To UPS who have a parcel which needs signed for. It was due on Monday. When they decided that it was time to knock off without reaching us it was reloaded for the next day. We seem to be at the end of the route, so guess what happens. And since it needs signed for, and since the nearest place we could collect it is 50 miles away, we are at their mercy, waiting in, leaving notes etc. I wish people would use the post office, which, here at least, is brilliant. And if a thing needs signed for the postie leaves it in the porch and signs for it himself!
Folk who make it hard to put stuff through their letter-box because:
1. Their front gate jams
2. The steps in their front garden are steep and uneven
3. You have to go back to the road to get to the next house because there's a hedge in between, even though the doors are only a few feet apart
4. They own dogs which hurl themselves at the door when you post anything through
5. They have fitted impenetrable draught excluders.
Will that do for starters?
To the delivery drivers of Hermes, Royal Mail, ParcelFarce, Amazon etc for this years merry "Hunt the Parcel" game. OK, you do put cards stating where parcels have been left but they are all over the place. We are at no 77, but we have parcels for 69 and 79, parcels for us are at 79, 106 and the depot and we have a Christmas card for number 70. That is just yesterday's haul. WTF?
Maybe they just want you to get to know your neighbors.
Hermes, who are normally very good. They have 'lost' my deceased brother's clarinet, which I was sending to a charity that distributes unwanted musical instruments to young people who DO want them.
They tried to deliver to a school on a Saturday (grrr) and it hasn't been located since :mad:
Hmm. Some schools round here seem to have quite a lot of activities happening on a Saturday, so there must be some staff around. But, point taken.
TICT a very gentle H the Powers-That-Be wot are holding up the licensing of our new priest by being v e r y s l o w about completing the paperwork (mostly the DBS stuff - and yes, I know how important this is, but it's taking weeks).
We tried the sonic repellents when we had little unwelcome visitors in our last house, but we didn't find they made a whit of difference.
Our neighbours had three cats, and the wee buggers looked at our house, thought "cat-free zone" and in they came. They were also decidedly unco-operative when it came to (humane) traps - they either jumped over them or scuttled past.
Mice. We've had The Council in. Set traps. Plugged in sonic repellants.
I’ve stuffed the gap which is giving access to the worktops with tinfoil. Let the little buggers chew through that.
I found hanks of steel wool good to keep them out. Not the sort already coated with soap but hanks like knitting yarn, often used by tradies in welding etc.
We used to have bush mice on a property. Everything had to be packed away when we left. We returned one weekend to find they had almost got into a jar of peanut butter. Back in the days of glass jars with metal lids. The rolled edge of the lid had been chewed all around !
Determined little buggers. It's no co-incidence that people here use peanut butter to bait their traps.
A school that I attended as a child had a mouse problem. We came back from the holidays to find the crayons had been gnawed and multi-coloured mouse poo everywhere.
Determined little buggers. It's no co-incidence that people here use peanut butter to bait their traps.
A school that I attended as a child had a mouse problem. We came back from the holidays to find the crayons had been gnawed and multi-coloured mouse poo everywhere.
The school I attended at primary school was in the old, original buildings. Those were the days when exercise books were covered with brown paper, and usually had cut outs from Christmas cards on the front. These were stuck with glue from flour and water. Winter weekends saw the mice come up from under the floor and chew the pictures to get at the glue.
My cat Sam used to bring them in and let them go. Later he learned not to bring them in. We once caught two in one night - I opened the bin, he caught them.
I recall coming home from a holiday in la belle France many years ago.
Waiting for a train at Libourne, I found that an entire packet of biscuits in my bag had been chewed - all down one side - by a rather engaging little field-mouse.
I humanely released him/her on Libourne station, albeit s/he was by then some 50 kilometres from home.....
My father had a problem with mice - one neighbour kept birds, so there was always seed around, and the other's child had pet mice which escaped. The outcome was that the whole run of the street had a mouse problem.
