Sunday 25 December 2011

Saturday 24 December 2011

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Merry Christmas to one and all.  I hope that you have a happy, peaceful, healthy and fun-filled time.

For me Christmas means relaxing away from the day to day slog and a chance to do all those things that I've wanted to do but just not found time to.

I, among many others, will be probably glad to see the back of 2011 with all its trials and tribulations and let us hope that everything improves in the coming year.

Above all:

Merry Christmas Everyone
&
Peace and goodwill to all


Friday 23 December 2011

A Dog is For Life

It's been 5 months now since my last cat passed away, and 9 years since my dog Charlie left us.

For someone who has always had some pet or other the house is really clean but rather empty!

After Charlie died Mick said he would never have another dog because you could never replace Charlie (a spaniel cross he was such a character).

Now I know how he feels as I can never replace Saysha or Garfie (my cats).  However I'm starting to think that it is not 'replacing' anything for when you are an animal lover you love them all, not just the special ones, and surely it is better to give a home and love to another pet than insist that you are never going to have another because it is painful when they leave you.

A second argument Mick has is that it would be unfair to have another pet while we are getting close to retirement and we travel back and forth to France and Spain.

My argument would be that a dog can come with us.  With a pet passport we are able to travel back and forth with our pet.  Hundreds of people in the motorhome forums spend all their time travelling with their pets and I think when you have done it once then you will know how to do it from then on.

Now I know that Mick is unable to walk very far these days with the problem he has with his back, but I can.

Thinking ahead to retirement, Mick is a great one for lying in bed until late morning whilst I am up and about at the crack of dawn.  The thought of being able to go out for a stroll with a dog and be back indoors even before he awakes is rather tempting.

But all said and done the real reason I want a dog is because I really miss having a pet.  I can't go out and look for one but if one 'turns up' I know it will not be turned away.

Sunday 11 December 2011

Royal Mail Recorded Delivery - Don't Bother

Royal Mail Recorded Delivery are useless.  The van deliveries, that is, not the normal postie carrying them in his sack.

Now I realise it is a busy time of the year and all that but if you pay for recorded delivery you expect it to be delivered and not returned to the seller because no notification card has been put through your door.

Our normal postie is excellent, he knows us and he knows our neighbours.  The service is normally excellent but as a person who works full time and who does most of their shopping online I am reliant upon the delivery people to put a card through my door so that I can go and pick up the items from the collection centre at the weekend.

Two purchases recently that were deemed too big for the normal postie to carry and therefore were being delivered by van have been returned to the seller because no card had been put through my door.

One of these items I am furious about because it is a present for one of my grandchildren and I needed to have it for next weekend.  How do you tell a 3 year old that Santa sent his present back!

I know what has happened:  the seasonal staff that are taken on to deal with the Christmas rush have come to the door with the parcel and could not be bothered to go back to the van; write the card; walk back and put the card through the door so consequently the item has been returned to the depot and the driver has said that they have left a card - when they haven't!

Now from my point of view I have ordered them in plenty of time but waited just a little bit longer before notifying the seller (putting it down to Christmas being a busy period) and now it is too late.

Also have you ever tried to complain to Royal Mail?

You go round and around their site attempting to find the link where you can email a complaint.  If you haven't given up after about the third attempt of going from one page to another then you eventually find a hidden link saying "notification form".

Scream!!!

Royal Mail you are definitely not in my good books at the moment.