The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

LydiaJ

michaels wrote: »

Google maps satnav is very good, especially knowing the traffic and rerouting live if it makes sense but 2 problems in devon.
1) It said turn right just before a road so we took it and went 2 miles down a tiny lane that ended in a field, in fact we should have taken the next right 50m round a bend.
2) Sometimes the B1234 that you are travelling on is not the main road but requires a turn off to stay on the same road number and google does not know that so does not say 'slight left' onto B1234 so you carry on down the same road but have effectively 'turned off' the correct route.

This is why I don't rely on the voice instructions but prefer to have the visual display on top of the dashboard just next to the steering wheel. Then I can see which turning it means, and where the road is going.

Pyxis

Many years ago, the teenage sprogs were in the back of the car, and one was guiding me somewhere unfamiliar to me but familiar to them.

"Turn here!" I heard from the back. "Where?" says I. "Here! Here!" "Where?" says I again. "Where I'm pointing!" says they.

Well, not having eyes in the back of my head, I couldn't see the direction being pointed to.
The term left or right hadn't occur to them.

Then I got the scathing "Oh mum!" treatment because I'd gone past the turning.

I wouldn't have minded, but geography was supposed to have been one of their best subjects.

chris_m

Pyxis wrote: »

Many years ago, the teenage sprogs were in the back of the car, and one was guiding me somewhere unfamiliar to me but familiar to them.
"Turn here!" I heard from the back. "Where?" says I. "Here! Here!" "Where?" says I again. "Where I'm pointing!" says they.

Where I'm, pointing - choice :rotfl:

vivatifosi

Re using an iPad as a sat nav. I too use Waze. in America roaming data is hugely expensive, so before leaving, use my WiFi at home before setting out, put in both the departure and destination points, and then drive there using my phone's inbuilt GPS which doesn't incur data charges. Then the other end, find a WiFi hotspot, plug in the reverse and head back.

May be worth a shot nearer home to see if you can get it to work. Waze is fab, though very battery intensive.

Pyxis

chris_m wrote: »

I wish I had now - they've managed to pick up the incorrect items as arranged on Friday, but still haven't delivered the correct ones which was also supposed to be on Friday. :mad:

The rest of the order, originally supposed have been delivered on Wednesday, didn't materialise. When I called customer services they had to get someone from the "local" (Lancaster) store to call me which, surprisingly (they haven't always) he did. For some reason that he couldn't work out the delivery had been changed to Thursday, but no-one had told him - or me. He said that one item was out of stock but he could get it by Friday, so they'd deliver the rest on Thursday and that item on Friday.

Thursday came and went, no delivery. I had said that if it was easier I'd be happy for it all to come on Friday to save them making 2 return trips around Morecambe Bay, so I didn't chase it on Thursday.

Friday came and went, no delivery - so this time I did chase it. Got a call from a different chap at the store, who apologised profusely, asked if I could make use of a few extra bags of the manure and compost I'd ordered by way of a material apology and promised that it'd be delivered today.

The delivery arrived today (hooray) BUT, one of the packs of timber I'd ordered was missing and the other was the wrong one !!!! :mad::mad::mad:

I'm now waiting for a callback from the chap I spoke to at the store (the last call helpfully gave me the caller ID) who said he'd look into it and get the correct packs of timber out to me today.
I'm also still awaiting an update from Customer Services about the five buckets they sent from the central warehouse which were wrong and have been collected but the correct ones haven't arrived.

I have had a few problems getting deliveries from them in the past but those have always been sorted quickly and right first (well, second) time, this one really takes the biscuit. I wouldn't use them if I could get (and transport) the stuff I want locally.


It's not just Wickes that are having trouble with my orders, it would appear.. I ordered some plants from Thompson & Morgan (as additional items to an order of an MSE blagged deal) a couple of weeks ago. I got an email on Thursday to say that the Viola plug plants had been despatched. When the package arrived yesterday it was the garden ready Primroses. I emailed them straightaway to let them know that they had sent something I'd ordered but that it wasn't what they thought they'd sent.

Got another email this morning to say that they've now despatched the Primroses. I wonder if it will be a second lot of Primroses or if it'll actually be the Violas - or maybe the Snowdrop or Bluebell bulbs I also ordered?

Looking at the order tracking I think they may have fixed it, that now says the Primroses were delivered on the 1st (which is correct) and that the Violas were despatched on the 2nd. I'll find out on Monday or Tuesday I guess.

I expect they're getting on your wick............








