Invalidly Valid

I have spent the afternoon fruitlessly wrangling with financial Internet sites, first trying to buy something then trying to set up a PayPal account. I tried setting up a PayPal account 2-3 years ago, jumped a load of hurdles but fell at Verification: our joint bank account was already linked to major_clanger's PayPal account and could not be linked to a second PayPal account. So I just added my e-mail to his account, and we have been sharing.

Now I have a separate bank account, I thought it would be worth trying again. This time I got through several more hurdles, but stuck on the Direct Debit mandate. The trouble is that my bank's correct address is PO Box whatever, BX1 9ZZ. BX1 is not a geographical postcode; there is no city associated with it. PayPal insists, however, that I enter a valid city in the City field. I ended up going with 'not applicable' which was accepted though may trigger some error handling in the Royal Mail's automated address-reading system. This irks me!!

On the good side, while researching the postcode I found the Strange Maps blog, a fascinating collection of map representations of all kinds of information. If I were still working in large customer databases, I would be printing out the Postcode Map of Great Britain to stick on my wall :-)

Nagging feeling of something forgotten

Ah, it was the Cambridge Glass Fair. One of these years I'll get to it. (Have put reminder with URL in February slot in 43 folders)