Dad babysat our cat for a week while we were on holiday. He never saw a mouse again. They reckon that the smell of a cat will keep mice away.
Once Mr Image woke me in the middle of the night and said he heard a mouse cough. I told him he was dreaming. The next morning when he went to put on his shoes the laces had been chewed. Traps were set, good by coughing mouse.
Package thieves.
The front porch in the house also serves a line of apartments behind us. The post office drops packages for all of them on our porch. There had been a couple of packages there for a few days. This morning I was headed back to the house when I came across the boxes, open and empty, on the sidewalk a few doors down. If you're expecting a parcel, you should wait for it so you can get it indoors because other people may also be waiting.
But still, TICTH package thieves.
Today it's the turn of the bank who have sat on my application to open an account for my mother's ready money, using my LPOA, for over a month. During that time I have had not one single word from them, in spite of phone calls asking for progress reports.
Today, they tell me that there are inaccuracies in my application - but they can't tell me what they are because I haven't passed security (no-one ever asked me any security questions?!) Nor will they even write and tell me, because 'that isn't their process'. No, it's for me to send in another application, correcting these inaccuracies without the slightest clue as to what they might be, and enclosing a second certified copy of my LPOA.
Since I thought the application was accurate to start with, I'm on a real loser here, no?
And asking me if I wanted to raise a complaint was not helpful either. All I want them to do is open an account so my mother's next year's care fees aren't losing money in a current account somewhere
When any toerag can wander in and open an account with a dodgy Eastern European id card, when I could easily just transfer all that money to my account and do what the hell I want with it, trying to do the right thing doesn't appear to be the right thing to do!
Grrrr on your behalf, Mrs. S - we had similar trouble when trying to renew our permanent residence cards - they said the photos weren't right but didn't say what was wrong with them. Is it possible to take the application forms into the bank and fill them in (or at least the bits that might be dodgy) with an Actual Human Being there to tell you if and where you're going wrong?
* * * * *
My pension saga is trundling on - apparently the person I e-mailed the bank mandate form to is on holiday until tomorrow. There must be thousands of civil servants in Northern Ireland - why do I have to deal with the one who takes holidays a week and a half before Christmas?
You've reminded me of a story my father told me about dealing with the US Customs service. He was a licensed customhouse broker, and knew the ins and outs pretty well. He was stymied when a clerk returned an entry because the signature was incorrect. He had signed his name -- Robert E. M[....], but she said that wasn't a valid signature -- "this says Robert B. M[....]"
This would have been many years ago but the bureaucratic mindset hasn't really changed.
My pension saga is trundling on - apparently the person I e-mailed the bank mandate form to is on holiday until tomorrow. There must be thousands of civil servants in Northern Ireland - why do I have to deal with the one who takes holidays a week and a half before Christmas?
I had a similar experience when we were about to depart for three months' paid leave overseas - money not in the account with 72 hours to departure. Rang the payroll section of our department to find that the responsible officer was on leave until the Monday after we were to depart, and no-one had been tasked to transfer my funds. After being given the runaround, I enquired whether I should contact my local MP who happened to be the chairman of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee. Very speed return phone call to advise that if I attended the local regional office the following day, a cheque would be drawn. I don't whether that strategy would be successful in your case, given the current state of NI politics, however.
I had to take similar action many years ago. I went to collect son, then in kindy. Classes were outside on verandah. Apparently there had been a sewer blockage for several days and raw sewage was seeping down corridor and into the rooms opening from corridor. Infants mistress was scathing about principal’s inability to get it fixed. I went home, Rang Sydney Morning Herald, council Health Department and several people who had access to various MPs.
Next morning we got to school to find reporters, council inspectors, and the matter had been raised at Question Time. Then a whole force of plumbers and workmen turned up and matter was fixed in no time. Principal dithered over cleaning and replacement of the carpet. I told him I would repeat the process and new carpet magically appeared.
