After the relatively succesful fishing expedition of a few days ago, Harry & I made a fresh assault having re-tackled with new lighter line and having acquired a bagful of shiny new hooks, floats etc.
We headed for basically the same spot at Bedford marina. One big difference was that 2 out of every 3 pegs were occupied. There was no apparent difference in the circumstances - weekday lunchtime, sunny. But for whatever reason there were plenty of serious-looking types already in situ.
Still we found some empty spots and set up. One other key difference was Harry's long sleeved attire - taking no chances with the sun this time !
The new equipment seemed to pay off. Once again Harry was first to "score" but it was neck-and-neck as we set a new record haul (not too hard at this stage of course !) At 4-3 to Harry we nearly called it a day but 'one more cast' saw us move to 5-5 and a succession of 'last one's meant we stood 8 - 7 to Harry when it really was the final fling.
Harry's rod was already packed up and I cast once more as we tidied everything else up.
It was quite a short throw and I was only half-watching as we put things away.
There is a large population of swans, geese, ducks and other birds on the lake at all times. At first these were a bit offputting and oftentimes we waited for them to pass by before casting. But over the course of many hours it seemed they were not attracted by the floats, and certainly not by the baited hooks. Furthermore they were able to swim over the line without interfering with it.
Until this time ! A male mallard duck (I think) paddled past shoreside of my float, and thus over the submerged monofilament line. The float moved ! And kept moving .... the duck's underwater pedals had caught the line.
Help !
This has never happened to me in 30 years of fishing. What to do....
I pulled gently on the line by hand. The duck moved !
It was clearly actually attached. I had no choice but to reel it in. The bird had no idea what was happening as it sailed backwards. I grabbed the offending leg and attempted to free it. The hook was not involved, but the line was unquestionably caught (possibly on the metal ring).
The duck luckily was not as strong as I feared and was not in immediate danger, but I wanted to get a clean release. However, cutting the line appeared an option and Harry began rooting through the rucksack for the necessary implement. I considered cutting the line with my teeth but opted to take the whole duck "under my wing" and picked it up (a nice big towel would have been useful) and, thus restrained, it was a good patient.
I was able to unravel the line intact and set the bemused fowl on its way - ruffled but not harmed.
Phew !
Thursday, 24 July 2008
Thursday, 17 July 2008
Vive la difference
For all my frustration at the Nationwide CHAPS "procedure", and the fact that the method was plainly not fit for purpose, I decided the lesser evil was to proceed with sending off the form in the mail. I thought it would actually work, despite being a bit daft.
As it happened, an instant transfer was actually not of the essence (although, usually it would be). In fact, I might have reverted to a simple BACS transfer except for other stupid restrictions on that service which rendered it useless in this instance.
So, off went the form on Friday afternoon. With Saturday intervening, I felt this meant it was all but certain that the documents would be safely in their hands by Monday morning and same-day Monday was adequate in my case.
However, by Monday night the money had not been received where it was going. I hoped this actually indicated that the recipient's bank was simply not yet showing the funds. But, no, I saw the money had not left my account.
OK. I rang them up. This time I was able to get through. I was put on hold whilst they rifled through their piles of post. No, apparently they did not have the form.
This is exactly why the post is a poor method for such important transactions. It is not possible to know whether the form had been lost in the mail (unlikely but still possible), lost at their end (quite likely in my view), or simply not yet arrived (by now it was at Tuesday morning - it was just about possible that it genuinely had not yet arrived but more likely was floating around their offices).
Essentially, it would be better not to offer a CHAPS service at all than to conduct one by post.
What could they suggest ? They suggested waiting around and checking again after 2pm when they expected a second post. This did not sound like a very sensible option - if they still could not lay hands on it, all prospect of making the transfer somehow otherwise would be foiled by the lateness in the day.
There seemed nothign else for it but to tryto make the transfer in-branch. I had eschewed this method originally since the whole point of an internet bank account is .... not to have to deal with bank branches.
