Yesterday morning I were in my local TLC depot picking up some of them flour
essence lights.

Large queue at the trade counter. Bloke in front of me was 'tutting' and
exchanging raised eyebrow's with people. Spose we waited 5 mins, but it
always feels like 10.

Finally his turn to be served, he produced a list;

Bloke; "2 dozen 15mm compression elbows, 2 dozen 15mm compression
joiners...."

TLC; "Plumb Center is next door mate."

Bloke; "Oh bugger, I wondered why there was some much electrical stuff
around."

I'm glad its not just me who has grey moments :-)


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

In article ,
The Medway Handyman wrote:
Yesterday morning I were in my local TLC depot picking up some of them
flour essence lights.

Large queue at the trade counter. Bloke in front of me was 'tutting'
and exchanging raised eyebrow's with people. Spose we waited 5 mins,
but it always feels like 10.

Finally his turn to be served, he produced a list;

Bloke; "2 dozen 15mm compression elbows, 2 dozen 15mm compression
joiners...."

TLC; "Plumb Center is next door mate."

Bloke; "Oh bugger, I wondered why there was some much electrical stuff
around."

I'm glad its not just me who has grey moments :-)

That's not so bad - I usually get stuck behind someone who it is selecting
everything for a house rewire bit by bit from the catalogue. ;-)

I've got into the habit for a large order of doing an online order - but
not sending it, just print it off, and taking that in. You would too if
your writing was anything like mine.

--
*Why is it that to stop Windows 95, you have to click on "Start"?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) coughed up some electrons that declared:

That's not so bad - I usually get stuck behind someone who it is selecting
everything for a house rewire bit by bit from the catalogue. ;-)

I've got into the habit for a large order of doing an online order - but
not sending it, just print it off, and taking that in. You would too if
your writing was anything like mine.


I do something similar off their website - always makes them happy.

On Sat, 13 Jun 2009 10:11:13 +0100, Tim S wrote:

Dave Plowman (News) coughed up some electrons that declared:

That's not so bad - I usually get stuck behind someone who it is
selecting everything for a house rewire bit by bit from the catalogue.
;-)

I've got into the habit for a large order of doing an online order - but
not sending it, just print it off, and taking that in. You would too if
your writing was anything like mine.


I do something similar off their website - always makes them happy.

==========================================

The same thing works for Screwfix and probably other suppliers too. Just
make sure they don't charge a delivery charge. Ctrl + p on your keyboard
does the printing.

Cic.

--
==========================================
Using Ubuntu Linux
Windows shown the door
==========================================

Cicero wrote:
On Sat, 13 Jun 2009 10:11:13 +0100, Tim S wrote:

Dave Plowman (News) coughed up some electrons that declared:

That's not so bad - I usually get stuck behind someone who it is
selecting everything for a house rewire bit by bit from the catalogue.
;-)

I've got into the habit for a large order of doing an online order - but
not sending it, just print it off, and taking that in. You would too if
your writing was anything like mine.


I do something similar off their website - always makes them happy.

==========================================

The same thing works for Screwfix and probably other suppliers too. Just
make sure they don't charge a delivery charge. Ctrl + p on your keyboard
does the printing.

Cic.

I've not tried it yet but the chap at toolstation counter said I could
make up my next list on line and just make a note of the reference
number and they could call it up at the counter and create a pick list.
Saves farting around with their silly little forms a la Argos stores.
I must confess to becoming quite a fan of Toolstation over screwfix.
Prices better and - so far - stock levels better.
Bob

In article ,
Bob Minchin wrote:
I've not tried it yet but the chap at toolstation counter said I could
make up my next list on line and just make a note of the reference
number and they could call it up at the counter and create a pick list.
Saves farting around with their silly little forms a la Argos stores.
I must confess to becoming quite a fan of Toolstation over screwfix.
Prices better and - so far - stock levels better.

Think you can actually do that at Argos, though. Be nice if you could at
ScrewFix too.

--
*Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Think you can actually do that at Argos, though. Be nice if you could at
ScrewFix too.

