The Sun Is Out...

... people are starting to get that "summer" vibe here in Orkney, and all of a sudden my dodgy leg is back in a compression bandage and fucking surgical boot again!

Went to the nurse today, and saw the one who usually does Thursday and Friday, but who had been on holiday last week... and she said "Oh, my god! That ulcer is getting deeper again! Back into compression with you!" (This despite the fact that the nurse who saw me on Tuesday said it was looking better than it had been when she saw me the Friday before).

I protested, mainly on the grounds I was going out tonight, and also that I'd just started being able to wear proper shoes again... and didn't have to worry about aqua-planing if I had to go out in my surgical boot that was smooth on the bottom and held together by gaffer tape. But to no avail.

I was strapped up, and then she tried to get my croc that I had been wearing back on my now-2-layer-bandaged foot... and it wouldn't go (surprisingly(!)). And I was going back to work, so on the upside (insofar as there is an upside) I got a new surgical boot.

So, I'm back to being "Bigfoot" for a month... Oh, joy(!)

Suddenly don't feel like going out tonight... I just want to hide away like a troll under a rock for the next month. I don't want people saying any of the following:

"So, what's the other guy like?"
"What have you been doing to yourself?"
"I thought you'd got rid of that thing!"

or to have to face the young ones pointing and sniggering any more than they usually do.

Okay... self-pitying rant over... for now.

Live By The Sword(fish)...

Die By The Evil Little Fuckwits We Saw Last Night.

First, a recommendation... tonight we tried swordfish for the first time ever, and it is absolutely delicious!

Bought 2 steaks (cost just under a tenner for 2 bits, but they were good big steaks) from our local fishmonger today as a treat, as we've been making the most of the bonny evenings this last week or so, and have been out runs with my brother... so we hadn't really had a relaxed evening at home since last week sometime.

Baked them in the oven for half an hour or so... very simply... didn't even add salt or pepper, and had them with cauliflower & cheese sauce, and potatoes. And they were so good... like tuna, but not quite so "meaty"... more "fishy" flavoured (if that makes any sense), and not quite so firm as tuna. And had a glass of wine with them.

Really... try swordfish if you ever see it in your fish shop... you won't regret it.

Oh, and we made the fatal error of giving each of the cats just a tiny bit to try it... and they really rather liked it, thank you very much! But if they think that we're going to start feeding them swordfish instead of Felix cat food and cat biscuits, they've got another think coming!

And then on to my other fishy story... which is a bit of a rant...

Last night was quite bonny, so Viki, my brother & I bought some chips and drove out to Scapa pier to eat them.

When we got there, there were 6 or 7 "kids" (14 - 15 year olds) fishing for mackeral off the pier... and they were catching a few. But it was what they were doing once they caught them that made me and Viki feel so mad...

When they landed a fish, they got it off the hook and then, instead of either:

1. killing it cleanly and humanely so that they could take it home to eat

or

2. removing the hook without hurting the fish too much, and then letting it go again

which are the only 2 acceptable things to do, they left the poor thing flapping around on the pier for ages, kicking them, half standing on them, throwing them at each other, "fencing" with them, and hitting them with bits of wood (but not a clean blow to kill them).

Then, when the poor fish must have been dead, one of the boys jumped into the sea, and some of the others were throwing the fish at him. What's the point in throwing them back into the sea when you've tortured them to the point that they are dead?

My brother was out of the car, and we were hoping that he'd go and give them a skelp, but he didn't seem to see the situation the same way we did.

I wonder how the little thugs would like if someone did that to them?

I'm not a vegetarian, and I eat fish, but there are ways to kill your food... and that wasn't right.

Oh, Come On(!)

Jade Goody: The Musical

WTF????

I can just see it now... some reject from the Essex heats for Pop Idol gets the part... cue a darkened stage, with said bleached blonde caterwauling as the opening curtain rises...

"I'm here on Big Bruva,
I'm a talentless slag...
But give me half a Lambrini,
And I'll show you all me kebab..."

