Whatever Next?

 Thursday. 6.15 a.m. I was in Sainsbury's yesterday and, having been round the store with my trolley and had finished my shopping. I was at the point where I wanted to pay, but couldn't find a till open. It's obvious that Sainsbury's are determined to get their customers to use self-service tills, because many of the traditional, manned, tills have been removed and there are two areas with self-service tills, one for customers with baskets, another for those who have shopped with a trolley, which included me, and another for the hand held scanners. I pushed my trolley into the area with the self-service tills, which are meant for those customers who used a trolley and therefore had a larger amount of items to scan. But there were very few working tills, so I had to leave the area and go to a till which was manned. (sorry, but most of them have women working on them, so is the term 'manned' acceptable these days? Is it politically correct to say 'manned'? Should it be 'personed'? Just me being a bit sarcastic.)

I thought the idea was that you used the self-service tills, and they had one or two manned tills for those who don't want to use them. So it seemed strange that so many of the self-service tills were either closed or were out of order. It is obvious that they have laid off many of their staff, those who operated the manned tills, so they could cut their prices. They keep advertising that their prices are checked against those at Aldi, but in the process, their customer service has deteriorated, which is a pity.

6.05 p.m. Alfie was due to go to The Groom Room at Pets At Home at 5 o'clock. I was going to leave at around 4.40, but then I got a call from the groomer to say that they were able to take him immediately, so I drove over to Bletchley and took him straight in to Pets At Home. I was told that Alfie would be finished at around 5.45, so I went into Costa to have a latte and I got more points on my Costa card, which now means that next time I go in any Costa I get a free drink. You collect 'Beans' and when you have 10 of these 'beans' then you get your free drink.

Having had my latte in Costa, and went into T.K. Maax, which is further along the parade of stores. I think, if you read my blog posts regularly, you will have discovered that I love T.K. Maax. I had a good browse and bought a couple of items, one was a door-stop in the shape of a man, which rather appealed to me as it looks so humorous. The other item was an LED torch which can be charged and has a cable to plug into a USB port, meaning it doesn't need batteries. I was looking for a new torch. so it was fortunate I found it.

From T.K. Maax, I walked to Home Bargains and had yet another browse. They have a good selection of well priced items, including dog food and I may go back next time I need dog food. It was whilst I was browsing that I got a phone call from the Groom Room, to inform me that Alfie was ready for collection, which pleased me as it meant we could get home and I could then have my evening meal.So, Alfie collected, payment made and Alfie put in the cage in the rear of the car and then driven home to Dexter House.

All Change!

Saturday. 9.55 a.m. I have returned from Sainsbury's, where I have done a pop-up shop. 

The travelater, that is, the moving 'slope' (for want of a better description) which takes you from the underground car park up to the shop floor, isn't currently operating. The DOWN one works, but not the UP. There have been repairs going on with these machines over quite a considerable period, but it doesn't seem to have made much difference to the travelator

I had a list of items, which made it easier and quicker to shop. But some items have been moved to different locations, particularly bath sponges. They have been located in the same place all the time I've been shopping in this branch of Sainsbury's, so I had to ask a member of staff and he was helpful and I managed to locate two bath sponges!

On the way into the store, having came up on the travelater, (which wasn't moving. A rather strange experience, because your eyes try to make it seem as if the thing is moving when it isn't. I can't explain it any other way.) I noticed some small Christmas trees on a display unit. I went to have a closer look. They were complete with battery-operated lights and at £10 seemed good value. I went through the barrier (which is the latest addition to the store.) I found I couldn't get to the Christmas trees without setting off an alarm. So, I had to ask another member of staff to allow me near enough to the Christmas tree display to select one so that I could buy it. Another mission accomplished.

I learnt, on the BBC Breakfast programme this morning, that Booths, a north of England supermarket chain, is removing self-service tills from almost all their stores, because of the feedback they have had from customers. They will put back staff on tills to replace them. Let's hope that this is the start of a return to common sense and that other stores, such as Sainsbury's, return to manned tills. It doesn't make sense when they have to have staff close by the self-service tills for when they go wrong, as they always seem to do when I use one in Sainsbury's. 

Sunday. 2.15 p.m. It's been raining this morning, and it's really colder. Definitely autumnal, murky and very low light when driving to church along Chaffron Way this morning.

Monday. 12.30 p.m. It was quite a shock early this morning, when I took Alfie out, to discover that it was raining. Not too hard, but enough to get a drenching. But as I write this, considerably later, it's sunny and bright, but there's a strong wind blowing.

