Boys didn't waken until about 11am - leftover pizza brunch - set off to find a hairdresser that could fit me in today - found one and made appointment for 4pm.
Called in to local DIY shop for door-chain keys cut, but they don't stock my sort.
4pm til 5:30pm haircut - and after that long sat in a crap chair I was hardly able to walk to the car. £25 and minus about 8inches of all-over hair length later I arrived home.
Doubled up on the codeine to get through the rest of the evening and went to bed.
Friday, 22 July 2011
Thursday, 21 July 2011
Summer Hols - Day 1
Today was the first day of my 7 weeks off.
So how did I spend it?
Well, Big Son and Small Son got in the car at 8:45am and I drove to small son's school & dropped him off. Then stuck the magnetic "L"s to the car and Big Son drove round for 25mins until it was time to go back to school for the "Leavers Assembly"
Year Six Owls were great - they each presented a few lines about what they've liked best about being in St John's School. Small son, who only began there at Christmas of Year Three said that he'd enjoyed meeting all his new friends when he arrived. Today was also a leaving day for one of the staff who taught most of the class when they first arrived in school in Reception. There were quite a few tears around.
Personally, I struggled to hide a few tears because I know that had I not taken the decision to move Small son to this school back in Jan 2008, I believe that he would have carried out his threats of suicide because he was so unhappy in his old school. He was being bullied daily by a boy the same age "BB" and BB was a complete thug. After putting up with the thuggery through Reception, and Years One and Two, by the summer of Year Two, small son had missed more school than he'd attended. He'd received a broken cheekbone where BB had smashed him in the face with a metal drinks bottle and the head of the school was refusing to effectitvely deal with the bullying even though my husband and I were having to go in to school or send in letters every day reporting issues.
There is a 100+ year history of my family and that school. My mum used to be the headmistress of the Infants (Nursery, Reception, Year One and Year Two) School until she retired in July 1992, so taking Small Son away from there was distressing on many, many levels, but I could no longer make my son attend a place where I wasn't sure that his safety was important.
The existing headmaster at that school appeared to have the opinion that if he ignored the bullying, then it didn't exist. I understand that he used to visit other schools to teach them how to be "Good Schools" like his, because his had no bullying. We had been told 'off the record' that the reason his school didn't have any bullying problem was because he wouldn't allow his staff (Teachers, Lunch Welfare Assistants, Classroom Assistants etc) to put entries in the Incident Book when the thug was involved. I don't know, maybe he was shagging BB's mother or something, but it appeared that BB was TeflonTM coated! Small son had made threats, not just to us, about running in to a busy main road or throwing himself from the top of the climbing frame, just so that he didn't have to go to school any more, and I truly believed that he was so unhappy he would have carried out his threats.
Our GP had been no help in the matter, not even listening to my explanation of what he'd been saying, and why. She just dismissed my concerns saying that it was unusual of children his age to do such things. Yes - we KNOW that, this was why we were so concerned!
Anyway - enough about the old school for now. St John's had been superb with Small Son. He had slowly begun to revert back to the boy he used to be, with the confidence to leave his parents' side and go and play with other children. He had gone from being a VERY outgoing small child, who would talk to strange kids on holiday and join in their games to spending his Cub meetings sat across the room from the other kids he'd known through Beavers, watching from a distance. And now we have a son who will again take the lead and help other children with things. He thoroughly enjoys being a Scout and helping out the young Beavers with their games and activities. I was so proud this morning when he was awarded a certificate for Leadership Skills on the school residential holiday. Admittedly, they were doing things he's been brought up doing (Canoeing, archery, rock climbing etc that he does weekly with Scouts) but he was helping and encouraging his peers who were undertaking them for the first time.
So, my policy of never letting anyone see me cry was difficult to adhere to this morning, but I managed it. And by 10:40am Big Son and I were back at home, and I was doing laundry and dishwashering.
Strange vinegary smell lingering in kitchen, but couldn't find source. Bleached down the worktops, put loads of stuff away, fed Big Son leftovers for lunch and was outside school again by 2pm waiting for Small Son to come out. He handed out a couple of his "business cards" that he'd been given for his birthday so that friends who were going to different High Schools could keep in touch if they wanted to.
Then home again. Quotes for Car Insurance for my Renault. RAC, who I'm with now are wanting to increase the monthly premium by £4. I called them, told them that I wanted them to keep it the same and they could keep my business. The wouldn't budge, so I started the treck of getting quotes from other places.... Direct Line are offering to better the RAC annual by £92, and they were the first one that I tried, so it looks like it will be GoodBye RAC - although I do want to check out a price for Churchill (all UK call centres) and Admiral (multicar deals) before I make my decision - although Direct Line's policy of allowing named drivers to build their NCB is appealing - hubby's not had his own car insurance for years, and even then only had it for a few years since he was a named driver on his father's car (possibly some sort of old tax incentive since F-i-L had a company car - but F-i-L is in his 80s now, so I'm going back a LONG time!)
Then, 3:30pm was Electrolysis time - I'm at THAT AGE when my chin, jawline and upper lip are going through some sort of gender identity issue and appear to be trying their best to grow a beard and moustache! So since early Spring I've been having fortnightly electrolysis to get rid of them permanently. I'll be honest, it's horrible - I've been pulling them out with tweezers for 5+ years, and I just want rid of them, and when I was having my legs waxed, I spotted the Electrolysis machine and made enquiries.
Home by 4:30pm and back to the laundry/dishwasher (grill pans, frying pans, baking trays) and Car Insurance quotes - except my eyes made me sleepy and I dozed off mid-quote! Woke up at 6:30pm when hubby arrived home from Birmingham.
Tea, more laundry, and a suspected source for the vinegary smell = dead mouse hiding in the dining room <bleugh> and then more catching up with stuff that's been recorded on the Sky+ box. Torchwood (Miracle Day) Episode Two. Richard Hammond's Journey To The Centre Of The Planet (part one)
Small son's negotiated a holiday bedtime of 10:30pm (not too bad to wake up at 10:30am if he sleeps 12hrs!!!) and at 11pm hubby went to bed. Big son's just been and said "Good Night" and it isn't even midnight yet!
I've decided that I want all my hair cutting off! This is the style that I'm considering
She has a similar colour to mine too, and a round face, so I'm hoping it will suit!
(Found from google images search for "short hairstyles fine hair round face")
And tomorrow? I'd like to take the kids swimming, but I don't know if we'll grt round to it since the reason I'd like all my hair cut off is that it's hard work when we've been swimming - takes AGES to rinse out shampoo/conditioner and then all day for it to dry, or an hour with a hairdrier! So I may just aim to get a haircut and start them off swimming on Monday.
So how did I spend it?
Well, Big Son and Small Son got in the car at 8:45am and I drove to small son's school & dropped him off. Then stuck the magnetic "L"s to the car and Big Son drove round for 25mins until it was time to go back to school for the "Leavers Assembly"
Year Six Owls were great - they each presented a few lines about what they've liked best about being in St John's School. Small son, who only began there at Christmas of Year Three said that he'd enjoyed meeting all his new friends when he arrived. Today was also a leaving day for one of the staff who taught most of the class when they first arrived in school in Reception. There were quite a few tears around.
