It's a Shopping Life

This online-shopping is a good thing innit?

What with the trouble last year with 'Hermes' and deliveries I am always a bit wary when ordering online.  However, all delivery companies have expanded greatly, even 'Hermes' has improved the system and enabled decent tracking of the goods, plus asking for report on the delivery.

Today I was informed my 'DPD' driver, name given, would deliver between 9:21 & 10:21.  So I sat back happy about this, as usually they arrive around lunchtime.  In fact he was a couple of minutes early and sped on his way, a cheerful hard working driver.  He must have been up before the postmen this morning!  Yesterday 'Hermes' arrived, a couple using their car rather than a van, a cheery local working class type.  Friendly, quick and within the time given.  A vast improvement for 'hermes.'   

 

 

With the vast amount of money received at Xmas I bought myself a (very) cheap, (very) used little camera to shove into my pocket.  Naturally bits are missing, scruff marks abound but the Battery charger works and so does the camera, in spite of marks on the lens!  The missing bit is the connection to the laptop which is required when downloading pictures.  I have ordered a (very) cheap cable from an online shop, but there is another problem.  The 'Canon' site offers downloads for these old cameras and I brought down the user manual easily enough, but when I try for anything else it demands the serial number.  Easy-peasy, they are always on the bottom.  However, when I looked it was not on the bottom!  OO er missus!  What is a going on here?  The condition of the camera indicates a bumbling user, Boris himself perhaps, and care has not been taken.  However the missing number could have been caused by 'wear and tear' or indeed scratched off for devious reasons.  The place I bought it from is a reasonable company however, not a back street job.     

I am now wondering if the cable will connect or if I will still require software to get a connection.  There is however, a possiblity that the Windows help have a solution, this may work. If not, the only solution will be to remove the SD Card and put it into the other camera, download, and return the cards to their respective homes each time I use the thing.  

Buying 'second-hand,' sorry, 'Used,' is a great way to shop if you are happy with older stuff rather than the latest gadget, however there are always pitfalls and bits missing.  

The camera looks like it will to do the job, even if not as good as the Lumix, ideal   for carrying in the pocket.  Mind you it is heavier than it looks.  Picture quality appears OK so far, one day I will get out and look around to see what it can do.

 

 

There is however, normal life ahead!  Next week charity shops will open again so I can go shopping without a debit card.  So many items appear to have shrunk hanging up in the cupboard, so items, like jackets, must be inspected.

A hundred and one smaller items have either gone missing or are now required and a perusal of these shops, all eight of them here, is a must!  I suppose I ought to wait a further week or so, the number of bags being donated, including a large black one of mine, will have to be sorted first.  The days of lockdown have given many time to sort out the cupboards.  I canny wait to see the bargains awaiting me.

 

Trapped Happily by DPD

Trapped all day I have been although I was not too despondent about this.  For one, I was waiting on a parcel being delivered and for another the weather was too hot for my weary bulk.  
I got an e-mail informing me my latest expensive buy (£2 each) was on it's way and that by just downloading the 'app' I could follow the van drivers progress.  This interested me as I recall the days sitting in the van driving around London (before today's van driver was born) using the high tech available at the time, namely one sheet of grubby paper with deliveries written thereon and a pen, unless that had been nicked by a comrade.  Today, they said, the 'app' allows you to trace the van as it reaches each delivery (I was 29 in the list and he would arrive between 12:06 and 13:06) and I considered this a marvellous idea remembering just how many times we arrived at closed doors.  Our best advice was the driver working out his route and scribbling whether we would be 'a.m.' or 'p.m.'  If traffic occurred, as it did do in London, then we could be late.  
There is a problem here however, I attempted to download said 'app' and discovered that 'DPD' doing their best omitted to generate an 'app' that worked on laptops.  Being a mere grumbling pensioner I canny afford a mobile phone costing £300, especially as I have no friends to call, and lose out on such things.  However I e-mailed back to DPD and within a short time the display arrived on my screen.  I strongly suspect that this was clear enough on their website but daftie here could not see it.  So I relaxed as I made my lentil soup, with far too much cayenne pepper, did some (for some read 'little') work on one of my projects and generally lazed around in the heat.
In the cool of the day the temperature is still in the 80's, that is around 27 to those of you out of kilter with the real world.  It was much higher when I opened the door to the van driver at precisely 12:06 would you believe.   I am much impressed with this system I must say, well done DPD.  
Global warming is no myth, in spite of what the naysayers naysay it is real, the temperature and the weather in general is shifting whatever the reason.   I sat here exposing my beer belly to the windows, er no I mean sat here working near the windows to get what air there was as it circled around.  It was too hot for me, much as I like this, but once the parcel had been opened and satisfied my desire for shiny things I remained happy to sleep rather than walk the streets.

   
i did spend some time on a thing called 'USwitch' trying to find cheaper energy.  I also looked at the cheaper smaller energy companies and was not impressed much.  To save a few pounds here you lose a few there.  Unless you catch a special offer I could not see much advantage in changing from one company to another, not for me at any rate.  How they rip us off!  
However the council has a place in a nationwide scheme where they say energy companies will make us an offer, possibly cheaper than that we now have.  The only thing is to register and await their offer which arrives sometime in October!  Ah well, my name is down I now await.
I also had a look at the ISP broadband and fibre packages and am interested in one or two of those.  Just what the catch is I am unsure but I am now paying £45 for this and even with BT Sport this is too much.  All BTS wish to do is watch Rangers and Celtic, I want Scottish football on my laptop not the bigot brothers.  I can watch the games on those chancer streams instead.  I don't want to do this but BT force me to.