World Of Winfield

Author: admin

Fuck. I’m 40

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Yes I am actually 40 years old right now. 40. Fourty. I had a little wobble the day before I turned 40 – this whole, shit I’m about to turn 40 and I don’t have a house, car, wife, kids, management job – not that I actually want any of them, but that didn’t matter on the last day of being in my 30’s. I was a bit miserable that day. Quite a bit. Thankfully, I had the foresight to take my birthday off work, and my trusty sister had spare holiday, so after a morning of getting shit done, … Continued

Complaint – British Airways

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british airways airplane flying

Dear Sir/Madam I appreciate that the strikes were not the fault of British Airways, and I have laid full blame at Balpa, including sending them a letter of complaint. However, I was supposed to be flying back from my holiday on 27th September – and was waiting to arrange the rest of my holiday, as I had other hotels and a ferry to book too. Finally I received note that my flight on 27th September was cancelled – so I arranged to change it to the week after. Thankfully the one hotel I had booked let me change dates without … Continued

Complaint: BALPA (Pilot’s Trade Union)

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british airways airbus on airport runway

Dear Sir/Madam I am appalled to read that you are taking strike action to ruin the plans of many people, myself included. An 11.5% pay rise over 3 years (for generally well-paid workers) is a good deal.  The current inflation rate is 2.1% – with there arguably being a greater risk of lower inflation due to recessionary risks, than higher inflation. This seems like a rather generous deal to me. Further to that, airlines do go bankrupt, as we have seen.  There are worse airlines to work for – my understanding is that working conditions at British Airways are far … Continued

Complaint: Where Is My Refund – 1

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You can apply for a refund for your journey from TFL if your underground train is delayed by 15 minutes or more. There used to be an app that would do it for you automatically – but strangely enough TFL stopped it from working before the disastrous Met line signalling “upgrade” in September. Anyway, sometimes TFL reject the refund requests. This does not always amuse me. Oh and they had promised us automatic refunds once the disaster unfolded. Which not one single customer reported receiving. Strange that. I wonder how many people are not as persistent as me, and just … Continued

Metropolitan Line – FOI Request

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Dear Sir/Madam I would like to find out more about why there was such a disastrous launch of the new signalling equipment between Finchley Road and Euston Square stations, on the Metropolitan line on w/c 2nd September. Who took the decision to launch the new signalling on Monday 2nd September? When was this decision made? When did management realise that not enough drivers had been trained to use the new signalling equipment? Would there have been a financial cost to TFL had the launch been delayed, to allow more time to train drivers to use the new signalling equipment? If … Continued

Moments of 2019

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I know I should have written this back in December when people do those whole “look back” kind of things but maybe it would have got lost with everyone else posting pictures of themselves 10 years between. I did write some notes, vaguely, and it was astonishing as to just how much fun and enjoyment I had in 2019. There is so much that I am missing out here – holidays to Madrid and Corfu/Albania, two days at the cricket in The Ashes, the wonderful RA Summer Exhibition which I love so much, my leaving do at Lovespace, adventures to … Continued

Review Of 2019 Goals

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I used to write full lists of goals for every year, forget about them and then review them at the end of the year. Though over the last few years, I’ve put much less effort into writing goals, and much more effort into achieving. So much so, that I never got around to writing goals for 2019 – but I did have a few in my head. 1. Get a significant pay rise or a new job I failed to get any form of pay-rise – only a “we’ll look at it at the end of the year”, and yes, … Continued

M&S Complaint – Sausage Drought

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A complaint from 2018 – I think my final unposted one! And last ever complaint to M&S. ****** Dear M&S I went to M&S for breakfast this morning, in Moorgate, for the first time in around a month. It reminded me that I was due to complain to you – it has been on my to-do list for a few weeks. The reason it reminded me, was that I had gone in for a bacon and sausage sandwich. Alas, there was no bacon. But a sausage sandwich was sufficient. My real problem is an earlier sausage drought. A few weeks … Continued

James Went To Ksamil, Albania

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Why Albania? Good question. I wanted some sunshine and I wanted to be near the coast. It had to be a country that I had never visited before and also had to be fairly affordable – I had not long since started at M&S so though it didn’t need to be mega-cheap, there certainly were some constraints – Caribbean destinations definitely weren’t on the cards. Also I was going by myself. Which makes hotels and stuff much less affordable, given that I couldn’t share the cost. And I wanted something nice. I considered Malta and Montenegro, before almost accidentally discovering … Continued

Metropolitan Line Complaint: Autumn 2018

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You know how you can tell it is autumn? When the Metropolitan line starts going into regular meltdown, and what an autumnal week it has been. I suspect that this is going to be a bit of a long rant, so lets start on a positive note, or what should be a positive note – donuts. On Saturday 8th September, I had quite a hangover, but had to head into central London to pick up a suit. During my short spell on Oxford Street, a bird poo’d on me for the first time in my life, I found out the … Continued