Operation Bamboozled?

Oh my goodness, we received a rather out of the ordinary letter from the HMRC Fraud Investigations Officer yesterday morning, but we're not actually 100% sure it's the real deal .......

...... to be honest, we've got doubts as to it's authenticity and it's put us in a right quandary!

Firstly, why us? As you know, we are the most devoted of charity shop shoppers and as tax payers we always tick the Gift Aid box if ever asked, but the Higher HMRC Officer has asked us about a very specific charity and two "persons of interest" connected to said charity, who we "may" have donated too. Well, to the best of our knowledge, we have never donated to them of a knowingly type nature, honest gov!

However, to Darrell something didn't seem quite right, he's watched and listened to an awful lot of programmes about scammers and in his opinion he said he didn't think we should fill in the questionnaire milli vanilli willy nilly, without undertaking our own due diligence, because, perhaps, this was a new elaborate sort of phishing scam?

We've looked up the charity and, as much as we could, the people "implicated", we've also looked up Mr HMRC and called his number, no official HMRC welcome or irritating holding music, just a not available at the moment message ....... after that we spent ages looking up scams on the official HMRC website and we're still none the wiser .......

So, in the end we emailed Mr HMRC, we got a reply within twelve hours and were assured that all was well and this was a genuine investigation, but even now Darrell is still hesitant, I mean, he says, anyone can set up a fake e-mail. Plus in Darrell's expert opinion, shouldn't the return envelope be an official, printed, freepost brown envelope?  What we've got is a really cheap, flimsy window envelope, certainly not of Basildon Bond quality. Sometimes it's like living with Jacques Cousteau when Darrell's got a full investigative bit between his teeth!

We not even sure how much of this matter we can actually divulge in public, even though we don't actually think we can assist in any of their enquiries. However, after discovering that for our time in completing and returning said questionnaire we are the ones actually responsible for paying the postage! So, despite the fear of repercussions for none compliance, we've decided to be guided by Darrell's initial gut feelings and not on this occasion fulfilling the brief!  What do you think?

Such Devoted Uncles

Now, for all Uncle Eric and Derek know about airplanes, they could easily fit it on the back of a stamp, but for their beloved nephew ..........

 

...... they are willing to learn, even if doesn't much seem to stick for long .........

..... which is why they found themselves firmly ensconced at Birmingham airport viewing area in Sheldon Country Park over the weekend .......

..... with a huge picnic basket, ably supplied by Darrell, to stave off any impending flagging energy.

The young master is obsessed by the Airbus A380, unfortunately, that morning, it landed early meaning that they missed it's arrival by a mere fifteen minutes, so it was therefore absolutely imperative that they were witness to it taking off again around two hours later.

I won't bore you with all the vital statistics, of which young Bertie naturally knows inside out and upside down, as well as forwards and backwards, but even I have to admit that it is quite the magnificent beast.

As take off time approached the whole park area, according to Eric and Derek seemed to exude a very respectful pent up excitement and anticipation, the most advantageous view points were found, cameras were poised and the air hushed as the plane approached the runway .......

...... and when it took off, Eric said it was quite emotional, especially seeing his nephew quiver at seeing the object of his obsession. He who already harbours great dreams of moving to France in order to work at Airbus in Toulouse ........

......... even if it does mean leaving his two favourite uncles far behind!

Eric and Derek have now decided that they really need to win the lottery or start saving hard to get Bertie to the aforementioned Toulouse so that they can take him on the Airbus factory tour to see things really up close and personal Airbus Toulouse Factory Tour: What To Expect | Nomad eSIM ....... even if they still might find it hard to retain much of the information ........ what are they like? 

Reece Shearsmith - Things I Took From The Dark

Another night away in exotic climes (Coventry) with tickets held aloft for another much anticipated show for the dynamic duo ........

...... to wit Reece Shearsmith's "Things I Took From The Dark" ........

...... and yes, such was their humungous and pent up excitement, they were among the first to take their seats in the venue, bless their little cotton socks!! 

Sooooooo, was the wait and effort all worth said excitement? Well, I think you could answer that with a resounding affirmative, Derek having downloaded the book (of the same name) during the interval, via his Audible account, so that they could start listening to it (the first chapter at least) in bed when they got back to their hotel.  What are they like?  I just hope it doesn't give them nightmares!

A Spiritual And Poignant Find ....... ??????

Eric and the ever fragrant one's monumental trip to romantic and religious Rome is looming ........

...... and in turn it would seem that Eric's most recent find has also taken on an ecclesiastical type persuasion ......

