Orange Cones

Whoever invented the orange cones are probably by now millionaires.  In fact I might just google 'orange cones' and see if I can find out exactly who is responsible for the millions of orange cones that are lining the M5 today?!!


What is it about British road workers that make them want to cover a 20 mile stretch of motorway in orange cones, disappear, not do any work on the road for ages, and cause congestion for everyone???!!!


OK, I guess we can't actually blame the 'road workers'.  The people who put the orange cones in place, the people who actually dig up the roads, the people who probably get all the abuse - they are not the ones to blame.  They are good honest people who are just doing a days work.


So who should we blame for miles and miles of orange cones on the M5?


Today I travelled from Cornwall to Derbyshire.  A journey that should take 5 hours.  Today it took 5 and a half hours. 


OK what's half an hour in a long journey??  Half an hour, that's what! 


If there'd been an accident or a hold up for any other genuine reason that would have been fine.  Travelling 300 miles one expects to have hold ups. 


However, to be held up by miles & miles & miles of orange cones, sectioning off lanes on a motorway, when no-one was working there............................  that to my mind is not a genuine reason.


When I lived in America 20 years ago - any work that had to be done on the motorways (can't remember what they're called in America - oh yes I can - highways I think?!) was done through the night.  The road was closed between midnight & 6am and a team of people just came in and did the repairs.


Why doesn't the UK adopt this policy???


I travel around the UK a lot and I frequently see miles & miles & miles of orange cones.


I think it's about time to just start using these orange cones where people are actually working.....................  Instead of just spreading them all over motorways with no intention of anyone doing any work for weeks on end???!!!


OK so I'm a 'ranting middle aged spinster' but I'm well angry tonight.  I actually don't want a 5hr journey to take 5 and a half hours because I've been held up by some orange cones.


If the 'orange cones' are actually there for a reason then that's fine.  Today they weren't.  There was no evidence of anyone working anywhere near any of the orange cones.


Orange cones???!!! - I hate them - Grrrrrrrrr..............................

One day beginners jewellery workshop

So today I went to my 'LEA college' to do a beginners one day course in making jewellery.


Clutching my letter of confirmation I arrived at the campus.  Didn't really have a clue where to park, whether I had to pay for the parking, or indeed if there was any parking.  However being a very 'savy' middle aged ranting spinster, I'd done a bit of online research so thought I knew where I could park.


So I parked in what I thought was a free car park at the weekend (and couldn't see any signs to say it wasn't) and then off I went to one of the 3 buildings that my confirmation letter had told me to report to.  Receptionist at the building that I went to hadn't a clue what I was going on about??!!  It took 3 phones calls to actually tell me where I should be.


Fortunately I'd allowed time for not being able to find my way around so I wasn't late for the class.


Arrived in the class to be met by a very lovely young (OK a lot younger than me) tutor.


At least half an half of H&S stuff followed.  I didn't sign up for this??  I'm probably being a bit critical here, but to spend half an hour on a 6 hour, one day course, telling us (the average age was probably about 50??!!) where to get contraceptive advice, careers advice, where the STD clinic was, where to go if we were looking for accommodation, etc, etc, etc. was to my mind a total waste of time.  After all we'd paid more than £50 for this course.  I for one do not want to know, or care, about any of this information????  If I've paid to do a course for 6 hours I want to be taught for 6 hours.


I don't even want to be asked the question - 'how long would you like for lunch?' 


On a course which is running from 10 - 4pm I want to be told in advance what the 'lunch arrangements' are.  I want to know if one has to bring a packed lunch to eat while one is working, or whether the 6 hour course includes a lunch break and if so for how long.  I want to know if there is a college canteen.  I certainly don't want to be asked at 12.45pm, 'What time would you like to break for lunch and how long would you like.  And then when I said I'd brought my lunch with me and could I eat it in the classroom to be told no because 'very young tutor' had 'prep' to do for the afternoon, well that just made me mad.  It would have been nice of 'very young tutor' to tell me where exactly I could go to eat my lunch.


Arriving back in the classroom in the afternoon 'very young tutor' had not actually done any prep. 


