Here are a few images of this years Goodwood Revival, suffice to say a good time was had by all as usual but having just got back from Goodwood we rushed straight off to see friends at the Sheringham forties weekend but were too busy chatting to take any photos.
We were delighted to get picked for the best dressed competition every day which proves we are beginning to get the hang of it, here are a few images of us meeting friends and generally enjoying ourselves.
We have been very busy of late rushing from one event to the next, so much so that I am completely behind uploading our photos, so to that end I am posting one from The Midland Hotel which we took at Vintage by the sea.
It is de rigueur for white tie and tails at the Midland and when we were there in February this year I forgot my top hat for the iconic photo on the stairs, so we made sure to get the photo this time.
We have just been back for a day from Vintage by the sea which took place at the weekend and was fairly amusing little jaunt, barring a water hose on my car blowing when we were on the motorway.
Luckily, we were in traffic when it blew and we made our way to the hard shoulder where I noticed the T piece on the hose had failed and had popped out of the hose completely, however bravery or stupidity made me grab hold and force it back in where the belching hot water stopped.
Thank God there was a hard shoulder for us to gingerly drive until we reached the next junction off and my wife had in the meantime found the nearest Bentley garage which was open who said they could get us a new hose for the next day.
We were staying at Stockport where we had hoped to meet friends for a cream tea in the rather splendid Art Deco Plaza cinema but this was not to be by the time we arrived it being too late and after the quick overnight stop we headed to the garage in the morning, hoping once again that the faulty hose would remain in place until we arrived.
Sometime later we were relieved of £500 and left with a brand new hose and anti freeze and headed to the Midland Hotel in Morecambe for the Vintage by the sea event which was considerably less stressful than our journey up and involved vintage shopping and plenty of dancing.
It’s always great to return to the magnificent Art Deco Midland hotel and to see friends, however we now have a very quick turnaround as tomorrow we are heading off to the Goodwood Revival where there will be more friends, more vintage shopping, more dancing and perhaps we might squeeze in a little spectating of the motor racing.
Can you have too much of a good thing………………….No, roll on Sheringham, Bletchley Park and Wallingford!
We went to Twinwood festival at the weekend staying at the Aviator Hotel, I have to say how splendid it was to meet all our friends and what a great time we had, plenty of shopping, as usual and even some dancing.
I like staying at the Aviator it has a great Art Deco image and then to Twinwood with a photo by the control tower of the airfield where Glen Miller took his last flight before the plane he was aboard crashed into the Channel, allegedly hit by bombs from one of our own planes dumping them before landing in the UK
We are now off to another fabulous Art Deco hotel, the Midland Hotel in Morecambe for their forties weekend. Busy, busy, busy!!
Good God, is this really the best they can come up with? I’ll leave you to decide.
The judges produced a list of the top 10 funniest jokes of the fringe:
– I started dating a zookeeper – but it turned out he was a cheetah. (Lorna Rose Treen 44%)
– The most British thing I’ve ever heard? A lady who said, “Well I’m sorry, but I don’t apologise”. (Liz Guterbock 41%)
– Last year I had a great joke about inflation. But it’s hardly worth it now. (Amos Gill 40%)
– When women gossip we get called bitchy; but when men do it’s called a podcast. (Sikisa 34%)
– I thought I’d start off with a joke about The Titanic – just to break the ice. (Masai Graham 33%)
– How do coeliac Germans greet each other? Gluten tag. (Frank Lavender 32%)
– My friend got locked in a coffee place overnight. Now he only ever goes into Starbucks, not the rivals. He’s Costa-phobic. (Roger Swift 29%)
– I entered the “How not to surrender” competition and I won hands down. (Bennett Arron 29%)
– Nationwide must have looked pretty silly when they opened their first branch. (William Stone 28%)
– My grandma describes herself as being in her “twilight years” which I love because they’re great films. (Daniel Foxx 26%)
It is now a month since I first contacted the ebay seller about my missing parcel and have gone into the black hole of customer complaints with both the seller, ebay and Yodel and surprise surprise they all pass the buck, hoping that people like me will lose the will to live and give up and go away.
The system works like this; I complain to the seller who bats me off by saying, Yodel say it has been delivered which means I have to contact Yodel, who bat me off by repeating it has been delivered. The next move is to contact ebay who (and you may have guessed this) say, if Yodel say it has been delivered then I am not able to get a refund! I seem to have disappeared up my own rectum.
