Visiting

Popped over to my folks for lunch today, also visiting my sister and niece since they were there as well. Compared to other visits, it was not as uncomfortable or as dull largely, I suspect, because of the aforementioned niece.

She's doing very well - getting big, inquisitive... very gurgly when she wants to be, too. She is completely enchanting, and I'm glad she's looking and acting like a normal baby of (quick calculation) 8 months tomorrow.

While she was fascinated by beards way back when she was in hospital almost full-time, but now she's even more fascinated by glasses. Given half a chance, she'll take them off anyone's face... and normally either stick them in her mouth or lick them.

I took the opportunity to pick up some more of my toys - the remainder of the Galaxy Force/Cybertron line - and a few books (well, Batman graphic novels) and CDs. There's still a fair bit that needs to come over - the whole of Armada, the majority of my CDs, more graphic novels, my Saturn Twin Stick - but I've certainly whittled it down.

Rather amazingly, Channel 4 showed Stardust earlier this evening - a brilliant film, and one I've been meaning to pick up on DVD for a while. I haven't because I keep forgetting it, and because I wasn't sure I actually wanted to own it. Having seen it again, the decision has been made... rather own it, and watch it whenever I feel like it (and it'll go in my list of all-time favourite feel-good movies), than wait till it turns up on TV again.

Bizarrely, following it is 30 Days of Night... which I'm currently half-watching while doing other things on the computer... Blogging included ;)

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Things (From Outer Space)

Just been watching The Thing, John Carpenter's excellent mid-80s remake of The Thing From Outer Space (though the credits claim it's based upon a short story called "Who Goes There?") ... and I'm surprised by how well it's aged. The prosthetics and animatronics are a little basic by today's standards (were it to be remade today, it'd all be CGI). The music and the haircuts give it all away, but it's still quite scary and shocking.

I saw it once before, when I was younger, and the iconic moments - such as when one guy gets his hands bitten off at the wrist by another guy's chest, and when the doctor merges his hand with his victim's face - are as jaw-dropping now as they were then.

Remortgaging Blues

Not sure what it is about my bank but, two years ago, when I first went looking for a mortgage, they failed to return my calls for a couple of months, having agreed a mortgage in principle.

This time round it transpired that they (or rather, their mortgage arm) are offering a very good deal... So I started to proceed with them... and now they're getting jittery about my income.

Let's put this in perspective:

• I've banked with these guys as long as I've had a bank account
• They've been on the receiving end of my paycheque for the last 15+ years
• For the last 5+ years they've been on the receiving end of my paycheck from my current employer

And yet they demand proof of income, not only in the form of a bank statement, but in the form of a payslip displaying the name of my employer.

And since my employer now do electronic payslips, a simple printout is not acceptable. I had to print it out on company letterhead, then get it signed and certified by my MD.

And then, my latest payslip was not acceptable. It had to be the payslip that matched the bank statement I gave them and, since I was not about to send them several pages of bank statement listing all my purchases and withdrawals over however many months (they're my bank, for crying out loud!), I had to supply a second payslip, from a couple of months ago.

I suggested to the brokers that, perhaps, if my own bank are going to be this jittery about taking on my mortgage, it might serve me better to stick with my current provider.

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