electro-web

I can’t believe I’ve never blogged on the utter uselessness of Yodel/Home Delivery Network. Virtually all courier companies are terrible for consumer deliveries, but Yodel make utter uselessness an art form. You can read my most entertaining spat with them here.

The vast majority of people are at work between about 8am and 6pm. If Royal Mail try to deliver a package during the day, they will either try and give it to a neighbour, or they’ll leave you a little card. You take that card on a 5 minute trip to their depot or a post office nearby and you can pick up your exciting parcel. Or, if you really want to, you can arrange a re-delivery for a Saturday morning.

Yodel/HDN will, of course, offer to redeliver to you. But only during the times you’re at work. You could redirect the package to another address but I, like the majority of people, cannot accept personal deliveries to my place of work.

The do have a depot you can pick your parcel up from, which is a convenient 16 miles away in that well-known hub of the South Coast conurbation, Newhaven. A place also well-served with public transport.

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Last week, I went llama trekking in the traditional environment for these hardy Andean pack animals: Northamptonshire. Of course, llamas are by far the best animals in the world and it was a pleasure to get close to them.

You can’t ride llamas – they carry baggage but not people – so llama trekking is, in effect, taking a llama for a walk. Once trained, they’re friendly and calm walkers and will follow you quite happily. They have a leash, but it remains slack – you don’t need to drag them along, you just give a gentle tug and start moving off when you want to go or to turn, and a gentle tug backwards if they don’t want to stop but you do.

My llama was called Napper. At first he was a reluctant walker, but we soon got to know each other and he stayed just over my right shoulder, allowing me to stroke his neck every so often.

Sadly it was the one day of the week with pretty constant rain, but the countryside was stunning and it was very restful couple of hours, man and llama in beautiful union with each other.

I can highly recommend a day out with the lovely people at Catanger Llamas. They have 65 of these beautiful animals, and taking one of them for a walk is a rare and enjoyable delight.

One day, when I have an acre of land, I will own a pair of llamas.