Tales from the Lock-Down

[quixoticgeek]

And being able to attend them naked from the waist down.

Winnie-the-pooh style...

J

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

And being able to attend them naked from the waist down.

Winnie-the-pooh style...

J

Bear from the waist down?

[quixoticgeek]

Bear from the waist down?

Yup

[Greenbank]

British Airways have finally confirmed that our flights from London's famous London to Stornoway next month are cancelled, though have not yet done the same for the return leg   They have offered vouchers in compo, which have a time limit of a year on them.  While we fully intend to go there next year instead, there's no guarantees re when we can book Stuffs, so Miss von Brandenburg is going to grink them and demand Money with Menaces.

Now I have to cancel the car hire.  Bah.

You don't have to accept the vouchers.
I heard Simon Calder on the wireless the other day - The legal position is: if the airline cancels the flight, they have to reimburse you using cash, in full, within 7 days of the cancellation.

Ta,  I shall pass this intel onto Miss von B as soon as I'm on the Proper Computer.

The other thing that was discussed on the radio programme, was how much the airlines were 'trying it on' when it came to issuing refunds to their customers.
With Ryanair at the helm of these miscreants.

I suspect it is a major cash flow management issue. Vouchers mean we still have your money but a refund may mean we have no funds to pay staff and collapse.

And if you take vouchers and lots of other people demand the cash they're legally allowed to claim then the airline has no funds and can't pay staff and collapses AND YOUR VOUCHERS ARE WORTHLESS.

If you try to be kind to them you can end up getting completely screwed. Best to demand the cash.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Bear from the waist down?

Yup

Oops

[Ham]

And if you take vouchers and lots of other people demand the cash they're legally allowed to claim then the airline has no funds and can't pay staff and collapses AND YOUR VOUCHERS ARE WORTHLESS.

If you try to be kind to them you can end up getting completely screwed. Best to demand the cash.

Not quite. If your original booking is covered by ABTA/ATOL, then so are the vouchers.

[ian]

I just remind myself of the astounding generosity of the airlines over the years when I've needed to change something or they've stranded me in some grim airport hotel with a meal voucher (no alcohol, please, I'm a voucher).

Take the cash. Always.

[citoyen]

Talking of airlines, my sister shared some pics of Bournemouth airport the other day - she took my plane-mad nephew along to look at all the beached planes. There are hundreds of them.

Extinction Rebellion are doing a socially distanced protest there today.

[Mr Larrington]

I just remind myself of the astounding generosity of the airlines over the years when I've needed to change something or they've stranded me in some grim airport hotel with a meal voucher (no alcohol, please, I'm a voucher).

Take the cash. Always.

BA did once offer me an all-expenses night in San Francisco AND $500 in crispy banknotes if I would kindly desist from travelling on their overbooked aer-o-plane.  But I declined, being a conscientious soul who did not want to be a day late returning to jbex.

Bloody idiot.

Anyway, Mr Sainsbury's House Of Toothy Comestibles actually had Proper Milk today, but forced me to buy KP's peanuts which are more expensive, and less yummy, than their own-brand ones.  The bastards.

[ian]

In olden times, as a jobbing academic who could instruct lab minions to dispense the cH3m1K4Lz during my absence, I used to pocket a fair amount of instantly spendable airline largesse for voluntarily vacating their overbooked aeroplanes.

In more recent years there seems to have been less overbooking (which was always guaranteed on US domestic flights) and only the offer of tiresome vouchers.

Someone sent me a bag of Virginian peanuts once that claimed their nuts were better than Jimmy Carter's. I have, for the record, never tasted Jimmy Carter's nuts.

[Mrs Pingu]

I accepted KLM's vouchers mainly cos I couldn't be arsed with the prospect of fighting with them for money.
And also because they pulled a sneaky one by cancelling my flights and then un-cancelling them again some days later.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I attacked my head with a pair of scissors, borrowed clippers and two mirrors today. I'm going to be wearing a hat for a while.

[ElyDave]

At some point in the past we registered our son as a vulnerable individual, which was then very helpful in getting online shopping slots.

Out of the blue this morning, knock on the door and a large food parcel handed over, much like Wowbagger's experience.  Not requested, just appeared.  It has been distrubuted amongst our cupboards  and mostly to the two carers who look after him.

[Regulator]

Mr R's trust own a garden nursery, which is used as therapy for some clients.  They were offering some very good deal on vegetable plants and compost, delivered to peoples' offices.  I now have some more tomato plants and a couple of courgettes to get planted out over the weekend.   

[T42]

France Info says that rural men and urban women have put on more weight during lockdown than rural women and urban men.

They're right.*

* from own survey with N=1

[TimC]

Does that mean I must be in France...?