Here, TV stations generally have some kind of consumer help department, separate from sending news folk to cover a situation. This link goes to 7 On Your Side, part of our local ABC broadcast station.
Sometimes they tell the consumer's story on the show. Sometimes that's verbally, and others it's a video clip.
I was thinking something like that *might* be helpful for several recent problems on this thread.
My pension saga is trundling on - apparently the person I e-mailed the bank mandate form to is on holiday until tomorrow. There must be thousands of civil servants in Northern Ireland - why do I have to deal with the one who takes holidays a week and a half before Christmas?
I had a similar experience when we were about to depart for three months' paid leave overseas - money not in the account with 72 hours to departure. Rang the payroll section of our department to find that the responsible officer was on leave until the Monday after we were to depart, and no-one had been tasked to transfer my funds. After being given the runaround, I enquired whether I should contact my local MP who happened to be the chairman of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee. Very speed return phone call to advise that if I attended the local regional office the following day, a cheque would be drawn. I don't whether that strategy would be successful in your case, given the current state of NI politics, however.
It was a long time ago but I remember a certain DUP Member of Parliament who had a knack of getting things done twenty-four hours a day, any day except Sunday (yes, it was him!). I expect the current crop can put the wind up the chair warmers too.
My pension saga is trundling on - apparently the person I e-mailed the bank mandate form to is on holiday until tomorrow. There must be thousands of civil servants in Northern Ireland - why do I have to deal with the one who takes holidays a week and a half before Christmas?
That's much worse than mine, Piglet - I'm really sorry that happened
And sadly, to get a 'reasonable' interest rate, I need to apply remotely - the Bank of Ireland, purely as an example, doesn't have many branches in the Deep Dark Forest. Actually, neither does anyone else - even Big Banks tend to turn up as a mobile van-branch, one hour a week and that's already been a whole 'nother saga!
I don't think there'd be much mileage in threatening with MPs or ombudsmen considering I'm on the other side of the planet, and as Sioni pointed out, "Big Ian"* is even further away ...
* He wasn't our MP, but SS is right - he had a reputation for fighting his constituents' battles, no matter which side of The Divide™ they came from, which is exactly what an MP should do.
Priscilla, I'd do it for you. I find it relaxing (also flat pack furniture) like a 3D puzzle.
Granted the once I had to wrap something large and duck-shaped was quite tiresome. No, it wasn't a duck.
9 trees, all about 150 years old. Chainsaws have taken them down. Because when they constructed nextdoor, they cut the roots for to build a basement, and the group all leaned toward our's now. Insurance says we had to do it or coverage ceased. Trees in difficult spots of 60-80 foot height down in segments, dropped a metre away from structures. Well it is done, and I feel terrible, both about the trees and about the bill for it all, in round figures $1k/tree. Nothing to be done but to pay the bill. And then seek redress.
Oh no! That's as bad as the developer in Swansea who "accidentally " cut down a 150 year old giant redwood.
Can you claim from whoever constructed next door?
O dear. Trees (for all their benefits as Gaia's Lungs) can be a bit problematic.
Our Place is graced by two large London Planes, and three small (but shapely and lively) lime trees. We really do need to have them pollarded/trimmed, in accordance with approved arboricultural practice, but for some reason our Parochial Church Council (despite repeated entreaties), seems unwilling to have the work carried out, although we are told that this is the best time of year.
The longer the PCC dithers, the bigger the trees grow, the larger the cost in £££ becomes, and the more vociferously rage the complaints of the neighbouring householders...(who never darken the doors of the church, but there yer go...).
It seems not, though there is some doubt about one of the lime trees, as it's in a different street from the other two.
Fair comment, but what can They (TPTB) do, if we do trim them to (a) please the neighbours, and to (b) promote the ongoing health of the trees?