Personally, I struggled to hide a few tears because I know that had I not taken the decision to move Small son to this school back in Jan 2008, I believe that he would have carried out his threats of suicide because he was so unhappy in his old school. He was being bullied daily by a boy the same age "BB" and BB was a complete thug. After putting up with the thuggery through Reception, and Years One and Two, by the summer of Year Two, small son had missed more school than he'd attended. He'd received a broken cheekbone where BB had smashed him in the face with a metal drinks bottle and the head of the school was refusing to effectitvely deal with the bullying even though my husband and I were having to go in to school or send in letters every day reporting issues.
There is a 100+ year history of my family and that school. My mum used to be the headmistress of the Infants (Nursery, Reception, Year One and Year Two) School until she retired in July 1992, so taking Small Son away from there was distressing on many, many levels, but I could no longer make my son attend a place where I wasn't sure that his safety was important.
The existing headmaster at that school appeared to have the opinion that if he ignored the bullying, then it didn't exist. I understand that he used to visit other schools to teach them how to be "Good Schools" like his, because his had no bullying. We had been told 'off the record' that the reason his school didn't have any bullying problem was because he wouldn't allow his staff (Teachers, Lunch Welfare Assistants, Classroom Assistants etc) to put entries in the Incident Book when the thug was involved. I don't know, maybe he was shagging BB's mother or something, but it appeared that BB was TeflonTM coated! Small son had made threats, not just to us, about running in to a busy main road or throwing himself from the top of the climbing frame, just so that he didn't have to go to school any more, and I truly believed that he was so unhappy he would have carried out his threats.
Our GP had been no help in the matter, not even listening to my explanation of what he'd been saying, and why. She just dismissed my concerns saying that it was unusual of children his age to do such things. Yes - we KNOW that, this was why we were so concerned!
Anyway - enough about the old school for now. St John's had been superb with Small Son. He had slowly begun to revert back to the boy he used to be, with the confidence to leave his parents' side and go and play with other children. He had gone from being a VERY outgoing small child, who would talk to strange kids on holiday and join in their games to spending his Cub meetings sat across the room from the other kids he'd known through Beavers, watching from a distance. And now we have a son who will again take the lead and help other children with things. He thoroughly enjoys being a Scout and helping out the young Beavers with their games and activities. I was so proud this morning when he was awarded a certificate for Leadership Skills on the school residential holiday. Admittedly, they were doing things he's been brought up doing (Canoeing, archery, rock climbing etc that he does weekly with Scouts) but he was helping and encouraging his peers who were undertaking them for the first time.
So, my policy of never letting anyone see me cry was difficult to adhere to this morning, but I managed it. And by 10:40am Big Son and I were back at home, and I was doing laundry and dishwashering.
Strange vinegary smell lingering in kitchen, but couldn't find source. Bleached down the worktops, put loads of stuff away, fed Big Son leftovers for lunch and was outside school again by 2pm waiting for Small Son to come out. He handed out a couple of his "business cards" that he'd been given for his birthday so that friends who were going to different High Schools could keep in touch if they wanted to.
Then home again. Quotes for Car Insurance for my Renault. RAC, who I'm with now are wanting to increase the monthly premium by £4. I called them, told them that I wanted them to keep it the same and they could keep my business. The wouldn't budge, so I started the treck of getting quotes from other places.... Direct Line are offering to better the RAC annual by £92, and they were the first one that I tried, so it looks like it will be GoodBye RAC - although I do want to check out a price for Churchill (all UK call centres) and Admiral (multicar deals) before I make my decision - although Direct Line's policy of allowing named drivers to build their NCB is appealing - hubby's not had his own car insurance for years, and even then only had it for a few years since he was a named driver on his father's car (possibly some sort of old tax incentive since F-i-L had a company car - but F-i-L is in his 80s now, so I'm going back a LONG time!)
Then, 3:30pm was Electrolysis time - I'm at THAT AGE when my chin, jawline and upper lip are going through some sort of gender identity issue and appear to be trying their best to grow a beard and moustache! So since early Spring I've been having fortnightly electrolysis to get rid of them permanently. I'll be honest, it's horrible - I've been pulling them out with tweezers for 5+ years, and I just want rid of them, and when I was having my legs waxed, I spotted the Electrolysis machine and made enquiries.
Home by 4:30pm and back to the laundry/dishwasher (grill pans, frying pans, baking trays) and Car Insurance quotes - except my eyes made me sleepy and I dozed off mid-quote! Woke up at 6:30pm when hubby arrived home from Birmingham.
Tea, more laundry, and a suspected source for the vinegary smell = dead mouse hiding in the dining room <bleugh> and then more catching up with stuff that's been recorded on the Sky+ box. Torchwood (Miracle Day) Episode Two. Richard Hammond's Journey To The Centre Of The Planet (part one)
Small son's negotiated a holiday bedtime of 10:30pm (not too bad to wake up at 10:30am if he sleeps 12hrs!!!) and at 11pm hubby went to bed. Big son's just been and said "Good Night" and it isn't even midnight yet!
I've decided that I want all my hair cutting off! This is the style that I'm considering
(Found from google images search for "short hairstyles fine hair round face")
And tomorrow? I'd like to take the kids swimming, but I don't know if we'll grt round to it since the reason I'd like all my hair cut off is that it's hard work when we've been swimming - takes AGES to rinse out shampoo/conditioner and then all day for it to dry, or an hour with a hairdrier! So I may just aim to get a haircut and start them off swimming on Monday.
Sunday, 17 July 2011
Ggggrrrr @ My Old Opticians
On March 12th 2011, I went to Accrington’s Dolland & Aitchison Optician (Now a Boots Optician) for a routine contact lens check-up. I've been using the same optician for perhaps 10years now, and my husband and sons go there too, and I normally get a new pair of specs every year or so from them.
After looking at my eyes through his gadget thing, the optician changed my lens prescription. He didn't go in to any sort of explanation about what had changed, just that he said he would notify their lens company “Contact Lenses By Post” of the change and the next ones that I get will be for the new prescription.
When the new ones arrived, as normal, I put them in on the 1st of the month, so that would have been 1st April. They weren't comfortable and I couldn't see properly in them. And when I say that I couldn't see properly, I don't mean that things were a little bit blurry, I mean that I really couldn't see!
I tried them a few times, but didn't feel safe to drive in them, since I felt I could see better with no lenses or specs than I could with them in! There was no way that I could wear them for work using a PC all day, since I couldn't even see my laptop screen whilst it was on my lap!
After the second try with them, I called the Contact Lens By Post service and asked them to check they'd sent the correct ones, because they were unusable.
The guy on the phone confirmed that they were definitely what the optician had requested - plano on both eyes (no magnification!!!) and a change in shape on one eye!!??!!
So, again I tried them for a few hours, but then had to drive somewhere. Since I couldn't see to even watch TV in them, there was no way that I felt it would be safe to drive in them.
I took them out and found a spare pair of pre-change ones and used those for a month.
