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We have probably been down this road before but I'll start afresh anyway.
You visit a cafe, Costa that sort of thing. As you walk through the door its quite busy and you eyeball the empty seats. You are travelling solo. You go to the counter, order your beverage - skinny Mocha in my case [ Pat :) ]. You turn round and some slime ball has come in behind you and either dumped their bags on a vacant table or deposited one of their entourage and joined the queue behind you. Result - beverage in hand and nowhere to sit. Grrrrrrrr.
Last edited by: VxFan on Fri 1 Nov 13 at 01:11
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Easy answer - don't visit these "posh" coffee outlets - overpriced and underwhelming, I think.
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If there is an empty seat sit on it. The customers don't own them. One of my favourite hobbies.
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I have this issue in Wetherspoons especially in Central London. If travelling Solo if some of the other pubs seem expensive I will go to Wetherspoons for lunch before checking into the hotel. In Wetherspoons you have to tell the bar staff your table number the problem is by the time you have ordered the food and told the staff your table number the table has been taken.
In Costa it is not so much of a problem because you can order the drink before you choose a seat. There was actually protests the other day in my area as Whitbread are opening up a Costa. it has almost caused riots.
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Why not leave your coat, less valuables, on the seat while you order?
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Because somebody will probably knick my coat! If I have a cheap on I may do, but if coat costs £200 I won't risk it plus it is a massive hassle removing valuables.
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>> Because somebody will probably knick my coat! If I have a cheap on I may
>> do, but if coat costs £200 I won't risk it plus it is a massive
>> hassle removing valuables.
you have got a 200 quid coat?
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I would want four for that!
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Just a standard Berghaus not sure how much they cost, it was a present.
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>> Why not leave your coat, less valuables, on the seat while you order?
>>
And ask the people at the adjacent table if they "would keep an eye on my coat, please"?
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Costas.....I stopped off in Porthmadog a fortnight ago - it was around 8.30am and I was yearning a coffee....I walked down the High Street and found a local cafe (The Rock) selling a choice of Takeaway Coffees...I bought one for £1.85 and it was lovely..It was then, as I sat in my truck listening to the radio, I noticed school children and others carrying Costa Coffee beakers (and later found the shop as I drove out) - God knows how much more they paid for the privilege..
Although I do agree with the sitting thing though
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I think I paid £3.00 for a hot chocolate on the Ferry coming back from France but on a ferry it is to be expected. Strangely the Costa Cofee on the ferry also sold alcohol.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Sun 27 Oct 13 at 17:51
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>> We have probably been down this road before but I'll start afresh anyway.
>>
>> You visit a cafe, Costa that sort of thing. As you walk through the door
>> its quite busy and you eyeball the empty seats. You are travelling solo. You go
>> to the counter, order your beverage - skinny Mocha in my case [ Pat :)
>> ]. You turn round and some slime ball has come in behind you and either
>> dumped their bags on a vacant table or deposited one of their entourage and joined
>> the queue behind you. Result - beverage in hand and nowhere to sit. Grrrrrrrr.
Yup that was me. We always go in, grab the seat first then order the coffee. Sorry mush, you gotta learn to play the game.
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People putting out their recycling bins when 80 mph gales are forecast.
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>> People putting out their recycling bins when 80 mph gales are forecast.
The dustmen who don't put them back where they found them, or on the rare occasion if they do, in an untidy fashion.
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So, have the gales happened Dave?
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Nope, calm as you like at the moment. The only thing with any velocity behind it at the moment is the rain that's coming down.
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That's good, I was a little concerned for my parents. Hopefully it'll stay that way.
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>> We have probably been down this road before but I'll start afresh anyway.
>>
>> You visit a cafe, Costa that sort of thing. As you walk through the door
>> its quite busy and you eyeball the empty seats. You are travelling solo.
Presumably, if you weren't travelling solo then you would have deposited one of your own entourage as I would?
I agree that bag/coat dumping is annoying - like putting towels on sunbeds during the night.
Actually those coffee places seem designed to annoy in nearly every way - the necessity to decode the menu, ask for something basic by a stupid name, pay an exorbitant price, hunt the accessories, find a seat amongst the types who seem to have taken up residence surrounded by all their possessions so that one of them occupies a whole table, then drink the usually carp coffee.
McDonalds coffee is better anyway. I only use the other places when I have to humour somebody else.
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>> Actually those coffee places seem designed to annoy in nearly every way ...
>> pay an exorbitant price
Was very extravagant this morning at Asda, splashed out £4 on a 200g jar of Nescafe Black Gold as it was reduced from £6+.
:)
Last edited by: Focusless on Sun 27 Oct 13 at 18:03
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>> McDonalds coffee is better anyway. I only use the other places when I have to
>> humour somebody else.
Only the cappuccino, the regular coffee is scalding tasteless she-ite.
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>>
>> >> McDonalds coffee is better anyway. I only use the other places when I have
>> to
>> >> humour somebody else.
>>
>> Only the cappuccino, the regular coffee is scalding tasteless she-ite.
>>
I know a few people who work at McDonalds (the head office, not restaurants...) and apparently the machines they use are optimised around a cappucino
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Thanks to a coffee addicted colleague in work I have a near endless supply of MickeyD free coffee vouchers....not paid for one for a couple of years.
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According to my Italian colleagues, you just mustn't drink cappucino unless you are a girl and even then only if it's before 11.00 AM.
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Coffee, all the same to me tried various types in various countries. Never found one I'd like to try a second time. For something annoying try getting a decent tea when out and about or even a reasonable selection. Would it kill to have some breakfast tea or assam?
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Pleasantly surprised the other week when I just missed a late train at Paddington and McD's was the only place open to sit in while I waited an hour for the next one. Their tea - a PG Tips bag in a large paper cup of hot water - may not be prizewinning stuff but the water was properly hot and the milk wasn't UHT, so it was at least palatable, and the seats and the floor were clean.
Nowhere to pee at that time of night, though - not ideal when the earlier part of the evening was spent in the pub.
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UHT = Ultra Horrible Taste. I go to Birmingham about once a month and usually go to the McDonald Burlington Hotel on New Street, for decent coffee. Suddenly they have given up and gone Costa, in cups at least but dire cofee
Last edited by: Meldrew on Sun 27 Oct 13 at 19:23
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I was around my friend’s flat this afternoon and she always has an elaborate range of coffees, including ground and beans that she puts in a grinder. She’s got this Italian silver pot thing that you put on the gas and it guggles up from the bottom to the top. It makes quite a nice sound but the coffee is always too strong for me but she remembers to put extra water in mine. To be honest I prefer a cup of instant Nescafe but I have to be appreciative of her efforts. She doesn’t like instant coffee but oddly she uses it in cooking. She says using instant really works. She made me this lovely coffee and walnut cake to take back home, absolutely lovely it was – still is in fact, plenty left over for another day!
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I have been experimenting for years with percolators, cafetiere, filter machines, instant and I have finished up with the Italian screw together stove top one, a Baretti. I use freshly ground coffee and the trick seems to be, if you don't want the coffee too strong, fill the base with water but do not totally fill the funnel thing full. It is, after, all designed for making espresso which is strong. I bought a "6 Cup" one and it makes me one mug of coffee so don't be tricked into buying one too small for your needs!
Last edited by: Meldrew on Sun 27 Oct 13 at 19:42
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Baretti, the name rings a bell, that's what she has. It has all these various parts, seems too much hassle to me when you can delve into the instant jar in seconds.
