went to the Park Cafe for breakfast and had a very nice time…
Richard was our waitperson and he did a wonderful job…
I had tea as we waited for our breakfast and it did seem to be taking a bit longer than usual, but not horribly…
when it came, Richard advised that they cooked my poached eggs to medium and he remembered that I had asked for very soft, so he had them redo them, which was why it took a bit longer…
he also mentioned at the end that I could have requested a grilled tomato instead of the hash browns which he saw that I hadn’t eaten…
it was the first time in ages that I felt we’d received stellar service at a restaurant…
the furnace has been misbehaving for nearly six weeks…
it started when my Nest app advised that the furnace had been off a number of times over a few weeks starting early in November and suggested I be in touch with a technician… this had never happened before…
I contacted the usual company and they said as long as it was working they couldn’t tell what was wrong… they booked me for an annual maintenance appointment which wasn’t until December…
since the beginning of December I have listened to the furnace starting and stopping close together, a sound which was certainly new… different from previous problems when it had stopped due to snow plugging the vents…
when the technician came for the annual checkup they advised that the furnace needed to be replaced… apparently it is 37 years old… it was working fine while they were here although it was doing a bit of the on-and-off business…
I called another company for a second opinion and on Friday they agreed that it needed to be replaced before too long…
Saturday when I got up, the temperature was 14.5° Celsius and it took hours for it to even start raising the temperature in the house… I was worried it had finally stopped;-(… eventually it made it to 17° C… Sunday it stayed around that temperature…
Monday it was down to 16° C and was quite chilly, lol… I called and a new install was scheduled for Wednesday…
Tuesday, it was 14.5°C when I got up… I raised the dial on the thermometer to 32° and it took a very long time to start to warm up…
then it got too hot, but I was afraid to lower the temperature in case it stopped working again… eventually I lowered it to 22 before bed…
I’ve been getting my Friday dinner for most of December and into January from Modern Plate Catering…
a number of weeks ago, when it was delivered, Curtis, the delivery person, asked if I had salt and then sprinkled it on my steps and sidewalk, which were covered in ice… how kind was that;-)… it is so nice to get to know the members of businesses, particularly in these trying times… the next week he brought salt with him!
today, when he and Lindsay dropped off my dinner, he had already shovelled the steps before I opened the door… he was prepared to shovel the sidewalk as well, but I told him not to…
good customer service is so important and makes me try harder to use good companies again and again;-)…
have been having some problems with the hot tub leaking for quite some time, but wasn’t certain that the water wasn’t just evaporating with the hot weather we’d been having…
finally it was clear that there was a problem so I called up the company I deal with and made an appointment…
a fellow came out on Monday morning and discovered water dripping from a portion of the pump… he thought it would be about forty dollars for the part which needed to be replaced… he worked for well over an hour and then advised that the entire pump needed to be replaced because the new piece wouldn’t fit in properly as they are now made slightly differently…
we contacted a supplier and my son-in-law went and picked up the new one so that the repair person could return the next morning to hook it up…
sadly, that didn’t happen… I made numerous calls to the store and was advised that they would pass along the message, but no one came… finally I called and asked for an actual appointment so that someone would turn up…
two fellows turned up the next morning and set about installing the new pump… they also fixed the loose jets (with silicone) so they don’t keep shooting the water out of the tub when the water level goes down a bit…
they advised the silicone needed twenty-four hours to cure and that the tub should work fine after that….
cleaned it out and partially filled it to just below the jets and waited for the point where I could finish filling it and turn it on to heat up…
after I filled it up and turned it back on, the pump made noise but the water did not move… I called again and a few hours later the guys came back and fixed an airlock in the pump… then it started to heat up…
yesterday we had a delightful afternoon tea at Zoe’s in the Fairmont Chateau Laurier…
we dressed up a bit… nothing like when we went for tea at the Empress a few years back… at that time we even wore white gloves;-)…
the host took great care to seat us at a window with a lovely view of Rideau and McKenzie Street… we saw lots of bendy buses drive past;-)…
the settings were reminiscent of days gone by with lovely old cups and cute tea strainers… tea was delicious… between us we tried three different varieties and they were all tasty…
we shared two towers of treats and were very full by the time we were finished… we even brought home some of the dainties… our server, Dave, was extremely attentive to all of our needs and even recommended a few other places we might go…
my favourite item was the scones with clotted cream and freshly made strawberry jam…
we are having a delightful time and being treated like royalty by the kids;-)…
struggled with a headache through the night and this morning… really difficult to get up and moving…
eventually I dragged myself out to get some groceries…
last time I was there the cashier did a very poor job of packing my groceries…
today as the cashier was ringing up my purchases he was being careful with putting things into the bags and I mentioned the poor job by the last cashier…
he shared that he had been working on his packing skills…
he asked if I’d put in a complaint and I said it wasn’t worth the effort as nothing was ruined… he also mentioned that if anything was, the company would replace it…
at the end of my order he reduced my bill by $10 using a gift card…
I went ahead and hooked it up to the charger and held it for the requisite 14 seconds and it came back on… although it seemed to take forever to get completely charged…
then I emailed the person who had given me the directions on what to do, just to let them know that it had happened again…
tonight I received an email advising that they will replace the defective Charge 3…
have ordered it and it should arrive within a week… unfortunately it comes with a black band rather than the lovely purple one that mine came with…
this morning I put on those big girl pants and headed out to Birchwood Toyota… in the rain… to pick up my tires…
when I took Shadow to trade her for Indi, she still had her winter tires on… got a call about a week ago saying they were ready for pick up…
had a bit of a giggle when I pulled up to one of the three service bay doors… hadn’t realized that it said Lexus on it while the other two said Toyota… a service guy had me move, lol…
once in the bay a kind man went and found my tires, wrapped them up and put them into the car for me…
once home I was able to get them out of the car and piled them up in the corner… I couldn’t lift them to their spot in the shelf, but will have my son-in-law or grandson do it next time they are here… was rather proud that I had managed to get them moved…
had a wonderful lunch today at the Alt Hotel… was there to celebrate Women’s Entrepreneurship Day and hear the stories of four women who are changing the world, or at least their small corner of it…
started with a nice fresh salad…
the space is very simple, but comfortable… and the rooms we were in were bright and modern…
the main course was mushroom stuffed chicken breast with roasted vegetables and a delicious sauce…
when it arrived I was thinking it was kind of small… but then I tasted it… yummy, and filling…
for dessert we had creme brûlée….
one of my all time favourites… and so good… had to kind of gulp it down so that I could take some video of the speakers, lol…
the food comes from the Merchant Kitchen which is right next door to the hotel…
all of the staff were pleasant and eager to make our experience the best it could be…
herbiggirlpants 