good thing I don't have a S@H farm here - the machines would be shutting down randomly.

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Saturday, 22nd May

Shopping this morning to replenish household supplies for the flat, then a visit to Mum, who is a little slower to recognise me, yet again. But Matron is happy with her eating, albeit the appetite is small. I just need to replenish her supply of sweet nibbles, and all is well.

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Sunday, 23rd May

Today, I got the 'phone call from Jane about problems at home. She has (or, in view of this, I should say had) a crown on a back tooth, which has just fallen out, taking the stub of the tooth with it. All the evidence suggests inadequate preparation when the crown was fitted, about 6 years ago, but the dentist who did it isn't there anymore - he's gone back home to Sweden.

Hopefully, our medical insurance will cover the repair work, which will have to be urgent - Jane still has bits of debris falling out of the hole in her gum - most of the tooth came out with the crown, the rest is coming out in bits and pieces. It looks like the tooth rotted from below, and when there wasn't enough left, the whole thing just fell out.

Add to that the fact that Katy has now dinged her mum's car, Hopalong, as well as denting Ally. We'll have to replace the front bumper on Hopalong, if we can get a spare. Luckily, the other car is no more than scratched.

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