Doctors who do not read their own charts and end up giving you medication you should not be taking because of a chronic illness. Saved by a nurse and the pharmacist.
Pharmacists have saved me from blunders by doctors including Specialists on more than one occasion.
Once I saved myself by refusing continue taking a new medication that had been recently introduced to NZ because I was sure it was the cause of the liver failure that was the reason I was admitted to hospital. I continued my refusal until my liver showed signs of recovery. Afterwards I found out that the particular medication had caused 20 deaths in NZ. If I wasn't so bolshy it could have been 21.
Vodafone: their mast went down without warning early on Saturday morning, taking our internet connection with it. It's still not clear whether it was intentional or not (there was some talk about this being linked to shutting off 3G and enhancing 4G) but regardless of that the communication was terrible. Surely in this day and age there ought to be contingency plans to failover to voice and SMS-only via another company's mast so they can at least tell you WTF is going on? At the very least when you phone customer services on your crackly, intermittent landline they should have, y'know, accurate and up to date information rather than "we're working on it" platitudes. Connection finally restored around 7:30pm today, Monday.
Not consigning to Hell but somewhat annoyed about a comment someone made at the weekend. "People who live alone are selfish. They want everything their own way and they don't think about anyone else."
People who make comments like that are thoughtless. There are lots of reasons why people choose to live alone, and worse still, actually enjoy it.
I just let her get it out of her system and have a rant. It would have soured the atmosphere of the gathering if I'd made a few crisp comments, but it was yet again another occasion when it was better to stay silent than say anything and potentially escalate it.
Who else's way would you want? Very restrained of you to say nothing. I would have been tempted to hold forth on the joys of drinking gin in your pyjamas at 4 in the afternoon while playing Mortal Kombat on a console propped up on empty pizza cartons.
Who else's way would you want? Very restrained of you to say nothing. I would have been tempted to hold forth on the joys of drinking gin in your pyjamas at 4 in the afternoon while playing Mortal Kombat on a console propped up on empty pizza cartons.
Ah but that's selfish.
I could have taken the line that I'd unselfishly spared many a man a life of mortal misery by remaining single, but that would probably have gone straight over her head.
Piglet - she was referring more to people who are single and like it.
Who else's way would you want? Very restrained of you to say nothing. I would have been tempted to hold forth on the joys of drinking gin in your pyjamas at 4 in the afternoon while playing Mortal Kombat on a console propped up on empty pizza cartons.
Ah but that's selfish. (Btw, it's rose wine, not gin.)
I could have taken the line that I'd unselfishly spared many a man a life of mortal misery by remaining single, but that would probably have gone straight over her head.
Piglet - she was referring more to people who are single and like it.
Who else's way would you want? Very restrained of you to say nothing. I would have been tempted to hold forth on the joys of drinking gin in your pyjamas at 4 in the afternoon while playing Mortal Kombat on a console propped up on empty pizza cartons.
The dozy berk who packed my online grocery order. I asked for dishwasher tablets. You stock a dozen brands. What do I get?* Stain removing powder for laundry.
*or rather, don't, as I shall turn it away with imprecations when it arrives in the next hour or so.
If I knew what caused it I would cth whatever is holding up my supermarket order.
Normally it is here very close to 07:30, sometimes it even arrives earlier. It is now well past 9am and I am still waiting. I knew there was probably a problem when the usual 06:30 email receipt was an hour late.
The supermarket rang about ten minutes after the end of my delivery slot to say there had been a 'massive issue' at the depot, the van with my order was just leaving and we are the first stop.
It's about 20 mins drive from here, so should be here by now....
Oops - driver just phoned: Further complications, apparently. Leaving now he says, so here in 20mins.
DV
My Coal is delivered by lorry (half a tonne at a time!), but the drivers know that, owing to Arkland's security gate, they can't get access before 9am or thereabouts. The company still tell me by email that I can expect the delivery between 7am and 9am, but, of course, the drivers are aware of the gate, and do other parts of their round before getting to me.
Happily, there's no paperwork involved, so I don't have to be present when the delivery is due, but I sympathise with those of you who sometimes have to wait hours for Stuff to turn up...