If we kill the trees, the houses would probably suffer subsidence, as would the church - but that wouldn't matter, as the church consists of people, not buildings! All we would need would be a table, a Bible, a Prayer Book, a cup, a plate, and a shelter of some sort.....O, and some candles, incense, and a stole or two, all easily carried in a Portable Sacristy....
They (TPTB) can hardly force us to stick the trimmed bits back on, although, given the Looking-Glass politics prevalent in Ukland at the moment, I wouldn't be surprised if They did at least try....
Oh no! That's as bad as the developer in Swansea who "accidentally " cut down a 150 year old giant redwood.
Can you claim from whoever constructed next door?
There's this thing called "goodwill". Which is generally required for such things, unless it's time for pitched battles involving jousting with papers and writs. Must say the construction created in me bad will, of the bilious yellow kind. Must.make.friends.with.enemies.
Don't know if I've vented about this before - if so apologies.
ICTH editors of hymn books, recent editions no less, who decide to "improve" things and edit well-known carols so that the words don't match those that are in the pretty well ubiquitous carol books used by choirs.
Yes, I'm looking at the NEH and Once in royal David's city.
What have they done to it? I noticed some years ago that Kings on the Strand had removed some text and joined two verses so that they omitted the stuff about good little children which my mother hated, feeling she was being got at. They now omit all the middle part. But having two different versions in the same church must be a bit of a problem.
Comments
1. Their front gate jams
2. The steps in their front garden are steep and uneven
3. You have to go back to the road to get to the next house because there's a hedge in between, even though the doors are only a few feet apart
4. They own dogs which hurl themselves at the door when you post anything through
5. They have fitted impenetrable draught excluders.
Will that do for starters?
Who notify me immediately such parcels have been received, and are awaiting my Episcopal Pleasure.
(Thanks, N., V., and S. - your reward will be in Heaven!).
They tried to deliver to a school on a Saturday (grrr) and it hasn't been located since :mad:
Mrs. S, normally serene :furious:
TICT a very gentle H the Powers-That-Be wot are holding up the licensing of our new priest by being v e r y s l o w about completing the paperwork (mostly the DBS stuff - and yes, I know how important this is, but it's taking weeks).
I’ve stuffed the gap which is giving access to the worktops with tinfoil. Let the little buggers chew through that.
Our neighbours had three cats, and the wee buggers looked at our house, thought "cat-free zone" and in they came. They were also decidedly unco-operative when it came to (humane) traps - they either jumped over them or scuttled past.
I found hanks of steel wool good to keep them out. Not the sort already coated with soap but hanks like knitting yarn, often used by tradies in welding etc.
We used to have bush mice on a property. Everything had to be packed away when we left. We returned one weekend to find they had almost got into a jar of peanut butter. Back in the days of glass jars with metal lids. The rolled edge of the lid had been chewed all around !
A school that I attended as a child had a mouse problem. We came back from the holidays to find the crayons had been gnawed and multi-coloured mouse poo everywhere.
Waiting for a train at Libourne, I found that an entire packet of biscuits in my bag had been chewed - all down one side - by a rather engaging little field-mouse.
I humanely released him/her on Libourne station, albeit s/he was by then some 50 kilometres from home.....
Dad babysat our cat for a week while we were on holiday. He never saw a mouse again. They reckon that the smell of a cat will keep mice away.
The front porch in the house also serves a line of apartments behind us. The post office drops packages for all of them on our porch. There had been a couple of packages there for a few days. This morning I was headed back to the house when I came across the boxes, open and empty, on the sidewalk a few doors down. If you're expecting a parcel, you should wait for it so you can get it indoors because other people may also be waiting.
But still, TICTH package thieves.
Today, they tell me that there are inaccuracies in my application - but they can't tell me what they are
Since I thought the application was accurate to start with, I'm on a real loser here, no?
And asking me if I wanted to raise a complaint was not helpful either. All I want them to do is open an account so my mother's next year's care fees aren't losing money in a current account somewhere
When any toerag can wander in and open an account with a dodgy Eastern European id card, when I could easily just transfer all that money to my account and do what the hell I want with it, trying to do the right thing doesn't appear to be the right thing to do!