You can. Just hand over the reservation no. and pay.

On Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:18:37 UTC, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Bob Minchin wrote:
I've not tried it yet but the chap at toolstation counter said I could
make up my next list on line and just make a note of the reference
number and they could call it up at the counter and create a pick list.
Saves farting around with their silly little forms a la Argos stores.
I must confess to becoming quite a fan of Toolstation over screwfix.
Prices better and - so far - stock levels better.

Think you can actually do that at Argos, though. Be nice if you could at
ScrewFix too.

In the Argos case, it actually reserves the stock until the end of the
next day. Not 100% foolproof but it's only failed me once. You get a
reference number, key that into the machine when you get there, swipe
your credit card and that's it.

I'm near four Argos stores, so I can pick the one that has it all in
stock too!

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.diybanter.com

In article ,
Andy Cap wrote:
Think you can actually do that at Argos, though. Be nice if you could at
ScrewFix too.

You can. Just hand over the reservation no. and pay.

Right - that must be fairly new. What they could next do with are the
consumer terminals in the branch like Argos use. Would save having to
queue up twice. ;-)

--
*I have my own little world - but it's OK...they know me here*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Andy Cap wrote:
Think you can actually do that at Argos, though. Be nice if you could at
ScrewFix too.

You can. Just hand over the reservation no. and pay.

Right - that must be fairly new. What they could next do with are the
consumer terminals in the branch like Argos use. Would save having to
queue up twice. ;-)


Sorry Dave, I was just confirming the Argos bit. Should have made myself
clearer and yes it would be good if they all worked in a similar way,
even allowing you to pay online.

Andy C

In article ,
Bob Minchin wrote:

I've not tried it yet but the chap at toolstation counter said I could
make up my next list on line and just make a note of the reference
number and they could call it up at the counter and create a pick list.


Yep, works brilliantly.

Create an account on line and as you make up the order you'll see the local
stock levels. If everything is in stock when you've finished adding to your
basket instead of going through the checkout process hit the print this
order option. I'll print you out a copy of the order with a magic code
on the top right.

They type it into their computer at the trade counter and it all comes up
on their screen.

Fantastic. And just one reason Toolstation gets most of my trade instead
of Screwfix now (who appear to be stocking less and less for higher and
higher prices now!)

Darren

On Sat, 13 Jun 09 19:12:38 GMT, dmc wrote:

And just one reason Toolstation gets most of my trade instead
of Screwfix now (who appear to be stocking less and less for higher and
higher prices now!)

I wish that there were a Toolstation near me. SF is sort of OK but getting
a bit like BbQ.
--
Peter.
The head of a pin will hold more angels if
it's been flattened with an angel-grinder.

On Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:54:38 +0100, Bob Minchin wrote:

I must confess to becoming quite a fan of Toolstation over screwfix.
Prices better and - so far - stock levels better.

I found the prices better until they opened up Plumbfix and Sparkfix,
which are generally a bit cheaper than Toolstation's prices on stuff in
the plumbing and electrics range.

--
John Stumbles

I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous

PeterC wrote:
On Sat, 13 Jun 09 19:12:38 GMT, dmc wrote:

And just one reason Toolstation gets most of my trade instead
of Screwfix now (who appear to be stocking less and less for higher
and higher prices now!)

I wish that there were a Toolstation near me. SF is sort of OK but
getting a bit like BbQ.

Agreed. My nearest is Dartford, I'd love them to open in the Mrdway Towns.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

The Medway Handyman coughed up some electrons that declared:

PeterC wrote:
On Sat, 13 Jun 09 19:12:38 GMT, dmc wrote:

And just one reason Toolstation gets most of my trade instead
of Screwfix now (who appear to be stocking less and less for higher
and higher prices now!)

I wish that there were a Toolstation near me. SF is sort of OK but
getting a bit like BbQ.

Agreed. My nearest is Dartford, I'd love them to open in the Mrdway
Towns.



Mine's Orpington.

SF are pretty helpful in T Wells (100% good customer service).

