Saturday 20 January 2007

I'd rather be hiking

What a waste of a week. My home PC's been playing up. A conflict between my iPod and reality. 3 evenings later and the majority of Saturday (except for a fun visit to the local PO sorting office), and I have a system that runs well enough for day-to-day tasks that don't involve iPod or external devices using USB2. By 6pm last Saturday I'd hiked 15 miles and was back at the car. By 6pm this Saturday, I'd rebooted the PC at least 15 times and scowered the Web for solutions and installing fixes; and finally admitted that my system worked, but it was a good time to get a new system box. Subtly different from being defeated and having to buy a new PC.

As to the P.O., well, the lass at the sorting office refused to go and looksee if there was any parcels waiting for me from before Christmas, as they would have been returned to the sender by now. I had no outstanding delivery cards, so had collected all I was due from the sorting office. She refused to give me a "lost parcel" form, as the parcel I was waiting for (and confirmed that had been sent to me before Christmas) wasn't lost, as it would have been returned to the sender if I hadn't collected it; so it was now the sender's problem and not mine. I've notified Dave, at Caliver Books to see if he has received the parcel back (which he won't have, as he would have said).

Last Saturday - cold, wet, low cloud cutting off dramatic scenery, some hooky river crossings, muddy tracks.

This Saturday - centrally-heated flat, modern digital radio/TV channels, snacks and tea/coffee on the go, trying to fix software problem and ignoring the pile of marking and prep I have to do for work.

I'd rather be hiking.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Life sucks - what can I add to that?

Storyquine

AktoMan said...

Presently, my positives outweigh the negatives. And the negatives aren't even life-threatening, or construct-threatening. A pack of wargames figures not arriving isn't the end of the world. So some wiffie at the sorting office has a pencil up her butt - well, that's her problem, not mine.

I don't see hiking as part of the 'flight/flight' mechanism, how can I enjoy something if I know I'm avoiding things that are troubling me?

Anonymous said...

Hi sorry to hear about the non delivery of your figures, I came across your story while doing some research into Caliver Books reputation which it has turned out is terrible for theese sort of lost in the post accidents.Here is a link to a page of complaints about exactly the same event
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=154777
I am affraid that your missing items probably never got sent in the first place.

AktoMan said...

With various things going missing through the post, I've got to defend Caliver here. I get my copies of WI monthly from them and rulebooks.

I've had problems with figure deliveries being lost en route from Old Glory and Renegade too. Heck, even ordering a pocket-knife from eBay turned into an epic.

With all the companies, I found their customer care to be great. Sadly I cannot say the same with the Royal Mail.