SNOW!!! AT LAST!!!

At last, after 5 years living in Evesham we have finally had our first really big downfall of snow in years!! I got up ready to go to work only to listen on the radio that Evesham High School was closed - YIPPEEE!! Assuming the school is open tomorrow, I've only got one more day to work and then I'm off again next week for half-term.

For Kieran, this morning was the first time that he has ever seen a lot of snow. We had a little dusting last year but that melted the same day.

We popped out, and after falling over a couple of times, he wanted to come back indoors. I think the snow was a little too cold for him. We're going to go out later today and build him his first snowman once the snow stops falling.

Of course, all this snow is nowhere near as bad as the big freeze we had way back in 1991 - and as I recall, nowhere near as much fuss was made about that. Its funny how the whole country comes to a standstill because of a few inches of snow - What about all these other countries who get it all the time? Its not just snow though - Its any kind of weather, whether it's freezing ice, scorching hot sun, fog, rain... You can guarantee that the news and tabloids make it sound worse than it actually is.

Still, I'm not going to complain about the schools closing - I got myself a day off work because of it!!

Currys - Always ripping of their customers

In May last year, I bought a DVD recorder (with a VHS video combo) from Currys. Now, I normally wouldn't touch these high street electrical shops for things like that, but they had a really good offer on the model that I was after, so I went for it, as well as purchasing the extended 3 year warranty which they try so hard to flog you.

At the time, it took me ages explaining to the sales assistant that I needed a unit with a digital audio fibre-optic output for my DTS surround sound system, and he had absolutely no idea what I was talking about - infact, he was going around showing me all the models he thought had it when infact he thought it was just your normal phono audio outputs! What a twat!

Obviously the staff in Currys have no idea what they are selling.

Anyway, In December the DVD recorder part of the combo packed up. Everytime we watched a film, it would start jumping and stuttering when it got to about 1 hour 20 minutes into the DVD. We took it back and they said it would need to be sent to be repaired. We spoke to the Manager and he said that it should take no longer than 21 days.

Because we took out the extended warranty, if it took longer than 21 days, we could claim back the money from the warranty.... THATS WHAT "HE" TOLD US

Sometime in January, 21 days later, we still had no DVD recorder. I rang Currys asking what the status of the repair was, and each time they were unhelpful. I also found it convenient that everytime I rang or popped into the store and asked for the Manager he was never in or available. Whenever I spoke to a sales assistant about our money back, they simply said "You need to speak to the Manager about that as I'm not authorized to do that - unfortunatly he is not in today"

To cut a very long story short, last Friday (after over 50 days), Currys rang saying that the DVD recorder had returned and is ready to collect. I went over there immediatly after work to collect it. The sales assistant went out the back, got it, brought it to me and then expected me to just walk out with it. Hang on, what about my refund on the warranty because you took so long to repair it?

"Sorry sir, only the manager can do that for you, and he is not in today. Would you like me to get him to ring you tomorrow?" she said.

"Yes, but can you make sure he does because I've asked you before to ring me about the status of my DVD recorder and you've never called me back", I replied.

So the following day I waited for a phonecall from the manager.... and waited.... and waited... and waited. 3.30pm and still no phone call, so I rang the shop and asked for the manager. He wasn't available (surprise, surprise).

"He is with a customer as the moment, I will get him to ring you when he has finished with them", said the sales assistant.

I waited... and waited... and no phone call.

I rang again just after 5.00pm and this time I finally got hold of the Manager. He denied ever saying that we would get our money back and started spouting off a load of crap. The silly twat has obviously not met his sales target and it trying to make up some cock and bull story about what he apparently said.

Anyway, we never got our money back (although I do plan to to write a strongly worded letter to Currys head office), and I just want to say to all of the readers of the this blog :-

DON'T SHOP AT CURRYS. NOT ONLY DO THEY RIP THEIR CUSTOMERS OFF WITH OVER THE TOP PRICES, BUT THEIR STAFF ARE ABOUT AS KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT ELECTRICALS AS A CHIMPANZEE, THEIR AFTER SALES SERVICE IS CRAP.

Dont shop at Currys - Trust me, you will find what you're looking for elsewhere at a much cheaper price, and at least you'll get served by people who actually know what they are talking about.

For you Michelle... My wife...

Every now again I get an urge to just write a random post on my blog, so here is another one. This is for you Michelle, my lovely wife...

"I feel like I'm the luckiest man in the world to have you in my life. You are so beautiful, loving, caring and kind and you know how to make me happy when I feel down...

-

... Thankyou for everything you have done, and thankyou for wanting to spend the rest of your life with lil'o'me".

-

Love always and forever

Your hubby Stuart xxxxx

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIERAN... 2 TODAY!

On this day 2 years ago, at 5.13am at Cheltenham General Hospital, our beautiful son Kieran was born after a long and difficult labour (those are Michelle's words!!)

So...



HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIERAN!!! Your one year closer to getting your pension!

Oh.... I made the cake by the way!! (well, with a little help from Michelle of course!!)

Teletext Letter

My praise for Ovine's Driller remake which I mentioned in my last post continues, with a letter that I wrote to Teletext's Game Central (page 805) getting shown saying how fab the game is, and a nice email from the creators of the game saying thanks for the free advertising!!!!! Thanks guys!!!!

I've been busy today playing with my new phone which came in the post this morning. First impressions - I like it very much, although I can't use it to make or recieve calls just yet because my contract has yet to be activated. I'll be sending out my new mobile number to all of my friends within the next few days or so.

Well, I'm sat here with Kieran at the moment (Michelle is at work as usual), watching Pixar movies. We've already watched Toy Story 1 and 2, Monsters Inc, The Incredibles, and soon we will be watching Finding Nemo, assuming that Kieran stays awake. What better way of spending a sunny Saturday indoors with your child!!!!

Opps, I can smell a dodgy bum - I think Kieran's nappy needs changing. See you soon!!!!

Driller / New Phone

Well, what with us buying a new sofa three weeks ago, and having to get our garden fence repaired due to the winds last week, its been a rather expensive month. I've also just treated myself to a new phone - the Nokia N80 (pictured left).

Ok, its not the latest Nseries phone out, and I've been really happy with my Nokia 6280, but I've always missed having a smartphone and the Symbian OS on my phone (I last had it on my Nokia 7650), so I've opted for this model - at last I'll be able to emulate my good ol' Commodore 64 on my mobile again thanks to the excellent E32Frodo emulator

Speaking of retro gaming, I've got to mention a fantastic retro-remake game which I've been following quite closely throughout its development simply because I was a fan of the original game that it's based on - Driller

Driller was originally released by Incentive Software in 1987 on most of the 8-bit and 16-bit computers of the time, and boasted "supurb solid 3D" graphics thanks to their revolutionary Freescape graphics engine. A first-person adventure, well before the likes of Quake or Doom. Anyway, the guys over at Ovine Software (who also remade Total Eclipse, another Incentive/Freescape game) have just released their version of Driller, and it is absolutely fantastic - I highly recommend anyone to download it and experience the game as it was meant to be played (a frame rate higher than 1 frame per 5 seconds!!!!!!!!!!!)

Original VersionRemake

Go to Ovine's Site here and check out Driller, and their other great games