Hi Everyone
When we converted the stables into our home fifteen years ago, we bought all new furniture including a quite expensive solid oak table and four chairs. Although we use the table every day, the Main Contractor has kept it in immaculate condition. Unfortunately, it is too large and probably always has been for our living space. For some months we have been looking to sell and buy a smaller but extendable table and chairs. The problem however is a familiar one, the price that anyone is prepared to pay for a secondhand item compared to the cost of a replacement. Last week we finally found what we wanted so I advertised our table and chairs on the Internet. On the first day we had two potential buyers willing to pay the asking price so I contacted the first one who said that she was busy at work but was willing to pay the full price from the description and ten photographs that I had supplied. She said that TNT would collect it the following day and that the driver would have an envelope with the cash. She then contacted me again to say they charged £50 to insure against transit damage so there would be an extra £50 to cover the cost in the envelope as I had to arrange and pay the insurance cost to the carrier before collection. It was at this point that I waved the red flag. Two things did not seem right, firstly TNT is a parcel delivery company, not furniture removers which would be required in this instance and secondly, the £50 payment was going to a different website with no obvious connection to TNT. I canceled the transaction at that point as it was obvious that they would have taken £50 from my account and I would never have heard from them again. I then went to the second offer I had received with the lady again saying that she was busy at work and almost word for word offering the same deal. Over the years I have sold a number of items on internet selling sites with no problems at all but obviously, the value of the item attracted the predators. We have now removed the items from sale so that the Main Contractor can continue to look after them. Are we reaching the stage where someone, somewhere is out there just waiting to what can only be described as robbing us? Judging by the increasing instances of scams it seems to me to be more likely than not.
I think that it is important that you exercise your brain every day especially if you think the one you have is slowly disappearing. My first exercise of the day involves waking up to discover where I am. Surely you are in bed but you could still be in the chair that you fell asleep in the night before. Then, and perhaps most importantly, you need to know what day it is especially if you are at the age where you do not have to ask yourself "Is it Friday yet". Then I am a Wordler in that every day I do the New York Times Wordle daily word. I seem to be competing with a friend who consistently gets a better score than me (fairly I hope) and another who seems to be just about as skillful or useless as me. The good news however is that if either of them had an age handicap given to them, I would be a clear winner. I was therefore saddened to hear someone whom I had heard of, being described as a "sympathetic, well meaning, elderly man with a poor memory" especially as he is a few years younger than me. It was then that I realised that this man was not, like me, at home tending his garden and supporting a useless football team but that he was the President of the United States of America and one of the world's most powerful men who is looking to stay in the job for four more years after this year. For the sake of the future of the world let's hope that when he reads my blog he will buy himself a pair of gardening gloves, sit near me with a meat and potato pie supporting our useless football team, and join us in the daily Wordle. The only problem is that the other guy could be even worse, as it is hard to imagine him gardening, does not like meat and potato pies, and cannot spell.
Occasionally someone sends me a message starting with the words Dear Brain instead of Dear Brian. I usually point out the mistake to them while reassuring them that they probably got it right the first time. It's great to have fun with words.
Just a Thought :
Curiosity pulls people into a scam.
I thought that I had won the discussion with the Main Contractor about how to arrange the Dining Table and chairs but when I got home the tables were turned.
My brain and I have a great relationship, we are always on the same wavelength.
Brain
Comments