I’ve trawled through the G4 forum, the Michael Bublé forum, all the job websites I know of, harassed all harrassable people on msn and email, so what do I do now?! I blog…..that’s what I do!
Not that I have anything to say mind you. I guess I could tell you about my weekend seeing as I haven’t done that already.
Friday night was its usual wildness of Eastenders, My Family, Have I Got News for You and Ugly Betty, followed by a timely sleep. Not sure I can take this pace much longer ;-) But at least I was half refreshed for Saturday. I had plans to meet up with a friend who currently lives in Leicester due to being at university up there. She was home for the long weekend so we used the opportunity to catch up and seeing as I’d been desperate to see Spiderman 3 for a while it was lucky for me that my friend also wanted to see it. Somehow though, we always manage to get some freak or other near us. Last time we went out it was “Little-Mr-Not-Enough-Seats”, but this time is was the damn kid who kept saying to it’s father “I don’t get that”, to the point where you wanted to ram your empty ice cream container sideways into his mouth to shut him up. The father did have some decency though and kept shushing the kid. Oh and I called the kid “it” because at first I just couldn’t tell if the voice was male or female. Half way through the film the kid finally graced us with some peace and went to pee, and on its return I discovered it was male, only really evident from the choice of clothing he was wearing as the haircut did nothing for his gender confirmation. Hmmm, maybe I’m just not “down with the times”.
Despite the above I did enjoy the film, although I know others who didn’t. Afterwards we decided that we needed something else to do. My plan was to head down to Whippendell Woods for a short walk, but from not paying attention I missed my turning and ended up near our local park. Luckily for us we spotted that there was a fun fair on over the bank holiday so we parked up, walked up to the stalls…….and the heavens opened! I think they call that Sod’s Law. After ducking from stall to stall in a poor attempt to stay half dry we ended up in the casino bit, which was a waste of 10ps, but we spotted those machines which have the claw inside and you move the claw to grab a cuddly toy. Well I’m thinking I should have complained, because quite frankly the claw was duff! Be fair here, Barney has a reasonable sized head, which should make it easier for the claw to grasp right?! Wrong! It grasped over his body and just slid over his head! I was outraged!!! Barney should be mine!
So after that debacle we headed home, in time to catch the bulk of Dr Who and Any Dream Will Do. My parents had gone to visit my granddad in hospital so it was nice and quiet at home.
Talking of my granddad, he’s still in hospital after two weeks; he’s having a pacemaker fitted today so we’re all hoping that’ll help him. He’s been collapsing too many times and since he’s been in hospital he’s not feeling them come on anymore, resulting in him bruising himself quite badly. Luckily he’s not managed to break anything when he’s fallen.
Back to the weekend…….
Not much else to add really. The rest was all spent relaxing at home watching films and playing computer games. I managed to watch a film I’ve had for a few months called The Lake House, with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves in. It’s a very touching film if you ever get the chance to watch it.
Wednesday 30 May 2007
Tuesday 22 May 2007
Friends? Think again!
This morning saw me wake up in yet another bad mood; despite my excitement at potentially attending the opening night of Joseph at the Adelphi Theatre in July (which reminds me to book the tickets!). I scowled my way into work whilst hurling expletives at anyone who dared to try and cut me up. Don’t try and blame it on tiredness either! I had a wonderful eleven hours of sleep last night. Bliss.
So I’m sat at my desk, pretending to work, and Fatty* came over to talk to the bloke that sits in front of me. Now, I thought I got on ok with the bloke opposite but I was to be proved oh so wrong. Yesterday he pretty much had the last straw with me by calling me “Sticky” for the umpteenth time. I don’t particularly like people drawing attention to my obvious disability let alone then calling me names relating to it. Once or twice maybe it’s remotely amusing, but when it gets to the stage where he doesn’t use my name at all anymore I start to get piddled. If you know me then you’ll know I’m not one for confrontation. I’d rather just not say anything and walk away from a situation and fester than actually say anything. So this week I can’t really be bothered to say anything at all to the bloke. This morning when Fatty came over to talk to him they embarked on a bitch fest. And I thought women were bad. I was sat quietly with both earphones in, Michael Bublé crooning in my ears, minding my own business, when they started whispering. So I decided I was going to listen. Discreetly I hit the pause button and Michael obediently stopped serenading me. Even though at the time he was singing that he was my man I had to stop him briefly!
