Mellow?

This week I have been cross at BT, I've been irritated by work and I've been tired the whole time. And still, it reaches Friday and I feel mellow.

So mellow in fact that I'm not even going to publish a rebuttal to Dom's Star Wars Trilogy Box Set complaints. I see his point of view. I don't agree in all counts.

I think I'm mellowing in my old age...

Mellow? Me? I think not. I'm just dissapointed that I can't find the Star Wars theme as a ringtone for my phone! Raa!

Oh, and some total [expletives deleted] keeps sending me messages on my phone. I don't even know this dick and he calls me gay! What a t1t!

The Force is with you, Young Skywalker, But you are not a Jedi yet...

On a big, happy, smiley, rant-free note:
Dom bought me the Star Wars Trilogy Box Set on DVD on Monday. Well, he bought it before that, but I got it then coz it hadn't been released before that.
I'm VERY happily enjoying it now.

And I am a Jedi, my badge says so.

Standards are Slipping

This morning on the way to work I had the bad luck to be walking behind an illiterate mother and her child. She was explaining to her child that he was going to chess club. Fair enough, you may say. She declared, "Someone's got to go because I want somebody to win that child!" WOW! I thought to myself, the prize for winning is a child - excellent. I realised, however, that the woman meant that she wanted to see somone beat that child at chess. Stupid people! I really get cross when people don't understand the difference between words like "win" and "beat"

One can win a race (by coming first) or win a prize (like in a tombola) but one cannot win ones opponent, one must beat ones opponent in order to win.

Other such things annoy me though, such as the general inability to differentiate between borrow and lend. eg. May I lend your scissors? If someone asks me this I generally reply, "OK, who would you like to lend them to?" which tends to result in blank looks and confusion on the part of the person whom I assume would like to borrow my scissors.

Of course then there's "can" and "may" which everyone has been told in English class. You say "Can I go to the toilet" and the teacher says "I'm sure you can" so you get up to go but then the teacher says "Where are you going?" leading to confusion, and finally realisation that you should have said "May I go to the toilet" since you were asking permission, not asking whether it is possible. Irritating when you're busting for the loo, but still a fair point.

Ok, I may sound like a pedant, but really it's annoying. Which reminds me...

The shop at the bottom of my street does excellent breakfasts. However, the sign in their windows says:
"Now open Sunday's"
I'm sure you can see the problem here. What thing belonging to Sunday must I open immediately? I thought, before realising that they meant that their fine establishment would now be serving food on a Sunday. There are many many applications for the apostrophe, but that is NOT one of them. Further examples of this ineptitude can be found on the intranet for this company. "CD's for sale" proclaims the sales page. Just one CD is for sale? No, there is a collection. NO NO NO NO NO! It's distressing to see. I can't allow myself to buy something from such an illiterate!

THEN...
I came across the following on our news-feed:
Shortly after the state-of-the-art Virgin Pendolino train hurtled along the track to reach Manchester from London in just one hour and 53 minutes, overhead power cables snapped, causing chaos on the West Coast main line. One of the worst groups affected were around 60 Manchester United fans who boarded the First North Western 18.51 service from Hazel Grove, which was scheduled to arrive at Old Trafford stadium at 19.35. But just minutes after the service departed Stockport station it ground to an all-too familiar halt. Passengers ended up trapped on the train for three-and-a-half hours until they were escorted off and marched down the track in the dark by British Transport Police.

While I know that football fans can be annoying, I think that they meant to say: "...One of the groups worst affected were around 60 Manchester United fans..."

...

Foot Update

For anyone who ever hurts themselves by falling down the stairs:

Avoid falling down the stairs - it hurts.

If you do, do go to A&E (or ER in US)

When it feels healed, IT ISN'T!

Don't walk on it without a support for the first time when you go on a shopping trip

Do keep it raised

Do the excercises in the booklet
So yes, I made the mistake of going into town without strapping on my foot and it has been very painful all day. It will get better as time goes on but I am bored of waiting for it to be ok! I want to wear my heels again! This is as bad as the time I sprained my ankle falling off my heels (which didn't need a trip to A&E as I was at a first aid training class!)

