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Today I Consign To Hell -the All Saints version

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  • Penny SPenny S Shipmate
    In a church meeting chaired by the minister who was expected to believe that he/she is first among equals: a meeting which sought to find the will of the Holy Spirit for the congregation.
    Boy, was I shocked by my first meeting which resulted in a split vote.
    But we were home to a number of Presbyterians, there being no home for ex-pat Scots in the vicinity.
  • Alan Cresswell Alan Cresswell Admin, 8th Day Host
    Driving licenses. Did anyone else fail to notice that driving licenses have an expiry date? I suppose it makes sense that the photo isn't too old.

    I got an email this morning from the company that checks driving licenses for the insurance to drive work vehicles, informing me that my license has expired. Pull out my licence, and yes it has an expiry date of 6th July 2021. DVLA didn't bother to let me know it was due to expire or provide any information on how to renew it, so I did an internet search taking me to a DVLA page for renewal where I spend time going over the form a few times (which is probably not compliant with equality legislation!) getting the details in exactly as needed ... only to get told at the end that I can't renew it online. So, I'll need to risk my life and that of others by going into the Post Office in person to get my driving licence renewed.

    Whinge 1: that I only new my licence had expired because I happen to be on the list of approved drivers for the works car and the company that runs that informed me. Surely that should be part of what the DVLA should do?

    Whinge 2: that during a pandemic with record numbers of new cases daily I need to forego social distancing to renew the licence in person at the Post Office.

    Whinge 3: how does an official government online form get away with being non-compliant with equality legislation?
  • Driving licenses. Did anyone else fail to notice that driving licenses have an expiry date?

    Whinge 1: that I only new my licence had expired because I happen to be on the list of approved drivers for the works car and the company that runs that informed me. Surely that should be part of what the DVLA should do?

    It could be argued that it's you who benefits from having the driving licence, so it's up to you to make sure that the licence is still valid - that you can still benefit from having the licence. The personal responsibility aspect isn't all that far different from the expectation in UK tax law that it's up to the taxpayer to declare what tax they owe.

    And do DVLA actually know - ten years on from the last issue of your licence - where you live? You're meant to tell them when you move but not everyone does (does anyone?). I've had a number of rather bumpy interactions with DVLA (only one of which admittedly was about a driving licence - the others were about road tax and vehicle licensing) which lead me to think that their IT is not of the best. So to get them to reliably know where you are such as to send you a reminder at the end of ten years would mean a big (and expensive) upgrade to their IT. I can see why HM Treasury might argue against this.
  • kingsfoldkingsfold Shipmate
    @Alan Cresswell Sounds like I need to keep an eye on that.

    My photocard expired, but I was in the group of people granted an 11month extension, and I was under the impression that I would receive a reminder at the appropriate point in time...

    Likewise, I will have to go to the Post Office to do it, which brings me to add a whinge to yours:

    Whinge 4: why is it possible to submit a digital photo online to apply for a passport, but you can only apply for a driving license photocard online if you have a passport? Why is not possible to upload a digital photo (as you do for a passport)?

  • Alan Cresswell Alan Cresswell Admin, 8th Day Host
    Fawkes Cat wrote: »
    And do DVLA actually know - ten years on from the last issue of your licence - where you live?
    Since the instructions on the Post Office website about using their service to renew a driving licence state "Bring your renewal reminder" (form D798 renewal notification) I assume that means that the DVLA should be in touch. My address is the same as it was 7y ago when I last renewed it (when I last moved).

  • Fawkes Cat wrote: »
    And do DVLA actually know - ten years on from the last issue of your licence - where you live?
    Since the instructions on the Post Office website about using their service to renew a driving licence state "Bring your renewal reminder" (form D798 renewal notification) I assume that means that the DVLA should be in touch. My address is the same as it was 7y ago when I last renewed it (when I last moved).

    OK. It looks as if DVLA are meant to tell you after all. So

    1) My elegant defence of why they don't write to you can be replaced with 'it looks like DVLA are a bunch of useless clowns'
    2) Given that (by the sounds of things) your licence was updated 7 years ago, did that actually amount to a new licence being issued (which therefore has three years left to run)?
    3) Does your employer have the same expiry date for your licence as the licence itself shows?

