Community Involvement

Living in a small town in the Southwest I like to get involved in the community events, especially at Christmas time.


I do such things as helping to decorate the towns Christmas trees, helping out with the towns festive activities & helping out with the New Year Celebrations.


BUT..................  what is really starting to bug me more & more is the number of people who do absolutely nothing to help and then start moaning about everything that they think should be going on.


I will freely admit that I do not do very much to help my town.  In the month of December I am probably only going to dedicate about 10 hours of my time to ensuring that our Christmas/New Year festivities are fabulous.  Having said that................  If everyone else in town dedicated 10 hours per month, then we'd probably all just have to dedicate one hour every couple of months.


Just what has happened to community spirit????


The town that I live in is looking fabulous.  But it's only looking fabulous because a very small band of volunteers has made it look this way.


And it's really, really, really annoying when one walks around town and listens to gossip because that's what happens in a small town saying that this isn't right and that isn't right and so & so should have been done differently.


I really feel like just slapping some of these people.


What on earth gives these people, (who haven't contributed anything whatsoever), the right to criticise what is being done when all they're doing is sitting on their arses???


This is a small town.  It's a very lovely small town.  The Christmas decorations are looking very, very fabulous in our small town.  Our New Year celebrations are going to be fantastic.


Wise up....................  all you moaners and move into the 21st century.


Stuff doesn't happen by itself. 


Years ago, the whole community would have pulled together to ensure that everyone had a good time at Christmas & New Year.  Now it seems that there are only a few individuals who are prepared to give up their time and make this happen.


Come on peeps....................


...................Christmas is a time for giving, sharing, loving................

Phoning the tax office

Have you ever tried phoning the tax office?  No?  Then don't bother!!!


Trying to phone the tax office must be one of the most frustrating things that you can ever do in your whole life.


Over the last month I have tried to phone the tax office more than 13 times.  I've been phoning the tax office from a BT landline.  Naively, I thought that phoning from a landline, would be cheaper than phoning from a mobile.


Apparently - not so!  I have been told that 0300 numbers are included in inclusive minutes for mobiles, though I must admit I've not tested this information yet.


Every time I have phoned the tax office I have been charged 59p (+ VAT I think? - I'll have to check on that one).  My phone bill for phoning the tax office and listening to all their automated blurb is now more than £10?  I wonder if I can claim all that back from the tax office????


Don't you just love the tax office? NOT!  You listen to loads & loads of automated blurb and press loads & loads of buttons......................  But the end result is always the same......................


.................'Sorry we have no one available to help you at the moment.  Please call back later.'


Well, I'm getting fed up of 'calling back later'.  I'm getting fed up that there's never, ever, a real life person for me to talk to.  I'm getting fed up of listening to automated messages that go on and on and on and on.  And then just tell me to call back later and the line goes dead.


What kind of a service is this???


It is not a service. 


I'm trying to speak to someone in the TAX OFFICE for gods sake.  I don't want to listen to automated blurb.  The question I want to ask does not 'fit into' any of their stupid, stupid FAQ ('frequently asked questions').  If it did, do they not think I would already have found my answer?


How on earth does anyone ever manage to solve any of their tax problems when this is the type of service that they are offering?


I have spent hours and hours trying to sort out my tax problems, I've spent hours and hours phoning the tax office.


Is the tax office going to refund my phone bill for the number of times that I've phoned them and not got any response (apart from their stupid, stupid, automated ansaphones?)  Is the tax office going to refund me for the amount of my time I have wasted phoning them, being kept on hold, listening to their stupid, stupid, automated messages only to be told, 'please call back later'.  And is the tax office ever, ever, ever, going to get it's act together and be able to offer a proper personalised service???


I think not!


Grrrrrrrrr................................


This is soooooooo annoying!!!

Blackpool - 2nd RANT

OK, so my first RANT about Blackpool concentrated mainly on the fact that everyone was FAT, everyone SMOKED and everyone had HYPER KIDS.


I still stand by that RANT!!!


BLACKPOOL is the 'tackiest' place in the whole world (in my opinion).