Then there's the finale... a choir of angels singing as Saint Jade ascends into Heaven with a final "Awright, God? Where's the bar?"

Get a grip, people!

To Anyone Reading My Blog Today...

Do you get the impression I'm a little hormonal?

Promise I'm not really... It is safe to approach me without me turning purple, biting your head off, and bursting into tears!

What Is It With Fruit Pastilles These Days?

Why is it every time I buy a tube of Fruit Pastilles (which I'm in an "Addicted to" phase), I open them, and there are hardly any reds or black ones?

Yesterday I opened my tube, and there were 7 (yes, SEVEN) yellow ones! And then 3 greens, 3 oranges, and only one single, lonely, solitary red one!

And today, I had 5 greens (although there were actually 5 or 6 red / black ones... I guess this must have been one that slipped through Quality Control!).

Are the additives and dyes for the yellow and green ones cheaper, or what? Or is someone somewhere getting all the reds and blacks that should be in my tubes!?

AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!!!

Come The Revolution...

... our local council, my bank (but less so) and the w***ers at TV Licensing will be first against the wall!

Okay, starting the saga with the bank... I checked my online banking today, and it said there was a charge for an "unpaid item" at £19.50. Now, I knew nothing about any items unpaid, so I phoned them to ask what it was. They told me "It's your TV licence... they tried to take a payment yesterday, and there wasn't enough money in the account, cause you only got your wages in today."

So this leads me on to my rant against TV licensing... I set up to make payments by direct debit, and I had to make 4 payments of something like £30-odd, starting in January and ending this month... and then from next month it would be regular payments of £11-odd every month.

For the last 3 months, the payments have come out on the 2nd of every month. But I've been April Fooled... because this month they decided they would try to take it on the first!

So I went home at lunchtime and tried to phone TV Licensing to see if I could make a card payment so that I would clear the unpaid payment, and I would know that the money had come off my account. But, oh no... because their system hasn't actually been told that the payment wasn't collected yet, they can't take a card payment... so I have to phone back on Monday or Tuesday once they've sent me a letter to tell me that the payment bounced!

Then there's the council... I sent my flatmate to pay the rent. It's the first week of the new financial year, and I knew that the rent had gone up, but I couldn't remember by how much... except I knew it was now £53-something. So she explained that we couldn't remember the amount, but could the girl check the computer? So the girl checked, and said that we had this week's rent, and a balance of £11-something from last week that hadn't been paid, making £75. Viki told her that we paid £11 last week, as per the letter we had been sent telling us that this was all that was outstanding to the end of the 2008 / 09 year, and could she please check again? So she pushed a couple more buttons and said "It's definitely £75". To which Viki said "No... We paid what we were meant to. Please ask someone else." So the girl got on the phone to the rents section... and the upshot was that their bloody computer still hadn't been updated from last Friday, and we had indeed made the payment, and were only due to pay £53!!!!

These things are sent to try us!

In The News Today...

This story has just sickened me so much today:

Aussie Boy Goes On Animal Killing Spree At Zoo

It's disgusting that he can do something like this at SEVEN years of age, and - to all intents and purposes - get off with it, because he's under the age of legal responsibility.

And I read in another story that his brother had already been in trouble for attacking the crocodile some years ago... What the fuck kind of parents do these two sick little freaks have!?

IMO they should all be thrown to the crocodile!

It's true what they are all saying... he clearly is a serial-killer in the making.

This Isn't Fucking Funny Anymore!

Not that my life has been funny for a long time, but at the moment it is going down the toilet fast!

Let's see, some of the pertinent events for the last week and a half:

Sep. 4th - My auntie dies, and my bankruptcy is approved.

Around about the same date, I get a cheque for my share of Dad's estate... which (as I've already mentioned) will now go straight to my Trustees as part of my sequestration.

