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?!
Sunday, 27 March 2011
Thanks for all your good wishes
It's been about 7 weeks since my last post and I have been inundated by my fans imploring me to restart posting Morgan's Mutterings.
OK - so it was you TW who said why had I stopped and you JR who said the same thing - so not actually inundated - but 100% of my followers have asked me to restart - so I will!
And my first comment is why are Merc controls so complicated? All I wanted to do was to change the clock for the extra hour as BST starts - simple? Nope! Everytime I got into the menus I pressed the button that seemed to be the right one and ended back outside the menus! Eventually I got in and changed it - in digital format - but the clock itself didn't change.
So checked the manual - back in again into the menu, added the hour - and reduced the mintes by 3 (it was a few minutes fast) and pressed the reset button as instructed. The clock hands literally wound back by about 5 hours and then wound forward by 5 hours less 3 minutes!
So got the minutes right but it seemed to ignore the extra hour I added! So tried again - and again the hands wound back about 5 hours and then wound forward (automatically) by another 5 hours! Why? Didn't make sense.
Still - now correct - just need to find out how to get out of the menu option now!!
OK - so it was you TW who said why had I stopped and you JR who said the same thing - so not actually inundated - but 100% of my followers have asked me to restart - so I will!
And my first comment is why are Merc controls so complicated? All I wanted to do was to change the clock for the extra hour as BST starts - simple? Nope! Everytime I got into the menus I pressed the button that seemed to be the right one and ended back outside the menus! Eventually I got in and changed it - in digital format - but the clock itself didn't change.
So checked the manual - back in again into the menu, added the hour - and reduced the mintes by 3 (it was a few minutes fast) and pressed the reset button as instructed. The clock hands literally wound back by about 5 hours and then wound forward by 5 hours less 3 minutes!
So got the minutes right but it seemed to ignore the extra hour I added! So tried again - and again the hands wound back about 5 hours and then wound forward (automatically) by another 5 hours! Why? Didn't make sense.
Still - now correct - just need to find out how to get out of the menu option now!!
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Our train's bust!!
Oh dear! Virgin train from Glasgow broke down about a mile north of Stafford - brakes suddenly locked on! We knew it was serious when the engines were turned off, the lights were dimmed and all went very quiet! I'm just glad I was on a Virgin train and not a Virgin flight!!! Yikes!!
However - to be fair to Virgin, we limped into Stafford station and they got another train to Stafford within about 20-25 minutes. I couldn't work out where they had the spare train and driver ready for such an event until it actually arrived. Our train heading south from Glasgow to Birmingham was on the north end of platform 6 and the "spare" train came heading north into the south end of Platform 6. It was then I worked it out.
That train detials said it was going to Glasgow - so once stopped a couple of hundred passengers disembarked and rushed up the platform to get onto our old train - meanwhile the 5 remaining passengers for Birmingham (everyone else had jumped onto other trains heading out of Stafford) headed for their old train - and within a few minutes we were on our way - 5 of us in a 5 coach train!!
So we got sorted but what happened to the couple of hundred who got on our train who were heading for Glasgow? If the brakes were jammed on where was that training going? I suggested to one of the Virgin staff maybe because it is a two engined train (one at the front and one at the back) it could go back the way it came using the engine at the other end - but she said the brakes went throughout the train - so maybe they're now sitting on our old train wondering why everything is so quiet and they haven't left Stafford!! Could be a long wait!
Anyone got a spare steam engine!!!
However - to be fair to Virgin, we limped into Stafford station and they got another train to Stafford within about 20-25 minutes. I couldn't work out where they had the spare train and driver ready for such an event until it actually arrived. Our train heading south from Glasgow to Birmingham was on the north end of platform 6 and the "spare" train came heading north into the south end of Platform 6. It was then I worked it out.
That train detials said it was going to Glasgow - so once stopped a couple of hundred passengers disembarked and rushed up the platform to get onto our old train - meanwhile the 5 remaining passengers for Birmingham (everyone else had jumped onto other trains heading out of Stafford) headed for their old train - and within a few minutes we were on our way - 5 of us in a 5 coach train!!
So we got sorted but what happened to the couple of hundred who got on our train who were heading for Glasgow? If the brakes were jammed on where was that training going? I suggested to one of the Virgin staff maybe because it is a two engined train (one at the front and one at the back) it could go back the way it came using the engine at the other end - but she said the brakes went throughout the train - so maybe they're now sitting on our old train wondering why everything is so quiet and they haven't left Stafford!! Could be a long wait!
Anyone got a spare steam engine!!!
Glasgow's finest?
Had an hour spare at Glasgow central station before catching train home today so went to the old Glasgow Grand Station Hotel - originally built in 1880's and just reopened after major refurb. Champagne bar (no - doesn't only serve bubbly) is excellent - however that wasn't the Glasgow's finest - that was reserved for the 4 ladies who came in and sat on the next table in the lounge.
They were dripping with furs and obviously "well heeled"! Got through a bottle of pink champers in less time than it will take me to write this and were all leaning well forward to discuss (confidentially) all their interests.
But the one that really struck me was the lady with long, very well styled white (grey or blond??) hair - probably in her 60's - whose well manicured finger nails were so long I was surprised she didn't poke her eye our when she blew her nose, and who's coat probably cost more that this laptop!
She wore 36" heels (OK I exaggerate a bit) with huge bows on the shoes and a skirt far too short for a lady of her age - oh and her coat, shoes etc where the same tint as her hair!
She probably thought she was the "bees knees" but I just felt she would have looked better if she had not tried to look 20 years younger than she was and had checked the mirror before she had come out!
I'm sure she is a very nice lady - just struck me as someone who was shouting "look at me" - trouble is I think everyone did and then thought "what the heck...."
Oh well - it takes all sorts!!
They were dripping with furs and obviously "well heeled"! Got through a bottle of pink champers in less time than it will take me to write this and were all leaning well forward to discuss (confidentially) all their interests.
But the one that really struck me was the lady with long, very well styled white (grey or blond??) hair - probably in her 60's - whose well manicured finger nails were so long I was surprised she didn't poke her eye our when she blew her nose, and who's coat probably cost more that this laptop!
She wore 36" heels (OK I exaggerate a bit) with huge bows on the shoes and a skirt far too short for a lady of her age - oh and her coat, shoes etc where the same tint as her hair!
She probably thought she was the "bees knees" but I just felt she would have looked better if she had not tried to look 20 years younger than she was and had checked the mirror before she had come out!
I'm sure she is a very nice lady - just struck me as someone who was shouting "look at me" - trouble is I think everyone did and then thought "what the heck...."
Oh well - it takes all sorts!!
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