Coat get shall I.

chris_m

Pyxis wrote: »

I expect they're getting on your wick............

Hehe :rotfl:

They've made a few mistakes in the past but they really are absolutely effing useless this time. No callback and no delivery of the missing items today.

That's the worst issue from previous orders TBH, a sheer lack of communication. When things have been out of stock before I've always said to them that that's fair enough, the stock is coming from a store so it will happen that sometimes other customers have got there first. All I ask is that they tell me when they plan to deliver so that I can ensure that I'll be in, if for no other reason than avoiding their driver doing a 2 hour round trip around Morecambe Bay and back to find that he can't deliver because I've gone out - because they haven't told me he's coming.

Well, they've had it now. I've been effectively housebound for four days now so from now on I won't be waiting in on the offchance - if they turn up and can't make the delivery because I've gone out they'll flippin' well have to try again.

LydiaJ

PasturesNew wrote: »

Get a stick too, with a reflector on it, that sticks out into the road by about 18" ... makes people more likely to give you a wide berth. ... although with the neanderthal mentality that seems ever-growing these days that might be seen as a target, rather than advisory item.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Fold-Out-Safety-Reflector/dp/B004H1QYG2

Thanks PN. I've now bought one of those. Plus an additional rear bike light to go on the back of my helmet to supplement the one on the bike. And some decent cycle clips, because the "snap wraps" I already have don't do a very good job of staying snapped shut when I have waterproof trousers on. Finally, I've remembered that somehow or other we acquired a hi-vis jacket years ago. It's a sort of waist-coat shaped garment that fastens with velcro, fluorescent yellow in colour with hi-vis reflective strips. I've no idea how it came into the family's possession, but it's been in the dressing up box since my kids were little. I remembered it today and dug it out. It's a bit of a snug fit over clothes and waterproofs, but I shouldn't be wanting to wear too many layers when cycling uphill.

Took the bike out to the local Co-op for a pint of milk this evening. Tyres now pumped up, and ready for term to start on Monday.

LydiaJ

PasturesNew wrote: »

Obviously, I used to cycle to work when I started working full-time... the land was quite flat, with just one "hill" (uphill on the way home unfortunately).

I had to cycle to town, then across town and just starting to leave the far side. Google maps tells me it was just 4 miles.

It was a "regular style bike" for the time: heavy ladies step through design, wicker basket on the front strapped to the handlebars with two mini leather buckles and a Sturmey Archer 3-gear change close to your right thumb.... not that gears were needed, I left it in 3rd all the time.

The first Xmas, without any warning whatsoever, the "big boss" dropped into the office on the last day before Xmas - and gave us all (four of us worked there) a large boxed/cellophane hamper of fruit .... bit of a job balancing that on the basket on the way home in the dark I can tell you!

My route is only 2.8 miles, and mostly gently downhill, with one short section of gentle uphill and one of steep downhill, on the way to work, and obviously mostly gently uphill on the way home. I like it that way round - it doesn't matter if I sweat on the way home! I love it that almost all of it is either back streets with very little traffic or else cycle track along the river.

My bike was new in the early 1990s, and quite good quality at the time, but it's long in the tooth now, and doesn't have any of the features that have been invented since then, apart from a new and much more comfortable saddle that I got a little while ago. It has a plastic-coated-metal basket on the back as previously described, and derailleur gears - 3 cogs on the front and 7 on the back. At present I use most of them, although I hope to be able to do the uphill bits in higher gears as the weeks go by and I get fitter.

Pyxis

Am off to Italy later today for a few days.
Lots of rain forecast later at Heathrow, so I hope it doesn't delay the flight.
Luckily the weather in Italy has calmed down from the high 30s to a respectable mid-20s, so shouldn't be uncomfortable unless it's very humid.

chris_m

PasturesNew wrote: »

The first Xmas, without any warning whatsoever, the "big boss" dropped into the office on the last day before Xmas - and gave us all (four of us worked there) a large boxed/cellophane hamper of fruit .... bit of a job balancing that on the basket on the way home in the dark I can tell you!

That's not as bad a helper I had at Scouts once - we were going to do a spit roast during summer camp so we needed a whole sheep. Living closer to the butcher that the rest of us he volunteered to order and collect it.

Little did we realise that he would collect it on his pushbike - he cycled the full length of Shirley High Street as a 2-up, an (unwrapped) sheep carcase balanced on the crossbar with its front legs on the handlebars!!!
:rotfl: