We have rather a lot of bins.
- A grey wheelie bin, for general rubbish
- A green wheelie bin, for garden waste
- A black wheelie bin with a blue lid, for cardboard and recyclable plastic
- A black box, for newspaper, glass and tins.
Which is a bit irritating, as there is nowhere to keep any of them except on the street in front of the houses, and there is not really enough space for 3 big bins. I was able to get smaller bins for the grey and green ones, but they don't offer smaller ones for the recycling (and really, who produces 240 litres of cardboard and plastic a fortnight?)
ANYWAY, in January, the bin-men broke the lid of my blue-lidded bin.
"No Problem", I thought. "Wiltshire Council has a handy on-line form you can complete to report such things, and they will then replace or repair your bin."
I filled in the form, and received an acknowledgment, which warned that it might take 21 days to replace/repair a bin.
Time passed. No new bin appeared.
More time passed. No new bin appeared.
Even more time passed..
In March, I sent a further mail to the council. Maybe council-days are longer thn normal ones, and "up to 21 days" really means "2 months or more"
I got a response. It seems that my original request had been cast into a deep pit of forgetfulness. But they were very sorry and I would get a new bin within 21 days.
Time passed (again). No new bin appeared.
More Time passed. No new bin appeared.
About 5 weeks after my second request, a brand new black recycling box appeared.
For reference, what I needed was a 240 litre wheelie bin. What I got was a 55 litre box, to replace the completely undamaged and usable box I already had.
I e-mailed the council again. I'm on first name terms with Jonathan in the waste and recycling department, now. He seems nice.
He apologizes. He will try to sort things out. He warns me that it may take up to 21 days for my new wheelie bin to be provided...
Today, (a mere 121 days after my original request) I looked out of my window to see a crew of council workers removing my old, damaged bin and delivering a new one!
And then, about 90 minutes later, a second crew turned up, with another shiny new bin. I saw them standing outside trying to see how my bin was damaged, and I was only just in time to stop them taking the new one away (I mean, I hadn't had time to get attached to it, but I had stuck some sticky numbers on it to identify it as mine, and I should hate for it to be rejected so early in it's career.
The only thing is.... someone stole my recycling box yesterday, so I've just reported that and requested a new one.
I've got an e-mail back from the council.
They say it may take up to 21 days to replace my recycling box......
Showing posts with label bureaucracy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bureaucracy. Show all posts
Saturday, 11 May 2013
Saturday, 16 July 2011
In Which I Am Somewhat Stressed
Friday did not go well.
I had a full day at the office planned, but on Wednesday I learned of an unexpected hearing, for Friday, in DistantTown, which is about 2 hours from me. This meant having to apply to amend my client's legal aid. You wouldn't think that would be too difficult, as the criteria were clearly met, but due to cutbacks and backlogs most applicartions take weeks to process. Which is not good when you need a reply within 2 days.
So, the process is something like this:
The hearing on Friday was listed for one hour, at 11 a.m. So I was fairly tired and a little stressed when it finished at 3.35. And was not best pleased when I then discovered that due to an accident on the Motorway, traffic was backed up into town, so my journey back, which would normally take about 90 minutes (to the office) or 2 hours (to home) was considerably extended.
The back log from the motorway being closed probably only delayed me for about 20 minutes, but as it turned out, after that I was also destined to be further delayed by The Old Man in a Flat Cap, driving at 30 mph or 10 mph below the spped limit, whichever was slower, the Van Towing Trailer (apprently driven by someone who had never towed anything, and possibly never driven anything before, the Funeral Cortege (and who holds a funeral at 5 in the afternoon?) and, of course, the Extra-Long, Extra-Wide Articulated Lorry Carrying Portakabins sent to meet me just as the narrowest, sharpest corner in Glastonbury.
All of which meant it took me nearly 2 1/2 hours to get back, so I literally only had time to lock ny files into the house before rushing back to the station to catch a train to London at 6.15. and then that train was delayed so I had to sprint to change platforms at Bath, making the connection by the skin of my teeth.
