The promise and the reality. A con by Cadbury.
The basic model of the Nook, a rival to Amazon’s Kindle, was advertised at just £29 a couple of weeks ago, leading to a complete sell-out throughout the UK.
I ordered one from the website of Barnes and Noble, the North American bookseller that produced the Nook, and when it became clear that a prolonged delay was likely, I cancelled the order and bought a more feature-rich version over the counter.
However, Barnes and Noble then told me that it was impossible to cancel the order – despite the fact that it hadn’t been progressed – and that I would have to refuse delivery. When it was returned to their warehouse, my payment would be refunded.
On Sunday, I received an email telling me: “Your Nook is on its way!”
What that meant, I discovered, was that an address label had been printed.
As far as I could tell, the Nook was still on the far side of the Atlantic.
Today (Tuesday) the tracking revealed the following developing story.
.
It promised that the Nook would be delivered by 7pm tonight.
However, this did seem very ambitious.
It landed in Utrecht, in the Netherlands, at 10.46 last night, left there at 2.43am this morning, reached Brussels at 4.54am, left there at 11.18am, and arrived in Barking, Essex, at 3.28pm.
As it seems to be still there (it’s now 5.05pm) it’s going to take extraordinary measures to get it from Essex to Scarborough by 7pm….simply so that I can reject it.
I started my shopping duties in Aldi, and found the car park, as so often, to be packed.
The staff are always doing things at the double, but you keep seeing the same faces, so they must be happy.
The store was very busy, and for the first time, I saw every till in use.
Next, I went to Tesco, as I had a £3 voucher to redeem.
What a contrast! The car park was half-empty, and in two separate aisles, I had to ask staff to let me through, as in each case, a group of four were passing the time of day.
We use soft-spread butter, which is basically a blend of vegetable oil and butter that spreads straight from the fridge.
The price of this soared a few months ago, but Aldi has consistently offered a lower-priced product. I was surprised to find Tesco matching that price…and then I checked the contents. The Aldi product contains 37% butter, while Tesco’s is a measly 30%.
Big name doesn’t mean better quality, after all.
I took a stroll in the countryside around Thirsk, North Yorkshire, while my wife attended a Women’s Institute course.
Public rights of way there are in a disgraceful state.
I was faced with invisible routes across ploughed clay, unbridged ditches and scrub obstructing rights of way.
After almost 11 miles, accomplished with the aid of my Poundworld secateurs, many diversions, scrambles through mud
This ditch could be crossed by trampling down rampant growth, then teetering nervously across a narrow concrete beam.
- The “path” leads toward the house. Honestly.
and a lot of perseverance, I found my way back to Thirsk.
Unfortunately, two of three independent butchers had sold out of home-made steak pies in my absence, and the third was staffed by a grumpy lady whose manners made me resent spending my money there.
Scarborough Eye 