Story No 1
I noticed a big spider in the lounge last night, tried to put a tumbler over it but failed, and it ran under the TV unit. I managed to watch the end of the Luther episode, recently discovered thanks to Fi's recommendation, went up to bed and shut the bedroom door, something I don't usually do but I didn't think the spider would fit under it.

All was well this morning until I decided it was time I sorted out my overnight bag used last week. I moved it from the landing to the bedroom and then saw movement.... nightmare! Somehow I managed to lift the bag, with the spider walking all over it, open the window and shake the bag. I saw the spider run away phew.

Today I've been on an anti spider mission, hoovering everything in sight, spraying door and window openings with distilled white vinegar and generally trying to make my house unattractive. I know they're great for killing other bugs, I don't mind the pin body/long legged sort, but the huge black racing ones are horrible!

Story No 2
When I went out to the car to go to B&Q I noticed the yellow spray paint. Derby City Council are going to be finishing off my driveway with a neat strip of tarmac for a very reasonable cost, well I think so anyway, and they've marked it out already even though I only messaged them on Monday.

I'm not sure how much I've mentioned on here but although the contractors, Derby Driveways & Construction Ltd, did a great job overall with my drive, patio and fencing, they've never finished the job i.e. joined drive to pavement with a tarmac strip. The work was finished almost four months ago and I've messaged and phoned Bossman at regular intervals since then, and all he says every time is that it'll be done soon. Five weeks ago I'd had enough and gave him four weeks to come and finish the job. He didn't reply and hasn't turned up. My next step was to get someone else to do it, pay them and then sue DD&CLtd in the Small Claims Court.

However over the four weeks I've had to wait I've calmed down and decided it's just not worth it. Of course I shouldn't have paid him everything, I should've kept £200 back, but I trusted him. While researching what to do I discovered that sometimes your council will put some tarmac down free of charge. It seemed very unlikely but it was worth a try, but of course they said they'd do it at my expense. Fair enough, that's not surprising, so that's what's happening and I'm expecting it to be pretty soon.

I did message Bossman to say I couldn't be bothered to take it further and 20 mins later I noticed he was phoning me - my phone was on silent - but I didn't answer his call, I don't want to speak to him. Personally I think he was getting his own back for having to pay me for replacement plants, and also I witheld £1500 to pay Anglian Windows to rebuild the patio window, only two years old, in order to replace the cill that had been cracked by the digger. You live and learn.