So I’m listening, and I see a nod out of the corner of my eye aimed in my direction and I hear “she does my head in”. Hmmm, charmed. Intrigued, I was determined to hear some more. The tirade of abuse had only just started. After branding one of the guys in the team “useless” they then moved onto the engineers. He was targeted as a “useless c**t with an over inflated opinion of himself.” Well, it’s always good to know where you stand with people. Not altogether sure what to do with any of the above information.
Here’s a sobering thought though that puts everything into perspective. A friend of mine witnessed a friend die this week. My friend was in her car with her boyfriend, and her friend was travelling with her boyfriend in his car when they decided to overtake my friend’s car. For some reason he thought it was a good idea to overtake near a bend and ended up smashing into a Galaxy. The boyfriend of the girl who died escaped with broken ribs, wrist, arm and bruising in every conceivable place. "Luckily" for him he also doesn’t remember a thing about what happened. But sadly, it took a trip to the morgue for him to believe that he’d killed his girlfriend of four years. He’s now sedated in hospital and keeps checking his phone for messages from him girlfriend. She was only 16.
All in the blink of an eye.
*unfortunately not his real name. I just cannot stand this excuse for a human being, for reasons I cannot post on here.
So I’m sat at my desk, pretending to work, and Fatty* came over to talk to the bloke that sits in front of me. Now, I thought I got on ok with the bloke opposite but I was to be proved oh so wrong. Yesterday he pretty much had the last straw with me by calling me “Sticky” for the umpteenth time. I don’t particularly like people drawing attention to my obvious disability let alone then calling me names relating to it. Once or twice maybe it’s remotely amusing, but when it gets to the stage where he doesn’t use my name at all anymore I start to get piddled. If you know me then you’ll know I’m not one for confrontation. I’d rather just not say anything and walk away from a situation and fester than actually say anything. So this week I can’t really be bothered to say anything at all to the bloke. This morning when Fatty came over to talk to him they embarked on a bitch fest. And I thought women were bad. I was sat quietly with both earphones in, Michael Bublé crooning in my ears, minding my own business, when they started whispering. So I decided I was going to listen. Discreetly I hit the pause button and Michael obediently stopped serenading me. Even though at the time he was singing that he was my man I had to stop him briefly!
So I’m listening, and I see a nod out of the corner of my eye aimed in my direction and I hear “she does my head in”. Hmmm, charmed. Intrigued, I was determined to hear some more. The tirade of abuse had only just started. After branding one of the guys in the team “useless” they then moved onto the engineers. He was targeted as a “useless c**t with an over inflated opinion of himself.” Well, it’s always good to know where you stand with people. Not altogether sure what to do with any of the above information.
Here’s a sobering thought though that puts everything into perspective. A friend of mine witnessed a friend die this week. My friend was in her car with her boyfriend, and her friend was travelling with her boyfriend in his car when they decided to overtake my friend’s car. For some reason he thought it was a good idea to overtake near a bend and ended up smashing into a Galaxy. The boyfriend of the girl who died escaped with broken ribs, wrist, arm and bruising in every conceivable place. "Luckily" for him he also doesn’t remember a thing about what happened. But sadly, it took a trip to the morgue for him to believe that he’d killed his girlfriend of four years. He’s now sedated in hospital and keeps checking his phone for messages from him girlfriend. She was only 16.
All in the blink of an eye.
*unfortunately not his real name. I just cannot stand this excuse for a human being, for reasons I cannot post on here.
Thursday 10 May 2007
They Don’t Make Them Like They Used To
When I was younger we had a great array of kids’ programmes to watch. The main ones I remember being Bagpuss, Button Moon, Cockleshell Bay, Tom and Jerry, Looney Toons, Fraggle Rock and Mr Ben. My all time favourite though was Sooty.
The loveable yellow bear still manages to have me giggling away. Recently I came across a few clips on You Tube. Granted Soo was a little annoying, and I think Sweep was somewhat underestimated! He manages to steel the show on a few occasions.