Coffee and walnut cake is my favorite. Don't think I've ever had carrot cake. Really, carrot cake? Who came up with that idea? Might have to try it sometime.
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Don't think I've ever had carrot cake. Really,
>> carrot cake? Who came up with that idea? Might have to try it sometime.
Grab one from Lidl's, ridiculously cheap and very good, and whilst there if you haven't done so before grab a pot of their strawberry jam and spread liberally on your next toast doorstep, bliss.
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>> I have been experimenting for years with percolators, cafetiere, filter machines, instant and I have
>> finished up with the Italian screw together stove top one, a Baretti.
Bialetti, Shirley?
Recently ordered a 6 cup induction one - doesn't come in the original octagonal style though.
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Yes! I knew it was something-etti
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... Italian screw together stove top one, a Baretti.
Bialetti, as the sirenian points out. And stick to the 60g coffee per kilo of water rule (I'm guessing that's 18g and 300g for a six-cup pot, based on what I use for nine) or it'll taste thin and sour. That's a good strength for after dinner, but if you prefer something less bracing during the day, just dilute it with hot water. Fine pieces of kit that reward a bit of trouble taken getting to know them.
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Percolator, used to have one, haven't seen one for years, and cake has to be carrot cake, yummy.
Favourite of all time were the Berni Inns floater coffees, liked Berni's a lot, much more intimate than modern steak houses.
Will not pay Costalot/Strawbacks joke prices for their silly coffee shop themed experience, want a cup of coffee not shares in the site.
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>> Percolator, used to have one, haven't seen one for years, and cake has to be
>> carrot cake, yummy.
Vegetables have no place in cake.
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Dualit still sell a chrome percolator - about £60. I might dig mine out and try it with fresh ground coffee; the principle is right so perhaps my supermarket ready ground coffee is the problem?
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Bought a bean to cup machine about 5 years back. One of my better buys as it makes a fantastic cup of coffee and has paid for itself several times over
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We have a Bialetti, it won't balance on the gas hob so we have to use a convection plate. The cafetiere is mostly used, it knocks up about a litre, I think. Came home from the lakes last week with half a kilo of Farrars no. 1 ground, from Kendal. Looking forward to starting it when the current bag is finished.
SWM prefers instant or tea. Cake ? Genoa with cherries every time for me. Can't stand Macs coffee or tea. Fortunately plenty of places for a good cup in the City. There's a mobile coffee stall on the corner of Piccadilly outside Santander. They do an excellent Mocha to go for a quid.
Ted
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We have a well-used, smallish Bialetti too. It makes the coffee very strong but that's the way I like it. I put milk in mine, Herself takes it black with a bit of hot water to thin it out a bit. Neither of us put sugar in it.
Without that and the paper every morning I would feel odd.
When pushed, or in London for the weekend, we don't mind filter coffee. But we put a lot more coffee in than most people.
Gave up grinding our own years ago. Lavazza rossa ground is fine. I usually put some of another kind of coffee in the Bialetti with it. Blend sort of thing. Works for me.
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I'm not a great fan of coffee - unless it is Spanish bar coffee -at about 1.5 euros for a cup (less in places).
At home it's instant only and Carte Noire only. Nothing else.
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Just had a mug of coffee from the Dualit Perker. Tastes OK and has the advantage that Mug 2 stays hot while you drink Mug 1. Coffee is Strength 3 beans and fresh ground
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MJW, listen to Auntie Pat, you've pulled!
You may not realise it yet but you have, so forget the age difference, don't waste anymore tome and do something about it:)
Pat
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Litter annoys me if I let it. At least once a week I can find a McDonalds bag or box in the ditch outside, and we are probably 10 miles from the nearest outlet. The stuff lobbed out of cars everywhere is unbelievable, as it the rubbish dropped in town centres.
As Paxo said on the box this morning, the underlying attitude is the concern - the chucker wants the litter away from them, but they don't care that it is around somebody else. Moronic behaviour. The Bakewell who presented the piece is "optimistic" - no idea why, people are infinitely disappointing.
Soppy dog owners annoy me too. Nauseating.
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Accessory handbag dogs. Not the dogs fault.
Ad rubbish in the hills. Why can morons carry a full pop bottle up a hill but fail to carry an empty one down? Same goes for crisp packets, energy gel sachets and unsightly banana skins (jam them out of sight in a dry stone wall, if you must, to decompose, but that's too much bother). Sadly I always return home with some other person's rubbish, and have had several up close confrontations with these idiots. This is my playground and you are not going to spoil it.
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People ( especially those at my table ) who make or take mobile phone calls in restaurants.
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People fidgeting with their phones when they're supposed to be talking to me. I'm utterly at a loss to know what to do when I'm travelling back from a meeting with a colleague, and they begin fussing with their phone. Particularly if they're doing personal stuff.
I have no bugbear with doing personal stuff during work time; (nor the quid pro quo of work stuff during personal time). Perhaps I can see that they need to check their work messages ahead of being polite to me. But organising their social life?
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You could always try this, MM, (although not sure if yellow is your colour).
Runs 38 seconds.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JGV72qbEgU
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I can't understand it when people of my generation (I'm retired) feel the need to check the damn things every few minutes - they let you know if you've a call or text and there's nothing worth looking at on facebook that can't wait. They can't even use a lot of the facilities.
I've a simple mobile 'phone that only gets turned on when I leave the house. If anyone wants me when I'm out, they can leave a message on my landline or call my mobile.
I saw a funny example on a train where someone was holding a loud, private conversation. Another passenger held an imaginary communicator to their ear and started an even louder, long 'status update'. I can remember it starting: "Planet earth to planet Zog, planet earth to planet Zog. The natives are backward, who feel the need to shout communication even when they have crude technical devices that can do it discreetly.................etc."
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I was in a train a few weeks ago and there was a lady talking really loudly to her travelling companion, not on a mobile but face to face. In the end I asked her "Do you talk with your mouth full?" No, she replied, that would be very rude. I then asked her if I could buy her a sandwich from the trolley! Volume reduced somewhat
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How rude. Could it have been that her travelling companion was a little deaf?
Pat
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>> How rude. Could it have been that her travelling companion was a little deaf?
>>
>> Pat
>>
Could it have been a Melders leg pull?
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I am deaf and she was giving me earache and XS volume!
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>>
>>
>> the end I asked her "Do you talk with your mouth full?"
>
There is of course a very ride version of that well used joke
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people that make "champing" noises whilst eating or chew with their mouths open! - even as a "guest" at other" folks houses I have politely folded my cutlery and excused myself from eating with them, much to my other half's disgruntlement.
Last edited by: devonite on Mon 28 Oct 13 at 14:50
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>> People fidgeting with their phones when they're supposed to be talking to me. I'm utterly
>> at a loss to know what to do when I'm travelling back from a meeting
>> with a colleague, and they begin fussing with their phone. Particularly if they're doing personal
>> stuff.
>>
>> I have no bugbear with doing personal stuff during work time; (nor the quid pro
>> quo of work stuff during personal time). Perhaps I can see that they need to
>> check their work messages ahead of being polite to me. But organising their social life?
Perhaps they are driven to the phone by your riveting personality and sparkling conversation?
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Bad table manners are #1 in my book of annoyances.
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Currently DRL's. And,
Sub Contractors who when late do not inform the relevant people. And,
Sub Contractors who try and 'lever' the spec'. And,
Marks and Sparks clothing (they should have given up years ago). And,
People who brake unnecessarily when you overtake. Oh! And,
Ruddy fog lights.
