I’d told “My Boy TM ” that we’d be starting this morning’s project early, and I told him to be ready at 8am. He woke me when he phoned shortly after 8am, and soon we were in B&Q buying our ingredients. The bit of decking by the pond has been broken for some time, and we had a plan to make it good. Rather than replacing the lot we decided to just replace the two broken panels. So we got ourselves nine strips of decking and two corner posts, a saw and some screws and fetched them home. We carefully removed (recklessly destroyed) what was broken, and replaced it with the new. For once a DIY project went completely to plan. I’d expected to spend the day on the job – we were done by noon.
A quick bit of scoff, and then shopping. First of all to Lidls – we’d heard they were doing cheap kite banners. And then on to Whelans for a couple of griffins to stand guard over the pond. On the way home we stopped for McFlurries – we felt we deserved them.
Once home I did the monthly accounts. In with the bank statement was a letter form the bank saying that they’d formally reviewed my overdraft facilities, and had charged me twenty five pounds for doing so. I phoned them up, and Millicent from the bank really struggled to keep me to her pre-prepared script. From her gibbered explanation it seemed that the bank decided to set up an overdraft facility on my account a year ago (without telling me), and every year they will review that decision and charge me for it. I told her she could kiss my furry yellow ass.
After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing she went off to consult with her supervisor, and said she’d phone me back. She did. It transpired that all my accounts have pre-arranged overdrafts on them. I knew that much, but I rarely (if ever) use the overdraft. The problem came when my boiler went west last September. Even though I’d arranged with the bank to go overdrawn for one month only, it seems that if I go over my overdraft limit between November and April then they will review the overdraft and charge me for it. I (again) explained that I’d arranged the overdraft with the bank at the time; this was all a one-off pre-arranged overdraft, and there was no need for them to have reviewed anything. The charge was their mistake. Dear Millicent really struggled to understand what was going on. She offered to waive the twenty five quid as a gesture of goodwill, and really couldn’t understand why I was not happy with that. Removing their own mistake is hardly a gesture of goodwill.
The bottom line is that I must not go over my overdraft between the months of November and April. I shall pray my boiler doesn’t explode again.
And then to Folkestone for a birthday party. I must admit that had I chosen the venue, Bar Vasa would not have been my first choice. Leaving aside the abysmal ale selection, I could not believe the speed at which your plates and glasses were snatched away. I had to get a clean plate three times for the buffet. And the music. FAR too loud. Admittedly the arrogant children behind the bar would turn the volume down for you when you asked, but the spotty one would just come along and turn it back up again.
Perhaps I’m just getting old, but I’d been busy all day, I was tired, and my headache just got too much, and so I left early and made my own way home….
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