Random

I'm sure the COULD replace the building but being shortsighted means they will just leave that to someone else. Seriously, added to the cost of the roadworks, they could build the folks a new premises and not even have to blink. 'soles.

I’ve never been in the pub, but used to use that road several times a week and the traffic is horrendous. Catch it at the wrong time of day and you could easily sit there for 30mins plus, although it’s a fun road down the side of the hill through Birdlip and Bockworth.

The section at the top of the hill heading towards Cirencester seems to have its own climate, the weather was often different to the bottom of the hill or closer to Cirencester, especially in the winter

This is very true. Many decades ago I used to work for a cattle breeding company and would start out from our office in Gloucester and head out to the Cirencester area. Frequently I would encounter snow / fog / sunshine which was the complete opposite of what they had in Gloucester.

oh dear.

I took my MX5 in for an MoT, service and to have a vibration looked at at my usual place. I got there nice and early and went for a long walk of over 19.5k steps. When we got back over 5 1/2 hours later they hadn't even started and clearly had no time to do everything so I told them to forget it and went home... ah, mistake. I now can't get it MoT'd in time and I'll be illegal for a day, it runs out on Wednesday and I can only get it in on Thursday. Bugger.

I've made my mind up I'm never going back to the 1st place. I've been using them for decades but more recently they just don't have time to do anything and time after time I pick the car up and they've done sweet FA. They booked me in, I was there on time and yet they pushed me to the back of the queue. So F*** Them. Never going back.

How did you receive it, by email or post?
With the Americans, I suspect the best way of responding would be by post but with the current Royal Mail issues, that may not be easy

It’s a photo that the US postal service emails to you, telling you that you have mail coming.
I haven’t received the actual letter, just a picture of the front of the summons, addressed to me with no other contact details on it.
The last time I responded, I told them I am not a citizen and therefore am not eligible to be on a jury.
Their response was that I should pursue citizenship but would be removed from the pool of jurors.

It probably arrived as I was still getting paid by my old job and was therefore on the local city books as an employee.

Your local mp and the US consulate/embassy might be useful or at least know who to sontact lest you go for a visit and get arrested.

Been in communication with my last job due to getting tax paperwork and the like.
Saw that someone left a Google review of the company. Someone who has worked there since I did.

“Unprofessional and Toxic work environment. Giving them 1 star is too much.”

The Chairman of the board is a fantastic man and was great to work for. The people who took over bit off more than they can chew.
It’s sad to see the staff being treated this way, but having experienced it myself, I’m not surprised people are saying this.

I can understand the staff not friends thing but there’s no excuse for bullying and treating people badly.
Even in regular jobs, people are often the biggest asset a company has. The CTO in my last job was one who subscribed to the “everyone is replaceable” mantra. He got fired a few months after I left.
I don’t have to be everyone’s best friend in work but I would like to be able to have a civil conversation with them, and when you stay in the same industry, how you treat people defines how your future goes.

At least you only had to rely on your own transport. I had to wait for an hour in the cold this morning with the first two trains of the day cancelled because the points down at Bognor were frozen and they couldn't get the trains out. Wouldn't mind if I didn't have to watch the fast section from Southampton whoch would normally attach to my train at Horsham whizz through non stop!

I haven't read Autocar for years but am thinking of doing the same with my CAR sub for exactly the same reasons.

I found the content of current car mags to be more and more alike and talking to a different audience. I then went beck to classic car mags but frankly the limits of what they call classic did little for me, I suppose my motor type being such a rareity mad buying them pointless. Dissapointingly I have only bought crossword puxxle magazines for a while which makes me feel old but is more vfm whan I cannot sleep rather than reading about suv or electric motors I have zero interest in.
Ironically, I would buy a Land Rover but I have a link to them even if it is tenuous. Short wheelbase TD before the law goes even more mental perhaps.

Heard back from the court about the jury service.
They will exempt me if I update my address in the DMV (Dept of Motor Vehicles) to my current address.
So I went online to update my address which I can do, as long as I enter an address in the USA…

Which is a moot point because I’m not eligible as a foreigner anyway. ..

Funny you should mention Argos... I've been attempting to buy stuf from them, largel;y unsuccessfullly, since they sht all their stand-alone stores and moved into Sainsburys.
I wonder how much business Sainsburys have lost due to the reduction in floor space to provide a home to Argos, and I wonder how much Argos have lost through not having items in stock because they have so little storage space compared to their stand-alone stores?

As an example, the Argos in my local Sainsburys superstore appears to only stock a handful of watches.
I much prefer to pay on collection, not in advance, and this also costs Argos sales from me, as pre-pandemic you could at least click and collect but only pay when you collected.
I've also had a bad experience when having paid in advance, the product never turned up at the store and I had to wait weeks for an auto-refund.

Argos are also missing from many town centres as a result of closing their dedicated stores. In Guildford, they used to have a shop on the retail park, and two in the town centre, one being a former "Index" store (remember them?) when they took them over, and one being their own shop. Now they have nothing and the nearest one is in a Sainsburys a few miles out of the town and not reachable easily by public transport