As per my original TICTHeck, getting a cat of our own has not resulted in us being in the uncontested centre of a territory - indeed quite the opposite. Elizabeth is a magnet for aggresive cats. We did not need to put plastic spiky strips on our external windowsills until Elizabeth took up residence here.
As per my original TICTHeck, getting a cat of our own has not resulted in us being in the uncontested centre of a territory - indeed quite the opposite. Elizabeth is a magnet for aggresive cats. We did not need to put plastic spiky strips on our external windowsills until Elizabeth took up residence here.
I think she thinks she's a person. She is extremely affectionate towards people. But that doesn't explain why she is highly reactive to other other cats.
We don't know her history. She has had at least three previous owners. One set wanted to have her put down to avoid a big vet's bill. The next (to whom we still send photos) couldn't keep her because they already had a cat, and it became obvious almost immediately that Elizabeth couldn't tolerate another cat. She wasn't a good fit with her next owners (who also like getting photos of her, and send gifts) because she can't go to a cattery, on account of her aversion to other cats, and they were frequently away from home.
We are her forever home, even if she does short out our entire house by pissing on our electrics. Just glad our RCD did it's thing, and Elizabeth was unharmed.
When we acquired ours we were told he likes people but not othe cats, which we have found to be generally true. He likes to have people around but won't sit on a lap and doesn't like being held. Being fussed is fine.
But he does get right mardy with other cats. He's quite big so is able to intimidate them. It might be harder for smaller cats to hold their own - don't know if yours answers to that description.
We don't have insurance for her. We couldn't find a company willing to insure her given that we don't know how old she is; the vet said "all least 11, but possibly quite a bit older" when we got her. Plus she has had one serious injury (when previous owners wanted her put down rather than treated) and was already on Metacam for arthritis around the injury site when she came to us.
She's actually more nimble and active now than she was three years ago, so I think the vet may have over-estimated her age.
An animal behaviorist may be a good idea, so thanks for the suggestion.
Our last cat was wonderful: clean, considerate, happy being cuddled, good with children. However, she had a sixth sense where my doltish brother-in-law was concerned and used to crap on the doormat before his visits, even when we didn't know he was coming.
Dum -dum -dum , dum -dum -dum, dum de dum de dum de dum de…Please hold the line…your call is important to us…you are currently 999th in the line….one of our agents will be with you shortly…alternatively, information can be found on our website at www.stating thebleedingobvious.co.U.K….grrr, I’ve looked at the flipping website already you idiots; that’s why I’m on the phone to you now; it doesn’t answer my question!!🤬
Plentiful examples of this these past few days, from Trading Standards/CAB , Bank, to our local taxi firm, (“Download our app!).
Dum -dum -dum , dum -dum -dum, dum de dum de dum de dum de…Please hold the line…your call is important to us…you are currently 999th in the line….one of our agents will be with you shortly…alternatively, information can be found on our website at www.stating thebleedingobvious.co.U.K….grrr, I’ve looked at the flipping website already you idiots; that’s why I’m on the phone to you now; it doesn’t answer my question!!🤬
Plentiful examples of this these past few days, from Trading Standards/CAB , Bank, to our local taxi firm, (“Download our app!).
And breathe…
I am getting heartily sick of phoning BT, but there are two positives: their reps are getting better, less scripting and more common sense, and they seem to have enough bodies to cope with the workload, even when you call at 8:30am on a weekday.
When my BT Broadband failed some weeks ago, I managed to get to talk to a Real Humming Bean - a nice lady in Falkirk (they work from home, it seems) - who (having established quite quickly that there was no obvious fault with the line) applied Occam's Razor and told me I probably needed a new Hub.
One duly arrived next morning and worked immediately. The following morning, I received a call from the Nice Lady, asking me if all was now well...
Our local GP is, alas, as @Miffy reports, though I don't think I've ever been more than about 10th in the queue...
At least my computer started behaving when it heard the help desk hold music this morning - the web portal isn't much use when the problem is the VPN connection to the internet.
At least my computer started behaving when it heard the help desk hold music this morning - the web portal isn't much use when the problem is the VPN connection to the internet.
Exactly, and the erratic behaviour of BT (Broadband and landline) is what encouraged me to fork out for a *dongle* and a Smart phone...
At least my computer started behaving when it heard the help desk hold music this morning - the web portal isn't much use when the problem is the VPN connection to the internet.
Exactly, and the erratic behaviour of BT (Broadband and landline) is what encouraged me to fork out for a *dongle* and a Smart phone...
Ironically my ongoing issue has been a result of not having broadband on the line (4G is about 10x faster here).
Those parents who wait until the last week of the academic year to realise that the consequences of not engaging with the staff (me) in their offspring's specialist educational college are about to be upon them as there is no plan from next Friday.
Fortunately said staff (me), who are now being complained about at Principal level, have logged every single unanswered call, unanswered e-mail, and all ignored posted letters. And every demanding call and e-mail when something was required from the family. (Usually to get offspring to "be good" in the holidays. Unfortunately, offspring behaves for me and a few others but not for immediate family. Also unfortunately this one falls between so many categories for support/help and almost every department just wants to pass this mess on elsewhere. - mostly as a result of family demanding immediate action, but then not engaging with those trying to help.)
