Service!

Had about five or six hours' kip, mainly thanks to a pair of earplugs. They do help a bit but don't shut out half as much noise as I would like shut out. I could still hear GFG doing something with cupboard doors and a hammer during the early hours, but my deep exhaustion and a couple of painkillers (plus the plugs) must have helped send me off for a while. I woke up about a dozen times but managed to get back to sleep. Cured? Nope. Jetlag blah de blah de blah... it only wore off during late afternoon. Pain is creeping up my shoulder blades now, at 18:42. Sometimes the earplugs slide out; on other nights they stay put and make my ears sore.

Still, my bank manager made me happy today. She responded to a complaint I'd made about poor service over a few visits to the local branch by asking me to meet her and explain what had happened. It was things like waiting to see a personal banker for half an hour only for the personal banker to do none of what I requested, and being quizzed on depositing cheques – as though I was a money launderer – that annoyed me. I don't mind being asked where money is from if it's an anti-fraud measure but I cannot be doing with thoughtless comments from cashiers who really should know better and ask me (after taking my money) whether I actually bank at the place.

So, it was good to speak to someone who genuinely seemed to care about the level of service given. She, like me, has bad service down as one of her personal bugbears. People will be spoken to, she said, assuring me that she would phone me with an update. I don't want anyone to lose their job (I have managed to get one person sacked due to unbelievable incompetence in a medical setting) but here a simple good talking to is in order.

Oh, I did praise the member of staff who is consistently efficient and helpful, and I'll praise the manager to her manager if things improve. Slightly worryingly, she told me that I am "a celebrity" in the bank now, and revealed that she had read out my letter to all her staff. Some will continue to be genuinely nice and others will be nice and secretly curse me. Hmm, my money helps pay their wages and they would do well to remember that...

After all that, it was nearly lunchtime so I drove down to the riverside, where I unshopped something unsuitable and and shopped a little bit more, only for small things, but they were enough to make me feel 'treated'. Yes, it's shallow stuff, but it was therapeutic for someone who couldn't bear to return to a desk and sit there in a heady fog. The fresh air – the weather was beautiful – did help to clear my head, and I managed to work productively, relatively speaking.