Hagg!s's Blurb

So I finally got round to getting that layout up :D

Took me long enough huh? Nah not really, quite a short build compared to other layouts. About 4 weeks or so? Still has a few small problems, but bar these, its all good and people are happy with it, which I'm glad about.

Some are having problems with it actually showing up because their browser is so full of crap its not updating the cache properly lol. Hit F5 a few times, then try clearing the cache and cookies. Once this is done, CLOSE the tab, and open it again and then hit F5 once more and you should be good.

Now I need to update the small bug fixes and then sort out myBLOGA properly :p

Alas, I had to cancel the limo. I did so on Wednesday night, throught the company's website 'contact us' from. Feeling slightly dejected, I tried to cheer myself up by arranging what to do instead. I finally decided - just like I posted here - to go out for a nice meal and then out clubbing.

Things started okay. William got back from Teneriefe without problems and we spent a good couple of hours catching up before deciding to get ready. However, less than 30 minutes after William had left, I get a phonecall from him telling me that 'We have to contact the police! That guy is phoning again and really stressing me out, I'm on my way up.' As the knock on the door arrives, it is almost simultaneously accompanied by my mobile starting to ring. Without even removing it from my pocket, I know exactly who it is, and exclaim, 'thats him' to no-body in particular. I answer the door, and let william in and then answer my phone. Instantly the conversation is sour. 'Ive just been speaking to your friend.' 'Mmhm?' 'Oh so he told you already?' 'Does that concern you? I think not.' I turn round, and see my mum on the stairs, reaching for the phone. I tell him to hold on and hand over the phone, at which point she takes over and has a good 10 minute conversation with this guy, who kept patronizing her by calling her 'dear'...

A bit extreme? No. This was the 27th phonecall to either William or I, and that doesn't even include several texts he sent william. Never once was the gentleman a gentleman in his manner, no matter whom he spoke to. Since Thursday, he has plagued William and I with abusive and rude communiques. He is adament that we pay the full £400 because we 'owe him' it. We both beg to differ. Neither of us signed a single piece of paper, let alone a contract. The only piece of paperwork I have from him is a receipt for a £40 deposit I paid to book the limo. This is signed by him, and says 'With compliments...' including the business website and telephone numbers.

He claims that I was too late to cancel, and that my methods of cancellation (The company's website 'contact us' form) were inappropriate. He claimed that had he not checked his emails on the thursday, he would not have know we had cancelled. Now my obvious response to this, was of course, why have a contact us form, if you don't check it regularly. I don't know about you, but generally I'm not in the habbit of  calling companies at 9pm in the evening, so I thought the email form was the next best option. I know I check my company email several times a day.. He threatened to involve the police (yes, that word again...). I contacted the police myself to find out if he could and was expressly told, after a 4 hour wait, by a Sergeant, that if he were to contact the police - assuming everything I told them was present and correct (which of course it was, I was getting info to find out if I was in the wrong to know whether to back down or not, but they have to say that for legal reasons I'm sure) and he complained similarly to how I described, that he would be told the police could not intervene and that it was simply a matter for the civil courts.

Now while I was waiting for the police to call me back, he telephoned and said 'If you pay £200 right now, I'll drop the matter completely.' I refused, more on the principle I'd cancelled the limo because I couldn't cover the £200 excess people had left me with. I clearly detailed this in the email I sent him. So how now, does he expect me to magically come up with it? He then asked 'So what are you going to do then?' To which I simply stated the obvious. 'I am going to do nothing. It's you who needs to do something. Whether that be look for someone else to take over our night, contact the police, or take us to court. Quite frankly, I don't care what you do, I'm already trying to rearrange my night, I don't need you troubling me also.' and promptly hung up.

William then text me a short while later saying the guy was texting him (bear in mind William is still in Teneriefe trying to enjoy the end of his holiday at this time) and after 30 mins of updating William on what I'd said, what the guy had said and also now what the police had said now they'd got back in touch, he tells me the guy is still messaging him saying if its not sorted he's going up to our houses to speak to us. Now nobody was in Williams house because they were all in teneriefe, and the only address he had for me, was my mums. So I jump in the car and head up. Still he is pestering William though, and eventually I told him to tell the guy to leave you alone. If he still needs to speak to someone, that he's to contact me, or come up and see me. William never got a reply to that text, the guy didn't turn up that night, and I also did not hear from him again. Both William and I assumed that this was due to the fact he'd finally found someone to cover the night, and forgotten about us, as he'd said he would do previously.

