Salva Nos

I got my gas and electric bills today. Gas bill is ok, electric says that my monthly payments are being increased by about 65% due to my higher than expected usage. Apparently they used an actual reading to calculate this bill, rather than an estimate. Except the "actual" reading was for the gas meter, not the electric.
The other week I returned home to find a card left by a meter reader, so at the weekend I logged on the site given on the card and provided readings for both utilities. Only they used the gas reading to calculate the electric usage, and put down an estimate for the gas (which was very close to the correct reading). I wouldn't mind a mistake, but not when they use it to increase my payments by 65% without checking first!!!
Guess who's getting a bollocking tomorrow...

I have been working with a new colleague for the past week. I mean, he's been in the job for a long time, but we'd never worked together until now. Apparently this situation has been of great concern to our bosses, as we've each had at least 3 calls a day asking if we were ok, and 2 separate visits to make sure, just for good measure. It seems that the bosses were expecting sparks to fly (or, as one put it, blood and guts). We both have a reputation for having very strong personalities and being very fussy about how we work, wanting things done *just* so. As I explained to my boss this morning, I don't really care how things are done, as long as they get done efficiently. In fact, my colleague and I spent a lot of this week throwing ideas around (how he does things and how I do things) and picking out the best, or mixing them together if they gave better results.
We've also been sniggering after each call enquiring about how we were doing :D

On a slightly different note, I had a half-arrangement to see someone last Sunday, but he had to pull out due to other commitments. However, we've been exchanging texts on and off all week. As I'm off to Italy in two days, we won't be able to meet at least until December, and even then it might be difficult as I have guests... although if it gets critical there's always that nice hotel up the road!

And I do like Mediaeval Babes!