All migraines are posted out from hell I think. Doing my best to avoid delivery of one over Christmas / New Year, since a part of what triggers mine is stress.
All migraines belong to hell. I have not had one in 90 days, I am so relieved. I am trying to recalibrate my pain levels, that is a bad headache, maybe take a paracetomol.
I've had one daily for at least three weeks--most of them not full scale, about half what most other people suffer, I think, but still bad enough. But it's not surprising when we've had six-count-em-SIX deaths in the family/friend circle/parish etc. since December 2. I'm fed up with people in my personal life dying, and now Jimmy Carter goes on me...
People who do not RSVP to an invitation. Just before Christmas, I have invited some people to my home for a 12th-night get-together this coming Monday. Of the eight people I have invited, only three have responded. Two yes and one no. I need to go shopping for ingredients for dinner on Saturday. I have no idea how many I should plan on feeding. I live alone, so I do not want a bunch of leftovers. Should I assume the five I have not heard from will not be coming? Will half be coming and half not? Should I set the table for the three of us or eight minus the one No I received?
Gah, that's just rude @Graven Image, and hard to navigate. I'd take the one No as definite and maybe make something that could be frozen and used later. I do wonder whether people have just gotten snowed under by the Christmas/New Year stuff and may think they have replied, because they thought of doing so (unfortunately, I have done that, myself).
People who do not RSVP to an invitation. Just before Christmas, I have invited some people to my home for a 12th-night get-together this coming Monday. Of the eight people I have invited, only three have responded. Two yes and one no. I need to go shopping for ingredients for dinner on Saturday. I have no idea how many I should plan on feeding. I live alone, so I do not want a bunch of leftovers. Should I assume the five I have not heard from will not be coming? Will half be coming and half not? Should I set the table for the three of us or eight minus the one No I received?
I sent out a message asking people to RSVP as I was about to start shopping. I received one no and nothing from the others. I am going to plan on two more people coming and assume the others are a no.
And if they all show up, order in a pizza. I find it very encouraging to see you persevere in all of this. I'm quick to give up. I am also eager to know what happens. Good luck!
Three are coming to my party; One canceled this morning due to a bad cold. One never did respond. I think the no's would not have responded had I not contacted them a second time. I doubt I will do this again. The good part is with small number, we can all fit around my small table and no one will be eating on a tray or table in the living area. Looking forward to a fun low key evening.
Here's my current frustration. Was called yesterday to have an in-home appointment at 9 a.m. today. Had to move furniture and clear a path to prepare for a part of a medical bed to be delivered. Ten minutes before the appointment, got a call changing it to Thursday. Said he didn't call earlier because some people don't get up that early. It's an hour long drive from there to here. If he had someone call in sick, that happened at least by 8 a.m. and likely sooner. I find it discourteous at best to not have let me know.
TICTH Mark Zuckerberg. FB is drowning under a deluge of misinformation, conspiracy bullshit and blatently fraudulent pseudoscience and he disbands the fact checkers.
A firm who makes storage heaters and their installers. I just want my heating working. They were installed in August. Three out of four working at present so relying on a small electric heater for the office.
TICTH this year, 2025. We are only 9 days into it and it’s the worst start to the year ever.
Some of you know that I work as a driving instructor. Just before Christmas someone drove into the back of the car while on a lesson. My insurance arranged a hire car. So far so good, but that’s when the good stuff stopped.
On the day it was delivered, some bastard keyed the door of the car. It would normally be in an underground car park, but my own car was still there while I waited for the garage to pick it up, so I had to park the hire car on the street, so it happened some time during that 2 hours. Part of the hire agreement is that I am responsible for my scratches to the bodywork, so once Christmas was over I shopped around to get it repaired. The cheapest quote I got was £300 (every body repair company told me that metallic red paint is expensive and damage to doors is expensive). So, £300 and counting.
Once the car had been delivered, I took a pupil out on lessons. He lives in a large apartment block with a resident only car park. There are no parking bays available, but there is an access road that doesn’t go anywhere where I usually pick him up and drop him off. There is literally nowhere else to park nearby. I have done this on numerous occasions, but on this occasion I was caught on camera by the private parking company while stopped for a total of 1 minute and 47 seconds. Last Friday I was informed of this by the hire company. The PCN is £60 and the bastards at at the hire company slapped a £40 admin charge on top of that. Since then I’ve had two more from the same place and I think there’s another to come.
This morning I had a pupil with a driving test booked for 8.10. I was up bright and early so that I could pick her up at 7.10 as normal practice is to pick up an hour beforehand. When I got into the car a message flashed up saying that the tyre pressure was low - this often happens when the temperature drops so not a major problem. I have my own electric pump, but that is still in the boot of my own car which is still in the garage so I had no option but to use the air machine on a petrol station forecourt. As I removed the dust cap, the valve came out with it and all the air emptied out of the tyre. The valve itself appears to be damaged and won’t do back in. The shitty little car supplied has no spare tyre, so I had no option but to call the AA. I am currently waiting on the petrol station forecourt waiting for them to arrive.