The next month (May) I wore my specs all month, leaving the lenses unopened in their box. And then last month (June) I wore the last pair of old ones that I had left.
When July arrived, I was fed up of paying £30.80 a month for a tiny little cardboard box to drop through my letter box with contents that were of no use to me whatsoever! I gave them one more try. I put them in on the morning of Saturday 9th and couldn't recognize the face of a neighbour when I ran in to her unexpectedly in a restaurant where we'd gone for tea (Because I couldn't see to cook!)
So, last Saturday, the 9th July, I went in to the Optician and explained that I really didn't think they were right since I couldn't see. The receptionist got out my file and took it in to the back room to ask the optician to review his notes. She returned and I was told that I just needed longer to get used to them! She said that I should use them for a couple of weeks and then I would be used to them and they would be fine.
I repeated that I could see better with no specs or contacts than I could with these, and said that they weren't comfortable either.
They insisted that I should persevere with them.
On the morning of Sunday 10th July my youngest son was reading in Church for his Primary School Leavers' Service - I couldn't see him, his classmates nor the hymn sheet in the lenses. The afternoon was to be my parents' Golden Wedding Anniversary, and mum had asked me to read a poem and there was no way that I would have been able to do that in the new prescription, so I had to wear my glasses for the rest of the day... and am still wearing them now.
On the morning of Sunday 10th July my youngest son was reading in Church for his Primary School Leavers' Service - I couldn't see him, his classmates nor the hymn sheet in the lenses. The afternoon was to be my parents' Golden Wedding Anniversary, and mum had asked me to read a poem and there was no way that I would have been able to do that in the new prescription, so I had to wear my glasses for the rest of the day... and am still wearing them now.
Yesterday (Friday 15th July) I looked at Tesco Online and priced up my lenses with them. £40.50 for 3 months for the same brand of lens that I've been used to. So today I've been to Accrington Tesco Optician and explained. I showed them the old and new prescriptions.
They said that they thought it would be unusual to go from the prescription I had before to the current one. She booked me in for a full (free) contact lens consultation and I'll be going there for that next week.
They explained how the same brand lenses from them in store would cost £43 for 3 months. (£43 ÷ 3 = £14.30 per month = less than half the price I'm paying now!) - They're a little more expensive in-store than they are online. They said the eye test with them would be free - that's the reason my old optician validated having a higher monthly charge, because follow-up and after-care and eye tests were free, and I didn't even get any cleansing solution for that price.
Yeah well, when my "OLD OPTICIAN" insisted that the new lenses were right, without even bothering to come out of the staff-room to speak to me, or look at them in my eye to see how they were sitting, or without even asking me to look at the eye chart, they lost their £30 a month from me. But when I leave, I take my family with me. That's the 3 pairs of specs a year from hubby (who is having problems with the prescription safety glasses he got from the same optician last month) and a pair of specs for each from each of the kids... all because they didn't believe me & treat me with respect when I went back to make use of their "inclusive" after-care and follow-up that they appear to be including £15 a month for!
So, I've cancelled my Direct Debit, and emailed D&A/Boots Opticians through their website so they know exactly why they have lost the custom of a whole family. I've actually saved myself a bit of time and asked them to look here at this blog post (http://tinyurl.com/WhyImSwitchingToTescoContacts) so that they know the full details of what happened. Hubby seems to think that the staff maybe didn't want taking over by Boots so they're deliberately doing things wrong to drive customers away from the practice, but that would be a very self-destructive thing to do since eventually the shop would have to close when word got round that they prescribed wrongly regularly & treated people badly when they questioned their eyewear.
Anyway - will update after I've been to see the Tesco Optician later in the week - and even if he says the "wrong" prescription's right, I'll have saved myself £15 a month by switching to them - but I really can't see how it could be correct since I can't even watch TV in them! Would D&A have been liable if I'd had a car accident due to not seeing a child in the road, or something like that? Ponder, ponder!
Looking back, when I had my last full eye test on 28th October 2010 I was told that my eyes had changed only slightly, and not enough to need a new pair of glasses - unless I particularly wanted a new pair. I decided that I would have a new pair, and got some made up to the new prescription. If the change then was so slight that it didn't need new specs, but I got them anyway, surely that same change would have meant that I couldn't see in my specs for a while until I got used to them? This didn't happen - I just began using the new specs instead of the old ones. And even now, I can switch between the two pairs and hardly tell any difference. So why is there so much difference with the contact lenses?
So, I've cancelled my Direct Debit, and emailed D&A/Boots Opticians through their website so they know exactly why they have lost the custom of a whole family. I've actually saved myself a bit of time and asked them to look here at this blog post (http://tinyurl.com/WhyImSwitchingToTescoContacts) so that they know the full details of what happened. Hubby seems to think that the staff maybe didn't want taking over by Boots so they're deliberately doing things wrong to drive customers away from the practice, but that would be a very self-destructive thing to do since eventually the shop would have to close when word got round that they prescribed wrongly regularly & treated people badly when they questioned their eyewear.
Anyway - will update after I've been to see the Tesco Optician later in the week - and even if he says the "wrong" prescription's right, I'll have saved myself £15 a month by switching to them - but I really can't see how it could be correct since I can't even watch TV in them! Would D&A have been liable if I'd had a car accident due to not seeing a child in the road, or something like that? Ponder, ponder!
Looking back, when I had my last full eye test on 28th October 2010 I was told that my eyes had changed only slightly, and not enough to need a new pair of glasses - unless I particularly wanted a new pair. I decided that I would have a new pair, and got some made up to the new prescription. If the change then was so slight that it didn't need new specs, but I got them anyway, surely that same change would have meant that I couldn't see in my specs for a while until I got used to them? This didn't happen - I just began using the new specs instead of the old ones. And even now, I can switch between the two pairs and hardly tell any difference. So why is there so much difference with the contact lenses?
 |
| The left is an example of what I had, and the right is an example of the new prescription |
Thursday, 14 July 2011
And the day gets worse...
Big son has his Driving Test tomorrow afternoon - if he passes, he wants to go to see Harry Potter as a congratulations celebration. If he fails, he wants to see Harry Potter as commiserations, and so that he doesn't have to speak to anyone for several hours whilst he comes to terms with it, and takes his mind off it.
I told hubby this over a week ago.
Last Saturday, hubby had to spend all day running a Beaver Scouts Fun Day because all the Beaver Leaders decided they weren't available after originally saying that they would be.
So I said that they should cover his Scout group meeting for him, so that he could spend this ONE Friday evening doing something that is important to his firstborn child! He said that he agreed.
So, off I go to the cinema tonight as agreed, and I book - £21.?? for 2 students (me and big son), one child (small son) and one free carer (coz we have the CEA Card ~ http://www.ceacard.co.uk/) and that is the cheapest way to do it. ~ You can't book the carer's ticket online, so I have to go in person. (Don't get me started on discrimination!)
Anyway, we're booked in for 7pm, and we have to be there by 6:30pm as they're expecting it to be very busy. I'm thinking *at least* 6:30pm as we've got to find a parking space too!
