It wasn't a scam.
I did what he asked, but not in the way he asked (Told me to call the surgery).
Instead, I put my shoes on & 90 seconds later entered the surgery (after some difficulty from the reception).
Explained what happened & they called the pharmacist & apparently he gave them some B/S (never came out to reception).
They then started in on me but I interrupted & said if that is true, can you please explain why a pharmacist called me directly?
That shut them up & then told them that 2 complaints have been filed, 1 with NHS England & the other with CQC.
Medical centre is practically next door. :-)
I've already mentioned this to CQC in the past. Surgeries called people saying this is the pharmacist/doctor.
Due to all the fraud out there, I never ever give personal info on the phone, especially to people who refuse to identify themselves.
I find that I p*** off a lot of people when I turn the DPA around on them. :-)
Well, we gotta protect ourselves right.
Edit.
Just thought of this so thinking of sending in a 3rd complaint. This time to our "lovely" Health Secretary.

Haven't had a reply to that letter to date, but the bribery & stupidity over the past 7 days is hilarious.
Received 4 calls & 2 texts.
1st call.
Hi this is utllita.
We have a great promotion at the moment. If you...
...sorry have to dash to the bathroom.
2nd call - missed.
3rd call.
Hi this is Utlita. I'm returning your call (???)
Sorry, gotta go, my taxi is here.
1st & 2nd text,
Get a £100 Tesco Gift card if you have a smart meter installed by 30/9.
4th call.
Hi this is utlita. Did you know that you will receive a £100 Tesco gift card - blah blah blah.
Sorry, I hate Tesco's.
That stumped him.
That's the bribery, now for the stupidity.
It'll take a minimum of 3 weeks before they start the work.
21+16=37 (7th Oct).
Sheesh.

Lid screwed on, covering glues and in place with weights holding it down until the glue has dried - 24 hours to go.
Engage thumb twiddle mode until then.

Only on British Railways ...

Dear Richard Haselgrove,

Please accept our apologies for the delay in processing your claim that we received on Thu, 11 Aug 2022. We are currently experiencing high volumes of claims which is preventing us from assessing your claim as quickly as usual.

If only they hadn't sent me that survey form after my day out...
If only they hadn't programmed their survey bot to say "From your answers, it appears you may be entitled to a refund on your fare. Click here ..."

Far too many companies send out those infernal survey forms. I only respond to about 1% of those I get, and then put a very blunt remark about getting so many repetitive survey forms.

If only they hadn't sent me that survey form after my day out...
If only they hadn't programmed their survey bot to say "From your answers, it appears you may be entitled to a refund on your fare. Click here ..."

Just got a refund on a journey from almost a year ago. We tend to do journeys that involve several trains from multiple operators. On those journeys, it seems to be more often than not we get a delay that lets us claim back at least half our fair and getting the whole of the return journey fair back is not unusual. (Two or more hour delay.)

Mine was an easy, relaxed, walk in some watery countryside, to ward off the oppression of the summer heatwave. Two trains, both run by the same operator, with a half-hourly service on each line - what could possibly go wrong?

The first line is a simple, and recently modernised, commuter shuttle into the nearest city - it normally runs as regular as clockwork. Arrived at my local station, to find that the train I was targetting had been cancelled. Another train on the line had broken down mid-route - they were a train short, and had to work past the blockage. My train took the hit, and the next one was already delayed. I don't know if the breakdown was heat-related, but it wouldn't surprise me.

I bypassed the blockage by bus, and got a slightly different route into the city - arrived in time to get the connection half-an-hour later. That service required a second change mid-way: it rattled along just fine until the last station before the change-point, and there it stopped: held by a red light until there was a free platform at the change point. So I missed that as well, and the delay went up to an hour.

Ironically, I was on my way to see a piece of railway history:


Bennerley Viaduct - the longest wrought-iron railway viaduct in the world, now preserved.

We invented the bloody railways - you'd have thought we would have worked out how to run them by now. But we can't stop tinkering with them - ripping up the tracks and replacing them, replacing the entire management structure every few years as political fashions change. Sigh.

Arrived at my local station

Wait... have I missed EM station twice? Thought I'd seen the whole town...

Wait... have I missed EM station twice? Thought I'd seen the whole town...

'Local' in this case means down in the valley bottom, beyond the newsagent (which you have seen).