The best clip I’ve come across recently is the one below of Sherlock Sooty, in three parts. Unfortunately the sound and picture aren’t that great.
The show seemed to go down hill when Matthew Corbett handed over the gloves.
Today’s children’s television is full of people dressed up in fat suits making unintelligible noises whilst jumping around as if high on some illegal drug or other.
And they had the cheek to ban Tom and Jerry for being too violent…….
The loveable yellow bear still manages to have me giggling away. Recently I came across a few clips on You Tube. Granted Soo was a little annoying, and I think Sweep was somewhat underestimated! He manages to steel the show on a few occasions.
The best clip I’ve come across recently is the one below of Sherlock Sooty, in three parts. Unfortunately the sound and picture aren’t that great.
The show seemed to go down hill when Matthew Corbett handed over the gloves.
Today’s children’s television is full of people dressed up in fat suits making unintelligible noises whilst jumping around as if high on some illegal drug or other.
And they had the cheek to ban Tom and Jerry for being too violent…….
Wednesday 9 May 2007
Bank Holiday Madness
I’m usually one for everyone having a Bank Holiday weekend off, except when it comes to me needing something, then everyone except me should be working! I’m nice like that! I’ll tell you why……
Saturday morning was nice and peaceful. My parents had gone away in the early hours for a few days down in Lymington and Exbury Gardens so there was no one running around banging doors, shouting outside my bedroom door and demanding that I be up for when they get back from shopping. Bliss. I’d planned to visit my grandparents Saturday afternoon so I made the most of a lazy morning and early afternoon.
I headed down to my grandparents via the motorway, as I’d got a bit too comfortable in front of the telly so needed to make up some time. Unfortunately there were road works and a 50mph speed limit all the way which prevented me from making too much time. The added addition of average-speed speed cameras did nothing to help. It was at this stage I was cursing the company I work for, as they’re responsible for the said road works! Eventually I made it down there taking off roughly 15 minutes had I decided to take the scenic route. I promptly pulled in the wrong entrance to their road which meant I couldn’t park properly so had to turn around at the turning circle half way up and come back round. As I pulled up in front of my grandparents drive my aunt appeared and offered to move her car. Now I’m grateful she didn’t. It was at this point I glanced down and noticed a bright orange warning light on my display. Thinking it’d probably be just water or something easily sorted I tried not to let it bother me. Who was I kidding?! It was niggling at me something awful, so eventually we got my aunt’s manual out of her car and came to the conclusion that it was the engine management warning light. The blurb underneath said that the car shouldn’t be driven and should be taken immediately to an approved dealer for investigation. Wanting further clarification that my baby was about to die on me I rang the breakdown people for advice. I should also add in here that there were a few stressed out texts sent to a couple of people, so I apologise for being such a woman, and a blonde woman at that!
The breakdown people confirmed that it wasn’t a great idea to drive it home, but as I wasn’t ready to go home yet I could ring back later and they’d come and recover me. So I tried to enjoy the rest of the day. It was great to see everyone, especially as it was my Nan’s birthday and I hadn’t seen my aunt since her wedding reception last year. My granddad wasn’t too perky when I got there; he’s looking a bit frailer these days and is worried about his operation tomorrow (10th).
We decided that I’d call the breakdown people just before 8 so that I stood a chance of getting home before dark. I wasn’t expecting them to be there within an hour seeing as where my grandparents live is on the borders of London. Nevertheless half an hour later we see a big low-loader pull up half way down the road. Watching out of the living room window I was horrified to see a damn fine looking man walking up towards the house. My aunt answered the door to him, after a swift reminder from her mother that she’s a married woman! He had a look around the car, started it up, revved it, turned it off, turned it back on again, had a look under the bonnet and said that he could see nothing immediately wrong. His suggestion was that it could possibly be one of the sensors malfunctioning. Anyway he said it was wise not to drive, even though it did feel ok, you never know what damage you’re doing.
