Christmas cards verus Facebook

Today I have written all my Christmas Cards.  Christmas Cards aren't really that expensive.  I always try to buy 'charity Christmas Cards'.  This year I'm supporting the RSPCA, Marie Curie Cancer Care & Cornwall Hospices.


Stamps are extortionate!


I've spent about £10 on cards (because W H Smith were selling boxes for buy 2, get one free) and about £30 on stamps?????


Why am I sending Christmas cards to people that I don't actually see from one year to the next, they're my friends on Facebook, so actually why don't I just send them an e-card??????


Christmas is getting more and more commercialised every year.


And now I'm just sounding like a 'grumpy old woman' or a 'middle aged ranting spinster' - both of which I'm guessing I am???


However............................. as a 'ranting middle aged spinster.................... there's still something really nice about receiving a Christmas Card.  One has a 'physical thing' that one can display on one's mantelpiece.  OK I don't have a mantelpiece but that's not the point.


Christmas cards show that friends new & old are thinking of you at Christmas.  Sending a card signifies that an effort has been made to buy a card, write a card, put a stamp on the envelope and post the card.


Like many of my lovely FB friends, I'm sure I will pen a post on Christmas Eve which will say something like, 'Wishing all my FB friends a fabulous Xmas & New Year'.


I know I'm a 55 year old middle aged ranting spinster.................  But there's a lot to be said for sending good old fashioned Christmas Cards???

Another car parking RANT!

I am seriously NOT happy!!!


...........And I actually don't care who reads, sees or makes this RANT go viral.


To explain...................


I live in a house within a complex of 12 properties.  There is one allocated parking space per property.


One of my neighbours is having a lot of alterations done to his house and he asked me, a few days ago, if I would mind parking in one of the other spaces for three days because he had a lot of stuff to be delivered/removed etc etc.  My parking space is nearer to his house and he wanted all the delivery people to have easier access.


Obviously I agreed because I am a very nice neighbour??!!


However, whenever anyone else has work done to their property they have to make arrangements for where the workmen can park.  When any of us have people to visit we have to make arrangements for where people can park. Etc,Etc,Etc.


Anyway I have parked my car in one of the other parking spaces because I know its not being used by the owners because it is a 'holiday let' property and there is no one there.


........And now ..................I have just arrived home and found my neighbour parked in my parking space????  This wasn't the deal??  The deal was - they could use my space for workmen for three days???  NOT use my parking space for their own use!!!


I actually like MY parking space.  I bought my house 12 years ago with an 'allocated numbered parking space'.  I like my parking space because it's the furthest space away from the main road and it means I can unload my shopping, let the dog out of the boot, and get into my property easily.


And while I'm having a RANT - the other good thing about my parking space is - another car can actually park behind mine without blocking anyone else in.  For more than 10 years this is what friends have done if they're only popping in for a couple of hours.  Now it would seem that one of the other neighbours doesn't like this.  Apparently it's spoiling her view???


Get over it love!  You buy a house overlooking a car park - expect to see a few cars!!!!


However, out of respect for the neighbours, and because I actually hate confrontation, I've actually asked my friends to park elsewhere.


.....................Won't be doing this anymore.


For the last six weeks, I've had to go knocking on my neighbours door to ask the builders to remove their vehicles every time I go in and out. 


Neighbour that has moaned about my friends parking behind my car for even just 5 mins, (while they pop into my house to pick up my dog), doesn't seem to have a problem with a huge Volvo or van parked right outside her window for weeks on end??  Also didn't seem to have a problem when her daughter was parking a car in the middle of the car park which was only blocking in her car & her boyfriends???


Seems to me that there's 'two rules' going on here.


Not happy!!!  Hence this RANT!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Haven't ranted for a while but I'm now going to seriously have a rant about Christmas.


It's November for goodness sake.  Only half way through November, yet every shop one goes into has it's Christmas tree and Christmas decorations up.  And irritating piped Christmas music is blaring from everywhere.


