Anyone watching the Royal Wedding yesterday can't help but have noticed some of the strange hat creations (amongst other things), but I guess most of the guest outfits were fairly "formal" or perhaps should that read "traditional".
Not the same today when I went for a long (about 14 miles) walk on the Bham/Worcester canal. The first one was as I was approaching a bridge with a lock the other side, so through the arch of the bridge I could see the lock gate, the walls either side, and on the left hand side a pair of feet and lower legs - with nothing on.
That's not that strange - people wear shorts on the canal. But as I got closer I could see more naked legs - indeed 2 complete naked legs! As I continued to walk under the bridge the rest of the person came into view - dressed in nothing but a VERY high cut one piece swimming cossie, in flourescent lime green, with the narrowest of straps and that must have been VERY uncomfortable around the rear end area!
Wouldn't have been a bad sight - except this was a bloke! Oh - and he was wearing a captain's hat as well!
I hurried past!
Then a bit further on was a very big guy (with an equally big lady). He was wearing shorts, a Harley Davidson t-shirt and a very posh and polished top hat!
I wonder wether both where on their way back from the Palace...??
Saturday 30 April 2011
Friday 8 April 2011
Recession - what recession?
Took the oldies out today - they offered to pay for lunch - trouble is we went to a garden centre and the queue for food was horrendous - and the place was already full (and the smell wasn't brilliant - at least for a veggie) - so went to another one that was much nicer - and there was a queue for tables again - and that was a Friday - not a weekend.
Third time lucky and we went to a pub in the end.
So if there is a recession why are so many people eating out on a Friday lunchtime?
PS saw a great birthday card in the garden centre - two penquins talking...
P1: Have you bought anything for the wife's birthday Eric?
P2: Yes - a belt and a bag.
P1: She'll like that.
P2: She should do....
....the vacuum cleaner hasn't worked for weeks!
Third time lucky and we went to a pub in the end.
So if there is a recession why are so many people eating out on a Friday lunchtime?
PS saw a great birthday card in the garden centre - two penquins talking...
P1: Have you bought anything for the wife's birthday Eric?
P2: Yes - a belt and a bag.
P1: She'll like that.
P2: She should do....
....the vacuum cleaner hasn't worked for weeks!
Saturday 2 April 2011
Building Societies drive me mad!
So Thursday was Frustrating - but so was Friday. Next week is the deadline for ISAs and although I had added the requisite amount to mine we couldn't do Di's because hers was a fixed interest that we couldn't add to - so we needed to start a new one. So called the Halifax to ask for an appointment to set one up for her. No appointments available today - can do tomorrow (sorry - we can't - Di at a dog show) - or next Monday or Tuesday (nope - I'm working away).
So I was about to say "Don't worry - we'll open one with Nationwide" when she said that if we were transferring the money from another Halifax account we could do it over the phone. "Great" says I "that's exactly what we are wanting to do!"
Now I should explain that we did have a high rate saver account in Halifax that we had saved in for years but the rate had now dropped to something like 0.00000000000000001%, so we had decided to use that money to top up our 2 ISA's. You can save up to £5,100 and we had just under £10k in there so when we topped up mine in December we asked the girl to leave £5,100 in there so we could open a new one for Di later, put the rest in my ISA and I would add the missing amount to make it up to £5,100. So that's what we did.
Or rather that's what we should have did! But Miss Cashier got it wrong and by the time she had finished we had £5,096 and a few pennies left - not £5,100. Never mind.
So when we set up Di's ISA by phone we said we wanted to transfer the complete balance from that account into her ISA and close the old account. So there should have been some interest.
"Yes there is", says the phone adviser, "with the interest in brings the amount to £5,100.50.
"Fine," we said, "transfer the £5,100 and you can put the 50p into your charity funding.
"Not allowed to do that," came the reply
"OK," we said, "we understand, " then transfer the £5,100 and leave the 50p in the account"
"Not allowed to do that," came the reply, "you have to have a minimum of £1 in the account!"
So in the end we transferred what was in there and left the interest on the account.
Why do they make it so difficult? It's our money - if I want to leave 50p in the account why not? What happened to the idea that the customer was (occasionally) right?!
So I was about to say "Don't worry - we'll open one with Nationwide" when she said that if we were transferring the money from another Halifax account we could do it over the phone. "Great" says I "that's exactly what we are wanting to do!"
Now I should explain that we did have a high rate saver account in Halifax that we had saved in for years but the rate had now dropped to something like 0.00000000000000001%, so we had decided to use that money to top up our 2 ISA's. You can save up to £5,100 and we had just under £10k in there so when we topped up mine in December we asked the girl to leave £5,100 in there so we could open a new one for Di later, put the rest in my ISA and I would add the missing amount to make it up to £5,100. So that's what we did.