Anyway, down I want and queued up for 15minutes. When it was my turn, I was advised that to make a CHAPS trasfer I had to queue up at reception and arrange to sit down with an adviser.
Taking a look at the second queue and the prospect of multiple stages resulting, quite possibly, in failure again, I instead opted to abandon the Nationwide route. Returning home, I picked up the phone to Coutts who made the transfer in somewhat less than 1 minute total.
This left me with just one important task. I thought it a significant risk that Nationwide would at any moment find the form behind the sofa or under the coffee tray and try to process it - which would cause a whole new round of problems. I had of course told them not to proceed should the form come to light, but there was no reason at all to suppose this instruction would be effective.
Instead, I moved the money to another Nationwide account (this you can do effortlessly) so as to take the funds out of harm's way. A bit of a contrivance, but worthwhile risk management I think !
On reflection, I see my main mistake. I thought that Nationwide was providing banking services.
The distinction between banks and building socieies has unquestionably narrowed very consderably and certainly many former building societies actually did formally become banks.
Nationwide very overtly has not demutualised or re-formed as a bank, and is "proud to be different". Their credit card is undeniably different and better (for the customer). What I had not realised is that "difference" works both ways. Banks are better at banking.
As it happened, an instant transfer was actually not of the essence (although, usually it would be). In fact, I might have reverted to a simple BACS transfer except for other stupid restrictions on that service which rendered it useless in this instance.
So, off went the form on Friday afternoon. With Saturday intervening, I felt this meant it was all but certain that the documents would be safely in their hands by Monday morning and same-day Monday was adequate in my case.
However, by Monday night the money had not been received where it was going. I hoped this actually indicated that the recipient's bank was simply not yet showing the funds. But, no, I saw the money had not left my account.
OK. I rang them up. This time I was able to get through. I was put on hold whilst they rifled through their piles of post. No, apparently they did not have the form.
This is exactly why the post is a poor method for such important transactions. It is not possible to know whether the form had been lost in the mail (unlikely but still possible), lost at their end (quite likely in my view), or simply not yet arrived (by now it was at Tuesday morning - it was just about possible that it genuinely had not yet arrived but more likely was floating around their offices).
Essentially, it would be better not to offer a CHAPS service at all than to conduct one by post.
What could they suggest ? They suggested waiting around and checking again after 2pm when they expected a second post. This did not sound like a very sensible option - if they still could not lay hands on it, all prospect of making the transfer somehow otherwise would be foiled by the lateness in the day.
There seemed nothign else for it but to tryto make the transfer in-branch. I had eschewed this method originally since the whole point of an internet bank account is .... not to have to deal with bank branches.
Anyway, down I want and queued up for 15minutes. When it was my turn, I was advised that to make a CHAPS trasfer I had to queue up at reception and arrange to sit down with an adviser.
Taking a look at the second queue and the prospect of multiple stages resulting, quite possibly, in failure again, I instead opted to abandon the Nationwide route. Returning home, I picked up the phone to Coutts who made the transfer in somewhat less than 1 minute total.
This left me with just one important task. I thought it a significant risk that Nationwide would at any moment find the form behind the sofa or under the coffee tray and try to process it - which would cause a whole new round of problems. I had of course told them not to proceed should the form come to light, but there was no reason at all to suppose this instruction would be effective.
Instead, I moved the money to another Nationwide account (this you can do effortlessly) so as to take the funds out of harm's way. A bit of a contrivance, but worthwhile risk management I think !
On reflection, I see my main mistake. I thought that Nationwide was providing banking services.
The distinction between banks and building socieies has unquestionably narrowed very consderably and certainly many former building societies actually did formally become banks.
Nationwide very overtly has not demutualised or re-formed as a bank, and is "proud to be different". Their credit card is undeniably different and better (for the customer). What I had not realised is that "difference" works both ways. Banks are better at banking.
