Unhappy Thread

[Bad Raven]

At my last senior school, my english teacher was Mr Pardon, History was Mr Hastie, and the Head was Mr Coward (Dudley Coward)

[Trainfish]

I can't remember what subjects they taught but we had Miss Little and Mrs Bigger. From memory though (and it was a LONG time ago) Mrs Bigger was smaller than Miss Little which confused things somewhat.

I also had an engineer work for me called Clive Peacock. He always made sure he wrote his full christian name rather than abbreviate it to his 1st initial 

[Bob G]

My RE teacher was Rev AJM Winterbotham aka numb-bum when we were kids.
My Latin teacher was D. Ive. Dive???
And my history teacher was AJC Reger, who dictated everything and so was called "the great dictator".
I was not turned on to history and failed at O level twice. He was a sh*t teacher!!
But I have O level Latin.

Bob

[crewearpley40]

Worst teacher miss twitchett taught English, Mrs Mitchell biology, Mrs choake who smoked 40 cigarettes a day yellow teeth ugh, and Don nunn art an absolute no go, he picked on people no wonder I lost the plot with him. Best Mr Hughes ex Welsh guards maths and miss griggson I won't say publicly what happened one kid put a pencil somewhere awkward on here.

[Newportnobby]

Back in Wolverton at the Grammar School we had a Drama teacher by the name of Mr. Tibbles, and at the Northampton Grammar we had an Aussie French master who, needless to say, we called Skippy after the TV prog of the time. The headmaster there always had his head cocked to one side side he was nicknamed 'Isaiah' as one eye was always higher than the other

[Bealman]

Considering this is the unhappy thread, it's making me chuckle a lot!

In 1981, I got stranded in a place called Bulahdelah here in NSW. Stuck there, I wandered around the place, and found the local doctor's place. The plaque said Dr Michael Coqueshard. I kid you not.

I just hope his mates didn't call him Mike! 

[TrevL]

Just be grateful his surname wasn't "Hunt"

[Bealman]

....as Basil Brush would say, "Boom boom!"

..... and with that, I think perhaps this thread should go back to being unhappy 

[Trainfish]

Just be grateful his surname wasn't "Hunt"

I used to deal with a contract manager called that. He preferred to be called Michael of course 

..... and with that, I think perhaps this thread should go back to being unhappy 

He was always unhappy if someone called him Mike 

I'll say no more. It will be difficult but I'll do my best not to 

[stevewalker]

I bought a Dapol 9F at TINGS on Saturday. It was priced at £79 and labelled as Tested and In Good Condition.

When I unpacked it at home, I noticed that the wheelsets have been removed and replaced in the wrong order, so the middle drive axle, with the flangeless wheels, has been moved to the fourth driving axle position.

Removing the blanking plug and replacing with a decoder, showed that it programmed okay on the (limited current) programming track, but when moved to the running track, it immediately shorted out the power.

Further investigation showed that the motor mounting cradle is not attached to the tender chassis and the motor is free to move around as speed and loads change.

So much for Good Condition!

[stevewalker]

On a tour of the far north of Scotland and Orkney (visiting various preserved railways) ... The coach driver was instructed by his company to ignore isolation and return the coach to depot.

It sounds like you booked a tour with a bunch of (selfish?) idiots and with a company unable to follow simple instructions, followed by officials not having a clue either!

I have no real problem with the driver though - driving alone and able to get back without being in contact with anyone.

[dannyboy]

(Imagine this post starting in the 'Unhappy' thread and them moving to the 'Angry' thread).
On 1st August, I ordered a piece of rolling stock from a seller in America via ebay and a further item a couple of weeks later. I was following the tracking and the first item arrived in Dublin, went back to America, came to Dublin again and was returned to America. The second item has arrived in Dublin, but been sent back to America.  . These things happen so I put in a 'item not received' claim for the first item to ebay. I have today received notification that the seller has refunded my money for the non-arrival of the first item. The second item is shown as being delivered today - to the seller!! The seller has emailed to say that he has received the second item, but has not got the first item. Now this is where we should really move to the 'Angry' thread. The claim for the first item is now marked as closed, but the second item is shown as being refunded. So, I can not claim for the first item, as the case is closed and can not claim for the second item, because it has been refunded even though it is shown as delivered!  . Cue missive to ebay tomorrow morning! Incidentally, the seller informs me that he has been told that Ireland are not now accepting First Class mail from America, which is probably why my two items have racked up thousands of miles in their travels. The cynic in me says this is a ploy by An Post to force buyers of goods from America to use the 'drop off' system. This system costs €15.99 and everything goes via the Irish Customs, so VAT at 23% and, if necessary duties, plus €3.50 collection fee have to be paid. 

[stevewalker]

Following my previous post about the shortcomings of the 9F (which when looking again was actually labelled as being in "Very Good Condition"), Rails have got back to me, offering a discount of a grand total of £10 - so it's going back for a full refund instead!

[steve836]

Hi Danny, do you know someone north of the border to whom your American stuff could be delivered?. They could then forward it or you could nip\over the border to collect.

[dannyboy]

Further to my rant yesterday, (reply #2357), I have received an email from the seller informing me that he has refunded the money for the second item, (which has been confirmed by PayPal), so I am a happy bunny again. Having said that, the fluctuating exchange rate means I have lost just over €3, but it could have gone the other way, so I am not complaining.  .

@steve836 I have a brother and a sister in the UK, so I will see what I can find out about having items sent to one of them. It still means that once an item arrives in the Republic, it could get intercepted by Customs. The item could be sent to me as a 'gift', so, depending on the value, VAT and duties may still have to be paid and, of course, I would have to pay any USA taxes when I buy an item, plus send my brother or sister the postage money. There is a lot to look at when buying from outside the EU these days and it seems a lot worse than it used to be!