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A Review of Goals & New Experiences for 2015

By Books & Authors, Happiness & Joy, Health, Life, Thinking, TV, Online Streaming & FilmsNo Comments
goals-and-adventures-large Goals For Throughout The Year
Unticked Box Read & Review 30 books – managed to read 19 books and reviewed most of them.
Unticked Box Watch & Review 12 films – I only managed to review Jurassic World this year.
Tick Box Bullet Point See a show/gig – saw Ruby Wax Live, Wheatus Live and Nina Conti.
Unticked Box Give up smoking for good. Didn’t happen. Will make a goal for 2016.
Unticked Box Write, Edit and publish a Novella. Didn’t happen due to poor mental and physical health.
Tick Box Bullet Point Arrange & Have a Holiday. I had the adventure of a lifetime seeing two good friends get married in India (see My India Adventure Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 & Part 8).
Unticked Box Study Something Pagan/Druid with Chrys & Simon. Didn’t happen due to my poor health.

New Experiences for 2015 by month:

January
Tick Box Bullet Point To start Writing again – my creative writing has stopped, started slowly, stopped and then slowly started again this year due to poor health. But right now, I am writing again.
Tick Box Bullet Point To write a series of blog posts with a ‘Mental Health Focus,’ publishing one a week throughout the month. Done. See Mental Health Focus: 5 Brilliant TED Talks About Mental Health, Mental Health Focus: I’ve Been One of the 1 in 4, Mental Health Focus: A List of Common Conditions & Mental Health Focus: Treatment & Recovery.

February
Unticked Box Try Yoga. Take a Yoga class. – Ha ha, didn’t happen.

March
Tick Box Bullet Point Visit a Museum. I visited World Museum Liverpool in November.

April
Unticked Box See a Sunrise. Didn’t happen. The sun rises far to early for me.
Tick Box Bullet Point Visit a new place. A city or town that I’ve never been to. Does going to India in July count? See My India Adventure Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 & Part 8).

May
Unticked Box Celebrate my birthday. A night out to celebrate in style. Possibly in another city or town. Didn’t happen, instead I deliberately made no plans.
Unticked Box Visit a Castle or a Pagan site. Didn’t happen due to poor health.

June
Unticked Box Spend time Walking in Nature. Didn’t happen due to my poor health.
Unticked Box Take time out to celebrate Litha. Didn’t happen due to my poor health.
Tick Box Bullet Point Watch Jurassic World at the cinema.
In addition I said adios Vodafone, after a nightmare trying to upgrade and hello to Giffgaff. I also had My First Fishing Trip.

July
Tick Box Bullet Point Attend Mum’s events. Birthday, etc. I attended my mum and Ian’s wedding and mum’s birthday celebrations.
Tick Box Bullet Point Watch Minions at the cinema.
In addition I enjoyed the sunshine.

August
Unticked Box Visit Chester Zoo’s new Islands exhibit. This was something I really wanted to do this year, I just wasn’t well enough.
In addition I had a marvellous massage.

September
Unticked Box Learn to Knit. Didn’t happen.
Tick Box Bullet Point Donate to charities. I made charitable donations in November.
In addition I discovered the superb Writer Matt Haig, reading a reviewing: The Humans and Reasons to Stay Alive.

October
Unticked Box Celebrate Samhain. Didn’t happen.
I did have a magical evening at the British Musical Firework Championships in Southport.

November
Tick Box Bullet Point Take some time out to relax. I took what-I-call a Life Hiatus.

December
Unticked Box Watch Star Wars: The Force Awakens at the cinema. Didn’t happen.

Overall ill health has effected my ability to achieve my goals and have new experiences this year. In 2016, I hope for better health so that more of my goals can be achieved.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Tuesday 29 December 2015

Adios Vodafone – After A Nightmare Trying To Upgrade, Hello Giffgaff

By Life, Money / Finances, Shopping, Technology, ThinkingNo Comments

Recently my old iPhone 5 battery started dropping it’s charge. So as a loyal long term Vodafone customer, one that had been with them for years, I decided to speak to them about an early upgrade. They said I could and I opted for Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus (64GB, GOLD) as a new handset, which they said would be delivered the next day.

After three weeks of telephoning Vodafone customer services practically on a daily basis and receiving many broken promises, I still had no new handset. I felt frustrated, that the order was no further forward and like anything that they said to me on the phone would be a lie. Despite how I felt, I always remained pleasant and patient. But I decided to cancel my telephone upgrade order and re-order the upgrade in store.

My local store had Apple iPhone 6 Plus (64GB, GOLD) in stock. Hurray! But wait, I couldn’t have it because of their IT systems still showing the original upgrade order as open – despite me cancelling it and reassurances from Vodafone customer services on the phone that I would be able order in store. I tweeted my frustration to them, not that the staff in store, on the telephone or on twitter seemed to care.

I’d lost my trust in them. A search online revealed that I wasn’t the only one experiencing issues upgrading. Vodafone’s problems seem to be:

  • Their IT systems. An order gets canceled because they don’t have the handset in stock, but the order still shows as open and gets stuck.
  • The warehouse stock levels, warehouse management (in terms of ordering more handsets before they run out) and distribution.
  • No complaints department or way to escalate order issues to get them sorted.

Up until this experience, Vodafone have always been good with me. But this experience felt like a bad joke. I decided to show them what I thought of this experience by walking away and taking my wallet with me.


Get a free giffgaff Sim

giffgaff-logo A friend on Facebook recommended that I sign up with GiffGaff. I did and everything went smoothly. The handset was delivered the next working day as promised. It’s been a brilliant, easy and enjoyable service so far.

Here are some advantages of being with GiffGaff and how they are different to other providers:

  • They do sim only deals or handset and sim deals.
  • You buy the handset as a credit agreement. Meaning you can pay a small or larger deposit, choose the term of the credit agreement and it’s all really clear and easy to understand.
  • All handsets come unlocked, so can be used on any network.
  • You buy monthly goodbag packages, rather than having a fixed term contract.
  • You can leave GiffGaff at any time by turning off the auto-renew goodybag and getting a sim card for another network.
  • They’re competitively priced – cheaper than most other companies from the prices that I’ve seen.
  • Free GiffGaff to GiffGaff calls.
  • They regularly listen to customers and take their ideas on board.
  • And much more…

So if you’re looking to switch mobile phone providers, I’d highly recommend GiffGaff.

Blog soon,

Antony


Get a free giffgaff Sim

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Friday 19 June 2015
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