240 General: New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

Manana, chaps, manana. Thou shalt not stress; relax. Take Bob for a walk, Alan, and whatever your pooch is called, 'L.S.'. I'm sure they would appreciate it. Throw them a ball, have an ice-cream, chill!!

Regards, John.

I'm going to give it until 5pm John then start getting Sasha ready for her walk John, won't be throwing a ball for her though. She's just finished her season so is likely to be "viable" for another 7-10 days and as she can smell a dog at 400 yards easily, she's going to be staying on the lead!

As for ice-cream, well and truly off my dietary list sadly.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

I'm going to give it until 5pm John then start getting Sasha ready for her walk John, won't be throwing a ball for her though. She's just finished her season so is likely to be "viable" for another 7-10 days and as she can smell a dog at 400 yards easily, she's going to be staying on the lead!

As for ice-cream, well and truly off my dietary list sadly.

Did the courier show up?

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

Did the courier show up?

Nope, not seen hide nor hair of him. According to the tracking page, my item is still "With my courier".

Reckon he's been abducted by aliens!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Nope, not seen hide nor hair of him. According to the tracking page, my item is still "With my courier".

Reckon he's been abducted by aliens!

... my cylinder head has got as far as Milton Keynes and is being 'prepared for delivery' - which might mean 'put on a van', or maybe 'left in a pile until we get round to it'... we'll see whether it arrives today :-)

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

... my cylinder head has got as far as Milton Keynes and is being 'prepared for delivery' - which might mean 'put on a van', or maybe 'left in a pile until we get round to it'... we'll see whether it arrives today :-)

I reckon your cylinder head is making good progress without the help of Parcelfarce Alan!

Check the tracking though, i've found in the past "Prepared for Delivery" is usually a prelude to "Out for Delivery" the same day.

Checking the tracking on Hermes, under the clickable heading "With your courier" is :

"15:23 - Mon 11 May

Your parcel is on its way to you today"

That's after numerous clicks of the "Refresh" button this morning.

It's the Buffalo Horn Saga all over again!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

I reckon your cylinder head is making good progress without the help of Parcelfarce Alan!

Check the tracking though, i've found in the past "Prepared for Delivery" is usually a prelude to "Out for Delivery" the same day.

Checking the tracking on Hermes, under the clickable heading "With your courier" is :

"15:23 - Mon 11 May

Your parcel is on its way to you today"

That's after numerous clicks of the "Refresh" button this morning.

It's the Buffal Horn Saga all over again!

Buffal Horn Saga - What was that?

I'm not getting too excited about Parcelforce delivering any time soon.

In an idle moment I was comparing an order for a new gaming headset I bought for Dan - direct from a Chinese company. The tracking was really detailed, at every stage and all the way from the local post depot in Shenzhen, collected on 28 April, arrived Heathrow on 6 May (8 days), then another 4 days for Royal Mail to get it from London to me (and I got an email saying it was coming on the delivery day though). It will be interesting to see if Parcelforce can beat that - all the way from Bristol :-)

I jest of course, but the really interesting difference is that the headset shipping was free (on an item costing less than $20) and the head cost me £30.

Perhaps the problem is we have just too much information these days :-)

Stay safe.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

Buffal Horn Saga - What was that?

I'm not getting too excited about Parcelforce delivering any time soon.

In an idle moment I was comparing an order for a new gaming headset I bought for Dan - direct from a Chinese company. The tracking was really detailed, at every stage and all the way from the local post depot in Shenzhen, collected on 28 April, arrived Heathrow on 6 May (8 days), then another 4 days for Royal Mail to get it from London to me (and I got an email saying it was coming on the delivery day though). It will be interesting to see if Parcelforce can beat that - all the way from Bristol :-)

I jest of course, but the really interesting difference is that the headset shipping was free (on an item costing less than $20) and the head cost me £30.

Perhaps the problem is we have just too much information these days :-)

Stay safe.

It should have been Buffalo Horn Saga (i've corrected the original now) but long story short, i bought Sasha a buffalo horn to chew on. The seller sent it same day via Hermes and it should have been with me 3-4 days later.
Six days later i sent the seller a message asking them to chase it as the tracking seemed to have stalled. Within an hour or so the tracking changed to being sent back to seller due to damage.

Two days later, the seller got it back, undamaged and put it back into Hermes system to get to me. Three days later the tracking showed it was out for delivery - didn't arrive. Next i knew, the seller sent me a message saying it had just landed back with him and he'd sent it out yet again.

At this point we're up to about 2 weeks give or take. After 10 days, i ordered direct from the suppliers website and they sent it out via RM, Second Class. The one i bought from the supplier arrived on what was about the 15th day from placing the order with the ebay seller, the original one from the ebay seller landed the day after but i refused to accept delivery (in between whiles, the seller had refunded me) as it wasn't mine to accept.

While answering the door to Mr Hermes, the seller had sent me a message basically saying if it did turn up, keep it with his compliments by way of an apology.