Of course, this means my pupil’s test couldn’t go ahead, so I’ve not only lost the fee she would have paid me, I also have to book her another test at my own expense.
So far, this year has cost me in the region of £850 - money I cannot afford.
TICTH this year, 2025. We are only 9 days into it and it’s the worst start to the year ever.
Some of you know that I work as a driving instructor. Just before Christmas someone drove into the back of the car while on a lesson. My insurance arranged a hire car. So far so good, but that’s when the good stuff stopped.
On the day it was delivered, some bastard keyed the door of the car. It would normally be in an underground car park, but my own car was still there while I waited for the garage to pick it up, so I had to park the hire car on the street, so it happened some time during that 2 hours. Part of the hire agreement is that I am responsible for my scratches to the bodywork, so once Christmas was over I shopped around to get it repaired. The cheapest quote I got was £300 (every body repair company told me that metallic red paint is expensive and damage to doors is expensive). So, £300 and counting.
Once the car had been delivered, I took a pupil out on lessons. He lives in a large apartment block with a resident only car park. There are no parking bays available, but there is an access road that doesn’t go anywhere where I usually pick him up and drop him off. There is literally nowhere else to park nearby. I have done this on numerous occasions, but on this occasion I was caught on camera by the private parking company while stopped for a total of 1 minute and 47 seconds. Last Friday I was informed of this by the hire company. The PCN is £60 and the bastards at at the hire company slapped a £40 admin charge on top of that. Since then I’ve had two more from the same place and I think there’s another to come.
This morning I had a pupil with a driving test booked for 8.10. I was up bright and early so that I could pick her up at 7.10 as normal practice is to pick up an hour beforehand. When I got into the car a message flashed up saying that the tyre pressure was low - this often happens when the temperature drops so not a major problem. I have my own electric pump, but that is still in the boot of my own car which is still in the garage so I had no option but to use the air machine on a petrol station forecourt. As I removed the dust cap, the valve came out with it and all the air emptied out of the tyre. The valve itself appears to be damaged and won’t do back in. The shitty little car supplied has no spare tyre, so I had no option but to call the AA. I am currently waiting on the petrol station forecourt waiting for them to arrive.
Of course, this means my pupil’s test couldn’t go ahead, so I’ve not only lost the fee she would have paid me, I also have to book her another test at my own expense.
So far, this year has cost me in the region of £850 - money I cannot afford.
FUCK YOU 2025
Surely, surely, things can only get better? And don't call me Shirley!
Prayers ascending.
My own very minor grouse this year: editors who don't respond to emails with a deadline looming. Excuse: 'very busy'. Hmmm ... So are we all!
That's an awful way to start the new year, Spike! I hope that is the worst that 2025 throws at you.
I have decided that it is time for my insurance company to be CTH.
Having already posted about the 13 letters from them (in one postal delivery) reminding me it was time to renew my home& contents insurance and, having renewed said insurance (after securing a discount, and giving them my thoughts on the profligacy of their postal department), they have sent me a further batch of letters. This time, the new insurance documents (One copy only, as requested) and, in the same post, two more copies of the renewal reminder
The total paperwork from them that I now have to dispose of is 15 envelopes and 120 sheets of A4 paper. Almost all of the pages contain personal information, details of the items covered by the insurance, and valuations - so can't just be thrown in the recycling.
I have taken to composting such documents, but I doubt my compost bin, and the comparatively small amount of garden & kitchen waste I put in it will manage to rot down this amount of fairly good quality paper in a reasonable time.
A good idea - one suitable for home use costs around £40, and it's not uncommon sometimes to end up with quite a lot of personal info on papers that don't need to be kept (even if the people concerned only send out one copy!).
I tend to feed unwanted papers to the Dragon, but not everybody has one...
I have a shredder, but it will only shred a few sheets before it needs a rest to cool down. It wouldn't even manage the contents of one of the envelopes in question before needing a rest.
I don't have enough spare hours in my day to spend them shredding paper.
Mine - which is rather ancient - can do 5 or 6 sheets at a time. You're only supposed to run it for 2 minutes before letting it rest, but in practice it will do quite a bit more than that.
The trick is to do something else, and just shred a few sheets each time you have a pause.
A good point. I didn't realise that *home* shredders were quite so slow, if that's the right word.
Mr E Bay tells me that a hand-operated shredder is available - they cost around £13 - so one could combine Getting Rid of Useless Paper with Healthful Exercise.