TS's website tells you the stock level in the local stores, but at the same
time is actually nearly useless without the paper catalogue.

Try searching for Speedfit. You get some flexi connectors.

Now search for push fit. You get waste pipes.

Now search for pushfit. You get amongst a few things, one elbow. Now you
notice that the category up top is Plumbing - Pushfit.

Select that.

Now you get every make of pushfit, but, helpfully, no confirmation in the
description that it's JG, Polyplumb, maybe tectite or whatever,

Mostly the pics are good enough, but sometimes, you have to rely on the
catalogue page number being the same as another item where the picture is
clearer.

Or use the paper catalogue.

It's actually pretty awful. Or is it me?

SF have a much more descriptive website IMHO.

But TS's prices do see better.

I do wonder what thee companies are doing though.

All they have to do is look at each other and replicate the obviously good
bits, add their own sugar and hey presto.

Cheers


Tim

On Sun, 14 Jun 2009 07:21:03 +0100, Tim S wrote:

I do wonder what thee companies are doing though.

All they have to do is look at each other and replicate the obviously good
bits, add their own sugar and hey presto.

Well, SF's site is good but BbQ's is lobody useless (and that makes me use
Wickes more) - now there's a lack of synergy.
--
Peter.
The head of a pin will hold more angels if
it's been flattened with an angel-grinder.

PeterC coughed up some electrons that declared:

On Sun, 14 Jun 2009 07:21:03 +0100, Tim S wrote:

I do wonder what thee companies are doing though.

All they have to do is look at each other and replicate the obviously
good bits, add their own sugar and hey presto.

Well, SF's site is good but BbQ's is lobody useless (and that makes me use
Wickes more) - now there's a lack of synergy.

Yes, it pains me to have to go there...

Which I usually only do to print off some "price match" evidence before
going to the builder's yard.

Again, for a simple example of what works: Sainsburys' website. You can
search for "bog roll" (I kid you not) and get 3 pages of toilet paper. Of
course, all other sane search terms, including typos seem to work too.

It's a classic case of British disease. I often wonder, why, when something
clearly works, why all organisations in the same domain do not at least
attempt to emulate the good and solid parts.

Same with government. There are lots of little things I've seen done abroad
and in different boroughs here that make me wonder: why doesn't Kent or T
Wells council simply solve problem X with solution Y, especially where
solution Y is simple and cheap (or self funding)?

Like Munich: they leave bicycles everywhere. You phone up with your bank
card and pay a rental charge. They give you an unlock code. You ride bike
anywhere in the city. When you've finished, you lock the bike up wherevere
you please (sensibly of course). Perhaps that would be lethal in London but
there are plenty of UK cities that are largely traffic calmed where it
would be a great idea. Self funding too (at a level the council can
choose). Capital cost - bugger all.

Take Harrow council in London. 2 recycling bins: one for garden and blue for
*everything* else bar food. One other bin for remainder.

OK - that takes a concerted effort to set up the council end of things for
mixed recyling, but it is patently such a bloody obviously good way of
getting people to recycle (ie make it EASY for the customer, and take
everything) instead of this fannying around with "here's a bin for paper,
but don't put gift wrap in it, or the wrong sort of cardboard", "here's one
for plastics, mostly", "here's a bin for gardening waste - oh, now you can
put food waste in - but only types X, Y and Z", "as for glass - that's
heavy and bulky - you can feck off and carry that yourself to Tescos".

Not sure how we ever had an empire.

Cheers

Tim

Tim S wrote:
The Medway Handyman coughed up some electrons that declared:

PeterC wrote:
On Sat, 13 Jun 09 19:12:38 GMT, dmc wrote:

And just one reason Toolstation gets most of my trade instead
of Screwfix now (who appear to be stocking less and less for higher
and higher prices now!)
I wish that there were a Toolstation near me. SF is sort of OK but
getting a bit like BbQ.
Agreed. My nearest is Dartford, I'd love them to open in the Mrdway
Towns.



Mine's Orpington.

SF are pretty helpful in T Wells (100% good customer service).

