alexist

From the supermarket, this time.

One, fruit/veg only available prepacked. There are 2 problems with this: one, I don't always want that much (2.5kg potatoes is a lot!) and what if I want to pick them individually? For example, if I'm buying King Edwards, I usually pick the bigger ones, because there's less work and waste in peeling.

Two, selection boxes. It is my experience that you never like all the biscuits (chocolates, whatever) in a selection box. But can you buy them individually, so you can only get the varieties you want? Nope.

Three, 500g boxes of cornflakes (my usual size) were on sale. So 500g was only 10p more than 250g. Naturally this meant they were out of 500g boxes.

And they were out of muffins!

The post code for DVLA Stanmore (HA7 1BD) is not recognized at all by Multimap and TfL and is "out of date" according to Streetmap. Just checked Royal Mail and they say it's not in their database. So why are DVLA giving it out?! This is a real office that people can visit, not one of the Swansea drop addresses. (Which, ironically, are valid.) Streetmap did, at least, give me a map, so I now know it is on Honeypot Lane near Canons Park station; and this let me find the correct bus from Edgware (I guessed, correctly, that the best way to go about this would be the 221 to Edgware, then on from there.) I need to stop at John Lewis on the way back. So, Oxford Street or Brent Cross? The latter is closer, but by public transport, you never know, since I'd get to Oxford Street by tube. We'll see how my stomach is faring once I've gotten to Stanmore by bus. :-)

Checking out fares for my sister's wedding.

Virgin comes up with £330 (including £114 in tax) but this doesn't qualify for flying club miles!! I have 30K miles all collected on lowest-fare economy and I want to keep collecting damnit!

(and I'm 1 tier point away from flying club silver)

FFS!

Yesterday I got my NatWest statement. It indicated that on the 29th of the month, they would be deducting £28 for an unauthorized borrowing charge.

Now, you may remember that this was all because of a bounced direct debit.

This £28 is because NatWest's deduction of a charge put me into overdraft. I called, they refunded the fee, and said that if I was hit with another fee because of this, it would be reversed as well. Simple, right?

So I thought, and when I got the letter I reckoned it was their automated system, and rang them up.

The bitch:

1) Said that the fee refund was merely a "goodwill gesture" and not an acknowledgement of any wrongdoing by the bank;
2) Said that they cannot refund any further fees;
3) Completely ignored supposed note on my account calling for refund of further charge.

Further, she claimed that Sky Digital was solely responsible for taking it out early. My understanding of the Direct Debit guarantee is that the bank is responsible if a direct debit is allowed to go out before its due date (our agreement with Sky specifies "on or after the 7th of each month".) Further, she actually tried to use the "it's a weekend" excuse. Which, by the way, doesn't work because the 5th (when the direct debit was taken) was a Thursday.

Even if I got Sky to admit wrongdoing on the direct debit, this is all due to NatWest's fees. THEIR fee put me into overdraft, hence triggering an unauthorized borrowing fee, which has now triggered ANOTHER one!! Surely, if the original fee was reversed, then I was no longer borrowing money, hence I can't be charged for it!

I gave up and hung up. She was too goddamn rude. I'll try again tomorrow and if that doesn't work I'm writing to the Guardian. It's no longer about £28, it's about being fucked over repeatedly.

Crap evening.

First, a Parcelforce rant. I ordered some books from Amazon on Friday. They split it into 2 deliveries (I don't know why, the books have come packaged individually...) One was shipped Saturday, the other Sunday, estimated delivery 5-6 July.

Monday I get a card--sorry you were out, we'll try again Tuesday. (Actually I probably wasn't out, but our door buzzer isn't very loud. If I'm asleep I definitely won't hear it and even if I'm awake I might not if I'm not listening.)

Tuesday at 7:30, Parcelforce show up, with delivery #1. I assume that this means the others aren't there yet. Wrong I am, for another card pops up--they came back at 9:10. THIS time it tells me I have to go pick it up at my local post office--High Road, N12. It won't be available till after noon Wednesday.

This afternoon, after doing my errands, I pop into the Post Office. The woman looks at the card. "Oh, this says 435 High Road" (I hadn't looked at the number. I just saw "Post Office, High Road, N12" and assumed it was the regular post office at Tally Ho Corner). "This is 753 High Road. I think this is the one in the pharmacy opposite the Finchley Lido." What a retarded place to leave packages, what's wrong with the delivery office (right near my flat). She also told me they close at 17:00. No time to get there. I'm extra annoyed because if the package had been available this morning, I would have gone to the post office when I was out then, and discovered in time. Why should it take 27 hours to get a package to the post office?

Anyway, I went home and tried to open the door. No dice. I texted Neil, thinking I was just being a spaz, and told him to get home ASAP. He gets home an hour later. No luck either. After 15 minutes of struggling, he gives in and calls a locksmith (despite his conviction that because of the way a Chubb lock is built into the door, a locksmith will be able to do nothing). Locksmith arrives around 20:00. Eventually he determines that the lock is broken, and he drills his way in. 3 hours after getting home, I get in. :-(

Made dinner (poor effort, Neil complained about no veg other than potatoes, I told him off, plus the salmon was slightly overdone) and pretty much went straight to bed.

Neil will be purchasing a new lock in the morning, as at the moment the door can only be opened from the inside so one of us must be home at all times! (Our door can't be left unlocked. There's not even a knob; you open it by turning the key and pushing.)

it's not FAIR, i tell you!

I haven't eaten since Thursday (OK, I had a piece of toast yesterday), spent the time with various sordid digestive problems, and I didn't even lose any weight!

If I was going to have a 3 day enforced fast, I should've at least had something to show for it :-P

(actually, fast now over, had some broiled salmon and boiled new potatoes. it seems to be staying down, though I still have stomach cramps--so much for Neil's theory that they were due to hunger...)

Nothing exciting yesterday. I came home from synagogue early because I wasn't feeling quite right. Then I slept... all day. Yes, I screwed up my pills this week, but I don't know why it's having such an effect :/

Right now I'm annoyed because I went to go listen to Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Minor and it's missing. The CD is at my parents' and I can't download it on iTunes unless I buy all of Jacqueline Du Pre's concertos. For $40. No thanks.