The Flymo Saga continues

March 10th 2007. was when the electric motor burnt out on the grass machine, a week out of guarantee.

A complaint was lodged with Flymo and after weeks of dealing with customer services a new motor was promised free of charge on a goodwill basis provided it was fitted with their nominated repairer.

Guess what!!! we are halfway through July and the motor has still not been delivered to the repairer. Had it not been for a kindly neighbour who offered the use of their machine we would have been doing some haymaking.

What has happened to the goodwill? Take my advice folks, have no dealings with Flymo. When and if we ever get the machine repaired as promised I will vent my true feelings to the company.

Time for tea

Robert and Serena were round this afternoon. Now Robert loves his cake. Wherever they are on their travels there will always be a teashop on the route and Robert knows where they all are.

This afternoon I will show my prowess as a chef. Robert is rather fond of bakewell tarts so this morning I made my own interpretation of a bakewell tart.

I'll make a cup of tea I announced.

While the tea was brewing, I always make proper tea, none of this teabag brown water.

As I presented the bakewell tart on the table his eyes lit up


This is all that is left
I think it went down well

The Flymo Saga

The electric motor had burnt out on Mar 10th, one week after the guarantee expired having had approx; eight hours work from new.
Not wanting Flymo, ( or Husqvarna ) the parent Company, known worldwide get away with shoddy workmanship,a complaint was made. Instructions were given to take the machine to their nominated repairer to report on the fault. They didn't want to know.
Back to Flymo again when I was given another repairer to take it to. By now it was the 6th April. I received their report on 20th April and promptly forwarded it to
Flymo's Headquarters in Co Durham. On May 12th their reply came after being wrongly addressed. Their decision was that they would supply a new motor free of charge
( big of them ) but only if I decided to pay the labour charge provided it was fitted at their nominated repairer. Having agreed this I now have to wait for them to send the required part to the repairer to be fitted. We now may be lucky enough to get the machine back by the beginning of June.
DON'T buy a Flymo folks.

Till death us do part

When I uttered those words in 1948, they didn't get another thought, it was so far in the distant future and I probably had other things on my mind. After 53 years, those words came home to roost. My soul mate passed away, severing me from the happiest years of my life. Many people said the pain and grief would ease with time, for me, after five years it is still there and always will be. Life has to go on, so what do I do now? I decided to put those 53 happy years down on paper, I had made my mind up way back in 1963 that I would write about our lives together. I was re-living those years all over again, making new friends along the way. After a few lessons with a newly aquired P C, Bob came to my aid showing me some of the things that I didn't understand. You should read his book if you like walking, 100 walks in Suffolk, compiled by Robert H Stoner. Robert and Serena helped me with my not so good grammer. Trevor put the icing on the cake when he thought that my story was worth publishing. Finding a publisher was, I thought going to be the biggest hurdle. It turned out to be the easiest and now we are good friends. So that was how my book, (the first ?) "Cats and Chrysanthemums" was born, available to order at all good book shops, ISBN 1 898 030 85 5 It has given me a great deal of satisfaction, but the pain and grief remain.

The Auction

Remember the cucumber glass? Today my friend Robert and I went to the auction, he had previously seen a Ransomes lawn mower he thought he would like and made a successful bid for it. We then had to hang about for a couple of hours until my lot number came up.
The excitement was increasing as the lots got nearer and then, lot No 5889 was next.
Am I going to be elated or disappointed? The auctioneer invited bids starting at the low end of the estimated value stating there was quite a bit of interest in this lot. Fortunately there was more than one person wanted it. Tension built up between someone in the room and a telephone bidder as the bids were going up £20 a time, both desparately wanted it until the man in the room finally gave in when it reached three times the estimated price.
We both came away from the sale with an air of satisfaction on the day's proceedings, Robert got what he wanted and I got more than I expected.
Must go and search out some more unwanted clutter now.

Flymo mower

Still waiting for a report from the garden machinery repairers for me to send to Flymo and hopefully get some money out of them for repairs. It is a poor show when a new machine breaks down with a burnt out motor after only eight hours work and just a week out of guarantee. I wonder if the motor was made in China, if so, that might account for it. In the meantime, the grass keeps growing.

Clearing the clutter

After watching too many Cash in the Attic and Bargain Hunt programmes on the box, I realised that it could be quite fun to actually find some clutter that I no longer needed, put it in an auction to see if it is worth any money. If I don't do it, somebody else will when I have kicked my clogs and reap the benefit.
I have a cucumber glass. Now not many people know what that is when I have shown them my mystery object. It would probably get thrown away if I am not around and it is worth quite a tidy sum of cash. I shall not be growing any more cucumbers so maybe someone else would like the pleasure of owning it. The lady who was giving me a valuation for some other items, took it to a colleague for him to value, she came back without it and said his eyes lit up when he saw it. I hope my eyes light up when it goes into the auction. For the benefit of those who don't know what a cucumber glass looks like, here is a picture of one, the way to grow nice straight cucumbers.
The other items that I was having valued also gave me a pleasent surprise, so there is cash in the attic after all.
I was in for yet another surprise on returning home. Going on to the internet to see if my premium bonds were coming up with a prize in this months draw, I could not believe my eyes, yes , there was a prize, not just one, not just two, but three. Never-the-less my good fortune was overshadowed by the fact that there were bills of £900 to pay this week and then you come back to earth with a bang.
I shall be scouring my unwanted possessions again. Will I go to the auction to see my cucumber glass sold? I hope so, that is part of the excitement, will it sell for what you think it is worth or will I come away disappointed ? Answer will be in the next instalment.

Sods Law

Today the grass had it's first cut of the year, it all went well until the last few square yards or should I say metres when smoke started appearing from beneath the machine, an electric wheeled Flymo. Not to worry, until we realised that the bloody guarentee ran out last week,
Typical, why can't they manufacture anything that will last beyond a year. If you take out extra insurance it is a waste of money as nothing then goes wrong and the insurance companies are laughing. Not a good start in the garden.

George Forsdike

George Forsdike is the author of Cats and Chrysanthemums published by Braiswick.

He is a founder member of Felixstowe Radio, see www.felixstoweradio.co.uk a community radio station serving the Colneis peninsular in Suffolk, England, a piece of land that looks out across the North Sea towards Holland and Belgium - hello to all you over there. Can you see me waving?