TS's website tells you the stock level in the local stores, but at the same
time is actually nearly useless without the paper catalogue.

Try searching for Speedfit. You get some flexi connectors.

Now search for push fit. You get waste pipes.

Now search for pushfit. You get amongst a few things, one elbow. Now you
notice that the category up top is Plumbing - Pushfit.

Select that.

Now you get every make of pushfit, but, helpfully, no confirmation in the
description that it's JG, Polyplumb, maybe tectite or whatever,

Mostly the pics are good enough, but sometimes, you have to rely on the
catalogue page number being the same as another item where the picture is
clearer.

Or use the paper catalogue.

It's actually pretty awful. Or is it me?

SF have a much more descriptive website IMHO.

But TS's prices do see better.

I do wonder what thee companies are doing though.

All they have to do is look at each other and replicate the obviously good
bits, add their own sugar and hey presto.

To an extent we are just seeing two different stages of evolution of a
similar species. TS is after all run by the people who created SF. Over
time the catalogue is grown, which means the trade counters tend to get
ever less complete coverage of the product range, and what they do cover
they hold only in small stock quantities in order to save space for the
rest of the large inventory.

It will be interesting to see if TS learn when to stop adding stuff!

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

Tim S wrote:

Again, for a simple example of what works: Sainsburys' website. You can
search for "bog roll" (I kid you not) and get 3 pages of toilet paper. Of
course, all other sane search terms, including typos seem to work too.

It's a classic case of British disease. I often wonder, why, when something
clearly works, why all organisations in the same domain do not at least
attempt to emulate the good and solid parts.

I expect its a case of cost. Doing a web site that really works is not
cheap or easy. Many businesses selling "online" seem to have convinced
themselves that online should be cheap and easy and that is what they
expect to pay for!

Same with government. There are lots of little things I've seen done abroad
and in different boroughs here that make me wonder: why doesn't Kent or T
Wells council simply solve problem X with solution Y, especially where
solution Y is simple and cheap (or self funding)?

Not invented here syndrome probably...

Like Munich: they leave bicycles everywhere. You phone up with your bank
card and pay a rental charge. They give you an unlock code. You ride bike
anywhere in the city. When you've finished, you lock the bike up wherevere
you please (sensibly of course). Perhaps that would be lethal in London but
there are plenty of UK cities that are largely traffic calmed where it
would be a great idea. Self funding too (at a level the council can
choose). Capital cost - bugger all.

Depends on how many bikes end up in the canal I suppose.

Take Harrow council in London. 2 recycling bins: one for garden and blue for
*everything* else bar food. One other bin for remainder.

OK - that takes a concerted effort to set up the council end of things for
mixed recyling, but it is patently such a bloody obviously good way of
getting people to recycle (ie make it EASY for the customer, and take
everything) instead of this fannying around with "here's a bin for paper,
but don't put gift wrap in it, or the wrong sort of cardboard", "here's one
for plastics, mostly", "here's a bin for gardening waste - oh, now you can
put food waste in - but only types X, Y and Z", "as for glass - that's
heavy and bulky - you can feck off and carry that yourself to Tescos".

Our local scheme seems to be working better than many. Three wheelie
bins - full size grey one, slightly narrower one with purple lid, and
smaller green one. Food and garden stuff in the green one - collected
every week. Rubbish in the purple lid one, and recyclables in the grey
one (these two collected in alternation). Aside from a couple of funnies
like not putting sticky tape or envelope windows in the recycling it
works reasonably well. They take enough quantities of material for
recycling (including cardboard, plastic, and glass) that you can stick
most packaging in the recycling bin. The bulk of the collected stuff is
now recyclable (at least in theory - what thy actually do with it once
collected I don't know - as with many such schemes it was designed when
commodity prices were high). The only real problem with it is the bulk
of the three bins.

Not sure how we ever had an empire.

Coz an engineer inverted a way of keeping time at sea, and we could out
navigate all the other trading nations. It only goes pear shaped when
you let the administrators run the show ;-)

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

John Rumm coughed up some electrons that declared:


To an extent we are just seeing two different stages of evolution of a
similar species. TS is after all run by the people who created SF.

