4.30pm update

Package etsy orders - DONE!

Clean kitchen and bathroom, the two rooms with least stuff in them! - Kitchen DONE!

Go to Post Office and shops (got a couple of things to buy, a couple of things to return) - Post Office DONE! It was full of drunk/drugged people (well, it is a Tuesday) and a man who passed wind loudly and then informed everyone that it was all down to last night's Chicken Bhuna.

I failed to buy new pyjamas for my husband at the M&S clearance store, Asda, Next Clearance, Burton or River Island. They either didn't have any in stock, or the ones they had did not have pockets. Husband wants them with pockets. I'm thinking of treating him to a CK pair from Frasers or the CK shop in Glasgow once the sales madness goes away. I don't mind paying extra if it means I stay out of jail for not attacking ignorant shop zombies.

I also learned that most places now don't do exchanges/credit notes/refunds without a gift receipt. And I've had a very patronising explanation of what a gift receipt is, which would have been useful to me if a) I had no common sense whatsoever, b) I bought my own presents, and specifically chose things I didn't like but wilfully refused to take a gift receipt or c) hadn't spent six years working on a returns counter and later going on to manage what was at the time the largest shop in Scotland. Having never shopped at the place I was trying to return something to (they had a reputation when I was growing up for selling counterfeit goods), I'm certainly not going to spend any money there in future. Poor customer service is usually all down to poor manners, and I'm a total manners snob. Not in a 'you're using the wrong fork' kind of a way but more in a 'let's all treat each other like human beings' kind of a way. This is why I don't usually bother with the shops until February. Staff are angry and take it out on customers, which means we get angry and take it out on the internet. Grrrr!

While I'm at the PO, request yet another lost package form - DONE! Sort of. Would you believe I have a supply of them in my stationery box, so I decided to make things easier on the poor guy helping me in the Post Office and stock up another time.

Dig out relevant proof of posting sheet and complete claim form - DONE! Luckily I had kept all my proof of postings in my wallet from last month and this month, so it was easy enough to find. Now I need to print off my correspondence as proof that the item wasn't received, and keep my fingers crossed that I actually do get a refund. Last time, I didn't. And I lost a weekend of my time, a sixty dollar payment, and fifteen pounds worth of supplies. Oooh, I can feel myself getting angry again.

Make dinner - meat defrosting in the kitchen for a lovely pork and apple casserole. Hmmm, wish I'd picked up some cider now....