So, this blog is now of pensionable age. Which made me read a headline in the paper today (as you know, unless an article is totally irrelevant I don’t go beyond the headline ) and this one said, or at least I thought it said, “ No lie, Bloggers are the most intelligent “
Now, read on I thought. This is the absolute recognition of my literary skills. The papers are saying what I have always thought, so now I can say it as well without being considered conceited. I put my glasses down from my forehead and read on and realized that what the headline actually said was “ No lie, blaggers are the most intelligent . “
I was discouraged for a moment and then I thought. You know what, I am one of those too. Blagging is second nature to me. I’ve always said that being a lawyer is 99% bedside manner ( i.e blagging ) and 1% knowledge. We all know that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing so it’s probably better to have no knowledge at all and rely on one’s ability to blag one’s way out of a situation. And that is what I am faced with this morning.
Last year my car insurance as up for renewal. My existing insurers wanted a ridiculously high premium so I went to Saga. I mean, that’s where all old people go, isn’t it. Or is that the elephant’s graveyard? Easy to confuse the two when you look at the profiles of Saga customers. I was going on a long drive to Scotland and was under pressure to get some insurance in place so I accepted what I thought was a somewhat high quote from them just for the sake of expediency. It’ll come down again, I foolishly thought, when you have a no-claim bonus for the year.
I’ve hardly used my car since early March as regular readers will now. The app on my phone telling me where it is, has been depressingly consistent in its news. It’s about twenty feet away on the front drive and it only moves when we have to take the rubbish bins in and out. I was going to call Saga this week and ask if I could have a rebate as there was absolutely no chance of me making a claim in the foreseeable future, but like most things I put it off. I also put off opening the post and then answering it. It lies in a cardboard box in the porch for a few days and then gradually gets covered by more post, so out of sight out of mind. Then I sit on the bottom step, wearing gloves and open it, dividing the letters between me and my wife, making up a neat pile of envelopes for re-cycling. I take the recycling to the bin, take the letters upstairs, put my wife’s post on her desk and place mine, lovingly, in my in-tray. Unfortunately, I don’t seem to have an out tray at the moment so the post remains inert for another week or so ( anybody reading this who is awaiting a letter from me might just as well abandon all hope )
Now, why I am even telling you all this? How did I get from Saga and my car insurance to my extremely obsessive and really boring postal habits? ( I did send a letter yesterday. Put a packet of mentoes and a small ginger bread man in an envelope with the Funday Times and posted it to Sam who went back to school today. He had to turn back as he had forgotten his cap so not a lot changes there. Seems only 14 brave and hardy souls from a class of 28 have returned. Sounds a bit like Dunkirk when you put it like that ) But, I meander yet again. Saga and my car insurance and my post.
Well, amongst the letters opened yesterday was one from Saga telling me they were putting up my premium by over 500% . Now , it’s one thing Amazon hiking its prices because it has a captive market ( they are asking over £20 for a disposable barbeque right now ) and quite another for a respectable responsible insurance company to do the same. They’ve paid out not a penny to me or on my behalf in the last 12 months. I’ve made no claims with them . Are they trying to make up for the monies they are reluctantly paying out for cancelled holidays by grabbing monies back from mature drivers? I am about to find out because the first thing I am going to do when I finish this blog is to call them and try to blag my way through this.
It’s quite ruined my schedule for the day. A day to which I was actually looking forward. A day in which the words “ Newcastle” and “ First “ can actually be said justifiably in the same sentence. Nothing to do with my football team, I fear, but the first race meeting resumes today in England at Newcastle and I really fancy a horse called “ Stone Mason “ in the first race. Sport, at least, going well for me with a date fixed for Newcastle v Sheffield United in the Premier League, a date fixed for Newcastle v Manchester City in the FA Cup, dates fixed for the Test Matches and The Cup Final ( not that Newcastle will get that far. I have to settle for being grateful that we are still in the Competition in June ) and even the US Open at Tennis.
If there is still a United States to be open by then . I’ve spoken of my friend Alex who is a vegan cop in LA. I don’t mean that he patrols the streets forcing people to be vegan at gunpoint. He is a cop and he just happens to be vegan. Before all this, as I think I mentioned about 50 blogs ago he went into schools to warn them of the dangers of drugs. Then they stuck him back on the streets and he sent me an email today which was really upsetting. The area where we went to eat at a great vegan restaurant called “ Nic’s Diner “ has been vandalized and looted. The Grove one of the prime shopping areas has also been completely vandalized. A great Barnes and Noble bookstore there, so do we assume the looters carried away armfuls of books? The whole city is on a curfew. Police cars burned and destroyed, Protestors out taking beer and other liquor from stores. So, that’s news directly from the Front Line .
Meanwhile my old pal Trump’s reaction, after his initial suggestion that the troops and the police should open fire, was that “ Other Democrat run Cities ( his capital letter, not mine ) and States should look at the total shut down of Radical Left Anarchists in Minneapolis last night, The National Guard did a great job and should be used in other States before it is too late! “ ( his exclamation mark, not mine ) Just hope Twitter put a fact check on that one too.
Just as Corbyn enabled anti-Semitism in the UK, so Trump enables every kind of violence in the States.
On a lighter note, no “ Archers “ last night. We seem to be reduced to 4 episodes of monologues a week. They are ok but can’t satisfy my longing for the real thing though I did see some bloke got trampled to death by cows somewhere in England over the weekend. That’s more like it. Unless you are the trampled individual.
Am being disturbed and inundated by work calls whilst typing this today so I suppose I need to behave responsibly and deal with them. And call Saga or else it will be another 4 months before I can drive my car whilst I save up for the insurance.
Might even go for a walk in the park this afternoon.
So, take care, be safe, don’t visit LA and if we are spared I will see you all tomorrow,