I did not know that. Explains a lot.

Over
time the catalogue is grown, which means the trade counters tend to get
ever less complete coverage of the product range, and what they do cover
they hold only in small stock quantities in order to save space for the
rest of the large inventory.

It will be interesting to see if TS learn when to stop adding stuff!


Yes. As I commented a long time ago - too many screws. Or too many serving
almost the same purpose. Is it really necessary to sell
turbo/quick/silver/plus single/twinthread in what seems to be a meaningless
array of permutations of name? Then have a poor selection in brass.

It's good to sell a wide range of truely different base types, like
Screwtites (they really are in a class of their own), but sometimes it's a
bit too much like the supermarkets: 3 makes of herbs in full ranges. Swartz
(sp?), someone else and own brand. Do I really need 3 makes of chives?

SF are weird like that. I went looking for frame packers - none. Zero. Only
one size of blowtorch gas (long cyclinder, not always the most helpful for
plumbing). Bandsaw blades but no Bosch jigsaw blades. WTF?

I think they have a good model and a good descriptive website bar the lack
of "Argosness" which is obviously an upgrade waiting to happen, but they'd
do well to put more effort into lines control (with a simple way to request
items not on offer - that would make improving lines almost automatic -
wait until lots of people voted for something, then stock it).

And stop opening up Bigbangfix, Bendytubemongerfix,
Fatbloketea-n-biscuitsfix and just keep the prices in Screwfix keen.

Remember when RS only had one catalogue?

heh...

Cheers

Tim

John Rumm coughed up some electrons that declared:


I expect its a case of cost. Doing a web site that really works is not
cheap or easy. Many businesses selling "online" seem to have convinced
themselves that online should be cheap and easy and that is what they
expect to pay for!

I don't doubt it John. But what seems to escape these eejits, is the design
and implementation is largely a one off capital expense amortised over as
many customers as you can muster. You know that of course, but I had to say
it. Every website needs ongoing development and maintenance, and I doubt a
good website is *much* more costly to maintain and develop than a crap one.

OK, perhaps a fancy website with excellent descriptions and good seraching
and store integration takes more user input and more hardware, but again,
that's amortised over the whole operation. TS managed most of it bar the
good descriptions, which is odd, because I assume they produce their
catalogue electronically, so surely the lines data could just be shared
between catalogue and website. It's almost as if they expect you to browse
the web with catalogue in hand (web shows the page number by each item).


Same with government. There are lots of little things I've seen done
abroad and in different boroughs here that make me wonder: why doesn't
Kent or T
Wells council simply solve problem X with solution Y, especially where
solution Y is simple and cheap (or self funding)?

Not invented here syndrome probably...

Brains not invented here probably...


Like Munich: they leave bicycles everywhere. You phone up with your bank
card and pay a rental charge. They give you an unlock code. You ride bike
anywhere in the city. When you've finished, you lock the bike up
wherevere you please (sensibly of course). Perhaps that would be lethal
in London but there are plenty of UK cities that are largely traffic
calmed where it would be a great idea. Self funding too (at a level the
council can choose). Capital cost - bugger all.

Depends on how many bikes end up in the canal I suppose.

OK, I did cite Germans. Who for the most part seem to spawn less genetic
waste than us (thinking of the Bavarians and Franconians - can't speak for
the rest of them). But I assume if such a thing happens, they come knocking
on the door of the last card payer for that bike.

Our local scheme seems to be working better than many. Three wheelie
bins - full size grey one, slightly narrower one with purple lid, and
smaller green one. Food and garden stuff in the green one - collected
every week. Rubbish in the purple lid one, and recyclables in the grey
one (these two collected in alternation). Aside from a couple of funnies
like not putting sticky tape or envelope windows in the recycling it
works reasonably well. They take enough quantities of material for
recycling (including cardboard, plastic, and glass) that you can stick
most packaging in the recycling bin. The bulk of the collected stuff is
now recyclable (at least in theory - what thy actually do with it once
collected I don't know - as with many such schemes it was designed when
commodity prices were high). The only real problem with it is the bulk
of the three bins.

