Spent the whole morning and fore-noon on the phone trying to get new gas, water and electric supplies to the building. You wouldn't believe how difficult that can be.

Phones kept running out of battery power as I held on, and on, and on.

These utility companies probably earn as much from folk like me calling them than from supplying power etc.

Best company to deal with? British Gas - Lilliana & Mathew - very helpful. They gave me appointment times and dates to fit meters without continually refering me to someone else .

Water - that's a different story. 3 Valleys (Veolia) won't do anything over the phone and insist on an application form being completed. So you have to download it, print it, fill it out, scan it then send it back (fortunately via email but no guarantee it will be accepted).
Why is life so hard?