Posted by grumbler on November 1st, 2008 — Posted in Racism, Seo, The World Today
HSBC stepped on many people’s toes when they launched a set of adverts about cultures. They irritated the Mexicans when a European went to Latin America and found a lack of space, they irritated the Chinese with the European eating the Eel, and they irritated the Maltese with the wedding favors adverts where the guests take the presents! Needless to say some adverts were barely shown…. the number of complaints received was high. They stepped on peoples toes. Their idea was to try to reduce the cultural gap but with the fact that they were actually oblivious to the true cultural differences - they messed up big time.
They took cultural traditions and (possibly without intending too) made fun of cultural differences. Would that not also fall under racism?
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Posted by grumbler on October 7th, 2008 — Posted in PPP, Penny Thoughts, The World Today
The property market is currently on everyone’s lips with all the economic issues that are happening. With the dramatic fluctuations on the FTSE, the property market has obviously slowed down. People wait with baited breathe. Will prices rise or drop? What will happen to the bank rates and hence the changes to the amount we pay on our mortgages.
Rumour has it that things will settle in around a year. But then that is what it is… Rumour!
People see the current property market as a negative situation. However I feel that the way you see it is obviously very dependant on your own economic situation. In my case, the situation is actually a positive one as I am looking to buy a property but not sell. It gives me to opportunity to buy low and not have to sell low. It also means that as the property recovers, I can hopefully make a killing. However, it is all about perspective.
With increased mortgage rates, people may struggle to pay their mortgage and have to sell and perhaps downsize or rent. But as people are hesitant to buy because they hope the prices drop further or because they hope they will get more for their property, it means the market slows down. It means that selling quickly gets harder. People can use business services, where they can get cash for property instantaneously. Not an easy choice, but sometimes it works out being the lesser of two evils. It is better to sell at a lower rate quickly than to lose a house to repossession (and lose a lot of money).
Meanwhile, I shall be keeping my eye open for a good buy. With the market being what it is, I hope it means that I can get myself a good deal.
As I said… it is all about perspective!
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Posted by grumbler on September 19th, 2008 — Posted in Government Issues, Lamentations, The Law, The World Today
Crime is terrible not just for the crimes committed but for the victimisation that goes hand in hand with it.
I was pregnant when my house was broken into and we were robbed. What was not taken was damaged. They even stole our car and burnt it 4 hours later. The thieves were disappointed that all the boxes I had were paper work ready for storage, so they opened each box and scattered the papers. There were their footprints all over the papers. They were not afraid of getting caught. They found our alcohol and drank some. They even left half drunk open bottles.
Luck was on my side, as we were due to arrive from holiday the night we were robbed, but got delayed by a day. We would have probably been attacked if we were in the house when it happened. I was 7 months pregnant. Not something I want to imagine.
We arrived home at just after lunch time. We called the police. They asked us to remain off the property till they arrived. We waited in our car. One hour, Two Hours. We called them, they said they were on the way. Three Hours, Four Hours. We called again, after all I was 7 month pregnant and waiting in the car! We were told to go in and wait for them but to avoid touching anything.
The police turned up in the middle of the night! Admittedly, I gave them permission to come in the middle of the night, otherwise they would not have come until the next day. Needless to say, I did not sleep a wink that night. To date, I still don’t feel safe when in that house. We were lucky, we were moving. I cannot imagine just how horrifying it would be to constantly live with the feeling of lack of safety.
I was told to wait until they came to take fingerprints and to avoid touching anything. It took 3 days for them to come. Can you imagine being in your home and trying to touch nothing.
They took loads of stuff. Most covered by our insurance. Our insurance took longer to pay us that the time it takes to create a baby. Although the items were financially covered, anything with sentimental value can never be covered. The damage they caused was heartbreaking. Living in the mess they caused for 3 days was devastating.
To make matters worse, the detective tried to insinuate that we were somehow involved. Seriously. If I were ever to plan something so heinous, would I seriously do it while pregnant? I was not even in the UK at the time!
They got away. Nothing was ever retrieved. No-one saw anything. I have not heard from the police since. My heart still pounds away whenever I stay in that house, as I occasionally do. I lock, double lock and barely rest. I still don’t feel safe.
So the question I put to you, is who caused the greater victimisation…. the theft or the manner in which I was treated by the system?
