This has been accredited to the London Times, but has done the rounds of the internet for some time.   Still worthing thinking about though.

“Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend by the name of Common Sense who has been with us for many years.  No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such value lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm and that life isn’t always fair.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not kids, are in charge.)

His health began to rapidly deteriorate when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.  Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate, teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch, and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Finally, Common Sense lost the will to live as churches became businesses and criminals received better treatment than their victims.  Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home for fear the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a bit in her lap and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust, his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 step brothers:

I Know My Rights;
I Want It Now;
Someone Else Is To Blame; and
I’m A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.”

I must admit to having serious problems with my mobile phone before I left on my trip to Australia.   These were exacerbated by the SIM card dying on my last day in Australia, as I wanted to book my taxi from the airport to home.

I arrived back in the country on the Saturday, and by Sunday I was at my local O2 store trying to retrieve the data stored on my SIM to no avail.  The end result of over an hour’s consultation was the purchase of an iPhone.  I have to admit that my poor little mobile internet connection was unable to download the manual for said iPhone, so I had to work intuitively.

After a lot of hassle retrieving my message from Gmail, I was on my way.   I must admit to having a feeling of smugness whenever I use my iPod, which is frequently.   No more changing CDs, opening and closing storage boxes trying to find a particular song, being able to listen to podcasts, no “jumps” or pauses in the music whilst running or driving, etc. has made listening to music a joy.   Well, the iPhone picks up where my iPod leaves off.   It has applications which act like little assistants with various things, even helping me with my Gaelic language work, weather, tv guides, wildlife identification and moon phases.   I particularly like being able to assign any song from my iTunes library as a ringtone to my contacts.    Everyone now has their own theme tune.   Now, I feel really smug.

Okay, so some might view having an iPhone as a luxury, but I have no landline, so all my communication bills are generated by my mobile internet and iPhone, which means I pay much less than a lot of other people.

There is only one downside to my iPhone and that’s the loss of my previous mobile number.   Despite O2 promising me a PAK number so I could transfer my number of 13 years, the postal strikes and the delay in delivery 30 million letters (which must have included all of my post from the last two months), means I lost the opportunity to keep my old, and easy to remember, mobile number.  

Ah well, I’m off to look for more apps to install. 

Oh wait: there is another downside, the camera.    It’s lucky I carry a small digital camera in my handbag at all times, because the camera provided on the iPhone is rather pathetic.   I guess we can’t have everything after all.

For those that may have wondered what I look like, here is a picture of me. Okay, it is a silhouette done when I was a child. I don’t remember these being done (there were two), but I do remember my mother owning them.

Whilst in Oz, on this last trip, I retrieved both of them and have scanned them. The scan quality is not very good, but as it is a silhouette, I don’t think it’s too bad.

So, this is me – many, many years ago.

Sorry to those folks that read this blog as I have been absent from these pages this past month.

Some of you will be aware that I was in Australia to attend my brother’s surprise wedding.   Well, it wasn’t a surprise to me, or I wouldn’t have been there.   As it happens, he asked me to do the photographs and I am frantically trying to edit those in order to post them to everyone.  

Unfortunately, I sustained injuries while in Australia visiting my grandmother and was unable to type anything for some time.  Upon returning to the UK, I fell ill and so haven’t had the werewithall to think or post on anything.  I am just now starting to recover and I hope, next week, to have some time to spend writing on these pages.

Until then, dear reader: keep well.

Will someone please inform O2 and the Carphone Warehouse that I am NOT a business.  It seems no-one wishes to believe that I am an individual and not a business and this has cost me 5 hours of my life, stress and an upgrade on my mobile phone.   

I received a letter from the Carphone Warehouse to say I was entitled to an upgrade on and from 17 September.   So, off I trotted down to my local Carphone Warehouse, whose address was on the letter.    They started the process, but … ooops, we don’t hvae the phone you want in stock.   Fair enough, I’ll go to another store down the road.   

“No, we no longer sell the 8GB iPhone, it’s old stock and nobody has them anymore.”

“Well, that’s not what your store down the road just told me. ”

“Well, that’s wrong”

“Here it is on the website” and I hand over the piece of paper.

“That’s not from our website!” says curt young man representing Carphone Warehouse.

“That’s okay, I will go where they do stock them”

“Nobody does” he responds forcefully.

“Well if it’s on this site, they must have it, by law” and I walk out.

So, on to O2 half a block away, who have the 8GB iPhone in stock, but … lo and behold … their computer systems have just crashed (this will become a recurring theme), but the consultant informs me said young man at Carphone Warehouse is wrong.  The phone is still widely available, it’s just the old model.  The new iPhone only comes in 16GB or 32GB.

Fine, so it’s back to first Carphone Warehouse store I visited, the one that sent me the letter.   Yes, we can do the new 16GB iPhone, but we only have it in white and the only store that has black is 50 miles away in Sutton.   Really?  No other Carphone Warehouse store in London currently has it in black? 

So, I drive up to Carphone Warehouse at London Wall to see if they have it.  Yes, they do, but for some inexplicable reason, the system won’t let me upgrade until the 18th, despite the fact the letter says 17th.   Come back tomorrow, madam.  In the time that I sat there, however, the young man had problems getting the computer system to work.

Will you hold the 16GB iPhone in Black for me?   Yes!   Result.

So, I drive back up to Carphone Warehouse at London Wall today to get my upgrade.    Sorry, you can’t upgrade until December 2006.

I kid you not, folks, the system would not allow me to upgrade until December 2006.   So, that problem is sorted by Luis, the manager, as this particular Carphone Warehouse store.   Then, he tries to get an upgrade only to be told I can’t because I have a business account?  This is news to me, as I have never had a business.

