Take my car for instance. On Wednesday I changed it. I always deal with Busseys of Norwich and have had Fords for many years. They have always looked after me and given me good deals and so it was this week.
I popped down on Monday to sign all the paperwork and then popped along on Wednesday to pick up my new car which was identical to the old one apart from a few minor changes and the fact it was red instead of blue.
So in effect I was swapping a Ford Fiesta for a Ford Fiesta. So far so good. Same make, same model. So I thought changing my insurance would be simple. But how many times do apparently simple tasks become difficult?
It should have been a matter of logging onto the Lloyds Bank website and updating the car details. Yes I expected I would have have to pay a swap over fee despite the fact that I was doing all the work. But then I hit a problem. The website didn't recognise my new car's registration. Obviously it hadn't yet got through to the DVLA.
No problems. There was a phone number to contact them. I rang this and, after the statutory hanging around whilst I pressed numerous keys, I got through to a human being. Ah ha I thought. This shouldn't take long now. How wrong I was.
Apparently Lloyds Bank deal with a number of companies when it comes to car insurance. I know this as I had to listen to them going through them all by way of a recorded message.
Anyway I explained that I wanted to change the vehicle on my policy and update it with a new registration number.
"I will just check that for you," the person on the other end said.
"I'm afraid your insurer won't quote on that," she came back.
"But it's the same make, the same style and everything is the same. It's just a straight swap," I replied.
Then she checked all the other providers and quoted me about £200 more than I'm currently paying.
"But it's an identical car" I cried in frustration.
"I'm sorry but I can only tell you what I'm getting up on screen," she replied.
So I negotiated a cancellation of my policy at a cost to myself and then thought "hold on a minute. I'm paying a cancellation fee on something that doesn't exist. I'm paying a cancellation fee for something that somebody else has effectively cancelled by saying they cannot continue to insure me."
So I ended up taking the three day offered free insurance from Ford which will tide me over until I can root thought Compare the Market and Go Compare. I seem to change my car insurance provider every year. On this occasion it will be twice in a year. Talk about the disposable society.
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Received some terribly sad news on Wednesday evening. Hethersett stalwart Duncan Pigg has died. Duncan was well into his nineties and I have known him for over 40 years. He has been a leading light in the village for more years than anyone can remember.
Duncan probably knew more about the village than anyone else and I will miss him greatly. I will have more about Duncan in a future blog as I put together a piece for my various publications.
* * *
On Wednesday we paid a flying visit to the walled garden at Felbrigg Hall just before the winds and heavy rain arrived. I was quite pleased with the photos I took despite the impending storms. Hope you enjoy them.
On the way to Felbrigg we called into Alby Crafts which is always worth a visit if only for the coffee and scones. They had some very interesting crafts which got me thinking about turning some of my better pictures into merchandise such as jigsaws, coasters, prints, table mats etc. With my level of photography I should be able to have at least one of each!!!!!
Writing that reminded me how overused exclamation marks are. You will note I used five in my previous paragraph which is probably overdoing it a bit but it was supposed to make you think what a funny, jovial person I am.
I've often seen written pieces that have more exclamation marks than full stops!!!!!!! Whoops there I go again.