I was informed that it had been delivered to our brown front door, now I’m wondering how they managed that as they firstly have to press the intercom on our ten foot tall black gates to gain access to our front door which is glass panelled and painted white!
Many hours of emails to the seller get me nowhere, except the offer of a refund when I return the item that was not delivered to me, however I am not one to give up easily for it is not the £12.79 but the principal of being ripped off that counts.
Finally, when contacting Paypal who I used to purchase the item I eventually get my refund but I believe they claim the money from ebay and not the seller but I’m grateful for small mercies, it would however be nice if ebay were to contact the seller and tell them to “stop taking the piss”. Forgive my French but I’m led to believe it is a commonly used business expression, especially where ebay and Yodel are concerned.
I may have learned something from this experience which could be of use to others in my predicament, which is to leave negative feedback before you open an ebay dispute as it seems once they have closed the dispute you are unable to leave negative feedback even if you still have not received either the item or a refund.
The following is just a small sample of my conversations with the seller which starts from the bottom of the page and works its way to the most recent and may give foreign scholars some insight as to the definition and meaning of the word bullshit.
| New message from: friendshops852 (335,272)“Dear Customer,Sorry, please give us time to check it for you. Then contact us later.Best wishes! “Reply |
| Your previous messagePLEASE STOP THIS MESSING ABOUT. I CAN NOT RETURN SOMETHING YOU HAVE NOT DELIVERED TO ME. |
| friendshops852:“Dear customer, don’t you want a refund? I ask you to return it for a full refundIf you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.best wishes! “ |
| Your previous messageSTOP MESSING ME ABOUT, I DID NOT RECEIVE THIS ITEM AND YOU HAVE BEEN GAMING THE SYSTEM JUST SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO GIVE ME A REFUND, THIS IS DISPICABLE BEHAVIOR. I SHALL CERTAINLY NEVER BUY ANYTHING FROM YOU EVER AGAIN, PERHAPS YOU THINK THIS IS CLEVER OR FUNNY BUT I CAN TELL YOU IT IS THE ACTIONS OF A THEIF AND A FRAUD. I’M CERTAIN YOU ARE NOT ASHAMED OF YOUR BEHAVIOUR BUT YOU DAM WELL SHOULD BE. |
| friendshops852:“Thanks for your letter. Glad to serve you. Thank you for your understanding and support. Thanks for your patient reply. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. best wishes! “”” |
| Your previous messageI AM GETTING A LITTLE FED UP WITH THE WAY YOU ARE DEALING WITH MY REQUEST FOR A REFUND FOR AN ITEM WHICH I DID NOT RECEIVE. PERHAPS YOU DON’T MIND IF PEOPLE LEAVE A NEGATIVE REVIEW BUT I SEE NO OTHER OPTION BUT TO DO SO. THE SERVICE I HAVE RECEIVED FROM YOU IS ABSOLUTELY USELESS AND I WOULD ENCOURAGE PEOPLE NOT TO PURCHASE FROM YOU AS YOU ARE NOT A TRUSTWORTH BUISNESS. I AM ASKING FOR THE LAST TIME, WILL YOU PLEASE REFUND ME FOR THIS ITEM WHICH YOUR COMPANY HAS FAILED TO DELIVER TO ME. |
| friendshops852:“Dear customer, OK, after receiving the returned package, we will handle the refund in time. Thank you for your patient reply.If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.Have a nice day!” |
| Your previous messageHow can I return something that I have NOT RECEIVED, I thought you were going to send me one to replace the one I DID NOT RECEIVE. |
| friendshops852:“Dear customer, sorry, you can go to EBAY to apply for return, we will give you a refund within 2-3 days after receiving the goods, do you think it is acceptable? If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.best wishes! “”””””” |
| Your previous messageI am happy to receive a new machine to replace the one that went missing but please DO NOT send it by YODEL. The last 7 parcels I have ordered from various sellers have either not been delivered or delivered to the wrong address. We may just have one YODEL driver on our route who is unable to deliver properly and just drops parcels at any address, I have no idea but clearly you CAN NOT rely on YODEL to deliver the parcel. Sorry to go on but it would be a shame to send another machine and not receive that as well. Thank you. |
| friendshops852:“Dear customer, we are sorry, please accept our sincere apology. In order to solve this problem, we would like to send you a new one for free. If you agree, please reply to us and we will take further steps towards a final solution. Thank you cooperation. Have a nice day! |