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Posted by grumbler on September 9th, 2008 — Posted in The World Today
I must say, I cannot live without my microwave. I know lots of people also feel the same way. But I think using the microwave to kill a baby is taking it a step too far. (Read more here)
I am not talking about a mother simply killing her child by say shaking it to death or smothering it to quiet down the child. I am talking about the sheer cruelty. I am talking about cooking your baby!
It made me sick to my gut, and I am not a squeamish person per se!
An eye for an eye….???
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Posted by grumbler on September 6th, 2008 — Posted in Government Issues, Lamentations, The Law, The World Today
I sent a letter by recorded First Class delivery - DG 0130 9530 2GB on the 22nd August 2008. I was offered to send the letter by Special Delivery to guarentee next day arrival. However the next day was Saturday and if I wanted it delivered on Saturday, I had to pay yet again another surcharge. let’s talk prices.
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Service
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Delivery Aim
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Price
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Second Class
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3 Days
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£0.27
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First Class
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1 Day
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£0.36
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2nd Recorded
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3 Days
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£0.99
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1st Recorded
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1 Day
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£1.08
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Special Delivery
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Next Working Day by 1pm
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£4.60
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Special Delivery Saturday
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Next Day being Saturday
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£6.60
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I chose to go with the recorded First Class Delivery Service based on the following reasoning:-
- It was not necessary to be there the next day but I did want it there by the following Friday.
- As 2nd Class was 3 days, I chose to err on the side of caution, chosing the 1st Class service.
- I did have important documentation, that I wanted to confirm it arrival hence recorded.
- Although important, it was not vital that it was delivered next day, hence 1st Class Recorded.
So off the letter went. I kept my fingers crossed because I thought there might have been a chance that it would arrive the next day (Saturday) but alas… that was wishing too much! Ah well, I would have to wait until Monday. It was bound to arrive, after all 9 out of 10 arrive next day, and legally they need to try to deliver 93% of mail by the next day. But no…. my letter was amid the 1 out of 10. Never mind, Tuesday was still fine. Alas, still no letter. Wednesday - this boiled down to Second Class Service, never mind as long as it gets delivered. No such luck. When it still had not arrived by Thursday, I went to Royal Mail’s website to enquire. To my dismay it stated
“Recorded Signed For™ items are only tracked after the item has been delivered. Depending on whether the item was sent first or second class, this may be a few days after posting. Please try again later.
Information on your item is not yet available online.”
Perhaps I was being a bit impatient. Friday - a week later still no sign of my letter. The documentation was needed by then. Getting replacement documentation started costing money. £24 for a replacement rail card, as the recipient was due to travel on the Friday. A copy of the documentation was not sufficient proof for national rail that the person really owned a rail card and that it was somewhere in Royal Mail’s hands. It also ended up meaning a missed train too. Technically the missed train was not Royal Mail’s fault but reality was that it was a result of it.
End of the month and still no letter. There was the car licence in the letter. Replacement costs £6.00 or no driving possible.
Also included in the letter was an annual family fun park pass, which meant that no fun was had, as it was not possible to visit without the said card!
2 weeks later, still no means of checking online as the same message kept returning, I called Royal Mail. I was treated rudely and told to wait until the 11th and then consider it lost!! LOST!! I was fuming. I was dismissed like my letter was not important and as though I was an irrate customer. Well I was irrate. I paid for a first class service. I paid extra for a recorded service and they lose MY letter!! And they don’t care!!
So now I figured out what they mean when they say 9 out of 10 letters get delivered next day. 1 out of 10 simply never get delivered. If they cannot look after a Recorded First Class letter, what chance do simple standard second class letters stand?
And the reality is that we do not really have a choice, as they really do have a monopoly over the whole system!
The worst of it, is that according to the government (especially the tax office), if they post something to you, it is deemed as served! Ha!
And in case you are wondering, proof of post, is not proof of receipt to the government. Apparently what is sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander!!
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Posted by grumbler on September 2nd, 2008 — Posted in Lamentations, Strange But True, The World Today
I have had it with shops. I really think they are taking the Mickey! You go in to shops like M&S and TKMAXX and spend a small fortune and they have the cheek to ask you to pay for bags!!
