Reunion or not reunion that is the conundrum?

Before I go any further with this particular Blog I want to make it absolutely clear that meeting old friends, acquaintances or old comrades is not such an ordeal or as unpleasant as some may think may be. I will confess that I for one have had, in the past, some misgivings about striking up that old long forgotten friendship from 40 years ago.

Sometimes on a very rare occasion you take the step and you suddenly realise that what was not a friendship at all but a period where you both hatred each other with mutual, but disguised, vigour both in the past as well as in the present.

Fortunately this is a rare event and of course you would not allow this animosity to show when sitting face to face at the dinner table or while drinking at the bar with this former colleague. Again, fortunately, it not always like that as I was able to witness for myself on a bleak weekend in April when I attended my annual regimental reunion.

I sat with a group of fellow ex soldiers all of us shouting over the throb of voices to make ourselves heard, craning towards each other to catch the words in our ageing ears and discovering new friendships and reigniting old ones. At times I struggled to recognise the 75 year old former comrade who I last new as a 26 year old soldier yet he able to remember the smallest of my existence when I was only still in my teens.

All I can say is that meeting these men and sharing the time with them over a meal and a drink is the finest thing that you can do.

So, the answer is... Reunion? Yes!

Ebay perils and pitfalls

I have been an Ebayer since 13th April 2002 I have a nice little bright blue star next to my name and have never had a negative comment attributed to me in the seven years I have been a member.  However, I have met my fare share of dodgy sellers and buyers over the years and have only been ripped off once.  Needless to say I wont get caught in the same sort of scam that I was caught in then.

I am always cautious in my selling and apply fair postage and packing and if I can post free I will or if it's more convenient then I will permit local collection.  So with this in mind I advertised a nice pair of table lamps at a more than reasonable price that would include the shades but as they were so large they would have to be collected from me directly.

The sale plodded on with lots of interest and all accepting that the items were not for postage and then, just short of the end of the auction, I had an "offer" but it was £10 below what I really wanted so I asked the bidder to wait until closer to the end of the auction.  At this stage I encountered a really snappy buyer who wanted to know everything about the lamps plus a question about my preparedness to post to Hertfordshire.  I explained that I could not do this without charging postage and that I would go away and estimate the cost.  Barely have I finished estimating the potential cost the lady in question, "8522isablleh", purchased the items at the "Buy it Now" price! Bingo I thought, that was easy, she must be really keen.  I don't blame her as the table lamps are a really fine pair of lamps and worth every  penny if not more!

Estimating the postage cost was a nightmare as I had to weigh and measure the items packed then search the Post Office, Parcelforce, DHL, TNT and heavens knows which service to see what the cost would likely be.   By the time I had done this my potential buyer had actually bought the lamps and was asking that I (1) include the postage costs in the purchase price (2) charge no more than £10 or (3) ask her "hubby" if paying £20 would be acceptable.  

Despite my efforts to explain the complexities of the postage and that I could not, despite her beliefs, that I could take the parcels to the post office - she decided she could not afford £20 and wanted her money back!  

Clearly she had bought the items to stop me selling ahead of her offer of the full asking price at the same time convinced she could con me into sending the lamps to her Free ! 

Well, I had to refund her money and duly lodged a complain to Ebay because she effectively conned me out of selling and prevented me from selling to an alternative buyer who was prepared to pay the postage.  

I wait to see if Ebay will compensate me and penalise her but at least I am only a small amount out of pocket not a fortune.  But I will ensure I never ever fall for that trick again and will certainly pursue this Ebayer though the complaints process of Ebay until I am recompensed in some way....... I wont hold my breath though.

I always thought BP sold oil?

OK, I swore that when we moved into our new house I would not lift a finger,  other than to unpack the boxes and point to where the various furniture items were to be positioned by the removal men, or do a single DIY job.  I even went so far as to plan that all the boxes would be marked well in advance with the floor and room that each one had to be be placed in, including the garage that was to become our latest temporary store for unwanted or uncertain items.  

However, what I had forgotten in all this meticulous planning was that I had to actually pack the boxes in the first place and then shift them around the three floors of our rented house ready for them to be collected on the day we moved.  Of course This was a task that I undertook with typical gusto, fool that I am,  until I reached a point where was nearly dropping.   Why, because the one thing I had forgotten in all this planning was that I had not taken account of the ageing process and how it would take its toll on me with a vengeance, I am after all drawing my pension! Also, remember, this is the forth move in 18 months and don't I know it now!

Moving day arrived, everything was in its place with last minute sweeping (and mopping) around the house made to make sure that we had left nothing behind and then we waited for the magic hour when the three (yes three!) removal vans would arrive.  As it happened they were only small vans so traffic disruption in Portsmouth was only minimal and no visits from irate neighbours or the police were forthcoming.  With the loading completed by about 11:30 and with us having received a call from our solicitor to say we had completed on the purchase we set off to the new house ahead of the removers.

