Well, I am at a strangely quiet home now that the last of the family have returned to England, with their exuberant 12-month-old Rottweiler puppy. The time spent away was very good; even if the weather wasn't. It however did have some moments when problems occurred, one of which is still ongoing. Unbeknown to me, while I was sat watching surfers, my bank was paying Amazon €66 for something that I knew nothing about. Checked with Amazon, who came back to confirm I had not placed an order with them. Next stop messages to the bank who insist I must have placed an order, and gave me the time down to the second when I had paid it. When I pointed out that I had photos, date and time stamped for that moment of me on the beach, not ordering things online, they went very quiet. I believe I have discovered a hole in their security system that they do not wish to admit to. A visit to my branch when they open again Tuesday should be interesting.
Over and out for a while here as moving tomorrow and haven't really set up the new nest properly. Might take a week or so to be back online. Take care y'all.
I can't believe the hoops you have to jump through to stop a bank card here. Having reported that an order had been placed with Amazon, not by me, I asked for my card to be stopped, and a new one issued. "No, you must telephone our fraud team on this number, and they will stop it." The number given is no longer available, so yet another message to the bank. While waiting, I find two more payments have been made from my account, this time to Uber. Doing an online search, I find the telephone number given to me has one digit wrong. Telephone the correct number, and having listened to some strange music, I speak to someone. Having given details of my account and other things, he informs me that the bank have already stopped my card. Why did they say they couldn't do it, then did? Now I need a new card, which I suspect will not arrive quickly.
An hour in the bank to sort out my fraud claim. No wonder the poor lady seemed harassed, as I was the second one this morning. She claimed it is everywhere, and she is dealing with it every day. Sad really that the internet is being used in this way.
Just back from a week in Rhodes, strangely enough the self service booking in worked at Gatwick and we were through into Duty Free etc in half an hour and back through baggage control on the return was very quick Holiday was great and food was as I remembered from 5 years ago and still good value After collecting the car to drive home the nightmare started, junction from M23 to M25 was shut and were were diverted up to Croydon, follow the diversion signs there original sign said except that when we got to a T junction the signage was missing, after driving around Croydon for a hour we switched to Sat Nav which took us through London to the M1 through a mass of Bus Lanes, Cycle Lanes. additional diversions due to road works and a blanket 20 mph speed limit I am not sure wether I owe Ghengis Khan a fortune or not First time I have driven in London for about 20 years and hopefully the last, when you are driving through rain at 3 am and arguing with the wife about which turn we should have taken and driving a car at 20 mph is almost impossible
Women!! You should have told her to get out and walk... I haven't driven in London for over 40 years - and swore then I'd never do it again. I don't know what possessed me, but I thought driving straight through the middle would be the quickest way to get to Gatwick, where I was due to collect my sister. I got stuck on what I swear was a six lane roundabout - by the time I worked out which exit to take, I couldn't get to it as there was too much traffic & couldn't change lanes. Took me half an hour to get off the damned thing - when I eventually got to Gatwick, my sister had gone.
Ai back in the city I was last in 2009, where the Mrs is from. Got the gaff 3 months ago, but took a while to set it up. Well, get a fair few bits of work done. Liveable now (I hope) and on with the unboxing. Been living with the F-in-law so bet he is pleased to see the back of me despite his great kindness in letting us be there between moves.
Very heavy rain Thursday, and it has hardly stopped since, has brought the river levels dangerously high again. Signs are out to warn of flooded roads. Any thoughts of gardening remain just thoughts.
My mate, in Dorset, has been telling me about his younger son, who is the part owner of a pub down there. Like many pubs over the past few years, it has been a struggle, with long hours, irregular meals, and a few too many beers. The trouble now has become desperate, as he is a stage 1 diabetic, needing daily injections of insulin. With his chaotic lifestyle, he forgets the insulin, finishing up in hospital for a week while they sort him out. His real worry now is that he has very little sight in one eye, and the other is starting to deteriorate. In his late forties, he has ignored his father telling him to be more careful about his health, but is now wishing he had taken the advice.
It is a shame, but the two English families that own a house in the village have given up their multiple visits each year, as the 90-day rule was stopping them from popping over at will. So now the house has been put up for sale and where we once saw prospective buyers from the UK, they have been replaced by Dutch and Belgians. My Brummie friends had to suddenly disappear at the weekend when the calculator told them their time was up.
Some decent days are forecast over the next week. Ir was very autumnal here this morning, with a lot of mist. Will you have to go all through the same process if you want another six months visa for next year?
We have our son and grandson here..had lunch on the terrace..wood chopping and football happening. Yes..next year the same again...we have lobbied the french gvt to make it easier..butno real progress yet
New city here, well lived here in 2009 for a year, new (yet old but done up) house, finding my feet in the local area. I'll do well, but time is needed, like doing freelance but hard to set up again as worked with locals. In the meantime, got a good local pizza shop, goat tacos and a baseball stadium close, but not sure on that....anyone seen baseball live, or is it rounders?
Its rounders, basically a girls game played by men in silly trousers, wearing baseball caps and played under lights to try and make it dramatic, same as grid iron football, a stupid version of Rugby League played by ****s wearing full body armour in case anyone hurts themselves making an effort