It's also one of the most fascinating places that I've ever been too.


I LOVE BLACKPOOL!!!


Where else can you buy a large glass of wine for £3.30 and sit looking out to sea?  Where else can you buy a large fish & chips for £2.99.


Where else could 'Jeremy Kyle' broadcast his show from.....................  for the rest of his life???


Blackpool is so tacky; its actually stylish?!!!


A few months ago I watched '4 In a Bed' and it came from Blackpool and there were really snobbish people on it who said they would never, ever go to Blackpool.  The Blackpool hosts said that there was something for everyone.  And I thought.........  Oh yeah, get real, some of us like to have a bit of class in our lives???


But actually; there is something for everyone in Blackpool....................


I've just walked 24 miles of the 'Lancashire Coastal Path'.


I've not been up the Blackpool Tower cos I hate heights.  And I've not been to the Pleasure Beach because I hate heights.  And I've not been in any of the amusement arcades because I hate stuff like that.


............But I've walked for more than 24 miles.  And I've had a very cheap glass of wine in a beer garden in the sunshine and I've stayed in the most fabulous hotel.


And I know I'm a 'ranting old middle aged spinster'..................


.............BUT, actually BLACKPOOLS OK!!!


.............So if you're a walker or a biker or a hiker or a cyclist or a twitcher or a surfer or a swimmer or a horse rider or a runner or anything else.................  BLACKPOOL has something for all of us.


PS - It's still full of FAT smokers.  And a friend of mine has just done a bit of research and found out that something like 27% of Blackpool pregnant woman still smoke.  As I say................  'JK get yourself down here@.  LOL LOL LOL!!!!

Blackpool - 1st RANT

Not really sure if this is so much of a RANT, but an observation?

I’m in Blackpool for a couple of days......................  And seriously, everyone is FAT, everyone smokes, nobody has any teeth, and ‘Jeremy Kyle’ really should just broadcast his show from here.

OK so I’m sure that’s a bit of a ‘generalisation’...............  But seriously.............

................All the fat kids are wandering around with their fat parents and fat siblings and fat uncles & aunties.  All of whom have a cigarette in their hands.  And all I can hear anyone saying is................  ‘Can I have some chips, can I have a burger, can I have some ice cream, can I have some candy floss.’  Etc, etc, etc,  It’s 3.30pm in the afternoon for goodness sake.

And all I’m hearing is; ‘Can I, can I, can I???’

What has happened to our society?

Why do we no longer eat meals for breakfast, lunch & dinner.  (Or even breakfast, dinner & tea which was what happened when I was a child?!)

Everyone just seems to graze on ‘snack foods’ these days which I’m sure is why all these ‘fat kids in Blackpool’ are FAT??!!

................And they’re all waiting at the tram stops to get on a tram to take them less than half a mile down the road to MacDonalds  OK I don't actually know where they're going but I have seen a lot of them get off at the MacDonalds stop?!!

....................And seriously ..............................How do all these fish & chip shops survive?  How on earth do they make any money when they’re advertising ‘fish & chips for £2.99’??? And a lot of them are saying that kids can eat for free???

First impressions – Blackpool seems like the ‘tackiest place in the world’?!

But ho, hum, let’s not be too hasty.

Sometimes, ‘first impressions’ aren’t correct??!!

Breast cancer awareness month???

Get a life people!!!


....................So I've had breast cancer.  And I've been through the whole breast cancer scenario.  And I've had an operation.  And I've had radiotherapy.  And  4 years later I'm still on breast cancer drugs.  And I totally support 'Breast Cancer Awareness Month'.


But honestly??...............................  All this 'over the top stuff' is doing my head in.


I've survived.  And for that I'm very grateful.  A lot of other people have survived.  A lot haven't.  And that is desperately sad..................


..................I'm just not sure that all this focus on 'Breast Cancer' is the right route to go down.


Breast cancer seems to get sooooo much publicity.  There's 'moonlight walks', there's 'wear it pink' campaigns', there's 'fun runs', there's 'coffee mornings'.


