Just for the record I am now awaiting delivery of a new freezer (the very old one blew up in protest at being cleaned) and a new wheelbarrow.
Both took far less effort online than going to a store. Now I just have to see if they arrive when they say they will.
Can I have a rant about banks and other large corporate institutions? (Well what use is a blog if one cannot sound off every now and then?) I don't want to go into details – some of them make pretty boring reading anyway – but one thing guaranteed to raise my blood pressure is corporate clout and the way they think they can do whatever they like. Customer service seems to have disappeared totally. Or perhaps it is exponentially with there being less work for real people to do and more fees to pay out for expensive computer systems.
Just as well I have my flowers to look at.
The new garden is already laid out with paths, patios, grass, shrubs and borders. The dog and cat have never kept as clean. Of course all of that is helped by the instant summer that has suddenly appeared in this part of Argyll. Today's bit of fun has been to create an instant flowering garden in the garden tubs.
Let's hope the deer don't eat them!
Changing one's address on a driving licence used to be a simple matter of filling in the back of a form. Nowadays the new photocard licence has to be issued. This involves getting photographs (why do they always look like convicts?) – then completing a long form and sending it away with either a passport or birth and marriage certificates. If you don't trust the post, it means going to a specially designated post office to produce the documents and pay ?4. As I cannot find out where to go, I suppose it means trusting Royal Mail.
When I first started work in insurance, it was as a lowly clerk and my main job was to deal with changes of address. There were index cards of various kinds to be altered, files to bring up to date, an acknowledgement to be sent, an order to any policy that might require amendment and a record of everything that had been done so it could be traced back to me. Nowadays it can all be done on computer. Simple you might think. Not so. Because of security problems, it takes an arm and a leg to convince an operative that I am who I say I am. Then there are all sorts of hoops to jump through. I keep forgetting passwords and secret questions and having to go back to the beginning of the process, which means hanging on an automated telephone line for fifteen minutes.
Ah well – these are all the joys of moving house.
The new bookcase from Ikea is now safely installed in the living room. It is rather large, but this means that some of the books stored in the loft have been able to be brought down and stowed. This was not accomplished without some grumbling along the lines of….First you put them up – then you take them down.
The amazon sales have gone quite well over the last couple of weeks. 14 books sold to date. However, I discovered a slight snag – the for sale items only remain in force for 60 days, then they have to be renewed. I am hoping this can be done with the click of a button rather than by the laborious task of listing each one separately. I suppose if I was a proper bookseller I would be organising a sale by then to get rid of stock.
It has been a stonking down with rain day today.
Just the kind of day to have afternoon tea in the campervan and plan summer trips.
I love this quote from Walt Whitman…..
To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle……
A good thing to remember on a Sunday.
There is a new word in my vocabulary…..Skype….
To skype means to “phone” someone via the internet and broadband and is an excellent way of talking to friends throughout the world for no cost. All you need is a good internet connection, a pair of headphones and the programme itself. Check it out at www.skype.com
Dana dog is home from her holidays. Him Behind the Wheel, his sister (plus her dachsund) and myself had an expedition to collect Dana from her adopted mother. All went well and we even had the energy to call in at Ikea on the way back. When we arrived here, the supposedly dumb blonde retriever went straight to a flower pot, collected two of her toys and proceeded to run round the garden making it her own.
She is now well settled and does not seem the least bit confused at her new surroundings. Perhaps we humans could take a lesson or two from our animal friends. They make the best of each day with whoever is there, and they seize opportunities whenever they arise.
Welcome home Dana! And thank you to her adoptive parents.
