Mrs Prendacast's handbag

Image courtesy of  John Kasawa / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Three weeks prior to the eventful, possibly life-changing day, Jack returned to his family village having completed two years of his latest prison sentence. During the last twenty years of his life fifteen of them have been spent incarcerated at 'Her Majesty's' pleasure: punishment for his regular straying from the 'strait and narrow'.

His parents, Ted and Mary, still live in the ancestral two bedroom terraced cottage. At forty- two years old he has no option but to live at home. As a result of his extensive criminal record, full-time employment is not an option available to him so he doesn't have a regular wage income, just minimal social benefits. He needs to accept their offer of free accommodation.

Apart from when he has to leave the village for the pointless visit to the job centre; he spends the majority of his days sitting on one of the benches on the village green breathing the free, fresh country air. The claustrophobia he's developed in prison means he needs to be outside rather than spending his time sitting indoors in the small cottage. He has spent too much 'time' in small rooms.

He knows the majority of the villagers consider him bone-idle and not to be trusted. There are some who use him occasionally as a cheap, cash-in-hand, dogsbody for the unpleasant jobs they consider below their status. Mrs Prendacast and the members of her social circle are vociferous in their public condemnation of Jack's life style: his sponging off his parents and society.

During his most recent prison term Jack decided he needs to change before the cell walls crush him for ever. The physical fitness routine and the education programme he undertook had the goal of producing a new Jack. But could he change? Was he fooling himself?

Last Monday morning started the same as the previous three since his release. Jack was sitting at his usual place watching the villagers going about their normal routines. He noted the older folks going into the combination village shop and post office. He assumed they were cashing some of their pension to buy a few bits and bobs. He saw Mrs Prendacast go in. He doubted if she really needed the money given the large house she lives in and the expensive car her husband drives.

When she came out, he saw her checking her money again in her purse to make sure it was safely tucked away. She then put the purse in her handbag which in turn she hung on her left shoulder. The shoulder nearest to the road as she walked away from the shop.

Jack noticed a cyclist, who he recognised from his prison days, travelling down the road behind, and going in the same direction as the walking Mrs Prendacast. She did not seem aware of the fast moving cyclist, that she was his target, and that the gap between them was rapidly reducing.

Jack knew what he had to do.

He leapt to his feet and started his dash towards Mrs Prendacast. He knew his new level of physical fitness would get him to the right position and at the right time for his plan to be successful.

As Jack's feet left the soft, slippery grass of the village green; still on the opposite side of the road to them; the cyclist drew level with Mrs Prendacast. Jack knew what was going to happen next. As his feet came in contact with the firm, abrasive tarmac he accelerated his sprinting speed to ensure he reached the far side of the road in time. He had to successfully complete his part in the action.

Jack heard Mrs Prendacast scream out: 'Help! Help me someone! He's stolen my bag! Thief! Stop that thief!'

The cyclist had violently grabbed the handbag from Mrs Prendacast's shoulder as he passed her. He pushed hard on the pedals of the bike to get away as fast as he could.

He'd been concentrating on his prey and obviously hadn't noticed Jack coming at speed from his left. He clearly didn't see the flying tackle coming. He would suddenly have felt the full strength and weight of Jack as the body-check crashed into his upper torso. A pair of arms wrapped around his chest as he was forcibly grabbed from his bike and dumped on the pavement.

The crash onto the paving slabs appeared to knock all the air from his lungs, and the weight of Jack's body bearing down on him, meant there was no struggle to escape or movement of any kind by the cyclist. Two workmen who had seen and heard the mêlée of the attempted mugging ran to help Jack restrain the failed robber.

Once they had control of the mugger Jack removed Mrs Prendacast's handbag from his grasp and handed it back to her, with the sarcastic comment: 'Best to keep a firmer hold of it in future. You never know if there are thieves and spongers about!'

'Thank you. . . Thank you . . . for your help,' she stammered, 'I never expected that of you!'

Mrs Prendacast, the members of her social circle, and other villagers are no doubt now wondering; has Jack changed from poacher to gamekeeper? Or is it part of another of his con tricks?

But they'll have to wait and see – won't they?

© Elliot Sampford 2013

Edited: 12.07.13
I am pleased to say that this story has also been published on the CafeLit website and weblog:
 http://cafelit.co.uk/MrsPrendacastsHandbag.html 
http://cafelitcreativecafe.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/mrs-prendacasts-handbag.html 

Unsatisfactory Weblog content

My apologies to those who regularly visit my weblog for the reduced quality and quantity of my articles and short stories of late.

My writing has fallen by the wayside recently as a result of a combination of several factors. Personal life changes in the last couple of months have taken up quite a substantial percentage of my time, physical and thinking. A tumble in my level of confidence in my writing ability has kept the pen from my hand and my fingers from the keyboard.

