Tag Archives: parcel

Old Oaks of Sherwood Forest

Holiday Day 2 Failed Parcel Delivery

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Took Julia to work. Went to see friends at local jewellers. Got home, found that the delivery company dpd had been, left a card and gone. They could have left the parcel in the porch. They could have left it with a neighbour. But they didn’t. They did, however, leave a card. I used the code on the card to track the parcel and found out that they had tried but failed to deliver. I didn’t actually need a website to tell me that as all the evidence was pointing that way . . .

Old Oaks of Sherwood Forest

Old Oaks of Sherwood Forest

I also found they had taken a picture of my front door. This was also useless as I already know what my front door looks like. If they need to prove that they have been here, the fact that I have the card will do that.

dpd are very big on being green these days. They even asl me to   recycle the card. They tell me that allowing them to use my local pick up point will allow them to cut CO2 emissions by 63%.  MY local drop-off point is the Post Office – 0.2 miles away. I don’t see how dropping it within that distance helps reduce emissions. Due to my difficulty walking I will use the car to pick it up anyway. It will, of course, reduce the emissions from a second journey to deliver, but so would leaving it in the porch or with a neighbour.

Old Oaks of Sherwood Forest

Old Oaks of Sherwood Forest

I am currently on live chat with them. The first contact swiftly shoved me on to someone else – I suspect they were a robot. I am now in a queue and am currently Number 7. This has gone from 20 to 7 in two minutes so isn’t bad . . .

Another two minutes and I engaged in live chat with someone helpful and we got it all changed. For once everything went well, though not as well as if the delivery man had used his head.

The pictures of Sherwood Forest are by request. They are, unfortunately, not great photos, but it was a dull evening for a lot of the shots. I will look for some better ones.

Old Oaks of Sherwood Forest

As an aside, I have often found dpd drivers to be inconsiderate on the road, but as they delivered 1.9 billion parcels worldwide in 2020, it might just be that there a lot of them.

Sherwood Forest – Robin Hood and Little John – the old visitor centre

Sundown in Sherwood

Sunset at Sherwood

Sherwood Forest – carving

Owl carving – Sherwood Forest – it’s on the back of the carving of the head.

Acorn Sculpture – Sherwood Forest

 

The Daily Struggle

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It’s hard to dislike any day as I’m approaching the age at which FDR, U S Grant, General Lee, Alfred Nobel and Audrey Hepburn all died.  The are are others, but that is enough for now. If you are of a similar morbid turn of mind you can look things up here.

However, of all the days of the week, Friday is probably the one when I am least pleased to wake up and realise I have survived another day. It’s the only day of the week when I have to go to work, so it’s tainted with the “back to work” feeling that I remember from the days I had a job I ‘didn’t like.

It started off badly when I couldn’t find some of the things I needed for parcels and ended badly when I got into a queue at the Post Office and found I was behind someone with a rudimentary grasp of parcels. He ended up having to repack it at the counter as he was returning some mail order clothing and thought it was OK to bundle it up in a plastic bag and leave the return address inside. It’s possible that postmen in his country have X-Ray vision, or just open parcels as a matter of course, because it took a lot of explaining before he grasped the idea that the return label should be on the outside.

Meanwhile, a man has just started a complaint against us on eBay as he hasn’t had an item he ordered. He ordered it last Friday, so at best it’s only been a week. A week is a bit soon to start complaining, even at the best of times. In times of COVID it’s definitely a bit too soon. He ordered after we closed on Friday, we posted it on Monday, the next day we were open and it has, since then, been in the hands of the Post Office. Words do not fail me, it’s just that they aren’t suitable for polite company.

That sums up my day. Fortunately, better weather is on the waya nd Spring is just around the corner. Six more weeks and I might try smiling again.

The night sky is a shot from January last year, when I actually used to go out and take photographs.

An Addiction to WordPress

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Just over five years ago  I wandered into WordPress with the intention of practising my writing, gaining some publicity for the Quercus Community group and learning a bit more about Social Media.

As things turned out, I did learn to write faster, even if the accuracy and quality is a bit uneven. The group closed. I’ll say no more about that or I will find myself dwelling on how we were stabbed in the back by a hypocrite. I realised, after a while, that I wasn’t meant for Social Media. If they had Anti-Social Media I am your man.

