Why is it that the larger an organisation, the more clueless it seems to be?

I’ve just received an email from eBay regarding my attempt to sell absolutely nothing. Ebay pulled the listing after a few days, but now I have a lovely email congratulating me on my first successful auction.

And in the post today… a letter from Barnet Council, kindly offering to collect all my garden waste for me. I live in a block of flats. Nobody here has gardens.

The letter goes on to extol the virtues of their recycling collections. A service which, for some obscure reason, they don’t offer to people living in flats – but make compulsory for everyone else.

Sigh.

I think the fact that Google appear to have started resorting to spamming people to get them to sign up to their AdSense program just confirms my theory.

Well, my ‘pet project’, Fotothing, is 4 months old today. Although with over 750 members and 10,000 photos, it’s becoming less of a pet project and more of a business by the day.

I now have a small (but perfectly formed) team of helpers, and I’m looking to take things one stage further. So if you happen to have a large sum of cash buring a hole in your pocket, and you’re looking to invest in the photo blogging community, then get in touch.

I promise not to spend all the money on chocolate. Honest.

Well I think I’m getting the hang of Moveable Type. Now I suppose I should really get into the hang of keeping a blog.

For anyone interested in reading older blog posts, you can still read them here.

Now… must go think of something interesting to write…

Well I’ve decided to move my blog over to Moveable Type.

It’s not that I don’t like Blogger.

Ok, it’s that I don’t like Blogger.

And I quote…

Dear Dom Ramsey,

We appreciate that you chose eBay to list the following item(s):

5552296812 Absolutely Nothing

However, your listing(s) was in violation of eBay’s listing policies.
We would like to take this opportunity to let you know what part of your
listing(s) is not allowed.

Your listing(s) contained the following information:

This is a fantastic, once in a lifetime opportunity to buy absolutely
nothing!

We realize you may not be aware of this policy. However, auction
listings that do not offer an actual item for sale are not allowed.

Our User Agreement states, in part:

“5.1 Listing Description…Your listings may only include text
descriptions, graphics, pictures and other content relevant to the sale
of that item…”

Your listing(s) did not offer an actual item for sale. Because it was
in violation of eBay policy, your listing has been ended early. All
associated fees have been credited to your account.

I’m not enirely sure how section 5.1 applies here, given that I gave a full description and a photograph of ‘absolutely nothing’…

So it seems my eBay auction for ‘Absolutely Nothing’ has generated some interest..

The Register: For Sale: Absolutely Nothing.

“A skint Londoner has decided to offer the eBayer who has everything – except space in which to store more online bargains – the chance to secure, well, absolutely nothing”

I don’t know what the fuss is about – I’ve always had nothing to sell.

I’m selling nothing on Ebay:

Here.

I’m sure you’ll agree it’s worth having.

So I finally did my tax return. I’d been putting it off because I knew I wouldn’t be able to pay it. I was right:

Amount Due Now: £4,200
Bank Balance: £800

So now I just have to decide whether to default on the tax payment, or default on the rent. Decisions, decisions…

*bangs head*