Lost in the Post

As we are wintering at the other end of the country from our PO Box I recently set up a redirection for the mail to come to our winter mooring. This should have commenced two weeks ago but no mail has arrived.  I tried to call the sorting office where our PO Box is held but they are ex-directory. So I called the Redirection Team somewhere in the Royal Mail organisation.  They gave me a complaint number.  But still no mail.  So I took a train 200 miles to visit the sorting office personally.  Here I leaned the procedure for setting up a redirection:
1) Take the customer's money - DONE
2) Confirm to the source address the details of the redirection - DONE
3) Confirm to the destination the details of the redirection - DONE
4) Instruct the sorting office concerned and supply address labels -??????
It transpires that the labels from Royal Mail redirection Team to the Royal Mail sorting office are LOST IN THE POST.
I can only suppose that this level of performance is being developed in preparing Royal Mail for sale into the private sector.  If I were the queen, I think I would insist on the Royal tag being removed from the organisation.

Everything Everywhere but not For Life

Four years ago I was offered Free Home Broadband for Life by Orange as part of my mobile phone package. This week the new owner of that company - Everything Everywhere has disconnected my broadband and will only reconnect it if I agree to subscribe to one of their home phone packages.  They justify their blackmail on a clause in the terms and conditions which reserves the right to withdraw the offer at any time. A lawyer on BBC Radio Four last week expressed the view that the headline offer of Free Home Broadband for Life could not be withdrawn in this way as it would be considered by any cour as an unfair condition. But they have gone ahead and cut off my broadban. This reminds me of the often misquoted message scribbled by Mark Twain -
"... The report of my illness grew out of his illness, This report of my death was an exaggeration."
So, be warned: if you sign up with Everything Everywhere they cannot be trusted to honour their contract.

Remembering John Whitehouse

John was quietly passionate about several things - railways, canals, local industry, photography, and above all, Tipton.
In this film of his some of this passion is expressed . In his typically modest way the only name absent from the credits is his own.
If you knew John this will remind you of him: if you did not know him perhaps it will give you something to think about.

A Visit to the Circus

We had a busy weekend with jobs to accomplish and people to visit in Bath, Oxford, Aylesbury, Penn, Prestwood and Hyde Heath.
Whilst in Aylesbury we made a brief detour from our programme to take a look at the site of the new marina at Circus Field.

Work has started already on the marina to replace the moorings in the town centre basin.
By next summer there should be boats here.

Reedley Marina

We arrived here for the winter on Tuesday since when it has been rather hectic: what with grandchildren and Hallowe'en and bonfire night and berth holders meeting.

There is a webcam at the marina just click the link.  We have now moved from the  short jetty and are no longer visible on the webcam..
As we will not be taking Gecko out over the winter I will try to catch up on some of the posts I did not get round to making during the season so keep visiting the  blog.