Reading that first paragraph, you will have thought either “hmm, sounds plausible; Ruby could have a point there” or “That Ruby’s making stuff up again”. As you are all intelligent people and/or know me too well, I expect it was the latter, so I’ll give you the back story.

It was a response I posted to an online question asking why the Pacific Ocean is less salty than the Atlantic. I assumed everyone would see it as the tongue-in-cheek statement that it was. Apart from anything else, the obvious flaw in the argument is that the oceans were linked long before the Panama Canal was built. But one person did seem to either believe me, or think that I thought I was telling the truth, as one response asked for the source of this information.

I received an email telling me that my European Health Card (EHIC) was about to expire. I’m not planning any visits to Europe but thought I would renew it anyway. I followed the link and filled in my details. I was then asked how I wanted to pay the £19.99 fee. Whoa!! Roll back the truck!! Wasn’t there something on a consumer advice show about these dodgy sites that charge you for what you can get for free?

I was right. You don’t have to pay £19.99 at all. You can apply directly through the NHS website and get it free, gratis and for nothing. What’s more, my EHIC doesn’t even expire until August next year, so it’s hardly “about to expire”.

These sites aren’t illegal or fraudulent. They do what it says on the tin - supply me with a EHIC for £19.99. It would be fraud only if they took my money and ran. So long as they advise in the small print that the card can be obtained free of charge from the NHS they are able to trade. Even if, as in this case, the ‘Official NHS Site’ is written in a way that, at first glance, suggests that this site is an official NHS web site. Still slightly underhand and sneaky, however.

I did email and ask why I should pay them £19.99 for what I can get for free elsewhere. If I get a response I’ll let you know – but I’m not holding my breath.

Different people have different approaches to solving problems, as the following tale illustrates.

My postal address is very similar to that of another house, further down the street. From time to items of mail get mixed up – usually incorrectly addressed, occasionally incorrectly delivered. My approach is to take a short walk and put the mail through the correct letterbox. The other address’s approach is to write in big letters “Not this address” and put it back in the post. Seems to me that my approach is simpler to all concerned. It’s not as if my address is significantly further than the post box.

Reminds me of how some years ago I hadn’t received an expected item of mail – it contained a cheque, so I was quite keen to get it. After a week or so the sender remembered that he had put the wrong house number on the address. I trotted round to the address (about ten doors away) and asked if they’d received anything. “Oh yes,” they replied. “We looked in the phone book, saw the address we thought it should have gone to and put it back in the post”. I was slightly dumbfounded (if you can be slightly dumbfounded). Having gone to the trouble of finding the correct address, wouldn’t it have been easier to hand-deliver it? And this time, the correct address was much closer than the post box.