Sunday, 3 May 2009

Jackie’s birthday

I had decided to take Jackie to B&Q to buy a greenhouse. I guess I’m just a born romantic. But Jackie was very keen: she had chosen which one she wanted and I had reserved it “on line”. Over breakfast, I got a call to say the greenhouse was ready for collection. Great! Just as we were leaving the house, I got another call saying that there were no longer any in stock. An hour and a half later (after numerous telephone calls and visits to websites), it dawned on me that B&Q’s on-line stock-checking and booking service is just a lot of random nonsense. Telephoning stores proved equally fruitless. Jackie and I resorted to tradition and drove off toward Watford (the most reliable centre for all shopping). On the way, Jackie spoke to a lovely woman on the telephone who assured us that the greenhouses were in stock in Watford. Just as we arrived in Watford, we got a return call from a young man at the same Watford B&Q who told us that there were no greenhouses in stock and there was a six week wait on deliveries. We had long since stopped believing anything from B&Q. Sure enough, at Watford they had ample supplies of greenhouses and we returned home with Jackie’s chosen model.