Early Summer Bits and Bobs.

[Westi]

Well after considerable time trying to find the right number; but some nice chats to the wrong person, no-one available on chat & generally loosing the will to live I finally spoke to someone in the fraud section. It was them that froze the cards, nothing to do with how much or what but as 'part of their new security', where they randomly pick accounts. After a full screen of questions surrounding our purchases & direct debits, 2nd cousin's name etc we were cleared & they unfroze the cards immediately. As it is my way I cornered them after for suggestions about actually notifying their customers about this so you don't get all angsty thinking someone has hacked your account! And to get the staff on the chat to direct us to their number, not make guesses.

Thankfully I was fairly relaxed as spent the morning on the plot as just wasn't in the mood to play with them early, but took my frustration out on the weeds instead! Celebrated by testing the card on 'A' by buying a glass measuring jug, the measures wear off the plastic ones!

[Primrose]

Westi. These card rejections are becoming all too common. My husband suffered a similar incident the other day. Think it was due to an unfriendly foreign power hack althiugh of course no card company likes to admit that.

Maybe we all have to go back to using cash for all our transactions so the criminal element are denied the chance for fraud.

[tigerburnie]

Pretty sure I have not had cash since bc, that's before covid not Christ, I'm not that old

[oldherbaceous]

That made me smile, Burnie….

[Westi]

Ditto, before Covid I just paid cash for everything, but all the shops got angsty in case they caught covid from the money, so you were forced into using the card. Considering we have plastic money they could have just sprayed them if that concerned. My concerns at the time were avoiding folk who wouldn't wear mask or had them dangling under their chin & the delightful young lads & old guys spitting.

I would like to go back to cash as it's visual, but then I would need to carry a purse, not just a light card in my pocket & coins are pretty heavy!

[Clive.]

Blooming dose of hailstones today and then heavy rain...I was in the polytunnel at lunch time and I put my ear bud ear defenders in..it was so harsh and loud on the roof, louder than any machine we run...

Heading back home this evening and the last mile home was on fully dry roads.

C.

[Geoff]

Sweltered here today it got up to 12° mind it's down to 6° already and still falling.

[Colin2016]

Wet fish shop has reverted to cash only due to charges for using cards.

Personly I would prefer to use cash but flashing the card is so much easier.

[retropants]

I use both and also accept both at my craft markets.

[Myrkk]

I’d love to take cash but don’t have a nearby bank so it’s difficult to get it into a bank. This is one of the issues with local banks closing.

[peter]

Our Allotment Association had to switch to card as we bank at Barclays and our branch has shut.
SumUp was on offer at Toolstation before Christmas at 30% discount so £70 for the tech.
Their charges are stated on their website as:

"A standard fee of 1.69% per transaction applies for all our card readers.
There's no VAT on any of our transaction fees."

[oldherbaceous]

It’s wet and chilly out there now, not very pleasant at all!

When I was a lot younger and working as a builder, I always had a pocket full of cash…..how times change!

[Westi]

I went down this morning with fingers crossed the weather report was right & it was! OK it was a shortened visit, but as I could see the dark cloud bank rolling in from the North, I decided to call it a day so could get home dry & I did as those clouds moved on, but it didn't take long before the next bank which did decide to pour down.

I managed to sort out the runners as weedy already & the direct sows had disappeared, but the plants are thriving & climbing. I even found some Strulch in the shed to help with the weed control so plants & new sows are tucked up nice & hopefully I won't need to attend to these again for a bit. I even sorted the front strawberry bed as the blackbirds were being well cheeky. I think more time was taken harvesting than weeding but as such an overload I threw lots of over ready or ugly ones on the membrane for them & within minutes of me moving on they were down & enjoying the bounty & hopefully the furry ones will find the rest & ignore my other crops.

Rain & big wind for the next couple of days so I won't be down, nor going to the beach with the binoculars to catch any of the Round the Island race which is going ahead with the skippers deciding whether to compete or not - bet the RNLI won't be happy & the bang will be going off at the quay to alert the team, although expect most will be sleeping over.

[tigerburnie]

11 degrees in the greenhouse overright, that's better than the 4.6 we had the other night, rain on it's way by the look of the sky.

[oldherbaceous]

More like April here, sun, then very heavy showers!

I think my Tomatoes are a little ahead of yours, this year, Burnie…..hoping there will be some ripe ones in about a fortnight…really looking forward to that moment!