[andytheflyer]

At some point in the past we registered our son as a vulnerable individual, which was then very helpful in getting online shopping slots.

Out of the blue this morning, knock on the door and a large food parcel handed over............

My wife is in the middle of maybe a year's worth of cancer treatment, so the NHS identified her as vulnerable - and since we cannot afford for her to get the bug and maybe have the rest of her treatment deferred or cancelled, we are both locked in.  About 3 weeks ago we had a call from our local authority asking if we needed anything - and I was able to say no because the village shops have sorted out home deliveries, so we can survive.  I was surprised to get the call because at that time neither Sainsbury or Tesco (our nearest supermarkets) had her on the priority list - although Tesco now do - thx to help from the LA, so we have just had our first Tesco delivery after 6 weeks of corner shop grub!  Yippeee!

Fortunately we've not had an unsolicited LA food parcel - hopefully ours are going to someone who really needs it.

[Wowbagger]

We haven't had a food box this week. Last week Dez told the delivery driver from Brake Bros that we didn't need it and at last the message seems to have got through.

I've managed to get a c& c slot for Saturday. That's more convenient than Monday, as our Riverford deliveries are on Wednesday and by the time Sunday comes round all our fresh veg is beginning to look something other than fresh.

Jan and I went through the freezer contents and we have over a fortnight's worth of main-meal meat in store. I'm ordering less this week, but I might increase the booze order to make up for that.

[spesh]

Next-door-but-one are in the process of replacing the old wooden fence panels around their back yard with what look like composite ones, and rather than stack the waste pending the reopening of the municipal recycling centre or waste removal services being available, they are burning the remains of the old panels in a brazier...

1) At least it's burning cleaner than some of the stuff they have incinerated in the past.

2) They could have done with placing the brazier so that the flames wouldn't melt through their washing lines. Oopsie... 

[rafletcher]

Our local waste centre reopened today. It may have been lack of awareness, but when I went past on my way home (from my first visit to the office for 6 weeks) there were no obvious queues. We’ll load the car up With our stock of garden waste during the course of tomorrow, and when my wfh day finishes around 4:30 I’ll take a drive over.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Our local waste centre reopened today. It may have been lack of awareness, but when I went past on my way home (from my first visit to the office for 6 weeks) there were no obvious queues. We’ll load the car up With our stock of garden waste during the course of tomorrow, and when my wfh day finishes around 4:30 I’ll take a drive over.

Ours is re-opening. Even in normal times it's prone to queues. The new rules say you need to make an appointment.

And if people just turn up anyway? Could get ugly.

[Nick H.]

My lockdown story is that I've become a small-time vulture capitalist by buying self-indulgent luxuries which seem to be going cheap because of the virus. I've blown a chunk of my pension. Maybe I'm a shopapolic. I've got to stop now. I live in one of the most poverty-stricken parts of the country. There's so much misery and poverty and business failure and unemployment everywhere...and rather a lot of death...and I've spent £2,000 on these. They're almost new. RRP was £5,600. They're so beautiful that I'm drowning in oxytocin. When I hold them I feel like a lottery winner. Haven't used them yet, waiting for a cassette to arrive:




I'm also buying this. It has a couple of minor faults. In normal times the dealer would have sorted them out and sold it for £5000+. But he's furloughed his staff and is trying to shift stock to keep his head above water. So I'm snapping it up for £3670 without seeing it or ever test riding one. I paid £400 and will pay the balance when it arrives. It's in a van on the way from York to Brixton.

 

[rafletcher]

I'm also buying this. It has a couple of minor faults. In normal times the dealer would have sorted them out and sold it for £5000+. But he's furloughed his staff and is trying to shift stock to keep his head above water. So I'm snapping it up for £3670 without seeing it or ever test riding one. I paid £400 and will pay the balance when it arrives. It's in a van on the way from York to Brixton.

 

Insurance will complete the depletion of your pension I should think!

[Nick H.]

£93 for insurance, parked on the street in Brixton. 

[rafletcher]

Our local waste centre reopened today. It may have been lack of awareness, but when I went past on my way home (from my first visit to the office for 6 weeks) there were no obvious queues. We’ll load the car up With our stock of garden waste during the course of tomorrow, and when my wfh day finishes around 4:30 I’ll take a drive over.

Well that was fine. Turned up, behind one other car. Showed my proof of address through the closed window and was waved in. Around the back, stopped again and asked what I had to dump. Request radioed up to the road by the containers. As soon as a slot was free - some 5 minutes - I was waved up. The car 3 behind me obviously had  something other than the garden waste those in front had. They’d were waved down a bypass lane to go up. Well organised, but very few folk there really. We now have 8 empty sacks to refill.