12^th April 2015.

Dear All,

Spring fever in the garden as well as cleaning this week! On Monday we had another cleaning session in the chapel and removed a couple of edge pews to see whether the local carpenter can make one out of them as they are fixed to the wall and only have one proper end each.

We then started on the new allotment, Kate clearing rubbish and I rotovated all the bare earth. It is in quite good condition and I have already more than half filled it with potatoes, broad beans, peas, carrots, onions, parsnips and beetroot. I plan to fill the rest with squash and sweet corn but am a bit nervous about the proximity of the largest badger sett in the village.

The magnolia in the front garden has been pretty spectacular this year despite the wind buffeting.

Allotment

Magnolia

We had a frustrating day on Tuesday thanks to DHL. I needed to post the donated seed to Moldova. Last year I used FedEx and it took 3 weeks instead of 3 days and arrived after we were home, so this time I thought we would try DHL even though they were slightly more expensive. As we have not used DHL before I checked the nearest depot and it came up with 2 addresses for WH Smith at St Ives. The first was on the Industrial Site and we did not find it. The second was at their town centre shop. When we arrived the shop explained that they were not taking parcels this day could we come back tomorrow. There was nothing on the web site to indicate this and we had to travel to get there so had wasted a couple of hours.

In the afternoon we tried Cambridge, the nearest depot was listed as Staples at Chesterton Road. When we arrived the shop was closed for renovation – again no warning on the website. We went on to Staples in Newmarket Road where the staff were very helpful but when I came to pay for a size 7 box for Moldova I was charged £199.95 (Rest of the World rate) instead of £119.95 (Europe non EU rate). When I protested the man serving spent 30 to 40 minutes on the phone to DHL expressing dissatisfaction but was told this was correct.

I was obviously not happy and phoned DHL myself to complain and was eventually put through to Reena who said she would investigate. She eventually rung back to say she has been told that the charge is correct because only 20% Moldova is in Europe! I explained that this is complete nonsense as Moldova has been an independent state since 1990, it is in Europe, it has a small breakaway state called Transnistria which represents 14% of the population, and the parcel is addressed to Cahul which is not in this area. I was advised to complain the head office, which I have now done, and await the results with bated but not optimistic breath!

I chose DHL on the basis of the handout “DHL – Fast, Secure and Reliable Worldwide Delivery” – “The Easiest Way to Send a Parcel Anywhere in the World”. There is no mention of excluding Moldova from “Europe Non-EU”.

Our Thursday walk started at Sturmer and took in Baythorne End (special memories for Esther? – it is where she fell out of the car!), Ridgewell and Birdbrook. It was sunny and dry so a pleasant walk.

Gathered Walkers

Birdbrook

John Lane and I marked out the cricket square on Friday and as usual had trouble with one of the mowers so I had to run that down to Babraham. The grass is looking good so far but will need to as we have at least 8 extra matches planned this season.

News has just arrived as I am writing that chicken pox has struck Hove –“ recovering less itchy but still very scabby.”

Jackie called in yesterday en route from Beaumont to Derby and dropped off glass craft work from the last cousin's reunion.

Love

Mike & Kate