Scooters and a Chinese takeaway?

19 October

Just in case you didn’t know, it’s Monday. At least for us lucky ones who have retired we don’t have to get up and go off to work. Well, at the moment we don’t, but the way Daft Dave and Dodgy Duncan is going, I have a sneaking suspicious that their eyes will be turned to us before too long. Ah well … let’s make the best of it while can.

So we have the president of China visiting us soon. I’m not sure what to make of it. On the news it said the Chinese are supplying telecoms kit to BT and GCHQ. Why do I have alarm bells ringing in my ears over this? Perhaps it’s down to such a large nation getting a foot hold in to our communications hubs; perhaps it the fact that a lot of own telecoms industry closed down and moved to the far east because it was cheaper over there. And yet it doesn’t stop there does it.

We are to buy Chinese nuclear reactor for power plants, and again alarm bells are ringing. It was claimed on Politics Today on BBC2 that our own engineers and programmers are working beside those in China to ensure that nothing gets inserted into the codes that shouldn’t be there. The talking head who said that also went to say that it was right for our guys to be there on the spot because the Chinese are pretty good hackers. The bells really began to clang louder at that one. But one more point if I may? It seems China and its finances are in a down turn right now. How can we know if they are going to be able to supply the contracts properly? Where will we be if they run out of money half way through?

Of course, that would apply as well if UK companies had won the contracts. However, a firm in Belfast is easier to get to help out that getting to China is. Not only that, the work would be done by British workers who have an invested interest in getting it done on time and on budget. Yes, I know, it doesn’t always work out like that even with British companies and that nothing is ever certain. But for me, I think it can be controlled better, easier and quicker here in the UK than and country abroad.

We had a letter this morning from FISH, the insurance guys. The reason for it is that the company that supplied us with our mobility scooters, thanks to the Royal British Legion, has gone bust. We had a few problems with them over the period we had the scooters from them, but it really came to a head when the steering tiller snapped while we were in Brum one day. That my friends is a serious safety issue as you can guess. As it was, we were heading back to the car anyway. When we called them about it they claimed we might have to pay for the repair because it was out of warranty. At that point I told them to come and collect them both, we were fed up with them.

However, to do that we needed to get in touch with RBL, we did and the scooters were both collected. It cost us a pretty penny or ten to replace them too. A short time later I took a phone call from one of the RBL staff who was asking me why we sent them back early. Once I had told him about our problems with the company he was more than a little miffed about them. As well as all those problems I also mentioned that my scooter had been one of their pool scooters that are normally loaned out to those whose scooters needed repair. That RBL man was really upset about that one. He told me they had charged RBL for two brand new scooters, not one new and one second hand. I wonder if all that had anything to do with the company going bust. I should think the RBL contract was a pretty large one, too large to lose and survive without perhaps?

Today’s photo then … 

Jan on her scooter showing off her ice cream.

Today’s funny …

My five year old son squealed with delight when he opened his birthday present from his grandmother. It was a water pistol. He promptly ran to the sink to fill it.

"Mom," I said. "I'm surprised at you. Don't you remember how we used to drive you crazy with water pistols?"

My mom smiled and said, "Yes, I remember."