Friday, 11 July 2008
Don't Bank on it
I am not usually one to moan about the banks.
On the whole, I tend to think that banks are fully entitled to their usually large profits and I think they provide a great many services, most of which I think are surprisingly cheap.
I am always surprised that they offer free banking, for example, and free cash withdrawals. These services must cost plenty of money to provide. I also find it hard to be sympathetic to those who complain about being charged for unauthorised overdrafts and so on. What do people expect ?
Anyway, this post is not really about the usual complaints.
It's just going to be a rant about Nationwide Building Society and their online banking product.
We have Nationwide accounts because they provide fee-free overseas transactions. Use their debit or credit card abroad and get the market exchange rate with no loading. This compares to a pretty much uniform 2.75% on the hundreds of other accounts.
Until recently, Nationwide was completely alone in offering this. Even now they are almost entirely out of step with all the rest of the banks.
To us, this is a genuinely useful and money-saving feature.
But, wow, do you have to put up with a lot.
For a start, to open the accounts in the first place was a trial-by-paperwork. Considering I wanted to open internet-only accounts, the amount of paper and the clumsiness of it all was remarkable. It really seems like they never want you to actually be able to get to the end of it.
Eventually it was done and all was fairly smooth until today when I wanted to make a money transfer.
I had placed funds in my flex account expressly in anticipation of making the transfer, and now was the time.
OK.
I had expected to be able to go online, supply the payee details and off you go.
Well, no.
Various ridiculous restrictions applied to regular BACS transfers but anyway I wanted to do an instant CHAPS transfer. Of course I expect to pay a fee for this, possibly to need to call and answer some security questions (although, really, I simply expect to be able to get on with it).
Well, no, the procedure with Nationwide is that you fill in, print and sign the form and MAIL IT to them.
The two reasons you use a CHAPS transfer are (i) security and integrity and (ii) speed. You might use a CHAPS transfer to settle a time-critical and large-value transaction such as completing on a house purchase, for example.
And to meet these objectives? Send the form off in the post ..... 0/10 might be a little generous I feel.
The good news is that I feel our money is probably very safe in Nationwide. The trouble banks got themselves into lately has been mainly to do with doing things too BIG, too FAST and too NEW. Since very little CDO-squared business was done by post with per-day maximum of £10k, I think Nationwide are unlikely to have got too much in harm's way.
On the whole, I tend to think that banks are fully entitled to their usually large profits and I think they provide a great many services, most of which I think are surprisingly cheap.
I am always surprised that they offer free banking, for example, and free cash withdrawals. These services must cost plenty of money to provide. I also find it hard to be sympathetic to those who complain about being charged for unauthorised overdrafts and so on. What do people expect ?
Anyway, this post is not really about the usual complaints.
It's just going to be a rant about Nationwide Building Society and their online banking product.
We have Nationwide accounts because they provide fee-free overseas transactions. Use their debit or credit card abroad and get the market exchange rate with no loading. This compares to a pretty much uniform 2.75% on the hundreds of other accounts.
Until recently, Nationwide was completely alone in offering this. Even now they are almost entirely out of step with all the rest of the banks.
To us, this is a genuinely useful and money-saving feature.
But, wow, do you have to put up with a lot.
For a start, to open the accounts in the first place was a trial-by-paperwork. Considering I wanted to open internet-only accounts, the amount of paper and the clumsiness of it all was remarkable. It really seems like they never want you to actually be able to get to the end of it.
Eventually it was done and all was fairly smooth until today when I wanted to make a money transfer.
I had placed funds in my flex account expressly in anticipation of making the transfer, and now was the time.
OK.
I had expected to be able to go online, supply the payee details and off you go.
Well, no.
Various ridiculous restrictions applied to regular BACS transfers but anyway I wanted to do an instant CHAPS transfer. Of course I expect to pay a fee for this, possibly to need to call and answer some security questions (although, really, I simply expect to be able to get on with it).