There's loads more, but time is tight and I will have to climb the wooden hill before too long. Dogs out now. Tea to be made for management. You know how it is.
Night.
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Drivers whose road behaviour shows they haven't looked as far ahead as I have.
Letting agents, currently.
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>> Letting agents, currently.
>>
A certain very large countrywide letting agent has been annoying me for and my daughter for three years.
They choose to sub contract the inventory /condition checks to a company that claims are fantastic and part of a multi Billion US company.
IMO the reports are superficially pretty but actually all but useless.
The pretty stationary is not fit for purpose before any content.
The quality and accuracy of the content is bad with errors on almost all pages except for the legal pages.
They do not know what a spell checker is. Inaccurate descriptions, omissions totally wrong items etc. etc. e.g
A washing machine was replaced but cut n paste from previous report was used. Items in their photos but not listed.
Just looking at the paperwork , without visiting the property, it is easy to see they do not check anything in their document.
I happened to be onsite last time and even though I pointed out things the "person" still got things wrong.
Thank goodness the let ends in five months time. I will send a stropogram to the board members but am not expecting any real result but I cannot let it just rest.
rant over
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Yes, letting agents.
My ex and her partner trusted the last one when his house was rented out. They took a full inventory, but when the tenants left failed to notice the scorch marks on the kitchen work surface, extensive torn wallpaper , two broken doors, cracked wc cistern top and broken washer. Then happily repaid the £800 bond to the tenants.
After 12 months it required completely redecorating (it took me 2 full weeks) and four figures to put right the faults. They never got the bond back and put it down to experience. Now if it had been my property....terriers and rats spring to mind.
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>> They took a full inventory
But did you get 30 plus pages of pretty paper with double spaced text Plus lots of little low definition photos with no reference on them ? This was for a minimally / sparsely furnished flat with all cupboards empty and only fixed appliances.
>> Then happily repaid the £800 bond to the tenants.
To date we have been lucky with no real damage.( cross fingers as the final tenants are one month into their six month contract - all paid in advance )
Luck of the draw- power shower, Fridge/ freezer , washing machine and oven all failed and were replaced. Boiler failed/ repaired so only the gas hob survives.
Previously an Ikea double mattress had a large non wine red stain in the middle which was in one of their many photos but no comments. I had to dispose of the item and trek to Ikea for a replacement but eventually we did at least get some bond money back.
In five months time I will back to DIY mode sorting things out :-(
That's what dads are for ?
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Insurance companies that sell you bogus products which are useless in the event of a claim (they did offer me a partial refund) lets just say I think PPI is just the tip of the ice berg!! I won't say much more as I am still dealing with the issue but lets just say having protected no claims discount doesn't actually protect your no claims at all with some companies and am now £110 poorer.
People who park up for ages and live their head lights on at night causing an unnecessary dazzling hazard.
People who think because they drive an Audi they can park on double yellow lines causing a massive traffic jam just so they can buy their fried chicken from god knows what new take away has opened up this week.
People who like chart music and dismiss anything else as been old fashioned!
Bar staff who put in the till you bought some expensive drink when you asked for and get Carlsberg, must be a scam this club is pulling! I would have argued but I was frankly too drunk to argue in a noisy club.
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>>Sub contractors who
Contractors who don't come and knock your door to thank you for recommending them to nearby friends or neighbours. Particularly when those recommendations (quite a few) have resulted in them securing work worth many thousands of pounds.
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>> People ( especially those at my table ) who make or take mobile phone calls
>> in restaurants.
>>
A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I enjoyed a meal at an Indian restaurant with my parents. My mother's mobile went off. My mother took the call. It was my sister - just telephoning to say 'hello'. The telephone was passed around so we could all say 'hello' to my sister.
I felt the whole thing was very poor manners, but being a dutiful son, I really didn't think that it was appropriate to tell my mother what I thought.
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>> I felt the whole thing was very poor manners, but being a dutiful son, I
>> really didn't think that it was appropriate to tell my mother what I thought.
Hmm. That got me thinking. There may well be an argument against - your mother will have learnt her manners (I expect) well before the digital/mobile phone revolution. In the days when telephones were something special, out of the ordinary. Behaviours and manners evolve in society over time, and perhaps the older generation do occasionally need updating on what is and isn't done. No better person to do that than their children really, paying them back for the time and effort they spent educating us in good behaviour and manners.
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>>No better person to do that than their children really, paying them back for the time and effort they spent educating us in good behaviour and manners.
Oh well, I suppose I'll have to try.
But I draw the line at trying to teach my Dad good manners. He really is incorrigible.
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"Keep Calm and Carry On". And all the variations it has spawned.
Barf.
Blah Blah and Some Bowlocks or Other.
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>> "Keep Calm and Carry On". And all the variations it has spawned.
>>
All notices intended to be funny.
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Tax (and all forms of it disguised as some other charge while they are just taxes).
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People who sit in their own little bubble and fail to see the wider picture.
Example: The something and nothing comments from those not in the path of yesterdays storm, despite death and disruption caused to so many others.
And..... categorizing. (pedant alert, I know!)
Example: People who live in council houses all wear shell suits, smoke, drink and don't work.
And..... cold calls on both landline and mobile phones, it's MY number, leave me alone.
Pat
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If you don't like them, don't use them.
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I do try very hard not to.
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People who insist on having long conversations by text instead of dialing my number and talking.
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Toilets where the lights go off due to the motion sensors not picking up anyone moving.
Then trying to guess when you've wiped enough by the lack of 'slippage'
:-)
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People who give you to much information.
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People who think they are snobs.People who want all your information and give none.People who stand back and let somebody else take the hit.Cold calls.Texting instead of talking.
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>> People who think they are snobs.
I don't think anyone actually thinks he is a snob, surely? I thought snobs imagined they were the real thing but are sadly wrong.
Or are there people who like to think they are snobs, but underneath they can't help betraying that really they are upper-class?
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>> Toilets where the lights go off due to the motion sensors not picking up anyone
>> moving.
>>
>> Then trying to guess when you've wiped enough by the lack of 'slippage'
remind me not to shake your hand if we meet.
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>> Children
Ha ha, well yes but parents choose to have children, children do not choose to have parents ;-)
Actually my parents are not bad at all, in fact they have been very supportive as I wanted to pursue a different path to what they would have expected or wanted for me.
>> don't waste anymore tome and do something about it:)
I think you’re right. That cake was amazing ;-)
Things that annoy me:
People who do not wash their hands in the gents at work. Did their parents not teach them?
People who do not follow up their actions from meetings without good reason. Quite funny watching the squirming and uneasy expressions as they give their pathetic reasons.
People who do not deliver on what they said they would.
People who do not acknowledge you when you walk into the office or say goodbye.
People who leave the office kitchen in a state they wouldn’t at home.
People who don’t replace the paper in the printer.
People who don’t admit they’re wrong even when proven otherwise.
People who always think ‘someone else will do it’ e.g. organising Christmas party. ME AGAIN!!! cos no-one else can be bothered.
People who moan about decisions made at the club AGM but can never be bothered to turn up and be part of the process.
People who let their dog crap and don’t clean it up.
Kids who pee in the swimming pool.
General rudeness, inconsiderate behaviour.
People who borrow something and either forget to return it or return it in a worse state than when it went out e.g. power tools
But the big one that really gets me annoyed is people wasting food for no good reason. Sometimes the family all go to Jimmy’s, you pay I think it’s a tenner and can go up to the buffet as many times as you want, so why do people take more than they can eat? What a waste when so many in the World don’t have enough to eat or access to clean water, it really makes me cross.