I went into TKMAXX recently and spent a substantial amount of money and was informed that as from the 4th August they started charging for bags. This time they were giving a free bag but next time I had to pay. I said, well if I have to pay to carry my things out, then I would not be shopping there again. I was then told… “but it goes to the Woodland Trust”. She was also very dismissive about passing on my comment that then I shall refrain from purchasing there again. Like I should be pleased they are insisting on deciding where my hard earned cash goes!
First of all, for all they know, I may not approve of their chosen charity. Second of all bags cost a fraction of a penny as they purchase in such bulk, yet they are trying to make a profit on the bags they are selling us! Thirdly, they have already inbuilt the price of the bags into their costs. I have not seen the products go down by the cost of the bags!! Also, the least they can do is be courteous enough to give their customers a miserly bag to carry the stuff they just purchased home.
If they want to talk about environmental issues, then perhaps they ought to provide paper rather than plastic bags (eg PRIMARK).
I was actually shocked how many customers just took this ill treatment in their stride.
I mean fair enough they make a profit of the items I buy but making a profit on the plastic bags to carry my purchases home is insulting.
So from my behalf, I will be refusing to pay for any bags to carry my new purchases home. In fact, I shall still be going regularly to the shops, picking up items and when they speak of charging me for a bag, I will refuse to purchase. I think that should make the point. After all, it is tantamount to being charged for cutlery when you go out to eat!!
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Posted by grumbler on August 28th, 2008 — Posted in Lamentations, The World Today
I got my sweet hubby to post a letter containing a couple of loyalty cards and my oyster card which I forgot behind. This was last Friday. Because they do not do Special Delivery on a Saturday I requested that he sent them using their “Signed For” Service, which delivers on a Saturday. (I did find out that they now do Saturday Delivery but it is at a ridiculous cost but hubby still sent it as I had requested). This is now a whole week later… and guess what… I still have not received them.
I was under the impression that 1st Class meant higher priority. I was under the impression that 9/10 of 1st Class letters got delivered Next Day. I guess they still mean that 1/10 get totally lost even if registered!!
We tried to see where it is online… and yet… we are told that we have not given it enough time. Have I missed something? A week later and still thinks not enough time. Their paper work states that they will deliver in 1 -3+ days. Does the plus sign mean they can deliver 3 months later and it will be deemed acceptable?
Seriously, the fact that we paid to ensure it does not go missing in the post should mean something. The fact that we paid for a first class service and received a less than acceptable standard of service is horrifying! The worst bit is that they can get away as they really have a monopoly!!
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Posted by grumbler on August 26th, 2008 — Posted in Government Issues, Lamentations, Politics, The World Today
So I know someone whose health has recently deteriorated, and is seeking assistance and medical help. Ideally she would like to become better and regain her full independence, however she will gratefully accept any assistance that she can have because she realises that regaining her full health is tantamount to winning the lottery.
Let us give the devil his due… She does smoke and falls under the overweight category.
She has been diabetic since her twenties. Her diabetes plays around very dramatically and varies from a normal range to needing to be rushed into hospital as it hit 30 and she was lucky she did not enter a coma!! As a result of her diabetes, her eyesight has deteriorated to the point that she is practically blind. She suffers leg and back pains that sometimes mean that she can barely walk.
She has been referred by her GP for assistance in her home. However, apparently a GP’s word is not gospel. They are insisting that she attend a private clinic on a Sunday which will take her about 1 hour 25 minutes to reach there by their calculations. They have suggested that she should take no less than 3 different buses to reach her destination. No mean feat for a practically blind person!!
So now let us see it from a tax payers point of view. Aside from her normal NHS entitlements (which we should all be entitled to which is why we pay NI), which is also fair enough, there are unnecessary costs. These include:-
Private Treatment because our own government will not accept our GP’s word. Makes you wonder if we should take our GP’s word?
* The extra cost that it will cost for it being held on a Sunday.
* The reimbursement of her transport because she is not refereed to a local doctor or hospital.
* The extra paperwork because it is also printed in Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Greek, Gujurati, Hindi, Polish, Punjabi, Somali, Turkish, Urdu & Vietnamese.
And then we are surprised that there is not enough money to pay for life saving treatments like Herceptin for Cancer Patients and IVF Treatments for Childless Couples!!
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Posted by grumbler on August 26th, 2008 — Posted in Lamentations, The World Today
OK, so people know that I am dieting. Obviously they realised because they can actually see that I have lost weight. I must be honest and did not tell people I was dieting until they actually noticed weight loss. Made it a lot easier on me too. After all the first thing people do when they know that you are on a diet is look at you strangely when you consume any calories let alone if you crumble slightly and eat densely compacted calories (such as chocolate).