| Your previous messageI have told you before that YODEL will not supply one, they do not do this. I still have not received this item which I purchased from you in good faith expecting to have it delivered to my house. You have failed to do so and have therefore broken your contract with me and I am therefore asking that you refund me for the lost item. |
| friendshops852:“Dear customer, have we told you about a full refund before? Can you provide a record? If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.best wishes! “ |
| Your previous messageI HAVE NOT RECEIVED THIS ITEM AND I WOULD LIKE A REFUND, PLEASE STOP MESSING ME ABOUT AND GIVE ME A REFUND FOR THIS ITEM WHICH I HAVE NOT RECEIVED. |
| friendshops852:Thanks for your email and it’s our pleasure to serve on you.Dear customer，would you please kindly specify the problem ？we will try our best to solve the problem for you.Should you have any queries, please feel free to contact us.Yours faithfully, |
| Your previous messageYou must know what it looks like there is an image at the top of this email (on my computer) and you sold it to me. If you had delivered it to me I would be able to take a photo but as I don’t have the item this is the best I can do regarding an image. |
| friendshops852:“Dear customer, we are sorry for this. Can you provide a picture of the product? We will take further action once we receive the picture from you.””If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.Have a great day today! “”” |
| Your previous messageI have contacted Yodel who say they don’t give emails to say the item has not been delivered, however I still have not received my item. I recently had someone drive round to my house from another town 3 miles from where I live with a completely different post code starting CM21, this is the seventh item that Yodel have NOT delivered to my house. It may not be your fault directly but if you use a delivery service that has lost seven of my items, that is not my fault. I should not have to pay for an item I have NOT received and would expect that you either send me a replacement item or give me a refund. |
Ironing Machine 800W Small Electric Iron Negative Ion Release for Clothes FabricOrder status: PaidOrder number: 26-10294-77140 View order details |
It seems there will be a new law in Scotland whereby if you call someone “a grumpy old man” it will now be considered a hate crime.
All I can say on this subject is, it’s ridiculous woke nonsense like this that makes me a grumpy old man.
It is the season for the Edinburgh Fringe, where large numbers of aspiring comics rush to Scotland in an effort to be discovered as the funniest act of the Fringe and I wish them all well, especially those attempting to be crowned as the one with the funniest joke of the Fringe.
What I hadn’t expected was for them to be upstaged by a group of asylum seekers who were about to be rehoused on the floating accommodation barge the Bibby Stockholm which is now moored in Portland Port in Dorset.
Their joke, and I have to admit it is one of the funniest things I have heard concerning this fiasco was that having paid enormous amounts of money to a trafficker and having been willing to risk their lives in a flimsy and badly made inflatable rubber dingy and set about crossing some twenty miles of one of the most congested and dangerous shipping routes in the world, some twenty of them have now developed a fear of the sea and have refused to board the accommodation barge in the flat calm of Portland harbour.
Well done you asylum seekers for joke of the Fringe.
Here we go again with the never-ending saga of the worst delivery company in the world.
I managed to find a telephone number to contact Yodel yesterday as they seem to be ignoring my live chat, as I said before in a joke, perhaps I have been de Yodel’d but perhaps it wasn’t a joke. My conversation was long and involved as I was unable to get a refund for the missing parcel unless I got written proof from Yodel that the item had not been delivered which they were reluctant to do as they were adamant that it had been delivered, although they didn’t specify where on earth they had delivered it to. I persevered and think they are actually going to try to sort it out with the depot, so up to that point I only had the two parcels that were missing.
However, this morning a very pleasant lady drove round to my house from Sawbridgeworth which is a town some 3 or so miles away with another of my missing parcels, I was amazed and thanked her profusely. Now I know whenever I contact Yodel they swear blind that my parcel has been delivered and then suggest that I go and ask my neighbors (American spelling, another of my pet hates) if they have the parcel. I am rather loathe to do this as I have paid for Yodel to deliver the parcel to my door and not to six other addresses as they have done recently with every parcel they have delivered.