Unloading was happily speedy and once again we found ourselves surrounded by packing cases, suitcases and various furniture items either needing assembly or relocation to the to the fast filling garage.  

Oh, I nearly forgot, a despairing Mrs H.... "where is it all going to fit" she wailed!  Discretion overcame the temptation to say what I was really thinking at that precise moment but needless to say, after some tweaking, we are in now, largely unpacked with everything in its place.  There have been several trips to the rubbish tip, several items have been consigned to the garage and the are two piles of "de-cluttered" clothes gone for recycling or the Charity shop.  Just how many polo shirts can a man have I wondered as I added the next one to the growing pile at my feet.

My next series of jobs have included hanging pictures (what a nightmare this has proved to be), assembling a wardrobe, fitting some cubes to the wall for CD's and watching our new garden take shape as the gardeners rips things up and construct sheds, paths and patios.  So there is no wonder I seem to have developed high blood pressure!  

I never knew I had high blood pressure as the last time I had seen a doctor and had it checked it was remarkable low.  So when I went to sign on at the new surgery and they said I would have to have a "medical assessment" I was not the least bothered.  The day of the assessment arrived and I was duly weighed and measured and happily presented my arm when asked, to have my blood pressure taken.  "oh, that's a little high twittered the nurse, but don't worry it's probably just that you are a bit nervous". So, off I went having been told to make another appointment to go back and be checked again  a week later.  Of course I blamed the equipment, the stress of moving so many times over the past 18 months and Mrs H (well only silently).  I returned to the surgery a week later and surprise surprise, my BP was up higher than ever.  This time I was told I had to wear a BP monitor for 24 hours which turned out to be one of those experiences I added to my list of things "never to do again before I die" things.  Well, needless to say 2 months on I am still with high BP and taking medication that makes me actually feel that I have high blood pressure now and has given me so many side effects I think I was feel in better when living in blissful ignorance.  I go back to my GP at the end of the month to see what effect this drugs have had on me.... lets hope my BP is down and I don't have an attack of "white coat syndrome" on arriving at the surgery for next check.

I can't talk about my blood pressure without mentioning aches and pains, yes unfortunately this is my medical corner blog this time for which I apologise in advance.  Anyway, I want to know why is it that given the time I spend in bed asleep why is it when I wake up in the morning I feel as if I have run a marathon.  Not that I know what it feels like to run a marathon but I do have a good idea how I may feel at the end of one.  I have aches and pains in the oddest places to be honest.  My fingers seem  frozen in a sort of grasping clutching sort of way and my shoulders seem to have been gripped in a vice.  I even started to think that Mrs H was pummeling me in my sleep or that some large gorilla was coming into the house in the night and throwing me around the room a few times. I think I have to admit that there is only one explanation for this degree of pain, age! 

I just had a thought about my blood pressure then... perhaps it rose during mt supervised period of picture hanging in the house.  That is a distinct possibility given the number of instructions and counter-instructions during the hanging process.  "No, over a bit.. no, down a bit ... noooo up again" etc.  

I had a pretty good idea that moving my Virgin Internet account from Cable to ADSL would be a fairly painless experience as the initial set up had been faultless and everything happened on time and the service worked perfectly.  How wrong was I to be!  The installation date arrived and I had not received any details of my userid or set up instructions or indeed any router or adsl adaptor but I was sure I was being charged from the set up date.  I quick phone call proved me right, the account was active and the equipment arrived almost as I was making the call, "great" I thought.  So I installed everything, switched on the PC and of course came to a dead stop.  No one had sent me my log in details so as I knew what my account name and password was from the time I placed the order I tried to log in... no good.  Several phone calls later it emerged that my userid was different that I had been told and that my password was indeed what I thought it to be.  Perhaps my BP was on the up again .. hmmm, never thought about that.  Well after a few calls everything was up and running perfectly and I was able to log in without any problems.  On opening my new email not only did I find my log in instructions and userid and password but also an In Box stuffed full of over a 100 Spam mails!   I am using my Google Mail account anyway so I am not that bothered  but I am mystified why Virgin sent me my instructions to a mail address I wasn't able to access until AFTER I had read the mail?  Ah well, all's well that end's well!  I am happy with Virgin.

OK, shopping, what can it have been I was thinking about when I said I would write about it?  I can only think that I can't face another shop for bedding, DIY stuff, bathroom fittings, furniture or lighting.  But it's nearly done now and I am content to look forward to my daughters arrival with her new little boy at the end of the month.  He seems to be getting bigger each time we see him and he is certainly got a quizzical look and a ready smile, he looks very thoughtful.  We have sorted out our living arrangements now and can accommodate, everyone and have also hired a car so that we can all fit in.   I only hope my daughter has her passport in time for the flight as her original one is now either blowing along an Ibiza beach or is on its way to Eastern Europe for some dubious end!

Next Blog?  Let me see, garden progress and time to relax?