I’ve just noticed that all my annoyances relate to other people’s behaviour. Maybe everyone else is right and I’m a societal mis-fit???? Maybe I need to live on another planet all on my own! Beam me up.
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TV presenters on shows who always seem to drive around in new Defender 110's & Discovery's. Expensive outdoor gear (Fjall Raven on Autumn Watch). I hope that the 'product placement' is donated and not paid for by us BBC licence payers.
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>> TV presenters on shows who always seem to drive around in new Defender 110's &
>> Discovery's. Expensive outdoor gear (Fjall Raven on Autumn Watch).
The BBC got a large amount of outerwear from Berghaus - not sure if they still do.
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"People who borrow something and either forget to return it or return it in a worse state than when it went out e.g. power tools"
Well, not strictly true as I do not lend to anyone anymore. I'm pretty self sufficient in ladders, drills, jacks, oil filter remover etc. etc. gathered over maybe 40 years of DIY work. But I haven't lent anything for maybe 15 years now as time and time again I had to either chase to get them back or got them in a damaged state.
As for books.... well I've lost a lot of those.
SWMBO is of the same view since an iron came back all brown and sticky.
We just do not lend at all. No exceptions. Miserable s*ds maybe, but we know were every thing is and that it works.
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>> Toilets where the lights go off due to the motion sensors not picking up anyone
>> moving.
>>
>> Then trying to guess when you've wiped enough by the lack of 'slippage'
>>
That's what the motion sensor does, perhaps? :)
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A lack of Rachel Riley on every TV channel.
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Crikey, yes. Check out Countdown from 23 October while it's still on 4OD and see if you can still concentrate on the numbers.
}8---O
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Just looked - nowt special!
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>> Just looked - nowt special!
>>
You looked at the wrong Riley I think...
Lygonos didn't mean this one... youtu.be/-BtV0v4oM68
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More Roger's type and age.....
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhEkv2-HIpg
Ted
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Readers' Granny page that one?
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>> Just looked - nowt special!
+1.
She also spoils the Gadget Show.
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The baldy speccy guy on the Gadget Show.
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Misused capital letters
};---)
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A wife who puts liquid antiseptic soap which looks like mouthwash into a bottle that looks like a listerine bottle and then leaves it next to my washbasin where I find it at 6:00am this morning.
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A wife who put my wok in the dishwasher
*$£&%^$&%$
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>> A wife who puts liquid antiseptic soap which looks like mouthwash into a bottle that
>> looks like a listerine bottle and then leaves it next to my washbasin where I
>> find it at 6:00am this morning.
Maybe she thinks you swear a lot ;)
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>>Misused capital letters
Sentences ending without a full stop.
;-)
Last edited by: Clk Sec on Wed 30 Oct 13 at 12:10
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>> >>Misused capital letters
>>
>> Sentences ending without a full stop.
>> ;-)
>>
Sentence? What sentence?
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people who get upset about punctuation and grammar on internet forums. "Get a life" springs to mind.
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You've missed the smileys, Zeddo.
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Forget about the forum for a minute, Z. My job is to win business from household-name customers, which involves preparing a lot of material, typically in Powerpoint and Word. And there are people in these companies - I've met them - whose attention you can lose completely with one piece of sloppy grammar or proofreading, or a 'leverage synergies going forward'. It does matter, and I also like to respect people's time by writing stuff that I wouldn't mind reading myself, and there's a reason English has conventions on which words to capitalize.
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>> Forget about the forum for a minute, Z. My job is to win business from
>> household-name customers, which involves preparing a lot of material, typically in Powerpoint and Word. And
>> there are people in these companies - I've met them - whose attention you can
>> lose completely with one piece of sloppy grammar or proofreading, or a 'leverage synergies going
>> forward'. It does matter, and I also like to respect people's time by writing stuff
>> that I wouldn't mind reading myself, and there's a reason English has conventions on which
>> words to capitalize.
I too produced reports, proposals, emails and letters to customers. It goes without saying I proof read each before it was dispatched and each was a paragon of correctness. The same goes for my CV, being grammatically faultless. But on here? no it really does not matter, not a single jot, and to get upset about it, in this informal forum, is really incomprehensible.
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Another way to respect people's time is not to regurgitate the whole of the post immediately above your own.
Anyway, the thread isn't about what annoys us on the Internet, because we began with an example about coffee shops. What I didn't say before is that I don't just write my own material for customers; I have the pleasure of compiling and editing contributions from the rest of the team. I don't generally mind, because it means the stuff goes out looking as I want it to, but the process can take a long time when there are schoolboy errors to correct.
For what it's worth, the Guardian style guide offers this:
Times have changed since the days of medieval manuscripts with elaborate hand-illuminated capital letters, or Victorian documents in which not just proper names, but virtually all nouns, were given initial caps (a Tradition valiantly maintained to this day by Estate Agents).
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>> Another way to respect people's time is not to regurgitate the whole of the post
>> immediately above your own.
You mean someone who complies other people work is incapable of visually instantly scanning out the clearly obvious (because it is very clearly marked) quote from the previous post? And quite honestly, if you are on here, you have time to waste.
And if the thread isn't about what annoys us on the internet, why did you bring it up then? Its not as tho I conjured my reply from the ether, especially as you complained about me quoting it.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 30 Oct 13 at 16:32
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>> Its not as tho I conjured my reply from the ether,
>> especially as you complained about me quoting it.
Which reminds me - what is the difference between the Higgs field and the outdated "aether" then? Feels pretty similar to me.
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>> Which reminds me - what is the difference between the Higgs field and the outdated
>> "aether" then? Feels pretty similar to me.
A?
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And quite honestly, if you are on here, you have time to waste.
A little, Z, on quieter days like today. (Other days you won't see me here at all.) But I don't want to waste all of it on you. And yes, of course I can unpick the illiteracies and the superfluous verbiage; what I'm objecting to - not getting upset about - is the attitude that the extra time it takes me to read the stuff is worth less than the time it would take you to write it better - as you've admitted you can when it suits you.
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>> - not getting upset about - is the attitude that the extra time it takes
>> me to read the stuff is worth less than the time it would take you
>> to write it better - as you've admitted you can when it suits you.
So you think your time is worth more than mine?
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>>
>> >> - not getting upset about - is the attitude that the extra time it
>> takes
>> >> me to read the stuff is worth less than the time it would take
>> you
>> >> to write it better - as you've admitted you can when it suits you.
>>
>>
>> So you think your time is worth more than mine?
Edit
Of course time is not the point, because it doesn't take any more time to read and digest my posts than it does anyone else's, despite occasionally quoting too much of a previous post (sometimes required given the way this forum is laid out) and sometimes having typos.
The point is you are just being pedantic for the sake of it. And that really annoys me.
And such pedantry has driven away many a contributor to this forum.
But my main gripe is the crap amount of time you get to edit posts.
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No. My point is that courtesy is based on consideration, which means for that moment placing the other person's needs ahead of our own. So we hold the door, we offer the last chocolate biscuit, we give the guest the best chair, we take our turn to make the tea even if we're the boss. And I treat your time as if it were more valuable than mine. Your persona's refusal to reciprocate comes across as boorishness.
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>> No. My point is that courtesy is based on consideration, which means for that moment
>> placing the other person's needs ahead of our own. So we hold the door, we
>> offer the last chocolate biscuit, we give the guest the best chair, we take our
>> turn to make the tea even if we're the boss. And I treat your time
>> as if it were more valuable than mine. Your persona's refusal to reciprocate comes across
>> as boorishness.