The best thing I ever did with regard to delivery of interweb shopping was getting them to deliver it to the office. On a whim, I ordered a Radley watch* at the weekend, and it arrived today - no hassle whatsoever.
* an advert kept coming up on Farcebark for reduced-price watches, so I decided to treat myself. Being a Radley, it's got an adorable, tiny wee black dog tag hanging from it on a miniature key-ring.
Yes thank you.
The 'massive issue' was nothing more interesting than computers being down. Disappointing really, I was hoping for something much more exciting.
Two items 'unavailable' - vitamin C and multivitamins. That was not counting the cabbage and Brussels sprouts that where already unavailable when I made out the order.
The people who ask me what I am doing for the Coronation and won't really take in the answer that I'll be outside in the garden if dry, inside catching up on reading if wet.
TICTH the constant and nauseating adverts exhorting us to have a *Right Roya* party/knees-up/dinner/delete as appropriate, which will only be complete with whatever piece of useless Tat is being advertised...
Hah Bumhug, or whatever similar expression relates to Right Royal Rubbish...
Biscuit tins. Maybe I'm in the wrong shops, but I'm not seeing Their Majesties smiling on the lids of assorted shortbread. One of the features of my childhood were several tins, repurposed to hold thread, buttons etc with various royals.
I was quite taken with some of the tins that didn't have likenesses of Their Majesties on them - the ones with flowers and crests and whatnot. Just enough to mark the fact that you were around at the time of the Coronation without going overboard.
Incompetent admin staff.
Last year we contacted the solicitors who have taken over the firm who made our wills. I received mine safe and sound in February, but not Mr Puzzler’s. I rang yesterday to put the boot behind them, it being urgent now he has died. They have just informed me they have found it!
Of course now all three executors have to provide ID and written authorisation.
I asked the reason for the delay. Some idiot had been searching under his second Christian name rather than his surname.
I asked the reason for the delay. Some idiot had been searching under his second Christian name rather than his surname.
What absurd incompetence! But at least they were willing to admit it, and not fudge some other excuse. May you be spared such stupidities in all the other admin work that you now have to go through. I do hope there are no disagreements between the three executors.
My mother has been invited to watch the Coronation with her neighbours. She went on a quest yesterday to buy a Coronation tin of shortbread to take round but has so far drawn a blank.
Muttered imprecations on Evri/Hermes. Delivery left on doorstep, no notification. As it happened, Mr F found it on return from hospital (but forgot to mention it). Other wise it would have sat outside overnight, in the rain. The tracking record mendaciously claims it was handed to me and signed for. Lying toads.
Further curses. Unpacked package - a hand driven lawnmower - and set about assembling the grip. Five metal bars secured by eight screws and nuts: the latter hexagonal with a round lip on one side, too small to allow the screw through. But entering by the hexagonal side meant that after a few turns it would go no further, stopping well shy of the bars it was supposed to be connecting.
Email to customer support (with photographs). Engineer says I have them on the wrong way round - it should be round side first. But the screw won't go through the round side (inconsequential which side is first if the nut travelled the length of the screw).
There it rests for the weekend. The name of the company is Einhell, which is what they'll get if they don't provide replacement parts that work as intended.
... the latter hexagonal with a round lip on one side, too small to allow the screw through. But entering by the hexagonal side meant that after a few turns it would go no further, stopping well shy of the bars it was supposed to be connecting..
That sounds very much like a 'stiffnut', or locking nut. The idea is that they won't loosen after tightening, but they do take spanners that are long enough let you apply the required torque. The screw should enter at the open end of the nut (not the rounded end) and then pass right through, with the application of sufficient muscle.
Ah, but their 'engineer' alleged that I had been doing it wrong, and ought to have started at the rounded end. Which, being fractionally smaller than the screw, simply doesn't work.
ISTM the appliance has been shipped with the wrong screws/nuts.
A rare day at home at school out time and I have been learning exactly how many of my local primary school's children and their supposedly responsible adults think my front garden is somewhere to play various games.
In particular, the 15, (yes fifteen), of those supposedly responsible adults who came down my path to run and shout "boo" at their children as they came around the corner from the alleyway, past my hedge, then run all over my front grassed areas with their screaming children.
