Irresistible

I know I'm a little bit biased, but I can't believe there's a cuter dog in the world than Basil :) Here he is having been rewarded for good behaviour with a chewy stick.

The boys went happily off to school this morning for their last half day of term. I then had some men round to screed the floor in the downstairs loo prior to the flooring going down tomorrow. That didn't take long (although it felt like it did due to Polly barking incessantly from her confinement in the living room through the whole of the time they were here). I then took the dogs to Chapel Common for a nice off-lead walk and have been at my desk ever since we returned. However, I am shortly to escape for a bit as I have some chores to do in the village.

Edit
What follows is just something I needed to get off my chest. Feel free not to read it unless you are as fed up with Santanbloodyder as I am!

This afternoon I went to the Post Office to get our holiday currency for next week. Last night I had done my banking and, therefore, knew exactly how much money there was in the account. My payment for the Euros, which I was paying for with my debit card, was declined by the bank. The Post Office clerk said that I would need to take it up with my bank as they may have blocked it for anti-fraud reasons.

I, therefore, returned home and rang Santander. First of all their automated telephone system was playing up and after several attempts at keying in my date of birth the robotic voice said she was having trouble understanding what I was saying and would put me through to an operator. Goodo, I thought: a human being. No such luck! I just ended up on another automated loop and this time it was one with no options relevant to my call. Eventually I somehow made it through to a person and explained my plight.

She then asked me numerous security questions, all of which I passed with flying colours, until she got to the one asking for an example of a standing order on the account. This is something I would definitely need to look up and had I not been at home this would not have been possible. Eventually I dug out a statement. She wanted to know the amount of a standing order and who it was in favour of. I was able to tell her there was one for £3 a month but not who it was payable to as it just says, "external payment" on the statement with a reference number. At this point I gave her a piece of my mind about her employer and she made the mistake of defending it and saying it was ultimately "for my own good". Among other things, I told her she had given me yet another reason to change bank (if only I could find the time to do so).

To cut a long story short, she spoke to a colleague in the Security Department and was advised that the problem was actually due to the Post Office putting the payment through as a cash withdrawal rather than a card transaction and that it exceeded my daily limit. So I returned to the Post Office where they informed me that this problem only arises with Santander customers buying currency and that after I had left a man, also with Santander, had had the same problem and gone off to Haslemere instead to get his currency.

So......I have reserved the Euros and will be returning with a wad of cash to pay for them. I will also be making a call to the Santander Complaints Department to suggest that they sort their stupid system out.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.