Renewal time
November 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
In December 2006 the ownership of the house was formally transferred to us and thus we also had to insure it. Back then we were less well informed as we are now so we embarked with Tesco. Well, Tesco might be a good supermarket but their insurance department is a bit of a nightmare.
After “first contact” for the home insurance they also offered a competitive premium for a motor insurance. I claimed 5 years no-claim, for which I had my Dutch insurance company put down a statement in writing. I explained the whole thing to Tesco (We’re from Holland, bla, bla,bla… Yes, sure, no problem as long as the document is in English) and sent this document 4 times (of which 2 times via registered mail) to Tesco Insurance and never got any response, only reminder letters that they had not received proof of my no-claim and would cancel the policy if I did not send it within such-and-such number of days.
In the end I got tired of sending that document and they actually canceled the car policy and kept saying that they’d never received anything. You might wonder whether that address that they put on the return envelop actually exists. I got visions of a big shed on huge dump somewhere near a major city, where all the mail would just “vanish”…. And then the people you get at Tesco Insurance when you call them with an issue like that. Do they have call centers abroad? They probably do! Their call center employees are a true pain to talk to.
So, now is the time to ditch Tesco Insurance and find a more competitive one as it’s time for renewal of the home insurance. A choice should not be too difficult, as there’s quite an broad offer of policies. For example the offering from Churchill was already £100.00 lower than Tesco’s renewal proposition.
Any other suggestions or advice? We’re interested in your findings!
Houston, we have eggs!!
November 27, 2007 | 1 Comment |
Tribute to the unknown hens… Hurray, hurray, hurray!!! This morning - with the rain steadily pouring down - I found our first two eggs in the hutch. I must say I had not expected them to start laying already. We thought that we had to wait until February next year but no, there are at least two serious girls in that bunch.
After the reading we’d done about hens, I was prepared for little, tiny eggs, but I found these quite acceptable. They’re not a huge eggs, but it’s definitely acceptable and they would not look odd in those boxes we get at the Co-Op supermarket. Compared to the eggs we get from the local farm here down the road, they’re a bit smallish. But hey, it is a first attempt… In fact, if you think about it that a hen can produce something out of her body which is relatively big compared to her body mass, it’s nothing less than a miracle of nature. We’re proud of our girls!
Also the heavy rain today did not stop them from ranging about in the bushes next to the house. Hens appear to have some grease in their feathers that normally prevents them from getting wet. But today there was so much rain that they were truly soaked. When I went out to bring them their afternoon snack they looked completely soaked and very skinny…
Een forse schuld
November 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
De gemiddelde Brit heeft een schuld van £33.000 wat ongeveer €50.000 is. Hierin is meegenomen schulden voor leningen, hypotheken en creditcards. Misschien geen schokkend bedrag, maar vandaag werd op het nieuws de zorg uitgesproken voor de stijgende rente en de langzaam maar zeker verdwijnende goedkope hypotheken. Ook het aandeel in de schuld als gevolg van creditcards neemt toe. De eens zo spaarzame Brit lijkt maar moeilijk om te kunnen gaan met zijn creditcard.
Nu is dat hier ook een “booming” business. Zelfs op het kleine gezellige vliegveldje van Inverness werd ik op een traject van nog geen 30 meter tot tweemaal toe aangeschoten voor een creditcard. De mensen kunnen hier ook heel makkelijk instappen. Minimale credit check, krabbeltje zetten en klaar. Je hebt je kaart in huis. En dan lekker uitgeven tegen een forse rente, veelal zo afgestemd dat ze je in staat stellen om binnen 1 tot 1.5 jaar een forse schuld op te bouwen waarop ze vervolgens een aanbieding voor minimale afbetaling doen zodat je de schuld nooit meer kwijtraakt en eindeloos - je hele leven - blijft betalen. Brrr… ik ben van het oude stempel. Lekker sparen en dan pas kopen!
Taking a bath
November 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
This afternoon I found one of the hens laying in what used to be our pot of herbs. I write “used to be” because as soon as the hens had shed their fears for being outside their hutch and started wandering about, they soon discovered this little pot. And made a complete mess of it… all herbs have been eaten and a fair amount of soil has been removed. It now looks more like a comfortable bed. And is indeed being used as such. One of the browns was literally lying in it on one side, wings spread out. Really, a weird sight, but it appears to be normal behavior…
To my surprise - or should I say irritation - I also saw sheep roaming about the lawn. How did they get there? I had repaired the fence with the neighboring croft during the summer and I was 100% sure that it was impossible for them the crawl under it. I also was pretty sure that I had closed the gate. So I carefully started to walk towards them and luckily they choose the right way: towards the fence at the road side. There I saw the gate fully opened. Then it dawned to me… yesterday some student from Poland had come by the house trying to sell his artwork and he probably had not bothered to close the gate, maybe because I wasn’t too interested in his work. Anyway, the sheep were easily driven back to road.
The above picture shows one of the browns coming out of the pot. Unfortunately I was not in time to shoot her in “bathing mode”, bit I’m sure you get the idea…
On the bridge!