No, I am not the manufacturer or purveyor of this Engine...
I worked for a charity which couldn't (or wouldn't) justify buying anything but the cheapest shredder for the office. Consequently, as office administrator, I spent a large proportion of my time declogging it. A while ago, during the course of his paperwork decluttering, Mr Nen paid an organisation to come and collect some bagfuls of paperwork for shredding and it was good to be free of it, but there's always more.
So sorry to hear of the horrible start to your year @Spike .
That's an awful way to start the new year, Spike! I hope that is the worst that 2025 throws at you.
I have decided that it is time for my insurance company to be CTH.
Having already posted about the 13 letters from them (in one postal delivery) reminding me it was time to renew my home& contents insurance and, having renewed said insurance (after securing a discount, and giving them my thoughts on the profligacy of their postal department), they have sent me a further batch of letters. This time, the new insurance documents (One copy only, as requested) and, in the same post, two more copies of the renewal reminder
The total paperwork from them that I now have to dispose of is 15 envelopes and 120 sheets of A4 paper. Almost all of the pages contain personal information, details of the items covered by the insurance, and valuations - so can't just be thrown in the recycling.
I have taken to composting such documents, but I doubt my compost bin, and the comparatively small amount of garden & kitchen waste I put in it will manage to rot down this amount of fairly good quality paper in a reasonable time.
I've bundled everything up and sent it back without a stamp when that happened to me. It seemed to solve the problem.
Last night’s first choir practice with our new MD went well, despite low numbers: 3 sops, 1 alto, 1 tenor, 2 basses. We learnt one new piece from scratch, revised a couple more, and sang more than adequately 3 or 4 we have done previously about 6 months ago, as well as practising the psalm for the next Evensong. By then our toes and noses were frozen.
Yesterday I woke at 9.20 and my meals were totally messed up. Today I woke at 5. I have a long To Do list of quick tasks, followed by French conversation, then nothing on till Monday, so I will be happy to stay home.
TICTH this year, 2025. We are only 9 days into it and it’s the worst start to the year ever.
Some of you know that I work as a driving instructor. Just before Christmas someone drove into the back of the car while on a lesson. My insurance arranged a hire car. So far so good, but that’s when the good stuff stopped.
On the day it was delivered, some bastard keyed the door of the car. It would normally be in an underground car park, but my own car was still there while I waited for the garage to pick it up, so I had to park the hire car on the street, so it happened some time during that 2 hours. Part of the hire agreement is that I am responsible for my scratches to the bodywork, so once Christmas was over I shopped around to get it repaired. The cheapest quote I got was £300 (every body repair company told me that metallic red paint is expensive and damage to doors is expensive). So, £300 and counting.
Once the car had been delivered, I took a pupil out on lessons. He lives in a large apartment block with a resident only car park. There are no parking bays available, but there is an access road that doesn’t go anywhere where I usually pick him up and drop him off. There is literally nowhere else to park nearby. I have done this on numerous occasions, but on this occasion I was caught on camera by the private parking company while stopped for a total of 1 minute and 47 seconds. Last Friday I was informed of this by the hire company. The PCN is £60 and the bastards at at the hire company slapped a £40 admin charge on top of that. Since then I’ve had two more from the same place and I think there’s another to come.
This morning I had a pupil with a driving test booked for 8.10. I was up bright and early so that I could pick her up at 7.10 as normal practice is to pick up an hour beforehand. When I got into the car a message flashed up saying that the tyre pressure was low - this often happens when the temperature drops so not a major problem. I have my own electric pump, but that is still in the boot of my own car which is still in the garage so I had no option but to use the air machine on a petrol station forecourt. As I removed the dust cap, the valve came out with it and all the air emptied out of the tyre. The valve itself appears to be damaged and won’t do back in. The shitty little car supplied has no spare tyre, so I had no option but to call the AA. I am currently waiting on the petrol station forecourt waiting for them to arrive.
Of course, this means my pupil’s test couldn’t go ahead, so I’ve not only lost the fee she would have paid me, I also have to book her another test at my own expense.
So far, this year has cost me in the region of £850 - money I cannot afford.
FUCK YOU 2025
And now we’ve got a blocked pipe in the kitchen which means having to call out a plumber which we really can’t afford. What the fuck else is going to go wrong this year?
Comments
It is enjoyable to contemplate it either way, though the former seems more refined.
One might find it hard to tell them apart ...
It's easy really.
One is nothing but rancid festering shit and the other is sewage.
Which is why I go with the latter in this case.
I’d suggest just ringing them and checking.