OK, I must admit the 'John Lewis Christmas Advert' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iccscUFY860) is fabulous.  I love the John Lewis Christmas Advert.  Though I have to admit to being a victim of 'social media'.  The John Lewis ad popped up on my twitter feed so I knew it was the John Lewis Christmas Advert.....................  But how does anybody know that it's advertising John Lewis until the very end???  OK, I guess everyone knows,  because it's the John Lewis Ad and everyone has social media.


Anyway, I live in Cornwall.  It's not exactly the metropolis of the universe and yet today when I went to a 'retail park' it was jam packed.  I can't mention which store I went into because I might end up on the 'Jeremy Kyle Show'.  However an overheard conversation went a bit like this..................


I think they were mother & daughter. Both in leggings, both had hair tied back in a greasy pony tail and both had teeth missing!!! ................OK this is me making assumptions now!


Mother - 'You've got some vouchers.  If you spend £30 you'll get £10 off.


Daughter - 'Well I'm definitely going to do that anyway'.


Mother - 'What are you getting'?


Daughter - 'The leggings are two for one'.


Mother  - 'Lets get a trolley'.


Daughter - 'They've got sexy santa underwear over there.


Mother - Do you think they've got some in my size?  That'll get Dave going.


Daughter - £8.99's a lot of money to spend just to get it ripped off in minutes.


Mother - 'I'll make Dave wait!'


...................At which point I wandered off. 


OMG!!!  This is Britain in 2014.


I know that I'm a 'middle aged ranting spinster' but really?...........................


No way would I ever have had that kind of conversation with my mother.


It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.


........................More Christmas RANTS will follow.  LOL.

Waiting for a mammogram result

So....................  Some of you may know.........................  Some of you may not know..................


Three years ago I had breast cancer.  Fortunately it was diagnosed very early and I did not have too much of a traumatic time. 


However as a result of that I have to have a mammogram every year for the next 5 years.  This is year 3.  I feel fine, I look fine.  I am fine.  Having said that - it's exactly what I said 3 years ago after I'd had my very first mammogram aged 52.


On the 17th September at my 3 yearly check up I was told the results would be with me within 2 weeks.  I was handed a little card which said, 'If you have not heard from us within 2 weeks please phone this number'.


Well the two weeks were up just before I headed off to Spain for a holiday.  I hadn't heard and I didn't want to phone because I didn't actually want to know what the results were.  As far as I was concerned I was off on my hols and if something was wrong I would deal with it on my return.  And also I was sure that a letter would be waiting for me on my return.


.............A letter wasn't waiting for me on my return.


By this time it had been more than 3 weeks so I plucked up the courage and phoned the number on my little card.


The person who answered the phone said that the results were taking up to 4 weeks, she didn't know who was writing 2 weeks on the 'little cards' and was I worried???  Well of course I was worried!!!  3 years ago I had breast cancer, didn't know I had breast cancer, had no symptoms, felt fine, etc, etc.  Who's to say it's not come back again???


Person on the phone asked if I wanted her to try and find out more and she'd phone me back.  That was really nice of her.  But actually I don't want to know.  I feel fine.  I am fine.  If I'm dying is a couple of weeks really going to make any difference???  I told her I'd just wait for the results to be sent out.


But tomorrow it will be 4 weeks since my mammogram and I still haven't had the results.  I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing??


.................And now I think I do want to know.


I'm working all day tomorrow but if there is not a letter lying on my doormat when I get home from work tomorrow evening, I will be phoning the hospital on Thursday and demanding to know what is going on.


Surely looking at a mammogram x-ray thingy shouldn't take this long?????????????


This is 2014 - Technology is brilliant so surely if there'd been something seriously wrong with me it would have been picked up straight away and the hospital would have contacted me???


There again, too many ill people, too few beds in hospital, poorly paid nurses, not enough staff.


Nobody cares.  Patients these days are just statistics???


.....................I'm scared that there is something seriously wrong with me and I won't get the treatment that I need.


Having said that...........................  I feel absolutely fine.  There again, I did 3 years ago ................And then I was diagnosed with breast cancer!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously annoyed!!!