Had I known this parcel was in the next town with a completely different postcode to mine I could, I suppose have made the effort to go round and look for it, although with well over two hundred postcodes and some 3585 dwellings in CM21 I think it might have been a little like looking for a needle in a haystack.
However, I contacted Yodel to update them on the situation.
Thanks for completing these details. You will shortly be connected to one of our team.
Yodel • 1:54 PM
Good afternoon, Joe. Welcome to Yodel Web Chat. How are you doing today?
Saksham Bhatli • 1:57 PM
Sometimes when communicating with Yodel for the umpteenth time I do find myself losing the will to live but persevered, although I couldn’t be bothered with the full explanation as all I wanted to say was someone has kindly driven round with my parcel.
I spoke to customer services yesterday chasing two missing parcels, however this morning a person from the town next to me some 4 miles away drove round with this missing parcel. Their post code is CM21 and yet your driver left my parcel 4 miles away with the wrong post code, no wonder all your parcels go missing.
1:59 PM
I’m sorry for the inconvenience that caused you. I certainly understand your concern.
2:01 PM
I’m sorry you had to face the inconvenience with the driver at the time of the delivery. I’ll make sure that this is raised with the concerned team to avoid this being repeated in the future.
Saksham Bhatli • 2:02 PM
Briefly…..
I just want you to know that this parcel has been delivered by someone in the next town but at least I now only have one missing parcel.
2:03 PM
What joy there would be if he could stop my parcels going missing in the future.
I would be delighted if this never happened again but as you have failed to deliver 6 parcels to my house recently, I don’t have a lot of faith that this will happen.
2:04 PM
Could you please provide the parcel tracking number of hte missing parcel?
the*
Saksham Bhatli • 2:05 PM
I didn’t have the strength to go through it all again having spent some considerable time on the phone doing so yesterday.
Customer services have the details of this one and I think they are dealing with it, I just wanted to update you that this parcel has been found. That’s all thank you.
2:07 PM
I think he must have found it all to much as well as his response of “are” didn’t seem much use to man nor beast.
are
Saksham Bhatli • 2:08 PM
This conversation was becoming a little like two love struck teenagers waiting to say goodbye, “no you say goodbye!” So I took the bull by the horns and ended the conversation.
Thanks for your help, goodbye.
2:09 PM
Your welcome, Have a nice day.
Saksham Bhatli • 2:10 PM
Barring the fact that I still have one missing parcel, as things go with Yodel this was quite a constructive morning, I hope!
The following was yet another conversation with Yodel chasing yet another missing parcel, although to call it a conversation would have required them to have responded to both of the times I wrote on their “live chat” this evening rather than just cutting me off. I’m thinking that perhaps, rather like Nigel Farage who was de-banked, I have been de-Yodel’d.
Good Evening, Joe. Thank you for contacting Yodel Live Chat, my name is Joshua. How are you doing today?
Inraing Joshua Dailiam • 6:52 PM
I have now got another parcel which your driver had delivered to the wrong address this latest missing one is JJD0002247647495414 Your driver has delivered three other parcels to three different addresses, luckily my neighbours bought them round to me but I am getting sick to death of your drivers inability to deliver anything to my house. I still have one missing from two weeks ago, this service is absolutely useless, nothing we have ordered recently that your company has tried to deliver has been delivered to my house and we have been in every day so there is no excuse not to deliver, all the other delivery companies have no problem finding my house, we have massive 10 foot tall black gates with the name clearly in white letters down the left-hand side. Can you please tell me where my parcel has been delivered to and show me a photograph of the door so I can attempt to go and look for it.
6:52 PM
There was no response except to offer me the option to fill in their survey as to how well they had done which offered the choice of scoring them on a score of 1 to 5, although personally I thought they had a bloody cheek with this scoring system as I would have thought that with the abysmal service this company is able to offer the score should begin with a minus figure and quite a large one at that.
Altogether, this is now a sum total of five different parcels Yodel have managed to deliver to four different addresses, none of which are mine in the last two weeks and were it not for the good manners of some of my neighbours who came to my house with them I would have received none.
One has to wonder how they still employ the driver on my route, for without a doubt he or she must be doing the same with everyone else’s parcels. It’s a bloody sad reflection on modern life that, this useless individual is the best they can find to employ, or conversely with modern employment law, even with their complete incompetence they are unable to sack them.
The Diary of a Country Bumpkin 