And you are making mountains out of molehills, inventing consequences from issues that don't really exist, knowing full well the odd typo is nothing like letting a door slam in your face, or hogging the last chocolate biccy. In effect demanding that everything is written the way you like it.
Now how does that rank on the scale of boorishness? You are horns and antlers above the herd in that respect my dear fellow.
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Bored now. Let's leave it there and let the others comment if they want to.
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no problem, I'll leave you with the ever so juvenile and glib
"whatever"
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time when there are schoolboy errors to correct.
>>
>> For what it's worth, the Guardian style guide offers this:
>> Times have changed since the days of medieval manuscripts with elaborate hand-illuminated capital letters, or
>> Victorian documents in which not just proper names, but virtually all nouns, were given initial
>> caps (a Tradition valiantly maintained to this day by Estate Agents).
.............and Germans.
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>> people who get upset about punctuation and grammar on internet forums.
People who get upset on internet forums.
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>> and there's a reason English has conventions on which words to capitalize.
But not really that important on an internet forum or in a text between friends, surely?
Last edited by: Clk Sec on Wed 30 Oct 13 at 14:26
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I wonder why European languages have both upper & lower cases. Far eastern languages have only one case.
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>>
>> But not really that important on an internet forum or in a text between friends,
>> surely?
>>
Unless something is written properly I find it irritating to read, whether internet or text. There are a few otherwise useful forums I've given up on because reading through the juvenile grammar and spelling simply made them hard going.
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I like to scan read internet posting quickly - and re-read gems - slowly.
I therefore dislike:
Capitals and no lower case
Lack of punctuation
Long paragraphs
Repeated misspelling - the occasional slip means nothing.
I refuse to read ad hominem remarks, repeated swearing and a mass of text.
As for spelling, it is quite clearly not taught as it used to be. Most of what I read which is misspelt would have ensured the perpetrator passed no exams in my day. Harumph!:-)
Last edited by: madf on Wed 30 Oct 13 at 15:36
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While in the UK my children had weekly spelling tests of 20 words from the age of 5.
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>> While in the UK my children had weekly spelling tests of 20 words from the
>> age of 5.
>>
How long ago was that and was it at a local primary?
Need to check what happens in primary but in secondary school teachers are discouraged from correcting more than 3 spelling errors in a page, which even in the top groups doesn't get far down the page from my observation.
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Youngest was 5 in 2007.
Not a local primary, a private school.
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>> Not a local primary, a private school.
>>
Thought it might be :-)
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Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness.
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I don’t like eating in restaurants. As I tell my wife, we get better food at home, although she seems less flattered by this than I would expect, especially around birthday and anniversary times These are things that annoy me about them:
-Paper napkins.
-“Enjoy your meal.” Sounds like someone addressing a pig at its trough
-Food served on a bit of wood or a cast-off roofing slate
-Dry food served in a soup plate, , making it difficult to excavate.
-Background music
-“Do you want any sauces at all?” No, not at all, especially not in those finger-smearing plastic sachets
-Fish served black skin side up, looks nasty
-Fish or meat served on top of vegetables, which are then steamed soggy
-“’s everything all right?” *Everything* is never all right. It can easily be all wrong
-“Music”
-Attempts to extract a tip when the menu says “Service included”
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And proof reader's error.
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>> restaurants.
>>
>> -Background music
>>
>> -“Music”.
Yup.
Actually, I don't mind restaurants, though I'm not particularly enthusiastic about eating out. But background music in restaurants does annoy me.
I have, on several occasions, walked into a restaurant with the intention of having a meal, and left without ordering because of the background music.
On at least one occasion, I asked if the music could be turned down.
While eating breakfast at a B&B, I once asked the owner if it would be possible for the radio to be turned off. (She was a bit taken aback, but complied.)
I am, however, inconsistent. I don't tend to have a problem with the music that is played in Indian restaurants. In fact, if the music is foreign or ancient, I tend to find it quite acceptable.
Last edited by: tyro on Wed 30 Oct 13 at 18:26
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>> background music in restaurants does annoy me.
'Muzak' - that formless crap they play in chain eateries, what Americans call 'elevator music' - is awful. One tries not to eat in such places except in the morning. However there are restaurants that play proper real music. Then it just depends on your tastes.
What one really doesn't want is a live band unless it's a really good one. Carphounds with violins closing in on you and eyeing the old lady... enough to put anyone off their food.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Wed 30 Oct 13 at 19:50
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"music in restaurants does annoy me"
Doesn't really bother me.
But music in minicabs.... why is it always club music? No lyrics, no melodies, no harmonies, just 'NERRRRR NERRRRR NERRRRR NERRRRR NERRRRR NERRRRR NERRRRR NERRRRR'
I was in one a couple of weeks ago. I was shattered, I'd worked late, I was catching a plane at 5 in the morning and I was sitting in a minicab at half three listening to 'NERRRRR NERRRRR NERRRRR NERRRRR NERRRRR NERRRRR NERRRRR NERRRRR'
Whether it's a late friday night, or early in the morning, or midday on the way to a meeting, London or Warsaw, with your wife, or with your children, or your mother-in-law - in a minicab it's 'NERRRRR NERRRRR NERRRRR NERRRRR NERRRRR NERRRRR NERRRRR NERRRRR'
Minicab drivers playing that rubbish need to be murdered gruesomely.
And while I'm at it, minicab drivers who hang a vile-smelling fragrant christmas tree dangling from the mirror - makes me want to gag.
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>> "Keep Calm and Carry On". And all the variations it has spawned.
>>
>> Barf.
>>
>> Blah Blah and Some Bowlocks or Other.
>>
Yes, how times change. When this site first started if I were to have written Bowlocks I would have been 'Keel hauled'. Funny innit?
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People who sit at red lights with their foot on the brake rather than use their handbrake. Love having my eyeballs burnt out by the guy in front's nice eye level super bright LED lamps. Really enjoying these darker evenings.....
The other one that really gets me is the guy who decides, at the last moment, that he needs this motorway exit although he's doing 90 in the outside lane and has had signs telling him the junction is coming up for a good mile and to get there he MUST pass between me and the guy in front even though there's no one behind me for half a mile. Touch the brakes a bit and pass safely in the big gap behind me, oh, no, might cost him a split second on his journey...
Last edited by: Cockle on Wed 30 Oct 13 at 20:33
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>> Love having my eyeballs burnt out by the guy in front's nice eye
>> level super bright LED lamps. Really enjoying these darker evenings.....
Is there any reason for you to be staring into them instead of looking elsewhere?
Do you also stare directly at the sun when on the rare occasion it makes an appearance?
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>> People who sit at red lights with their foot on the brake rather than use
>> their handbrake. Love having my eyeballs burnt out by the guy in front's nice eye
>> level super bright LED lamps. Really enjoying these darker evenings.....
>>
Don't look at them/stop further back/get your eyes checked.
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>>
>> Don't look at them/stop further back/get your eyes checked.
I'm with Cockle. Why do it? I don't. No point being annoyed though as there are so many ignorant or inconsiderate slobs who do it.
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>> Why do it?
Because it's less time consuming than moving the gear lever from D to N (or P) and pulling on the handbrake. Then to pull away again, first I have to put my foot on the brake pedal to disengage the gear lever lock and then release the handbrake.
I don't consider it inconsiderate at all. Would you sooner I go through the above procedure while you're waiting impatiently behind me to pull away, or for me to just simply take my foot off the brake pedal and pull away?
