Rome (Il pezzo di Merda) Stinks of Shit, Scooter Fumes and Romans

Warning: from now on, if I think you, or any of your friends on your journal, is stupid, I will say so. It says so in my userinfo, so that's ok then (oh for real life).

If you don't like this, tough. They'll still be stupid.

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In better news, I got a decent soldering iron and my nice earphones work again. The old iron was just too damned big, the new one is all shiny, pointy and dangerous and what failed to happen in an hour of soldering, took two minutes. Yay for GCSE electronics! So if you have broken earphones, bring them to me and they'll be fixed for a pint of something nice.

HA! The mealybugs are fucked. Isopropyl alcohol at least gave them a nice death.
Meanwhile the lemon tree has new leaves and is happy in its new home.
I've signed up for internet but it'll take a few weeks. It's quite nice to only have it at work.
Time to go home, going to Shostakovich 8 this evening YAY!

we move next week, or the week after, to a new flat. very nice it is too, but carolune can tell you all about it with great photographs.

I am here to tell you about the local attractions.

Between our new place and Cafe Belgie, which is *the* location for beer in Utrecht (so I thought...), and which you have to remember is only a 10 minute walk away, we have

• The Louis Hartlooper Complex, a combination of a cafe, cinema and restaurant. Even better, the cafe is non-smoking (nice to have the choice for once!) and has Duvel, Westmalle and some Kriek (?) in bottles. On tap is a standard witbier and crappy Brand (drink it if you like to drink piss). Anyway, the cinema looks great, with some festivals coming up.
  
• The Ledig Erf, apparently as good as Belgie. It was packed, so we didn't get a chance to try the beer (check out the reviews at The Utrecht Pub Guide, but remember this is a guide to just a few of the pubs). They do have great beers though...
  
• After this we walked along the Twijnstraat toward the town centre. First came "France Vini", with a large stock of French wines. It was shut (of course) and its website is under construction. Still, it's a promising name!
  
• Then came Bert's Bier Huis, which has more than 800 different beers. OK, it's a shop, not a bar, but remember this is a five minute (slow) stroll from our new place... They have a full selection of Cantillon beers, Delerium Nocturne (yay!) etc. as well as some english stuff ("new forest farmhouse" under the gueuze section?!!!) This shop is either heaven or it'll kill me :)
  
• Next was Albert Heijn, Gall & Gall and Etos. While not so exciting, these stores are very useful, being the nearest supermarket, cheap booze shop and chemist.
  
• Then lots of art galleries and shops, and some interior design crap.
  
• The Tivoli was on the left as we headed north, which is where the mighty Calexico play in April.
  
• We made it to Cafe Belgie (eventually!) and turned round, only to return.
  

Not a bad day out!

We also saw the premiere of some Messiaen organ music, and some ducks and a heron on our (accidental) exploration of De Uithof.

Our neighbours upstairs seem to have wooden legs, they make so much fucking noise when they walk. And their neighbour likes to turn our place into a nightclub most days. Thankfully we are leaving! It was not this bad before Christmas though, and there were families (with kids!) in those rooms.

note to self: building code with '-g' does NOT make it faster.

Dammit some things never change. Hey! Stereo designers! Learn!

Hey! Parental units! Sort it out!

etc.

We all know how clever they are

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4593682.stm

Bottle 1: Margaux 1997, Chat#eau Labory de Tayac
Bottle 2: Saint-Estephe 1998, Marquis de Saint-Estephe
Bottle 3: Johnnie Walker Gold Label

mmmmmmm yum yum yum yum

+ the old Gouda, truffle Brie and 99% Lindt.

Oh yes...

Those of you who know me know that I like my wine. Hence surveys such as this one are essential to my education. The problem is that these are cheap bottles. What about fine wines? I shall construct a gauge and try some. All in the name of science. Ahem.

ps why does the LJ spellchecker not like "gauge"?

The train was late arriving in Brussels. Where were we stuck? The Dutch-Belgian border. Fuck the Belgians.