As soon as get home & I tell hubby, he starts yelling at me. Yelling so much that small son comes in to lounge to see why daddy's yelling at mummy! He's telling me I'd no business booking in for 7pm, and that I should have booked a later one so that he could still go to Scouts.
So, let me see - Scouts finishes at 7:30pm, but he's never home before 8:15pm - so then he'd have to change out of his uniform and then we could set off, at about 8:30pm at the earliest, so the earliest we'd arrive at the cinema is 9pm and the next 3D showing would be 10pm. And he wants to take an 11yr old to an 10pm show???
Anyway - cutting a long story short - he stops yelling, and texts the other Scout Leader, blaming me, saying that he's ONLY JUST found out that he can't be at Scouts tomorrow because I've booked this without him knowing. And he had to tell a teenage helper that he can't give her a lift because I've JUST done this, and he didn't know about it. Making me out to be the bad-guy in it all!
I'm so sick of it! We have a caravan rusting away on our drive, unused for over 2 years because he's decided that he'd rather do Scouts every Friday night than spend time with his children. Doesn't want any weekends away in it. Money down the drain.
So now I'm saving up the couple of hundred quid needed to get myself on a training course to learn how to tow it, so that I can go away for the weekend in it sometimes, and if he wants to come, he can meet us there after he's done his precious Scouts!
And now he's denying that he was yelling - young son was apparently mistaken, he didn't shout at me at all. And I got it wrong, he didn't yell. And big son? Nah, he's imagined the yelling!
I told hubby this over a week ago.
Last Saturday, hubby had to spend all day running a Beaver Scouts Fun Day because all the Beaver Leaders decided they weren't available after originally saying that they would be.
So I said that they should cover his Scout group meeting for him, so that he could spend this ONE Friday evening doing something that is important to his firstborn child! He said that he agreed.
So, off I go to the cinema tonight as agreed, and I book - £21.?? for 2 students (me and big son), one child (small son) and one free carer (coz we have the CEA Card ~ http://www.ceacard.co.uk/) and that is the cheapest way to do it. ~ You can't book the carer's ticket online, so I have to go in person. (Don't get me started on discrimination!)
Anyway, we're booked in for 7pm, and we have to be there by 6:30pm as they're expecting it to be very busy. I'm thinking *at least* 6:30pm as we've got to find a parking space too!
As soon as get home & I tell hubby, he starts yelling at me. Yelling so much that small son comes in to lounge to see why daddy's yelling at mummy! He's telling me I'd no business booking in for 7pm, and that I should have booked a later one so that he could still go to Scouts.
So, let me see - Scouts finishes at 7:30pm, but he's never home before 8:15pm - so then he'd have to change out of his uniform and then we could set off, at about 8:30pm at the earliest, so the earliest we'd arrive at the cinema is 9pm and the next 3D showing would be 10pm. And he wants to take an 11yr old to an 10pm show???
Anyway - cutting a long story short - he stops yelling, and texts the other Scout Leader, blaming me, saying that he's ONLY JUST found out that he can't be at Scouts tomorrow because I've booked this without him knowing. And he had to tell a teenage helper that he can't give her a lift because I've JUST done this, and he didn't know about it. Making me out to be the bad-guy in it all!
I'm so sick of it! We have a caravan rusting away on our drive, unused for over 2 years because he's decided that he'd rather do Scouts every Friday night than spend time with his children. Doesn't want any weekends away in it. Money down the drain.
So now I'm saving up the couple of hundred quid needed to get myself on a training course to learn how to tow it, so that I can go away for the weekend in it sometimes, and if he wants to come, he can meet us there after he's done his precious Scouts!
And now he's denying that he was yelling - young son was apparently mistaken, he didn't shout at me at all. And I got it wrong, he didn't yell. And big son? Nah, he's imagined the yelling!
Today's rant
If you watched BBC's Panorama from Monday 11th July, at 13mins 45seconds the presenter sets up a crash scene, and then follows one of the cars to a bodyshop (15mins) for its repair work.
We see the red car being unloaded from the truck.
There the presenter interviews the owner of the bodyshop, Nick Gaskell - and the commentary states: "They too may send me to a Claims Management Company. Nick says he does it because they are easier to deal with than insurers, and he'll get paid for the referral."
There the presenter interviews the owner of the bodyshop, Nick Gaskell - and the commentary states: "They too may send me to a Claims Management Company. Nick says he does it because they are easier to deal with than insurers, and he'll get paid for the referral."
Nick: "On this, if we put you in touch with an accident management company we'd probably get a hundred quid"
Presenter: "A hundred quid?"
Nick: "Yeah"
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b012s1xj/Panorama_The_Great_Car_Insurance_Swindle/)
After seeing the programme, I tweeted: "Tonight's #BBCpanorama had the garage I had problems with a couple of years ago when they used me a wedge to get more £/hour from ins work" (Note that I didn't name them, or where they were)
And received a reply:
@Lancs , Hi, Noticed ur comment ystrday,. thought ths link wld B worth looking at, its a shame Panorama dnt investigate things further http://bit.ly/orziSC
(The link suggests that the increases in insurance costs aren't necessarily as a direct result of personal injury claims... which isn't really what I was implying - I was implying "hey look, someone and somewhere I know was on the telly!")
But it kinda pissed me off that this guy that I'd trusted with my family car, because my mum said they advertised in my Church's magazine, was quite likely to sell my details should I use the company again in the event of an accident - and I have big feelings when it comes to privacy issues.
Presenter: "A hundred quid?"
Nick: "Yeah"
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b012s1xj/Panorama_The_Great_Car_Insurance_Swindle/)
After seeing the programme, I tweeted: "Tonight's #BBCpanorama had the garage I had problems with a couple of years ago when they used me a wedge to get more £/hour from ins work" (Note that I didn't name them, or where they were)
And received a reply:
@Lancs , Hi, Noticed ur comment ystrday,. thought ths link wld B worth looking at, its a shame Panorama dnt investigate things further http://bit.ly/orziSC
(The link suggests that the increases in insurance costs aren't necessarily as a direct result of personal injury claims... which isn't really what I was implying - I was implying "hey look, someone and somewhere I know was on the telly!")
But it kinda pissed me off that this guy that I'd trusted with my family car, because my mum said they advertised in my Church's magazine, was quite likely to sell my details should I use the company again in the event of an accident - and I have big feelings when it comes to privacy issues.
I don't use my surname online, I'm ex-directory, and I'm registered with the mailing and telephone preference service, so I wouldn't ever have agreed to it if I'd been asked permission. I have a teenage son who has autism, and he can't cope with strangers who ring the doorbell or telephone the house. He doesn't even cope well when it's me on the telephone, or Grandma asking him if he wants her to take him out for lunch! We have an intercom so he doesn't need to actually go to the front door, he can talk to a visitor from the safety of the dining room. There is NO WAY ON EARTH that I would encourage people to contact my home without me knowing about it in advance!