Personally I find it annoying waiting behind someone to pull away while they faff about engaging gear and taking off the handbrake. By the time some of them have done it, the traffic lights have started changing back to red again and only one or two cars have progressed forward.
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Any competent driver can pull away without delay and without sitting with foot on brake.
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>> Any competent driver can pull away without delay and without sitting with foot on brake.
>>
But driving an automatic? Would you really use the parking brake at every set of traffic lights?
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At traffic lights locally, where I have a reasonable idea of the delay, I tailor my handbrake/footbrake actions to suit.
At unknown locations I go by the length of the queue in front and by the proximity of cars behind me!
Thread drift - Most of the time I now use left foot braking and my brake application is getting more in line with my right foot's learnt responses/pressure.
I have decided I should have gone auto years ago!
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>> >> Any competent driver can pull away without delay and without sitting with foot on
>> brake.
>> >>
>>
>> But driving an automatic? Would you really use the parking brake at every set of
>> traffic lights?
Not invariably, but certainly for a long wait or when I would otherwise be shining brake lights in somebody's face in the dark.
It's not hard. And what else would I be doing, other than keeping my foot on the brake?
I suppose if you need both hands to text, or unwrap another Wurthers, it's a bit of an imposition.
You can still leave it in gear if you like, and keep the clutch depressed if it's a Manuel.
Presumably using the handbrake is even less bother with the electronic ones, but I wouldn't know.
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"Not invariably, but certainly for a long wait or when I would otherwise be shining brake lights in somebody's face in the dark."
So when driving through stop start traffic in a built up area you accept that illuminated brake lights are an inevitable part of night time driving and not something that should really annoy you
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>> "Not invariably, but certainly for a long wait or when I would otherwise be shining
>> brake lights in somebody's face in the dark."
>>
>> So when driving through stop start traffic in a built up area you accept that
>> illuminated brake lights are an inevitable part of night time driving and not something that
>> should really annoy you
What's your point? The operative word in the sentence you quote was "or".
Of course I accept that brake lights are part of driving, I just think it's inconsiderate needlessly to subject other people to them at close quarters, when they are trying to see, and when it's unnecessary and easily avoidable.
What's to argue about? You think it's a good thing?
All I said was I agree with Cockle that it's unpleasant, and I avoid doing it to other people.
Others have come up with all sorts of excuses for being inconsiderate that just don't wash. I'd rather they just said they can't be bothered.
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Ok, fair enough.
I can't be bothered.
Nor can I be bothered to bother about whether anyone else has their brake lights on. It just doesn't bother me.
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>> Ok, fair enough.
>>
>> I can't be bothered.
>>
>> Nor can I be bothered to bother about whether anyone else has their brake lights
>> on. It just doesn't bother me.
Well said, thank you.
Those Mercs are among the worst. Might as well do it properly;)
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>> Others have come up with all sorts of excuses for being inconsiderate that just don't
>> wash. I'd rather they just said they can't be bothered.
It could just be, that other peoples brake lights don't bother us, so we assume (or can't be bothered to to think about it) that our brake lights might bother someone else.
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I'm with you ol' chap. It's something that annoys me. Well yes of course it would be nice to never be annoyed by anything ;) and very little does however this is one of them. Thankfully little stop start and no driving through towns so clots with foot on the brake to put up with.
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>> Any competent driver can pull away without delay
Many more incompetent, IMHO.
Especially those who can't tollerate brake lights in front of them ;)
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The problem with an automatic is, when you're waiting at the lights, you have to press the brake twice - once to stop at the lights, and a second time to stop again when the manual driver in front holds you up by faffing around with handbrakes and gears sticks when he's moving off.
Last edited by: BiggerBadderDave on Thu 31 Oct 13 at 10:54
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No need for any of that in my auto: for a red light, apply parking brake and leave in D. If it's a longer stop, push selector into N to save fuel. Return to D to move off; no brake pedal required - and I've mastered (at last) the silent release of the parking brake.
Some of this may be MB-specific, but anyone should be capable of pulling on a handbrake, and the handbrake should be capable of overcoming the pull of the transmission.
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Annoyance of the month...................Foil packs of tablets ! I shovel 11 a day into meself.
I don't fancy pinging them out as I take them so I do all 28 days at the same time.
Some manufacturers seem to be of the opinion that they don't want you to use their products and use super strong foil. Even though I slash the foil with my Swiss Army knife, I still end up wirh a broken nearside thumbnail which only recovers in time for the next session !
Bring back bottles !
Ted
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>> Bring back bottles !
But first read all the ways ( on the web) of overcoming the "kiddy proof" caps :-)
e.g get a drill and make a hole in a certain position on the cap .......
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Very true I bought some tablets to strengthen my hands and I couldn't get the top off ! :-(
Another major annoyance has just loomed into my life......religious door bangers. I saw them as I drove in half an hour ago so I was prepared. Has anybody here been converted or know of anyone who has ?
I had them a few years ago, I saw them down the road and nipped out to put the car close to the gatepost with it's front bumper against the house wall by the bay window blocking access to the front door......' that'll stop 'em ' says I.
The phone rang in the front room, during the call I was interrupted by someone banging on the window.....it was a big fat West Indian woman who had managed to climb onto the car bonnet to see in !
Naturally, she got shown the fickle finger of fate !
Ted
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>>Has anybody here been converted or know of anyone who has ?
I think the point of 'door-banging' is not to convert the 'bangee' but to increase the degree of brainwashing of the 'banger'.
By learning to be rejected time after time it makes the 'bangers' increasingly believe in an 'us' (the right minded) and a 'them' (those who will miss out/whatevah).
If you fully intermingle religions they usually lose power over their flock - funnily enough they (the guys in charge of their flocks) don't like that.
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When we moved here 18mths ago it wsn't long before the local Jehovah's Witnesses guy had found us. I set up the condition of his calling that religion mustn't be discussed and since then I've not objected to a couple of minutes chat when he catches me. He's actually a decent guy so no need to be rude.
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>> By learning to be rejected time after time it makes the 'bangers' increasingly believe in
>> an 'us' (the right minded) and a 'them' (those who will miss out/whatevah).
I do my best. I'll politely shoo away salesmen and charity knockers - just doing a job. But Jovies and Morons, no way Jose. I abuse them throughly with foul language, castigating them roundly for being what they are, and doing what they are doing, and more to the point doing it on my doorstep.
I didn't invite them, there is no valid reason for them to do it, less so to me on my doorstop - so unashamedly I vent my spleen on them.
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>>But Jovies and Morons, no way Jose. I abuse them throughly with foul language, castigating them roundly for being what they are, and doing what they are doing, and more to the point doing it on my doorstep.
>>
I feel like doing that but without swearing.
They seem to turn up with a young child so I am usually polite and bid then farewell as I do not want to subject the child to further harm.
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>>Has anybody here been converted or know of anyone who has ?
I simply asked them if they've a 'black book' of properties they're not to disturb. Haven't been bothered since, although I often see them passing by.
Keeps the blood pressure down.
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I really can't say it bothers me one bit whether the car in front has its brake lights on. I certainly don't sit there staring at them.
In some ways it's quite useful if they do have them on as when they go off its usually a bit of a clue that they might be about to move off. Especially helpful if you can see the high level light of the vehicle in front of the one in front of you, but can't see the traffic lights.
Anyway, I like a bit of extra light in my cabin, it helps me to find my flask.