The life changes, so far, have been made successfully and bode well for the future. A recent complimentary comment - “Enjoyed reading this, now I'm off to read more of your work” - made on one of my short stories, I believe may be a catalyst in the start to the rebuilding of confidence. A revision of the 'How to' books on writing is called for.

I hope you will see and read an improved content over the next few weeks and ongoing.

"I'm offended by Islam" says Pat Condell

I have just watched the new video by Pat Condell. As usual he gets straight to the point. His message and opinion never fails to make one think.






Link to YouTube for video mentioned in Oldrich's comment in case the link in my reply to him doesn't work:http://youtu.be/GCXHPKhRCVg

Nationwide Building Society insults my Wife

Natalie and I have banked with the Nationwide Building Society for many years. All our accounts with them are in joint names. Now they want Natalie to prove her identity before allowing her to open an ISA: they didn't ask me to prove my identity before opening my ISA. How insulting is that to Natalie?

On the 18^th March 2013 we applied to open a Web ISA in each of our individual names; as an ISA can only be in one person's name; via our on-line banking facility. The Nationwide current account details given in both of our on-line Web ISA applications related to our joint account. The same day we received two emails confirming receipt of our applications. Each application was allocated a separate reference number but no indication as to whose application it was.

On the 20 March we received an email stating “Thank you for applying for a Nationwide Web ISA. I am pleased to tell you your account is now open. A welcome letter is on its way to you confirming the account details ...Your ISA xxxxxxx is open and should be available online in 3 days”. [No letter has been received to-date.]

On the 22 March on accessing our on-line banking facility we found that a new account under the 'Tax Free Savings' heading had appeared with the title of Web ISA Issue 2 account xxxxxxxxx. There being no indication as to whether this is mine or Natalie's I telephoned the ISA team on 0845 6028781 [given by Nationwide as the ISA telephone contact number] to clarify this matter. I quoted the reference number, stated in the email of the 20^th, to the gentleman who answered my call but understood from him that this number was of no value as he couldn't access our records by it. Using a different route he was able to confirm that the Web ISA Issue 2 account that had been opened was in my name.

I asked him to check on Natalie's application reference xxxxxxx given in the email of the 18^th March but was again told he couldn't check as the reference number was irrelevant to him. I was instructed to wait a few more days as although the applications were made together they wouldn't necessarily be actioned together - fair enough.

Now today Natalie has received a letter from Peter Heron, Customer Service Administrator, Web ISA Team 1, Savings Processing, dated 20 March 2013 quoting reference xxxxxxx stating “Thank you for your recent request to open a Nationwide Web ISA. I'm afraid we are unable to continue with your request at the moment because we haven't been able to complete our identification checks.”

What does the bank mean “we haven't been able to complete our identification checks”?

I am disgusted by the Nationwide's treatment of my wife's application and rudeness towards her by questioning her identity status.

The account details given in both of our on-line Web ISA applications relate to our joint current account. All our other Nationwide accounts are joint accounts in our names. If the ISA team had bothered to check they would have seen that they have the identification details for me and for Natalie.

So why did my application go through without any problems but Natalie's has been rejected at this time? Why has she been asked to verify her existence and address when Nationwide already have the details on their system?

If the Nationwide is not satisfied with the details they hold for Natalie; why have we both independently just received Nationwide 'Telephone Banking' security pass number notifications dated 20 March at our joint, marital, home address? This is the address that the Web ISA Team 1 want Natalie to verify she lives at before opening an ISA. But it is alright to send her a security code that gives access to our accounts to this address.

Does one hand of the Nationwide Building Society not know of, and have access to, information held in another hand?

I have lodged a complaint about this action of the 'Web ISA Team 1' with the Nationwide, via their secure on-line message service. I await with interest their reply.

How can we stlil raed words wehn teh lettres are jmbuled up?

Researchers in the UK have taken an important step towards understanding how the human brain 'decodes' letters on a page to read a word. The work, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), will help psychologists unravel the subtle thinking mechanisms involved in reading, and could provide solutions for helping people who find it difficult to read, for example in conditions such as dyslexia.

Read more in ScienceDaily: How can we stlil raed words wehn teh lettres are jmbuled up?
>br /> Youtube link to video mentioned in comment by Oldrich: http://youtu.be/GCXHPKhRCVg

Mediterranean diet helps cut risk of heart attack, stroke: Results of PREDIMED study presented

Mediterranean-style salad with feta, olives and walnuts.
ScienceDaily (Credit: © Barbara Dudzińska / Fotolia)

Results of the PREDIMED study, aimed at assessing the efficacy of the Mediterranean diet in the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases, have been published in The New England Journal of Medicine. They show that the Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or tree nuts reduces by 30 percent the risk of suffering a cardiovascular death, a myocardial infarction or a stroke.

