Protesters have blocked roads yet again, including a woman who pleaded with them to let her through as she was desperate to visit her aged mother who had been taken to hospital.
In another incident members of the public were seen dragging protesters out of the road in an attempt to clear the road to let an ambulance through.
Personally I’ve had enough of these idiots and think it is time the Police arrested them and put them in prison, not only for the benefit of the hard pressed drivers who are just trying to get to work but for the wellbeing of the protesters who will without a shadow of a doubt be run over if they continue like this.
A Labour councillor has claimed she suffered transphobic abuse from a fellow delegate at the Labour party conference, Councillor Patricia Hannah-Wood, of Pendle Labour Party said that she was abused by “one of our sisters in this conference hall now”.
Ms Hannah-Wood who is a transsexual woman, said “On Sunday evening I was in the loo downstairs with a few of my colleagues from the north-west when I was transphobically abused in this conference centre by one of our sisters in this conference hall now.
She continued, “It should not happen, we have got an anti-bigotry and anti-bullying policy in the Labour Party, “We need it to be enforced.”
One has to be so careful nowadays when wishing to comment on so many things, so I will attempt to tread as carefully as I can to try to put the other side of the story.
I have never seen this woman before and only heard her comments today on the television but one is forced to wonder, as she looks like a man and sounds like a man could the abuse be nothing more than another woman who entered the toilet pointing out that the men’s loos are next door, who knows?
My wife and I went to Lincolnshire for the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Members Celebration which I have to say was not quite the select event I had imagined when getting tickets.
We stayed at a hotel in Woodhall Spa which is always nice as it was where the Dam Busters were based during the war and has a memorial to them in the high road.
Having filled the car before the real panic buying of petrol we decided to take a chance hoping that we could fill up whilst away and have enough to get home which we managed quite easily as there was nowhere near the panic up north than down south.
The BBMF is based at RAF Coningsby and when we arrived the next day there was a queue a mile long waiting to get into the base but as we had come quite a distance we thought we had better give it a go and see how things went.
I should have realised when reading the information about bringing your own chairs that the enclosure was not going to be a small selective bunch of people and in fact was just a fenced off area full of people, most of whom seemed as if they had dressed for a day on the beach so my wife and I looked a tad over dressed.
The day though started well with the Lancaster bomber starting up and taking off and disappearing into the distance and even better coming back some time later flying over our enclosure when landing, at this time we had no idea where it went during its flight.
Having sat there for some hours with absolutely nothing happening we decided to leave and drove to Sywell Aerodrome where we knew there was an event called Pistons and Props taking place and found a parking place in the Aviator Hotel car park.
The Aviator Hotel is a wonderful Art Deco building and one of our favourite places to stay so we headed to the bar and got a sandwich and a drink when all of a sudden the distinctive sound of a Merlin engine was heard and on dashing outside there was a rather good air display taking place and putting two and two together we realised where the planes from BBMF were going when they took off from RAF Coningsby.
We did say before the Spitfire arrived that next year we should stay at the Aviator Hotel and go to the Pistons and Props event but once you throw the free air show into the mix as well, it’s a no brainer as they say.
When we left we got enough petrol to get home as the situation up north was still fairly good with no real queues and arrived home with nearly a quarter of a tank which doesn’t go very far in a Bentley Arnage so I think we will be curtailing any unnecessary driving until everyone stops panic buying and we get back to normal.
The following is a transcript of my online conversation with Ebay customer support which lasted for virtually 50 minutes and still the problem was not resolved.
I listed an item as collection only and yet the buyer is unable to pay as Ebay says I should post the item to him, now I may have made a mistake in my listing but as I sold another item which has gone through with no problem I assume my listing should have been alright.
Assuming I had made a mistake how long should it take for an Ebay customer support assistant to adjust my listing details so the payment can go through, I would have thought a few minutes at the most but this is yet another example of dealing with these foreign call centres where it takes forever and still is not resolved at the end.
Should you have all the time in the world and actually read the transcript to the end I was actually cut off as I was still trying to communicate but the massage was blocked, I have no idea how this can be cost effective for a business, I imagine they pay these people peanuts to do the job but as we all know, if you pay peanuts you get monkeys, rather than highly trained individuals who can actually solve the problem for you.
Escalation from eBay Helpbot2021 – 09 – 2111:56:46 UTC Kashif
Hi I see that you have been transferred to me. My name is Kashif. I’ll be looking after you today.
11:57:22 UTC 7394joe
I sold an item as collection only but the buyer can not pay by paypal as it wants me to post the item. I need to change this so the buyer can pay by paypal.
11:57:45 UTC Kashif
Hi Joseph hope you are doing well.
11:57:47 UTC Kashif
I certainly understand your situation and Iâm eager to sort things out for you.
11:57:58 UTC Kashif
Could you please help me with the item number you are referring to?
11:58:55 UTC 7394joe
185046965720
11:59:06 UTC Kashif
Thank you for confirming. Do not worry, I will surely help you with this. Please give me 2-3 minutes to check it.
12:04:09 UTC Kashif
It is taking longer than I had anticipated to pull up the requested information, I will need an additional few minutes.
12:04:23 UTC 7394joe
Ok
12:07:27 UTC Kashif
Thank you for waiting patiently.
12:07:28 UTC Kashif
Joseph I have gone through your concern and the best I would suggest you here is that you send an invoice to the buyer and ask them to pay for the item.