So I forced the bodyshop company to unfollow me (I don't want to be associated with a company that would do that) and sent this: "@GaskellMotor but you admit on TV that you fail to respect customers' privacy and sell their details. I would NEVER give permission for that"
And the reply came: "@Lancs Hi Liz we do not pass our customer details on, on any occasions, We did the program because we are fed up with it as well" and 5 more tweets... (including one that he missed my name off, then sent again with my name on)
So I forced the bodyshop company to unfollow me (I don't want to be associated with a company that would do that) and sent this: "@GaskellMotor but you admit on TV that you fail to respect customers' privacy and sell their details. I would NEVER give permission for that"
And the reply came: "@Lancs Hi Liz we do not pass our customer details on, on any occasions, We did the program because we are fed up with it as well" and 5 more tweets... (including one that he missed my name off, then sent again with my name on)
@lancs When using acc mngmt co this is only done with the customer's full knowledge and understanding.
@ I hope this helps clarify our position, and helps confirm that we do not sell customers information to anyone.
@lancs I hope this helps clarify our position, and helps confirm that we do not sell customers information to anyone
@lancs the reason y I did the program is we want it stopping like you and many others, I 2 get un reqstd txt mssg touting 4 injury claims
Uh? Hang on... that isn't what the TV programme said! Then @GaskellMotor followed me again, so again I forced an unfollow.
And they followed AGAIN, and again I forced the unfollow.
And then, at 9:22am, my mobile started buzzing in my pocket. I was at work.
We have a strict "No Mobiles" policy at work, but because of my son's Autism I have negotiated that I can keep mine on (on silent, in my pocket, for emergencies... I check the calling number quickly and recognize it as local, but don't recognize the number's owner, so I do a quick google search to make sure it wasn't anyone in connection with my son. The search comes back as Gaskell Motors.
I pop on to Twitter quickly, from the ladies' loos at the earliest opportunity (10:52am) to tweet:
" '@GaskellMotor please don't call my mobile,do NOT call home either, you'll upset my autistic son.Please delete my nos. from office database" as I'm concerned that if they call home, and son answers, he'll be confused and not really know who is on the phone, or why they're calling. And since I have no "childcare" (He's almost 18!) today, he's home alone and I don't want to have to leave work early to deal with an emotional meltdown because someone's ringing him to harrass me!
And I was right, when I got home, I found that they did in fact call here, 1st at 9:21am and again at 9:30am - luckily, being a teenager, son didn't wake up til noon, so didn't answer.
But where do we stand on the Data Protection Act?
So it was 11th May 2009 that Gaskells had my car.
And I got it back on 6th June 2009.
That's 27(?) days to do a job that they'd quoted as taking 4½ days.
(If you scroll a REALLY long way back in my tweets, you can see where I tweet about the problems I'm having, and @ZurichConnect get in touch to try to help me sort things out!
So, that's over 2 years ago, and they STILL have my details on file, handy enough that they can respond with phone calls?
Maybe a quick referral to the Data Protection Registrar will be in order if it continues?
And yeah, I do consider it harassment when a man who is a relative stranger calls my home and mobile phones out of the blue, presumably to discuss something I've tweeted about.
Although it isn't quite so straight forward, because when I was at High School in the 80s, his wife was in my school year, lived very close to me, and travelled to the same school on the same school bus, but other than whilst the car was being fixed in 2009, we've had no contact since 1986 when I changed high schools, so it isn't like we're what I would class as friends!
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Wednesday 6th July 2011
Sorted - voicemail outgoing message recorded using: http://text-to-speech.imtranslator.net/TTSText
to say...
"This number is registered with the Telephone Preference Service and as such you are not allowed to call with unsolicited sales calls.
This number does not accept incoming calls from unrecognized numbers.
You should send your message by SMS or email stating clearly who you are and your enquiry. Thank you."
It's a wonderfully unrealistic sounding voice, so people will realise that it isn't really me - I'm sooooo fed up with telling junk callers that I've just bought the phone on eBay, and I've no idea who they're asking for, in an effort to make them stop calling me!
Oh, and yeah, I do have a voicemail pin, so my secrets won't end up in News Of The World from voicemail cracking!
Shame that t-mobile doesn't give me the option of storing a few outgoing messages so that I can make an "On holiday, call back in a fortnight" message, and a "Don't you dare call before 10am!" message etc. and swap between them easily!
Tried the ONvoicemail iPhone app, but wasn't impressed about routing all my calls & contact info through them so deleted it.
Nighters!
to say...
"This number is registered with the Telephone Preference Service and as such you are not allowed to call with unsolicited sales calls.
This number does not accept incoming calls from unrecognized numbers.
You should send your message by SMS or email stating clearly who you are and your enquiry. Thank you."
It's a wonderfully unrealistic sounding voice, so people will realise that it isn't really me - I'm sooooo fed up with telling junk callers that I've just bought the phone on eBay, and I've no idea who they're asking for, in an effort to make them stop calling me!
Oh, and yeah, I do have a voicemail pin, so my secrets won't end up in News Of The World from voicemail cracking!
Shame that t-mobile doesn't give me the option of storing a few outgoing messages so that I can make an "On holiday, call back in a fortnight" message, and a "Don't you dare call before 10am!" message etc. and swap between them easily!
Tried the ONvoicemail iPhone app, but wasn't impressed about routing all my calls & contact info through them so deleted it.
Car has MOT in the morning - small son has a taster day in the High School he'll be starting at in September - and I have more meds to collect - AND, I'm on "dad-duty" too! Mum's having a day out somewhere with her ladies group, so I have to make sure dad's done everything on his list, including collecting Golden Wedding Anniversary cake from the maker, buying mum a bunch of roses, making sure he's bought her a card.
Just sent text to my brother asking him to invite dad to the Carvery for tea - I can't do it, I have a pre-parents' evening at the new High School.
Right - off to shower & bed, it's 2:15am!
Friday, 3 June 2011
Friday 3rd June 4:10am
He's in the shower.
I'm in tears.
Hubby woke up, knows I'm crying & said nothing.
He doesn't care.
I can't do this every other day for the next 40+ years.
I'm in tears.
Hubby woke up, knows I'm crying & said nothing.
He doesn't care.
I can't do this every other day for the next 40+ years.
Friday 3rd June 2011 - 3am
It's 3am - Big Son is still not in the shower - I'm almost in tears, at the end of my tether.
Thursday, 2 June 2011
Thursday 2nd June 2011
Got sidetracked writing that last post - can't remember where it was going now, but the car's fixed - Renault Blackburn tried to get me to agree to work that (in my opinion) wasn't necessary, then signed me up for Renault junk mail when I didn't agree to the work (or at least that's what it feels like!)
Half-Term holidays - not done much - Booked Driving Test for Big Son - in Summer Hols. Small son lost his penultimate baby tooth - hubby conveniently arranged to be absent for most of the holiday, and went to bed early on the nights he was here - leaving me to fight with Big Son's showering traumas.
Actually, I'm a supermum - On Tuesday we went to the Dentist, the boys got their hair cut, and then they both had a shower (to wash the itchy bits of hair away) and all before 5pm, and no-one got hurt! (There was a McBribe involved though!)
Got some nice new Twitter friends, and unfollowed some Tweeters who're mainly business oriented, and not the sort of businesses that I have interest in.