...... in the form of, in his opinion, quite a masculine crucifix and chain. Naturally, he lifted it off the pavement and put it on a nearby wall, pondering whether it was some sort of a sign/omen, especially with a visit to the Vatican very definitely on his and Alice's agenda.

He says it's been of weighing on his mind, so, if it's still there in a couple of days time he's going to pick it up and put it somewhere safe until they go and then, if possible get it blessed, as there must more than enough priests milling around Rome who would be happy to do it for him. In the Vatican gift shops, according to what Eric has seen of YouTube, there are even priests sitting in booths ready to bless your considered religious purchases, which means he could possibly get it done there, if he buys a bookmark or something to go with it.  What he's going to do with it then, I don't know, but he says, it'll give him a pilgrimage sort of mission, what on earth is he like? 

Tempting, But No Considered Purchase Made

Always on the look out for a bargain, Darrell spotted a box of cocktail swords, next to a pile of old copies of  The Angling Times, outside our local Relate shop .......

At just £2.50 for a box of 500, so half a p each they were a most excellent buy, as they'd cost around £13.00 from Amazon  ......

...... however, much as we absolutely love one of Darrell's most excellent alcoholic and non-alcoholic creations, that works out at one hundred cocktails each, which if we aimed to use them all within a year, that's some pretty heavy going, even for us, especially knowing their potency  ........

So, on this occasion, even with the festive season not really that far off, no considered purchase was made .........

Fully Protected

Oh my goodness, Darrell and I made appointments for Eric and Derek to get their flu jabs at Boots this morning .........

....... so much more dignified and organised than waiting for our doctors surgery to invite them, because last year we thought we'd booked them two individual spots either side of eleven thirty, only to find that so had a whole lot of other disgruntled patients who'd done the same, stood outside, facing a queue round the block .......

......... let's just say we were not best pleased and in the end gave up!

However, that being said, jabs hold no truck for the dynamic duo, they were in and out in a matter of minutes, sleeves already rolled up, arms held limply at their sides, bless them.

I understand that there may also have been was  some gentle arm slapping going on because, according to Derek, this would help draw a vein (????????), making things even easier .......

Heaven knows where he got that golden nugget of medical information from,  perhaps the forensic viewing of programmes the likes of  Inside The Ambulance or 24 Hours in A and E may not be such a good idea.  However, they're "both done" with Darrell and Alice and I due for next week, happy, vaccinated days!!!

A Totally Unexpected Arrival ......

What can we say, but on Friday we received a totally unexpected package from our much beloved, forever followers Paula and Louise in romantic and occasionally stormy Plymouth .......

So, as you can imagine, even with Eric and Derek out at the time, The Towers was still thronging with pent up excitement ......

Inside was a lovely catch up note .......

...... and two gifts to sort of make up for us not having our traditional Halloween sleepover this year, what with our nephew and niece galivanting in them there foreign parts!  The beautiful skull mug was a reference to Halloween and I can already see there's going to be fights over who uses it first, especially when Eric and Derek caste their beady eyes upon it.

There was a box of orange flavour After Eights. Now, I have to admit, we have been strangers to the aforesaid After Eight since we tried the strawberry and mint flavour, which wasn't the greatest of experiences, even Darrell's much prized, silver plated After Eight caddy has since been re-donated to the charity shop from whence it came and, to be honest, not really missed, except perhaps at Christmas.

However, we all agreed just plain orange, simply enrobed in dark chocolate seemed not to be too far out of the ordinary for our simple yet enquiring tastes.

The most obvious thing e noticed was the size, like almost everything, the wafer thin chocolates have visibly shrunken, just like Mars Bars, Milky Ways and Twixs etc., so no real surprise there.

But, how did they taste, I hear you ask? Pretty dam good, we liked them, we liked them a lot. The orange was just enough with, more importantly, no lingering aftertaste (the bane, recently, of many a comestible review).  Darrell said they'd be rather nice popped in the freezer for a couple of hours and then added to a dish of plain vanilla ice cream as a posh dessert, which I have to agree, sounds very tempting.

Would we buy them again and/or recommend them? Yes most definitely. As for a score on our world famous Richter Score of Noms ....... well, after some deliberation we reckon five minutes to the aforesaid hour of eight, seems a pretty reasonable score!  So, thank you Paula and Louise for opening our eyes to yet another new confectionary delicacy ....... which then got us to thinking that perhaps the much mentioned After Eight people might/should consider, instead of the weird and wonderful offerings of the past, work on a a coffee type version ..........  ??????