Don't get me wrong - Obviously having breast cancer myself, I would love to find a cure for it, and I'm more than happy for everyone to be fund raising to find a cure.


However, there are hundreds of different forms of cancer and hundreds of illnesses that need funding.  And hundreds of people that need help.


..............And I'm just not sure how 'Breast Cancer' has made it into the spotlight?


Is it because it's a 'woman thing' and woman feel empowered to do something for themselves.  But lets not forget men can get breast cancer too.


Personally, I would like the cure for cancer to be universal.


If I had one wish in the whole wide world.................  I would wish for everyone who had cancer, (whatever kind of cancer), to be able to take one tablet and make it go away.


Wouldn't that be fabulous???

Get off the internet

This weekend I have had friends to stay.  I love having friends to stay.  Having friends to stay means we can go out and about and do all the stuff that I wouldn't normally do by myself.




However.........................




................Increasingly having friends to stay....................  doesn't actually mean that we will be going out and about and doing anything???




So............... my friends arrived at 8pm on Friday night..................  And by 8.10pm they'd accessed my wifi code and were connected to the internet and were busy checking stuff on ebay/facebook etc.




I actually think I might declare my home a non wifi area if friends want to come to stay again.


Just what has happened to real live friendships???


Why does everyone need to be connected to the internet 24/7???


And the other thing that really annoys me.....................  Visitors just seem to think that they can breeze into your house and automatically get the wifi code and 'connect' and do whatever they want on the internet.


.............. I don't have 'unlimited' wifi usage.  Why would I?  I don't spend hours downloading stuff and watching stuff on the internet??


..............So I end up paying extra for everything that my visitors are doing???  And yes........  it does annoy me.  I really don't think I should be paying for their wifi usage.  They come to see me.  Or at least that's what they tell me??  So why do they need to connect to the internet the minute they arrive???


I don't watch stuff on Utube, I don't download stuff, I don't do a lot of stuff that my house guests do.  I check my emails, I faff about on Facebook & Blogger and I do a few other bits& pieces.  That's it.


Every time I have friends to stay I end up paying more for my internet connection because my so called friends/family use up all of my data limit watching stuff on the internet.  And then I'm the one who ends up paying for everything that they're doing.  And why do they need to be doing any of it if they're on holiday??!!


It really does annoy me.


I'm seriously thinking of declaring my house a 'wifi free' zone when people come to visit.


..................But then I probably wouldn't get any visitors??????  Lol!!!


Having said that...........................  Do I really want visitors that just spend their whole lives on their ipads????

Pass the blame

So here we are at the beginning of September with all the new students looking forward to going to 'uni'.


I am soooooooooo going to have a 'uni' RANT soon.


Anyway to get back to this rant...................  It has only just come to my attention that if kids these days don't get the marks they think they should have...............  exam papers can be re-marked???


As a 'ranting middle aged spinster' who did exams in the 1970's there was never such a thing as 're-marking'?? 


In my day, you sat in an exam hall in complete silence (apart from the click, click, click of the exam invigilator's knitting needles) and when you got your results you just accepted them.


A couple of years ago, my very clever nephew got As & A*s in all of his exams.  To me that was a great achievement.  But because he hadn't got an A* in one of them he said it was his teachers fault???   Why???


And also.................... to recall a conversation that I had with my 13 year old niece about subjects I hated at school, couldn't do and failed the exams in......................


................Her comment was.......................  'Oh you mustn't have had a very good teacher.'


........Nooooooooooooooooo...................... I just wasn't the brightest cookie in the box. Duh!!!


Why does everyone seem to want to put the blame onto someone else these days? 


Apparently the A level markers these days are given 3 mins to do it.  Which means that any kid who doesn't get the grade they think they should, can have it re-marked.  The school can request to have it remarked.  The parents can request to have it remarked.  The kids can request to have it remarked.


Obviously this happens a lot because 'pushy parents' and schools that want to 'up the league tables' obviously want better results.


BUT.................  I think it would be really interesting to see if kids that had been predicted lower grades and then got higher grades.......................


...................Said, 'Please re-mark this'?????


Can't see that ever happening???