Read more in ScienceDaily: Mediterranean diet helps cut risk of heart attack, stroke: Results of PREDIMED study presented

Despite reported dislike, older readers put in less effort when using e-readers

According to recently published research reading text on digital devices like tablet computers requires less effort from older adults than reading on paper.

The conclusion of the research found that when asked, both young and old adults stated a strong preference for paper books, but when they compared eye movements and brain activity measures, older adults fared better with backlit digital readers like tablet computers.

Being within the age group measured as part of the study, 60-77 years, I agree with the findings inas much as I read far more books now that I use my Kindle. I find it less tiring on my eyes.


Read more of the report in ScienceDaily: Despite reported dislike, older readers put in less effort when using e-readers

SabadellCAM bank reacts to my Weblog and Tweets

On Monday the 4th February 2013 I published an article entitled 'Do you wish to be charged in Euros or Sterling?' to this weblog. It is about a fault I discovered with the programming of the SabadellCAM bank's ATM cash dispensers.

As I normally do; I posted a Twitter-tweet with a link to my article as shown below.

Do you wish to be charged in Euros or Sterling? elliotsampford.blogspot.com.es/2013/02/do-you… @sabadellcam #Spain #spanishbanking #atmcashwithdrawal
— Elliot Sampford (@ElliotSampford) February 4, 2013

I included the Twitter account address of the SabadellCAM bank; knowing that it has a department that monitors tweets that relate to the bank; to hopefully generate a reaction. It worked. Just thirty-one minutes later I received the reply below.

@elliotsampford Hi Elliot! Can we help you? We are here at your disposal if you want to DM us the details of it. Thank you! ^NM— Sabadell CAM (@SabadellCAM) February 4, 2013

I didn't send a DM (Direct Message) as suggested because all the details are in my previous weblog article. I decided to wait and see what might materialize.

Just under six hours later I received the reply below in which SabadellCAM acknowledged that there is in fact a problem as I suggested.

@elliotsampford Hi Elliot! The incidence with the ATM is detected and being resolved. We remain at your disposal 24x7 ^ NM
— Sabadell CAM (@SabadellCAM) February 4, 2013

Today at 10:44 I sent the bank the following tweet.

@sabadellcam Pleased to read you agree there is a problem. Suggest you read new comment added to my weblog by Graham. bit.ly/14Bpoxw
— Elliot Sampford (@ElliotSampford) February 5, 2013

As I said the bank constantly monitors Twitter-tweets: just twenty-four minutes later I receive the following request.

@elliotsampford Thank you for notifying us! I'd love to talk to you on the phone if possible. Could you DM us your number? Thanks! ^TM
— Sabadell CAM (@SabadellCAM) February 5, 2013

As can be seen in the next episode, on this occasion I did DM the bank with my telephone number.

@elliotsampford Thank you! I'm getting in touch with you shortly ;-) ^TM
— Sabadell CAM (@SabadellCAM) February 5, 2013

I received a telephone call from TM (Tony) and we discussed the problem. The précis of the situation, as I understand it, is that the bank accepts that there currently is a fault and that it has existed since, on-or-about, the 8th December 2012 when the Sabadell and the CAM banks computer systems were amalgamated. The bank was not aware of the problem until this time, only having it drawn to its attention by my weblog article. It was suggested that the problem would be resolved within approximately seven to ten days. I pointed out that there should be no delay for a solution to be initiated as during any delay customers would continue to suffer financial penalties not of their own making.

Subsequent to the telephone call, I received the following tweet from SabadellCAM. The fault is to be fixed tomorrow, Wednesday 6th February 2013.

@elliotsampford Thank you for talking to me! I've been informed that the issue will be solved tomorrow. We continue at your disposal! ^TM
— Sabadell CAM (@SabadellCAM) February 5, 2013

It is a satisfactory rapid conclusion to a situation that should not have been allowed to have happen. The SabadellCAM bank I suggest needs to investigate as to why such an error, which financially penalised users of the bank's ATM machines, was not picked up by a pre-launch system audit and continued undetected for almost two months.

On the personal aspect, I am pleased with the conclusion for two reasons. First it proves that it wasn't an error on my part by misreading the options and I was right to report and pursue the matter. Second it shows again the power of modern internet social media; in this case my weblog and Twitter-tweets; to effect beneficial reactions.

Edit 12.02.2013: The Coastrider newspaper published the following article this week:  Local expat blogger gets national ATM problem fixed

Debriefing.

