Latest Moan From You and Me 2023

No number plates so can't, police always take the details (101) but that's as far as it goes, they keep asking people to report things but no action is taken so no point in reporting, but i like being a pain and don't mind 15p per call

 

We had it come out that quite often your own car insurance does NOT cover the cost of a rental vehicle if it is stolen, at least not without a special rider. One fellow had rented a large pick up truck to drive while his own vehicle was being repaired and the truck was stolen. So now he is on the hook for over $60k

 

My car insurance only covers me for the bare minimum when driving another car, third party only, as they call it.
I dont like driving another vehicle under those circumstances so would always pay for extra insurance.

 

I never drive a vehicle other than my own.

 

My paper licence fell to pieces so I had to get a photo one a few years ago.
It was when I was hiring a courtesy car that it fell into about 10 pieces on the counter.

 

I've not had a paper licence since 1992, the year I moved to the Isle of Man. They were ahead of the mainland regarding the photo/plastic cards we have now.

 

Now you've sorted out UK customer service, shiney, do you fancy a new challenge? It would be the ultimate challenge, too. In France the customer is always wrong and even if, theoretically, there are consumer-favourable laws, they're totally ignored. The only way to even stand a chance of getting a complaint dealt with is to turn up at 11.45 armed with printed proof of the legislation, ID, till receipts and the stated intention to interrupt their lunch hour(s) if satisfaction isn't forthcoming

 

Went to a couple of garden centres yesterday just for a mooch round and raid the pot recycle bin at one of them.
My moan is why don't they sell more smaller plants that you can grow on, i fancied a brilliant orange kangaroo paw plant but they only had big ones at £25 I would have liked a smaller one for a tenner or so.
Next place had Nerium oleander at £60 but 5 ft high. Nothing smaller.

 

I agree in general with some plants.
I got my last Oleander 2/3 foot tall last year for 17 Euros.

 

@pete I sooo agree with you! That is why I end up trying to grow so many things from seeds. The plants are commonly sold large and with a huge price tag and even roots are deadly expensive.

I've been experimenting with buying the cheapie boxes of roots/tubers from the grocery store. They are anywhere between $3.88 to $6.88 so about about 2 or 4 of your pounds apiece. And I've had a peony sprout whereas the same one, from a nursery which was bought months ago has still not sprouted. They sat in pots next to one another, same soil, same conditions and the cheaper one won. So it makes me wonder about these nurseries. My fritillaria, itoh peony, cranesbill and red peony from the nursery were about $20 apiece and none have sprouted.

My itoh peony, astilbe and cranesbill grocery store deals have all come up. I have now bought more. A couple of rudbeckia and some more cranesbill for my son's place.

So why can't the nurseries bring those roots on and sell them as newly emerged plants?

 

Virtually all Garden Centres are fully focused on sales and don't really care or have staff to bring on young plants. I myself could put out loads of young plants, from plug plants to shrub liners and hedging, but very few sell, not even 1%.

Bulk of the people who buy plants do so, because they look pretty and prefer to see how they look as a more matured plant, so they tend to buy the larger plants. The larger plants especially those in flower always sell out first, so not really any incentive to sell younger smaller plants. It never used to be like that, but the market has changed and you could say people are more impatient nowadays.

 

The 5ft Oleander wasn't even in flower, just had a picture on the label so I assume it was aimed at people who know what they are buying to some extent.
Maybe I'm just a cheap skate.

I also wanted some ant killer as some have set up residence in my pots.
I forgot my glasses and was trying to read what one of the products contained, anyway an assistant came over and said, that's great stuff, I said does it work, he said not half, you will be back for more, I said ok,so sounds like it doesn't work then,he walked away.
I did find out it contained some kind of chrysanthemum extract, and pyrethrum.
So I put it back and bought this instead. It was cheaper anyway.