Roof fixed?

Ok since I last wrote I believe the roof is fixed. (Haven't had the rain test yet.) The roofer who was supposed to come at 9 showed up at 11:45. But he did show up. This is always a good thing, especially on a rainy Monday.

I've decided construction/contractors/delivery people/plumbers/cable guys etc. are pretty much the same everywhere: on their own schedule. And even though they're generally very well wired -- more attached to mobiles than my husband is to a blackberry -- they don't bother to call. No reaching out to touch someone to let them know they'll be late...that they're leaving you high and dry, etc.

I will say this: I liked my dealings with the cable and phone people in the US better. (The roof guy, though late, was very polite, apologetic and seeming equipped to do the job.)

With regard to cable, three attempts at installation later, it still works. I do continue to wonder if good TV exists anywhere or if it will continue to elude me all my life. Maybe in heaven?

(I say that but I did let the kids wallow in TV for a couple days; why not? In India they could get Mickey Mouse in Hindi, and CNN just isn't that much fun for the 4 and 7 year old crowd.)

On the phone side, I signed us up for the 15 pound a month plan -- unlimited calls in the UK and many countries (US included) for up to one hour. (Hit 59 minutes, hang up, re-dial, free.)

So after burning up the phone lines (well let's be realistic here, I rarely call anyone, so that would be the J-O-E making calls) for 2+ months (yes the bill finally came, then gathered dust for a few days until I was able to get past my animosity toward BT to open said bill) I was more than vexed (great word, isn't it?) to find we'd been charged for every XXXXX'ing call to the U.S.

Again I found myself on the phone w/ BT, again they told me they'd have to look into the issue and resolve it no later than within 3 business days.

Now that 4 business days have passed, I took it upon myself to phone up old BT again and was told I may receive confirmation of crediting my account within 48 hours. Hmmm. I am not holding my breath.

Meanwhile I've once again ordered the "call the world 15 pound plan" (that would be my name for the thing, not BT's) and of course was told it would take 24 hours to take effect...now I'm scared to call my neighbors for fear I'll be charged for that too.

(Why do I persist w/ BT, you ask? Well, if I kill the phone line, broadband will go down, then there will be a big delay while I order phone from another provider and get my migration authorization code, then I'll have to re-order broadband, which will be another 7 business days...)

Stuff designed to make ex-pat spouses crazy.

In other news, Claire is done with school and the entire place is clearing out. I'm amazed at how many ex-pat families go to the US for 6+ weeks! Frankly I'm not going to live in the UK long, most likely, so I'd like to enjoy my time here when the weather is somewhat warm and the sun might shine. (Plus there is this detail about wanting to see my husband, having a house here, the opportunity to travel/sight see, not live out of a suitcase for 2 months...)

Now we will take advantage of summer to visit our families, as usual, in August. Best time to visit Montana (and Wisconsin...though one rainy week there a few years ago did suck).

On the banking front, I continue to be amazed at how "global" our world is...yet one can't get a check drawn in Indian rupees into a UK bank account.

The weather smiled on Ava today as she headed off w/ her class to the Hundred Acre Wood park. They all looked for Tigger and darn it all couldn't find him.

Ava cracks me up. Next week she has to dress up as an elephant (MaryJo, fly over and help me come up w/ a costume; I'm inept at this stuff). Claire's suggestion: borrow one of Joe's gray shirts to wear, then create a trunk using paper and gray paint.

Ava digested this suggestion and a while later told me quite seriously that "I am a small child."

This led to Dad being big, dad's shirt being too big and can she wear my gray shirt instead? Now this gray shirt did shrink in the laundry machine (though I've yet to figure out how since nothing ever gets completely dry in that contraption, despite it cycling forever...wonder how much electricity it eats?), but last time I checked it's not going to fit a 4-year-old that much better than her father's...

And on the topic of size, Ava equates larger people with strength. Thus one of her teachers is REALLY strong. And I'm happy to say she thinks Joe is much stronger than me.

Re: Claire these days...she's decided she'll never drive a car, will live in London as an adult and have at least one dog. Oh and she'll adopt a child, a girl, who is 6 years old. No babies. No siblings because they'd fight too much.

A voracious reader, the chapter she's most interested in in the Animal Kingdom book is the one on reproduction...isn't this stuff supposed to be covered in health class in 5th grade?

No other late breaking news on the Weber front other than tube strike was on yesterday and today, so Joe worked from home yesterday and cabbed it down to his office today. We'll see where the strike nets out tonight, as tube was supposed to be running at 7.

With the tube down, I just logged a couple more miles than a typical day, so of course I have calluses on top of calluses. A pedicurist's dream.