Rocking Your World 2020: Week 49

Here we go again, with a few things that have lifted my spirits this week. My new, smaller Christmas tree actually arrived a few days early and is now up and decorated, but I didn't take a photo in time to use this week. I still have other things to put up so I will leave the decorations until next week to show.

And while on the subject of parcel deliveries, this story will make you either laugh or cry. To fill in the background, there is a well known company in UK, based in the Lake District, which supplies very good quality and interesting kitchenware, cleaning materials, and baking supplies such as spices and herbs. I always loved browsing in their shops when I lived in UK and when I visit my sister we still spend a morning at her local branch. Since living out here I have placed a big online order with them at least once a year.

So I recently spotted a small electrical item that I wanted on their web site, and I added it to my order. I was disappointed to receive an email to say it was out of stock, but was expected to be back in on Friday 27th November. Not wanting to miss out again, I placed my repeat order on the Thursday (my mistake!) and added a note asking them to hold my order until the stock became available. Sadly a further message informed that they were unable to hold the order, and to try again when it showed as 'in stock' on their web page! I wasn't very pleased about this as it did immediately become available again, but checking my bank account, I discovered that they had deducted the postage, although they couldn't deliver the item! Then I got a message from DHL to say I had a parcel from the said company, which was on its way. I checked my account on the website, and sure enough it showed my order as 'dispatched' though I was surprised that the money for it had not been deducted from my bank, but I felt fairly confident that my item was on its way.  - Are you still with me? - Well, yesterday, sure enough my parcel arrived, a smallish box which was so light I knew it had very little inside it. Just in case, Chris videoed me opening it, and you've guessed, it was an Empty Box! Well, not quite empty as it contained a dispatch note saying my item was not available, and large roll of screwed up packing paper. So not only did they go to the trouble of sending an empty box all the way to Spain, but they charged me the flat rate postage of £7.50 to send it! As I said at the beginning, I either had to cry at the disappointment of not getting what I wanted, or laugh at the absurdity of it. 

With a mixture of these emotions, I wrote a not very happy message to the company and waited to see how they would respond. Part of me felt I would never trade with this company again, while at the same time, research had shown me that the only other company stocking the item was Amazon.co.uk and they were unable to ship it to Spain, plus I can't forget the many, many very satisfactory dealings I have had with them in the past. 

There is a happy ending as this morning I received an apology from them and the postage fee was refunded into my account. As it happened, a previous order had contained a voucher giving £10 off my next order if it was placed between 1st and 23rd of December, so I used this and re-ordered, and this time my order has gone through, at a lower price than I would have paid a week ago! So all is well that ends well.

The offending box was abandoned on the floor for a while, and that evening it was taken over by Tolly. Most evenings he climbs into the little enclosed, furry house on his climbing tower and sleeps there, but last night he was not impressed to find Tango had got there before him. (I thought I had a photo of this, but apparently it didn't take properly). At  first he climbed  in on top of poor Tango, but there is not space for both of them, and Tango was not giving in, so in the end Tolly got down and I spotted him curled up in the box. 'I fits so I sits', or in this case sleeps.

I spent one morning in the kitchen this week and made another big loaf. 

Then I made caramel iced muffins, and a sticky date and apricot loaf. That's what it was meant to be anyway, but I had used all my dates in my previous baking session so I used dried prunes instead and it was fine.

I am pleased to say that all our work has been finished now. The men took quite a time to refill the trench and lay tiles over it, and they did such a good job. It is quite a big patch but it doesn't look too bad at all. They managed to find plain tiles that matched one of the colours in the originals. They had to cut them all to fit around the curve of the end of the pool, so it was not easy, but we are very happy with it, especially as there is no longer a leak under it.

Next they re-tiled the shower over the leak repair they did behind the taps. Again the tiles aren't a perfect match, but it is quite usual to see a variety of shades of blue in the pool area, and again the main thing is that it no longer leaks. They also repaired the wall on either side of it, and the tiles around the hose tap, so it is all looking much better. We didn't have the wall repainted as in the new year, the same men are going to paint all the outside of the house and maybe the walls as well. We can decide that when the time comes.

Finally they went round to the other side of the house where they disconnected and removed a big blue water deposito, (plastic tank). These were common when the house was built as it was quite usual to have water cuts through the summer. But we have not had a cut since we have been living here, and the water in the deposito doesn't stay clean, even though it was sealed, so we wouldn't have wanted to use it. So really it was just taking up a lot of space, and it cost a lot each time we had it emptied, cleaned and refilled. Once it was out of the way, they moved the pump and water softener into that corner and built a brick housing around it to protect the electrics from rain water. They had managed to salvage enough of the patio tiles intact to make a roof on it, giving us a good flat surface to keep the hose reel on. So that was another good job done.

I must say it is nice not needing to listen to the tile cutter and constant banging around any more. It also means we can stay in bed for an extra hour most days! Spanish workmen like to start by 8.00 so we had to get up early to feed the animals and clean the yard before they arrived each morning.

The good thing about that is that I had a nice long morning for achieving any work I wanted to do. It also meant I got to see some rather lovely sunrises. I have to go out onto the front doorstep to get a photo of the sunrise, and there is a criss-cross of overhead cables getting in the way out there, but here are three days when the colours were so lovely, I thought the cables could be overlooked to catch them on camera.

I also had one evening when the sun set with some lovely colours too. I liked the way the clouds weave in and out of the rays, making an interesting picture. A bit like a wild wolf head to me!

A couple of weeks ago I took two big parcels to the post office to send to UK. The postage was a bit of an 'ouch', but it was clear that no-one could get here to take things back for me, so I bit the bullet and sent them. One contained a big blanket that I finished back at the start of the year, and I had promised it to my son Mike. It is big enough for him and his partner to curl up under on a chilly evening, and they could probably squeeze the two boys, dogs and cats in too. Anyway he sent me this photo to say it had arrived and he loved it. That makes it all worth while.

I haven't heard that the second parcel has arrived yet but I expect I will soon. It is going to a different area of UK and the post seems to vary from place to place right now.

When Tolly has had his evening doze, he tends to have a 'silly half hour' when he careers around the room like a mad animal, and then he sometimes comes to me for a cuddle before I shut him in his room for the night. So I will finish with this lovely picture of him, looking so content and innocent. he was sitting on my lap and actually leaving my wool and crochet hook alone while I worked on it. He is as big as all the other cats now. He has a beautiful tail, and his colouration is settling down too. I have to remind myself that he is still only a baby, just six months old, so he has more growing to do yet.

And on that note I will link up with Rocking Your World and Annie's Friday Smiles, and get on with decorating the house for Christmas.

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