Here's my current frustration. Was called yesterday to have an in-home appointment at 9 a.m. today. Had to move furniture and clear a path to prepare for a part of a medical bed to be delivered. Ten minutes before the appointment, got a call changing it to Thursday. Said he didn't call earlier because some people don't get up that early. It's an hour long drive from there to here. If he had someone call in sick, that happened at least by 8 a.m. and likely sooner. I find it discourteous at best to not have let me know.
* "couth" presumably being the opposite of "uncouth", and generally convivial.
Twat.
Some of you know that I work as a driving instructor. Just before Christmas someone drove into the back of the car while on a lesson. My insurance arranged a hire car. So far so good, but that’s when the good stuff stopped.
On the day it was delivered, some bastard keyed the door of the car. It would normally be in an underground car park, but my own car was still there while I waited for the garage to pick it up, so I had to park the hire car on the street, so it happened some time during that 2 hours. Part of the hire agreement is that I am responsible for my scratches to the bodywork, so once Christmas was over I shopped around to get it repaired. The cheapest quote I got was £300 (every body repair company told me that metallic red paint is expensive and damage to doors is expensive). So, £300 and counting.
Once the car had been delivered, I took a pupil out on lessons. He lives in a large apartment block with a resident only car park. There are no parking bays available, but there is an access road that doesn’t go anywhere where I usually pick him up and drop him off. There is literally nowhere else to park nearby. I have done this on numerous occasions, but on this occasion I was caught on camera by the private parking company while stopped for a total of 1 minute and 47 seconds. Last Friday I was informed of this by the hire company. The PCN is £60 and the bastards at at the hire company slapped a £40 admin charge on top of that. Since then I’ve had two more from the same place and I think there’s another to come.
This morning I had a pupil with a driving test booked for 8.10. I was up bright and early so that I could pick her up at 7.10 as normal practice is to pick up an hour beforehand. When I got into the car a message flashed up saying that the tyre pressure was low - this often happens when the temperature drops so not a major problem. I have my own electric pump, but that is still in the boot of my own car which is still in the garage so I had no option but to use the air machine on a petrol station forecourt. As I removed the dust cap, the valve came out with it and all the air emptied out of the tyre. The valve itself appears to be damaged and won’t do back in. The shitty little car supplied has no spare tyre, so I had no option but to call the AA. I am currently waiting on the petrol station forecourt waiting for them to arrive.
Of course, this means my pupil’s test couldn’t go ahead, so I’ve not only lost the fee she would have paid me, I also have to book her another test at my own expense.
So far, this year has cost me in the region of £850 - money I cannot afford.
FUCK YOU 2025
Surely, surely, things can only get better? And don't call me Shirley!
Prayers ascending.
My own very minor grouse this year: editors who don't respond to emails with a deadline looming. Excuse: 'very busy'. Hmmm ... So are we all!
I have decided that it is time for my insurance company to be CTH.
Having already posted about the 13 letters from them (in one postal delivery) reminding me it was time to renew my home& contents insurance and, having renewed said insurance (after securing a discount, and giving them my thoughts on the profligacy of their postal department), they have sent me a further batch of letters. This time, the new insurance documents (One copy only, as requested) and, in the same post, two more copies of the renewal reminder
The total paperwork from them that I now have to dispose of is 15 envelopes and 120 sheets of A4 paper. Almost all of the pages contain personal information, details of the items covered by the insurance, and valuations - so can't just be thrown in the recycling.
I have taken to composting such documents, but I doubt my compost bin, and the comparatively small amount of garden & kitchen waste I put in it will manage to rot down this amount of fairly good quality paper in a reasonable time.
A good idea - one suitable for home use costs around £40, and it's not uncommon sometimes to end up with quite a lot of personal info on papers that don't need to be kept (even if the people concerned only send out one copy!).
I tend to feed unwanted papers to the Dragon, but not everybody has one...
I don't have enough spare hours in my day to spend them shredding paper.
The trick is to do something else, and just shred a few sheets each time you have a pause.
Mr E Bay tells me that a hand-operated shredder is available - they cost around £13 - so one could combine Getting Rid of Useless Paper with Healthful Exercise.
No, I am not the manufacturer or purveyor of this Engine...
So sorry to hear of the horrible start to your year @Spike .
Mine could do with a new battery, and a thorough valeting, which is total peanuts compared to what @Spike is enduring...
I've bundled everything up and sent it back without a stamp when that happened to me. It seemed to solve the problem.
Yesterday I woke at 9.20 and my meals were totally messed up. Today I woke at 5. I have a long To Do list of quick tasks, followed by French conversation, then nothing on till Monday, so I will be happy to stay home.
And now we’ve got a blocked pipe in the kitchen which means having to call out a plumber which we really can’t afford. What the fuck else is going to go wrong this year?
Hope you can get it sorted soon, and 2025 starts behaving itself!
To say there was bad language would be putting it very mildly.
**** them.