The police station front-counter sergeant was sitting behind his desk, day-dreaming about his allotment. The noise of the automatic entrance doors opening brought his mind back to reality. He got up from his desk and went to the counter. Waiting for him the other side of it stood an unkempt, unshaven vagrant wearing a dirty, ripped army greatcoat. On his head was a maroon beret with a Parachute Regiment cap badge. A rusty shopping trolley full of what looked liked rubbish was parked beside the reception area chairs.

“Corporal Richards reporting Sergeant. I'm here for my debriefing after the skirmish on my patrol this morning.”

“What are you going on about old man? What the heck is that shopping trolley doing in my reception area?”

“That's all my kit in there. That's the easiest way to move it about as I can't carry it because of my spine problems.”

“Well I'm not having that filthy thing and rubbish in here; take it and yourself back outside and go away.”

“I can't leave it out there; someone will try and steal it again. That's what the two men tried to do this morning. I warned them not to but they didn't listen. They attacked me so I had to kill them to save myself.”

“What are you going on about? I don't have time to waste chatting to you. Now out you go.”

“I was on my daily patrol this morning going through an alley towards the common when I was confronted by two men wearing hoodies. They blocked my way and tried to steal my gear. I told them to clear off and let me pass – but they wouldn't. They each had a knife and tried to kill me – but I was too fast for them.”

“So you ran away from them and came here to waste my time complaining and boring me with your story.”

“No! I told you Sergeant; I killed them and I've reported here for my debriefing.”

“That's it I've had enough of your nonsense! Get yourself and your rubbish filled trolley out of my reception and my sight or I'll find something to arrest you for, and lock you up. Now move!”

Ex-corporal Richards lifted his right leg, bending it at the knee, moved it next to his left leg, slammed his foot to the ground. Standing at attention he shouted: “Yes Sergeant, right-away Sergeant.” He executed a smart military about-turn, collected his trolley, and marched out of the building at double-quick-time.

The sergeant returned to his desk and his day-dreaming.

Awhile later a telephone in the rear of the office started ringing. A Constable standing nearby lifted the receiver to answer the call: “Hello?” He listened to the voice at the other end of the connection for a few seconds and said: “OK I'll tell him,” and replaced the handset, ending the call.

“Hey sarge two bodies have been found in the alley that leads from the high street towards the common.”

© Elliot Sampford 2013



If you haven't already, you might like to read my other short story on this theme: 'Utrinque Paratus'

Do you wish to be charged in Euros or Sterling?

This morning my wife and I went to the SabadellCAM bank in Los Balcones, Torrevieja, Spain to withdraw some Euros in cash from the ATM machine. We used our debit cards of our account in the United Kingdom.

As part of the normal transaction procedure we were asked which currency we wanted to choose to be charge to the card. If we wanted to be charged in Euros we were instructed to select the 'No' option. If we wanted to be charged in Sterling we were instructed to select the 'Yes' option. We always want the Euro amount we have withdrawn from the machine to be charged to the card. This means that the card supplier (Visa in our case) calculates the exchange rate rather than the bank operating the ATM machine. This results in a better rate of exchange and a lower final Sterling cost being deducted from our account.

I read the options offered twice to ensure I understood the choice to make. I selected the 'No' option. When the confirmation of the transaction was printed by the machine I was annoyed to read that the SabadellCAM bank had charged the Sterling conversion to my card: the opposite to my choice. On a previous visit, on the 13^th December 2012, to the ATM machine at the Playa Flamenca branch of the SabadellCAM the same thing happened; but, I assumed I had pressed the wrong option button on that occasion. We subsequently learnt that other people have experienced a similar problem of the options offered via the ATM screen do not correspond to the actual action carried out.

After I had completed my transaction, my wife then used her debit card to withdraw cash from the same ATM. When she was offered the choice of currency to be charged by the Sabadel/CAM to her card we read the options offered three times. Once again our conclusion was that for Euros to be charged the option is 'No'. We decided to test our theory that the bank has got the options the incorrect way around so we pressed 'Yes' to say that we wanted the bank to charge a Sterling amount to the card. The bank charged the Euro amount we had withdrawn from the card.

Prior to the take over of the CAM bank by Sabadell, and the introduction of the Sabadell system on the ATM machines, we never experienced any problems in choosing the Euro charging option for cash withdrawals over the past 6 years.

On a withdrawal of 300 € choosing the Sterling option of charging at today's rate of exchange means that the transaction cost us £0.51 more. Or putting it another way means the SabadellCAM bank makes an extra 0,57 € profit on this transaction.

We decided to go into the branch and report our findings to the staff there in the hope that the error in the programming of the ATM system would be corrected. From the response we received this morning I'm not that hopeful.

I wonder if other people using a SabadellCAM ATM machine in Spain to withdraw cash via a UK debit card have experienced a similar problem as we have.


Edit 05.02.2013: See my follow-up article: 'SabadellCAM bank reacts to my Weblog and Tweets'