So forgetting about him, we continued with plans and got things started. I'd booked my car in for a full valet to spoil myself for my birthday. I dropped it off, and spent time with William. As we went to pick it up a couple hours later, I went via the bank to collect my money for the night, including the money I was paying for the valet. I expected just over £100 in the bank, but to my utter shock, I only had £48 (meaning of course I could only withdraw £40) which meant after paying for the valet, which was now unavoidable due to the fact that it had already been done, I would only have £10 left for my meal, and night out. Panicking, I told William, who thankfully agreed to sub me some money to help out. This was only problem #1 though.

When I picked my car up, it smelled lovely and looked amazing. It was gleaming and I was glad I'd decided to get it done. I headed up to my mums, and then this brings us back to the start of this post. The guy phoning. After he'd spoken to my mum, less than 5 minutes later, he called back saying he had been 'speaking to the officer that she spoke to and you'll be expecting a lawyers letter next week.' and hung up. Now, I found this amusing. It was me that had spoken to the police, he only knew because my mum mentioned "we'd" contacted them for clarification. What also made it funny, is that everyone knows the police will not discuss a phonecall they recieved from someone else with anyone. They will not say whether they even actually spoke to that person. It also took me 4 hours to be called back, so the likelyhood he got through and was done in less than 5 mins to call us back, was laughable. I sent him a text informing him that I looked forward to recieveing his Lawyers Letter (even though its a waste of his time. Even at the small claims court, it is not worth anyones while claiming for anything less than £500) and that I would like to see evidence of a contract that would make us legally liable for the full cost, because I didn't believe he had a leg to stand on if he could not.I then restated the fact that we gave him plenty of notice to organize an alternative booking, because we are courteous. If he could not find an alternative then that was his failing. We could have been indecent and not contact him at all and let him turn up and do nothing. I then inormed him that 'If you persist with your badgering and rude, profanity fueled phonecalls, we will have no alternative other than to involve the police on harrassment charges. We will enjoy our altered night out tonight, I hope you do too.'

Ok, so I was a little cheeky at the end, but I'd just had enough of him. This was problem #2 - being sued.

Problems #3, #4 and #5 weren't as big, but still affected my mood and the day overall. 2 of the people pulled out of the meal and night out, and a 3rd (who was only coming to the night out because of work commitments) also pulled out. They all had legitimate reasons and I can't fault them because they were, I believe, just as dejected about it as I was. This left me, William, my mum and my gran.

Problem #6 was the one that has affected me most, but it was not the last. On the way to the meal, with everyone in the car, having a good giggle, looking forward to the night out, literally around the corner from our turn in, just as I took the slip-road off the motorway, my cars thermostat takes a spazz, I have a big red light saying stop and the car starts beeping high-pitched at me. Now, apart from the spazzing thermostat, all of this had happened before and usually it was just the radiator overheating and me needing to put water in it. However, I'd stopped on my way and put water into it...

After I point out that its spazzing to William, but told him not to worry, it had happened before and we were nearly there, and the car could cool off while we ate, I get to the top of the hilly slip-road and go to pull on to the roundabout and the car just dies. Every light in my dashboard display comes on, the car won't start again and a horrible smell pours in. I can do nothing but let it roll to a stop and stick my hazzards on. I got out to look at the engine, but it just looked like it always does to me.. Eventually, we decided to push it into the restaurant car park due to the fact it was only a few hundred metres up the road. I thought leaving it while we ate would cool it enough for it to start. After the meal however, it refused to start. It's not even turning over. My month-old (for me), newly valeted, shiny car, is dead. I had to leave it at the car park. We had to get a taxi back. I think I might need a new engine, and if that's the case, I'd be aswell just getting a new car...