In fact, I'd gone searching for somewhere to eat my sandwich and 'very young tutor' had actually arrived at my sandwich eating spot with a guy who was on the course who I then summarised was 'very young tutors' boyfriend??!!


Very  'young' tutor was OK but obviously did not have the skills, knowledge or experience to lead a one day course with 'middle aged' people.


I have to admit I made a very lovely bangle and ring.


But.........................  could I make anything by myself, have I retained any of the information that I was taught today, were we told at the beginning of the course what we should achieve by the end, were we even told the tutors name???????


NO...........................................................................


This course was crap not very good, on so many levels.  I could RANT forever about this.


.................And the sad thing is.....................  We were given a feedback form to fill in at the end of the course.  I left most of it blank.  Because the questions didn't actually ask what I wanted to say and I didn't actually have a problem with the very young teacher.


I did however have a problem with the course today.


* Didn't have a clue where the class was being held.
*The tutor didn't introduce herself
* Wasn't told what we would achieve by the end of the class
*Weren't told where the toilet was, lunch arrangements, etc, etc
* The course confirmation hadn't told us that we'd have to pay for materials.
*There wasn't enough equipment for everyone on the course.
*The tutor assumed that we knew what a lot of the technical terms meant


I've made a lovely bangle and ring.  But would I go back to this college and do another course???  Absolutely not.

Phoning the tax office

Have you ever tried phoning the tax office??!!


.................If you haven't - don't bother.


Phoning the tax office is an impossible task.  I know.  I tried to do it today.


The reason I was trying to phone the tax office was because they sent me a letter saying that I owed them £122 for the tax year ending 2012.  I was well cross about this because at the end of January I had sent them a cheque for £1600 (which apparently was what I owed them for tax year 2012/13 and what they thought I owed them up to July 2014.  And when I got my wage slip for January I had, had a tax refund of £110.


Do none of the different tax departments talk to each other?  Honestly, one would have thought that in this day and age of computers and technology, everything would have been cross referenced.


I'm really honest - but how the inland revenue people actually manage to catch anyone who is cheating the system is beyond me??!!  The saying 'couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery' springs to mind.


Anyway in an effort to get some kind of answer I decided that I would phone the tax office................


..................NOT a good idea.


Phoned the 0845 number provided on the top of my letter which was immediately answered by a machine.  The 'machine' was a robotic voice asking me stupid questions which I had to answer.  Voice recognition and all that?????????  After seven and a half minutes of answering robotic machines questions, swearing a lot and listening to robotic machine saying that a lot of the answers could be found on the website, robotic machine asked me five questions and established that my query came under the 'something else' category. At which point 'robotic machine' told me that my call would be answered shortly and switched on some music.  Every half a minute, 'robotic machine' said, 'Sorry for the delay, an advisor will be with you shortly'.


Well, after almost 5 minutes I heard 3 pips, robotic machine said, 'Sorry we cannot connect your call' and the phone went dead!!!!


To say I am furious is an understatement!!!


Do the tax people think we have nothing to do all day but hang around waiting for them to answer their phones?


So then I went onto their website to look for more contact details.


I'm not a stupid person I don't think but could I navigate my way around their website?  I could not.  The only phone number I could find was the one that I had just phoned, there doesn't seem to be any email address and the only postal address appears to be a PO box in Wales???????????


No wonder people have problems understanding the tax system.


They haven't even told me how or where or who to make a cheque out to, to pay the £122 that they say I owe them.  All the letter says is, 'For more information about how to pay go to hmrc.gov.uk/payinghmrc/selfassessment.htm


.................Well I went there and I couldn't make head nor tail of their complicated website.  In fact from what I could gather one can't pay on line unless one registers but how you do that is beyond me.  And anyway there's still quite a few people who don't have computers so what are they supposed to do?


All I want to do is speak to a real life person.  Is that really to much to ask???

Buying a tax disc

A few days ago I went online to buy a tax disc because I am a very savy middle aged ranting spinster??


Everything went according to plan and a few minutes later I had an automated reply from the tax disc people saying my application had been successful, I would receive my tax disc in the post within a few days; and don't reply to this email???


Today I received a very fat letter from the Post Office. 


I thought, how fabulous is that?  I only applied for my tax disc at the end of last week and it's arrived already. 


