oh, gods - what have i done?!

good evening, dear reader.

it's been an interesting day...

you may remember some happy squeaking a while ago, from when we got a fabulous new shower.  well, a couple of weeks ago, the shower broke, due to the fuse for the old shower not being adequate to serve the new shower.  it got so hot, that it melted some of the fuse box, and welded itself in place.  not a wonderful state of affairs, i must say.  since then, we have been enduring tepid baths, since to have hot water, we need to turn the heating on, and the weather has been warm, so the bath not so much.  today, we went to get a new fuse and box so we could once again get squeaky clean without shivering and feeling miserable.  the place we had to go to obtain this specialist bit of kit is on an industrial estate in a nearby town.

so anyway...  off we trotted to said electrical place and obtained said specialist bit of kit.

then i looked across the road.

over the road is a unit that has been turned into a bike shop.  i have been wearing the same knackered leathers for years which are, though still perfectly sevicable, heavy, and uncomfortable in hot weather, and not all that waterproof.  also - the jacket is made of at least half a cow and weighs a bloody ton.  so over the road i trotted to see if they had anything that would A) replace what i have, and B) fit me.  i have rather a womanly shape (small waist, big bum and hips), and trousers especially can be an absolute nightmare to fit in comfort.

so now i am the proud owner of some spanking new trousers and a jacket.  manmade, waterproof, and weighing probably a quarter of my old gear.

HUZZAH!!!

but i had not finished.  ho no!

see, not only did they sell gear, but also bikes.  of course, since it's a bike shop... (well, duh!)  and of course we had to have a good oggle at the bikes whilst we were there.  and i saw one of these...

Kawasaki ZR-7

i am a huge fan of kawasaki.  and i made the mistake of sitting on it.

oh, dear.

remember Trob?  my faithful warhorse of a Kawasaki GT750, who has carried me with nary a complaint, and very little trouble, for seven years?  of course you do.  so do i - she's kinda hard to forget.  soon, however, all i will have of her will be memories, and a couple of photographs.

i appear to have traded her in for a new bike...

and yes, of course i'm excited to think that soon, i will be riding this perky, sprightly young whipper-snapper.  but at the moment, all i can do is look at Trob, think of how well she's served me over the years, and think, "oh, gods - what have i done...?"

.

happy squeaking

oh, gods! tonight, i have sooo much bliss that i hardly know what to do with it.

first: the shower is an EPIC win.  and i do mean EPIC. and here's why....
it is soooo hot, i was pink when i emerged and, yes, i could barely see the bathroom door for the steam.  this on its own constitutes a big win, and with this, i would be happy, having endured lukewarm to tepid showers for all of this bloody freezing winter.
BUT! the thing that makes it an EPIC win?
it has the most wonderful thing that was ever invented for showers.  the head has five (count 'em, five!) settings.  one of which is...
a BUBBLE JET!!!
honestly, i have noooo idea what the neighbours thought as the shrieks of unrestrained joy came echoing through the ridiculously thin wall separating our bathroom from theirs....

second: sparkles. i finally have sparkles!
gods in asgard, I HAVE SPARKLES!!!
i was just about to get into the shower, when the phone rang.  it was the people from the company that is providing my connection.  we established that no, actually, there wasn't a problem with my local telephone exchange, so yes, she could close the fault notification thingy. then she put me through to this "first line technical support" guy.  who said he couldn't help, but second line tech support might be able to. so he gave me their number. so i spoke to them.  now, i'm missing out all of the time i spent on hold, here, but please bear in mind that this whole process took an hour and a bloody half.
so.  this guy says "well, i can't order you a new box yet" (i'm tearing my hair out, by now). "but," he says, "there's one more thing you can try.  but you might lose the call, so only do it when the call's ended.  if it doesn't work, call us again" (oh, gods, not again, please!), "and we'll send you a new box" (oh, fiiiinally!!!)
"plug one microfilter into the other, then put your phone through one, and your broadband box through the other."
so, expecting another half an hour on hold to call them back, and tell them "no, it still doesn't work, and can i PLEEEEASE hae a new box, now? *whimper*", i did as he suggested.
and bugger me, if things didn't light up like a sodding christmas tree, and sparkles leapt from the box in a shower of glowing internet loveliness.

so now, i am warm, i am clean (and smelling delightfully of a summer bouquet - violets, lavender and orange blossom...heavenly!), i am fed, and i have sparkles.

happy Squeaky. ^_^