The Isle of Wight ferry and odd dress sense

Local news stations baffle the life out of me.  When I first moved north out of London, the local news here was relevant to the area.  However, ITV had a reshuffle some time ago of the local regions, so instead of being in the Central Midlands region I have been shifted to Central Meridian (all without moving an inch from where I was too).  Now then, bearing in mind I live in South Northamptonshire on the borders of Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, my “local” news now details happenings and goings-on in.................wait for it................Hampshire, Dorset, Essex, Sussex, Kent and the Isle of Wight.  Of course knowing about the delays on the Isle of Wight ferry and the occasional shipping forecast is very handy............if you live on the coast.  However, considering I am seven miles from Silverstone the ferry has very little (in fact none whatsoever) bearing on Northamptonshire life.  ITV insist that the transmitter is giving the correct information for this area.........exactly who at the company has a degree or even a basic knowledge of the layout of England?  It would appear nobody can claim that accolade.

The postal service continues to amaze me too.  Still no sign of the Christmas post which is holed up somewhere in the Northampton sorting office.  Perhaps it will arrive in time for Christmas 2011 although my hopes are not high.  However the new postman is proving to be an amusing sight with his trolley causing an obstacle course in the middle of the road.  It was a source of concern to me initially, but now I say good on him, as he is in fact causing the traffic to slow down around here which can’t be a bad thing.

This week has seen the acquisition of another car to replace my existing people carrier which has served its time and is well overdue to be let out on licence.  Much mirth and merriment at the car shop as the business manager is the double of John Virgo and I had to tell him so.  Well actually I did say John was a taller and narrower version, but facially they are the same.  On a subsequent visit I gave him one of my helpful hints...............with a striped shirt and tie with swirly patterns he resembled the test card so he had to know in order to readdress his wardrobe arrangements.

Thank you and goodnight.

Car plans, holiday plans and totally rubbish mail

Wednesday, 19 January 2011

So, here we are again, another week without Christmas post and another new postman who has added an extra dimension to the delivery service.  He knocked on the door yesterday to apologise for putting all my post through next doors letterbox, but explained it was his first day in the job. Great, so a postman with an inability read numbers, just what we need.  He has the bizarre habit of walking up the middle of the road with the post trolley then abandoning it so cars have to go around it..........Most odd.  Today however he was more successful and I have received two letters.............although I fully expect one of the neighbours to knock later with the rest of the post.  Still no Christmas backlog post though.  No reply either from the customer service (what a joke) department of the Royal Mail.  I imagine my letter has been lost on the way due to the totally crap service we are having.  I did sign off my letter wishing them Easter greetings as I said my hopes of them getting it before then were not high.

However, on a happier note the holiday plans are coming along nicely.  Looks like the train to Italy this year with possibly the sleeper train from Paris to Rome then plenty other city locations to explore for a couple of weeks.  This of course is in addtion to France for a week earlier in the year and a music festival in between.

New car is beckoning too. Well I say new, it will be new to me.  Going to view one this evening at the car supermarket place so hopefully will do the deal then.  Decided to replace the broken speaker covers in the existing jalopy (a hazard when it is a working car with little folk inside kicking at the doors) did the first one to see how it would hold and superglued my thumb.  It is currently shiny (not sticky) and I daresay in time it will wash away.

This is all.

So, here we are again, another week without Christmas post and another new postman who has added an extra dimension to the delivery service.  He knocked on the door yesterday to apologise for putting all my post through next doors letterbox, but explained it was his first day in the job. Great, so a postman with an inability read numbers, just what we need.  He has the bizarre habit of walking up the middle of the road with the post trolley then abandoning it so cars have to go around it..........Most odd.  Today however he was more successful and I have received two letters.............although I fully expect one of the neighbours to knock later with the rest of the post.  Still no Christmas backlog post though.  No reply either from the customer service (what a joke) department of the Royal Mail.  I imagine my letter has been lost on the way due to the totally crap service we are having.  I did sign off my letter wishing them Easter greetings as I said my hopes of them getting it before then were not high.

However, on a happier note the holiday plans are coming along nicely.  Looks like the train to Italy this year with possibly the sleeper train from Paris to Rome then plenty other city locations to explore for a couple of weeks.  This of course is in addtion to France for a week earlier in the year and a music festival in between.

New car is beckoning too. Well I say new, it will be new to me.  Going to view one this evening at the car supermarket place so hopefully will do the deal then.  Decided to replace the broken speaker covers in the existing jalopy (a hazard when it is a working car with little folk inside kicking at the doors) did the first one to see how it would hold and superglued my thumb.  It is currently shiny (not sticky) and I daresay in time it will wash away.

This is all.

Where is my missing post (and other irritations)

Another year dawns and the same old issues surface...............price rises everywhere from petrol to food, manky weather and broken teeth. Yes, despite the many visits for the famous root canal work involving a nice lie down every Monday morning, part of the tooth fell apart over the festive season.  Will have to make another booking to get it sorted plus get the other one started.  Oh good. Happy New Year.

With the snow a foot deep before Christmas, plans for the festive season were thrown into disarray, making for a rather quiet time.  I managed to complete several jigsaws though so the time was well spent. All the walking in wellies certainly helped the leg muscles to move and tone up a bit, although when the snow fell in over the top of the wellies I wasn’t too impressed.  Roll on the next drop of the white stuff at which point I will emigrate to warmer climes for six months of the year.

Just watching a children’s television programme where ‘Aunty Mabel’ has purchased some fake dog poo as a joke for children...........what an excellent example to set.

Explain this if you can..............I contacted the local sorting office yesterday to find out where the postal delivery was only to be told they didn’t have enough staff in work to do it. Errrrmm..................hello..............why is my area of town any less important than other areas?  Instead of the usual practice here of a morning postman then doing an afternoon one when they are short staffed, the decision was made to simply not bother.  Apparently they have a large backlog from before Christmas and will deliver today.  This explains why I am still waiting for nearly 20 cards which I know were sent to me.  I mentioned to the jobsworth on the telephone that the majority of my Christmas post had arrived already opened and that I was not happy about this.  He told me to speak to customer services (bearing in mind they are in Belfast) and quoted me a premium rate number.  At this point I lost my patience and reminded him that the post is sorted at his office, not the customer service office, and my gripe is with his team.  Needless to say he refused to help so I am stuck in limbo.  My hopes are not high in relation to receiving all the missing post today, nor receiving it in its original posted condition.  I posted three parcels together in December to the same address in China – to date, only two have arrived.  One street in town had no post delivered for five days before Christmas due to lack of staff.  Sell it off to Deutsche Post as soon as possible – at least the Germans know how to run an efficient system.  The increase in first class postage charges is so worth the money.................

Add the lack of rubbish collection into the mix and it has been a great start to the year by the professional bodies.  Four weeks without household waste being collected is shocking (no chance of ‘Christmas boxes’ for the binmen), although the local rodent population has been able to set up home in the many bin bags that people kindly thought to deposit on the street after week two.  Lucky old Ratty and his family, they were not homeless over Christmas.  No worries for them about lack of rooms at the inn. 

In times of stress caused by outside influences I find the best remedy is to sort out a holiday! Off to research the options now!  Arriverderci!