November 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
There are all kinds of differences in the way they build houses here and the way they build them in Holland. In our house the electrician has installed so called isolator switches for all electrical appliances. They’re basically just circuitbrakers for the fridge, the oven, the hob etc. The nice thing is that if you want to switch off any of these devices, you just toggle the switch in stead of having to crawl on your knees, squeeze yourself into a dark kitchen cupboard and try to find the socket to pull the plug. The switch is visually supported by an orange light which is illuminated when it’s on and otherwise off. Very handy! For example when you need to defrost the fridge (we could not easily defrost the fridge in our house in Holland as the plug was unreachable)…
The only thing I would do differently is that I would have those switches centralized in the meter cupboard where they’re out of sight. Currently in the kitchen we have: a switch for the microwave, the oven, the fridge, the dishwasher, the hob, the extractor fan. Together with digital timers and clocks on the oven, the microwave and the stereo, they make the kitchen look like the bridge of the starship Enterprise…
Ups and downs
November 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
The title does not refer to any mood swings I have but to the constant change of atmospheric pressure we have here. Right now a storm is passing and we moved from 1025 bars on the barometer this morning to a little under 1009 right now. And if the forecast is right we’ll be heading up again towards 1030 over Sunday and Monday.
Besides windy weather, these changes in atmospheric pressure can also have other effects as well. For example, there’s turmoil in the toilet water when there’s a very strong wind. Even to the point that it sometimes completely sucks out the water from the toilet leaving the water lock in the toilet empty and allowing bad fumes from the septic tank to come into the house. I’ve come to the habit of flushing all toilets after a storm.
Also, if you’re sensible to it, these pressure changes can trigger headaches or even migraine. Luckily we’re both not sensitive to it otherwise Skye would not be a very nice place to live…
Golden skies
November 22, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
This week I was treated again by Mother Nature on an incredible sunrise. It was just past 07:30 and I was putting on my coat to go outside and free then hens for the day, when this amazing scenery unfolded. Although I think the pictures are quite amazing, the real thing was even better. There were so much colors: sparkling gold, shades of gray, bright yellow, patches of dark blue and dark orange.
I took the pictures with the settings on full automatic. No tinkering with shutter speed or aperture. After taking the pictures, I tend to check them on the display of my camera but it’s not until you see them on the computer display that you know they were successful.
Plastic tasjes
November 21, 2007 | 1 Comment |
Als ze hier boodschappen doen, en ik geloof werkelijk dat het niet uitmaakt voor Engelsen, Schotten of Welsh, dan wordt alles ingepakt in plastic tasjes van de supermarkt. Het zijn tasjes van 40 bij 60 centimeter van flinterdun plastic wat na verloop van tijd (3 tot 5 maanden heb ik gehoord) uiteen valt. Hierdoor zouden ze ook geen belasting voor de natuur vormen. Echter niks is minder waar. Je ziet ze nog al eens her en der zwerven en dieren kunnen er gemeen in verstrikt raken.
Groot Brittannie is dan ook het land binnen Europa met het laagste percentage recycling. De gemiddelde Brit ligt er niet wakker van en maalt niet om recycling, tot het moment waarop je ze het meeste raakt. In de portemonnee! Want de EU dreigt nu met forse boetes omdat de afgesproken percentages recycling niet gehaald worden. Uiteraard moet dat op de burger verhaald worden en nu wordt gesproken over een “pay as you throw” mechanisme. Gooi je meer afval weg, dan betaal je ook meer. Ik geloof niet dat je minder gaat betalen als je minder weggooit… 
Maar goed, de gemiddelde Brit weigert dus zijn eigen tassen mee te brengen als de boodschappen gehaald moeten worden en laadt zijn aangekochte waar altijd maar weer in biologisch afbreekbare tasjes waardoor er in dit land miljoenen en miljoenen tasjes in omloop zijn. Verbluffend!
Peatbog Faeries
November 20, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
Today I got hold of the latest CD of the Peatbog Faeries titled “What Men Deserve To Lose”. Peatbog Faeries are a local band from Skye. Their music is a combination of traditional Scottish sounds from bagpipes, flutes and fiddles mixed with synths, drums and guitar. What you might call “fusion”….
The album contains 10 songs, most of which were written by Peter Morrison who - according to the bands official website - lives in Dunvegan.
After listening to it a couple of times today, I really appreciate it. The booklet that comes with the CD has a page for every song giving a short history of the song. Also, there’s a short story on the most important things one needs to know about faeries. The story also explains the title of the CD: faeries are a thieving lot although they only take what men deserve to lose.
If you’re into Scottish tunes with a twist, this album is a great buy.
My favorite song: The Invergarry Blues
Overall rating: 4 out of 5
[digg-me]
Staying inside
November 18, 2007 | 2 Comments |
Not much news over the past days. The weather has been really crap with a northern storm and gushing rains all day for this Sunday. We’re staying in, only to go outside to feed the hens and the rabbit. It was so bad that the even the hens - who generally don’t make a fuss about rain and wind - stayed inside. During the incoming tide we saw spectacular waves, leaving white splashes of foamy water when they hit the shore. You’ll not hold it against me that I did not go out to shoot pictures…
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Latest music...
Hair (1968, Original Broadway recording). Some naughty lyrics for that time!!
An Rathad a Bhatarsaigh, by the Vatersay Boys