grr

Last week was great – I really started to feel back  to 'normal'. Thanks Ricardo for the work and Andreas for the encouragement! I know. It's taken a long time – longer than I thought it would. And, to my mind, longer than it should have. But the mind is a funny thing. It does what it wants, and the body just follows.

Anyway, today was a lovely day [until we met the Beastly Clampers].

I got tons done this morning, seemed to be in manic mode [which used to be a norm for me] then zoomed off to collect our friend Mikaric from the bus station. Eek – chaos – they have closed off the old parking area, where one could drop the car for free, collect the person from the bus, and zoom off. Now, there are gates across the entrance [which I almost smashed into, having turned left around a bus in order to encounter them!].  Exeter city council are totally anally retentive. Everywhere to collect a person is blocked.

So – finally managed to collect the Mikaric after running up and down the lot, with the car parked illegally, flashers on. Home, lunch, blah. Then we decided to go out and buy an Easter egg for the Grand daughter. Mikaric lives not far from her so would be able to deliver it. Whey hey – good plan. Er – not, at the end of the day.

We had a great time shopping for eggs…could have eaten the lot! Then went to the cash point, as I have needed to verify my pin for an age, and decided today was a good plan to do it. Ha! Not! The parking lot usually available to customers of Barclays was blocked. The lot next door [a completely crap lot, full of holes] was not. So I dropped the car there, with Mikaric in it.

I only stopped in the Polestar lot as there were three other cars parked there, obviously all going to the cash point, as there were three peeps queued there. Stopped, left a friend in the car [and the keys in the lock in case he needed to move it]. I was literally 2 minutes, as I was simply checking my credit card pin. Probably this could be ascertained from the cctv they have on the cash point.

Arrived back at the car to a clamp. And suddenly no other cars in the lot [odd]. The clamp chaps tried to clamp the other cars but had to let them go, as they had drivers at the wheel [my passenger ascertained this, after getting over the shock of being clamped in my 2 minute absence]. Seems that was to do with ‘health and safety’ as in, if you clamp a moving car it could be dangerous to the clampee  ;o) They did not give my passenger the opportunity to move the car. They simply jumped out of their van and whacked the clamp on. Suffice to  say, the friend in the car was too gobsmacked to do anything except gawp. Imbecile...eheheh

To be fair, the chap was very kind to me, as in he said I could go back to the cash point to draw the £100.00 in order to pay him!! Incredible - they clamped me for going to the cash point in the bloody first place! I refused on the grounds of no money in my bank. Had to pay with a credit card, the first of which was refused [the one I was verifying at the cash point - hence void receipt], so I had to use another and paid £103.00. I assume the extra £3.00 is because I paid with a credit card. FFFFFFttt!!

Suffice to say, I paid it under duress, as otherwise they would have towed the car, and obviously I need the damn thing as I am looking for work. Grr. This was not right. £50.00 I could stomach – but £100.00 for a 2 minute stop?? FFS!! Not normal.

That was my day. Infuriating to say the least.