Well, no, the procedure with Nationwide is that you fill in, print and sign the form and MAIL IT to them.
The two reasons you use a CHAPS transfer are (i) security and integrity and (ii) speed. You might use a CHAPS transfer to settle a time-critical and large-value transaction such as completing on a house purchase, for example.
And to meet these objectives? Send the form off in the post ..... 0/10 might be a little generous I feel.
The good news is that I feel our money is probably very safe in Nationwide. The trouble banks got themselves into lately has been mainly to do with doing things too BIG, too FAST and too NEW. Since very little CDO-squared business was done by post with per-day maximum of £10k, I think Nationwide are unlikely to have got too much in harm's way.
Thursday, 10 July 2008
Fried Fish
On Thursday, Matt had once again disappeared off to a friend's house for an impromptu mini-holiday. Harry meanwhile announced he would like to go fishing.
There seemed no reason not to go apart from the obvious likelihood of being unsuccessful in catching anything. So, we assembled what kit we have - recently bolstered by a Christmas present from Colin & Kathleen - and stopped to pick up a pint of multi-coloured maggots on the way to Priory marina.
We headed in the opposite direction to last time and, having rejected a spot on the river, we opted for the well-marked swims on the shore of the lake.
Conditions were certainly good for fishermen (if not necessarily for actually catching fish). Sunny, calm, and the fishing locations are very well prepared with good access and a firm, flat base at each spot. Room for two, just about, which was useful as Harry needed some help with the basics.
However, he was a quick learner and very patient too.
We were rather slow off the mark with all the setting-up but, to our surprise, with less than an hour gone Harry got a solid bite and achieved his first UK fish !
We did catch a total of 3 (2-1 in Harry's favour). It's a start ! We will tackle up with smaller hooks and lighter line next time.
When we got home, via picking Matt up, we realised we had caught something else too - the sun ! Both of us had bright red arms !
There seemed no reason not to go apart from the obvious likelihood of being unsuccessful in catching anything. So, we assembled what kit we have - recently bolstered by a Christmas present from Colin & Kathleen - and stopped to pick up a pint of multi-coloured maggots on the way to Priory marina.
We headed in the opposite direction to last time and, having rejected a spot on the river, we opted for the well-marked swims on the shore of the lake.
Conditions were certainly good for fishermen (if not necessarily for actually catching fish). Sunny, calm, and the fishing locations are very well prepared with good access and a firm, flat base at each spot. Room for two, just about, which was useful as Harry needed some help with the basics.
However, he was a quick learner and very patient too.
We were rather slow off the mark with all the setting-up but, to our surprise, with less than an hour gone Harry got a solid bite and achieved his first UK fish !
We did catch a total of 3 (2-1 in Harry's favour). It's a start ! We will tackle up with smaller hooks and lighter line next time.
When we got home, via picking Matt up, we realised we had caught something else too - the sun ! Both of us had bright red arms !
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Undo My Umbrella
Heavy winds in Bedford (and elsewhere) at the weekend. The weather did not look too bad because of the sunshine and blue skies. But the winds were real enough, and caused the marquee in the back garden of our neighbours-but-one to perform a high-jump over the wall, where it belly-flopped.
Meanwhile, in our garden, the table-umbrella was in the opened position and took the full force of some mighty gusts. The pole - previously jammed into the base due to post-rain swelling - snapped and the rest of the umbrella took off before landing in a heap some way distant.
It was beyond repair, certainly. Instead, Harry and I set about dismantling it in order to make it ready for recycling. Nowadays, we can recycle all kinds of things at the tidy tip.
In this case, it was a matter of stripping off the metal parts, then snapping, sawing or chopping up the rest of the wooden pieces. Harry learned about the various means of separating one thing from another when preserving it for re-use is not a concern. The axe was his favourite implement but the hammer & screwdriver combo was the most effective.