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Not too bothered whether someone leaves their hoof on the brake at traffic lights...though if more would actually wake up and be ready to go when the lights change then half the traffic jams wouldn't happen in the first place, breath not held.
What i don't understand is why brake lights have to be so eyeball searingly bright, especially those with LED's, the flicker effect of which distort many following drivers perception of rate of deceleration.
Those addicted to switching on their rear fogs lights at the first hint of a drop of rain or gentle mist would do well to take note, doesn't make you any safer when those behind don't notice the brake lights or if they do are so constantly blinded by the damned things.
So many drivers now drive on the brakes continually that when a real panic stops happens nobody behind notices, can't see past mobile Blackpool illuminations ahead so miss the early warnings, crunch.
I suspect much of the rush to switch extra bright lights on is the currently in vogue LED light P'ing contest...look at meeee.
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Thu 31 Oct 13 at 11:49
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I used to sit with my foot on the brake pedal in the Prius for all the usual reasons.
Then I saw someone complain on a forum about Prius brake lights being right at eye level and bright enough to enable individual atoms to be discerned.
I thought nothing much of that until one day I was in a traffic jam behind an identical Prius.
Now I don't keep my foot on the pedal unless it's obviously a few seconds wait.
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A tip for those who get annoyed about trivial things. Whenever it happens just take a moment to think of Lorraine Kelly. Puts all other annoying things in total perspective and instantly minimises them.
;-)
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Vanessa Feltz. Much more sobering image.
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Either would do the trick. Eamonn Holmes runs them close mind.
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"Eamonn Holmes"
Big, fat, dreary, tedious dobber. Get him out!
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Doing cremation papers or death certificates for people half my age.
Puts the previous 176 posts (including mine) in the right perspective.
Last edited by: Lygonos on Thu 31 Oct 13 at 12:44
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Vanessa Feltz. Much more sobering image.
A perfect example of a perfect face for radio - she's on BBC (Radio) London too.
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>> Vanessa Feltz. Much more sobering image.
>> A perfect example of a perfect face for radio - she's on BBC (Radio) London
>> too.
She is only perfect radio if you turn the volume down.
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>> She is only perfect radio if you turn the volume down.
Better still, disable the radio in case someone turns it back on!
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>> No need for any of that in my auto: for a red light, apply parking brake and leave in D. If it's a longer stop, push selector into N to save fuel.
My autobox drops itself into neutral to save fuel when it senses the brake pedal has been depressed for more than a couple of seconds.
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>> My autobox drops itself into neutral to save fuel when it senses the brake pedal
>> has been depressed for more than a couple of seconds.
Now that would be annoying, and a good reason not to hold the brake pedal down!
Does it apply the handbrake as well? Sounds like design input from Airbus Industrie.
I don't think my car has any obvious uncommanded functions, other than the hill hold which I didn't discover for two years when I actually wanted to roll back a yard and it wouldn't.
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>> I don't think my car has any obvious uncommanded functions, other than the hill hold
>> which I didn't discover for two years when I actually wanted to roll back a
>> yard and it wouldn't.
Two years of wasted handbrake operations.
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>> Two years of wasted handbrake operations.
Ha ha!
It's a bit useless actually. It only works when it detects a gradient, and doesn't always work on a gentle one. And it releases after two seconds regardless. I think. Having discovered it I tried to figure it out but lost interest quite quickly.
Last edited by: Manatee on Thu 31 Oct 13 at 13:18
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Oh yes thats something that really annoys me, hill hold, people lose the ability to drive though arguably some never achieve that, end up relying on the thing.
Found now on nearly all modern lorries, espcially those fitted with satans automanual box, this toy has no place in a lorry where a competent driver should be in full control at all times, i personally know of some nasty accidents where this system has been a contributory factor, the most recent where two road repair chaps thankfully didn't get crushed was pure luck.
When i say contributory i mean where before such a device was fitted the driver whould have been holding the vehicle on the secondary brake (initial movement of the parking brake) and simply completed the parking brake movement to exit the vehicle...using hill hold takes away the drivers automatic secondary brake response leading to easily forgetting to apply the proper brake, the vehicle stops where it is for up to 5 seconds, long enough to exit the vehicle then goodbye.
The most useless example of the thing i found was, not surprsisingly, on an Iveco, couldn't find how to disable the thing via the silly switchgear (no manual, rented lorry), tried to get on with it only to find that when approaching junctions etc hill hold would release about a second before the vehicle took up drive again, brilliant.
I turn the thing off if possible without fail on every vehicle.
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>> Now that would be annoying,
How come?
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>> How come?
I'm imagining stopping in a queue of traffic which is clearly about to move off again, and finding that as I pressed the go pedal I'm in neutral and rolling back. Have I misunderstood? Or does it put itself back in gear?
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>> Have I misunderstood? Or does it put itself back in gear?
It puts itself back into gear as soon as you take your foot off the brake pedal. Far quicker than trying to engage it youself.
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I don't, I drop the sun visor.
I have my eyes tested every 12 months for my work, apart from a little short-sightedness, they were fine in July.
Interesting replies on here that confirm my belief that driving standards are ridiculously poor nowadays and that a very large proportion of drivers on the road today couldn't pass a driving test tomorrow, much less an advanced test.
From an IAM site:-
Remember that an advanced driver should not expect to use the handbrake every time they stop. Learner drivers are taught to apply the handbrake every time they stop because of the complexities of dealing with a multiplicity of considerations at an early stage in their driving career but for advanced drivers there are many circumstances where this is quite unnecessary. For example, you will usually apply the handbrake at traffic lights, on hills, waiting to turn right and always at a pedestrian crossing but not always necessarily when manoeuvring on level ground or when stopping briefly at a ’Stop' sign.
Having had an automatic myself for a while I can understand the temptation to just sit on the foot brake but the number of people doing it they can't all be driving autos.
I suppose, at the end of the day, it's just another demonstration of the modern, I'm alright Jack, couldn't give a **** for anyone else, society that we seem to have sleep walked into.
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>> the modern, I'm alright Jack, couldn't give a **** for anyone else, society that we seem to have sleep walked into
I wouldn't argue with that, but it seems to go hand in hand with the "I need no tolerance because nobody in the world must be allowed to affect me in anyway" society we also have.
And I drive automatics, I sit at the lights or in traffic with my foot on the brakes and I cannot remember ever being annoyed by someone else's brake lights, although sometimes I have noticed them.
My retinas remain largely unseared.
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>> My retinas remain largely unseared.
Mine too. I do remember that HJ has a bee in his bonnet about this and often complained about it in (for him) immoderate terms.
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>>HJ has a bee in his bonnet
As a person I like HJ, yet his various "bees" can be very annoying. Including, but not limited to, left foot braking.
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I am annoyed by people who refuse to see how much safer left-foot braking is on an auto than right-foot braking.
Otherwise, I try not to get annoyed with things. I'll live longer!
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Clearly you've never driven an automatic [safely].
But its ok, I forgive you.
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Or, it's an example of a few people seeing a problem where there isn't one?
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>> Or, it's an example of a few people seeing a problem where there isn't one?
For you, yes. Perhaps some of us have more sensitive eyes. I usually drive, walk or cycle in sunglasses even when it's cloudy. I screw my eyes up in bright light.
Older eyes have reduced dynamic range. They struggle with low light anyway. Shine a bright light at them at they can't see anything else that isn't well illuminated. I know a few older people who won't drive at night, and I am beginning to see why.
I don't expect any consideration or help with this, so I am rarely disappointed and don't get my blood pressure up. I try to use the sun visor, shut one eye to preserve some night vision, look elsewhere if possible.