Mercifully there was a bar on the train.
Of
I had a full day at the office planned, but on Wednesday I learned of an unexpected hearing, for Friday, in DistantTown, which is about 2 hours from me. This meant having to apply to amend my client's legal aid. You wouldn't think that would be too difficult, as the criteria were clearly met, but due to cutbacks and backlogs most applicartions take weeks to process. Which is not good when you need a reply within 2 days.
So, the process is something like this:
- Phone Legal Aid. Spend 45 minutes on hold listening to cheesy elevator music, interrupted evey 30 seconds or so by mesages saying that your call will be answered shortly (even long after it has become obvious that this is, in fact, a LIE) and that it is important to them (which, frankly, is also a LIE, as they are a monopoly)
- Eventually reach an actual person, who confirms what you already know, namely that they can't actually grant the necessary amendment over the phone, only give you a code to allow you to fax it in to be dealt with urgently, which will "probably" be done within 48 hours.
- Fax application, making sure to get a delivery confirmation
- the following morning, telephone to follow up & see whether the application has been dealt with. Spend 70 minutes on hold waiting for your call to be answered "shortly".
- Just as you lose the will to live (or at least to live as a person who has to deal with the Legal services Commission) you get to a person, who claims that they have not recieved the fax. After some discussion, they admit that it would be possible to scan and e-mail a further copy of the form, which we duly do...
- Ring for a third time. (because they won't actually phone of fax to tell you. that would be too easy) Weep softly forthe 30 minutes spent on hold while listening to cheesy elevator music and insincere messages.
- get amendment.
The hearing on Friday was listed for one hour, at 11 a.m. So I was fairly tired and a little stressed when it finished at 3.35. And was not best pleased when I then discovered that due to an accident on the Motorway, traffic was backed up into town, so my journey back, which would normally take about 90 minutes (to the office) or 2 hours (to home) was considerably extended.
The back log from the motorway being closed probably only delayed me for about 20 minutes, but as it turned out, after that I was also destined to be further delayed by The Old Man in a Flat Cap, driving at 30 mph or 10 mph below the spped limit, whichever was slower, the Van Towing Trailer (apprently driven by someone who had never towed anything, and possibly never driven anything before, the Funeral Cortege (and who holds a funeral at 5 in the afternoon?) and, of course, the Extra-Long, Extra-Wide Articulated Lorry Carrying Portakabins sent to meet me just as the narrowest, sharpest corner in Glastonbury.
All of which meant it took me nearly 2 1/2 hours to get back, so I literally only had time to lock ny files into the house before rushing back to the station to catch a train to London at 6.15. and then that train was delayed so I had to sprint to change platforms at Bath, making the connection by the skin of my teeth.
Mercifully there was a bar on the train.
Of
Saturday, 21 May 2011
New Hair and Housekeeping
So, I finally got around to getting my hair cut this morning.
I've been meaning to for ages, but with work, and being busy at weekends, and being generally disorganised has meant it hasn't happened. But today I didn't have any specific commitments, and when I went into town to do various errands and go to the library and such, I popped into the hairdresser to see if they could fit me in, and they could.
An hour later, I had shorter hair. I didn't have quite the hair I asked for - it was supposed to be about an inch shorter at the front, and shorter again at the back, but despite having confirmed this with the stylist at the start, and half way through, and having shown her a picture (of me) before she started, she didn't seem to grasp the idea. I don't dislike what she's done.
It's not massively different to what I actually wanted, but it's annoying, and as I had a photo, of me, showing the front and side views of what I wanted I don't really think there was any excuse. But it became obvious that she couldn't, or wouldn't, sort it out, so I decided that (a) I was not going to argue with a woman waving sharp pointy things round my head and (b) I'm mostly annoyed because it's different to what I wanted, not because it's a bad cut per se, so I can live with it. But I think I'll go somewhere else next time.
Apart from the hair cut, I have mostly been doing bits and pieces of housekeeping - literal and otherwise, today.