Or rather that's what we should have did! But Miss Cashier got it wrong and by the time she had finished we had £5,096 and a few pennies left - not £5,100. Never mind.
So when we set up Di's ISA by phone we said we wanted to transfer the complete balance from that account into her ISA and close the old account. So there should have been some interest.
"Yes there is", says the phone adviser, "with the interest in brings the amount to £5,100.50.
"Fine," we said, "transfer the £5,100 and you can put the 50p into your charity funding.
"Not allowed to do that," came the reply
"OK," we said, "we understand, " then transfer the £5,100 and leave the 50p in the account"
"Not allowed to do that," came the reply, "you have to have a minimum of £1 in the account!"
So in the end we transferred what was in there and left the interest on the account.
Why do they make it so difficult? It's our money - if I want to leave 50p in the account why not? What happened to the idea that the customer was (occasionally) right?!
Frustrating Thursday
Do you ever have one of those days when whatever you do just doesn't work? Thursday was one of those days. We went to Kidderminster to buy just two items - a piece of software from PC World and a phone from Comet - easy - especially as I have seen them both in there before.
So into PC World - can't find the software - checked where it should be - nope - just a blank shelf. Beloved suggests we should ask someone - so we asked a young girl who looked totally dumbfounded that someone had actually asked her a question - so she had to ask someone else.
Mr Man then comes over and says "You're looking for the Photoshop Elements 9 - right?"
"Yes", says I, "but there are none on the shelf."
But Mr Man treats me like a complete idiot and says "They're on this shelf" - and promptly goes to the same shelf that I did - and finds - NOTHING! Didn't he believe me? Did he think I was a total idiot?
So he goes out the back to check and 3 days later returns to advise me that "we seem to run out of stock". I think I got there about 6 weeks before you were born, matey!
So No 1 frustration. Never mind - off to Comet.
Now I should explain that we bought a 2 phone Panasonic kit that they sell as a single phone with answerphone, the two phone (main one and an extension), and a 3 and 4 option (i.e main phone with 2 and 3 extensions). But you can buy single extension phones so if you don't want to buy 3 or 4 phones but want to see whether it worked (as we did) you can extend later - and that's what we wanted to do - we wanted to buy another extension. And they had the extension phones on display. But we couldn't find one in a box - so we asked Mr Man2 if he had them in stock.
"Oh we don't stock the extension," he says with a grin on his face!
"Why not?" says I
"Just think how many we would have to stock if we did that for every phone we sell" he replied and waltzed off to frustrate another customer. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE IDEA THAT YOU STOCK THINGS THAT PEOPLE WANT??
So frustration 2. So guess what - I have purchased the software from Amazon and will buy the phone on line from Panasonic. And shopkeepers wonder why people buy off the Internet!!
Oh - and we were running very low on petrol - so stopped at my local petrol station to fill up and half their pumps were out of order - I could by high octane gas at vastly inflated prices but for ordinary petrol I would have to queue. So I went home instead!
Perhaps Friday will be better?!
So into PC World - can't find the software - checked where it should be - nope - just a blank shelf. Beloved suggests we should ask someone - so we asked a young girl who looked totally dumbfounded that someone had actually asked her a question - so she had to ask someone else.
Mr Man then comes over and says "You're looking for the Photoshop Elements 9 - right?"
"Yes", says I, "but there are none on the shelf."
But Mr Man treats me like a complete idiot and says "They're on this shelf" - and promptly goes to the same shelf that I did - and finds - NOTHING! Didn't he believe me? Did he think I was a total idiot?
So he goes out the back to check and 3 days later returns to advise me that "we seem to run out of stock". I think I got there about 6 weeks before you were born, matey!
So No 1 frustration. Never mind - off to Comet.
Now I should explain that we bought a 2 phone Panasonic kit that they sell as a single phone with answerphone, the two phone (main one and an extension), and a 3 and 4 option (i.e main phone with 2 and 3 extensions). But you can buy single extension phones so if you don't want to buy 3 or 4 phones but want to see whether it worked (as we did) you can extend later - and that's what we wanted to do - we wanted to buy another extension. And they had the extension phones on display. But we couldn't find one in a box - so we asked Mr Man2 if he had them in stock.
"Oh we don't stock the extension," he says with a grin on his face!
"Why not?" says I
"Just think how many we would have to stock if we did that for every phone we sell" he replied and waltzed off to frustrate another customer. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE IDEA THAT YOU STOCK THINGS THAT PEOPLE WANT??
So frustration 2. So guess what - I have purchased the software from Amazon and will buy the phone on line from Panasonic. And shopkeepers wonder why people buy off the Internet!!
Oh - and we were running very low on petrol - so stopped at my local petrol station to fill up and half their pumps were out of order - I could by high octane gas at vastly inflated prices but for ordinary petrol I would have to queue. So I went home instead!
Perhaps Friday will be better?!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)