Turns out his name’s Colin. Long old shift he was doing too, from 7pm till 7am the next morning. We had a nice chat on the way back home. He started telling me how he’d split with his missus a little while back and it had been messy as they’d bought a place together. He offered me some good advice about what I should do next with the car. I didn’t want to bother my parents whilst they were on holiday so I was extremely grateful for the help he gave. Apparently I needed to get it hooked up to a diagnostics machine so they could tell where the problem was and sort it. After he off loaded my baby from the back of his truck he joined me at the front door and gave me a number of a friend who runs a garage. He said I should tell them that he gave me their number and that I’d be “looked after”. He said it’s all too easy to get screwed over these days with mechanics.
Anyway, on Sunday I tried the Toyota garage again after being told Saturday that my message would be passed on. No one was answering any phone in the place so I gave up and tried again Monday. Again nothing. I sent my boss a text message so that he was aware I had issues and might not be in work the following morning. Luckily he’s pretty understanding and just said to give him a call when I knew what was happening. It was Tuesday morning before I finally got though to anyone properly. I’d decided that my best bet was going to be Toyota with diagnosing the problem so called them first. There was a very helpful man on the other end saying that technically he had nothing till next week appointment wise, but if I wanted to bring it in that morning before 10 I could leave it there for the day and they’d call when it was ready to be picked up. He also said that if the car felt ok to drive and wasn’t juddering or misfiring it would be ok to drive it down to the garage.
So I headed off and arrived about 9.20. It’s a new dealership which is pretty much just a sales garage and they farm their mechanics off to a site about 3 quarters of a mile away. I was dealt with by a young chap, full of snot and a stinking cold but he was pleasant. I decided to try it on a bit and say that I had been invited to wait if it wasn’t going to take too long, but also added that I could go away again if it was necessary. He went away and came back again and informed me that my car would be taken down about 10.30 and I could wait the couple of hours it would take. I got installed with a magazine and was made a cup of tea. You have to love Toyota garages and their new initiative of having “hostesses”. They run around after you, stopping short of plumping your cushions…..mainly because they don’t have cushions on their chairs!
Ten minutes later I was rudely disturbed by the young chap telling me that they were taking my car down now to be “diagnosed” and it would be about half an hour. I settled back down again to await the bad new. Eventually he came back, sat down (it must be serious!) and said that it was a problem with one of the sensors in the exhaust malfunctioning. To replace it would cost £185. I think I either had a coronary or went into shock at this stage as I agreed to pay it! He assured me that had I gone on driving it and they’d just reset the light eventually the catalytic converter would have gone then I’d be in even more expensive trouble. He said they had the part in stock but it’d take another hour or so before they could fit it.
As a point of reference this is what the replaced sensor should look like.
http://www.germes-online.com/direct/dbimage/50333433/Oxygen_Sensor.jpg
And this is what mine looked like when they took it out.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y91/Cath4G4/Photo-0011.jpg
The end is totally black when it shouldn't be. It should be the metallic colour still. It's covered thick in carbon and this was causing it to malfunction. Colin was right! The sensor couldn't get up to the temperature that it needed to, to operate properly
Around 11.40 I finally left! They’d replaced the sensor and completed a safety check, noting that I needed two new front tyres as they were a bit too close to the legal limit. I declined his offer to have them replaced there and then!
I was in no rush to get to work so I headed home for a while and made some lunch. I eventually rolled into work just before 2pm. No point rushing in!
My car has more go in it now. He was more than happy to speed away from the junction outside the office yesterday evening. I just have to start taking better care of him. All hail Colin and his low-loader!
Better paid job, here I come!
Saturday morning was nice and peaceful. My parents had gone away in the early hours for a few days down in Lymington and Exbury Gardens so there was no one running around banging doors, shouting outside my bedroom door and demanding that I be up for when they get back from shopping. Bliss. I’d planned to visit my grandparents Saturday afternoon so I made the most of a lazy morning and early afternoon.