    I'm now guessing that (1) may be true.
  • Alan Cresswell Alan Cresswell Admin, 8th Day Host
    My employer (or, rather the third party company they subcontract the task of keeping licence information) gets the expiry date from the DVLA, and the one printed on my license is indeed yesterday. The update 7y ago was almost certainly just a change of address, without a new photo.
  • CathscatsCathscats Shipmate
    I was sent a reminder letter. In fact I was sent a letter reminding me that the. Ovid amnesty for getting new licenses had run out, and I had a month to get one. When I checked, yes it did run out during lockdown! Since my passport has also run out (and I am not paying to get something I am unlikely to use, unless and until I can find good reason to leave these shores) I had to go into the post office. But not my local one. I could travel 45 miles to the nearest PO which offered this service (in the end I went to Dingwall as I had to be there for a funeral visit). Tiny PO. Made m wonder why my equally tiny local branch didn’t do this. The process is fascinating, as you stand in a wee booth and it takes your picture, then you wipe a stylus with antibiotic and sign a pad, and both of these things wing their way to Swansea instantly.

    I was pretty impressed, but less impressed that this all costs more than renewing online, which you can only do with a passport (presumably because they ready have your photo verified for that).

    This was all just before we moved, so I was able to change my address at the same time, and this alerted me to remind husband and son to change theirs: same passport procedure, but no fee.
  • Alan Cresswell Alan Cresswell Admin, 8th Day Host
    The main PO here is large - but there were only two staff on duty (but also only one other customer in there when I went in). Same procedure with the photo booth and electronic signature, I didn't get as far as finding out what the online charge would have been to compare but I know the PO charge a small fee for the service (and, similar services such as passports).

    Likewise, my passport has expired (about a month ago) and there seems little point paying for a new one until there's at least a prospect of going somewhere. If I hold off for a couple of years I might get to have a nice burgundy one with the words "European Union" still on it, and "Republic of Scotland". If I need one early I'll probably end up with one of those horrid Boris Blue ones they've started printing in France for the English.
  • kingsfoldkingsfold Shipmate
    So, going by @Cathscats' experience, I should (in due course) get a letter reminding me about my photocard. That's a relief, as if you expect me to remember that, I'll be in trouble.
    It still makes no sense to me that you can submit a digital photo for a passport (which I don't currently have, hence needing to go to a Post Office), but not a driving licence.
  • Alan Cresswell Alan Cresswell Admin, 8th Day Host
    About as much sense as the online form to renew a driving licence requiring you to enter your gender as though that's relevant to driving ability. And, having made that necessary to then limit your options to just two genders. Does someone in the DVLA think that only cisgendered people can drive?
  • kingsfoldkingsfold Shipmate
    edited July 2021
    You've obviously made it further through the form than I have - I didn't get beyond what you need to do for the photo.
    I have occasionally been tempted to answer questions like M/F? with "Yes"
  • I applied online for my replacement driving licence as soon as possible (I turn 70 in September).

    The new licence turned up very quickly, and in the same post I received an application form for said replacement licence - presumably in the nature of a reminder.

    Should I complain that the DVLA didn't notice I'd already applied?
  • I had to give up my driving licence in late 2015, after epileptic seizures and subsequent brain surgery. I applied to have it renewed in autumn 2017, after the 12 months since my last seizure had expired, and duly received a 3-year provisional licence.

    When that expired in autumn 2020, I applied for it to be renewed again, but was told I had to wait for the DVLC's Medical Team to receive confirmation from my consultant and GP that I was still OK to drive. This took quite a long time, owing to the pandemic, but eventually the new licence - using the mugshot from the previous issue - arrived (about 3 months ago).

    In the meantime, the DVLC had provided me with an official letter confirming that I was allowed to drive, under the terms of the Road Traffic Act, as long as my health remained stable.

    The paperwork all had to be done *by hand*, as it were, with no provision for online form-filling, but the DVLC were as prompt and efficient about it as they could be. The delay - of several months! - was due largely to the enormous backlog of work at King's College Hospital (I'm nearly a year overdue for my MRI scan).
  • Currently under consideration : do I want to apply for a provision license during a pandemic?

    Reading this makes me think no!
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    edited July 2021
    Jengie Jon wrote: »
    However a small unaccompanied congregation might well sing it without trouble. Please read one of the accounts of Marilynne Robinson Congregational Church to get an idea about what Congregational worship is often like. Hint: Congregational means governed by the congregation rather than by Priests as in Presbyterian.
    Presbyterians are governed by priests rather than by presbyters (elders)? I think that would come as a surprise to most of my tribe. :lol:

    (Yes, I do know the English priest is derived from the Greek presbyteros. But as some say, etymology does not equal definition.)

