tetsudofan

Thought somebody would think of this but bear in mind that when you send somebody a cheque that cheque has your account number and sort code on the cheque so the person you are sending the cheque then knows those details. When my electrician, roofer, plumber or gas man does some work in my house they always send a bill showing those account details so that I can do an online payment. This conversation started regarding making a payment to a supplier not to a complete stranger or some old gob you have never heard of. Keith

Up until Christmas 1968 I detested sprouts and refused to eat them. At that time I was living in Saigon working for the Chartered Bank and lived in an apartment above the bank. The branch of the Honkers & Shankers was next door and the Secretary to the British Ambassador lived in one of the apartments above. As there were a number of bachelors working in both banks she invited us round to her apartment for a traditional Christmas Day lunch which was served up with all the dressings including sprouts which had all been flown in from Singapore. I had thought of trying to hide the sprouts but there was no way I could so I had to eat them which I did managed to do once I had covered them in sauce. To my great surprise I quite liked them and have enjoyed eating them (minus the sauce) since then. Think it was the smell of the sprouts cooking that turned me off. Keith

If you use online banking in your own country you should, in theory, be able to do an online transfer direct to the bank account of the person you are dealing with in the UK. Barclays (my banker for 50 years and employee for 18 months) offers such a service but I have not had to use it as all my overseas purchases are done by credit card. If your bank offers such a service you would have to contact the person you are going to deal with in the UK and get their bank account details such as IBAN and BIC details as shown on their UK bank account. Maybe bit of a hassle but once you have the details it should be a safe and secure way to make the transfer. Keith

You're right Bob, I was right! Had that feeling: Mercedes GLA250e Agree with all that you say about the dials and menus. I didn't really need to change the car (previous car was only nearly three years old with just over 3,300 miles on the clock!) but I liked the new GLA as it is now a proper SUV (10" higher than the old one) and its a hybrid so I'm being green. Hey ho. As you say, we only live once!! Keith

Having ordered the blue and red versions suddenly took a liking to 58072 and at 3:34pm looked at the Kernow MRC website, pressed the "buy" button and at 4:29pm got an email from DPD saying that it will be delivered tomorrow...... Will be collecting the red version from my localish model shop next week but wonder which of the other two will arrive here first. Keith

The courier company that Bachmann uses (think its FedEx) does not send emails or texts to advise that the package is on its way. The courier just turns up at your front door. Keith

Wonder if what you did is what I did back in September? Talking about cruises, a cruise is something that I have not done and have no intention of doing. My only experience on the water was a liner trip from Southampton to Hong Kong via the Suez Canal, Aden, Colombo, Penang, the port for Kuala Lumpur and Singapore on the P&O Chitral (weight 13.800 tons, speed 16.5kn) to take up my appointment with The Chartered Bank back in 1966. Up until that time the only boats I had been on were the paddle steamers on the Woolwich Free Ferry. Time for bed now, pleasant dreams. Keith

Reminds me of my time in Hong Kong in 1966/67 when I was a Constable in the Marine Division of the Hong Kong Auxiliary Police. Back then there were problems with the Red Guards over the border in China and it was decided that if things got bad the auxiliary police would take over policing the harbour allowing the regular police to on come on land and form another riot platoon. One late Saturday morning at work I got a phone call advising that there was trouble up on the border and that I should get down to the Marine Police Headquarters pronto, don't bother about uniform, just turn up. We did not normally carry arms whilst on duty on the harbour and had minimal arms training but as the problem up on the border was looking ugly we were told that we were being armed.... and each of us were given a pistol and five rounds of ammunition. To put it bluntly I was dead scared about carrying an armed weapon in my pocket so the pistol went in one pocket and the bullets went in another pocket...... We got six boats out on the harbour in just over 30 minutes but after a few hours bobbing about in the harbour we were recalled and life returned to normal. The Red Guards didn't make it over the border. Keith

Had an interesting day yesterday but looking back on if things hadn't gone well I probably wouldn't be here posting. For the last few days I've had a couple of roofers up on the roof sorting out some problems for which they had a scaffolding erected. Yesterday at about 2:00pm popped out into the garden to ask them if they wanted some more tea (the liquid stuff). As they said yes (as they always do!!) I headed back indoors walking in front of the scaffolding. Suddenly one of the roofers shouted get out of the way but before I had time to move quickly there was blood everywhere. A piece of steel about 18" long, quarter of inch thick and nearly two inches wide had caught the back of my head on the way to the ground. One of the roofers bundled me into their van and 5 minutes later I was outside the local minor injury clinic. Blood was still everywhere so it wasn't too long before I was inside being treated. At one stage I had three nurses looking after me stopping the bleeding, checking blood pressure, giving me a tetanus jab, glue the broken skin (which took quite a time) and other various things including a tea cosy-like bandage to keep everything in place. Later one of the senior nurses appeared and decided that as I'm on blood thinning medication and the possibility of unknown internal damage to my head I should be carted off to the local A&E about 20 minutes away up the M20. To cut a long story short arrived at the A&E just before 5:00pm, was triaged at 6:00pm, seen by the Doctor at just before 10:00pm, had a CT scan close to 11:00pm, got the all clear that no internal damage had been done to the head at 1:00am and was discharged at 1.33am and taken to the Observation Ward to await the Patient Transport home which got me home just before 2:00am. What a day. Just got to remember now not to get the back of my head wet for the next few days, got some clear shower caps today so must remember to put one on before having a shower. It might seem strange but in all my 75 years this was the first time I had actually been a patient in an A&E department..... and what an eye-opener. How the staff working there survive I don't know. Just hope it's sometime before I have to make another visit. Looking back on what happened yesterday I think I'm very lucky. If that heavy chunk of steel had come down vertically on my head after falling for at least 15 feet I hate to think what could have happened. I might not have known much about it. Keith