Sundays

Today we had an amusing moment when Dom broke the toilet seat. Well, I was amused. Then we were both surprised at how little one can buy a nice new wooden toilet seat from, and actually all wood, not plyboard nastiness like our chest of drawers...

So, thanks are again owed to Chip who turned up in town at the drop of a hat (metaphorically of course) to gather me and my bad foot, Dom, a loo-seat, some lamps which I was going to assemble this evening and now haven't coz I got lazy and watched telly, and a 5 drawer chest.

Alas, I'm all alone in the house again. I'm okay, until I go upstairs, then I get totally paranoid about every little sound I hear. At the current moment I am armed with my sewing scissors and have access to no less than 3 phones in case of an emergency! That said, I know that both the front and back door are locked, and that the house is almost burgle-proof as Dom, myself and my family had to discover previously.

I have noticed, also, that I don't rant much on my blog at the moment. I believe that this is because I am exposed to less irritating things when I am not at work. I don't mean by this that Mr Black is irritating, but that more annoying (or plain stupid) things happen while I am in work.

Speaking of work I am looking forward to hearing about the entertainment that is a week without any of my team in there, except for the new-boy who will not be able to do anything. I'm sure that B will take over and do everything, although that's really not sensible. It will all be okay, and then I will return and K after that to pick up the mess. I expect to have to spend a short while deleting all the emails that people send me regardless of the fact I'm not there, it's an unwritten rule that if someone has an away message you should send them pointless cr@p.

holidays and pies

Firstly I should begin by saying "Bye bye Bertie" as he is off to Glasgi. Hope it's nice up there for you and that you like your job etc. :)

Now, holidays. I took 2 weeks off work with the intention of going away somewhere on holiday. Unfortunately it has not panned out this way, and we are looking at possibly 4 days BnB in Scarborough. Which although nice, isn't ideal for British Septembers. Oh well, we'll have fun regardless, which is the main thing really.

And more dissapointment today. I went with Dom and Lint to the "Pork Pie Festival" which it turned out was sold out last week. :( so I came home and ordered pizza. :)

Last note, tomorrow Dom and I are going to the Elvington/Yorkshire air museum to look at aeroplanes. And probably photograph them. And then maybe put one on a t-shirt for Dom. That or a car. Who knows?

Oh - One final thing...
You don't think of things like needing radiator hangars for drying clothes when you have a tumble dryer, but then whe you move somewhere without one you realise how valuable they could be.

Oh, and also...
Parents drop the finest info on you! They're getting Dom a really funky prezzie for Xmas, but are then using this fact to bribe me into inviting them over for Xmas dinner! EEEEK! Me cooking for actual people rather than just me and Dom!

Ouch!

So, the house-warming barbeque went well. Everyone seemed to have a good time, although I was concerned that some people didn't have enough to eat. Unfortunately, the evening went awry for myself when I threw myself down the stairs. It hurt. A lot. More than when I trapped my fingers in the 6th form door. $h17! I thought. Shouldn't hurt like that. So I screamed a bit, Leon brought me peas (frozen) for the ankle-foot area. Thought it'd be ok, but stopped drinking. Mistake. The pain got worse. By the time people were leaving I was unable to put any pressure on my foot and it hurt when I wasn't moving. So Chip, whom I am now greatly indebted, went home, fetched his car, came back and drove me to the A&E. They were wonderful there, I've never met such a pleasant nurse. She didn't hurt me while checking what was wrong and also gave me 1000mg of Cocodomol (codine and paracetomol) for the pain. Nice lady. The x-ray woman was a bit surly, but you would be if you were stuck in a dark room with broken people. Then the x-rays looked ok, the nurse told me that it wasn't broken (phew - that would have ruined our holiday plans!) and that it was just a severe sprain. Up to 3 months for full recovery. And must walk on it. Joy. So, I have more drugs at home now, as it throbs quite a bit. Mostly it goes really stiff when I don't use it, then it hurts when I walk. However, I seem to both be able to put some weight on it for a short while, or my full weight for a second or two. Good progress methinks. Still hurts when I'm doing nothing though. More drugs needed I think. At least it's not serious. :D So, yes. Thanks to Chip for the lift and to H for the alcoholic jelly and the calm head. Thanks to L for just not panicking, and being there. Thanks to Lint for his astute remarks at the time, and to J (haven't picked up who you are online yet :( sorry) for being so sweet.