  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    TICTH ScotRail for cancelling the 17:35 due to a shortage of staff. :angry:

    Don't they have spare staff?
  • 17.45 - Platform 11
  • There is a real problem with too many healthy people being "pinged" by the NHS Covid app and being forced to isolate. This is causing difficulties in many sectors, especially hospitality.
  • MarthaMartha Shipmate
    Yes, my neighbour is a teacher, got pinged yesterday along with several others, and the head is pulling her hair out.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    17.45 - Platform 11

    Quite, but it was late due to an Ongoing Police Situation in Falkirk.
  • About as much sense as the online form to renew a driving licence requiring you to enter your gender as though that's relevant to driving ability. And, having made that necessary to then limit your options to just two genders. Does someone in the DVLA think that only cisgendered people can drive?

    I suspect the limit to two genders is because of the way the driving licence number is created. If I was Celtic T Knotweed, male, born 11th December 1983, then it would be KNOTW812118CT9 and then 2 letters which act as a checksum. If I was female with that DOB, the licence number would be KNOTW862118CT9 and 2 letters acting as a checksum. (No, that isn't my DOB, or that of any relative). The system for creating it was set up whenever the licences were introduced in that format, and only allows for 2 methods of encoding the DOB, one for males, one for females.

    I did once hear that the original plan had been to just use the same system irrespective of gender, but that someone had made a fuss about police officers being able to work out how old ladies they stopped were - might take that with a large pinch of salt though!
  • Graven ImageGraven Image Shipmate
    edited July 2021
    The California Department of Motor Vehicles online services. Fill out the form they say, easy as can be. I filled out the form, Mr. Image filled out the form. Our son on a totally different issue and day filled out the form. None of the things any of us requested, change of address, change of vehicle registration, new vehicle registration have taken place. They have no record of any of our requests, and yet they took our son's money and sent us new voter registration cards to our new address. Crazy making so an in-person trip is necessary, and not something Mr. Image is up to doing right now.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    TICTH the driver of the 37 bus who probably saw me running for it but didn't wait and then when I thought I'd catch it at the next stop round the corner, didn't wait again.

    May the fleas of a thousand camels infest his armpits. :rage:
  • Or his driver's seat (mind you, we wouldn't want other drivers picking them up).
  • AnnAnn Shipmate Posts: 45
    Piglet wrote: »
    TICTH the driver of the 37 bus who probably saw me running for it but didn't wait and then when I thought I'd catch it at the next stop round the corner, didn't wait again.

    May the fleas of a thousand camels infest his armpits. :rage:

    School for Bus Drivers
  • PriscillaPriscilla Shipmate
    Telephone holding music - particularly the sort which is one or two bars repeated ad nauseum with an odd variation thrown in, the sort that becomes an ear worm and drives you crazy 🤬
    Yes, you’ve guessed it, I was kept waiting to get through to a human when trying to arrange for some equipment to be repaired.
  • Virgin Mobile... That's the second time they've cancelled my UK mobile phone account and kept the cash left in it because I was using a great pay as you go plan. They said they texted a message to me, but it didn't reach Canada. E-mail is too old fashioned and too much work for them. Now I have to figure out a new phone plan before I get back, but it won't be Virgin. So happy to have helped finance Branson's sub-orbital space flight.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Ann wrote: »

    Thanks for posting that, Ann; David had an LP of Bob Newhart with that monologue on it, and I frequently think of Mrs. Selkirk whenever I'm being pirouetted to a seat!
    :mrgreen:
  • Happily consigning spam callers .

    Especially early morning ones to Mr Alba’s phone
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited July 2021
    Indeed, but could Mr Alba safely turn his phone off at night?

    I get such calls (I think - I never answer them) at such times as silly o'clock 6am, which is when I usually get my best sleep...
    :rage:

    (Memo to self - unplug landline when retiring to bunk...)
  • Wesley JWesley J Circus Host
    All my landline calls go on my answerphone - and spam callers normally can't be bothered. All others can leave a message. And the mobile is turned off most of the time anyway.

    In addition, I think, most providers here have spam call blockers which you can activate if you so choose. Clever stuff, this.

    Nasty peeps, spam callers.
  • Indeed, but if I unplug the landline (a) the phone won't ring (and wake me up :grimace: ), and (b) presumably the spammers can't leave a message...
    :wink:
  • But, if you have an answerphone, don't the spammers register that as an "answered call" anyway, and keep on tormenting you politely offering their wares?
  • Not all spammers, some work out it's an answerphone and stop the call before leaving a message.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    My mobile often tells me I have unread voicemails. As they appear to come from domains in Belgium or Germany, they remain unread.
  • TICTH mobile phones - or, to be precise, people who talk loudly and lengthily on their phones in their back gardens while one wants to enjoy the sunshine.

    I wonder if anyone has ever had the idea of keeping their phone on a table in the hall, with a wired connection?
  • Wesley JWesley J Circus Host
    Indeed!

