To start with, the Post Office has installed a system whereby you use a touch screen, take a ticket and wait to be called.
The touch screen system is so poorly designed they need someone to hover around to show you how to use it.
I stared blankly at the options on the screen.
"What do you want to do?" the chap he enquired. (Of course he could have been actually serving, had it not been for the silly touch screen and ticket system)
"I want to post this to America" I responded with a sigh.
"That's counter services" he said...
How am I supposed to know how their new system categorises posting something to America?
It struck me as change purely for the sake of it, probably dreamt up by some fatuous marketing man who's never posted anything in his life. And isn't everything counter services, as they are all dispensed at the counter?
A classic case of presentation over content and complicating to the point of uselessness.
Eventually I get summoned to the counter where a very pleasant and helpful lady explained that I couldn't send anything that is pointy or has feathers... Hmmm, that pretty much rules out the arrow then doesn't it?
Anyhow, I shall send it on Monday, with specially padding over the point of the arrow and the fletchings replaced with paper ones.
Presumably they are worried about bird flu.
I shall make sure I state its a 'decorative model' rather than a small weapon!
click... Grumpy mode OFF
It's been raining all day, which makes a change as we haven't had any decent rain for about a year! Rather than moping about indoors I went out to the garage and roughed out another Yew stave, it's not as bad as I feared and it's 72 1/2" long which hopefully will be fine. I took care to run it through the saw carefully leaving some spare width. I don't want another one going bang on me.
First pic shows the overall stave on it's knotty side. The sap wood has been thinned on half the stave (nearest the camera)
n 
The pics show how I've been reducing the thickness of the sapwood. I'm letting the draw knife split if off in great swathes, it's easy to overdo it and I've cut it a bit fine near a couple of undulations, these have been marked in pencil with 'LEAVE' pretty self explanatory.
The nasty knot is about 4 inches from one end, hopefully I can fill it and leave the tip of the bow fairly rigid. On a decent length stave I'd just lop off the top and shift the bow down in the stave.
I completely agree with your rant! I am often accused by She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed of being a "Grumpy Old Man"; I've explained to her that it's not my fault that I'm grumpy: things that are within my control are ok; if only all the things that are _outside_ of my control were as they _should_ be, then I'd have nothing to moan about, would I?
ReplyDeleteThat's when the fight usually starts...