furnishings

Also, despite the rant, I have a chair. Actually, ranting or no, I'd still have a chair. Ok, technically it's not for computing, it's for fishing... I don't fish. Hardly even for compliments! But yes, seating so that my knees don't die. My typing is still appalling though - I think I've deleted more than half of the letters I've typed, and opened severla menus - I should go to bed or something - I'm sooooooo tired... Tuesday the bed comes...

Mobile fun

I didn't realise how expensive my mobile phone was going to be. I currently have a £15 tariff. The cheapest new tariff I can sign up to is £20, and it's nowhere near as good as the one I currently use. I currently get 500 free off-peak landline/O2 minutes, and 25xnet minutes. The new one is only 300 off-peak minutes! It's pants! The prices are just going up and up! Even if I switch networks all I can get is pants stuff, or stuff that costs a darned fortune! I hate this sort of thing! At least with something like chocolate I know what I'm paying for - ok so the price of chocolate has gone up 5p in 3 years, but who cares, it's value for money!! OK, rant over.

New House

Yey! So on Friday we spent our first night in our new house! Woo!
So, now every room has boxes in it, there's dust almost everywhere, nothing has a home, and my bed may not be here for two more weeks! However, I'm liking it muchly! The only real thing I'm having to get used to is walking to work for 20mins instead of less than 5!
I also don't have a chair for my computer desk yet, or much other furniture. I do have a three piece though!
Argh! my leg is going dead - will add to my blog when I have a chair!

Growl!

Grr! Generally! So, yes. Things not generally making me smile today. The estate agents rang my house phone, while I'm at work, where they know I work and have my number... So, then they email me, at work (!) to tell me that they couldn't get hold of me at home. Oh, and to call them. I didn't have their number, I had to hunt for it. So I call them. The woman there is an idiot! Here's basically what happened: Me - Hello, I'm returning a call from [agents]
Her - Which one?
Me - I don't know, the one who called me...
Her - What about?
Me - [my new address]
Her - Why, what's wrong with it?
Me - Nothing, I wan't to move in on Friday
Her - Have your references been cleared?
Me - Yes
Her - Then you need to make an appointment to collect the keys
Me - Yes, that's what I'm trying to do
Her- Oh. Ok, what day do you want to move
Me - Friday the 27th, that's next Friday.
Her - Ok, and what time would be best for you?
Me - Um, can you do after four?
Her - No, we only do ten 'til four
Me - Oh, ok. How about 12:30?
Her - No, we don't do lunchtimes
Me - Well, when can you do?
Her - Someone's booked in at two
Me - Ok, so not two
Her - How about ten am?
Me - Ok, I'll have to check with work, but that should be ok...
So, now I'm taking the morning off work to do that. Joy oh joy.

Fringes, Lenses and such.

I've spent this weekend (Friday to Monday) in Edinburgh. We went to see "Garden of Fools" which was a play with L's brother in it. It was very good. Quite humorous in places, and also thought-provoking. We saw a few other things too, all comedies I believe. We also went to see something called a "camera obscura" which is a big lens thingy that you can use to spy on people all over the city, but also to have a tour of all of Edinburgh in 15 minutes! We also visited the recently departed J in her new flat. It's a nice flat, in a smashing sea-side location with stunning sea-views. J's settling in, although I think she could probably be enjoying work a little more. Well, I'm off to watch 50 ways to look great naked! Nighty night!