I've also discovered today that as soon as my bank is officially informed of my bankruptcy, my account will be frozen, and I won't be able to get another bank account (not even one without an overdraft)... Fine - except my wages are paid directly into my bank account! So, some day I'm going to go to the cash machine, and it will swallow my card and say "No, you can't have any money"... and what about my rent which is paid by standing order? No bank account, no standing order...

My bank have told me that I can get my wages paid into someone else's account, and there is someone who will let me do that, but what if my Trustees see that as me being "dishonest"? As it is, I don't know how much of my wages I'm going to get to keep!

Then there's my "assets"... Anything that is deemed a "luxury" can be taken and sold. I don't own property or a car or anything high value, but I don't know how far down the line they're going to go!

On the up-side, they won't take anything that's not mine, and the computer I've got at home is actually my brother's... and it's not exactly state-of-the-art anyway... I don't imagine it would raise too much money in a Warrant Sale!

And that was the final kick in the teeth last night... I had been playing Spider Solitaire, trying to take my mind off the shittness of my life, and then I went off to wash my hair. Was bent over the sink, and suddenly was aware I could hear a high-pitched sort of wail. Once I got my hair rinsed, I went to investigate, and there was my monitor... no power light, black screen, and making a really, really horrible high-pitched "wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" sound! And, of course, now I'm bankrupt I can't replace it! Even if I could afford to buy one, it would be repossessed. My only hope is to see if my brother has one I can borrow to go with the borrowed computer, or to see if the Orkney branch of Freecycle has anyone with one that they're giving away.

And then today I had a visit to the nurse with my leg (for which I'm back on anti-biotics) and they tell me that, if it doesn't start to improve soon, they'll start looking at a compression bandage because it looks like the blood supply isn't good enough for the tissue to heal itself. And compression bandages make it harder to get shoes on... Oh, joy(!)

And yesterday I got a phonecall to say that there had possibly been a sighting of my cat (that's a month she's been missing now). Not too far away from me. Headed up there a couple of times, but no sign.

So, I don't know what I've done in a previous life to deserve this, but it must have been really, really bad.

The Rant Spot

Two things (apart from having to work) that are hacking me off this morning:

1. Our tinpot local radio station has just played that bloody sickening "Kissed A Girl" song. How the fuck did that get to number one? I'll tell you how... By cynically catering to the Spotty 15-year-old Boy and Dirty Old Man markets, that's how!

What do you do? You get a song that hints at a bit of girl-on-girl action, and then you make a "girly sleepover party" video... complete with opening shots of Katy Perry, half-naked on a bed, stroking her pussy(cat)!

And what do you get? You get every testosterone-filled, sexually-frustrated, spotty herbert 15-year-old boy and dirty old man downloading the video as a wank-aid! And you get a number one hit with a song that is crap!

2. Philadelphia Splendips... Why is it, no matter how you try to be careful to take not too little and not too much of the "dip" bits per "thing to be dipped", you always end up with one of two situations:

- No dipping things left, and still enough dip for at least another 2 goes!
- Half a dozen dipping things left, and no dip!

Today was the former, so I was sat here sucking Philly off my fingers so as not to waste it! Mind you, I've got another one for lunchtime, so what's the bets the latter option happens when I go to have it? I should have kept that wee grain!

And another thing... why are the little dip sections such a stupid shape? (For those of you not familiar with this snack product, they're a kind of "rounded" triangle shape). The ones I had today were the "Nachos" ones, and the corn chips are triangular shaped... and you can't get the fucking things right into the corners of the dip pots, no matter how hard you try!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

Let's Get Something STRAIGHT!

For my boss, and anyone else who might have any doubts, I am just that!

So the remarks about "Green Cards", "Civil Partnerships", and "Best Friends" can stop right now, thank you!

I See You Shiver...

But not in antici........................... pation... Not after reading this story:

BBC News: Rocky Horror Movie To Be Remade

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Sky, I beg you... reconsider! Leave this alone! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease!

(Yes, this is worthy of all those exclamation marks)!!

For a start, who are you going to get to play Frank 'n' Furter? There's no one can fill Tim Curry's fishnets! Tim WAS and IS Frank! Same with Eddie... Who can top Meat Loaf?