Problem #7 didn't affect me directly, and indirectly gave us all a laugh for the rest of the night, in the form of immitations. The starters we had were great. Tasty, cooked well and we all were happy. Our main meals however were different. Both my gran and mum decided on the same meal, while William had a lamb shank and I had a half-roast chicken with Tennessee Based Jack Daniels Sauce. Both of ours were cooked to perfection, and tasted very good, however I am under the impression that my mum and grans were cooked much before ours were finished and had been held on the hot plate. This had resulted not only in keeping the dish warm, but also in continuing to cook the food, resulting in their butterfly chicken and their accompanying chips and cheese being extremely dry. I thought they were making a fuss, until I actually compared it to how succulent mine was and without a doubt, it was overcooked. The thing that gave us the laugh for the rest of the night, is the fact we decided to complain. William, being the gentleman he is, got up to find a waitress, and as he popped his head round the corner, my gran just shouted "Excuse Me!" in a really high pitched, lady-like tone. The waitress thought it was William! They did offer my mum and gran replacement meals, but they both rejected saying that they had been put off with the poor quality and wouldn't want to risk being disappointed again. The waitress went to report it to the manager, and came back, offering us free desserts as an alternative. Can't complain

Problem #8 (and the last) was that the nightclub we went to, didn't "do it" for any of us, and we called the night off just before midnight, instead of at 3am like had originally been planned. I was a little dejected, but we did go back to my mums and William and I had a couple more drinks and talked the night away.

Overall, it wasn't a great birthday. An expensive one too really. But it was good to catch up with both William and my Gran, and was great having mum along to top it all off. I did realize however, that I think my birthdays are cursed. I have not had a good birthday since I was 16. I think from now on, I'm not going to bother celebrating.

I think I over-wrote on this one. Oh, before I go. My gran (the one I'm not really speaking to) wrote me a letter which arrived on wednesday, and followed this by an extremely short email on the friday. They also tried calling me on my birthday, but I missed the call. I wrote a reply to them finally and sent it off. But since then I haven't heard. But I promised you that would be a blog for another time, and it will be a very big blog so I need to get on it soon before it gets too much bigger. xD

Alright, I'm done lol.

Love to all you folks who care! xx

With my birthday fast approaching this weekend, I am disappointed to say the least.

Several weeks ago, I arranged and paid a deposit, for a big Harley Davidson Stretch Limo to take us round edinburgh for the night. Theres was going to be alcohol, music, dancing, karaoke and loads of fun. The only problem, is the law limits the limo guys to having only 8 people along. I thought 'Hey, no problem, I'll be able to get 8 people!'...

I did, on 2 occassions. But over this past week, people have constantly been pulling out. I now have 4 spaces. How the hell am I supposed to find 4 people to cover these spaces, with such short notice, and tell them that they will need to pay £50 a pop for the pleasure? Not only will it be short notice, but they'll wonder why they weren't invited in the first place...

I sent a few messages out earlier this week, but I've only heard back from one person. I can't afford to cover the £200 deficiet that is lacking, so I think I'm going to have to cancel. Might just go out for a meal and then a night out with close friends, would seem like a sensible option, but I don't know.. Yet another "special" birthday ruined I guess.

Sometimes I wish things in my life were different, I really do. But then I think to myself, that it can't all be bad, can it? I mean, my mum is amazing, helps out as much as she can when I need it. I don't know what I'd do without her really. Hollie, although she can be a pain sometimes (but then again, what kid isn't?) is my angel. She's my reason for sorting out my life the way I have been recently. She's my drive, my abition to succeed all lies with her.

But then, theres the things in life that are not going so well. Like the lack of true friends. The fact that half my family no longer speak to me because on a holiday to go see most of them (in Canada) I decided to meet up with some friends at the end, at my expense, and they didn't like this and said I was being selfish (This is a big blog for another time xD), cancelled the holiday - which was also an opportunity for my dad to meet his granddaughter for the first time - and haven't spoken to me since. This was in April by the way. There's also the fact I just don't feel happy. I don't even feel content. I just drone on day in and day out. College perks me up sometimes, 'cause it can be fun and has a good bunch of people in it, but at home I just feel lethargic and pointless. I sit on skype waiting for certain people to get on because my "cyber-friends" give me more emotional pleasure than most of those that claim to be my friends at home.