The swing-seat, which has a matching green cover, looked like it could also attract the attentions of the wind. It had escaped apparently unscathed during the worst of it when I took the seat off to finish cleaning it. This made the thing a good deal lighter, of course, and a change in direction of the wind meant that it now was lifted backwards and crashed into the flower bed, breaking one of the uprights. Repairing that was the next day's amusement.
Meanwhile, in our garden, the table-umbrella was in the opened position and took the full force of some mighty gusts. The pole - previously jammed into the base due to post-rain swelling - snapped and the rest of the umbrella took off before landing in a heap some way distant.
It was beyond repair, certainly. Instead, Harry and I set about dismantling it in order to make it ready for recycling. Nowadays, we can recycle all kinds of things at the tidy tip.
In this case, it was a matter of stripping off the metal parts, then snapping, sawing or chopping up the rest of the wooden pieces. Harry learned about the various means of separating one thing from another when preserving it for re-use is not a concern. The axe was his favourite implement but the hammer & screwdriver combo was the most effective.
The swing-seat, which has a matching green cover, looked like it could also attract the attentions of the wind. It had escaped apparently unscathed during the worst of it when I took the seat off to finish cleaning it. This made the thing a good deal lighter, of course, and a change in direction of the wind meant that it now was lifted backwards and crashed into the flower bed, breaking one of the uprights. Repairing that was the next day's amusement.
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
By The Numbers
Harry is showing some signs of mathematical awareness. This morning he proposed a "negative win" bet on Euro2008 - he would wager minus £100 on Croatia.
Whilst not a fully-formed idea, this showed some appreciation of the concepts of laying bets (as opposed to backing) and/or of odds-on events or of "The Field" as a betting principle. Of course, since he wanted to do this bet at even money he simultaneously showed an interest in +EV situations and of course a lack of concrete knowledge of betting mechanics.
By later modifying his bet-proposal to -£35 he showed that he understood the concept of bankroll management.
He also sought information on who was the weakest remaining team and enquired about who had already qualified - thereby indicating an understanding of the importance of good research.
Last week, when Harry was banned from playing on his PC or XBOX we played card games - he beat me in first-to-100 at contract whist and also at "finders keepers" which was a more elaborate version of "pairs". That game was in a book of card games for children which was good in that it contained a lot of games I had not come across before, but it did suffer from poor elucidation of the rules. In particular, it appeared that some of the games had not been well-trialled for "what if ..." situations.
The Monopoly rules, I think, are a good example of what a solid set of game rules should be - they clearly cover all plausible game-play situations with clear and sesnsible outcomes.
Anyway, in the case of finders-keepers, when we reached a game-state not contemplated by the book, we invented a new game to play out from there, which is often more fun than the original game.
Whilst not a fully-formed idea, this showed some appreciation of the concepts of laying bets (as opposed to backing) and/or of odds-on events or of "The Field" as a betting principle. Of course, since he wanted to do this bet at even money he simultaneously showed an interest in +EV situations and of course a lack of concrete knowledge of betting mechanics.
By later modifying his bet-proposal to -£35 he showed that he understood the concept of bankroll management.
He also sought information on who was the weakest remaining team and enquired about who had already qualified - thereby indicating an understanding of the importance of good research.
Last week, when Harry was banned from playing on his PC or XBOX we played card games - he beat me in first-to-100 at contract whist and also at "finders keepers" which was a more elaborate version of "pairs". That game was in a book of card games for children which was good in that it contained a lot of games I had not come across before, but it did suffer from poor elucidation of the rules. In particular, it appeared that some of the games had not been well-trialled for "what if ..." situations.
The Monopoly rules, I think, are a good example of what a solid set of game rules should be - they clearly cover all plausible game-play situations with clear and sesnsible outcomes.
Anyway, in the case of finders-keepers, when we reached a game-state not contemplated by the book, we invented a new game to play out from there, which is often more fun than the original game.
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