I headed down to my grandparents via the motorway, as I’d got a bit too comfortable in front of the telly so needed to make up some time. Unfortunately there were road works and a 50mph speed limit all the way which prevented me from making too much time. The added addition of average-speed speed cameras did nothing to help. It was at this stage I was cursing the company I work for, as they’re responsible for the said road works! Eventually I made it down there taking off roughly 15 minutes had I decided to take the scenic route. I promptly pulled in the wrong entrance to their road which meant I couldn’t park properly so had to turn around at the turning circle half way up and come back round. As I pulled up in front of my grandparents drive my aunt appeared and offered to move her car. Now I’m grateful she didn’t. It was at this point I glanced down and noticed a bright orange warning light on my display. Thinking it’d probably be just water or something easily sorted I tried not to let it bother me. Who was I kidding?! It was niggling at me something awful, so eventually we got my aunt’s manual out of her car and came to the conclusion that it was the engine management warning light. The blurb underneath said that the car shouldn’t be driven and should be taken immediately to an approved dealer for investigation. Wanting further clarification that my baby was about to die on me I rang the breakdown people for advice. I should also add in here that there were a few stressed out texts sent to a couple of people, so I apologise for being such a woman, and a blonde woman at that!
The breakdown people confirmed that it wasn’t a great idea to drive it home, but as I wasn’t ready to go home yet I could ring back later and they’d come and recover me. So I tried to enjoy the rest of the day. It was great to see everyone, especially as it was my Nan’s birthday and I hadn’t seen my aunt since her wedding reception last year. My granddad wasn’t too perky when I got there; he’s looking a bit frailer these days and is worried about his operation tomorrow (10th).
We decided that I’d call the breakdown people just before 8 so that I stood a chance of getting home before dark. I wasn’t expecting them to be there within an hour seeing as where my grandparents live is on the borders of London. Nevertheless half an hour later we see a big low-loader pull up half way down the road. Watching out of the living room window I was horrified to see a damn fine looking man walking up towards the house. My aunt answered the door to him, after a swift reminder from her mother that she’s a married woman! He had a look around the car, started it up, revved it, turned it off, turned it back on again, had a look under the bonnet and said that he could see nothing immediately wrong. His suggestion was that it could possibly be one of the sensors malfunctioning. Anyway he said it was wise not to drive, even though it did feel ok, you never know what damage you’re doing.
Turns out his name’s Colin. Long old shift he was doing too, from 7pm till 7am the next morning. We had a nice chat on the way back home. He started telling me how he’d split with his missus a little while back and it had been messy as they’d bought a place together. He offered me some good advice about what I should do next with the car. I didn’t want to bother my parents whilst they were on holiday so I was extremely grateful for the help he gave. Apparently I needed to get it hooked up to a diagnostics machine so they could tell where the problem was and sort it. After he off loaded my baby from the back of his truck he joined me at the front door and gave me a number of a friend who runs a garage. He said I should tell them that he gave me their number and that I’d be “looked after”. He said it’s all too easy to get screwed over these days with mechanics.
Anyway, on Sunday I tried the Toyota garage again after being told Saturday that my message would be passed on. No one was answering any phone in the place so I gave up and tried again Monday. Again nothing. I sent my boss a text message so that he was aware I had issues and might not be in work the following morning. Luckily he’s pretty understanding and just said to give him a call when I knew what was happening. It was Tuesday morning before I finally got though to anyone properly. I’d decided that my best bet was going to be Toyota with diagnosing the problem so called them first. There was a very helpful man on the other end saying that technically he had nothing till next week appointment wise, but if I wanted to bring it in that morning before 10 I could leave it there for the day and they’d call when it was ready to be picked up. He also said that if the car felt ok to drive and wasn’t juddering or misfiring it would be ok to drive it down to the garage.
So I headed off and arrived about 9.20. It’s a new dealership which is pretty much just a sales garage and they farm their mechanics off to a site about 3 quarters of a mile away. I was dealt with by a young chap, full of snot and a stinking cold but he was pleasant. I decided to try it on a bit and say that I had been invited to wait if it wasn’t going to take too long, but also added that I could go away again if it was necessary. He went away and came back again and informed me that my car would be taken down about 10.30 and I could wait the couple of hours it would take. I got installed with a magazine and was made a cup of tea. You have to love Toyota garages and their new initiative of having “hostesses”. They run around after you, stopping short of plumping your cushions…..mainly because they don’t have cushions on their chairs!