At least I hear that Richard O'Brien has washed his hands of this... Maybe Lou Adler needs the money more?

From what I read on the net, no one thinks this is a good idea!

There's a petition here that you can sign to try to get Sky and MTV to rethink this.

And I know I post this on a regular basis (hey! my blog, my rules), but here is the master at work... "Sweet Transvestite"...

and a few other gems:

Hot Patootie (Bless My Soul)
Floor Show
Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me
I Can Make You A Man
and, of course, The Time Warp

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

Stupid god-damn useless heap of crap computer!!!!

Tonight it has been running like an arthritic snail with a heart problem, and both iTunes and Internet Explorer have crashed on me... and I've had a "low on virtual memory" message... and I've had enough!

I'm going to bed!

A Weekend O' Woe...

My weekend actually started with a bit of excitement - I came home after doing my shopping and there was a "We tried to deliver a package, but your letterbox wasn't big enough" card from the Post Office... and immediately I got excited:

"Ooo! Someone's sent me a parcel! I'm not expecting a parcel! Wonder what it is?"

So, Saturday morning (starting work at 8am, so up at the back of 7) I phoned the Post Office about 10 to 8 to find out their opening hours - and they said the sorting office was open already. Gathered all my stuff, got a taxi, and got it to wait at the Post Office til I collected my goodies - and then up to work (about 2 minutes past 8) - costing about £4.

And what was my wonderful, unexpected surprise? 2 free energy saving lightbulbs from Hydro Electric! Whoopee-doo(!)

So, opened up at work, and went to take one of my anti-biotics, which I'd put in my handbag the night before... hadn't I? Well, no, I hadn't actually! So I had to close for 15 minutes at dinnertime, get a taxi home, get it to wait until I grabbed my tablets, and then take me back to work (I wouldn't be home again until after 8pm coz I always visit my brother after work on a Saturday to watch "Doctor Who" with him)... costing me £5 this time!

Was actually a reasonably busy day at work compared to the last few Saturdays.

Closed up at 4o'clock, did a few messages, and then headed at the usual time (just after 5pm) to the local Starbucks for me & brother's Saturday coffees... only to be told that - due to it being the arty-farty St Magnus Festival here this week - they were closing early before re-opening a bit later for "The Festival Dining Experience" for the arty-farty Festival goers!

So, feeling more than a little pissed off, I headed down to my brother's (I'd been there already after work to drop some stuff off, and he hadn't been home)... only to find that, in amongst the stuff I'd dropped off, was the spare key I had for his house... which was now locked inside his house, coz he still wasn't home!

At this point, I was severely hacked off, just wanting a seat and a coffee. Why didn't I go home? Because the key for my house was on the same ring as the key for his house... locked inside his house!

So I had to wander up the street a wee bit to the nearest bench and sit there and wait for him to come back from the job he was doing up the street... sat there for about 20 minutes looking (and feeling) like a numpty!

Did eventually get a cup of instant coffee at his house, and saw "Doctor Who" (not as disappointing as the last few weeks).

Decided to treat myself to a house special fried rice from the Chinese round the corner for my tea, before falling asleep on the sofa and wakening up about 10 to 3 in the morning. Dragged myself through to bed.

And I've been really lazy today... Just spent most of the day in bed, resting my gammy leg. It seems to be helping too... no wet bandage today, but my leg is a bit itchy. Not even had anything to eat until about half an hour ago... just rested with Harriet for company.

Don't think it'll be that long before I'm back in bed either... I don't get the chance to rest my leg any other day of the week, so I'm making the most of it.

Here Lies Ally...

Okay, okay - It's not quite as bad as that! I just liked that smiley!