weather

So, flooded again in York. I didn't really expect it to flood in August I must say. Still, it's interesting to see. The river's been going quite quickly, and there's stuff in it, like branches and small logs! There's more rain forecast for tonight, and so I expect that the river will keep rising. I have no idea whether it will het higher than it did in February this year. I have a cool article from my parent's newspaper of the building my flat is in with my flat being at water level almost! It's more exciting than scary this time, but the first time was a touch on the worrying side! Still, they're used to flooding here, so the York-people take it in their stride! The King's Arms (On the opposite side of the river from my flat, famous for being flooded) is still open despite the water! It's cool really. I like the river, even when it's all brown and stuff. I wonder if the river back home is flooded too? The Trent rarely goes over into the town now, although Morton was flooded in 2002 because the defences there weren't as good. I think that they upgraded them after that though. Anyway, floods and such. Interesting. I could probably go on for hours about whether global warming is happening or not, but I won't coz it would be boring! Have a good evening all, and don't get your feet wet!

Thought

Until we have the ability to give life to those who deserve to live, what right do we have to take life from those we judge deserving of death?

Poem

What's wrong with our leaders? Why do they fight? Is it for them to say which system is right? This leader is a tyrant He's scary and bold He thinks so little of those men, dead, now cold So many have died, It's plain to see The leader in the wrong here is George.W.B. Could Tony have stopped him? He at least could have tried, Now it's too late for The many who've died We are all guilty of saying but naught and we should be saddened and take them to court Children are dying Our world is in shreds We can trust just no-one Not the police or the Feds America is leading us To where I daren't ask But I can see this We haven't learnt from the past Can they not see Death has no place In living as we should As a civillised race We have this in common If you prick us we bleed nothing can change it so ignore the other's creed When you look at Mandela Or at Churchill or a king Do you see a great leader Or the colour of their skin? Liberating Iraquis? Freeing their souls? But no, they're not free now fear in heart and home Just another tyrant now holds their reins And scared as they are now it's not going to change People of America! England and Spain! be ashamed of your leaders Stop death in our name War is not needed It must now be true I couldn't kill an innocent Now think, could you?

Fahrenheit 9/11

I went to see this movie, this evening with L. I find my emotions varying from increduality to shock, dismay to horror. I sat up in 2001 when Florida declared Al Gore president, and then tuned out thinking that everything was going to be fine. When I saw on the news that they had changed their minds I was surprised, shocked and then resigned to the fact. I watched the recounts come in, I watched the truth getting lost. Why do I care? You may ask. I care because of two reasons really. One reason is that, like it or not, America is the biggest power in the world right now, and anything done in the name of America can not help but affect us too. The other reason is that I have family in America. I have one cousin who is old enough to be drafted and an Uncle who is ex-army. If you know the way in which conscription works, should it ever happen there, then you will know why I'm glad they have surnames beginning with 'H'. The Micheal Moore film hasn't made me question our government much more than I already was. It's more than just the war here. But it did make me wonder, did our government know all the things Bush's governments knew? Did 'Tony' know that there was no link between Iraq and Al Q'aida? I shudder at the thought, but I think he probably did. I am both worried and saddened by this thought. It saddens me also to think that I believe that the other leaders must have had some idea, must have known something. The one man in our country who dared speak out against the "intelligence" is now dead. I hope Moore has good bodyguards! I believe that people want peace and democracy. I don't think many people know how to exist in a truly fair world though - if you are equal to everyone, who is in charge. A (mis)quote of the much maligned Iron Lady (I think): "We are all equal, some of us are just more equal than others" And a better mis-quote which I also happen to agree with, "The only person fit to rule the universe is the one man who doesn't want to" (D.Adams) I know it's mis quoted, but I've got the meaning here. So, my closing point: I hope that J.Kerry and J.Edwards can win the next election, and that their rightful victory will not be snatched from them by media manipulation. And I hope that Kerry will be able to make Blair (or whoever by then) see sense, and that this whole fiasco will be fixed. Withdrawing from Iraq is not the answer there any more than sending troops in in the first place was. But something needs to be done. I don't pretend to know what, but something. If I were religious, I would say "God help us", but I'm not convinced that any God out there could, even if s/he existed and wanted to. We've got ourselves into the state that we're in - I just have to hope we can get ourselves out of it before we have an all-out religious war on our hands. If you have a God, pray to him/her that they can help us see sense. If you don't then you should watch this film. But shut your eyes during the beheading - it's going to give me nightmares. I challenge you to see it and not be moved in some way.