    TICTH one particular silly eBay seller - spoiler alert: I got a full refund from eBay within 10 minutes of my complaint, which certainly shows it was very much justified!

    So, in mid-June I order a big bunch of crisps from several eBay shops - most work well and I receive the goods without further ado. However, there is one seller, with very rudimentary English in their communication, who just doesn't deliver! I ask for tracking numbers, which he never provided to start with; finally, he gave me three tracking numbers, as apparently he had to send the order in three batches, but the tracking numbers turn out to be not valid! The guy only replies to me queries after several days, and then claims that the parcels were returned to them coz' 'too big'. Riiiight.

    I finally get enough of this, complain to eBay, seller still giving incomplete answers to what I ask; luckily, as this was an official complaint to eBay and to which he never properly replied, I get a prompt refund. Reason: seller never provided correct tracking number.

    End of? Nope. I write a scathing review on the seller's website, and a few hours later, the guy writes to me on eBay, saying (in approximative English) they were very sorry, that they had now sent the items in 4 (!) different parcels, and that he is asking me to 'kindly pay' upon reception! Hear hear!

    Bad luck. Case closed by eBay and by myself. And I do not have to pay for items I did not require.

    Idjet.
  • SnowgooseSnowgoose Shipmate Posts: 23
    TICTH my own clumsiness. Miss Molly (my youngest cat) got very much underfoot today and I tripped over her. She is convinced that I did it on purpose and refuses to speak to me.
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    Aroha sits with her tail straight out behind her instead of wrapped around her like all sensible cats. I always feel guilty when I tread on it and the YOWL is so loud I feel quite shaken afterwards.
  • Wesley JWesley J Circus Host
    Can you start a Hawaiian theme with the cat, @Huia, and say to her 'Aloha Aroha'? She might like it. :)
  • The weather presenter on BBC Radio 4 this morning, who promised us sunshine and air filled "with the sweet smell of barbecues and the sound of children playing".

    Some of us detest the smell of barbecues, especially the lighter fuel (and can't see the point of them!) And that's not to mention the smoke ...
  • The weather presenter on BBC Radio 4 this morning, who promised us sunshine and air filled "with the sweet smell of barbecues and the sound of children playing".

    Some of us detest the smell of barbecues, especially the lighter fuel (and can't see the point of them!) And that's not to mention the smoke ...

    It's not so much the barbecue smoke, or even the firelighter fuel. It's what else that the neighbours may be smoking that may encourage shutting the windows.

    No, I'm not grumping about tobacco.
  • I'm in that camp, all windows shut down when the neighbours light up the wacky baccy because my daughter gets angioaedema and stops breathing. I'm so looking forward to the proposed ban on smoking in 2030 (link to Independent), because that hopefully will stop all smoking. It can't come soon enough.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited July 2021
    The weather presenter on BBC Radio 4 this morning, who promised us sunshine and air filled "with the sweet smell of barbecues and the sound of children playing".

    Some of us detest the smell of barbecues, especially the lighter fuel (and can't see the point of them!) And that's not to mention the smoke ...

    Hear, hear.

    Fortunately, the breeze today is in the right direction to waft any noxious BBQ fumes away from the Ark.

    Mind you, in all fairness, very few of my neighbours ever bother with BBQs...although the sweet smell of wacky baccy is sometimes evident...(I don't dislike the smell, but I do appreciate that the smoke can adversely affect people like The Kitten).
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    I continue to be surprised, in this leafy suburb (none of them belonging to cannabis sativa AFAIK) that so few of my neighbours are out in their gardens on this and previous hot sunny days. Some have extensive - and expensive - garden furniture; cushioned sofas, barbecues, hot tub even.

    My theory is that unless you actively garden, doing glamorous stuff like weeding and turning compost, it remains some colour mag dream that belongs to a life not quite yours.

    Perhaps I speak too soon and this (Saturday) evening will be reeking of burnt sausages.
  • DafydDafyd Hell Host
    edited July 2021
    Firenze wrote: »
    so few of my neighbours are out in their gardens on this and previous hot sunny days.
    I am firmly convinced God made the outdoors for walking and other physical activity. If the Almighty had wanted us to sit around outside the Almighty would have provided outside with walls and a ceiling.

  • Dafyd wrote: »
    Firenze wrote: »
    so few of my neighbours are out in their gardens on this and previous hot sunny days.
    God made the outdoors for walking and other physical activity. If the Almighty had wanted us to sit around outside the Almighty would have provided it with walls and a ceiling.

    He did, and He called it *Ye Conservatory*.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Trees. God's parasols.

    Sitting is what I mainly do at the moment, it being too hot to do much else, bar mercy-dashing water to the plants in pots and containers. Always in the shade of course.
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