And I was asked this week, "Why the rose?" so I explained. I was born in Lancashire. I think the look of this rose is so perfect that it inspires hope in life, and in all my 40 years, no-one's ever bought me any, so it doesn't represent anyone. (I've been bought plastic ones - in my late teens, I once commented to future hubby that I thought it was a shame that flowers died so quickly, and made them poor value for money - which translated to future hubby as "Never buy her flowers, not ever, not even on anniversaries or Valentine's Day - not EVER! - and he's stuck to it - I once said that I like Spag Bol, and was served it twice a week for ever-more! - anyway...)
As I type this, there's an ongoing battle that Big Son should be having a shower - after 48hrs he smells bad - really bad - the stench of a teenage male who sleeps in his clothes (all of them, trousers, undies, t-shirt and sometimes sweater!) and that makes for a VERY pongy boy. So I've just removed his wi-fi access so he can no longer play his online game until he's showered. In a couple of minutes he'll realise that it wasn't a temporary drop of service and he'll begin yelling - I've been reminding him for the past 90minutes that it's shower night.
Small son was in trouble this evening too - he ignored daddy when he was called to come for tea. Not just ignored once - ignored repeatedly, for the entire length of time it took the rest of us to eat! So he was barred from his computer for the rest of the evening - so we all watched Fury Vengeance - and it was dire - really really rubbish - infantile - which means the kids loved it!
.....
Now 2 hours, and I'm sending Big Son messages to his iPhone using me.com/find because the message and sounds get through even when the phone's switched off - "Shower, now, PLEASE" etc - every couple of minutes. And I'm on the brink of tears - I don't know if I can do this every other day for the rest of my life, but what's the alternative? Put him somewhere and have him bullied like the young adults in the Panorama episode this week? - I don't think so!
I'm actually allowing Big Son to watch the programme right now - I've been thinking about it since it was on, and I've decided that if he's aware what sort of things shouldn't happen, EVER, then he knows that if he ever sees anything like that, he knows it's wrong and has to be stopped. But I'm also worried that it'll make him terrified of ever going in to any sort of care, whether short or long-term....
Suppose that puts the "Shower Fight" on hold for an hour!
Half-Term holidays - not done much - Booked Driving Test for Big Son - in Summer Hols. Small son lost his penultimate baby tooth - hubby conveniently arranged to be absent for most of the holiday, and went to bed early on the nights he was here - leaving me to fight with Big Son's showering traumas.
Actually, I'm a supermum - On Tuesday we went to the Dentist, the boys got their hair cut, and then they both had a shower (to wash the itchy bits of hair away) and all before 5pm, and no-one got hurt! (There was a McBribe involved though!)
Got some nice new Twitter friends, and unfollowed some Tweeters who're mainly business oriented, and not the sort of businesses that I have interest in.
And I was asked this week, "Why the rose?" so I explained. I was born in Lancashire. I think the look of this rose is so perfect that it inspires hope in life, and in all my 40 years, no-one's ever bought me any, so it doesn't represent anyone. (I've been bought plastic ones - in my late teens, I once commented to future hubby that I thought it was a shame that flowers died so quickly, and made them poor value for money - which translated to future hubby as "Never buy her flowers, not ever, not even on anniversaries or Valentine's Day - not EVER! - and he's stuck to it - I once said that I like Spag Bol, and was served it twice a week for ever-more! - anyway...)
As I type this, there's an ongoing battle that Big Son should be having a shower - after 48hrs he smells bad - really bad - the stench of a teenage male who sleeps in his clothes (all of them, trousers, undies, t-shirt and sometimes sweater!) and that makes for a VERY pongy boy. So I've just removed his wi-fi access so he can no longer play his online game until he's showered. In a couple of minutes he'll realise that it wasn't a temporary drop of service and he'll begin yelling - I've been reminding him for the past 90minutes that it's shower night.
Small son was in trouble this evening too - he ignored daddy when he was called to come for tea. Not just ignored once - ignored repeatedly, for the entire length of time it took the rest of us to eat! So he was barred from his computer for the rest of the evening - so we all watched Fury Vengeance - and it was dire - really really rubbish - infantile - which means the kids loved it!
.....
Now 2 hours, and I'm sending Big Son messages to his iPhone using me.com/find because the message and sounds get through even when the phone's switched off - "Shower, now, PLEASE" etc - every couple of minutes. And I'm on the brink of tears - I don't know if I can do this every other day for the rest of my life, but what's the alternative? Put him somewhere and have him bullied like the young adults in the Panorama episode this week? - I don't think so!
I'm actually allowing Big Son to watch the programme right now - I've been thinking about it since it was on, and I've decided that if he's aware what sort of things shouldn't happen, EVER, then he knows that if he ever sees anything like that, he knows it's wrong and has to be stopped. But I'm also worried that it'll make him terrified of ever going in to any sort of care, whether short or long-term....
Suppose that puts the "Shower Fight" on hold for an hour!
Friday, 20 May 2011
Wesnesday 18th May
My Renault Scenic is a piece of French crap!
On the way to dropping small son off at school this morning, pulled up at a junction, looked down and the whole dashboard is dead! No lights at all - no ticking when I indicate - no speedo - no rev counter - no warning lights - nothing - just a completely blank panel!
Carried on, dropped him off at school and came home - luckily hubby's working away in his works' van this week, so his car was here, so I went to work in that - just arrived in time for Day Two of my training course, and thankfully I knew where the keys for his car were!
Mum collected small son from school due to the long day for the training course, and I collected him from there at 4:30pm.
Interestingly, when I'd tweeted that my car was broken on Twitter this morning, by the time I got to work, my phone was saying @Renault_UK had replied asking me to contact them - I couldn't do that until I got home as Social Networking and Mobile Phones are banned at work, so once we'd arrived home, I emailed Renault as the tweet had said.
5 minutes later a reply arrived to say that my email had been passed on to their Customer Relations
On the way to dropping small son off at school this morning, pulled up at a junction, looked down and the whole dashboard is dead! No lights at all - no ticking when I indicate - no speedo - no rev counter - no warning lights - nothing - just a completely blank panel!
Carried on, dropped him off at school and came home - luckily hubby's working away in his works' van this week, so his car was here, so I went to work in that - just arrived in time for Day Two of my training course, and thankfully I knew where the keys for his car were!
Mum collected small son from school due to the long day for the training course, and I collected him from there at 4:30pm.
Interestingly, when I'd tweeted that my car was broken on Twitter this morning, by the time I got to work, my phone was saying @Renault_UK had replied asking me to contact them - I couldn't do that until I got home as Social Networking and Mobile Phones are banned at work, so once we'd arrived home, I emailed Renault as the tweet had said.
5 minutes later a reply arrived to say that my email had been passed on to their Customer Relations
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Tuesday 17th May 2011
My Uni's finished now, at least until September, and if I did poorly, then it's finished completely, so I've decided to take a summer course...
I'm doing a Yale course in Philosophy on Death.
Well, I'm listening to the lectures on iTunesU.
http://oyc.yale.edu/philosophy
Well? What's the worst that could happen? I doubt I'll have the free time to do the reading that they're suggesting, but there's no reason I can't listen to all the classes.