So anyway since it has been discovered that I have been dieting / losing weight I have begun to receive all sorts of emails. However this email takes the biscuit!! It is Fat Loss 4 Idiots!!
Just read the email…
“You are overweight for the most simple of reasons — because you’re eating the wrong foods, the wrong types of calories per meal, and you’re also eating meals in the wrong patterns each day.
Think closely about what we’re about to tell you, since it’s going to change the way you think about dieting…
FOOD is more powerful than any prescription weight loss pills, because the FOOD that you eat can either make you THIN or FAT. You don’t get fat because of a lack of exercising, that’s a myth. You get fat because you don’t eat the right foods at the right intervals each day.
Also, the pattern that you choose to eat your meals each day is more powerful than any prescription weight loss pills. This is true because your body is like an “engine” and it only needs certain foods at certain intervals each day, and if you don’t eat the right foods at the right times then it won’t burn those calories — and you’ll wind up storing those calories as fat tissue. (Hint: You need to eat more than 3 times per day to lose weight, but we’ll show you the details later).
You have gotten overweight by eating the wrong foods, that much is a fact. And guess what? You can get SLIM by eating the RIGHT FOODS at the RIGHT INTERVALS each day.
It’s not really any more complicated than that, and the way to start losing weight has nothing to do with starving yourself or jogging.
The reason you cannot lose weight by starving yourself (using a low calorie diet) is because your metabolism will detect any major drop in calories and it will then ADJUST ITSELF by burning fewer calories each day.
For example:
If you begin eating 2,500 calories per day then your metabolism will adjust itself so that your body begins burning 2,500 calories per day.
If you try to starve yourself by suddenly eating 1,000 calories per day then your metabolism will again ADJUST ITSELF so that your body begins to burn only 1,000 calories per day. That’s why you have failed in your past dieting attempts, that’s why you always seem to fail when you try and starve yourself. Now you know the reason why you can eat 1,000 calories per day and not lose any weight while your friends can eat 2,500 calories per day and not gain any weight.
Also, virtually every person in today’s society is buying mostly “low fat” or “non fat” food at the grocery store, everybody is conscious of the “fat grams” inside the food they buy. However, people are getting fatter than ever by doing this and people are not losing weight by switching to the “low fat lifestyle”.
Low carb diets have certainly become popular in recent years, but such diets often leave you feeling miserable each day (since they drain most of your energy and can leave you feeling quite awful each day).
Check out these facts below…
Did you know that several popular low carb diets are so strict that you cannot even eat a large apple during the first couple weeks? It’s true.
Also, many low carb diets won’t even let you enjoy a ‘normal’ restaurant meal (ordered without any carb restrictions) for many months after you begin.
Therefore, low carb diets can leave you feeling MISERABLE each day, which is not the answer.”
They then go on to ask for payment obviously!
Seriously…. do they take me for an idiot? This diet really is for idiots, because if you believe the crap they just wrote… it is no wonder that weight is not lost.
In case you need to know about the basic principals of dieting.
Food = Calories
We need X Calories a day. X is dependant on your size, weight & sex.
Exercise = Minus / Burn Calories
If we eat more calories than we burn, we put on weight.
If we eat less calories than we require, then we take from our stores (fat).
Hence our food intake in calories must be less than our requirements to lose weight! SIMPLE!
The only issue is how to do it without feeling miserable. There is no such thing. However if you want to do it without feeling hungry…. Veg is good low calorie food that you can eat lots of. Just don’t add stuff like mayo etc. And if you feel full and still have calories left - you can even treat yourself to a chocolate!!
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Posted by grumbler on August 24th, 2008 — Posted in Celebrities, Penny Thoughts, Strange But True, The World Today
I was watching Super Botox Me on TV … and in case you are wondering, it is because I would not rule out botox in the future. It brought tears to my eyes. It looks painful. I am aware of the saying “no pain - no gain” but seriously this looks painful. And why do we do it? So we can look as close to picture perfect as humanly possible. We just want to look like those airbrushed models and celebrities!
Will I do consider it despite the pain. You bet! I am as shallow as the rest of the human population. Now to fund those few thousand quid every few months!!
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