It might be quiet here for a few days.

I think I'm getting a cold. I've been sneezing all day, my nose has been running, and my chest feels a bit 'tight'. Not surprising really - I've been in contact with a few people over the past week who have had a cold, so I was bound to join the club. Just when I haven't got any lemons or garlic in the kitchen...And it is/was going to be a busy week - getting my hair cut etc. Monday, Guild duty Tuesday, a trip into town with Val on Thursday. What can I miss out on? If I get my hair done in the morning, I could come home, stay inside and rest. I hate missing my Guild day, but I do not like sharing my germs, so if it gets worse, I'll have to give the Guild a miss. Wednesday was going to be quiet anyway, so hopefully I'll be okay by Thursday. Val and I have a heap of places to go to, and I don't want to miss out on anything!

How boring for anyone reading all that. Well, it gets worse. I'm going to do a rant. Ken bought a 'Dryrider' brand waterproof motorcycle jacket about six months ago. Dryrider are one of the top brands of waterproof gear, and very expensive. This jacket was around $500 - and A1 Motorcycles where he bought it, had given him a discount price! Within a month of getting it, one of the pockets came away from a seam, so Ken took it back to A1 M/cycles. They said they would send it back to be repaired. That took about six weeks. When Ken brought it home, he discovered that the repair hadn't been finished. When they had undone the seam to get to the pocket, they'd fixed the pocket, but left the seam unstitched. He took the jacket back to the shop and they told him they would send it back to the manufacturers again.
We waited for a phone call. And waited. We called the shop and got a different story every time. The Dryrider rep. hadn't been in. The rep had been in, but forgotten to take the jacket. The rep had picked up the jacket, but it wasn't back yet. The rep was pregnant and wouldn't be back for a few months. Last Saturday, Ken was in the shopping centre where A1 is located, and he decided to drop in and see if his jacket was there. Oh, it was there all right. It hadn't gone anywhere since he left it there two months ago. Ken rang me from his mobile phone, and I said "Just bring it home and I'll fix it". The shop manager was not happy when Ken insisted on taking it with him. He (the manager) was even less happy when Ken said he would be contacting Dryrider and telling them what he thought of their product and their aftersales service (NOT).
I'm very good at writing letters to people about bad customer service. I tell them a copy of my letter is going to Choice magazine, Consumer affairs, 60 Minutes, and so on. I usually get a very positive reaction within 24 hours. Watch this space!