London Is Heaving
There must be something going on in London later in the week.
I was trying to locate some lights for my hall, so I decided to take the Underground to Warren Street and then walk to Selfridges by way of Habitat, Heals, John Lewis and Marks and Spencer.
A couple of years ago I bought some bedside lights from John Lewis, that are touch on and touch off. I would show you a link to their web site, but they are not there, although they were in the Oxford Street store. Here’s a picture of the bedside light.
John Lewis Touchable Table Lamp
They work well and what I want is three tall ones, so that I can place them at strategic points in my hall. And as I walk past in the dark, they will automatically switch on, when I touch them.
In fact, you can play lots of games with this type of concept. Perhaps, when you are out or it is pitch dark, they should switch on and they could text my mobile phone to say that someone was about.
The possibilities of this sort of technology are endless. The text message facility could even be used to locate where you have put your mobile phone. I once had an e-mail from a friend, asking to call his mobile phone, as he’d left it somewhere in his house and couldn’t find it. Like many these days he didn’t have a landline. He does now!
I finally found an elegant tall lamp in Selfridges, but why are there so few?
I can’t be the only person, who when they enter their house in the dark, doesn’t have a light in the hall, that is close to hand. But I have a space between the door and the wall, where I could put such a light.
A Space for a Tall Lamp
Ideally it would be touchable, but a foot switch would be an alternative. Note the switches on the wall. They are for the outside lights, or at least I can’t get them to work any others. At least, I’ve got a suitable powerpoint, but note the cracked plaster above it. Jerry’s electrician didn’t have a clue.
You might argue, why I don’t have a light in the hall? Jerry didn’t put one in to save money and to put one in would mean trunking all over the place as the ceiling is a concrete slab. Wall lights are so naff! And yes, I’ve got lots of really hideous ones, probably bought in some bastion of good design like Fred’s El-Cheapo Lighting Emporium in Dalston Market. Don’t knock that market, as I think, Lord Sugar started his business careeer there.
The trip wasn’t helped by the fact that London seemed to have many more people about than normal. To make matters worse there were lots of smokers lining up outside the shops having a cough and a drag. Some were even sitting on the floor, creating more unseen hazards for people with limited vision. I did think about deliberately falling over a particular well-upholstered couple dragging away with one hand and eating a burger with the other but I decided against it, as I would have hated to have contact with such an awful pair of individuals.
Let’s hope that London gets a little bit less busy as the week goes on. I have a lot of shopping to do!
The Blind Saga Ends
I posted earlier that Juhn Lewis mucked me about with the blinds for my house. In the end a few weeks ago, I did get the blinds for my bedroom on March 14th. And very nice they are too! They work as intended and couldn’t be better.
One thing that was rather annoying was that they’d originally charged me for the two larger blinds for the living room and the one for the bedroom was cheaper. This wouldn’t have mattered too much, as they refunded the difference. But because of all the messing about, the refund didn’t go through on the same statement, so I ended up with having to pay interest of £29 on my credit card account. I did get a few extra points, but their mistake in making up the wrong blinds cost me money as well as the embarrassment of being without bedroom blinds for several weeks.
Now that I’m happy with the bedroom blinds and as I’ve replaced the two broken panes in the living room, I felt a week or so, ago, that at the right price, the blinds might do for the living room, as I know the style and quality.
In fact, when they delivered the wrong blinds, I was asked if I would accept them for a consideration. I said no, as at the time the windows needed replacing in the living room and my glazier preferred to do this before the blinds were fitted.
So I wrote to John Lewis, saying that if the right consideration was on offer, I might accept the blinds for the living room, that were now sitting in their store.
Yesterday, I got a phone call on my mobile from John Lewis asking if I wanted the blinds. As I had told them before to call on my landline and I was busy at the time, I asked them to phone back in the afternoon.
But as in a couple of cases before, they didn’t.
So today, I took the bull by the horns and went to the Oxford Street store and saw someone in person, to whom I told the whole story. He said he needed to talk to the departmental manager and he would be a few minutes.
Whilst he was away, I looked at several other blinds on offer and felt that as I had signed nothing to say I wanted the blinds they had made in error, there might be something that was better and possibly cheaper. You also have to take into account, that I’ve firmed up on the chocolate colour scheme highlighted by brass, since I had the room measured for the blinds. So perhaps they need to be different anyway.