Other news:
I'm doing a Yale course in Philosophy on Death.
Well, I'm listening to the lectures on iTunesU.
http://oyc.yale.edu/philosophy
Well? What's the worst that could happen? I doubt I'll have the free time to do the reading that they're suggesting, but there's no reason I can't listen to all the classes.
Other news:
- Father-in-law's birthday. (82yrs) - they treated us for tea at BentleyWood Farm Harvester.
- Day One of a Two-Day Training Course at work.
- Collected hubby's car from the train station (He's working away, so has the works' van to get an early start in the morning)
- Brother's been to see his new GP and seems to like him, seems trustworthy, seems to think that he understands what his needs and problems are.
- Mum's collecting youngest son from school whilst I do the above work Training Course since it's a full time day, and isn't scheduled to finish until 4:30pm, whereas I normally finish in tine to do the afternoon school-run.
- Oldest son had another Driving Lesson - he's progressing, but it seems like very slow progress - but then again, he can't shower himself or dress himself, can't answer the phone or go shopping, so the fact that he's almost ready for his test in significant progress.
- Book arrived from eBay: John Duignan's 'The Complex' - the one that (allegedly) has a SuperInjunction blocking itfrom being published & sold in the UK. (And what's funny is that I wouldn't have the slightest interest in it if it wasn't for the injunctions!)
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
Monday 16th May
So, you're a Social Media Expert? What does that mean exactly? That you spend all day playing on FaceBook and Twitter? And you're proud of that? So proud that you claim it as you main occupation?
Is it code for "I lost my real job in the recession" or something?
Well, if you just tweet links every 15/20/60 minutes, and you never tell us anything "real" that's going on in your life, and you never reply to people who say stuff, either directly to you, or just in general, then you're gone... I'm not interested in tweeters who claim to be able to fix my life with viewing a link, or who just spout out guff about politics, religion, environment etc.
For me, Twitter is about engaging people - engaging them in little bits of conversation - finding common ground with complete strangers at the other end of the earth. So what if that common ground is that we both had a shitty day? Sometimes just knowing you're not the only one can help.
But therein lies a problem - what if I caught you on a bad week? What if you're conversationally stunted this week, or there's nothing going on that you want to share with the world? Well, then you're being thrown in my Guff pile - where I can still find you easily, and take a peek now and then, and maybe I'll be inspired to move you back in to the followed people, or maybe you'll be thrown out of Guff after a few times of never having anything interesting in your feed!
Real friends are in my "secret" friends list. They're the people I really know, and are normally in my FaceBook friend list too - they're people I work with, and smile at when I pass them in the corridor, they're mums from school, they're friends from school/college/uni etc. And they're in one of the page tabs that FireFox opens as soon as I switch my computer on.
Then there's the "people I want to read" list - they're the list that I wanted to keep when I realised that AutoFollow was a shitty idea - I ended up with a gazillion Social Media experts in my feed, squillions of born again (or born 1st time!) Christians, drug companies claiming their meds/diets would cure my sons' autistic behaviours... and I didn't want to see those people, but I did want to read the flow from acquaintances, strangers who're interesting, certain celeb tweeters and so on.
And then there are those Tweeters who I stumbled across by utter accident - their feed contained something I'd just looked up a hashtag about, or I fell over them some other way and their feed concerned me - worried me in some way, but in the kind of way that I thought "this teen's gonna grow in to a UnaBomber" kind of person... so they're in my "Keep an eye on" list.
Only the Guff list isn't secret. I didn't want anyone I'd removed to think I'd abandoned them completely - afterall, the purpose of it was to keep people handy in case I made a mistake - wouldn't life be easier if you could do that in real?
Anyway - it's 2am Tuesday morning, and I'm off to bed - oldest son's finally had his shower (a fight everytime) and no longer stinks - can't send him off to his driving lesson, sat so close to his instructor in a stinky state!
Is it code for "I lost my real job in the recession" or something?
Well, if you just tweet links every 15/20/60 minutes, and you never tell us anything "real" that's going on in your life, and you never reply to people who say stuff, either directly to you, or just in general, then you're gone... I'm not interested in tweeters who claim to be able to fix my life with viewing a link, or who just spout out guff about politics, religion, environment etc.
For me, Twitter is about engaging people - engaging them in little bits of conversation - finding common ground with complete strangers at the other end of the earth. So what if that common ground is that we both had a shitty day? Sometimes just knowing you're not the only one can help.
But therein lies a problem - what if I caught you on a bad week? What if you're conversationally stunted this week, or there's nothing going on that you want to share with the world? Well, then you're being thrown in my Guff pile - where I can still find you easily, and take a peek now and then, and maybe I'll be inspired to move you back in to the followed people, or maybe you'll be thrown out of Guff after a few times of never having anything interesting in your feed!
Real friends are in my "secret" friends list. They're the people I really know, and are normally in my FaceBook friend list too - they're people I work with, and smile at when I pass them in the corridor, they're mums from school, they're friends from school/college/uni etc. And they're in one of the page tabs that FireFox opens as soon as I switch my computer on.
Then there's the "people I want to read" list - they're the list that I wanted to keep when I realised that AutoFollow was a shitty idea - I ended up with a gazillion Social Media experts in my feed, squillions of born again (or born 1st time!) Christians, drug companies claiming their meds/diets would cure my sons' autistic behaviours... and I didn't want to see those people, but I did want to read the flow from acquaintances, strangers who're interesting, certain celeb tweeters and so on.
And then there are those Tweeters who I stumbled across by utter accident - their feed contained something I'd just looked up a hashtag about, or I fell over them some other way and their feed concerned me - worried me in some way, but in the kind of way that I thought "this teen's gonna grow in to a UnaBomber" kind of person... so they're in my "Keep an eye on" list.
Only the Guff list isn't secret. I didn't want anyone I'd removed to think I'd abandoned them completely - afterall, the purpose of it was to keep people handy in case I made a mistake - wouldn't life be easier if you could do that in real?
Anyway - it's 2am Tuesday morning, and I'm off to bed - oldest son's finally had his shower (a fight everytime) and no longer stinks - can't send him off to his driving lesson, sat so close to his instructor in a stinky state!
Monday, 16 May 2011
Sunday May 15th
Spent most of the weekend:
Do I think they let their children down terribly by leaving them alone? Yes, and shame on them for it.
Do I think they killed her? It's a distinct possibility that one of them lost their temper with her crying and killed her accidentally. Or that she overdosed on the sleeping medication they might have given her. Or that in a drugged state she's fallen and banged her head, or vomited in her sleep.
Do I think they've told the whole truth? No. I'm 99% certain that there is more that they could say about the events.
If I were in charge of the investigation, what would I do: Interview everyone again. Go over their version of events, and compare it to what their original statements say, and ask about discrepancies. Find out more about the hire car: who had it at the time of the disappearance? Question the parents about whether Maddie was genetically theirs, whether there was ANYTHING at all in her past that could point to anything. Get all the Tapas 9 together and talk it all through with ALL of them on video both together and separately. And ask for ANYONE with any court allowable evidence to come forward, even if superinjuncted against! And I would look in to whether the Masonic connections were helping to cover anything up.
