Dell, Winter mornings, a Sunset, and a Train station

Brrr, winter is here. I hate the cold, the short dark days, and the illness that often comes with it. That said, I actually enjoyed taking the dogs for a walk at 7:30am this morning, crunching frosty grass under my feet and breaking thin ice on puddles gave me more pleasure than it perhaps should have done!.. You have to take pleasure in the little things though - as the film Amelie (well worth a watch if you haven't seen it) orchestrates.

Yesterday I opened up my brand spanking new Dell 15 R Special Edition laptop, YAY-NO, it had a 'hot pixel', a bright white patch on the screen; after a total of about 4hrs on the phone to Dell the problem is hopefully sorted. If you're looking to buy a new computer soon I would advise you to go to anywhere but Dell. Their minimum policy on returns for screens is, one customer service adviser stated, 125 dead pixels (the "industry standard") in order to get a free return or to qualify for a replacement. 125 dead pixels; if that were the case there would be about an inch patch of nothingness on the 1080p screen. Diabolical. Looking on their website, hidden in the depths, they state that 6 or more dead/hot pixels qualify for a free return/replacement... That was posted in 2009 though... How they can legally set such arbitrary limits is beyond me.

                                                                    My 50mm F/1.4 lens gives some nice 'Bokeh'.

Naturally I argued against this 125 dead pixel policy, and eventually he agreed he would put in a 'request' for a free collection (for a refund, I wanted a replacement) against their standard £20 fee. They send out faulty products, then charge you to return them - makes sense?! In my final attempt I ended up talking to a 4th adviser, and now I hopefully have someone coming on Monday to replace the screen. Fingers crossed.

Because the Laptop was being delivered to a different house then where I usually reside, I had to catch the bus and train to get there - the sunset was taken through the bus window.

Oh and, **** you Dell.