I first learned there was more to WP than just writing about myself when I read a few posts. One that stuck in my mind was by some doddery old geezer in Hampshire. He pottered about, took photos and ended all his blogs with a description of what he had for tea and what he drank with it.

Five years later I’m addicted to his blog. Whether this is because it’s deceptively beguiling, or whether it’s because I’ve turned into a doddery old git is difficult to say.

His legions of followers argue for the former, but a quick look in the mirror also suggests the latter is not far from the truth.

And that sums up my WordPress experience – gentle addiction. I have really missed the reading and writing and companionship over the last week while I have been condemned to cyber-limbo. This applies to all of you who haven’t been mentioned too.

This post is a bit gushing and upbeat for my taste, which I blame on reading all these Pollyanna-style American blog posts. Don’t think it’s going to be repeated. I missed you all. I’ve admitted it. And I don’t think we need to mention it again.

I am now going to visit the blog of a man whom I regard as my spiritual mentor. Thanks to him I now take my porridge with salt and water and have learned more about choral singing than I am ever likely to need, bearing in mind that I have a voice that grates like the creaking of hinges on a crypt door.

Those of you who require an antidote to the modern fashion for inappropriate cheerfulness could do worse than join me.

I’m off to find some photos now, probably the ones of sunrise which I unwillingly took a couple of days ago when, due to the stupidity of an auctioneer, I had to go to the Sorting Office to pick up a parcel.

Sunrise – Arnold, Notts
Sunrise – Wilford, Notts
Sunrise – Arnold, Notts

 

A Tale of Texting

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I’ve had a shortage of texts in the last few weeks. People I have texted haven’t even been answering me, which must surely be a sign of something.

It all came to an end this week. First I had a text to tell me the surgery had tried to call but had been unable to get through.  This wasn’t quite true – they had got through but had put the phone down as I picked up. However, by doing that and texting they made me pay for the call.

Then I had one from the bank telling me that internet banking was going to be down at the weekend. As I don’t use internet banking this really doesn’t bother me. I reckon that if I don’t use it I will be harder to hack.

Finally I had one from my dentist to say they had to cancel my appointment.  I’ve been waiting five and a half months for that appointment and was looking forward to having my crown refixed.

I rang to rearrange the appointment and now have two. One, next week, will fix my crown and the other, in a month, will be my six-monthly check up. I suspect this means that I will have to pay twice, but I can’t keep going for another month with a loose chunk of gold running amok in my mouth. Regular readers may recall me mentioning that I had a similar problem a few years back and ended up swallowing it. At the current price of gold I don’t want a repeat of that.

Actually, it wasn’t final, I’ve just had one to tell me that I’m having a parcel delivered tomorrow. I’m not sure I needed to know that as I’d have guessed when I got home and found a parcel.

Texting used to be useful, now it seems on the verge of becoming another branch of junk mail.

 

Yesterday, I forgot the Title

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Number One Son cooked tonight, so there are no photos of the food. By the time I got back from picking Julia up from work (tonight being her late night) he had it ready and it seemed rude not to eat it right away.

It was, for those of you who like detail, a steak and shallot pie from Keelham Farm Shop, Skipton. The pastry was good and crispy and there were good chunks of meat in it. For my taste it was a bit over-salted (which seemed to come from the pastry) and shallots are always a bit too sweet. It was still good though.

We’re having the samphire tomorrow.

We had the orange and chilli marmalade this morning. Julia likes it. I’m dubious. I’m not sure there’s a gap in the market for a marmalade that slips down nicely but leaves a burning sensation in your throat.

Did I mention the rhubarb flavored chocolate yesterday? It was quite nice, and very Yorkshire, but it didn’t make it through the night. In fact, when I check, I notice it didn’t even make it into the blog.

The day started with a trip to work, with traffic jams and many thoughts (mainly homicidal). It progressed (if that is the word) to more traffic jams, a trip to the sorting office to pick up a parcel, and a blood test. It only took two attempts this week. I’m hoping I pass as they have currently reduced the interval to a week and weekly blood tests are a bit limiting.

It all turned out to be a bit of an anti-climactic day in the end. Even the threatening clouds didn’t turn into the threatened storm.

At least, when I got home, I had parcels from ebay to open.

I really must start getting things organised.