Wednesday 7^th February, 2018 2000

Joan's lengthy trip home yesterday turned into something more akin to my experiences instead. She had opted not to fly from here to Hefei and then get a train to her hometown. To be fair, under normal circumstances the time spent getting from here to our airport, flight, bus to the train, train to hometown then bus home would have equated to about the same time.

Normally.

The bullet trains in China leave smack on time. Always. Only hers didn't. I had left her at the station (can't enter without a ticket for a trip) and she boarded ten minutes before departure. It never left until an hour after it was supposed to. I have never heard of that and the “reason” when she asked a guard was they hadn't been given the go signal. Well that's not a reason, people want to know WHY the signal hasn't been given or at the very least a “we don't know either”!

Follow that with an unscheduled half hour stop later in the middle of nowhere and you can imagine her feelings. She had booked the two trains and was praying to make the last bus home on arrival, which leaves at 1930. Her train was due in at 1933 and she hoped by running to be able to catch it. She was concerned over taking a taxi – young girl, dark night etc.

Unbelievably, she got the bus! She arrived an hour and a half late so my guess is the train and rail companies spoke with each other and a special bus was laid on. Now if that was the case, it's the equivalent of asking all the UK utility companies to dig a ditch in the road and work together! But it happened here. Fair play.

I have spent a bit of time today on an issue which annoyed me at first, angered me later and then ultimately made my blood boil, congeal with determination and see me on a mission.

This is nothing to do with China. Back in 2015 Mum was cold called by POP Telecom and persuaded to switch from BT because POP were cheaper. She was barely home an hour after yet another hospital stay (congestive heart failure was well under weigh by then) yet despite knowing this the salesman switched her (I have the call on my laptop).

No T&Cs were sent until 6 months later when requested by my sister who was horrified to find the bills were often double what they were with BT. Contract cancelled and POP promptly extracted six hundred and fifty quid from Mum's account.

Ok so firstly the call itself was illegal. Mum was with TPS for a decade by then, ergo the call should never even have been made. No T&Cs? Direct contravention of the distance selling regs. Forget the age befuddled thing and the recent hospital discharge, the aforementioned should be enough.

I approached POP reasonably (I know that's hard to believe) and their response led me to believe they never even read my email, it was simply “NO”. I politely suggested they take a longer look because I would not simply fade away and again was met with a blank refusal. I thanked them for their time and informed them that I had thought it fair to warn them of things to come.

Step 2 was the Ombudsman who agreed with me but due to the time elapsed could do nothing. Can't blame sis, she was working in a responsible management position whilst attending to Mum's needs and weekly hospital stays – she was frazzled.

Step 3 and 4 were started today. Hopefully I can lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office after what I sent them (big fine please!) and I have contacted a friend in the national press who used to be an investigative journalist. He was promoted a few years ago but suggested I send it to his old sidekick.

We shall see what transpires. POP really do not want to get as far as steps 5, 6 or 7, believe me. I will get the money back or if I fail I will cost them far more anyway. They will know they should have been reasonable. It will be to late for regret then.

On another topic, I nearly choked on my jing jo earlier when I checked my UK bank account. I am trying to figure out what I can afford in summer now that Alice may be coming with me. Things such as getting her to make her own way to Shanghai or Guangzhou to avoid my having to go via Hefei and spend a night in an hotel because the school only pays for a flight to a main airport and without a ticket direct I just know it will cause aggravation.

There was a payment made two days ago to SX Power Investments. Never heard of them? Me neither! Mental calculations of the exchange rate told me it was possibly the Holiday Inn bill from Xian but to be sure I sent a message to my bank asking for clarification. They just replied as I was typing and it appears it probably is but would you not expect Holiday Inn to identify as such to your bank? It's no different to being in a Greek taverna, paying for dinner and on your return home getting a payment on your account to Nico's Massage Parlour!