I'm told it's got worse since Elderly Neighbour died last summer (still no one moved in there), but I am told it has now sold) and over the last few weeks when we've been suffering from an inexplicable influx of inconsiderately placed motor vehicles on the pavements.
I will give thanks I'm not normally here at this time of day to witness all this, but it is strengthening my resolve to add a fence or hedge to the front which there is currently a low jumpable rail (from the days when it was council housing) and front path gate soon.
I once lived in a converted Victorian school which was next to a modern primary school. The building had been empty most term times as my in laws who owned and renovated it lived on a campus in term time. Consequently, the local children played hide and seek on the very wide but shallow shaded lawn, despite there being a high hedge around it, and parents regularly parked on our drive (I challenged several parents who were amazingly unapologetic). My husband and I took to sitting on an almost hidden bench on the lawn at 3pm and going 'boo' at small children as they passed.
@Heavenlyannie My new neighbours, whoever they turn out to be, will be having the "This is my drive, not a parking space" conversations with our local unrepentant sinners in this regard, I am sure.
As I am recovering from the bug which had kept me at home, (TICTH those who passed that on to me) I contented myself with rapping sharply on an upstairs window every time... though as I'm home for 48 hours I may well be doing some gentle sitting on the path attending to some weeding/tidying under the alleyway side hedge around school out time tomorrow. Just to get some fresh air, you understand.
Our previous house was near a local sixth form college and until I planted a row of holly bushes next to our front wall, we regularly had teenagers sitting on the wall waiting for a parent or friend to pick them up.
Just discovered that my nice new satnav doesn't appear to link volume to car speed, unlike its predecessor. It's going to be fun putting on my reading glasses and stretching over to the windscreen to adjust this manually as I bowl up the motorway at 70mph
TICTH sugar alcohols....it's been warm and I'd been drinking some sugar-free flavoured water which doesn't usually contain sucralose, but this is a new flavour which does use it. The after-effects were not fun!
TICTH a zoo in Miami that has a captive kiwi. Kiwi are Aotearoa/NZ's national birds. They are nocturnal and the zoo were offering a "Zoo experience" allowing people to hold and pat it during the day under bright lights.
Here there are very strict protocols for handling kiwi. People have to be specially trained because the birds have an unusual skeleton and can be badly damaged if incorrectly handled.
The zoo's "ambassador" has said he will resign if the kiwi isn't treated properly and the New Zealand Department of Conservation is investigating what has happened and is willing to help the zoo meet the kiwi's needs more appropriately, so I hope that the situation will be successfully resolved. It's really important that colonies of rare animals are established in a variety of countries so that if there is a huge natural disaster in their country of origin whole species aren't lost.
Of course kiwi, being flightless ,fly Air New Zealand when being moved to new colonies, as do the Kakapo, the nocturnal parrot.
Perhaps the pilot should have said that if this kiwi wanted to go to Miami, it had to do so by itself? You can very safely predict that the zoo owner is a Trump supporter.
Comments
Once I saved myself by refusing continue taking a new medication that had been recently introduced to NZ because I was sure it was the cause of the liver failure that was the reason I was admitted to hospital. I continued my refusal until my liver showed signs of recovery. Afterwards I found out that the particular medication had caused 20 deaths in NZ. If I wasn't so bolshy it could have been 21.
People who make comments like that are thoughtless. There are lots of reasons why people choose to live alone, and worse still, actually enjoy it.
I just let her get it out of her system and have a rant. It would have soured the atmosphere of the gathering if I'd made a few crisp comments, but it was yet again another occasion when it was better to stay silent than say anything and potentially escalate it.
Ah but that's selfish.
I could have taken the line that I'd unselfishly spared many a man a life of mortal misery by remaining single, but that would probably have gone straight over her head.
Piglet
Love the imagery.
*or rather, don't, as I shall turn it away with imprecations when it arrives in the next hour or so.
Normally it is here very close to 07:30, sometimes it even arrives earlier. It is now well past 9am and I am still waiting. I knew there was probably a problem when the usual 06:30 email receipt was an hour late.