12:08:21 UTC Kashif
You can find the option to send the invoice from the sold section of your ebay account.
12:09:33 UTC 7394joe
It will not let me send an invoice either as it wants me to post it, which is obviously not able to do as the item is a very large lawnmower which I listed as collection only. I have no idea why it keeps wanting me to post it.
12:12:09 UTC Kashif
So you want that the item is collected in person and the payment is done via paypal. Right?
12:12:31 UTC 7394joe
Yes please.
12:21:42 UTC Riddhaya
Hello joseph. Thank you for contacting eBay Managed Payments my name is Riddhaya, and I am happy to help you today. For the safety and security of your account please do not provide any personal/sensitive information.
12:21:45 UTC Riddhaya
I hope you are safe and doing well.
12:21:52 UTC Riddhaya
I see you opened this account 16years ago, thank you for your loyalty.
12:23:30 UTC 7394joe
All I want is to get paid by paypal for the lawnmower I sold which I listed as collection only but ebay is stopping it and asking for me to post the item.
12:24:04 UTC Riddhaya
Okay, I understand your concern but unfortunately I have bad news for you!
12:24:35 UTC Riddhaya
PayPal and eBay have parted ways so I would not be able to help you regarding anything to do with PayPal. But the good news is , we are now managing your payments.
12:25:10 UTC Riddhaya
All you have to do is set up a place where we can pay you, you can add your bank account with us to get the funds directly in your bank account or you can add payoneer account with us.
12:25:18 UTC Riddhaya
Payoneer is somehow like PayPal but better.
12:25:33 UTC Riddhaya
I request you to please try it if you are not comfortable with adding the bank.
12:26:02 UTC 7394joe
How do I get paid then, I am concerned about safety and prefer transfers rather than cash?
12:26:26 UTC Riddhaya
Please add your bank account with us, we would be seing you the payouts to your bank directly.
12:27:43 UTC 7394joe
Where do I go to add my bank details, I haven’t noticed where to do that?
12:28:29 UTC Riddhaya
To update your checking account details in My eBay: Go to Payments in your My eBay. Select Edit under your bank account labeled Used for payouts. Make your changes and select Update bank account.
12:28:43 UTC Riddhaya
I request you to please follow the steps in order to add your bank account.
12:30:18 UTC 7394joe
I thought my bank account details were there already as I buy through that account, is there a different place for selling?
12:33:03 UTC 7394joe
Are you still there?
12:33:20 UTC Riddhaya
Yes I am right here.
12:34:01 UTC Riddhaya
Yes please, I request you to add the account in order to get paid.
12:35:20 UTC 7394joe
Surely my bank account details are already there as I buy with that account, is there a different place to put my bank details to get paid?
12:36:25 UTC Riddhaya
Okay, allow me 2 minutes to check
12:38:37 UTC Riddhaya
I have good news for you!
12:38:45 UTC Riddhaya
Your bank is connected and active.
12:39:03 UTC Riddhaya
I request you to please go to My eBay > Selling and confirm if you see any error,
12:39:23 UTC 7394joe
Then how do I get the buyer to pay?
12:40:12 UTC Riddhaya
Please confirm if you have any error.
12:43:42 UTC Riddhaya
I do not mean to rush but are you still there?
12:44:00 UTC Riddhaya
Since you are not replying to this conversation, unfortunately I will have to disconnect this chat.
12:44:02 UTC Riddhaya
Thank you joseph for contacting eBay chat support. Hope you have a great day ahead!
12:44:03 UTC
Chat ended by Riddhaya
HAD THE CONVERSATION GONE ON ANY LONGER I PROBABLY WOULD HAVE ENDED IT MYSELF WITH THE COMMENT; GOODBYE I HAVE TO FINISH THIS WASTE OF MY LIFE CONVERSATION AS I FIND I HAVE LOST THE WILL TO LIVE!
I went to the Goodwood Revival Motor Racing Meeting this weekend with my wife and we both had different outfits for the five days we were there, unfortunately we were so engrossed in meeting friends, shopping for vintage clothing and generally enjoying ourselves that we forgot to take any photographs.
The best I can do is this one which my wife, who is a shy and retiring person and is very reluctant to have her photograph taken obliged by being on the other side of the camera for this shot of myself at the the Old Railway Station Hotel in Petworth where we always stay.
It is safe to say a good time was had by all and we are looking forward to doing it all again next year!
Recently climate activist group Insulate Britain an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion blocked five strategic junctions of the M25 causing delays of up to four hours.
The amount of CO2 produced by stopping the traffic must be enormous and I am forced to wonder how these protesters think they are going to attract support for their cause by this sort of action, as I imagine the reaction from most sensible people would be one of rage.
Obstruction of a British road without lawful authority or excuse is an offence under section 137 of the Highways Act 1980, with a punishment of a fine and up to six months in prison and yet at junction 14 of the M25, it took four hours to arrest the activists and reopen the road at one of the busiest stretches of motorway in the UK.
The failure of police to immediately arrest the protesters leaves me lost for words with police officers protecting the law-breaking activists while dragging away an irate driver who attempted to take the law into his own hands.
What makes matters worse is the remarkably small number of protesters, with only 60 being arrested who it appears in most cases were vastly outnumbered by the police who seemed to be doing nothing but standing there looking at them.
If this is the fastest the police can react I hope I never find myself caught up in a vicious knife attack hoping they might intervene as standing there watching does no good in either of these cases.
The Diary of a Country Bumpkin 