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>> Interesting replies on here that confirm my belief that driving standards are ridiculously poor nowadays
>> and that a very large proportion of drivers on the road today couldn't pass a
>> driving test tomorrow, much less an advanced test.
Alas completely unproven by the facts. Injuries and deaths still going down I believe.
And as for the "I'm all right jack" society, I believe that phrase was coined in the early 50's. It must have been prevalent then.
I blame my elders and forebears.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 31 Oct 13 at 16:29
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>>I blame my elders and forebears.
You should hear what they say about you.
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>> "I'm all right jack" society, I believe that phrase was coined in the early 50's.
It was the title of a movie about trade union militancy, somewhat reactionary in tone. The honest workers come round to the bosses' viewpoint in the end, I seem to remember. A tortured, typically British fifties piece of carp, sentimental and brutal at the same time.
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Arrive at station nicely in time. Pick up paper (Guardian naturally) for which I have right change. Person in front wants ciggies, a sandwich oh and a box of matches and then appears taken aback by need to pay. Ferrets in handbag and eventually produces a credit card which has to be processed and PIN entered at a snail's pace.
IT'S A STATION WHICH BIT OF SOMEBODY HAS A TRAIN TO CATCH IS SO DIFFICULT!!!!!
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As well as taking forever to get their money out, not starting until the checkout person is sitting tapping their fingers and waiting, people in our supermarkets have two or three loyalty cards and a thick sheaf of 2p off this or that coupons all of which have to be processed individually and stapled to the chit or chits.
The coupons ought to be banned and people who use them lynched in the car park (not on the spot because that would cause further delays).
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>>The coupons ought to be banned
Things have improved - less lynching since the computer says yes/no to coupons rather than read the small print on each one :-)
No staples but where is the pen to scribble over the coupons/vouchers.
Oh and how many of your own bags have you used ? Life is so complicated these days .
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Last night - signage!
I went to get some petrol last night.
A paper sign by the credit card kit by the pump said " Cash Only"
It appeared that this was being interpreted as the pump CC machine not working.
The effect was that when folks got to the front of the queue to pay ...Cash Only ( No CCs or debit cards) - sorry swipe terminals have failed so about turn and outside to queue at the ATM to get cash!!
I had cash - smirk
A sign saying NO CCs or Debit cards accepted might just might have been better :-(
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Trick or freaking treaters.
Not so much the kids themselves, the young ones at least know no better. It's the bovine, cud chewing parents standing at the bottom of my drive every five freaking minutes encouraging the little blighters to knock on my freaking door while I'm trying to freaking work !
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It's the MB on your drive, that's the problem.
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They know there is a drunken miserable old get and his ugly dog cerberus at the end of the drive to tease. Perfect Halloween material.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 31 Oct 13 at 19:20
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Trick or treating doesn't bother me, in fact I think its quite nice to see the little kids putting in an effort to dress up and getting out and about.
They probably didn't realise you had recently turned to alcohol.
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I freely admit to the miserable old get bit, but still no immediate or even medium term plans to revisit alcohol !
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>> the young ones at least know no better. It's the bovine, cud chewing parents
Many years ago, made to come down three floors to answer the doorbell while busy with something else, I snarled irritably at a poor woman and her little girl for inconveniencing me. 'What are you, Americans or what?' I cried rudely. They looked so abashed that I feel guilty to this day, but they had left before I had time to summon a civil apology. You couldn't blame the mother for accompanying a young child at night in the Grove.
Of course Halloween is damn silly, American really whatever the Jocks may claim. But now that I am old and mellow - and don't live up six flights of stairs - I don't mind it at all.
Even got some Bendicks bittermints today with that in mind. But they are wasted on nippers so I think we will eat them ourselves. My youngest descendant says she has a whole bucket (a small one I think) of ghastly milk chocolate and stuff, but adds earnestly that she is rationing herself to avoid being sick.
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>>that I feel guilty to this day
Ghastly, isn't it. There are two or three things that I've said or done in the past which make my toes curl today. I guess at least its stopped me doing them again.
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Only had one lot of T or Ts . Next door's three under tens with half a dozen others and two mums. I'd prepared with three bags of Tesco's mixed lollies and stuff. They were all dressed up to some extent and looked like they'd made the effort. I did my usual by replying to their initial demand with ' Treat please ' thus evoking efforts to get me to understand that it was they that got the treat, not me.
A few minutes fun, plenty of ' Thank yous ', lollies taken from the bowl and off they moved to my lickpenny neighbours on the other side.
Now, anyone want to buy about 50 toffee lollies...going cheap ? I suppose my GKs will nosh them fairly quickly !
Ted
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We've had one lot, dealt with by the boss who speaks more fluent sprog than I do, being a part time teaching assistant. We still have some chocolate spiders left, one of which I have just eaten.
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>Only had one lot of T or Ts .
Only one lot here too Ted. Usually get more than that.
Unlike one of our regular posters who seems to be suffering from alcohol withdrawal ;-), I don't mind Trick or Treat. Bit of fun all-round.
Bonfire and firework display at our local Community Centre this weekend and friends are celebrating Diwali too.
Something to liven up these miserable dark evenings.
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>> Arrive at station nicely in time. Pick up paper (Guardian naturally) for which I have
>> right change.
Pedant Corner.
It isn't 'right change', in the instance you describe.
If you gave him the correct amount of money, you gave him 'the right money'.
If you gave him too much money and he had to give you change and that change was the correct amount, that was the 'right change'.
Do try to get it right, that sort of thing really annoys me!
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Just been Trick or Treated by what must have been 40 kids under the age of 8.
Absolutely hilarious. I have about 8 children here and there was an instant riot on the drive. Everybody sharing with everybody and I'm not at all sure we didn't end up with more sweets than we started with!
Love it.
Now we're off to punish others, and if certain Primark Shoe salesman were within reach we'd be hammering on their door.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Thu 31 Oct 13 at 23:10
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>and if certain Primark Shoe salesman were within reach we'd be hammering on their door.
I wouldn't.
Took the kids there earlier tonight.
He's only got whine gums.
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>>Pedant Corner.<<
>>It isn't 'right change', in the instance you describe. <<
If 'change' is being used as an abreviation of 'loose change' surely 'right change' is totally acceptable.
From your name I guess you come from a northern outpost - has southern colloquialism not yet reached you? :)
Last edited by: sherlock1947 on Thu 31 Oct 13 at 23:11
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>> Pedant Corner.
>>
>> It isn't 'right change', in the instance you describe.
>>
>>
>> If 'chang'e is being used as an abreviation of 'loose change' surely 'right change' is
>> totally acceptable.
Wrong. As he is both a Grauniad reader and a civil servant, I suppose I should expect him to get it wrong - doubly so. BTW, it isn't 'chang'e, it's 'change'
>> From your name I guess you come from a northern outpost
>>
You couldn't be more wrong there if you tried.
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T or T's in the pub tonight. After a stressful day taking an 86yo and a 94yo for lunch/Asda/drive/natter natter natter I really needed a pint or four. Walking into t'pub just after 6 there were 12, I kid you not, sat in the middle of the floor and in front of the log fire, sharing out their spoils. Three mum's in charge, soft drink in hand. I took one look, asked the regular barman WTF was going on, is this a pub or a crèche, and got no reaction. So after a minute I walked out. With 4 of my friends who are not as non PC as I, and took our custom elsewhere.
I hope he tells the landlady because I will.
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What Annoys You? - Roger.
