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

Brecon Horseshoe

My Brecon Beacon Walk

This friday i finally did my climb to Pen y Fan in Wales. full details and pictures here

http://multitracker.blogspot.com/

Camping Weekend

Southdowns Weekend

Michelle and I spent the weekend camping and walking parts of the Southdowns. We arrived on saturday 25/07/2009 and set up camp in Alfriston.

The Weather was a bit on the breezy side but on the whole dry with some decent sunny spells. We did our first walk Saturday evening and walked from Alfriston to Firle , with a round trip of 7.5 miles.

On sunday we decided to go to birling Gap and walk to Beachy head a round trip of 5 miles but this included a few hills to walk up.

Views back to birling Gap and Seven sisters



Beachy Head and light house

Family Meal

The Family Meal

The family got together to have a family meal. This was arranged by my sister Michelle and a table for 13 was booked at the Marlowe in Canterbury.

The party consisted of Mick (brother), Michael (nephew), John, Michelle (Sister), Derek, Josh, Anne,Pat, Alan, Michelle(my wife),Deanna and Katie plus Me

Anne & Mick

Michael, Derek and Shell

Shell & Josh

John

The meal was really nice although a bit on the expensive side, but we all had a laugh and it was nice to get together with my family again.

Anniversary

13th Wedding Anniversay

Today Michelle and I celebrated our 13th Wedding Anniversary.

we had our usual chinese meal and watch a movie (bit of a tradition)

It feels like we only got married yesterday and i am totally in love with my wife.

I'm excited about what the future holds for us, i know it will be fun with michelle by my side.Here's to another 13 years.

Christmas update

Christmas 2008

I decided to place a video here of part of my christmas which Although i enjoyed, was spoilt a bit by the nasty cold going around and effected me from 23 Dec to 30Dec.

It was also spoilt somewhat by the untimely death of our washing machine and then Our Fridge freezer. So it's been an expensive time this year.

It's been a while since i updated this site and i have had people moaning about that (Andy). So here is a short video of our christmas.

I have my Sister site for my walks which can be found at www.jimpowell.co.uk/walks , I have updated this as well because i recently did a short walk at Barham.

Halloween

Halloween Fireworks Party

Went to a neighbours Halloween/Firework party last night and got totally wasted.

Michelle looked good, i like the goth look

Deanna was a little devil all night Katie Was the Cat in a Hat

Of course i had too much to drink and totally made a fool of myself

It was a good night and worth the hangover i nursing now!!!

Memorial

In

Memory of Mum

It's been a year since mum passed away on the 6th October 2007.

I, Michelle, Deanna and Katie are often thinking of you mum, we miss you loads and love you lots. The video below is a small insight into your charactor, your life and the animals who i'm sure are missing you as well.

Lake district

Lake District Weekend

23rd -26th August 2008

Michelle and i spent the weekend just outside Keswick in the Lake district this weekend. Deanna and Katie stayed at home with there uncle Robert.

We travelled up to cumbria by National Express coach, This took a whole day just getting there. We left whitstable at 7:50 am and arrived at London victoria by 9:35. Here we had a wait of 1hour 25 minutes for the next Coach at 11 am. Then the long journey began to Keswick with a brief 10 minute stop at Birmingham arriving at our destination at 7:40 pm, we then had to get a taxi to our campsite, finally setting our tent up at 8:15pm. For spending a day just sitting in a seat i felt exhausted.

On the sunday we headed to Kewsick to catch the Boat across Derwant Water, we started our walk at Lodore to see the Water Falls.

We then started the climb of Catbells (In Reverse),

The Climb was tiring, but worth it for the views

The summit at 1500 ft was reached and the panarama was fantastic

We Started the decent, which to be honest was alot more difficult than the Ascent

It was a scramble to get down, this would be dangerous on a wet day.

We really enjoyed the climb and will be back to do some more.

Exam Results

Well Done

Deanna

My Daughter Deanna, got her exam results today, she achieved 7 1/2 GCSE passes, with a couple more results pending (animal care and business studies). Well i must say I'm proud as punch. Some of her results although passed were not as high as she wanted and so she is going back to 6th form to re-sit some.

I left school without any exam passes, so to have my daughter achieve this is a very special moment for me. Got her intelligence from her mother :)

New Addition

Congratulations

Derek & Michelle (My Sister)

On the Birth of thier Daughter

Melissa June

Melissa (Greek for Honey Bee) June (After her grandmother) was born at 5:58am on the 15th August 2008, weighing 6lb 9oz .A little sister for Josh and Sonny.

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday
To Me

Today My wife and i went for a walk around Wye, incorperating Crundale downs. This was to celebrate my Birthday. I am 48 today.

The Weather was great, Hot!, a bit too hot at times, but the sun was very welcome.
The Walk started at Wye church and was ment to be approx 5 miles.

It ended up being nearly 7 miles, poor Michelle not being used to long walks developed blisters on her heals, She never moaned (much) :).

We set off at 8:40 am and from the start was hot and sweaty. As the morning wore on the cloud built up giving a bit of a rest from the blazing sun.

The views from Wye Crown were fantastic and the golden brown fields just glowed in the sun.
After a good rest and some snacks for energy, we continued on our way.

The walk took about 3 hours to complete (with stops) and was really a great day out for me. Walking out in the countryside is a great stress reliever for me, i can forget all my worries and just enjoy the world.

I often walk on my own but having good company, like i had today is special, being able to share the pleasure of the views and the experiance of the outdoors with someone is priceless. Thanks my wonderful wife Michelle.
All in all it was a great day out for me and i really enjoyed my Birthday with my best friend and wife , Michelle. I hope we do it again soon.