Weather

Here we are, two weeks on since my last post. The sun is shining outside and I've done a little writing today - not much I grant you, but a little.

As a reward to myself for writing a bit I've been surfing the internet (well, Stumbling actually) and I came across this picture -



Black and white photographs are always atmospheric I think and the rain is always a little romantic, so this photo does it for me. I want to know what's around the bend. I imagine a young couple sheltering under an umbrella, both of them drenched to the skin. They are French and smoking gauloises. She is very beautiful and he handsome. They don't smile at each other, instead she stares off into the distance and he watches a woman walk past with a dog on a lead.


Why does my imagination produce French Art House Cinema?

Follow up....

This morning I checked my emails...there was one from the Ebayer. The 'holes' in the skirt are apparently in the lining - so not visible. They would like to keep the skirt as it would be nice as a gift to a relative of theirs, but could I still give some discount?

Ten out of ten for sheer cheek.

My reply?

Sorry I can't afford to give discount.

It was £5 for goodness sake! And to then give that as a GIFT?!?! Okay, I understand and fully accept that not everyone has money to flash about on expensive gifts for friends and relatives, but to buy something on Ebay, decide you don't like it yourself, ask for discount and then suggest you'll give it as a gift! If that was supposed to tug at my heartstrings it failed miserably. And what's wrong with the Ebayer getting out a good old needle and thread and sewing up the holes? To my knowledge they were not there when the skirt left me - suspect they 'appeared' when the skirt was either worn or just tried on by the purchaser....

Can you guess that I don't like meanness?

Ebay - good or bad?

Lately I have been trying out the wonders of selling stuff on Ebay. All seems rather good fun, I thought. Take a photo, write a few details down and then sit back and wait until someone purchases your old junk. They pay you, you send it off and everyone is happy. You end up a little richer and you have more room, hooray!

So far I've sold half a dozen things - nothing major : a couple of pairs of climbing shoes which I'd bought, worn a few times and discovered they just didn't suit me, a pair of china ornaments my mother had picked up at a boot fair and also a couple of items of clothing.

The clothing has proved to be the most difficult item of all to shift. Understandably people want to get a bargain on Ebay. They want to purchase designer names, or at the very least well known High Street names, at a fraction of the original price.

So I attempted to sell a beautiful silk skirt which had once had pride of place in my wardrobe. I'd only worn it once or twice, but these days it's just too big (hooray!). So I sold it for just over £5. A silk skirt. A very nice silk skirt from a very well known up-market shop. A classic silk skirt, wear anywhere, dress it up, wear to weddings, parties, etc. etc. You know the sort of thing. All for £5. Within 24 hours of the auction closing the buyer had contacted me - had I posted it yet? Erm…no actually I hadn't, but I would do the following day. The next day I was contacted again - this time the message was barely readable and it would seem that the buyer has some problems with the use of everyday English. Basically the gist of the message was that I had not put the correct postage on the parcel and the postman would not deliver the package to the buyer. Could I please sort this out. I had only just put the item into the post not more than two hours before, so this message was utter rubbish. Rather than reply with remarks along the line of, 'This is utter rubbish', I decided to wait until the weekend had passed (this was Friday) and contact the buyer to see if they'd received the parcel. On Monday they had indeed received it. Hooray. However, they now wanted a discount as the skirt had two holes in it. Erm…not when it left me it didn't.

So my reaction has been to suggest, politely, that they simply return the skirt.

I haven't heard anything since so I'm guessing that one of two things will happen - they'll send back the skirt because it was too late for an event they wanted it for (just my suspicion), or they'll keep it and I'll hear no more because they were just after an even better bargain and it was all a try on.

We shall see.

Oh boy, my life is exciting!