Sounds similar to Harrow. Down here, we've got the Allington
incinerator/generator plant gradually coming on line. They recycle
householder seperated waste (not clear if that's a mixed scheme or totally
seperated scheme) and burn the rest for electricity.

Not sure how we ever had an empire.

Coz an engineer inverted a way of keeping time at sea, and we could out
navigate all the other trading nations.


Good old Harrison for getting the ball rolling But did you notice how
much trouble he had getting his prize for the H-4 despite meeting the
targets. Board of Longtitude = Administrators?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...ne_chronometer

It only goes pear shaped when
you let the administrators run the show ;-)

Smiting. That's what we need. Good selective smiting.

Cheers

Tim

Tim S wrote:

Remember when RS only had one catalogue?

Its not that long ago I threw out the gold coloured 50th (or was it
25th?) special anniversary edition RS catalogue (about a 1/4 the size of
a current CPC cat) that I had kept for years.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

Tim S wrote:


Remember when RS only had one catalogue?

heh...

Cheers

Tim

RS (or Radiospares then) catalogue used to be around 50 pages A5 size
with a loop of string in the corner to hang on a hook. That would have
been in the late 60s I think. My Dad used to bring them home from work
for me to get bits from.

Bob

In message , Tim S
writes
Depends on how many bikes end up in the canal I suppose.

OK, I did cite Germans. Who for the most part seem to spawn less genetic
waste than us (thinking of the Bavarians and Franconians - can't speak for
the rest of them).


Prolly because they have national [1] pride and a sense of identity

Its nice to be a Preisz, but its higher to be a Bayer ...


[1] Frankish or Bayerish


--
geoff

Huge coughed up some electrons that declared:

On 2009-06-14, Tim S wrote:

Same with government. There are lots of little things I've seen done
abroad and in different boroughs here that make me wonder: why doesn't
Kent or T
Wells council simply solve problem X with solution Y, especially where
solution Y is simple and cheap (or self funding)?

You expect joined-up thinking from *Government*? And what's worse, *Local*
Government???

No not really - I'm too conditioned to expect any better

Excuse me while I laugh myself into a heart attack.



Don't do that - you'll be at the mercy of the NHS (or do you live somewhere
sensible?)

Tim S wrote:
John Rumm coughed up some electrons that declared:

Depends on how many bikes end up in the canal I suppose.

OK, I did cite Germans. Who for the most part seem to spawn less genetic
waste than us

Germany still has National Service :-)

Pete

On Sun, 14 Jun 2009 11:30:53 +0100, Bob Minchin wrote:

RS (or Radiospares then) catalogue used to be around 50 pages A5 size
with a loop of string in the corner to hang on a hook. That would have
been in the late 60s I think. My Dad used to bring them home from work
for me to get bits from.

The one my Dad bought home was A4 size but still small enough to be
of the folded and stapled type. So about 50 pages again. I did have
it for a long time and it may still be lurking somewhere but haven't
seen it for ages.

Couldn't afford a bits from it. I think bits commited suicide by
jumping into his pocket when he visited the labs/workshops. B-)

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Sun, 14 Jun 2009 12:27:13 +0100, Owain wrote:

Have you tried Canford Audio's website ...

Not if I can help it.

PDF upon PDF of catalogue pages.

They do have some web pages but if you click through to view details
of an item you do indeed end up on a .pdf of the catalogue page.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Bob Eager wrote:

I'm near four Argos stores, so I can pick the one that has it all in
stock too!


That's a particular pet hate of mine regarding the Argos website. Select
item, select store. 'Sorry not in stock, try another store'. Presents
series of check boxes for of all nearby stores. Select the stores that
are easy to get to. "You can only select one store". Mutter: that is
what radio buttons a for. Grrrr.

