Stress in Paradise! Patnem, India

Patnem, India

It’s been a stressful day really. It may seem that being away from the UK and wintry weather is all very wonderful but when things need sorting, being so remote has its drawbacks. And it all
gets a lot more stressful than it would if we were in the UK.

So last night we came back from dinner to find the worrying email from our Chinese visa agent that our group visa may not be acceptable for our cruise stop in Beijing in March.
They didn’t really know why so we emailed P&O and got various faffy emails back from them. I even phoned them. But they are very guarded and just wouldn’t be definitive…… it is still in
the air today but I think that we cannot risk turning up at the ship on sailing day and being turned back… So unless things change today, we will cancel progress with the group visa and try and get our money back or at least some of it.
Then we found a visa agency in HK who have a next day service so as soon as we arrive we will dump our bags and get over there and get individual visas rolling.

This wasn’t helped by the hotel wireless going down and Bob’s emergency dongle not working very well. It needs topping up and when it reaches a low credit point they cut the speed down to a snail’s pace to force you to go in and add credit.

On top of this we have still not received back the promised £1500 refund from the ICICI bank. We will have to ring them again and get forceful this time…. It’s a dreaded call centre though! So today we rang and went up through all the levels of the call centre telling and re-telling our issue. Finally, got to a “leader” and he told us that whoever told us last week that we would be refunded was incorrect and that we couldn’t be refunded as the money had not reached our card at the ICIICI. We pointed out they obviously had it because we received an email form them saying they had it but no……. he suggested we rang Lloyds. So we rang Lloyds and they are on the case tracking it. They can see it, they have references and they can see it going to ICICI so they are confident they will get it back. However, they had to warn us it could take up to 20 days! Thank god we have access to other cash. What if we had been backpackers relying on this money!
Plus not sure M&S have delivered my swimwear to John and Sue in time for them to bring it out here! Is nothing reliable anymore!!!!????

Finally, we learned last night that Daisy has been given the company car for today so that she can drive from Mitcham to Basildon, pick up a costume and then drive it to Richmond and then take the car back to South Wimbledon. This will be the first time she has driven alone in London, let alone so far and while I’m sure she is more than capable, I know she will be very nervous (Dartford Crossing, the M25, )! And I shall not feel happy till I know she’s got back to the office safe and sound.

So, yes, my blood pressure is definitely raised.

Anyway, Daisy made it all the way around the M25 with her Gruffalo costume. They gave her a Mondeo which was much more “electronic” than the Aygo she is used to but anyway, she
got back safe and sound with the car unscathed too.

Tonight we had dinner with Roz and David at Magic View. I had the divine tagliatelle with gorgonzola sauce. Totally unctuous. A most pleasant evening under a huge orange full moon. The sea was really lit up and sparkling. Hoping for a better day tomorrow with good news from the bank and the visa service.