Things I’ve done in the last 24 hours

I don’t think that’s an accurate comparison. Any veg I grow on my allotment tastes loads better than veg from a supermarket. However, I’m pretty confident that I could spend hours and hours making croissants that at best are mediocre to ok. Really good croissants are pretty rare and generally found in France IMO. Hopefully @Chalshus has greater success but for me, to spend time making something that at best would be ‘ok’ puts it into the ‘Life is too short’ category

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Well it was on Saturday and with my overfilled life I sometimes loose track.
A knock at the door heralded the arrival of the Waitrose delivery partner.
Sorry but I’ve got a bit of a problem with your order he said presenting me with my chilled purchases covered with 475 grams of purple fig yogurt.
Not sure what’s happened. Seemed quite obvious to me.
I should have sent him and the complete shop packing but it was wet,he looked miserable and he had hit upon my kindly half hour. And they only charge £2.00 delivery.
We will sort it out and hose your tray off.

Three hours later.
Email apologising for the occurrence and telling me a refund for the lost product would be in my bank account within days.
I intimated that the effort I had gone to including cleaning pf yogurt off the hall carpet might be rewarded with a small credit note …….bottle of Shirazy sorta value.
Apparently if unhappy I am at liberty to ‘reach out’ to the local store.
My answer that as the store knew there was a problem they might reach out to me and offer an apology was apparently not the way to go about things.
Being not quite housebound you have to find your fun where you can😉

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We decided to go wild and pay £15 for priority disembarkation at Ouistreham. It’s a new thing introduced by Brittany Ferries and we wondered how effective it would be. But here we are; we will be the first car to get off when we arrive at 10pm tonight.

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We’ve had similar problems in the past with Tesco, who we no longer buy from. Multiple instances of shopping contaminated with yoghurt, bleach and various other undetermined fluids. In fairness they always refunded us without quibble and sometomes gave us a voucher for money off our next shop. But it got beyond a joke so often was it happening.

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The rope net at the exit doesn’t inspire confidence :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

A delightful couple of hours enjoying the early 17th Century/Jacobean vibe at Westwood Manor near Bradford on Avon.

The oldest Italian virginal instrument in the country (1530s) and a spinet from the 1700s.

The ‘Kings Room’ with panelling, portraits and plasterwork from the 1600s.

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Nope. No communication from Evri whatsoever, I was going to check with Amazon (again) in case I needed to arrange something.

Had boxed up the device but not attached the return label.

Loud knock at 4pm - ‘parcel to pick up mate’ - sorry let me just stick the label on the box. ‘No sorry can’t wait for that’.

My fault, I can understand the guy has a busy schedule, but it would have taken seconds to sellotape it on. Wouldn’t have taken much for Evri to emial or text to say we’re sending someone to pick up an item today would it? Amazon suggested they would do that.

It’s a very sturdy metal barrier.

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There’s something about priority payments to jump queues that grates me. Whatever happened to just having to wait your turn, just highlights that money is the answer to everything (apparently).

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Agreed. They have the same offer on the Isle of Wight ferry here in the U.K. (a regular trip). It just seems wrong to me, and the last thing I want to do is give the ferry companies encouragement to find ways of wringing more cash out of their customers.

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It was only £15, and meant we’d get a better night’s sleep. Is it really any different to paying more to get a better stereo, or a bit more to get nicer clothes? Of paying for a good seat at a concert rather than sitting behind a pillar at the back?

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It’s slightly different - more like paying to jump the queue? Note: I’m criticising the principle, not you personally :blush:.

As it’s a boat, I’d accept the principle of ‘Women & Children first’ without question :sweat_smile::grin::ferry:

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I used to regularly (when I competed internationally) take a shotgun on the Dover to Calais ferry. This got me priority service!
All you needed was an international shotgun certificate (easy to get for free). You got your own row at the terminal, along with other special guests, and were always first on and off.
The downside was you were more likely to have a car covered in salt.
As I was a single male driver, I did once get stopped after checking in and had my car searched. The look on the guy’s face when he saw the Beretta and 500 cartridges will stay with me. The conversation he had with his boss was good also. It was a routine stop that he thought would be simple. It was once his boss told him all I needed was the international SG certificate/license.

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Or going private for hospital treatment to avoid waiting lists? Queue jumping is a mortal sin, but we’ll let you off this time… :wink:

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We travel on the same ferry route as you most summers and since Brexit, it is much slower to get through immigration, both into France and back into the UK.

The entry to France will be much slower from later this year/next spring. Personally I wouldn’t hesitate to pay a lot more than £15 to be at the front of that queue.

I’ve had some interesting experiences flying to the USA to compete. BA were good but Virgin left a lot to be desired. “Equipment checks” performed at the check in desk, in front of the remaining passengers left some people a little shaken. When you get to the other end it just comes out on the baggage carousel!!!

They just attempted another pick up - ‘Is it big? Sorry no room in my car, can I come back later?’. :person_facepalming:

Yes, the general public assumes controls with SGs and firearms are tight. Of course, things are controlled, and ultimately, it is the license holders’ responsibility to comply with the laws of the land (as a minimum). When I tell people that an RFD effectively mails guns to other RFDs, they look surprised!

My only travels with SGs have been via the ferry. The only restriction was having to hand my car keys in once on board.

My current job role requires quite a bit of international travel. BA are not my first choice, but Virgin are better than BA.

I’ve explained to the customs on London City Airport what a hicap is and why I had to bring it back home to the Netherlands.

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It not really customs that are the problem. When you fly with a shotgun on British Airways, they have the gun booked in a sporting equipment and after you check you luggage, security comes and takes you to a private secure area to inspect the guns, x-ray, check licences etc. Once happy they take them from you and that’s that. With Virgin, the checked the luggage, called security and security insisted on doing the gun inspection at the check-in desk, in front of all the other passengers waiting for the same flight. Not something your average airline passengers want to see.