Good morning Mick and all GN's on a slowly lightening dry still chilly morning in North Yorkshire. Another boringly poor night with little sleep. I thought after my day of sorting and quite hard work I might be rewarded with a decent nights sleep but no such luck. Well at least I get up to a cleaner , somewhat tidier flat.
I had a busy day in the end. Had to try to hurry to be on time for my meeting, but was really struggling and although it was sunny it was quite cold. So I shoved the bedding into the washer, and hurried as much as I could to do jobs and get off in good time, as I couldnt manage to use the buggy and needed to get one of the only two disabled car park spaces that was close to the library building. No luck, they were both filled and I had to back up as there was no space to turn in and get past the parked mobile libraries too, and so it meant that I was parked right at the other end of the car park. It was a struggle to walk the length of the park and then up the steps etc so that I was one of the last to arrive to a very full room. I hate having to ask for favours and try to cope on my own, wherever possible, but had to ask for a chair with arms, as I knew I just couldnt get off any of the chairs with no arms or sides to them. Someone went to get me one and another person asked if I needed to sit near the front and did I want them to get me some coffee etc. I smiled at them and thanked them for their help, feeling annoyed inside that I needed to ask for help, but that is a lesson I need to learn. How to be prepared to accept help graciously , not just give help. So I was glad to get sat down and disappear into the crowd!!
It was a busy meeting as the subject was a talk about scams from the nat west bank and also another part from the local police cyber department. In some ways the woman and man from the bank were quite brave to be there, but they thought they were doing all the telling to a quiet audience and soon found that in some cases they had met their match with our group.
The straighforward information about the latest scams etc was fine, and just for any of you that may not have heard of this latest one from the wretched AI area, this is what we were told. That now if you get a phone call that you think is phishing or dodgy in any way, they say you should not speak at all but just put the phone down, as now even the shortest conversation of a few seconds such as No thankyou or stop contacting me , or whatever allows them to capture your voice and then they can use this to build up and make it sound exactly like you, and then "you" can be made to ring your bank or buy something . I dont know how likely or often this has occurred but put it here just to alert anyone.
I live in a small county town and people from the dales and villages round about have always come here for the auction mart and shopping etc and there were at least 6 different banks available on the high street. Now we have been told that Santander is closing and so will be left now with only one branch of a bank physically here. We are all extremely annoyed and upset about the situation, where the banks are absolutely not providing a service to customers and have used the covid situation to push people into using cards etc and having little access to cash etc.
We are no luddites and are au fait with new ways of working, but whilst we are happy to have the choice of card or cash, we absolutely do not approve of being forced into using cards and not being given access to cash etc. Amongst our group were people who helped in small charity shops, others who count up collections from churches etc , and all of these have now got great difficulty in being able to deal with their cash, and one bank has said only £10 at a time may be dealt with at once, so the person has to make two journeys into the town to sort things out and the charity shop people are furious at the attitude of the banks to them. We also are annoyed that we are expected now to have to travel to another town if we need more than just cash etc.
So the woman was on dangerous ground when she started to speak in a very patronising way about how the banks couldnt just stay open for people to withdraw £10 every week or whatever , and that we would all have to learn to deal with digital things so basically we should begin to learn now. The man did say in a more polite way that there would be one bank which was offering a short course to show people how to deal with their accounts safely, but my goodness the woman was swiftly put in her place by several people including me of course! She was reminded of those who cannot see well or have physical difficulties using their phones, that not everyone has a phone or a credit or debit card etc etc , and another lady who (hurray!!) had been not only a worker for a bank but the bank manager - retired some years ago - that they were not providing any sort of service and they should remember that they needed people to stay with them and that with that sort of attitude people would go elsewhere.
The woman was then insultingly patronising in tone of voice and suggesting that people had to move with the times and learn to use computers, where upon I was pleased to inform her in an icy tone that I had run one of the first computerised communications system in Britain, including training over 300 people in their use, and that she might like to look at us as individual people with knowledge and intelligence and not just think that white hair meant that you were now there to be talked down to and pushed around. This produced a round of applause and she blushed and backtracked and said she hadnt meant to imply any such thing. I think she was glad to finish and the police woman was much more polite and was pleased to receive ideas as well as give them regarding things happening in the local area at the moment. So it felt very worth while to have struggled to be there.
I returned home and got the washing out on the line and it was nearly 2pm before I had got myself something to eat. Then the cleaners came so by the end of the afternoon I felt that things looked better and got my washing in before the rain, and was pleased to have a quieter evening. This morning I need to put all the ironing away, have a quick tidy up and them am off out to visit a friend. The difficulty will be deciding what to wear as we have been promised a whole range to pick from, some sunshine but very cold possible snow and probable showers!! Glad I will be in the car and will throw in extra jumpers macs sunglasses etc etc . At least it will be comfortable in the car, but I wish this wretched cough would stop. My ribs and sides ache a lot at the moment and now when I have a bad session my chest hurts too. Ah well it is a bit better than last week which is something.
Hope all goes well with the alarm testing Mick . It is good that they are checking it out . GrandMattie I am with you regarding the weather at the moment. Marzipan22, sounds as though you had a good day yesterday. I too have a friend I have known for 78 years since I was two and we meet up only a few times in the year but we carry on the same as we have always done and it is as though we only saw each other yesterday. Such friendships are a joy to be cherished . You know they like you for who you are not for any other reasons and oh how nice to be able to talk in that shorthand that we can when we share so much in the past. Bellasnana hope all goes well with the hairdresser today. Whiteswan fingers crossed all goes well with the operation on the dog and your mum will be so pleased to have her pet home. Pantglas hope you have a happy time with your friends this afternoon.
Well wishing everyone a good day and hope you all manage to meet up or speak to friends today. What would we do without them, they are there for us good or bad as we are for them. When we read of so many scams and bullying and selfish behaviours it is good to know that there are decent people in the world who try to be kind and help each other. We just hear too much of the bad and not the good. Have a happy day if you can everyone.