Confused yet? I was and that's the simplified version!

As for too much information, maybe but i think the real problem is that there is often a weak link in the chain and when the parcel reaches that point, it doesn't matter how much information we have, it's all for nowt when the process stops for no apparent reason.

Sometimes the Chinese get it right in terms of delivery, others they don't. I've just had a refund for a mirror dashcam that arrived broken. That was a UK based Chinese seller and instead of a Jiffy bag to protect it, just one of those polythene mailing bags.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

It should have been Buffalo Horn Saga (i've corrected the original now) but long story short, i bought Sasha a buffalo horn to chew on. The seller sent it same day via Hermes and it should have been with me 3-4 days later.
Six days later i sent the seller a message asking them to chase it as the tracking seemed to have stalled. Within an hour or so the tracking changed to being sent back to seller due to damage.

Two days later, the seller got it back, undamaged and put it back into Hermes system to get to me. Three days later the tracking showed it was out for delivery - didn't arrive. Next i knew, the seller sent me a message saying it had just landed back with him and he'd sent it out yet again.

At this point we're up to about 2 weeks give or take. After 10 days, i ordered direct from the suppliers website and they sent it out via RM, Second Class. The one i bought from the supplier arrived on what was about the 15th day from placing the order with the ebay seller, the original one from the ebay seller landed the day after but i refused to accept delivery (in between whiles, the seller had refunded me) as it wasn't mine to accept.

While answering the door to Mr Hermes, the seller had sent me a message basically saying if it did turn up, keep it with his compliments by way of an apology.

Confused yet? I was and that's the simplified version!

As for too much information, maybe but i think the real problem is that there is often a weak link in the chain and when the parcel reaches that point, it doesn't matter how much information we have, it's all for nowt when the process stops for no apparent reason.

Sometimes the Chinese get it right in terms of delivery, others they don't. I've just had a refund for a mirror dashcam that arrived broken. That was a UK based Chinese seller and instead of a Jiffy bag to protect it, just one of those polythene mailing bags.

Good story!

According to Parcelforce the package is still in Milton Keynes -so I won't hold my breath regarding a delivery today :-)

[john.wigley]

Yes, Alan, one can indeed have too much information. It is the same with cars too, don't you find?

My first car (1951 Ford) had a speedometer (legal requirement), a fuel gauge and an ammeter. No other instrumentation or warning lights whatsoever.

My 1971 Fiat 500L added *low fuel, low oil pressure, main beam, ignition and direction indicator warning lights, but at the expense of an ammeter. The basic model lacked even a fuel gauge, relying instead on a dipstick and a warning light, *retained on the 'L' variant.

My 20 year old Volvo boasts a trip computer that would have made Neil Armstrong envious barely 30 years earlier. My 14 year old Saab has one which has features that I have not yet explored. Some may appreciate the information that they provide, but I prefer the relative simplicity of an earlier age.

You will know better than I what even more modern car electronics are capable of; my most recent experience (through work) is of those fitted to cars 8 - 10 years ago. I'm sure modern equipment is both accurate and reliable, but I would still have concerns regarding both the integrity of the information and the longevity of the hardware. Heat and vibration are anathema to computers, and you wouldn't drive around with a lap-top under your bonnet, would you?

Regards, John.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

Yes, Alan, one can indeed have too much information. It is the same with cars too, don't you find?

My first car (1951 Ford) had a speedometer (legal requirement), a fuel gauge and an ammeter. No other instrumentation or warning lights whatsoever.

My 1971 Fiat 500L added *low fuel, low oil pressure, main beam, ignition and direction indicator warning lights, but at the expense of an ammeter. The basic model lacked even a fuel gauge, relying instead on a dipstick and a warning light, *retained on the 'L' variant.

My 20 year old Volvo boasts a trip computer that would have made Neil Armstrong envious barely 30 years earlier. My 14 year old Saab has one which has features that I have not yet explored. Some may appreciate the information that they provide, but I prefer the relative simplicity of an earlier age.

You will know better than I what even more modern car electronics are capable of; my most recent experience (through work) is of those fitted to cars 8 - 10 years ago. I'm sure modern equipment is both accurate and reliable, but I would still have concerns regarding both the integrity of the information and the longevity of the hardware. Heat and vibration are anathema to computers, and you wouldn't drive around with a lap-top under your bonnet, would you?

Regards, John.

Yes indeed John.

One reason I like my 2006 Triumph is because it has everything one needs on a motorcycle, but not one iota more. It has a large speedometer, high beam light, oil pressure light and indicator reminder - that is it. No tachometer (why would one need one on a 270 degree air cooled parallel twin), no fuel gauge (it has a petcock with a reserve position for the gravity fed tank) - nothing.

I have added a clock (really simple, analogue) and some heated grips (my sop to comfort last year - after riding without them for 13 years). Other than that I can't think of anything that would not detract from the simple pleasure of motorcycling :-)