Living in London

I bought a file system today from the local Ryman's store. It is designed to hold hanging files (or "suspension files, as we call them here in the UK) so I bought an additional supply of hanging files as well.

Imagine my surprise (or dismay) when I got home and the hanging files would not hang on the rails of the file box? It would seem as if the rails were about 2 mm too far apart to support the standard hanging file.

I returned to the store and checked all the other file boxes that they had on display. They were all manufactured identically . . . identically wrong. I got a refund and bought a similar system from another store.

Quality is a funny thing here in the UK. I am still trying to figure it out. Stay tuned . . .

- HrH

First there was mix up with NTL Cable. Fortunately we rescheduled and are now enjoying countless channels of news and entertainment.

Today's SNAFU is more disappointing. Earlier this week we received notice from the moving company that our air shipment was due to arrive on 9/3. What excitement! Linda and I were planning on being in Brussels for the weekend so I cancelled my ticket (sacrificing $166 on the non-refundable ticket) and Linda scheduled a trip back to London on Friday night in order to help unpack on Saturday. (She will return to Brussels on Sunday to resume her obligations there.)

What they didn't tell us is that our shipment was only due at the airport on 9/3. It still has to get through customs and be scheduled for a delivery to our flat. We won't see our stuff until next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Who knew? We rearranged our lives and got our hopes up because we thought our shipment arrived today. Not understanding the intricacies of international moves, I am reminded of the old saying, "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."

-HrH

During one of my interviews at Netlix here in the UK we were discussing the lowered expectations of the average British citizen. It turns out that all shipping addresses are validated against the Royal Mail database. Apparently, this database is fraught with errors. Most Brits believe there is only a 50% chance that an online order will be correctly delivered to their home.

I gave credence to this state of disarry this week. I ordered a USB Hub from the Linksys distributor in the UK. Yesterday the web site said that the package had been delivered. Unfortunately it wasn't delivered to me.

When I called today the only part of the delivery address they had right was 4 Walnut Court. The rest of the address was for a flat on the other side of town. I am still waiting to find out where my hardware is.

-HrH

Interesting facts about the UK:

Does that mean that that 17.4% of the people who are working are illiterate? Nah . . . it doesn't work that way.

However, it might explain why the clerk at NTL Cable told me this week that an installer would be here today (August 28th) and yet scheduled us in their system for September 14.

Sigh . . . Nothing like waiting around all day for the cable guy.

-HrH