@Liriodendron I ordered some things from a well known book store. They sent it via Yodel. When I tracked the parcel, they said it had been left with a neighbour, giving his name. I rang the neighbour, a bit surprised both because I'd been in all day and would have seen the van going next door and also because he works and I didn't think he'd been in. He confirmed he had in fact been 20 miles away all day. His partner, who was at home but has a different name, said she'd not seen anyone and she even went and looked around in case it had been left there. No sign. So I phoned the merchant. I've had this sort of experience with Yodel before, ended up driving 15 miles to their distribution place to collect it. They were hopeless, so I didn't bother. The merchant - who, after all is the one with the contract with Yodel - sent out a replacement order by a different courier the next day and pursued their own enquiries with Yodel. A couple of days later, one of our other neighbours also had a parcel 'delivered' by Yodel. On this occasion it was claimed that a different neighbour had signed for it. He actually found that parcel, half a mile away, chucked in the hedge. Same thing happened again the following week. We therefore suspect that my lost parcel had the same treatment but as it had been bin day, the bin men picked it up, thinking it had been left for them, as it would have been where we leave the bags for collection.
DPD are brilliant here, as are Hermes. It very much depends on the driver, not the company.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Back from the city ... I missed the first bus back 'cos I'd spent too long browsing in Waterstones ... but I got two books for stocking fillers ........ and one for myself
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
@Fairygirl we have to be careful ... I tried to send Pat some rain earlier in the week, but my aim was off and I nearly drowned Sydney
As long as he had wellies on, he's probably ok Pat - we've had even more bl**dy heavy rain here today - I'll happily send you some, but I don't think my hose will reach.... Rather hideous day altogether. Sleety, hailstone-y stuff, and still very windy. Hope it improves a bit. Couldn't be much worse! 4 degrees just now. Man has been to look at my leak. Seems it's the roughcast on the gable end that's the issue. He's almost 100% sure. It's so saturated, and the wet is then working it's way down into the cavity and across to the new ceiling. Otherwise it would be leaking a lot more often. I think it makes sense - it's after prolonged heavy rain that it leaks. The old gable is pretty bare looking, and it bears the brunt of all the wet as it faces west/north west. I should probably have had it done when I had the building done, but that's life. R'girl - you're absolutely right about the drivers. The issue I had was with the same driver. DPD were very helpful when it was brought to their attention. I've heard a lot of stories about Yodel and Hermes. I had an issue with Hermes, when the driver just dumped my plants by the front door. He didn't realise I was a few feet away from the door, and when I opened it, he was already on his way across the road to his van. We don't really use the front door much, only older daughter, so if I hadn't seen him, they could have been there for days.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
@raisingirl - that's dreadful! At least I now have my parcel, delivered to a shop in town. I had an interesting chat with the shopkeeper, who reveals that this DPD driver is new, and totally confused trying to deliver in an unfamiliar area. It's not helped by the plethora of tiny, narrow streets here, the steepness of the valley sides and the vagaries of the street numbering system. She has a regular customer who lives on the main road to Burnley. She has all her deliveries sent to the shop. Her house ought to be easy for delivery drivers to find - except that she has the same house number and post code as the Indian takeaway further up the road...
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
We get delivery vans stuck on our unmade drive on a regular basis. There have been a spate recently who claimed to be following their satnav to get to our neighbours behind us which is impossible. Any sensible driver would take one look at our drive and say "I'm not going up there!".
Trouble is they can get the van up the drive but they can't turn round so have to reverse back down. They then have all the weight on the back of the van so lose control of both power and steering as our drive slopes very steeply in two directions at once with a right angled bend in the middle. If they follow my instructions exactly I can get them back down again but most of them think they are Lewis Hamilton/Stirling Moss so don't pay attention with the result that rescue services have been called seven times so far this year. A few years ago we came very close to needing a crane to get one out of the hedge atop the 8ft boundary wall with my NDN!
Good evening. Been out all day enjoying ourselves starting with a cross country drive to St Gilles which is a coastal resort further up from here. Our destination was a restaurant which uses classic techniques but unusual flavour combinations. It was fabulous and just 29€ for 3 courses. On his way to a Michelin in the very near future. After that a stroll along the front in the sunshine.
Interesting looking clouds coming up from the west and quite a bit of wave action which promises well for tomorrow. Set to be windy and very wet so, apart form going to collect our Xmas tree from the primary school in teh village, we're hibernating.
Couriers here have to leave parcels at the nearest PO or a pre-identified shop. No chucking stuff in hedges or over walls. Works for us as we have cars. Possum, in Namur, smetimes has a 45 minute walk or a bus ride to the post office cos there's no parking at the main one in town so they head for one that's easy for them.......
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Posts
So I phoned the merchant. I've had this sort of experience with Yodel before, ended up driving 15 miles to their distribution place to collect it. They were hopeless, so I didn't bother. The merchant - who, after all is the one with the contract with Yodel - sent out a replacement order by a different courier the next day and pursued their own enquiries with Yodel.
A couple of days later, one of our other neighbours also had a parcel 'delivered' by Yodel. On this occasion it was claimed that a different neighbour had signed for it. He actually found that parcel, half a mile away, chucked in the hedge. Same thing happened again the following week. We therefore suspect that my lost parcel had the same treatment but as it had been bin day, the bin men picked it up, thinking it had been left for them, as it would have been where we leave the bags for collection.
DPD are brilliant here, as are Hermes. It very much depends on the driver, not the company.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Pat - we've had even more bl**dy heavy rain here today - I'll happily send you some, but I don't think my hose will reach....
Rather hideous day altogether. Sleety, hailstone-y stuff, and still very windy. Hope it improves a bit. Couldn't be much worse! 4 degrees just now.
Man has been to look at my leak. Seems it's the roughcast on the gable end that's the issue. He's almost 100% sure. It's so saturated, and the wet is then working it's way down into the cavity and across to the new ceiling. Otherwise it would be leaking a lot more often. I think it makes sense - it's after prolonged heavy rain that it leaks. The old gable is pretty bare looking, and it bears the brunt of all the wet as it faces west/north west. I should probably have had it done when I had the building done, but that's life.
R'girl - you're absolutely right about the drivers. The issue I had was with the same driver. DPD were very helpful when it was brought to their attention.
I've heard a lot of stories about Yodel and Hermes. I had an issue with Hermes, when the driver just dumped my plants by the front door. He didn't realise I was a few feet away from the door, and when I opened it, he was already on his way across the road to his van. We don't really use the front door much, only older daughter, so if I hadn't seen him, they could have been there for days.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I must say that all the delivery drivers around here have been very good ... but then where we live is quite straightforward ... for Norfolk anyway
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Interesting looking clouds coming up from the west and quite a bit of wave action which promises well for tomorrow. Set to be windy and very wet so, apart form going to collect our Xmas tree from the primary school in teh village, we're hibernating.
Couriers here have to leave parcels at the nearest PO or a pre-identified shop. No chucking stuff in hedges or over walls. Works for us as we have cars. Possum, in Namur, smetimes has a 45 minute walk or a bus ride to the post office cos there's no parking at the main one in town so they head for one that's easy for them.......