This evening I am seriously annoyed.


I am going to have a rant about CHAT magazine.  CHAT magazine, as far as I am concerned is a magazine for chavs??  It's not the most upmarket magazine in the world but actually I quite like it.  I like reading about betrayal, affairs, tragedy.  CHAT magazine is like reading about a 'Jeremy Kyle' show instead of watching it.


Anyway I have just been on my hols so I took along a couple of CHAT magazines for trashy reading in the sun.  I read them, I did all the puzzles and on my return I thought I'd fill out the online competition entry form.  After all I could be in line for a few thousand pounds worth of prizes.


So I registered, I filled out my entry forms for the last two weeks of CHAT magazine and then a message popped up.  Something about answering 2 simple questions before I could submit my answers???


I actually couldn't submit my answers???  The two simple questions wanted me to tick a load of boxes.  But if I ticked the load of boxes that meant I'd be getting a load of emails from a load of places that I don't actually want???  And as far as I could see there was no way of by passing all these stupid boxes.


I'm furious!!!!  I've just spent ages trying to submit some answers to a 'chavvy mag competition' and it seems that I can't unless I tick all the boxes which from what I can see is signing me up to all sorts of crap.


I like to think that I'm a reasonably intelligent person????  A lot of the people reading CHAT magazine are not.


Fabulous marketing ploy CHAT magazine???


.................I won't be buying you again.

Toilet paper

OK so I haven't ranted for a while.  Been a bit busy recently and also I suppose nothing has annoyed me enough to have a good old rant.


Today I am going to rant about toilet paper.  Now while that may seem like a strange thing to rant about; it's something that has been bugging me for a while.


Over the summer I always have a lot of people to stay.  And they always use a lot of toilet paper.  Which leads me to the question - How many sheets of toilet paper is it normal to use on one trip to the toilet?


I live by myself and to be honest I have no idea how much toilet paper I use a week but I'm guessing about two rolls tops??


Last year when my niece came to stay with me we went through 8 rolls in three days.   Surely 8 rolls of toilet paper for two people in three days is a bit excessive.  What was she doing with it?  Eating it??


Since then I have been monitoring the amount of toilet paper that guests use when they come to stay.  Yes, I am a bit sad.  And I've come to the conclusion that everyone uses more toilet paper than me.


So how many sheets of toilet paper do you use on a trip to the toilet?


OK - I'll go first.....................


I normally tear off three bits for the first wipe lets not be shy here and then another three bits for any subsequent wipes.  Actually, I have to be honest here and say why are toilet paper squares so small?  I bet no one actually only tears off only one bit!!!  There again there could be a whole community of people that do.  Who knows??  The amount of toilet paper one uses is not actually talked about a whole lot is it???


I guess it all comes down to whether you are a 'folder' or a 'scruncher'.


I am a 'folder'.  I like things neat & tidy and that applies to my toilet paper.  I tear off 3 squares, I fold, I wipe, I fold, I wipe, I flush, I tear off 3 squares, I fold, I wipe, etc, etc, etc.


To be honest I'm not sure what 'scrunchers' do??!!  However I imagine they do something like unravelling the roll as much as they can, they've obviously watched too many andrex puppy ads, and then scrunch it up for just one wipe??!!


I think most of my friends/family are scrunchers.


I've had lots of people come to stay with me over the last few months and it would seem that they are all 'scrunchers'.  When people come to stay, one plans meals, buys in more alcohol, does the supermarket shop and spends money on food items that one wouldn't normally buy.  However, I have to say that I've never actually thought about having to buy more toilet rolls because people are coming to stay.


......................I think I may have to have a rethink.........................


And actually another thought comes to mind - Myself & sisters were brought up the same way so I would have thought they would have the same 'toilet paper habits' as me and passed these onto their kids??? This doesn't seem to have happened.  Perhaps their father has done the 'toilet training' stuff??!!


I always buy my toilet rolls in multipacks and once I open a new multipack I put 'toilet rolls' on my shopping list knowing that I've got about a month to buy a new multipack. 