Tuesday. 9.30 a.m. Here I am in my flat, not going to Camphill. Never mind, I have the possibility of voluntary work with Bridge Builder. I have an interview there at 2 o'clock this afternoon.

There is a large amount of fallen leaves outside on the grass where I take Alfie, alongside Strtudwick Drive. He doesn't like being taken through it, so I carried him to the leaf-free section of the grass.

An electric scooter lies in the grass, where it has been since yesterday morning. I moved it onto the grass, as it was likely to be in the way of anyone walking along the patch, most particularly someone pushing a child in a buggy or someone in a wheelchair. These things are left, presumably, when their batteries run out. I was surprised by how heavy it was. No doubt someone will come along and collect it at some point during the day.

Fun With Tech?

Friday.  9.15 a.m. I always have a problem trying to find a title for each blog post. I sometimes start off with anything which comes to mind, often a song title, and, as the contents of the post reveal themselves, I change it to suit.

It's really sunny and bright as I write this post. I have been out, as usual, with Alfie, and found it was dry. I have an idea it rained in the night. I'm waiting for my washing to dry. Most of it is in the drier and should be done by around 9.35 a.m.

Saturday. 2.00 p.m. Here I am, sitting here in my sitting room (do people ever speak of their 'lounge'? Is it middle class to have a sitting room? Is a lounge what you have in a pub? I don't know. If you're further up the social scale, perhaps you'd refer to a drawing room. Interesting thought. It always made me wonder what a drawing room was for. Not drawing, in the sense of drawing on a piece of paper. It's a contraction of withdrawing, when the upper echelons of society went after they'd had their dinners, the ladies probably went to the drawing room, and the men withdrew to the smoking room to talk about things such as politics without the ladies) 

The weather is more settled today. It's somewhat overcast, a bit dull, no sunshine and there is a bit of a breeze. Considering me almost into December, it's unseasonably mild for the time of year.

I went to Sainsbury's at around 9 o'clock this morning. It was quiet, which is one advantage of going early. I attempt to find a trolley which doesn't have wonky wheels. It surely can't be difficult to keep these vital pieces of equipment running smoothly. Just an occasional spray with WD-40 on each wheel would most likely prevent wobbliness (is that even a word?) Some squeak and others have one or two wheels which refuse to turn, or they bump along when you push them. 

There was only one operator on the manned tills when I came to pay. Why on earth don't they put on more operators, particularly on a Saturday, when there's bound to be more people shopping? It was the same last week when I was in John Lewis's and in the restaurant. Just take staff off other areas. I think they are attempting to wean people off manned tills and onto self-service. The problem is, whenever I use them there is a problem. It always seems to happen, the old thing of 'item unknown' or' 'item in bagging area' or something really strange and unnecessary. They still need someone to be available when there's a problem, as there was this morning. The confounded thing kept going wrong, and I had to have a staff member come and deal with it. I think the machinery is far too sensitive, for whatever reason.

The same situation as I've mentioned before, since they've relocated many items, but I'm beginning to adjust to the new locations of many items I buy. 

10.30 p.m. I've been watching one of the 'extras' on the three-set DVD, 'Lord of The Rings.' It turns out that there is an 'extended' 'Director's Cut' set which has around 30 minutes of material which was excised from the original theatrical version of the films. I want to get this, if it's still available. I have read the novels around four times, probably once every decade since the 1970s and each time I read the books I find something which I didn't notice on previous readings. The Peter Jackson films, which this three-DVD set is directed by, are about as close to what I envisioned the look and feel of the books as you could get and are a remarkable work of sheer genius. It's incredible to think that it's twenty years since the first film was released.

Long Wait-rose at the check-out

I went to Waitrose at 12.30 today. I had to buy some ibuprofen for Carol, milk, bath foam and veg for tonight's meal. It took no more than 5 minutes to find what I needed and then attempt to pay for it all. The store was extremely crowded. It seems that Sunday is the new Saturday in retailing and people choose to shop on the so-called 'day of rest.' It would have been a quick and simple shopping trip but there weren't enough vacant tills to make the trip zing. One till was out of action and awaiting repair and two more weren't staffed, so I had no choice but to wait patiently. The self-service tills were busy, so no joy there. It was a good 15 minutes before I had my items scanned, paid for and packed in my bag. Why on earth couldn't Waitrose put on more staff at the check-outs? Surely it's not too much to ask when it's so busy? Couldn't staff be taken away from other areas to operate the tills? This would be the obvious solution. Not everyone wants to use self-service tills, either from necessity or choice. I prefer to use a human-operated checkout. I know it would have perhaps been a faster process to use the self-service tills, but they don't always work properly and are annoying, to say the least.