In the words of one of my very first bosses - 'One should never assume'


Inside the envelope was a load of blurb relating to life cover for the over 50's.  Had I asked for this?  NO.  Did I want this?  NO.  Have I a clue what any of this means?  NO.  Is this going straight in the bin?  YES.


4 pages of stuff that I don't understand, an enclosed free post envelope to post back the stuff I don't understand or want, plus the envelope that was used to send out all this c*** in the first place..................... Multiply that by the number of people who apply for a tax disc every year, and that's a lot of paper.  In fact it's probably a lot of trees or even a lot of rain forests????


I'm just going to throw this lot straight into the bin.  I'm sure 99% of everyone else who receives all this junk mail will do the same.


Next year I will just go to the Post Office for a new tax disc and talk to a real live person??!!!


Perhaps if the tax disc people realised that this is what is happening then they might reduce our car tax bill?


All this wasted paper makes me seriously annoyed. - I wonder if anyone in the car tax office has done any sort of a study to find out exactly if sending all this paper to every one who applies for a tax disc is actually generating anymore income???   .....................And if it is..................... then why aren't we getting a reduction in our car tax bills?????????????????????

Welcome to the real world

So today I am going to rant about life in the 'real world'.


I'm going to rant about life in the 'real world' because my 14 year old niece has just messaged me on FB is that the real world? and asked; how many 14 year olds do I know that have a job????


Quite a lot actually.


Living in the SW, the kids down here fall into two categories: those that go on the Jeremy Kyle Show and those that work.  OK I will freely admit that that is a generalisation.  After all, statistically speaking how many people go on the JK show??


The ones that work, work really hard.  Be it 'pasty prison' (the pasty shops), waitressing, cleaning, delivering flyers, washing cars, whatever.  They start working young.  They have to, because they don't have parents that can afford to fund their mobile phones or social lives or iTunes downloads.


We all know that 'employment rules' state when and when not people under 16 years of age can work.  Does any one take notice of these rules?  I don't think so.


Most of the kids who work in the SW work in the hospitality industry which involves unsociable hours, long hours and evening hours.  They do it because they want the work.  The employers employ them because it's cheaper to pay someone under 18 to do the job.  And lets face it - why on earth would anyone pay the minimum wage to someone over 18, if someone under 16 can do the same job and be happy with a wage a lot lower????


It just makes me soooo mad that my gorgeous, lovely, intelligent niece, thinks that she is 'unusual' because she is the only 14 year old she knows who has a proper job (5 hours washing up at the local pub).  I think it's fabulous that she's got a job and I'm really proud of her.  But she's been brought up in a very cocooned middle class environment.........................


.....................and she still seems to have this notion that 14 year olds don't have jobs??!!


Middle class Britain and all that.......................................


Her £4 an hour, won't be going on her mobile phone bill because Mummy & Daddy will still pay that, it won't be going on pair of £40 shoes that she'll only wear once because Mummy & Daddy will  pay for those and it won't be going on any equipment that she needs for school  because Mummy & Daddy will pay for that.


I'm really, really, really, impressed that my 14 year old niece has managed to find herself a job.


Now all I need to do, is convince her that some 14 year olds actually have to work to fund things for their future - and not just go around saying, 'I'm only 14 but I've got a job!!!'

Dentists - Rant 2

The last time I had a rant about my dentist was on 28th October 2013 when I went to the 'patronising dentist' that had just taken over the practise where I normally go.


I didn't like him then and I like him even less now.


After my last visit (when he told me I had to visit every three months to have my teeth cleaned because the plaque was really bad)  I duly made another appointment.  OK I admit I stretched it out to about three and a half months but only because I only ever saw my previous dentist every six months and he didn't seem to have a problem with the amount of plaque on my teeth.


Anyway 'patronising dentist' actually saw me on time.  Turns out 'very lovely receptionist' who I thought had left last time, hadn't actually left.  She was just in hospital for a few days and the inefficient stand-in receptionist was actually patronising dentists wife!  Still don't know what patronising dentist is called because he still hasn't bothered to tell me.


Plonked myself down in the dental chair while patronising dentist faffed about on the computer.


