Ok the quick quick version.

Length of the land trip went fine. Painful but fine. Had to leave the bike in Scotland as I injured my hand and was unable to ride it back. I now have it back but am having to sell it as I don’t have any cash for the next insurance injection. More info on the Length of the Land Website (I think).

I am ok. Cold but ok. Work is … work.

Got back into wargaming recently (egged on by the interesting Blood Bowl game on the PSP, which forced me to dust off my BB models). Im currently trying to encourage a friend to assemble and paint a new army he’s just started by assembling miniatures of my own. So far its 20 to “a sniff inside the box” (in my favour). Doesn’t bode well. Would like to post progress here but you know how these things go.

Other than that, not much else to report. Some little things brewing but we’ll see what they produce.

OH almost forgot. Thanks to the Financial Ombudsman, Paypal have agreed to credit and restore my account after that fiasco months ago. Nice to find some small justice in the world of mega corps. Now hopefully those debt collections agencies that Paypal set on me (oh yes) will finally piss off.

Had a lovely Happy Easter message from Paypal today… in the form of a note saying “you remember that item you posted but got lost in the post and wasn’t insured as the buyer was too tight? We’re gonna blame you and take £87 off you.”

Apparently its a case of guilty until proven innocent (what the buyer has to do to prove he actually didn’t receive it I have no idea). I have a proof of posting and email conversations with the buyer admitting he should have chosen the insured route but apparently they didn’t see the right proof of posting (I initially posted a different proof by mistake but as Paypals system doesn’t allow you to delete any “proof” I had to upload a 2nd pic and note on it that it was the real one).

I find it incredulous that a company as big as Paypal are completely unable to actually look at the individual case and can only look at their set criteria of “evidence”. The whole reason I sold some stuff was so that I could actually eat this month. No money to pay them their “refund” and as they took a cut of that money anyway its a fair cheek to ask for it again!

Don’t think I’ll be using Paypal/eBay ever again. Sad given my 9 years of use (and 100% positive feedback I might add) but something this ridiculous should never have even happened in the first place!

Just got back from a Reel Big Fish concert in Bristol. Last time I saw them was in Nottingham in 2003 so I was quite looking forward to it.

Sadly they’ve not improved with age.

The band feel tired with a trite mix of old and new songs, but the new ones just sound the same and the old ones seem to lack any oomph they once had back when they were released. Aaron himself hasn’t really aged well at all and now comes across as some learing middle aged man with a relationship complex. I feel very disappointed in their part of the gig (but happy the lad from work I took as a birthday present to him enjoyed himself. However it was partially saved by a warm up by Suburban Legends (which is nice to see back in the fold) which some great songs and a cracking cover.

I hope to hear more of them and less of The Fish.

Why is it that most cinemas now have a surcharge should you want to book in advance? Lets explore the logic of this. You are paying extra so they can have your money sooner. … That doesnt make much sense. Why should they charge you? They’re saving time of their staff meaning shorter queues (or even bypassing them entirely should the cinema have an auto ticket dispenser).

So why? Why the greed? It simply puts most people off booking. The only time it makes it worthwhile is when you’re taking a group of 5 or more. Grrrr

I’ve just read an article in the Independant (newspaper) quoting various offerings from Noel Galleger (or however you spell it), one of which caught my attention. He said (roughly) “For me politics is like football. Just because your lead striker messes up doesnt mean you stop supporting the whole team”.

THIS is exactly why politics in this country (and I suspect the US too) is so messed up. People get into that whole football team mentality when it comes to elections. “I always support party x so I will continue so that they win”. Maybe they get some small satisfaction from seeing “their party” gain or retain power. Maybe its simply to stay in line with peers. Who knows BUT THIS IS THE PROBLEM. Politics is NOT like football at all. If your striker cocks up big time it doesnt really affect your way of life. It doesn affect other nations opinion of you. It only matters because you care about it. In politics if the “striker” cocks up it has far ranging implications that can mess up your way of life, your business, your job, your safety abroad… the list goes on.

But still people continue with this football team mentatily, caring only that their side wins and not even looking at what their policies are or their track record, and I believe this is part of the reason why our country is heading down the pan.

Im not saying that if we do look at what the people we are voting for promise us, it will all work swimingly. Politcians will happily sell their grandmother for your vote but once in power no one really cares as long as they are still in a job, making money or setting themselves up for the future. There are the odd one or two that do genuinely care but sadly they are few and the masses are many making their efforts insignificant.

Whats the solution? I have no idea. I think that politics is less about caring for the country and more about playing the game these days but sadly there is no way round that barring martial law or bringing back the feudal system My own opinion is to stick with it as long as I can and if it gets too far off key, Im off to another country.  </rant>

Im rapidly becoming very unimpressed with Parcelforce (which should be renamed Arsehole force at the moment). For those of you that dont know, when a package is sent from abroad using its local postal service, it gets palmed off to ParcelForce when it reaches the UK (usually with a nice tax charge and a Parcelforce “clearing fee” attached (which was more than the tax once!)).

Anyway I’ve been importing bits and bobs to see if theres any market in selling them on in an entrepreneurial way. So far Parcelforce have managed to screw up 2 out of 2 packages I was due. The first one was a few weeks ago. I received a letter saying it had tax charges to pay, so I paid and specified a delivery date… which came and went. I then chased up the parcel with a call to find out the driver had had an accident and it would be delivered the next working day… which came and went. I then made 2 calls (one resulted in an “can I ring you back?” which never happened) only to find that for some reason the package was now on its way back to the international hub to be sent back to the sender! Anyway after much kurfuffle it arrived about 10 days after it should have done.

Fast forward to today when I was expecting another delivery (after paying charges and specifying today as delivery date). Nothing seen by 3pm so I do a quick online check to see where its gotten to. Nowhere is the answer. Its still sitting in manchester.A phone call later and apparently it didnt go out on the run (How on earth does that happen in a supposedly organised logistics company?) and will be delivered tomorrow.

 A 100% failure rate so far Parcelforce. Lets hope you can redeem yourself with the next 2 that are coming in. (annoyingly you cant specify NOT to use parcelforce.. so much for deregulation eh?)

A small rant. I’ve been looking for a new flat in Watford, but online Estate Agents (and the search websites) just plain suck. There is absolutely no point in using the internet to communicate to them, as they simply ignore you. Its very frustrating as right now I simply dont have time in the day to ring these people up. Will have to make time soon.

Sort yourselves out !