If it was any closer to EM, it would be ... ... drumroll ... ... too far from the rail tracks.

Not only did we invent them, we discovered how to make them run very badly...

Glory x2 & Grumble x1.
The BBC (God bless them) provided the Funeral x2 - 1 with added commentary & 1 without).
So spent most of the night watching the no added commentary one.
Had an advantage of being on Iplayer, can pause it every so often for a cuppa.
Did the same for the Windsor one.
Grabbed the last cuppa around 6am before retiring for the "night".
Rudely awoken at 09:29 by phone announcing I've got a message.If you don't read it within a few minutes, it lets you know again. Annoying.
Yes I know about Silent mode & DND.
I have DND set to 8pm-8am.
In between those times, want to contact me, call landline.
12:34 Mobile rings.
Hi this is Utlitia.
When can we install your smart meter (no mention of the £100 Tesco card - earlier text message was that).
Who asked for that?
Well if your with us, you have to have one.
Ok, your 13 months late, it should have been installed in Aug 2021, so happy to continue as I am.

YOU HAVE to have one installed & then continues with his script extolling the virtues of having one.
Inform him that I consider them to be spamming me & will report it if it continues.
I am not spamming & with a louder voice continues with his script.
Manged to get a word in & asked him if he can speak the King's English?
I can speak English.
Which version - the King's English or American English?

That flustered him, but only for a few seconds before he went back into his script.
I hung up.
I only asked the English question because I could hardly understand what he was saying.
Cool Hand Ali from Mumbai?
Nope,
Braveheart from Glasgow. :-)
Cheered me up for the day.

Big frigging grumble.
It's one of the reasons why I hate mobiles to a degree.
Not many stop to think before acting.
19:40 partner rushes in holding her mobile.
She had just received a lengthy message a minute before & rushed to show me as she was in an agitated state.
After reading the message, I got agitated.
Fun fact - her mum & one of my sisters bear the same first name.
Number on text message showed up as NOT in contact list & message did not provide identity of sender.
OK, lets get this sorted, so messaged her dad to call us on landline urgently.
Waited for call while viewing message again.

Nope, can't be my family for the simple fact is that they do not have her number.
So called her dad.
Her mum had a brain stem hemorrhage yesterday which has resulted in brain damage.
The prognosis is that she won't survive for long so be prepared.
He also informed me that his son was told but he didn't inform his daughter.
The message was from her bother on his 2nd mobile which we did not have the number for.

Texted back, saying thanks for the info & also panicking both of us.
Asked back - how?
She explained with no ID I couldn't be sure on whether or not is was mum or my sister, who incidentally is 61 in several weeks time.
He texted bak - ok, if I hear any more news I'll message you.

Jesus frigging Christ. Time spent texting - 13 minutes.
A direct phone call, landline or mobile could have avoided all this.

Had to google how to take a screenshot on an iPhone.
As for the split message she accidentally hit the enter key as she continued the message.
Did get a reply - "Right. Sorry for the confusion".

Windows 10 Update asks me if I want to install Windows 11. No, go away, just the dotNet update you have.
Reboot.
Spotify asks if I want to log in. What? Where the hell do you come from?
Check apps. Yep, I have a Spotify app. Uninstall.

Covid booster yesterday (Moderna same as third booster) Again feel like I have flu. Testresult=-ve.

Grumble: Private message on here from new user asking about a windows installation. I haven't used Windows this century on my own machines. Said new user directed to forums and blocked from sending PMs.

I get the Linux ones asking me lots of things. Always point them to the forums as well.... and then they never go there. Shrug.

...and blocked from sending PMs.

If you mean you pressed the red X on his PM, then you effectively bocked him all together. Just warning. ;)

If you mean you pressed the red X on his PM, then you effectively bocked him all together. Just warning. ;)

Thanks Jord,

Not that I could help on his particular problem anyway. I suppose it might stop me learning a bit more.

Glory: Northern Rail have approved my fare refund (at 9 pm last night)
Grumble: I haven't got the money yet (they're probably sending the cheque by train)

Glory: Northern Rail have approved my fare refund (at 9 pm last night)
Grumble: I haven't got the money yet (they're probably sending the cheque by train)

They axed the mail trains for letters in 2004. 2020 they restarted some mail trains but pretty sure they were just for parcels.