Broken Bones

It has been pointed out to me, in the past, that I break a lot. I wasn't entirely sure that this was the case until I listed the things I have done which have resulted in breakage or trips to A&E. Said list follows:

Age 2 - fell down stairs, broke arm

Age 3 - fell off a step, broke leg

Age 8 - trapped fingers in boys-toilet door, broke 3 fingers

Age 10 - hit with a cricket bat, minor crack in skull, scarred eyebrow

Age 10 - fell off swing, knocked myself out

Age 11 - hit with hockey stick, broke 2 fingers

Age 14 - fat girl put chair on my toes, broke 3 toes

Age 16 - kicked radiator, broke 2 toes

Age 16 - snapped knuckle on basketball

Age 17 - trapped fingers in door - broke finger

Age 17 - fell off platform boots, severe sprained wrist

Age 18 - dancing incident, sprained wrist again

Age 20 - toe trapped in dodgems surface, broke toe

No incidents to report since (touch wood)

The joys of moving

So, this morning I dragged myself (well, L coaxed me) out of bed for my tea, and then frenzied (!!) tidying of the flat for the arrival of the landlord, coming to check out a sporadic leak we have in the bathroom. At just after 10am the landlord called to say he wouldn't be coming til tomorrow. Fab. Managed to get to the estate agents to prove that I live here (using my payslip!) and even went to Subway again. Subway, yes. They didn't cut the bread right again. They didn't have the chicken tikka that I wanted. They didn't have the bread that I wanted. The sauce girl was stingey and the person cutting the sandwich split it into a 4 and an 8 inch sandwich - not helpful if you're sharing with someone. The cookies were excellent though! IKEA! L sugested that we looked on the IKEA website and tried to order a catalogue. apparantly we'd have to pay to have a catalogue delivered, so we decided to look online. In the near future I want to buy a bed, some shelving, some clothes storage and possibly some other stuff. All we found in IKEA was a £2.50 lamp we quite liked. Oh and a plate. Otherwise, not much to report. Been a fairly uneventful day. Nothing has particularly ticked me off - yet.

Friday Night

Yes, it's Friday! Woo! I'm being annoyed at my webserver again at the moment, it's very very slow. Although I am uploading lots of stuff, so I suppose it's a bit my fault. Hmm. I'm off to J's tonight to watch the Big Brother final. I'm not really bothered who wins, but it's usually an interesting spectacle. I'm usually dissapointed with the winner, so I expect it to be Jason or Shell, my two least faves. It's not that I dislike them. Shell is just a silly way of abbreviating Michelle. I mean, at least use a C! Oh well, who am I to talk with a "Z" in my nickname (sometimes)... So, this weekend I plan to: 1. give proof that I live where I do to the estate agent 2. wander round New Look, despair, buy something anyway 3. pay my council tax, late, again. 4. go to the gym (yes we've quit but we can't stop being members for 2 more months) 5. buy the Snow Patrol album for Leon, and possibly the Rasmus album too 6. sleep. Lots. 7. Write more Blog, oh yes! 8. Finish uploading my webpage so I can get on with sorting out the mess that is the old bit! 9. Buy a bed 10. Order an Ikea catalogue

Subway!

Lunch today was excellent. They've finally opened a Subway Sandwiches in York!! M and I wandered down there to see what was happening. :D I had a BMT and he had a steak. Mmmm. The staff are obviously still training, the 45degree hinge cut was more of a 90degree one. The sauce was not evenly spaced. However, other than that it was GOOD! I like Subway! I used to work in one, so I know how difficult it can be to serve quickly at lunchtimes. I didn't like being on my feet all day, I got a bad back from lifting boxes of peppers, boxes of beef, other stuff like that. Considering making Friday into Subway-day. We'll have to see.