Screw Paypal

Screw PayPal

Today i decided that Paypal is a untrustworthy way of paying for anything on the net. I have had an account with paypal for about 7 years and have had numerous problems with the organisation.

I had £112 taken from my account a few years ago without my knowledge  and although i got the money back, i had to wait for a long investigation and no explaination as to why or how it was taken?, This led to me buying from paypal a security tag devise that gives me a random generated number everytime i wish to log into my account , this number  matches up with something there end and lets me access my account.( i wonder how many other people bought one of these devices after having money taken from there account,) would be a clever way for paypal to get people to but these things. I have also had problems with hidden subscriptions, these are subscriptions you have set up with various online services and paid by paypal and hidden cleverly in your account (i say hidden, you really have to search to find these subcriptions in you paypal account), you then decide to cancel the subscription with who ever you have set it up with but unless you also cancel the hidden subscription in Paypal, the payment will be made automacticly without any warning and the first you hear about this is when the payment has been made. i does not matter to paypal how much you complain and state you cancelled the subscription they will not reimburse you.

This has happened a couple of times for me. The final straw came this week when i purchased a item from ebay for £119, paypal have taken the money from my bank (it has physically gone), the item i bought was not sent and the seller gave a full refund, fine you think!, no for some reason Paypal have put the refund on Hold, meaning i do not have access to it?. I contacted Paypal and asked what is going on and was simply told "sorry we are waiting to receive the original payment from your Bank and wont relise the funds until we do this could take 5-7 days),ok so well the hell is the money from my bank gone, apparently paypal processing department have it but have not processed it yet (need to earn a bit of Interest on it first). So i now have to wait for paypal to process my payment befor i can have my money that they took from my account that belongs to me and Paypal have no legal right too.

As you may be aware, i'm not a happy chappy and will be boycotting Paypal from now on. As soon as my money is available i will take it reom paypal and close both my Paypal and Ebay account (as i can no longer operate a sellers account without Ebay) Ebay is not the cheap Auction house it stated up to be and as for trying to sell on Ebay, forget it!, the charges both Ebay and Paypal take makes it impossible for the small person to make aprofit from any sales

Granddaughter

Today My Granddaughter

Hailey Nicole

Arrived

0n the 9th August 2011 at 5:30 am Hailey Nicole was born, a lovely daughter for Deanna and Tobi and a fantastic Grandaughter for Michelle and myself.

Weighing a healthy 8lb 3oz and arriving quickly after being over a week late, she appeared in such a hurry that her dad Tobi nearly did not make it to the hospital to witness the grand entry into this world.

A typical female then, keeps you waiting for ages then catch you all unprepared , lol.

Glad to say both Deanna and Haily are healthy and were allowed home the same day, although late in the evening. I think both Tobi and Deanna are going to make great parents and i have never seen them both grinning so much. By all accounts Young Hailey is a gem and slept most of the night the first night she was home, lets hope it continues (but we know it's unlikely).

Nanna with Hailey

Michelle seemed a little broody and is looking forward to baby sitting.  She does not like to be called Granny but prefers Nanna (Both sound old to me, lol)

Grandad and proud

I am quite happy with being Grandad and although now feeling old, i am looking forward to when Hailey is toddling about and getting into mischief.

Well done to both Tobi and Deanna on creating such a beautiful baby girl.

Deanna i hope Hailey gives you as much love, fun and fulfillment as you gave your mum and me, we love you XX

HDR Photography

HDR Photography

HDR Stands for High Dynamic Range and is a type of photography i have just gotten into. 

The results of this type of Photgraphy should give you the viewer a more detailed picture with 

a range closer to the human eye than a normal photo can capture.

HDR-Me on Wye Downs

HDR involves using more than on photo of the same subject, normaly 3 to 5 shots at different exposures. these are then combined using HDR software, where you tweek the effects to your liking with the hope of getting a natural but very detailed picture.

Standard- Me on Wye Downs

The two pictures above should hopefully show the differents in detail between a HDR shot and a standard one.