Sorry - got a bit carried away there
* * * * *
My pension saga is trundling on - apparently the person I e-mailed the bank mandate form to is on holiday until tomorrow. There must be thousands of civil servants in Northern Ireland - why do I have to deal with the one who takes holidays a week and a half before Christmas?
Piglet, bureaucrats do these things by instinct, to frustrate the people who need their help.
This would have been many years ago but the bureaucratic mindset hasn't really changed.
I had a similar experience when we were about to depart for three months' paid leave overseas - money not in the account with 72 hours to departure. Rang the payroll section of our department to find that the responsible officer was on leave until the Monday after we were to depart, and no-one had been tasked to transfer my funds. After being given the runaround, I enquired whether I should contact my local MP who happened to be the chairman of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee. Very speed return phone call to advise that if I attended the local regional office the following day, a cheque would be drawn. I don't whether that strategy would be successful in your case, given the current state of NI politics, however.
Next morning we got to school to find reporters, council inspectors, and the matter had been raised at Question Time. Then a whole force of plumbers and workmen turned up and matter was fixed in no time. Principal dithered over cleaning and replacement of the carpet. I told him I would repeat the process and new carpet magically appeared.
One sometimes has to do what has to be done.
Sometimes they tell the consumer's story on the show. Sometimes that's verbally, and others it's a video clip.
I was thinking something like that *might* be helpful for several recent problems on this thread.
FWIW, YMMV.
It was a long time ago but I remember a certain DUP Member of Parliament who had a knack of getting things done twenty-four hours a day, any day except Sunday (yes, it was him!). I expect the current crop can put the wind up the chair warmers too.
That's much worse than mine, Piglet - I'm really sorry that happened
And sadly, to get a 'reasonable' interest rate, I need to apply remotely - the Bank of Ireland, purely as an example, doesn't have many branches in the Deep Dark Forest. Actually, neither does anyone else - even Big Banks tend to turn up as a mobile van-branch, one hour a week
Mrs. S, who won't bore you with that one...
* He wasn't our MP, but SS is right - he had a reputation for fighting his constituents' battles, no matter which side of The Divide™ they came from, which is exactly what an MP should do.
Granted the once I had to wrap something large and duck-shaped was quite tiresome. No, it wasn't a duck.
A-in-E - if it's shaped like a duck ...
Can you claim from whoever constructed next door?
Our Place is graced by two large London Planes, and three small (but shapely and lively) lime trees. We really do need to have them pollarded/trimmed, in accordance with approved arboricultural practice, but for some reason our Parochial Church Council (despite repeated entreaties), seems unwilling to have the work carried out, although we are told that this is the best time of year.
The longer the PCC dithers, the bigger the trees grow, the larger the cost in £££ becomes, and the more vociferously rage the complaints of the neighbouring householders...(who never darken the doors of the church, but there yer go...).
Fair comment, but what can They (TPTB) do, if we do trim them to (a) please the neighbours, and to (b) promote the ongoing health of the trees?
If we kill the trees, the houses would probably suffer subsidence, as would the church - but that wouldn't matter, as the church consists of people, not buildings! All we would need would be a table, a Bible, a Prayer Book, a cup, a plate, and a shelter of some sort.....O, and some candles, incense, and a stole or two, all easily carried in a Portable Sacristy....
They (TPTB) can hardly force us to stick the trimmed bits back on, although, given the Looking-Glass politics prevalent in Ukland at the moment, I wouldn't be surprised if They did at least try....
ICTH editors of hymn books, recent editions no less, who decide to "improve" things and edit well-known carols so that the words don't match those that are in the pretty well ubiquitous carol books used by choirs.
Yes, I'm looking at the NEH and Once in royal David's city.
At least the choir has a chance to discover the alterations beforehand....