Latest Moan From You and Me 2025

We used to send by Evri and didn't have a problem except that they didn't deliver to certain parts of the UK. We then started having problems using their website as their site sometimes refused to accept a postcode for the person.

Then, last year, Royal Mail 48 started up and they are easy to deal with online, no more expensive than Evri (sometimes cheaper) and the postman collects the package from us the next day. So no need to take it to an Evri drop in.

Almost all deliveries we receive, no matter which service it comes through, are on time and handled carefully.

 

I've had very little trouble within autorenewal for insurance as I usually stop it immediately. There was only one company that was difficult to contact (couldn't get on to their website) so cancelled any repeat through my bank - and asked for and got an email reply from the bank confirming it.

 

Not quite...

Last year, I sort of fell into an 'adoption'... (bit of a long story, so brace yourself ) - as some folks know, I am involved in various car related groups and Jaguar seems to be a brand that keeps floating back into my life. Last year, someone in one of these car groups said he needed to get rid of his car and gave a price that was really quite silly to be honest - so I messaged him, to tell him that he had significantly undervalued his car.

It transpired that he was being forced to get rid of the car following him having a stroke and his recovery not going as well as they thought it would. To cap it off, he actually had a collection of classics (mix of modern classics and older ones) all stored in a garage somewhere that the landlord had sold to a property developer, giving him a very limited amount of time to get rid.

He was more interested in finding the right home for the car than the money involved, hence pricing it the way he had - he admitted that it needed some work done, and of course I then reeled off the 'usual' Jaguar things that need doing and he was impressed that I knew so much about them... I'd had one, many years ago that I practically rebuilt and then had to get rid of when the shop below our rented flat caught fire, basically making us homeless, so the car had to go to afford rental deposits and higher rent. I was gutted, as I'd brought it back to being a really good example of one.

The seller said he wanted it to go to a home with someone like me and would I consider it. So, with a bit of financial jiggery-pokery (and eating beans for a month, thankfully we are talking hundreds rather than thousands) I ended up buying it off him.

Throughout last summer, I did a fair bit of work to her and also took her to a few shows - indeed, the week after I bought her, she was at a show in Oxfordshire





Through her winter slumbers, she has become stuck in gear (gearbox interlock won't let go), so I hauled the dashboard out to investigate and repair that -- whilst I am in there, I may as well replace the dashboard illumination that is no longer working, as I'd rather not be dismantling it multiple times, hence waiting on the bulbs

She is called Ruby (obvious reasons), is far from perfect (needs a respray and needs bits and bobs) but mechanically she is spot on. Fully stamped service history for all of her 28 years and my MOT guy was mega-impressed with her - in fact, he is going to borrow her at some point to have a day out with his wife in it as he owned one when they first met.

 

Not sure I am quite up to a bank job...

It works out about £50 per month to keep it insured and taxed, maintenance is generally low price (I do a fair bit myself and have a local guy who does the heavier/more complex stuff if needed) and shows vary in price from free up to about £30 depending, which is still cheap for a day out to be honest. A relatively cheap hobby and in all fairness, given the money I paid for it, I can barely lose more than a few hundred quid even if it did go all horribly wrong tomorrow. She is a nice old bus though - very comfy.

 

We changed to a meter some years ago, and our bill has never yet been as much as it was when we weren't on a meter.