The only trouble is; when my niece came to stay - I opened a new multipack of toilet rolls on Monday and by Thurs we were onto the 9th roll.


I would actually hate to run out of toilet paper.  Since I have had my own home that has ever, never happened!!!


I remember going to primary school in the 1960s and if you were going to the toilet for a poo (to the horrible cold toilets that were outdoors) you had to ask the teacher for 2 sheets of toilet paper.  Horrible, rough, scratchy, shiny paper that the poo just fell off.  Yuk!!!  Needless to say I don't think I ever had a poo (or a wee for that matter) the whole of the time I was at primary school.  Obviously I must have experienced this at least once to remember how horrible it was. Think I must have blocked the whole traumatic experience out of my mind!!!  What I do remember in infant school; is asking to go to the toilet, being given my two sheets of toilet paper and then heading off to the toilets (which were in a block in the playground) and staying there for ages.  Nobody bothered coming to look for me.  I spent a lot of time just standing in the outdoor toilets when I was at infant school because I didn't actually like school that much.  Bet that wouldn't happen today?!  Can't actually remember what I did with the horrid toilet paper?  Threw it down a toilet I guess.


I remember living in a student flat in the 1970's and if we ran out of toilet paper we used newspaper.  How gross is that.


And perhaps my early experience of toilet paper has influenced how I use toilet paper today.


Judging by all the visitors that I have had recently; it would seem that I use toilet paper very sparingly.  I really don't think that I do.  I use as much as is necessary and after been brought up on horrible scratchy stuff, at the age of 55, I like to have a bit of luxury in my life so always buy 'nice soft' toilet paper.


................And that's my rant for today...........................


Much as I love all my friends & family that come to stay - they're all costing me a fortune in toilet paper!!!

BT

I haven't blogged for ages.  I haven't really had anything worth ranting about.  I have now!!!!






Today I am going to RANT about 'BT'.






Two and a half weeks ago I noticed that my landline was dead.  Haven't actually got a clue when my landline died because I don't actually use it that often.  Anyway on Sunday 15th June I went to make a call and the line was dead.  A friend had tried phoning me the night before and couldn't get through so had phoned me on my mobile but because she'd got through to me I hadn't really thought too much about my landline being dead.




When I wanted to call out on it; it was a different matter.




It took me ages to find a number that I could phone BT on to report the fault, and then, when I did; I had to go through a whole load of 'automated voice mail stuff' and 'pressing buttons stuff' and numerous other stuff before I was actually connected to a 'real live person'.




'Real life person' sounded like he was in a call centre in India.




Is it 'racist' to say that?  If it is - I don't really care.  I really don't care what nationality of person I talk to as long as they can understand me, I can understand them, and my problem can be resolved.




'Person in Indian Call Centre' tested my phone line, said there was a problem and told me that it would be resolved by the end of the day on the Thursday.




I wasn't very happy that it was going to take this long and asked if it could be resolved sooner.  Apparently not!!!




'Call centre person in India' took my mobile phone number and said they'd keep me informed via text messages as to how the problem was progressing.




I received NO text messages.




By Wednesday (remember fault reported on Sun) I logged onto the 'BT track your fault' website.  This showed that my fault should have been resolved by 1700 on the Thurs.  It wasn't.


On Fri it was still showing the same thing.  And what is even worse it had my contact details as my landline.  Duh???




On Sat it was still showing the same thing.  At which point I was less than happy so fired off an email to BT listing my email address and mobile phone number (which they already had???)




Sunday - took the dog for a walk and past BT digging up the road not far from my house.


2hrs later my phone line was up and running and I thought, 'Fabulous, everything is back to normal.' (Though BT still hadn't communicated any of this.)




BUT - I was HAPPY!!!




On Tuesday morning I received 2 phone calls from BT on my landline asking if my service was up and running.




It was.............................




...................But now my internet connection is soooooooo slow it's almost at a standstill.


I've just spent another 27mins on the phone to BT.






Another RANT will be following soon.