What’s it all about?

I went along to the Blood Donor centre the other day after reading a friend’s blog.  He’s currently going through chemotherapy for Mantle Cell Lymphoma and suggested to those who said “if there’s anything I can do…” to go along and consider donating blood - so I did.  I have to say they were very efficient.  The parish hall was constantly buzzing with people but I didnt sit around for long before being spoken to by one person or another making sure I knew what was involved etc., etc.  So, anyone considering giving blood, here’s the website to take a look at!

http://www.blood.co.uk/

I’ve been looking to see if its possible to update this Blog by sending in an email - so far I’ve not found any useful hints on the wordpress website telling me how to achieve this but if anyone knows the answer, please let me know!

Crickey, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything on this blog…. So much to catch up on, where to start?

Well, in January I passed my Direct Access test! YAY!! So now I can ride any size motorbike I like. Currently I have a 6 year old Honda CB500. Advice from friends led me to buy a bike similar to that I’d passed my test on until I’ve got some serious riding experience under my belt at least. My other half decided to go for a slightly different option, he bought an old Kawasaki GPZ 500 which needed lots of work. Its through the MOT now and we’ve been out on our respective bikes together numerous times now, all good fun. We’re planning to ride to BikeFest at Donnington in June, that will be my longest journey so far.

Well I’ve finally received the 2nd part of my order from Telescope Planet. I originally ordered the Solar Filter (now refunded) and a Telescope Oberseration Hood on 12th June. I was told originally that the hood was out of stock and would take a while to come in, which was fine. However, I emailed them for a progress report on 17th July which was ignored, tried again on 20th July and had a response saying “These come in Today YAY. Please give me your address to confirm and I will make sure one gets sent out.” So all sounded promising and I replied confirming my address that same day. However, nothing came through the post after a couple of days so I sent ANOTHER email asking if it had been shipped (this was the 25th July). Their reply was “Will be sent out today. So will probably get it tomorrow. Sorry for the delay”. At last today (27th July) its arrived in the post.

While I did accept that the item was going to be a while in arriving I didn’t expect to have to chase the supplier several times to remind them I was still waiting. Its a shocking way to treat customers if you ask me and I certainly wont be using their services again!

My better half and I did our motorbike CBT course last Saturday. I’ll admit I wasn’t exactly looking forward to the event but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I feel now like I have a whole new world opening up before me. The staff at were extremely thorough with their training and although it was a long and hot day, I felt that they’d certainly earned their wages that day. Lots of credit to them, I felt reasonably relaxed throughout the day with the tasks at hand and it was all thanks to them.

So the next stage now is for John and myself to get some practice in with our newly acquired Yamaha YBR125, then to book ourselves some lessons to prepare for Direct Access.

So to finish off for now and as all sensible riders say “stay safe”!

Well this post is going to be a bit of a rant I’m afraid, so you’ve been warned

I recently ordered a Solar Filter for my telescope from Telescope Planet. All started off quite good as I’d also ordered an observing hood along with it and straight away an email came back from the company advising that the hoods were out of stock, and would be a while coming in so would I like to cancel the order?! I decided I could wait for the hood so asked them to leave the order in place. Shortly after that I had a few humorous emails with the admin chap at Telescope Planet about light pollution etc. Anyway, to cut a long story short(ish)…. So the next day the Solar Filter turned up, which is a pretty fast turn around for delivery so I was impressed of course. Unfortunately the Solar Filter didn’t fit. It fits telescopes up between 130-150mm diameter and my telescope is 150mm aperture, so the external width of the tube is more than 150mm. I emailed Telescope Planet about 4 times explaining my dilemma and received no response. I phoned twice, John (my hubby) phoned twice, still no answer to the question “can I exchange for the next size please?”. Finally after one more email I got a response from the original admin chap. Yes, I could exchange, Hooray!!! So I sent the item back and duly waited a couple of days… Didn’t hear anything from the company so I telephoned, again I was told I needed to speak to the admin guy and they’d get him to call me back. He didn’t. Sent ump tine emails, no response. Finally I had to send a snotty email saying I’d like an exchange item or receive a full refund, but a response at least by the end of the week or I’d take legal advise. Needless to say I got an email straight back! The next size is out of stock - that was all the email said, nothing more, nothing less. So I asked for a refund and that is going through, that’s when they finally added “apologies for any inconvenience”.

My main point is am I the only person who thinks customer service has gone down the drain these days? What a shocking customer service department this company has if you ask me.

Anyway, I feel better now I’ve had a rant, but I’ve yet to see the refund appear on my credit card statement so the saga may still continue, who knows…..

I’ve been researching my family history for some time now and because its been ongoing for a while, information now arrives in drips and drabs. I did have a bit of fortune this weekend though as I’m a member of the FHSC (Family History Society Cheshire) and they had published a request of mine for anyone with information of the Gater name in Crewe/Nantwich region to please get in touch. One such person did just that and a whole array of information has just been opened up. Its such a good feeling to swap family stories with someone new who might be a connection to your family line. Anyway, emails are still flowing back and forth so I look forward to learning yet more about the Gater name and genealogy in general, (this chap who has contacted me has extensive experience as he’s been working on his family tree since 1959).

England RU team suffered on Saturday again against South Africa. The first half definitely showed promise and we even managed to equalize at one point, then in the second half it seemed we just ran out of stamina and let the game slip. It was certainly good to have Jonny Wilkinson back as a stomach bug has plagued the side over the last couple of weeks, and his influence shone through.  For full details on the game see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/english/6716305.stm

Went to the OASI meeting last night. Not many people there, wonder if that had something to do with the Liverpool game??? Those that were there were looking at the half moon and Venus, by the time Jupiter was on the scene a large bank of clouds had covered the sky and observing was over for the evening. Some astrophotography was attempted and photo’s of the apollo landing site on the moon was the target. Unfortunately it was believed that this spot was probably on the shaded side of the moon, but some very good images were taken through the Tomline Refractor all the same.

DVD’s of Dr Allan Chapman’s recent lecture titled “That Clubbable Passion; the Amateur Astronomical Society” were available from the club last night, so those members that didnt make the lecture on 4th May 2007 can obtain a DVD by contacting Roy Gooding.

I attended a meeting of the IPLUG last night (that’s, Ipswich Linux User Group) at the Milestone. Thanks to everyone for introducing themselves and recapping what has gone on before etc. I dont think the guys will mind me saying this but the meeting did seem a bit random, and I hope that in future there will be a bit more of a structure to the meetings. I was hoping to get some hints and ideas from this group, rather than purely a social gathering. We did get a look at Beryl all the same. Still, knowing that there are some very knowledgeable local people around for Linux is great - least I know who to ask all those techie questions to now (besides Simon in the Midlands). So I think I will attend the next meeting, providing parking isn’t so difficult to find next time. What was going on in town last night is a mystery but I had to park further away than I would have expected. So thanks to the IPLUG for letting me join them last night and I hope to see you next time.