But I was forced into going to the doctor today with the sore bit on my leg - a whole 3 days before the ultimatum made by a friend (who told me on Sunday night that if I hadn't gone to see the doc a week from then that she would never speak to me again... and I believe her - those Hungarians are tough, you know). Over the last 2 or 3 days it's not got any sorer (it really doesn't hurt), but the yucky watery stuff that's coming out of the surrounding area is getting more and more - to the point that I put on a dressing yesterday morning, and had to replace it by about dinnertime.

Anyway, got an appointment (with the practice that's temporarily looking after us) at half past 10, and the doctor was worse than useless! Would you believe, he didn't even take off the dressing I had on to see what it looked like? All he did was write a prescription for some anti-biotics and tell me to "lose weight" - like it's that simple(!)

Back after work to see the practice nurse to get some better dressings put on it... not that they're much better. That was 5pm, and by 7o'clock, I was sticking tape round the edges to try to stem the stuff running out. I've got another set of dressings for tomorrow morning, and I've got to go back and see her tomorrow after dinner to check on it and get more dressings for the weekend. At this rate, it would be better if they just hacked the damn thing off!

Pissed off as well because I managed to burn my tea, so my meal was the fillings only of a little chicken & mushroom pie and a cornish pasty - Still, that's surely a start on the weight loss?

Yes, I'm in a grump.

Right, going to bugger off now and watch last week's "Heroes", repeated on BBC2 (yes, I know I went to watch it at my brother's last week, but the bastards at the BBC had decided in their infinite wisdom that they were going to show it at 10o'clock instead of the usual 10:30pm, so I only saw the last 10 minutes). Then I'll wander round the corner to D's to watch the new episode (which is back to 10:30 - I checked).

How Far...

... down the toilet does my life have to go before it starts coming up again?

There's a lot going on that I've not been telling you - or anyone, really - about, but now I'm going to unburden... Don't worry, I'm not expecting anyone to have any answers, or even to read this... I'm just letting loose.

Firstly, there's what's awaiting me tomorrow morning. 9am I've got a meeting with the Citizens Advice Bureau to start the procedure to declare myself bankrupt. The repayment plan I set up never really worked, and was eventually revoked, and so this is the next logical step. I've thought long and hard about it, but it's all I can do. I can't risk setting up another scheme because there's a lot of uncertainty job-wise (and has been for months, but I thought it was over - alas, no), and I don't know what's going to happen to me. It does mean, though, that when Dad's will is sorted out, I'm probably going to have to hand over most, if not all of my share, to the money-grabbers... after I was the one left at home and unable to go off to college or anything because my parents needed me! Being born last, to older parents, really sucks!

Then there's the fact I've had a little 10p-sized sore bit (I say sore, but it's not really... it's just been weeping a bit) on my leg for the last few weeks, and I've been keeping dressings on it - changing them every day. But now the sticky bit of the dressings have irritated the skin all around the original wound, and it's all red and weeping even worse than the wound (since yesterday really... last night when I went to bed, the inside of the leg of my breeks was wet - and that's the first time that's happened). Don't really want to go to the doctor, because my practice is closed at the moment, and when I had to go to the temporary cover a while back, they were worse than useless.

Plus, yesterday and today I've had a stinking cough again... Sometimes it's a real struggle to stop coughing long enough to get a breath in. But, again, I don't want to go to the other doctors... plus, the boss is away a few days this week, so I'd really be struggling to get away for an appointment.

Oh, and last night the cats excelled themselves in the "pissing me off" stakes. I've had 3 days with no piss behind the door, so was starting to rest on my laurels a bit. Went to bed after a bad day and depressed evening, without turning on the light... climbed into bed, threw the sheet over the top of me - and something cold and icky landed on my leg! Immediately squealed and chucked it off me, then got up and turned on the light to see what it was - One of the cats had had a furball, and upchucked it on my oversheet! So I had to haul off the sheet and put the quilt back on again.

Hey, at least my lovely wee house is still making me happy (even if I haven't been able to get curtains or curtain rails for it yet... only nets held up with drawing pins). However, I'm a bit pissed off, because since I moved in, only one of my family has actually been along to see where I live now... I've not even had a "Good Luck In Your New House" card from the rest!