Tim S wrote:

Like Munich: they leave bicycles everywhere. You phone up with your bank
card and pay a rental charge. They give you an unlock code. You ride bike
anywhere in the city. When you've finished, you lock the bike up wherevere
you please (sensibly of course). Perhaps that would be lethal in London but
there are plenty of UK cities that are largely traffic calmed where it
would be a great idea. Self funding too (at a level the council can
choose). Capital cost - bugger all.

They tried something similar in in Cambridge years ago. Take all the
unclaimed bikes that the Police have recovered. Get young offenders to
paint them all green. Arrange special bike parks around town. The idea
was that when you need a bike you grab it from one stand cycle to where
you want go and leave it at a stand near your destination for the next
person.

Problem was, they launched the scheme to much fanfare and within a week
they had all been nicked.

Andrew

On 14/06/2009 10:44 John Rumm wrote:

Food and garden stuff in the green one

We're not allowed to put food into the garden waste bin. They say it
could lead to someone catching CJD...

--
F

On Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:44:56 UTC, Andrew May
wrote:

Bob Eager wrote:

I'm near four Argos stores, so I can pick the one that has it all in
stock too!


That's a particular pet hate of mine regarding the Argos website. Select
item, select store. 'Sorry not in stock, try another store'. Presents
series of check boxes for of all nearby stores. Select the stores that
are easy to get to. "You can only select one store". Mutter: that is
what radio buttons a for. Grrrr.

I think it's a hangover from when you were allowed to select two stores.
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Bob Eager wrote:
On Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:44:56 UTC, Andrew May
wrote:

Bob Eager wrote:

I'm near four Argos stores, so I can pick the one that has it all in
stock too!

That's a particular pet hate of mine regarding the Argos website. Select
item, select store. 'Sorry not in stock, try another store'. Presents
series of check boxes for of all nearby stores. Select the stores that
are easy to get to. "You can only select one store". Mutter: that is
what radio buttons a for. Grrrr.

I think it's a hangover from when you were allowed to select two stores.

Ahh, progress then.

In article ,
F news@nowhere wrote:
On 14/06/2009 10:44 John Rumm wrote:

Food and garden stuff in the green one

We're not allowed to put food into the garden waste bin. They say it
could lead to someone catching CJD...


We used to be able to until the foot and mouth outbreak (or was it something
else? Can't remember). Explanation from council was that the garden waste
was taken to a farm and piled up for the 6 months in huge compost heaps.

Some change in the rules meant food waste was no longer allowed to be put
onto farm land...

Darren

On Jun 13, 1:52*pm, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:
In article ,
* *Andy Cap wrote:

Think you can actually do that at Argos, though. Be nice if you could at
ScrewFix too.
You can. Just hand over the reservation no. and pay.

Right - that must be fairly new.

At least 3 years :-)

MBQ

On Jun 13, 1:33*pm, "Bob Eager" wrote:
On Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:18:37 UTC, "Dave Plowman (News)"

wrote:
In article ,
* *Bob Minchin wrote:
I've not tried it yet but the chap at toolstation counter said I could
make up my next list on line and just make a note of the reference
number and they could call it up at the counter and create a pick list.

On Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:28:51 UTC, "Man at B&Q"
wrote:

On Jun 13, 1:33Â*pm, "Bob Eager" wrote:
On Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:18:37 UTC, "Dave Plowman (News)"

wrote:
In article ,
Â* Â*Bob Minchin wrote:
I've not tried it yet but the chap at toolstation counter said I could
make up my next list on line and just make a note of the reference
number and they could call it up at the counter and create a pick list.
Saves farting around with their silly little forms a la Argos stores.
I must confess to becoming quite a fan of Toolstation over screwfix.
Prices better and - so far - stock levels better.

Think you can actually do that at Argos, though. Be nice if you could at
ScrewFix too.

In the Argos case, it actually reserves the stock until the end of the
next day. Not 100% foolproof but it's only failed me once.

Halfrauds they just go and get it off the shelf, no evidence at all of
any stock being reserved. It hasn't failed yet, but when it does I'm
going to create merry hell and demand they pay my petrol costs for a
wasted journey.

Same with PC World, IME.
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