deadheaduk

We’ve just been and picked up the new students – two German girls. They presented us with a present like the French boys did – only this time it was wine and choccies – sure beats sausage!!

The two French boys left this morning and it seems pretty weird without them here. I’d kind of got used to having them around the house and hearing them talking in French. Their last day was eventful because one of their colleagues passed out while having some free time in Oxford Street and was taken to hospital. The organisers then decided that both coaches should follow him and wait. This made them very late getting back and we had to hold dinner until they returned.

This morning they wanted to take photos of us and the girls took photos of them and exchanged addresses and MSN details. It seems like this idea of Sarah’s is working out quite well – she’s very smart you know!!

We have two German girls arriving tomorrow.

So I was driving home tonight and was just going round the roundabout at the junction between the M25 and the A2. There was an Black Audi TT on the inside of me as I came down the slip-road off the M25. Somewhere on the roundabout he pulled out behind me and shot past me before trying to cut back in front of me at the entrance to the A2 slip-road which is down to a single lane due to roadworks.

Only problem was he didn’t make it and we both had to slam on our brakes to stop a collision – he was travelling so fast that he almost bounced his son off the dashboard when he stopped. Sadly the car behind me didn’t stop so fast and ran into the back of me.

The driver of the van behind and I both got out but luckily there was no damage. As we were blocking the road we pulled into the roadworks and the tw*t in the Audi who had caused the accident saw his chance and legged it. Wish I had his registration number so I could report him for leaving the scene of an accident.

So we went a little over our overdraft limit at the end of February and I was a little late transferring money over from my account to the joint account. The upshot of this was the Bank took £141 in charges out of my account. We didn’t pick this up and then it had a knock on effect last month.

The bank bounced 5 direct debits after it took it’s fees out of the account. The total amount of these was £163. As punishment for these bouncing DD’s the bank was going to charge us £195 in fees!! i.e. making us more overdrawn than we would have been had the direct debits gone through. I phoned the bank and they condescended to reduce this to £55 but refused to do anything about last months charges.

So the gloves are off now. I’ve been looking into the Bank Charges situation as it has been getting a lot of publicity recently and I’m going to chase them for a full refund of all of the fees they have taken out of my account since it was opened in 2003. If I’m successful I will then go after the other accounts I have had in the past 6 years – might even go after those bastards at Amex!!

Anyway wish me luck and if you want to have a go then have a look on www.moneysavingexpert.com for tips on how to do it.

So remember those French students? Well tonight when I picked them up I was approached by another host who asked where we lived. Apparently one of the girls who is staying with her is the cousin of one of our students and they were wondering if they could meet up. I wasn’t quite sure what she had in mind but she said we were too far away.

In the car on the way back the boys asked if they could go and meet the girls in the park. We’ve been told that they aren’t allowed out on their own so we discussed it with the agency and then phoned the other host. In the end the three girls came round to our house for an hour which seemed to make the boys very happy!! “Very, very thankyou” they said!

I think I took the boys by surprise by suddenly asking them something in French!! My French isn’t great but I can usually manage a bit. Usually when we go to France it takes me to the end of the holiday to get enough confidence to speak. Hopefully if we have enough students then my confidence and ability might return – may have to find a phrasebook though.

I enjoyed listening to the conversation in the car. Sometimes I can’t understand a word but other times I pick up bits and pieces. I told Sarah that as far as I could make out they’d really enjoyed their dinner tonight and were telling the girls about it. On the way back there was a discussion about the car and one of the boys mistakenly came out with the expression “miles per house” which caused great amusement! 

When I went to do that post in the early hours on a PC at the hotel I realised that my blog had a design fault – there was no way of logging in!!

Luckily though I had set up blogging by e-mail – God I’m good!!

Ok it’s four o’clock in the morning and I’m working all night in the
aforementioned hotel which is very well known and probably at least 5
star.

We asked them to provide food for 5 people at 3:30 am and it just
turned up – 2 croissants each charged at £5  per head.

Sadly this is typical of the way crews are held in contempt by big
hotels – why anyone would assume that two croissants is a suitable
meal for people who are working all night is beyond me.

So after much debate we are ordering something from the room service
menu but I am having to put it on my company credit card because they
won’t put it on the main account. So a burger it is – a snip at £24 but it is 100 per cent sirloin steak apparently

So here we are unloading some equipment from a lorry in Central London today. We had to deliver some equipment to a top hotel in London for an event tomorrow which is being set up overnight. The only place to park the vehicle is directly outside the entrance to the Ballroom which has a single yellow line on the road. Within 12 minutes of parking the lorry we had a £100 parking ticket even though the parking attendant could clearly see that we were busy unloading – he even took pictures presumably to be used as evidence should we appeal the ticket.

And the reason we can’t deliver the equipment later once the parking restrictions are not in force? Well the same council that issued the parking ticket also slapped a noise abatement order on the hotel meaning that the hours for loading and unloading are restricted. Good isn’t it!! Think how much the council must earn from this little trick every year.

If the lady who drives up to our office selling bacon sandwiches can
deliver them hot and only charge £2

Why can’t five star hotels in the West End get them to you hot when
they have top chefs, a kitchen on site and they charge you something like £13 a time?

Sarah saw an advert a few weeks ago about providing accommodation for
French and German Students who are here on Language holidays. She
phoned up and the man came round to meet her and we were duly
accepted. Our first students arrived today.

We have two French boys aged about 14 staying with us until Friday.
They looked a bit sheepish when we picked them up but I guess I would
have been a bit wary if I had suddenly found myself in a similar
situation at their age. However what they don’t know is that we are
just as nervous – if not more – than thay are. I suppose we’ll get
into the swing of it sooner or later.

One of the boys seems to have a better command of the language than
the other one and there has been some wispering between themselves in
French. Sarah has worked out a menu for the week giving them a taste
of English food.

They have just gone to bed but not before presenting us with a gift of
French sausages!!

We’ve got some German girls coming next so we will be saying

Willkommen zum grossen blauen Haus