P'd Off with the PO....

Masses of people are stopping in wonder at Mr. Books shop window which can't be a bad thing can it? One or two have even been in to say how lovely it is and how, in their opinion, it has "lifted the High Street." This is of course music to my ears. That said I'm having one of those days when nothing seems to go right. I've even had (another) bust up with one of the post office workers over having to wait nearly half an hour in the queue. If it was genuinely really busy in there then you could just about stomach it. But to wait that long when the reason seems to be that only 3 counters out of a possible 8 are open then that becomes totally unacceptable. There were 4 windows serving, which is bad enough, but at least 50%, then one just disappeared off to her break! I'm sure some of you will sympathize with them and say "Why shouldn't they take their break on time?" but in any other business, when it's that busy, you put more staff on the tills let alone take one off. The trouble is I can complain (and blog) until I'm blue in the face but what can you actually do about it? Take my business elsewhere? Oh that's right they have no competition and they've even closed most of the sub post offices down. I've probably said this before but when I first moved to Tonbridge there were no less than five sub PO's south of Tonbridge railway station alone. Now there are none because we were told that they are unprofitable and we don't need them. Well that's hard to take when the queue lengthen by the day at the central PO. They need to sort this mess out and quick. The only excuse they had was "We're trying out the new work rotas!" The lady at the desk actually said this to me as she continued to serve me with the false politeness she's perfected over the years to placate moaning customers such as me, smiling through gritted teeth when she probably felt like screaming at me that it wasn't her fault and that I should foxtrot off or something like that. Well I can tell the Post Office right now: your new work rotas ain't working! In short I'm P'd Off with the lot of em!...

If I'd known you were coming I'd have baked a cake!...

Lots of people looking in Mr. Books shop window at the moment. So what's all the fuss about? Well we started off with World Traveller, we've just finished with Summer of Sport and changed the display over to Baked a Cake. I say "we" but really it's all pretty much my creative director's work. (Otherwise known as the missus!) I did hold the screw driver and make the tea but she did the rest. Come and have a look at the result for yourself....

Tonbridge Half Marathon Latest....

I've just heard that the Tonbridge Half Marathon, taking place on Sunday September 23rd is booked to its capacity of 1,300 runners. That's amazing as the event is only in its second year and they've actually allocated 300 more places this year compared with last. Alas those Tonbridge Blog readers who will be turning out in droves to see Yours Truely will be disappointed this time round. My sweaty red face and jelly like legs will be otherwise engaged, probably sitting in my canoe or perhaps just doing a little gardening or going for a strole to the pub. You see since opening Mr. Books # 2 I just haven't had time to do any serious training so my target time of sub two hours and the chance to have a medal placed around my neck by Saint Kelly of Hildenborough will just have to be put on hold for another 12 months. As Arnie once said though: I'll be back!...

A date with Tallulah....

Well that's the end of another working week for me. It's all right for all you lucky people who don't work on Saturdays sat at home with your feet up watching the last day of the Paralympics or some footy, or maybe down the pub with a few close mates (assuming you have any!) No, for me Saturday is, more often than not, a working day. So I'll be on my way very shortly on my bike homewards ready to get up early(ish) Sunday morning to clean off my paddle to take Tallulah (that's me canoe) out for another paddle along the gentle flowing Medway. I'll be off to practice new strokes tomorrow such as the J Stroke and the Canadian stroke and, no this is not some seedy boating/sexual inuendo! And you thought paddling a canoe was a simple case of sticking it in, pulling and off you go! I'll tell you more about my date with Tallulah next week but in the meantime let's hear some more stories/gripes about life in Tonbridge. Tell the readers of this blog where the best shops and restaurants are; where the best pint is to be consumed that sort of thing. In fact pretty much anything you want to get off your chests....