Twitter: I'm following too many people. For a while in 2009(?) I had an AutoFollow enabled and ended up with all sorts of weirdos in my list (and some really nice people too!) But now it's taking forever to sort out the wheat from the chaff... And I'm worried about ditching the wrong ones, so if there's any doubt they're going in to either public or secret lists, so that I can still keep track of them via the lists.
Sky+: Today we've caught up with Greys Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Casualty, Raising Hope, The Middle, Modern Family and Parenthood.
Still need to catch up with House (about 5 weeks behind) and Glee (3weeks), Hot In Cleveland (3 weeks), Criminal Minds (1week), Raising Hope (1week) and other odd one-offs.
PlayDate: 10yr old son had a friend over. Didn't get off to a good start as his parents were rude enough to drop him off 20 minutes early without checking it'd be OK... so I was only just dressed when he arrived!
Then he spent the first hour yelling stuff, repeatedly, in an almost Tourette's kind of way! "I'm a bloody Ninja" at the top of his voice - and generally being obnoxious inbetween yells - making son find inappropriate videos on YouTube and singing homophobic songs.
Hubby knows the child - Hubby's a Scout Leader, and the kid is a Scout, which is how he knows my son, so I expected hubby to deal with it, but after an hour it was blatantly obvious that if hubby was doing anything about it, it wasn't working!
I'm used to kids swearing in hushed tones when they think they're out of grown-up earshot, but this wasn't that! So I yelled, from my lounge chair... "If you carry on with that language, I'll take you home RIGHT NOW!" Obviously the kid worked out that if he landed home at 1pm when he wasn't expected back until 4:30pm, he was going to be asked why, and it worked, he stopped - dead in his tracks!
Other Stuff:
Still having the nightmares...
They go like this... 24th June I get told that I passed my degree, so I turn up to Graduation Ceremony on 11th July... they call my name, I get on stage, in my cap, gown & hood & I'm just about to shake hands with the "whoever" and someone comes running on to the stage & whipsers to whoever "there's been a mistake, she didn't pass" and because whoever's microphoned up, the whole audience hear, and they point & laugh... hundreds of them....
I know its unlikely -- that if they tell me on 24th that I passed, then I really did pass, and I don't need to worry, but still...
Work: Seriously dislike what I'm doing at the moment, but recognize that it's a vital service to the community. Seriously annoyed at the rubbish IT systems that we're expected to work with, even though they make what has the capacity to be a quick and easy job in to a long, drawn out process. Have serious issues with my immediate boss - she's inflexible (unless you're her favourite) and doesn't play fair. She has no idea what her staff actually do and so is unable to investigate when allegations are made that some staff are cutting corners and doing a shoddy job which causes work for other people, she belittles staff, sometimes without even knowing she's doing it, and appears to consider herself superior to other people whist proving herself morally inferior.
Finances: very tight. 10yr old about to turn 11 and wants a party, but no spare money for one :(
- watching Maddy McCann videos & reading posts about her - whether her parents did it or are covering anything up...
- whinging about the behaviour of 10yr old son's playdate!
- clearing out people I follow from Twitter
- catching up on stuff on my Sky+ box
- working on my mental health (relaxing)
Do I think they let their children down terribly by leaving them alone? Yes, and shame on them for it.
Do I think they killed her? It's a distinct possibility that one of them lost their temper with her crying and killed her accidentally. Or that she overdosed on the sleeping medication they might have given her. Or that in a drugged state she's fallen and banged her head, or vomited in her sleep.
Do I think they've told the whole truth? No. I'm 99% certain that there is more that they could say about the events.
If I were in charge of the investigation, what would I do: Interview everyone again. Go over their version of events, and compare it to what their original statements say, and ask about discrepancies. Find out more about the hire car: who had it at the time of the disappearance? Question the parents about whether Maddie was genetically theirs, whether there was ANYTHING at all in her past that could point to anything. Get all the Tapas 9 together and talk it all through with ALL of them on video both together and separately. And ask for ANYONE with any court allowable evidence to come forward, even if superinjuncted against! And I would look in to whether the Masonic connections were helping to cover anything up.
Twitter: I'm following too many people. For a while in 2009(?) I had an AutoFollow enabled and ended up with all sorts of weirdos in my list (and some really nice people too!) But now it's taking forever to sort out the wheat from the chaff... And I'm worried about ditching the wrong ones, so if there's any doubt they're going in to either public or secret lists, so that I can still keep track of them via the lists.
Sky+: Today we've caught up with Greys Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Casualty, Raising Hope, The Middle, Modern Family and Parenthood.
Still need to catch up with House (about 5 weeks behind) and Glee (3weeks), Hot In Cleveland (3 weeks), Criminal Minds (1week), Raising Hope (1week) and other odd one-offs.
PlayDate: 10yr old son had a friend over. Didn't get off to a good start as his parents were rude enough to drop him off 20 minutes early without checking it'd be OK... so I was only just dressed when he arrived!
Then he spent the first hour yelling stuff, repeatedly, in an almost Tourette's kind of way! "I'm a bloody Ninja" at the top of his voice - and generally being obnoxious inbetween yells - making son find inappropriate videos on YouTube and singing homophobic songs.
Hubby knows the child - Hubby's a Scout Leader, and the kid is a Scout, which is how he knows my son, so I expected hubby to deal with it, but after an hour it was blatantly obvious that if hubby was doing anything about it, it wasn't working!
I'm used to kids swearing in hushed tones when they think they're out of grown-up earshot, but this wasn't that! So I yelled, from my lounge chair... "If you carry on with that language, I'll take you home RIGHT NOW!" Obviously the kid worked out that if he landed home at 1pm when he wasn't expected back until 4:30pm, he was going to be asked why, and it worked, he stopped - dead in his tracks!
Other Stuff:
Still having the nightmares...
They go like this... 24th June I get told that I passed my degree, so I turn up to Graduation Ceremony on 11th July... they call my name, I get on stage, in my cap, gown & hood & I'm just about to shake hands with the "whoever" and someone comes running on to the stage & whipsers to whoever "there's been a mistake, she didn't pass" and because whoever's microphoned up, the whole audience hear, and they point & laugh... hundreds of them....
I know its unlikely -- that if they tell me on 24th that I passed, then I really did pass, and I don't need to worry, but still...
Work: Seriously dislike what I'm doing at the moment, but recognize that it's a vital service to the community. Seriously annoyed at the rubbish IT systems that we're expected to work with, even though they make what has the capacity to be a quick and easy job in to a long, drawn out process. Have serious issues with my immediate boss - she's inflexible (unless you're her favourite) and doesn't play fair. She has no idea what her staff actually do and so is unable to investigate when allegations are made that some staff are cutting corners and doing a shoddy job which causes work for other people, she belittles staff, sometimes without even knowing she's doing it, and appears to consider herself superior to other people whist proving herself morally inferior.
Finances: very tight. 10yr old about to turn 11 and wants a party, but no spare money for one :(
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