But on the up side, it's less than 2 months til Viki comes over from Hungary to visit. I'm really looking forward to showing her around and just having a laugh.

Well, I think that's all the crap off my chest, so I'll bugger off now.

It's Been Friday All Week...

Unfortunately, this Friday (er... tomorrow) is *gulp*...

Let's start my woes with the weather and my washing... I hung out some washing about tea-time on Sunday, and the weather was fine for drying it. Left it out all night, and didn't have time to take it in before work on Monday morning... and it rained before I got home! So, not having anywhere in the house to hang wet clothes, and no tumble drier, I left it out. It dried Tuesday because the weather was fine - until just before I got out from my counsellor's appointment... and it rained! Left out washing, dried Wednesday... rain comes not long before 5o'clock (are you detecting a theme here?), so washing gets left out... Today was cold, but mostly dry until... do I really need to go on? Suffice to say, the bloody washing is dripping away out the back and can stay there until Hell freezes over for all I care!

Then there's the cat... who I can't stop from pissing behind the front door. I've fixed a carrier bag over the letter box, so at least my mail doesn't land in it any more. But I've had boss and flunky berating me for not "rubbing her nose in it" - so I tried that last night. Result? She was terrified of me for a while, then sulky, then eventually forgave me - and there was a puddle behind the door again tonight! Picked her up, got to within 2 feet of the door... whereupon she obviously sussed what I was going to do, and she struggled out of my grip and away behind the chair... where she stayed until I'd got it all cleaned up, eventually coming out for a cuddle once it was too late for me to punish her. Please... there must be SOME way to curb this behaviour? It's only started since I moved...

Then there's the fact that work is so quiet now that we've sold the shop... and I'm so up-to-date that I've got nothing to do most of the time. Business should pick up as the nights start to lengthen again, but that's a long way off.

Well, that's about all for me, I reckon. Off for a quick scoot about and then down to visit my brother to see "Heroes" a bit later.

Oh, What Jolly Fun(!)

Friday, Saturday and today we've been stock-taking... and for the first time ever, I've been involved in the actual counting of stuff in the electrical store here, rather than just entering figures on the computer whilst everyone else counted.

Well, since there's only 3 of us this year, I've had to count as well. This wasn't so bad on Friday, because I got to count the showroom upstairs... which is mostly boxed electrical goods, and light fittings, and is easy enough to count...

But then Saturday I got moved downstairs, and had to count things that I hadn't a clue what they were... sometimes had no stock codes written on them... could have been the wrong thing in the wrong box for all I know... could have been incomplete... and that went on today as well.

Add to that the fact that my lack of knowledge was being taken the piss out of, that everything was filthy, and that - because I hadn't a clue what I was doing - I wasn't in the best frame of mind anyway.... and you can see that I've had a great weekend!

Oh, and it's been a beautiful day today, and I've been stuck inside when all the rest of the country has this thing called a Bank Holiday!

Grrrrrrr!

This Week's "Arseholes Of The Week" Award....

... goes to those gits at BT who are messing me about over trying to get my phone number transferred to the new house!

I phoned them before I actually moved and explained that I was moving, and needed to transfer my phone number to the new house, and to get it ready for Broadband as well... at which point they informed me that the previous tenant hadn't notified them that he was leaving, so they'd have to get in contact with him to get his authorisation, and that would take 10 days.

So I explained to them that he'd been evicted, and the house had been empty for at least a month... And they told me to get the council (as landlords) to contact them and explain this, and they would cancel the line. Then, 24 hours later, I could contact them and set up the transfer.

So, I did this... and when I phoned BT later, they told me that the previous tenant had opted out of BT's line rental... so I would have to get in touch with the company that the ex-tenant was with ("Plug in a phone and dial 150, madam... That will connect you through to the company"), and ask them to return the line to BT.

Finally got a shot of a phone last night (my cordless one is in a box somewhere... probably in the attic), and tried dialing 150 this morning... and all I got was "The number has not been recognised".

