One thing that amuses me is Amazon UK.

I've ordered quite a few things from these mon over the past four or five months and the majority of items get shipped via Royal Mail. The odd one or two get shipped via a company called Yodel (http://www.yodel.co.uk/), which is a DHL sub division I believe. Now DHL have been around for quite a while so you'd expect they'd know what they're doing when it comes to deliveries. So why, pray tell, does Yodel's logistics leave a lot to be desired?

Take a recent order for a bike book. It despatched from Kilmarnock, which is somewhere in Scotland, and it ended up at Hatfield which is just north of London. Hmm, come on guys I live just about exactly at the half way point between the two! Doh.

Another book I've just ordered is also being shipped via Yodel. It seems it left Peterborough this morning for, you guessed it, Hatfield. Now Peterborough is closer to me than Hatfield, so what gives? Now if this sort of thing is happening to other people's orders then what a waste of fuel and time... So much for the environment, eh.

It was decided many moons ago to purchase one of those energy monitoring devices, mainly in the hope of identifying those products that are wasteful sources of energy around the home. However in searching for the best one to buy, the weeks went past and the monitor was never bought. Then eon, our energy supplier, came along with a good deal; as you're a customer we'll send you a Current Cost energy monitor for free. 

Now in my research these Current Cost monitors are the bees knees and, before the arrival of the eon offer, it was going to be one of their products that was going to be purchased. And now eon was offering one for free! I had grand ideas - wall mount it (it comes only with a stand), get it 'net connected so I could see the power usage online... Wey, hey, bring it on! So the 'order' was placed.

Weeks past and no monitor arrived. Then an e-mail from eon saying that they've had so many requests there's going to be six to eight week delay. No worries I'll wait.

Three weeks later the postie knocks on the door, the monitor had arrived. Opening up the box it looks a grand device - would've been better in white to better match the room decor but heck it's a freebie so I can live with it.

Job one: to wall mount it. This involved a bit of drilling in the stand through what looked suspiciously like positions for two wall mounting holes, then a bit of filing to allow the power wire, and USB leads to pass, and Bob's your uncle - one wall mountable Current Cost monitor. In goes the power brick lead, on went the super strong clamp around the main power in cable, and within a minute the device was tuned. The readings started coming through...

Job two: to try the Current Cost to Pachube hack, and bingo got belting results straight onto the 'net. Not wanting to leave a PC running 24/7 to do the data transferring onto the 'net, my next decision was to buy a Current Cost Bridge device to do the dirty work. But that could wait till later.

Everything was looking rosy. And it was. For about two weeks. That's when the next door neighbor knocked on my door asking if he could have a look at my energy monitor as his newly arrived eon unit didn't seem to be working properly. No worries - we both looked at mine, to discover mine too was no longer working properly. The readings were all over the place.

It seems these Current Cost units have a bug. A big one. It transpires they pick up and show other sensor clamps, despite going through the tuning process, making the whole energy monitoring process a waste of time. My unit picks up next door's energy usage and adds it to mine thinking it's me using it, and his does the same adding my energy to his unit's calculations. Suffice to say with the status quo both units are now useless, unless that is you want to see the power going up on one refresh and down on the next ad infinitum:

I contacted Current Cost about the issue. Shortly after I received back a reply, the expected read off a sheet 'you must tune it in to your clamp sensor'. Err, I have done. So has the neighbor. Multiple times. And at different times. I re-contacted them to explain this, and back came another reply stating the details would be passed on. That was over two weeks ago, and as of the time of writing still no response.

So currently my Current Cost monitor is powered down. Permanently. No point in using it. Oh well it was free. And it was good whilst it lasted.

I guess one of the signs that old age is getting closer is when you start to forget things. Take the issue of blogs, like this one for example. I keep meaning to keep it updated with the latest news and notes from the life of Znook but alas, other things grab your attention and I'm off on a tangent never to return. Unless something happens to remind you.

And happen it did. I recently became (indirectly) aware via one of my tweeps that I've lost a blog. One that I created as a reference for my electronics and programming exploits. And it was a good one too. I've searched here, there and everywhere for it without success. I guess the only thing to do now is to recreate it again from scratch.

And stick a post-it note to the computer to remind me it's there...

Recently I was looking for a new parka style jacket and, following quite an extensive web search, I came across one that I liked being sold at this place. As they only had my size left in stock I quickly placed an order. There was a £4.95 Post & Packing charge on top of the price of the goods, but as it was next day delivery it wasn't too bad. Sure enough the goods arrived at lunchtime the next day - great stuff. Unfortunately when I tried on the coat I found that whomever had sewn it during manufacture had sort of twisted the material around inside one of the arms, making it near on impossible to don. It had to be returned. So I rang them expecting to be sent a replacement. But no. I was advised that if I wanted another I had to go through the whole order process again. Reluctantly I decided not to bother. Soon after I received the refund. For the price of the parka, but not the P&P. Checking around a few sites at random on the internet all their terms & conditions state that if the goods are faulty ALL the costs paid by the customer are returned. Not by Woolworths.co.uk it seems. Hmm, just think - if I'd sent for a replacement and that was faulty, returned it and ordered another and that was faulty too, I'd then be out of pocket for nearly £15 with nothing to show for it. So the moral to this story is; beware if you shop with these guys (@team_woolies) or it may cost you more than you think if the goods you order turn out to be faulty.

Well what do you know it's nearly a month since I last mentioned getting the bike ready. And as things transpired, like they normally do, I never got round to it. So I've decided that this Saturday will definitely be day when I get it ready and start hitting the streets. No ifs, or buts. Whatever the weather.

Can’t help but think back to last night and my walk to the White Lion bar. The walk is about two miles from where I live, along nearly all main streets. Anyway, I’d almost got to the bar last night when this car came down the road from behind me, and just before it reached me the horn was blasted for no apparent reason. It doesn’t half make you jump I can tell you.

Now this has happened before at various points on the journey, and I think I know why it’s being done. With my being small the coat I wear has a reflective strip bonded to it at the hem on the back. I can only guess that drivers coming from behind see this strip lit up in their headlights and honk the horn in a taking the piss ‘I can see you’ sort of attitude. Mind you the sneakers/trainers I also wear have reflective patches on them too, so it could be that I light up like a Christmas tree.

I’ve also noted that some drivers coming from behind me put on their bright lights/main beams when there’s no reason to, and I reckon they’re wanting to see how bright the reflectors get. But this is harmless. It’s the ones that honk when they’re right behind me that’s not effin funny.

Must start getting myself out on the bike if only for some exercise. Just need some sort of GPS device, ala Garmin, to monitor my routes, fitness etc. so I can publish them on the net. We’ll see.