Ah, we went one better, our next-door neighbour worked at the Peak Frean factory and from time-to-time he delivered a big tin of broken creams..... Keith

Have not said much about my Mercedes GLA250e which I collected on September 23rd. When collecting the car I now ask for the new car to be posed on the exit from the car showroom so that I can park the old car close-up for a hello/goodbye picture: Still prefer the old Jupiter Red compared to the new Patagonia Red but the clincher was that the new car is about 10" higher than the old one making it a proper SUV and is a hybrid. Part of the deal was that I would get a BP Chargemaster (BPC) installed in the garage for £499 but before that was done a couple of hurdles had to be jumped. First of all BPC needed some detailed pictures of the current fuse box and the preferred of the position Chargemaster in the garage. Having reviewed the pictures BPC came back to me to say that before the installation of the Chargemaster could be done I would have to have a Double Pole Isolator Switch fitted next to the Smart Meter. Having never heard of such a thing I contacted my local electrician who said he could fit one as he knew what I was talking about and one of his guys had recently attended and qualified in fitting car chargers etc. A few days later the isolator was fitted at a cost of £103.20 and was positioned, as requested, beside the smart meter: The picture was sent to BPC and a few days later they advised that a fitter would visit to install the charger and other required bits and pieces. The fitter turned up a few minutes before the appointed time of 8:00am (which required me getting up earlier than normal!) and proceeded to install another box beside the isolator switch: and then run a rather thick cable across the end of the garage and down the far side of the garage to where I had chosen for the charger itself to be fitted: All this took just over two hours and I think the fitter made a excellent job of fitting all the bits and pieces in a very neat and tidy manner and he departed leaving the car being charged for the first time at home. The charging took just over two hours and used around 12kw. British Gas is my energy supplier and offer a hyrid charging tariff to smart meter customers but have not investigated that in detail as I don't use the car at much at the moment bearing in mind that winter is approaching. Last week I got bit of a (welcome) surprise. BPC sent me a credit note for £499.00 advising that the amount would be refunded to my credit card. It seems as though there was another offer running at the same time as I purchased the car using the offer quoted in the Mercedes brochure but this had been superceded by a free-fitting offer running at the same time. So, all in all, its cost me £103.20 to have the BP Chargemaster fitted. Worth all the hassle I had taking photos etc. and getting the isolator switch fitted. Happy bunny so far. Just need to get out and about in the car.......... Keith

No, its not ugly, its classic! Keith

Just had bit of a surprise. Earlier this year, before the Covid stuff got going, I pre-ordered a Zoukei Mura Japanese Shinkansen Bullet Six-Car Set from Hattons and, bearing in mind what's been going on in the big world since then, I thought it would never materialise but, he ho, I was wrong. Have just received an email from Hattons advising that the order has been processed including the fitting of a dcc decoder. For this to happen think it is a sign, in some way, that life is starting to return to normal. Having lived in Japan for many years and made many journeys on the original Bullet Trains I've always wanted an HO model (there were plenty of N gauge models available but nothing in HO apart from some high-end brass models) but it now looks that one is finally on its way to me. Keith

Nah, three bridges.......two duplicates...... Was pressing buttons left, right and centre in my haste to get to the Tip before it started raining again.... and that I succeeded in doing . Just had news that I've been able to refinance my equity release to take advantage of the current low interest rates. Only problem is that I won't benefit, my brother, his daughter and grandsons will!! Keith

Triplicate posting.....

Duplicate posting

Good morning from a rather damp southeast corner. Foxes have been a real pain this year: Not much chance of sticking it back together..... Rain seems to have stopped for a few minutes so off to load the car and head off to the Council Tip. Keith

Agree with you there ....... but still would prefer it to be South Eastern. The track on the pic above looks a little overgrown, wonder if Paul's been to Sellindge crawling over something Bulleid ...... something electric....... something with two decks (ok, one and a half)......whose designer then decamped to Ireland...... Keith

A few years ago I joined a group from Maidstone for a day trip to Sandtoft to see (if I remember correctly) a recently restored Maidstone trolley bus (the ones that went to Loose!) amongst other things. It was certainly an excellent place to visit. Drove from the coast up to Maidstone and joined a coach for the ride up to Sandtoft and later back to Maidstone to pick up my car and return home. Was a long day with somebody else driving most of the time. Don't think I would want to do it by myself now!! Keith

....... that's exactly what I've found on my new hybrid! Keith

Mine's a hybrid, still getting used to the slightly different driving techniques needed for such a car. At least the traffic indicators are in the same place....... Keith

Really....... Keith

Paul, Maybe they will use the same body as mine which is a standard GLA with some added AGM styling. I chose the basic GLA Sport Exclusive Edition version (only for the GLA 250e) which met most of my requirements. Could have gone for the Exclusive Edition Premium (extra £1500) or the Exclusive Edition Premium Plus (for another £1500) most of which, as I understand it, is included in the Exclusive Edition. Keith

I think that is disgusting, maybe you should bring it to the attention of your Member of Parliament - send him/her an email to start with. Keith

Getting closer to takeover day a week next Wednesday. Was up at the showroom this morning to complete all the paperwork and noticed that my M-B GLA 250e had arrived. Somebody had parked it so that I could take a decent picture despite it being on the other side of the fence: Looks bit of a brute compared to the old GLA. It does look like a SUV!! Have arranged the taking of old and new pictures when I take delivery next week. Keith