Ten minutes later I was rudely disturbed by the young chap telling me that they were taking my car down now to be “diagnosed” and it would be about half an hour. I settled back down again to await the bad new. Eventually he came back, sat down (it must be serious!) and said that it was a problem with one of the sensors in the exhaust malfunctioning. To replace it would cost £185. I think I either had a coronary or went into shock at this stage as I agreed to pay it! He assured me that had I gone on driving it and they’d just reset the light eventually the catalytic converter would have gone then I’d be in even more expensive trouble. He said they had the part in stock but it’d take another hour or so before they could fit it.
As a point of reference this is what the replaced sensor should look like.
http://www.germes-online.com/direct/dbimage/50333433/Oxygen_Sensor.jpg
And this is what mine looked like when they took it out.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y91/Cath4G4/Photo-0011.jpg
The end is totally black when it shouldn't be. It should be the metallic colour still. It's covered thick in carbon and this was causing it to malfunction. Colin was right! The sensor couldn't get up to the temperature that it needed to, to operate properly
Around 11.40 I finally left! They’d replaced the sensor and completed a safety check, noting that I needed two new front tyres as they were a bit too close to the legal limit. I declined his offer to have them replaced there and then!
I was in no rush to get to work so I headed home for a while and made some lunch. I eventually rolled into work just before 2pm. No point rushing in!
My car has more go in it now. He was more than happy to speed away from the junction outside the office yesterday evening. I just have to start taking better care of him. All hail Colin and his low-loader!
Better paid job, here I come!
Wednesday 2 May 2007
Was it Normal to Feel That Nervous?!
This morning I took my car in for his MOT. I use a local garage which started life as just a place for tyres, and reasonably cheap tyres at that. They’re pleasant enough in there and there’s a small waiting room with a few trashy magazines to keep you occupied whilst you wait. So I was sat reading the latest copy of Now! magazine when I heard my little car being started up. It was at that point I suddenly felt really nervous, had the urge to tell him to be careful, and felt like telling him my car doesn’t like heights so not to hoist him up too far. It was at this point that I realised I need specialist help!
There’s a guy in there who pretty much always answers the phone when it rings, and he’s one of these people who irritates you with their phone answering tone. It’s half way between your stereotypical customer services bimbo and someone who’s been forced to answer a phone they really don’t want to, with an aggressive edge. After a few rounds of him answering the phone like that I was on the verge of offering him some training!
Finally I saw my car being backed out and being driven into the car park. The guy walks in and I suddenly feel like I did waiting for important test results at the hospital. Surely it’s not natural to feel that nervous?! The long and short of it all is that he passed. Whilst waiting for one of the guys to get change I noticed that they’ve branched into offering servicing now too, so that’s something to consider for when I get some money together for the happy occasion. I picked up a leaflet from them so it’ll be interesting to see how they compare with Toyota, where I usually go for servicing.
So I finally arrived in work at 10.30, a bit later than planned but so far no one’s said anything. I was half expecting the HR woman to come and ask but she hasn’t yet.
Now I need some painkillers, some food and some water (not necessarily in that order!) and I’m ready to pretend to work!
There’s a guy in there who pretty much always answers the phone when it rings, and he’s one of these people who irritates you with their phone answering tone. It’s half way between your stereotypical customer services bimbo and someone who’s been forced to answer a phone they really don’t want to, with an aggressive edge. After a few rounds of him answering the phone like that I was on the verge of offering him some training!
Finally I saw my car being backed out and being driven into the car park. The guy walks in and I suddenly feel like I did waiting for important test results at the hospital. Surely it’s not natural to feel that nervous?! The long and short of it all is that he passed. Whilst waiting for one of the guys to get change I noticed that they’ve branched into offering servicing now too, so that’s something to consider for when I get some money together for the happy occasion. I picked up a leaflet from them so it’ll be interesting to see how they compare with Toyota, where I usually go for servicing.
So I finally arrived in work at 10.30, a bit later than planned but so far no one’s said anything. I was half expecting the HR woman to come and ask but she hasn’t yet.
Now I need some painkillers, some food and some water (not necessarily in that order!) and I’m ready to pretend to work!
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