On top of this, I feel ill today. I've got that feeling in the pit of my stomach that tells me "I'm gunna have you in pain but I'm not actually going to make you sick, I'm just going to make you suffer."

So I guess all round, a bad week?

Oh! One good bit of news though. The police still haven't been in touch, so it can't be that serious. Although several people have been threatening my little sister and claiming they are going to get me done for "attempted hit and run".  Now, I've tried to look it up, and my understanding is that this only applies had I actually hit someone, then attempted to run and failed. So I think its just a bunch of crap, but I am very concerned for my little sister. She's terrified of going back to school, and I feel like its my fault. The school do nothing to protect her and I don't know what else I can do without getting into more trouble. I fear she may even have to swap schools, but if that's the case, I don't know if she'd cope. I am going to get my mum to arrange a meeting with the school before my sister goes back, because if someone will attack me, and then later my car while my 2 year old daughters in it, then they are going to have no qualms about attacking my sister at school. Something needs done.

Anyways, I'm done for today.

Love to all you folks! xx

So, finally kicking this off I guess. Not a good start either.

Today, while trying to help my sister out, I almost killed somebody. Not as you may think, thankfully. She'd got into a fight, just her against a small group of kids. The main girl hitting her was about 16, my sisters only 13. So when I noticed this going on, while in the car, I drive up - fast to scare them off - and get out and pull the girl off my sister. At which point, The small group starts shouting abuse and the like at me. Wiping it off the shoulder, I go to get back into the car with my sister when the girl who was hitting her follows us and kicks my car.

Now I'm mad. The cars only a month old! I turn round and snap at her "hit my car again and I'll snap your neck". Naturally I get more abuse thrown at me and as I walk up to her she shoves me away. This happened 3 times before I gave up trying to drill my words into her thick skull. I returned to the car, and this time got in, started up, and left to take my sister home.

Unfortunately, this was not the end of the story. After dropping her off, I begin winding my way through the small streets to get back onto the main road to get home, when I turn a corner, and I am confronted by a group of approximately 20 people standing in the middle of the road. Naturally, being a good driver, I slow and end up having to stop. At which point, they then surround my car. It's at this point that I then realize that some of the group are the kids I'd confronted earlier, and they'd brought support this time... Theres a knock at my window, some guy comes up and explains that he is the father of the girl I threatened. I tried, but failed, to explain what had actually happened so that he may see what any real father should, and see that she was the one in the wrong, but no. He then challenges me to leave my car, leaving my 2 year old daughter in there on her own, to come and face him properly, encased in this ring of teenagers. Naturally I decline, at which point his discussion turns nasty and derogatory, resulting in me telling him to "shut his face and go away" and closing my window.

I finish composing the text I was sending to dean, and start up the car again. Just as I begin to slowly pull away to avoid hitting anyone, 2 of the youths kicked the back drivers side of the car. In blind fury, I stop, stick the car in reverse and fishtail out towards the part of the group that were where the kick came from. I stopped short of hitting anyone, but believe me I was tempted. At this point, Hollie is screaming in the back, terrified. I myself am scared, and so I then put the car back into gear and move off forward, narrowly missing the father and swerving over the road to get away from them all.

What do I then find out when I recieve a phonecall from my mum half way home? The police are looking for me.. Apparently my "eratic driving" was of some concern and they wished to speak to me about it. Now tell me. When was it acceptable for a 20-strong gang of trouble-makers to surround a car, with 2 occupants - one only being 2 years old - and to kick and cause damage to the car, but it is not acceptable for the driver to ensure the occupants safety by using what he has at his disposal, as self defence?
I have dents in my car, scuff marks from their black shoes, and yet the police are looking for ME?! What is this world coming to?

I'll keep you updated once I finally speak to them, I've got lots more to rant about, I'll get on it eventually lol.

Please bear with me while I get this thing up and running. Still working on getting the myBOBBA blog looking good, and the Utah holiday pictures aren't uploaded yet, but will be soon!

Love to all you folks! xx