My TV licence had to be renewed this month. You can renew online now, (which I did) and they strongly encourage you to keep the whole thing paperless, but I prefer to still get them to post me a paper copy of the licence, so I have hard proof that I have paid them good money. I don't begrudge paying it.. Mitch Benn is right, we should all be Proud of the BBC (and if you haven't, you should buy the song, and the shirts), and at less than £3 a week it's hardly overpriced, but I do want a receipt. . .
In fact, it's my week for renewing licences - my drivers licence is due for renewal at the end of this month, too. This is actually the first time I've had to do it, as the 'new' photocards last 10 years, and before that I had the old paper kind, which didn't need renewing.
It turns out that the DVLA sends a reminder, with a form to fill in, which explains that if you want to renew by post, you must send them a photo of yourself which must have been taken within the last month. However, if you want, you can renew online, tell them your passport number, and they will use the picture from your passport, provided that the passport was renewed within the last 5 years. Soooo, my (potentially) 5 year old passport photo would be OK, but a photo taken 6 weeks ago would, at least officially, not be.
As it happens, my passport was renewed only last autumn, so the photo is pretty much up to date, but it strikes me as peculiar, and just ever so slightly a bit illogical. (which I suppose is only to be expected when dealing with a government agency...)
The rest of my exciting Saturday has involved getting all my finacial records up together to send to the accountant to do my tax return, doing laundry, and general cleaning and tidying. So I now have a clean, and organised (well, mostly) house.
Oh, and I might have bought some more books. Just in case I run out, or something..
Not an exciting day, but not a bad one either.
I've been meaning to for ages, but with work, and being busy at weekends, and being generally disorganised has meant it hasn't happened. But today I didn't have any specific commitments, and when I went into town to do various errands and go to the library and such, I popped into the hairdresser to see if they could fit me in, and they could.
 |
| New Hair |
It's not massively different to what I actually wanted, but it's annoying, and as I had a photo, of me, showing the front and side views of what I wanted I don't really think there was any excuse. But it became obvious that she couldn't, or wouldn't, sort it out, so I decided that (a) I was not going to argue with a woman waving sharp pointy things round my head and (b) I'm mostly annoyed because it's different to what I wanted, not because it's a bad cut per se, so I can live with it. But I think I'll go somewhere else next time.
Apart from the hair cut, I have mostly been doing bits and pieces of housekeeping - literal and otherwise, today.
My TV licence had to be renewed this month. You can renew online now, (which I did) and they strongly encourage you to keep the whole thing paperless, but I prefer to still get them to post me a paper copy of the licence, so I have hard proof that I have paid them good money. I don't begrudge paying it.. Mitch Benn is right, we should all be Proud of the BBC (and if you haven't, you should buy the song, and the shirts), and at less than £3 a week it's hardly overpriced, but I do want a receipt. . .
In fact, it's my week for renewing licences - my drivers licence is due for renewal at the end of this month, too. This is actually the first time I've had to do it, as the 'new' photocards last 10 years, and before that I had the old paper kind, which didn't need renewing.
It turns out that the DVLA sends a reminder, with a form to fill in, which explains that if you want to renew by post, you must send them a photo of yourself which must have been taken within the last month. However, if you want, you can renew online, tell them your passport number, and they will use the picture from your passport, provided that the passport was renewed within the last 5 years. Soooo, my (potentially) 5 year old passport photo would be OK, but a photo taken 6 weeks ago would, at least officially, not be.
As it happens, my passport was renewed only last autumn, so the photo is pretty much up to date, but it strikes me as peculiar, and just ever so slightly a bit illogical. (which I suppose is only to be expected when dealing with a government agency...)
The rest of my exciting Saturday has involved getting all my finacial records up together to send to the accountant to do my tax return, doing laundry, and general cleaning and tidying. So I now have a clean, and organised (well, mostly) house.
Oh, and I might have bought some more books. Just in case I run out, or something..
Not an exciting day, but not a bad one either.
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