UGH Not good!

 Last night, one of my friend's daughters (who I'd known since the 90s) let me know that the edition of "Daisy May Explores The Heavens" arrived with some major printing errors. I was about to go to bed, so promised to deal with it this morning. What a palaver! 

I tried Amazon Customer Care, they were helpful but on seeing the images, said they couldn't do anything and gave me a phone number to call (my idea - being that I'd get further talking to a live person than messaging one). 

I called the number - recorded messages only. UGH! So I did as the recording said and filled out a form explaining what had happened, and again, attaching the images. 

Lo and behold, I just received an email from them stating they are unable to help and for me to contact Amazon Customer Care. 

I've emailed back and re-sent the pictures and said that I need it escalated to a supervisor who has access to the print section, and I explained my friend's daughter has put in a return and for a replacement, and I want the replacement to be correct, not another mix up like this.

These are definitely unlike anything in my manuscript. There is a flipbook of that here.

As you can see, this was not my error, by any means. I'm disappointed to be getting the runaround.

I take pleasing my readers/fans/customers very seriously, and I don't want them to have to deal with issues like this. It kind of mars the joy.

And mine.

I'll have to see how this progresses. I'm still waiting for a response.

The Things That I Remember

 Sometimes my mind just meanders off into the past, and I picture things from my yesterdays. It's amazing how something pops up, that I'd totally forgotten about, and that leads to others.

I grew up in London, until my early teens. In many ways, it has defined me. Obviously with my accent - and oddly, when I get mad and the cockney comes out. Sometimes words I haven't used in fifty or sixty years. Or viualizing something and realising, wow, I don't do that any more/see people doing that any more, and wondering, how did I lose that? When did it stop?

When I was born, England was 10 years post-war, but only 1 year post-rationing. There were still streets that had been bombed out during the Blitz, demolishing and rebuilding a city took time. Going from Leytonstone to Hackney on the bus, 1960-1966, we'd go past rows of Nissan huts and prefabs, temporary homes for those bombed out in it.

People were still frugal, very frugal. One of my favourite foods back then was bread and dripping, a staple in the East End. I loved it. The mere thought of it now turns my stomach. Dripping is the meat juices and fat left in the pan after cooking meat.

My nan didn't have a fridge. She'd make a big pot of rabbit stew, and I'd have that with bread (it's still a fave when I can get rabbit). The pot sat on the stove overnight and was boiled up the next day. There was no such thing as leftovers. Potatoes and cabbage were fried up in bacon grease as bubble and squeak, and many "teas" were jam sandwiches, baked beans on toast, egg on toast, or paste sandwiches. Amazing how one little pot of Shippam's could make sandwiches for 3 or 4 of us.

My other nan used to slice bread by holding the bread up against her chest, over her pinny, and cutting with the knife blade going towards her. I think my mum did that sometimes as well. I tried to do it the other day and just couldn't get the hang of it.

I loved school. I was at George Tomlinson from 1960-1966, infants and juniors. The headmistress in the infants was Mrs Edwards,

and she was a darling. All the kids wanted to hold her hand, and walk with her, during playtime. She was a smiling grandmotherly figure and much loved. In the Juniors, we had Mr Bradbury,

who was austere and caned the boys when they misbehaved. Miss Lynes, in the above pic, was my best teacher in the Juniors, I had her for 2 years. She was touted as very strict but was actually pretty awesome.

I used to go to the Methodist Church on the High Road on Sundays,

with a lady named Barbara Vann. Her parents owned a health food shop on Kirkdale Rd, and I met her at their home at 33 Lytton Rd, when I went there to take piano lessons.I was 7 or 8 at the time. At the church, Reverend Johnson was the vicar, and they had a Girl's Life Brigade (and Boy's Brigade) group there so I joined that. We used to march through the town, on parade as we called it back then, the first Sunday of every month. The Boy's Brigade Band would play and we'd be joined by other groups like the WI and veterans and such. The church also had us collecting money for the JMA (Juvenile Missionary Association) and I had a book and collected 1d or 2d after church, every Sunday, off willing donors.

This is where my thoughts meandered when I woke up in the middle of the night, and I thought, yeah, I need to write all that down.

Yesterday was a fun day

We accomplished a lot yesterday.  Hubby and my granddaughter, Jel, took our chicken pens apart and moved them to the other side of the yard, while I hosed the chicken huts with bleach water and washed out their waterers. It was very satisfying. My great-granddaughter, Samantha, had fun too. She rode in the bucket of the tractor a couple of times, and when it wasn't in use, she put the bucket up high and then clambered up to sit in it, up in the air.

My other granddaughter, Nicolette, swung by and she and I chatted and laughed for a while. It was all good.

Delving into new things ... and pursuing old ones too

This year is racing along in leaps and bounds. So much has been happening, re-evaluations, new goals and plans, making new friends, and even worrying about others. Hubby and I plod along. We may not be fast but we are getting things done.

He's been registered with the VA a couple of years now, and they are taking care of much of his healthcare bills and prescriptions, which is a godsend. That alone is one less thing to worry about as we head towards his retirement. He's been working part-time since May and that gave him chance to schedule his medical appointments on his off days, and not have to rush to try to schedule everything on one day off each week. On his "off" days, he's been catching up doing yard work and stuff around the house,

I've been continuing to declutter (albeit slowly) and last week Miracle Hill got another box of clothes and things I no longer use/need. We got another closet for me and popped a mini chest of drawers in one side, so now my overflowing assortment of clothes is neatly divided between the 2 cabinets.

I met up with a lovely young lady and now have a collaborator on "Mister McAfferty's Cat", as she has a talent for drawing. I'm excited to be able to see how this turns out. My previous attempt to get an illustrator had me working with a company, but they weren't able to put my vision into what I was looking for, so we parted company. I'm hoping Jocy and I will have an awesome relationship.

I decided to try to make my own fondant creams since the flavours that I like - rose, lilac and lavender - aren't easily available at confectioners here. I melted Dairy Milk and Ghirardelli chips for the coating. I have a lot of honing to do, that's for sure. They taste pretty good, the rose ones especially, but my coating them is pretty messy. Like I said, a lot of honing to do.

I finally published both the paperback, and hardback, versions of "In The Ocean". The hardback was more difficult. I had to make endless revisions of the cover, I wasn't even sure what I was doing wrong. One of my girlfriends also tried, using the template they provided for it, and that was rejected as well. She does hers all the time, so even she wasn't sure what was going on, but finally it all came together and is now on Amazon, with all the rest of my books.

I'm still working on "Phoenix" and "Rose's Rhymes For Children", and waiting to hear from Poetry magazine about my submission "The Boy And His Horse". It'd be lovely to get published in a magazine here, like I used to regularly in England, many years ago.

All in all, I'm quite satisfied with where I'm at right now.