The consideration that I was offered was not in my ball park, so I politely declined the offer and left.
So this morning was a complete waste of time.
What I will be doing I do not know, but I think my days of dealing with the accident-prone curtain and blinds department in John Lewis are over.
What they do with the blinds they accidentally made for me is totally up to them!
My New Trainers
I got my new trainers on Friday from Runners Need.
I wore them all day yesterday in Bristol and in the end we had to walk all the way from Ashton Gate to Temple Meads, which took about thirty minutes.
This morning, I have no stiffness or soreness!
I’ve not had any cramps in bed either.
So perhaps everybody should get their trainers properly fitted.
Dr. Rosemary Gets It Right
Dr. Rosemary Leonard complained about giving cheap chocolate bars with newspapers on BBC Breakfast today.
The process annoys me, especially as the bars are always gluten-rich. In fact, I no longer use W H Smith because of their practices, unless I don’t have a choice and then I just leave the vouchers on the counter.
No Shredders in the City
My rather-too-cheap shredder failed a week ago and you’d think being close to the City of London, it would not be difficult to get a new and better one!
Wrong!
After a couple of abortive trips to the nearest PC World and Maplins, where they were out of stock, I decided to take the bull by the horns and go to Staples at Tottenham Hale.
In the end I chose one that just fitted in my large Tesco bag-for-life.
It also fitted the steps of the escalators on the Underground well and I could place it under the seat on one of the new Victoria line trains, so getting it back home wasn’t the hassle I thought it would be.
But why are there no shredders in the City?
Giving Up on the Bin
I hate the SimpleHuman rubbish bin, I bought for my kitchen, with a vengeance. Quite frankly, it’s absolute rubbish.
The main problem is that every time you take out one of the containers, it traps your fingers and as mine are sensitive after the stroke, it’s hurts. I forget the fact that it needs expensive special bin liners, the lids don’t stay up when you want and that it takes up valuable floor space in my small kitchen, but it has to go.
But lets face it, evety other one I’ve seen is expensive and/or a useless design.
So I’ve now relegated it to a bin for my dry recyclables.
My Useless SimpleHuman Bin
Note how I’m using two IKEA hooks to hold up a Waitrose carrier bag for my food waste and other non-recyclables.
I’ve bought a few useless things in my time, but I believe this is the worst husehold item I’ve ever bought.
A Two Man-Hernia Job
In the 1960s, the amount of effort required to do a job with lifting used to be measured in man-hernias.
IKEA's Two-Man Hernia Label
This packaging on an IKEA bookcase, clearly identifies this as a two man-hernia job.
Shopping on the Bus
I tend to do one big shop a week early on Tuesday or Wednesday morning, as that means I can enjoy Waitrose in Upper Street, without queuing too long and then walk to an empty 38 or 56 bus to get me home.
A Week's Shopping
The bags this week weighed 12.1 kilos between them, but as I only have to walk about 200 metres in total and then carry them upstairs, the exercise is probably good for me. I could order on line, but then I like to see what I buy first.
You’ll notice I use a Tesco long-life bag. It’s the easiest to carry, with large comfortable handles.
Getting Musks Sausages in London
I like my sausages and they have to be gluten-free. But finding my preferred brand of Musks in London is difficult. It used to be that you could buy them in some Waitrose shops and I definitely saw some in Canary Wharf. But after a trip on Friday especially to the shop, they were no longer there.
I could get them mail order, but really I only like to buy a pack occasionally and don’t want to buy a freezer full.
So does anybody know a shop that sells Musks gluten-free sausages in London.
I can get Black Farmer ones in Sainsburys at Upper Street, but although I like them, I prefer the Musks, as they are not so filling.
Update on the 10th March 2011 – I’ve found some in the Brunswick Branch. The only trouble is that that is an expensive Waitrose to visit, as I can’t resist buying a snack or even lunch in the Carluccio’s there.
And Now Cashmere Prices Rise!
So if you can’t afford the oil to keep you warm, you can’t afford a new cashmere sweater as the price of that is rising too.
I notice that Prudence is keeping very quiet on the mess he and his NuLabor friends left us in.
The Anonymous Widower 