Within five minutes of getting here I witnessed a father telling his child to piss against a building. Not down an alley way, oh no, in a major street near the grand place. Fuck the belgians.

I tell you, if I get food poisoning here (AGAIN!) then I'll kill them all.

The christmas market is nice though. Time to get some BEER :)

For the first time in a long time we went into a record shop and bought cds. It's not that I have not wanted to, or been pirating them (I tend not to) just lacked the means until now and had far too much classical music which I hadn't really listened to. Now I have many Zappa albums, Ozzy's "No More Tears" and "Live at Leeds" by The Who. Nice :)

(and the cds up here in the north are the same price as on kelkoo, less if I include delivery (to .nl).)

Me: calls NTL's number in the UK (0800 blah blah blah)
NTL: beepbeepbeepbeepbeep

(I cannot call them because I am outside the UK. There is no other number except on their corporate site, I try this)

Me: Hello NTL?
NTL: Hello, how can I help you?
Me: I'd like to pay my bill please
NTL: What is your customer number?
Me: 23487263848724823487263487324
NTL: I am sorry, you must call our freephone line.
Me: I cannot, I am abroad
NTL: Are you sure sir?
Me: Of course I am sure, I have tried
NTL: OK, let me transfer you...

...

NTL: Hello you're through to NTL.
Me: Hello, I would like to know how much I owe you
NTL: Could we take your customer number?
Me: Sure it's 23487263848724823487263487324
NTL: OK, ... your bill says 58.34
Me: Yes, but that's because I cancelled from the 14th, it billed me til the 30th
NTL: Oh yes... sorry, the billing system didn't realise that
Me: Well, it does now
NTL: Ok, so you owe us 39.56 instead
Me: OK, can I settle the account now?
NTL: How would you like to pay?
Me: Credit or debit card please.
NTL: Certainly sir

...

NTL: I am sorry, our database is down, please hold while I search the backup database

...

NTL: I am sorry doctor izzard, but the backup database has no record of you
Me: Er... ok! Good (!) But can I still pay you the money I owe your company?
NTL: I can take your details and charge you when the main database is back up on thursday
Me: OK, that would be fine.
NTL: Please hold for a few seconds while I sort it out...

...

NTL: I am sorry I cannot find your details anywhere.
Me: OK, so can you call me later in the week to sort this out?
NTL: I am sorry we can not make outgoing calls.
Me: Ah. OK so do you have a number I can call you on? (from abroad)
NTL: We used to, yes, specifically for this purpose. Please hang on while I search for it...

...

NTL: I am sorry that number was for an old call centre which we have shut down.
Me: Great. So how can I pay you?
NTL: er...
Me: I can pay you when I am back in the UK at the end of August.
NTL: That would be fine.
Me: You mean there are no interest charges?
NTL: No.
Me: Nothing at all?
NTL: No ..... but your credit rating would be affected.
Me: What do you mean? Who are you going to tell?
NTL: We won't tell anyone, but we will know and your future dealings with NTL will be affected.
Me: Even though I am TRYING to pay you?
NTL: yes.
Me: Laughs out loud HA HA HA HA HA!
NTL: I am sorry you find this so frustrating dr izzard...
Me: It's OK, after 6 years on NTL you get used to this.
NTL: I am sorry doctor izzard, really I am.
Me: OK, me too...

(I hang up)

[later that afternoon...after I sent this...]

Dear NTL,

I would like a phone number for your customer services WHICH I CAN CALL
FROM ABROAD!!!

I CAN NOT call the freephone number. I tried to complain but your website
says to call the freephone number! HA HA HA HA

so if you want money from me (it seems you do...) then please send me a
number on which I can contact you.

thank you

[I got this in response]

Dear Customer.

Thank you for your email.

Unfortunately our customer services number cannot be dialled from abroad.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

Kind Regards,

Alex

ntl: Freedom Support Team

---------------
Alex, you are the fuckwit I was talking about.

house has been rented

who picked up their free stuff? ffs :(