He proceeds to call people who may be able to help, including someone called Chris in their dealer upgrade department.   From there, he telephoned someone called Patrick, who informs Luis I have had a business account since 1996?   This is news to me.   Of course, I can buy the new iPhone and start a consumer account, with a new number and then have my number transferred when the current contract runs out on 30 October.

Of course, as my mobile is my only means of telephonic communications (I haven’t had a landline in a decade), this is unsuitable as I need to be on-call for my work.   

I have made one decision though and that is I won’t be renewing my contract with O2, nor will I deal with Carphone Warehouse again.  As readers of this blog may know, I bought my last telephone with my local Carphone Warehouse and they obviously mis-sold me my contract.   I was adamant I wanted to pay no more than £35 a month (including VAT) and the woman then assured me that’s all my bill would be as she had gone through my old bills and got the correct amount of inclusive minutes on the deal.

Please note:  at this point, I was not upgrading, but signing up to a new contract (or so I thought), but this appears to have been a “business” contact (continuing from 1996???) and not as an individual “consumer”*.

My first bill comes through for £57!   Not only that the Samsung phone was a nightmare and, at it happens in the last two weeks has started turning itself off during phone calls or whilst idle.  What’s more, the accessories my colleague received with her Samsung were absent from mine and the Carphone Warehouse responded by saying it was a lottery as to whether or not you got all the accessories.    You can read about this particular problem on my blog at “Samsung & Carphone Warehouse” and “Missing Accessories for Samsung G600 Pink“.

It’s not surprising then that I’ve had so much trouble and mis-information with Carphone Warehouse and O2.     It would not surprise me to learn (at some later date) that some idiot at either company messed up my accounts and caused all this hassle with a computer entry error or a system crash and just fudged re-inputting my data.   And may the gods help that person if I ever find out their identity …

So, why did I receive a letter from my local Carphone Warehouse telling me I was entitled to an upgrade on 17 September?   And, if I was so entitled, how can they then refuse, legally?  If anyone can answer this, I’d like to hear from you.

So, come December, when O2 lose their exclusivity contract with Apple, I will sign up with another network provider and, I hope, receive superior service.   I heartily recommend others to stay away.

 

 

 

 

 

* The terms Carphone Warehouse and O2 use to distinguish their customers.

Having found a clip of the Doug Anthony Allstars on youtube, I was led to other links and found this doosy:

Paul McDermott singing “Oops I did it again”.    It seems he is still singing spoofs and over the next few months, I intend to add of them to my playlist at Youtube, as I watch them.   

Enjoy!

I have no idea how to photograph people and so, on the weekend, I took my camera into Wicca Moon and tried taking a few shots. I discarded most of the photographs I took, as they were awful.

This particular shot of Shirlee, the proprietor of Wicca Moon, was the best photograph I took all day. I just don’t think I am cut-out to photograph people; I have enough trouble with animals.

I am ever so grateful to Shirlee for allowing me to take her photograph and many others of the store.

So, it wasn’t my intention to photograph insects on the weekend; the bees just happened to be there. Unfortunately, I had only brought one lens and I had to stand a fair distance to get any kind of focus. These shots are not as clear as the ones I took back in June, but the colours are bettter.

Next time, I am taking more than one lens with me.

Further to my post “Blatant Disregard for the Law” of 14 July 2009, I found myself rather amused on Friday, and today, to find the very same people still plying their wares in the area.

On Friday, they were on the footpath (illegally parked-up) on Queen Victoria Street, at the entrance of the Millenium Bridge; and, today, they were parked at the top of the stairs, opposite the bridge, on YHA lane.

I am considering doing a series of pictures on them.  I doubt Westminster council will ever catch up with them, so I could probably track this van for years.

It seems that Transport for London feel they can take my money, without giving anything in return, because it will cost them too much to issue a refund. 

I pay my congestion charge weekly (every Monday), so I never forget.   I can’t do it monthly, because, more often than not, I do not work every business day in a month.   However, last Wednesday I had a car accident and my car is now off the road.  I applied to Transport for London for a refund, only to be told they only issue refunds on monthly or yearly payments, because its too expensive.

To quote:

“When Congestion Charging was set up it was with the intention of encouraging greater use of public transport, so that essential journeys by car would be quicker and easier, which is certainly the case.

The money we collect is spent directly on improvements to the transport network. Over the first 10 years of the Scheme it is expected to raise more than £1.3 billion to re-invest in transport improvements across London.

The cost of refunding daily or weekly charges is high and undermines the whole Scheme. We really can’t justify it, which is why we only refund unexpired monthly or annual payments.“

I’m sorry, but I cannot use public transport, because when I finish work there is no way of my getting home.   I have no option but to drive to and from work in central London.   Even if transport were available, this female would not travel alone in the wee hours of the morning on said public transport, having witnessed what happens to male bus drivers on the routes to be undertaken.

What annoys me is that I cannot afford to pay out this extra £24 because I have to find £250 to pay the excess for my repairs to my car; money I just don’t have; and I have to fork out more than £8 a day to get into work (three buses and one train – I also walk the last leg, but that’s free).   What’s more, its costs over £80 per night by taxi to get home.  Yes!  That’s right.   £80 a night. 

So, where do Transport for London get off saying its too expensive for them to issue me a refund for the unused congestion charge?   Thieving b@stards.  I wonder just how much extra money they make every year from unused congestion charge payments? I’m betting its around the £1,000,000 mark.  How can this be legal?