The Lost Blog

This is a blog entry that I saved somewhere: I don't know what the title is, but it was written on 1st June.   Put here for historical interest.

What a very European sort of title - but I have been curiously upset today by Lloyds Bank.   We have a business account, it is in M's name because he's a sole trader, and they won't speak to me about anything, because it's not my account, even though I am the signatory on the cheques...and do all the admin etc.  So today when he called he wanted to transfer some money from one account to the other, and his computer interaction did not ask him for his password - so he was put through to someone who asked him security questions.   If these were questions about mother's maiden name, telephone number etc. that would be fine, but they were questions about our bank accounts, none of which he knew the answer to - well, some, but apparently because I was telling him the answers it didn't count.  

Eventually - on the third phone call, where the questions had become things like "What did you pay for with cheque 185?"  Answer (should have been) "How the f8ck should I know?" since our current cheque book only goes up to 180 (was there a second chequebook that we have mislaid...?  Or possibly a trick question?)   In the end he was told he had got too many answers wrong - when obviously to get any of them right would largely prove he wasn't a fraudster... and they were concerned that someone was prompting him with the answers.   Damn right I was - otherwise he wouldn't have got anything right.  How can they expect a distinguished scholar and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries to know what his overdraft limit is?  Sadly, this reminded me of a conversation with my father (nearly 84) on the subject of the decline of the cheque.... "what will I do?"  I explained about debit cards... he must know about these, but he cannot remember a pin number to save his life.   I can still remember the fuss he made when cheque cards were introduced and no one would take a cheque without one any more.   It offended his sense of gentlemanly honour - and his ability to blithely extend the overdraft.

Oh hell - it is frustrating when we are so near to leaving the bloody bank that we get all this trouble with them.  M said it we weren't leaving them anyway this experience would have tipped him over the edge.  I am still trying to work out how we can pay Santander two cheques from our current account that won't bounce.  I suspect as soon as we transfer the money to the current account Lloyds will scoff it all into their debt payment... never mind. But I would like to pay some of the mortgage this month....

Meanwhile, the next cheque from G is due soon, and hope that that will arrive in time to put it into the new AA account.   Oh this is boring stuff, but it is Quotidiana... Viv says she's starting a sort of group blog for women like us (whatever that means) - and wants me to contribute - it's meant to be about daily life... perhaps I can just link people through to this one... don't think I have the energy for two blogs.

Meanwhile, I am getting closer to doing the tax return for last year - really very exciting! 

I am wondering whether we have reached rock bottom yet - or whether the worst is still to come.  My normal insouciant nature says that making the decision to do it was the crisis - everything will now be easier, since I know roughly what I'm doing and why I'm doing it.  However, the continuous ebb and flow of good and bad news make us continuously uneasy.  One moment people want work from us, then they say nothing... so a nice little local job just disappears... the offer of a cash in hand job never materialises.   Can't bear to look into the abyss and see disaster - but let's face it, nothing is working brilliantly well at the moment.  M does have a good deal of work - but a lot of the more tentative stuff has vanished - apparently for good?