Wasting loads of oil ?

 The other day I was making a stew and I found that we had no onions. So off to Freds shop and I got some. I was chopping up one of them when the label caught my eye.

Where were they from? Ireland? Spain ? No they were from Senegal...Its a few countries south of Morocco with Cape Verde islands off the coast.

You might think that the goods could have been used locally instead of dragging them half way around the world. Did you ever buy  green beans in Lidl or Aldi ? Morocco or Egypt for example.

Well today I bought mangetout (beans) All the way from Peru! Have we all gone mad ? 

As my kids often say. "If you feel so badly about it you should write a letter to them"  

I know if you have read a lot of this blog you will have heard this story before.We had a montage with the AIB bank. Our wages were paid into a different bank and a direct debit sent on when the payment was due. Everything going on fine until one day the transfer did not happen.

No phone call or letter. Then one day this chap came on the line, "Whats going on ya bollox? Ya haven't paid yer mortgage," He went on calling me names, really rough stuff.

My wife told me to write a letter which I did. No reply.

10 days later I handed a letter to the banks HQ. No reply

Then I handed another letter into my local bank.

Here is the interesting twist. The wife of a friend of mine worked in the bank and she told me to write to the banking ombudsman. Giving times and also what happened. 24 hours later they rang me back to clarify the way that things had gone.

Well 2 weeks later I got a check for €1400.

Later I was talking to Mary and she told me that she had sat in on the enquirey and it was dramatic to sat the least.  The tape of the call was played and the young lad was sacked on the spot. His uncle had vouched for him for the job and Mary told me that the poor man nearly had a heart attack.

I found out later that Mary is a director of the bank although she just monitored the complaint.

One other thing that she told me was that I should appeal the settlement. 3 unanswered letters ??

Doomsday book !

 We went to Spain a few years ago and we went from Madrid to Barcelona by train.

Train is a really great way to go and after you settle down you can chat to the fellow passengers.

One guy I will never forget told me about security and how pickpockets can really spoil your entire holiday. He said that copies of their passports were stored on the web (Whatever that is) and he had a little black book which had all the details of their credit cards and the help numbers.

I asked him what would happen if he lost the black book.  No problem at all. I will show you,

Each card has 4 banks of 4 numbers, as I am writing it into the book I increase the second digit by 2 and reverse the following 2 digits. Useless to anyone not knowing the code.

Now we have guys who are carrying card readers who scan your cards in your pocket, You must have a RFI card holder from Amazon, While you are at it get a key box and eve a blocker for when the key is in your pocket. Did you know that car thieves can scan your keys from outside your front door?

Here is one for you.

You get into your Prius and start the car. You then pass it over to your sister to go to Limerick.

She stops the car to go to the shops,. She has no key to lock it ! Then she needs to start the car and no key!

She phones you up OOPs you have the key in your pocket !

I am told that this works. Press the phone to the key and your sister presses record for 1 minute.

Now tell her to hold the phone while in normal mode and the signal will start the car.

It is really mad what the modern cars will do. My Tesla makes Americano coffee ready at 7.30 every morning,

I will finish with this one. 

There is small row of new house just at the bottom of Vernon Ave. There was a man and he had locked his keys in his new car. He asked me if I knew someone who could help and I rang him. The deal was £120 and if he could not open it there would be no charge..No charge for time.

He was adamant that his new car would not be damaged. The locksmith looked through the windows and then said "money up front". He went back to his van and took out a box the size of a cigar box. Then he pulled up the aerial and turned a few dials. In less than a minute it opened.

"I am not giving you £120 for that" He put the keys back into the car between the front seats and locked the car. Off he went and the search for another guy went on I think for sure it was a lot more expensive.

The locksmith told me that device had cost him more than £2,000 and he had to produce his license. 

 Keys, Keys ,Keys If I know who invented them I would lock him up and THROW AWAY THE KEY