The supermarket rang about ten minutes after the end of my delivery slot to say there had been a 'massive issue' at the depot, the van with my order was just leaving and we are the first stop.
It's about 20 mins drive from here, so should be here by now....
Oops - driver just phoned: Further complications, apparently. Leaving now he says, so here in 20mins.
DV
My Coal is delivered by lorry (half a tonne at a time!), but the drivers know that, owing to Arkland's security gate, they can't get access before 9am or thereabouts. The company still tell me by email that I can expect the delivery between 7am and 9am, but, of course, the drivers are aware of the gate, and do other parts of their round before getting to me.
Happily, there's no paperwork involved, so I don't have to be present when the delivery is due, but I sympathise with those of you who sometimes have to wait hours for Stuff to turn up...
* an advert kept coming up on Farcebark for reduced-price watches, so I decided to treat myself. Being a Radley, it's got an adorable, tiny wee black dog tag hanging from it on a miniature key-ring.
The 'massive issue' was nothing more interesting than computers being down. Disappointing really, I was hoping for something much more exciting.
Two items 'unavailable' - vitamin C and multivitamins. That was not counting the cabbage and Brussels sprouts that where already unavailable when I made out the order.
Something productive.
Hah Bumhug, or whatever similar expression relates to Right Royal Rubbish...
and https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/food/g43229781/coronation-biscuit-tin/
There were some with C&C in W H Smith at Glasgow Airport today if that's any consolation.
For certain values of 'book'.
Last year we contacted the solicitors who have taken over the firm who made our wills. I received mine safe and sound in February, but not Mr Puzzler’s. I rang yesterday to put the boot behind them, it being urgent now he has died. They have just informed me they have found it!
Of course now all three executors have to provide ID and written authorisation.
I asked the reason for the delay. Some idiot had been searching under his second Christian name rather than his surname.
Is Outrage! The King must be informed immediately!
Email to customer support (with photographs). Engineer says I have them on the wrong way round - it should be round side first. But the screw won't go through the round side (inconsequential which side is first if the nut travelled the length of the screw).
There it rests for the weekend. The name of the company is Einhell, which is what they'll get if they don't provide replacement parts that work as intended.
That sounds very much like a 'stiffnut', or locking nut. The idea is that they won't loosen after tightening, but they do take spanners that are long enough let you apply the required torque. The screw should enter at the open end of the nut (not the rounded end) and then pass right through, with the application of sufficient muscle.
ISTM the appliance has been shipped with the wrong screws/nuts.
In particular, the 15, (yes fifteen), of those supposedly responsible adults who came down my path to run and shout "boo" at their children as they came around the corner from the alleyway, past my hedge, then run all over my front grassed areas with their screaming children.
I'm told it's got worse since Elderly Neighbour died last summer (still no one moved in there), but I am told it has now sold) and over the last few weeks when we've been suffering from an inexplicable influx of inconsiderately placed motor vehicles on the pavements.
I will give thanks I'm not normally here at this time of day to witness all this, but it is strengthening my resolve to add a fence or hedge to the front which there is currently a low jumpable rail (from the days when it was council housing) and front path gate soon.
An excellent suggestion.
As I am recovering from the bug which had kept me at home, (TICTH those who passed that on to me) I contented myself with rapping sharply on an upstairs window every time... though as I'm home for 48 hours I may well be doing some gentle sitting on the path attending to some weeding/tidying under the alleyway side hedge around school out time tomorrow. Just to get some fresh air, you understand.
Here there are very strict protocols for handling kiwi. People have to be specially trained because the birds have an unusual skeleton and can be badly damaged if incorrectly handled.
The zoo's "ambassador" has said he will resign if the kiwi isn't treated properly and the New Zealand Department of Conservation is investigating what has happened and is willing to help the zoo meet the kiwi's needs more appropriately, so I hope that the situation will be successfully resolved. It's really important that colonies of rare animals are established in a variety of countries so that if there is a huge natural disaster in their country of origin whole species aren't lost.
Of course kiwi, being flightless ,fly Air New Zealand when being moved to new colonies, as do the Kakapo, the nocturnal parrot.