Of course in my eyes the idea is to hopefully keep a realistic look of the scene but many people take the idea to extremes and create very surrealistic pictures which can sometimes look great but often look too over processed and ugly.

Over processed HDR

Unprocessed

                                   Please click on picture to enlarge

An over processed pictured which has great 

detail but does not look at all realistic.

HDR photography can be lots of Fun and is done to personal taste . I will continue to try and get my HDR pictures to look detailed without the over processing but every now and then i will let things go crazy and create some surrealistic images just for fun.

Family Gathering 2011

Family Gathering 2011

To honour Mum on  her birthday

 On the 11th June 2011 the Powell family got together for a meal and drinks to honour our departed mum, on what would have been her 80th Birthday. Mum passed away on the 6th October 2007, which also happens to be my sister (michelle) wedding day, so as you can imagine that day holds a bitter sweet memory.

The night went well and i had a good start to my drinking time with a couple at home and then my sister and her husband (Derek) giving me another 2 or 3 at their house before we even started.:)
We arrived at the Victoria Hotel at about 7pm and had another drink at the bar , by now i was 2 sheets gone, (not a big drinker). We got to sit down for the meal about 8pm. I'm not sure if it was because the staff were busy, but it seemed a long time to get our starters.

My sister Michelle and Derek

I chose breaded mushrooms for  a starter and by then i was so hungery, they did not touch the sides, I think they tasted alright. It was not until about 9pm that the main course came, Steak for me and this time i was going to enjoy it!, So i took my time and savoured every mouthfull. 

By now i was on my 7th pint, i know most people don't consider this alot! but for me well this was a skin full and i caught myself flicking peas at my brother Mick.

Mick in the foreground

The table was a long one (12 of us seated), so having a conversation with someone at the other end was hard, i had to get up and walk down to my brother John and kept hitting the wall lights with my head ,(Still feeling unsteady on my feet). 

Toby & Me

Me & Deanna

                                                                                                      My wife, myself, Katie, Deanna & Toby had a taxi booked for 10:30 , it was now 10 pm and no one had even ordered any deserts, I knew we would not have time and i was well dissappointed, as i had left room in my belly for some lovely pud.   

Dee & Katie

  
It was a good night all in all and i wished i could have stayed longer (not just for the Desert), the atmosphere was great the food was good (although delayed) , we all promised to make it a anual occasion , just differant locations each year.

Michelle & Mike

I would like to thank my Sister (michelle) for organising this get together. It was nice all getting together again, looking forward to next year :)

Powell Family Past

Some old Footage of my self and my sibling back when we were kids in the 70's
Shot on a cine super 8 camera. Features my parents, grand parents and all my brothers and sisters

Ghost Hunt

Fort Amherst

Ghost Hunt

On the 6th November A group of us went to Fort Amherst in Chatham, Kent on a paranormal ghost hunt, Hosted By Phil Whyman (of Most Haunted Fame) and his company Dead Haunted Nights.

http://deadhaunted.co.uk/

The evening started at 9pm through to 4am  and involved various vigils through out the night with different Team leaders who help and guide the vigils and supply equipment.  Most of the vigils went by without much incident but on our fourth  session with Phil Whyman, we encounted a unusual situation with a possessed Tourch.

Halloween 2009

Halloween 2009

This year my sister Michelle, invited us to go with her and Derek to Broadwitch Farm near Gravesend, to a Halloween event. We went on the 30th of october and had a fantastic time. I found out that i'm a bit of a wimp and suffer badly from Bangophobia (The fear of loud bangs and noises). So i found myself involuntarily shouting, swearing and making wiered  noise's that resemble wimpering.

There was 10 people in our party, but due to Broadwitch rules we could only go in the different events at no more than 5 at a time.

The main events were , Spooky Castle, Containment, the Vault, Field of Fear and Terror Trailer ride.  The events went live from 5 pm, which meant that Actors/staff roamed the site and events made up to be varing degrees of Zombies and Ghouls and made attempts to scare you.


The Video