So I phoned BT again, and they informed me that the line was still active, and was with another provider... but that it wasn't a case of finding out who and getting it handed back over - oh, no... I would have to pay £125 to get a new BT line put in! This despite the fact that there's an active line in the house already!

There's no fucking way I can afford to pay £125 for a phone line - especially one that's there already! And why should I when it's not my fault that the stupid ex-tenant decided to pay his line rental to someone other than BT!?

This is a major pain in the arse, because until I get a phone line, I can't get Sky sorted out, or my Broadband!

So, congratulations British Telecom on winning "Arseholes Of The Week"!

One Of Those Days...

Another 8am start today, because 2 of our staff were away (not bad, you might think - but that only leaves 2... to look after 2 places... and the boss couldn't start until half past 9). So, up at the office for the first hour & a half, then a takeaway coffee (extra large gingerbread latte... yum) grabbed from the local Starbucks, and off to the shop to open it at 10am (an hour later than usual) - where the problems started in earnest...

Had just got the place all opened and went to put the money in the till - I had one single solitary pound coin, and no fivers! And I was alone in the shop, and the boss alone at the office, so I stuck the lock on the door again and dashed to a couple of shops across the street to beg some change - and thankfully they came to my rescue!

Then I tried to phone out... and discovered we had no phone line in or out! Phoned boss (on my mobile), and he spent about 20 minutes on the phone to B* (censored to preserve anonymity ;^D), eventually getting a promise that they would sort the problem out... which they eventually did - but that wasn't to be my last dealing with them today...

More problems with call centres this afternoon - this time X***x, because our photocopier wasn't working properly, and I wanted an engineer... Instead, I got some twonk in a call centre (probably in Delhi or somewhere) who told me to take a little stick with a pad on the end of it and poke it in and out of 4 little holes (I know where I'd have liked to have stuck it!) to clean some of the internal gubbings... which sorted the original problem - but left me with "ghosting" and double images on my copies... Twonk's reaction? "Just keep copying, Miss Alison... It'll get better."

Phoned the boss, who said "Phone them back and tell them we pay a fortune for maintenance, and we want a bloody engineer!" - Spoke to a woman this time, who was a lot more helpful, and there should be an engineer with us tomorrow afternoon.

Then, just before 5pm, I had to phone B* again to try to pay a bill... and I sat in a queue for 12 minutes... Gave up, got the shop closed up at 5pm, and then tried again - eventually getting through after 15 minutes again... but couldn't get the bloody bill paid because of some problem related to this morning's problem!

Why do big companies like those 2 employ numpties!?

But I had a numpty moment today too... I posted a birthday present to my friend in Hungary exactly 3 weeks ago, and I was getting really worried as to why she hadn't got it yet. I discovered today - When I addressed the parcel, I forgot to write "Hungary" in the address! I wonder how many countries it had visited before it got to her!?

Well, I think that's my rant over with for today... So - how was your day?

Tired And Twisty, Grumpy And Grouchy...

That's me today, as you'll no doubt suss out from the tone of the posts.

Woke up feeling really tired still, and really didn't want to get up... but I forced myself to. First up there was college... then the mobile phone issue... and a lack of lunch due to financial embarrassment (I've had £10 since yesterday - I had £20 available in the bank on Monday, but when I went to take out a tenner yesterday, I must have forgot a Direct Debit, because I had £5 available funds... and I needed £5 of the £10 in my purse for taxis today)... and spending all afternoon in a shop that stank of paint because the back room's being given a spruce up, which gave me a headache...

Never mind... come 5pm I managed a gingerbread latte because I had 6 stamps on my loyalty card, entitling me to a free coffee... and my last £2 (literally, I've got 0pence left... good job it's pay day tomorrow) bought me a thing of chips and a bit of black pudding.

Tomorrow's probably not going to be much better - back in the shop, and the painter's been in tonight again (NO... that's not a euphemism - I'm not hormonal, just crabbit!). And I've got to take my phone back to the shop.