Sunday 18 December 2016

Bits of This .... and bits of that!! A Lot has happened this week.

Greetings Everyone- once again:  from your Friend, Cy Bear.


At the risk of sounding repetitive, where the dickens did this week go?  It seems no time at all since I was posting last week's bulletin, and here we are again, catching up with what has happened this week.


First of all, as promised at the end of last week's post, on Wednesday, Isobel packed up and dispatched the Orange and Brown Tiger Golf Club Cover to MsAR, who lives in Cary, North Carolina - when she replied to our question about which of the three Golf Club Covers she actually wanted:




That was after Isobel had sent off the Two Baby Rabbits to MrsSS - again as I told you last week.

As Isobel prepares the draft of this week's offering, she's waiting to hear whether or not another Golf Club Cover has found a Forever Home.  Someone living just across The Pennines from Kirkby in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire - in Runcorn, Cheshire to be exact - wants to have a Yogi Bear Cover, as illustrated here


Golfers Novelty Gift Golfers Accessory Bear Golf Club Cover Unusual Golf Gift Gift for All Adult Golfers Unisex Golfing Gift Golfer Present.


Regrettably for MsMS,  our Yogi has also found a home recently, and Isobel had not delisted him - so we could illustrate the range of Covers we can supply!  We're waiting to hear if any the Golf Club Covers that we still have in stock (see below) would be of interest to her


If the answer is a positive one, we'll be able to get the item dispatched on Tuesday morning - meaning it will be in Runcorn by 1300 GMT on Wednesday, in time for Christmas.  Isobel has offered to make another Yogi Bear Golf Club Cover if not, but it would not be possible for that to happen until after Christmas, with a delivery date in the first week of January 1917.  See what I mean about things happening here this week?

With the two packets going off last week, and the recent orders received and sent off as well, Isobel decided we needed to get more bubble wrap.  Given the treatment often meted out by the postal authorities when Cuddlies are travelling, she likes to feel that they are well wrapped and snug before they leave us here in Nottinghamshire.  So, she dug out the last order from our suppliers (the task was undertaken just before she hit the hay on Tuesday evening) and ordered what she thought was an exact replica of our previous box of bubble wrap.  Unfortunately, she had chose the wrong catalogue number (she was wrong by just one digit, she tells me!)

Anyway, you can imagine her astonishment when the front door bell rang to announce the arrival of the bubble wrap delivery on Friday afternoon (it had travelled from Surrey, England, UK in the interim) to be faced with this sized object

I'm standing as high as I can, by the way!

Not only would the dimensions of this roll of bubble wrap be difficult to store, but even our biggest Cuddly would be drowned in a piece of this - although doubtless Isobel might have been able to cut a piece of it to size, had she kept it.  However, it certainly wouldn't fit in the space where our bubble wrap normally does - on top of the tissue paper on top of the bedroom cupboard:



Our flat is best described as "snug", and our bedroom even more so!  Had we kept this roll of wrap, the only place available would have been here.


Now that is where Isobel stores all her washing paraphenalia - as shown by the clothes maiden on the right of the picture and the corner of a laundry basket in bottom right! - and the suitcase, on which it is shown perching dangerously, doubles as storage space for bed clothes (e.g. duvet cover)  amongst other things!!  So it was obvious, that we had to make arrangements for its speedy return to our suppliers in Farnborough, Surrey - Engelbert Strauss Ltd.

This was accomplished, with the help of a lift from one of our friendly fellow residents,  to the Kirkby Post Office, only for Isobel to find that the return label provided to us by Engelbert Strauss Ltd was allegedly not useable by this particular Post Office, so that we could claim the free postage offered by our supplier.  So, Isobel decided to pay for the roll to be sent anyway (you'll understand why, I'm sure - from this photo of me beside the roll while it was on the suitcase). 



I'm perched on the end of the case, with the return label safely inside the plastic envelope in which the suppliers' documentation (including the allegedly wrong label) had been when it arrived.

When she returned home, not unnaturally, Englebert Strauss were informed about the dilemma, We've been dealing with the firm for the best part of 15-17 years now, and nothing like this has happened previously.  The Customer Services Department staff member was somewhat flabbergasted that she had had to pay, when the label works everywhere else it has been offered!! The young gentleman dealing with Isobel on the 'phone has promised to do his best to see if some, if not all, the monies expended on returning the label can be refunded - their current systems apparently don't do so.  Meanwhile, the Post Office has apparently been paid twice for the same transaction!!  (Isobel has suggested that as there is a refund due for the exchange of this roll to the previously purchased size -which is a lot smaller, and definitely fits into the space on top of our cupboard! - the postage be added to the refund.  Like all big firms, there is a system to be followed..... so we'll have to hope that it can be arranged).  The receipt from the Post Office is on its way to Farnborough, and we look forward to seeing what happens next.   We're going to probably have to wait until after Christmas because the receipt is having to travel through the annual festive season rush, with all the potential for getting lost and/or delayed in the post!

Isobel often tells me that some transactions can be jinxed from start to finish.  I can't help feeling that this bubble wrap incident might be one of them.  Results of the transaction are awaiting with bated breath!  We've been pleasantly surprised at how well the Cuddlies have done in our last year of trading. It's resulted in a healthy profit, rather than just a meagre one - or loss, when Isobel also did our accounts this week - but even so, £12.98 ($16.21 USD) is quite a bite out of anyone's spending money all in one go!! We'll let you know what transpires, never you fear!

Now, its time I stopped waffling on.  So, I'll leave you by wishing everyone a "Very Happy Christmas and a Peaceful and Prosperous New Year", and look forward to being with you again, sometime after Christmas, which of course is next Sunday (when we would normally be posting the next bulletin).

Your Friend, Cy Bear