From bad to worse

That's how my day has gone today.

We had an appointment at 10am this morning with a rep from a window shutter company. She rang at 9.30 to say she was running late as she had only just left Swindon. OBviously there was no way she would get to London for 10am so would 11am be OK? No, actually, we had another appointment at 11am so could she please come at noon. Yes she could so that was that sorted.

Went to have a shower and half way through the hot water disappeared. And so did the heating. Great. The boiler had packed up. Not what I expect from something that was only installed three months ago. Rang the engineers and they could come later in the afternoon.

The appointment at 11am was with one of the local golf clubs where we had booked their function room for OH's 50th birthday party in March. We'd booked it through a friend who was a member which meant we got the room for free and they would just charge us for the buffet. Stupidly, we didn't go and see it, just took our friend's recommendation that it would be perfect for what we wanted. So off we toddle this morning for a look-see and to discuss food. Well, my face must have said it all - the place would barely hold 50 people and as we are inviting close to 140 it simply wasn't going to work. Great. On top of that, we were told that their chef is leaving wasn't interested in providing a buffet so it would be easier if we got the food ourselves, although he would prepare it for us. Thanks very much. The whole point was that it would be stress free for us and the thought of buying all that food sends me into cold shivers.

Wobbling a bit now.

So on the way home I rang our other local golf club. We hold all our work functions there and although the food is OK, it's not top notch but it would be sufficient. Nope, he had the club's AGM that night so no way he could fit us in.

Wobble has now escalated into panic.

Rang yet another golf club, this time a Very Posh Golf Club. Fortunately we work quite closely with them from time to time so although they don't normally hire out their function room to non-members, he would "as it's you". There would be a charge but again "as it's you", he'd reduce it by 50%. What a sweetheart! Made an appointment to meet him at 6pm.

Window shutter rep arrived and tried to steam-roller us into paying nearly £3,000 for shutters. That's one way of getting us to not buy them, beautiful as they were I will not be forced into making a split-second decision on that kind of money. Even if she has made a 160 mile round trip to see us, as she repeatedly pointed out. Goodbye.

Engineers arrived and fixed the boiler and showed us what to do if it happens again. Good. Water and heating working again. Sorted.

6pm. Made our way over to the Very Posh Golf Club. I've never been in there before and it was fantastic!! Well worth the room charge. Then we started discussing menus. They don't really do finger buffets, "we do have certain standards to maintain". Oh. Of course you do. He suggested a hot buffet and that sounded like a plan until we started to discuss costs. He was terribly apologetic but it would be in the region of £20 per head. At least 100 people. You can do the math I'm sure.

Panic is now escalating into minor hysteria.

Tried a local Very Posh Hotel. I'm not even going to tell you what they wanted to charge but it was about twice what the Very Posh Golf Club would have charged.

However, all is not lost. A local-ish pub has a big function room that can hold about 100 people and don't charge for the room, just the food. And they can do a finger buffet. Phew. It's a bit more expensive than the first golf club, but not unreasonable. So we're off there on Monday evening to have a look and I just hope it's OK or I'll be falling off the edge of the planet.

If you are in the slightest bit interested, watch this space.