The dental surgery has been refurbished.  Lots of clinical white units, and gone are the lovely mobiles that were hanging on the ceiling for children and middle ranting women to focus on.  Gone is the soothing music playing gently in the background.


Patronising dentist has employed a dental assistant.  Not really quite sure what she does.  Wasn't introduced to her either - she just seemed to be hanging around in the background.


After spending a few minutes faffing on the computer the conversation went a bit like this.  Patronising dentist doesn't do small talk:


Patronising dentist - 'Your teeth don't seem so bad today.  Are you doing something different?'


Me - 'No'.  I felt like saying, 'that's because you've made me come back after 3 months instead of 6'


Patronising dentist - 'Are you flossing?'


Me - 'No'


Patronising dentist - 'Did I use the water jet the last time'.


Me - 'I don't know'.  I felt like saying, 'How should I know - you're the one who spent more time keying stuff into your computer than actually talking to me or treating me'.


And then after he'd finished cleaning my teeth he actually asked how I felt about going to see the dental hygienist at the practise up the road???  The reason I changed to this particular practise almost 10 years ago was because the dentists and hygienists up the road all hurt me so much that they made me cry.  They were also just as patronising as patronising dentist.


Needless to say I refused point blank to do that.  So patronising dentist asked if I was anxious about dentists.  I felt like saying that I was becoming more anxious by the minute.


Then I had to wait while he keyed more stuff into the computer:


Do I ever floss?
What kind of toothbrush do I have?
Do I use an electric toothbrush?
How often do I clean my teeth?
Etc etc etc.


He wanted me to make another appointment for 3 months time.  So I made one for 4 months time.


Obviously, I had to have a bit of a moan to very lovely receptionist.  And she said that lots of other people have had a moan to her.


......................So I'm not the only person who doesn't like patronising dentist!!

Picking up a prescription - 2nd rant!

OK, so the last time I had to pick up a prescription was on 12th November 2013 - when I had a bit of a rant because they were closed for lunch.  In this day and age one would have thought that all businesses organised there staff so that they didn't need to close for lunch.


Today I decided to do the 'dog walk' later than normal because I didn't have to go to work, and could pick up my prescription on the way home. 


...............So, I arrived at the pharmacy to pick up my prescription just after 9am (they open at 8.30am).  There were about six people hanging around waiting - all just staring at an assistant who was on the phone, gazing at a computer screen in front of her.  It appeared that she was having problems with her computer.  However after about 5 mins of waiting she was heard to say, 'Oh so I'm not speaking to the IT department, can you put me through then?'


At which point I left.  Well the poor dog was sitting tied up outside.


I have to say I find this service 'not very good' to say the least............................


No other members of staff were visible at this time although one could be heard talking very loudly on another phone to a patient discussing some highly personal stuff that could be heard by every one in the queue.  Really this should not be how people in the medical profession act!


Whatever happened to the 'customer is always right'.


I fully appreciate that problems with computers do happen but customers should be kept informed and not just have to form their own opinions of what is happening by listening in to phone conversations.  All the prescriptions are filed alphabetically by the customers surname so why couldn't they just hand out the prescription, take the money and write down any other information they needed to be inputted into the computer when their systems were up and running again??


I registered with this particular pharmacy because it is about 2 mins away from where I live.  I deliberately didn't register with the one in town because I didn't want the hassle of having to traipse all the way into town just to pick up a prescription.


I have been picking up prescriptions here for almost two and a half years.  I've gone at all different times and never has it been a case of just nipping in and out.  For a start there is always a queue and I've always had to wait at least 10 mins.  This is the third time I've gone to pick up a prescription and for one reason or another I haven't been able to so have had to go back. 


I might be a middle aged ranting spinster but at least I am fit and able.  Think of all the old people who need their medication and for whom a journey to the pharmacy is a major expedition.  As far as I can see; at the very least this pharmacy needs more staff..........................  But also a bit of staff training in customer relations wouldn't go amiss!!!


And if, when I go back to pick up my prescription this afternoon, I am not served with politeness and efficiency there will be a very strongly worded letter heading to the pharmacy complaints department if they have such a thing.


And here ends my rant!