Monday 7 April 2008

Mundane reasons why nothing gets done

It's the weekend! 48 hours to do with as you please! More than enough time to squeeze in a quick pic or two to get back into the swing of drawing, right (I had settled on a Captain Kirk and Barbarella--don't ask!)? Oh-ho-ho-no!

SATURDAY: Not too bad of a day but I had a lamp and a cabinet delivered. Lamp was no prob but constructing the cabinet, a 1-hour job maybe strung out to a few hours due to the door hinges being absolute buggers to attach (plus I was half-watching a creaky old Disney film called Watcher In The Woods). I got blisters forcing the screws in!

I then spent a few hours sorting out all the files, clipped art and ref material as I put them into the cabinet. By this time I had time to get some sketching in before Dr Who (and THAT cameo was certainly a WTF moment) but my sister called to ask if I could order a WWE T-shirt for her boyfriend's birthday from the states. By the time I'd logged on, found the product and created an account, it was Who time and then I got on to watching the original Dr Who Dalek stories, which are creaky but creepy due to the B&W ambiance.

I was also reading the ClanDestine HC as I was watching the electric pepper pots on Evil Edna, and unfortunately it's not as good as I remembered. Great premise and distinct characters but the early computer colouring is pretty awful (the X-Men crossover issues being even worse as Marvel lagged behind in the colouring stakes for much of the 90s) and it's a minor thing but the poor punctuation irritated me! Things like "You should, shouldn't you" without a question mark bug me--the Dark Tower comics are also littered with this prob and it's jarring, like people writing "should of" instead of "should have". Surely this is a basic editorial task?

SUNDAY: Was woken up to find not only a dusting of snow outside but a copper at my door in response to my continued problem with the kids outside at night. After he went, I hovered up, surfed online, finished the ClanDestine and prepared to read the third Walking Dead HC after a bath---only to find a leak in my bathroom ceiling from the flat above. This was about 5.30 and he didn't come home until after midnight, so despite the involvement of the council and the police, nobody could gain access to his property to check the leak. This meant that six more leaks sprung in the ceiling, plus streams of water sprouting through the walls, one of which has soaked into my bedroom, peeling off wallpaper and soaking the carpet. I was aware the ceiling had previously caved in before I moved in so I had to move two bookcases full of books and the incessant tapping of the water meant I had to take my mattress and sleep in the living room! Luckily, this also meant I had somewhere to put my comic boxes on to avoid the encroaching water.

MONDAY (today): Woke up expecting to find a disaster but the leak had stopped. Council were able to contact the above flat while my sister sat in my flat while I had to get back to work as I'm on my own this week (added joy). Turns out the repairmen fitted round fittings for upstairs' bath taps into square holes with no washers, resulting in flooding of the backpipes, apparently made worse because the above occupant is a Muslim and presumably washes in flowing water instead of still bathwater.

Considering all of the above, dodgy TV reception, the kids outside, an infection that may be a water infection or the result of food poisoning due to the surface coming off of a new frying pan bought from ASDA as they have the intelligence to glue the label directly onto the cooking surface but making the glue impossible to properly remove, the delay of my sofa by another month, BT having to sort out my phone but ignoring my broadband order and everything else, I'm not having the best of times at the minute.

I can see them cans of Bud in my fridge getting caned tonight :)

5 comments:

Rol said...

But are the coppers going to actually do anything about your scrote-infestation problems?

Nige Lowrey said...

They said they will but unfortunately it is a low priority and they may be tied up when I report them. I'm too keep reporting and they're going to keep a patrol out if possible. They can't do anything until they can find the oiks and take the relevant details so they can act from there.

At the minute, I'm REALLY in an unhealthy state of mind cos of these kids and now the ceiling so this needs sorting as soon as. I'm actually dreading going home to a flat with all my stuff piled up in one side of my bedroom while my bedding lies in my front room with the threat of leaks and schreeching and hollering outside. Is it REALLY to much to ask to be able to go home and sit in peace without the outside infringing to such an extent that you don't even want to go home as it's more stress than work?

Unknown said...

Not your lucky decade is it mate. Hope the chav plague is sorted soon (preferably by them catching the Ebola virus).

So you've gone off the Clandestine because of the colouring (which Davis always moaned about) and some dodgy punctuation? I loved it for its tea and scones Britishness, but Davis had already done it all on his superior Excalibur run. Clandestine was about a super family who don't actually fight anybody, so I doubt it would've had the legs to last, even if he hadn't have quit in a huff as usual.

And ta v much for them Walking Dead's as always...

dave said...

mate, it's pointless getting stressed about something that may happen. Just cos it might doesn't mean it will. Plus a dodgy ceiling isn't unfixable. It may mean a couple of days with a bit of mess, but that's not worth getting yourself worked up about. Chav twats fair enough, but if you're in a ground floor flat you can't do anything about people in the street except for making sure you have decent security on your doors and windows, so just draw the curtains and try and block it out. I know it's difficult, and at least you had the benefit of being a long way from the street in your last gaff but you're not going to get rid of it. It's a sorry state of affairs, but that's just the world we live in and it's not worth making yourself ill over

Nige Lowrey said...

The water's being sorted (I was worried as all my books and comics were in danger of being wiped out, plus all my artwork!) but I'm actually set back from the road. This is supposedly a sensitive letting as old people are living here, there's no excuse for the chavs to be here except for the convenient cover of the entrance to the OAP laundry room...