The story that is the raison d’etre for this post is already in the hands of Adam Lazzari, the EDPs chief reporter for Fakenham and Dereham. It concerns the situation with my Nikon Coolpix P520, and the plain text version is here:
THE CASE OF THE CROOKED CAMERA REPAIRERS
This is the story of the fate of my Nikon Coolpix P520 up to today, when I uncovered evidence that admits of no interpretation other than serious criminality on the part of Messrs Christopher Robert Simpson and Mark Gregory formerly of The Camera Repair Company, Dereham.
The significant milestones are as follows:
- October 27th took camera in for repairs, handed over a deposit and was told I would be contacted as soon as they had identified the fault.
- A week and a half later I was told that the fault was a damaged USB port and associated damage to the motherboard. I was assured that they could fix it in approximately ten working days, so although I was going to have to pay for the privilege I agreed to the deal.
- Three full weeks (i.e 15 working days, since there were no public holidays in the period concerned) later I phoned them to ask what was going on and was told that they just needed to perform quality checks and would then be able to return the repaired camera to me.
- On the Saturday following having mean time heard nothing I phoned them to find out what was going on, and was told it should be ready by Monday.
- Thus on the Monday following that I went to Dereham expecting to pick up the camera and was told that one of them was doing a job in King’s Lynn the following evening and that they would return the camera to me then.
- That following evening no one showed up, so…
- On the Wednesday I made another trip to Dereham expecting to return with a functioning Coolpix P520. I was then told that the replacement board had malfunctioned and that they needed another which they were waiting for. They also said that as soon as it was ready they would deliver it to me. So I waited, and waited and waited some more, hearing nothing until…
- I decided that today, with them having had three full working weeks since Christmas to get things sorted I was going over to Dereham one more time and come hell or high water would return with a camera, which brings us to what I as a classical music lover call…
DIES IRAE
I arrived at the shop to find it shut and locked, and with a notice from Brown & Co Estate Agents attached to the door, explaining that the shop had been repossessed and that more information could be obtained from them. Therefore, I travelled on to Norwich (no extra cost – on First Eastern Counties one gets a day pass rather than a return ticket) to find the branch indicated (I wanted to do this face to face, not over the phone). There I found out that I was far from being the only person in this situation and that the repossession had been because they owed the estate agents a large amount of money. Additionally, I was informed that when the agents went to repossess the shop and change the locks they found it already stripped bare, and they have not been able to make contact with the individuals who ran it.
Additionally to what is mentioned above in the word document (attached below), the website is still active, but I have not bothered to attempt to contact them by that means as I do not consider it worthwhile.
THE CASE OF THE CROOKED CAMERA REPAIRERS
This major issue apart, I am in decent fettle, and I will finish by sharing some of my more usual type of picture (taken with older and lesser camera, a Samsung) with you…
Here for your information is a photo of the repossession notice taken with old Samsung…
On the subject of the rest of this post, the forthcoming General Election, one should first of all remember that it is not one single contest, but 650 separate contests, each decided on a first past the post basis. The second point is that for everyone except the rich another five years of Cameron as PM will be an absolute, unmitigated disaster. Fortunately, I am saved any great difficulty in my own constituency by the fact that the only candidate with any sort of chance of dislodging the current Tory MP happens to be someone I would be happy to vote for anyway. Jo Rust (Labour) is a Unison Rep, was involved in the successful campaign against the Saddlebow incinerator, was one of those who helped We Are Norwich to make the EDL feel as small and insignificant as they were. The contrast between the incumbent and the challenger is particularly marked when it comes to the NHS – Unison Rep versus shareholder in one of the companies who stand to benefit from the carve up of the NHS. If you are in Northwest Norfolk and want to see the back of the Tories make sure that on election day you get to the polling station and vote for Jo Rust.
Not much to add except that my twitter account 
Today however was a much more varied day. The morning was devoted to the heavy work of clearing the alleyway behind the shop (our neighbours in Fakenham who I won’t name had failed a fire inspection). Thereafter a new advertising board to replace the clapped out and out of date one was constructed (I did some of the selection and layout work, my colleague Andrew then assembled it) – I have a picture of it laid out ready for construction and one of it standing in the shop window, both of which I have tweeted out to my followers on @aspitweets…