Also fortunately, said staff (me) had kept copies of all their own written paperwork pre-review meetings and have sent them to those who are actually responsible for following through on the review meetings, who are also swearing blind none of that paperwork exists on their systems in any form...
EDF and my bank. So, having got fed up with waiting for access to legacy money we decided that I would pay off all the utilities and he would pay me a cheque from his own account. So I decided to use my unused Clarity credit card to keep everything separate. And the Halifax cast a fraud block on the first payment to British Gas. That's BRITISH Gas, not Burkino Faso Gas, or Gazpro. So I had to pay that, and EDF out of my current account. Next day I managed Thames Water, but it stuck a fraud block on Lambeth Council. After a phone call in which I told the bank what I was doing and they assured me that the block would be lifted.
So then, I'm looking at my accounts and wondering how to transfer the payments from my current account to the credit one, just for neatness - there's enough in there, when I see an incoming payment from EDF. They;ve sent my money back.
So I ring them this morning. Obviously off the script. I cannot be told anything about this because they haven't been authorised by the owner of the account to deal wth me. "But it's MY bank." Can't be done. "It's MY money." Not do-able. "Don't you want to be paid?" "Yes, but we can't deal with you." "You took my money last week. The bank was happy." we need authorisation.
At some time this afternoon, he will have to growl down the phone that he authorises me. And then we may find out just what is going on.
What sort of scam involves someone paying with their own money into someone else's account?
And if they want their staff to be treated kindly, as per the annoouncement at the beginning of the menu, why don't they get staff who can reciprocate and sympathise with a problem?
No-one else has sent payment back. Though the bill acknowledges nothing has been used, there is a standing charge to be paid, so it can't be that no payment was due.
Our bathroom taps. The washer has gone on the bathroom hot tap, so it's dribbling rather. Tried to dismantle it to replace the washer, but it probably hasn't been touched for a good many years, and wouldn't budge. So a new one is required. The cold tap on the sink is also misbehaving and making odd noises when it's turned on. Tried to get that apart as well, but although it's much newer, it's also seized up. To complicate the plumbing issues, there are no stop taps on any of the bathroom pipes, so changing them requires turning the water off for the whole house.
Our bathroom taps. The washer has gone on the bathroom hot tap, so it's dribbling rather. Tried to dismantle it to replace the washer, but it probably hasn't been touched for a good many years, and wouldn't budge. So a new one is required. The cold tap on the sink is also misbehaving and making odd noises when it's turned on. Tried to get that apart as well, but although it's much newer, it's also seized up. To complicate the plumbing issues, there are no stop taps on any of the bathroom pipes, so changing them requires turning the water off for the whole house.
If you’re going to have to do that anyway, it might be worth taking the opportunity to insert service valves in both pipes.
The trouble for schools is that their writ only runs within their boundaries. They are very limited in what they can do about anything on the other side of the school gates.
And often when it happens at school, it's "well, we didn't say anything, so there's not much we can do".
I don't know why so many kids are feral little shits, but they are. And they're everywhere. I agree with you, @KarlLB both that she shouldn't have to change school, and that it probably wouldn't help, because the new school would have its own evil little shits.
The only thing that I can suggest is to be the squeaky wheel. Every time your daughter says something happens, document it, contact the school, and ask what the school intends to do to fix this problem. Your daughter is entitled to an education free from fear and abuse.
I have just squeaked. Considerably. There are a small group of students who seem to have it in for her. I had a call with the school yesterday which resulted in one of the offenders threatening physical violence against her if she complain again. I've been back on to the school today and laid out our basic position - my daughter will not be going physically into school until they have explained how they are going to keep these students from being able to get to her. There are several things they could do to achieve this:
1. Chaperone the offending students around the school;
2. Require the offending students to stay in isolation all day;
3. Temporarily exclude the offending students;
4. Permanently exclude the offending students.
Frankly I don't care which they do but I'm not forcing her in until they do something. Their current approach of escalating sanctions isn't working; I'm not interested in anything happening to them after the event; I want the events preventing in the first place. It's a safeguarding issue.
I'm shaking. I went through this shit when I was at school and no-one could fix it and it fucked me up. I'm not having it happen to her.
<snip>I'm shaking. I went through this shit when I was at school and no-one could fix it and it fucked me up. I'm not having it happen to her.
I’m truly sorry for you and for her Karl, and I sincerely hope you ‘squeak’ gets some result. I went through some of this stuff within school myself, and also know how viscerally anything that hurts my children reaches me.
My normal instinct is to stay ‘on side’ with an institution rather than escalating, but there comes a point…
Have you asked/considered telling the school that the abuse your daughter is experiencing is peer on peer abuse leading to significant harm to her, and requiring them to treat it as a safeguarding concern?
I've been framing it as a safeguarding issue in duty of care terms for some time. I'm not at making a complaint stage yet. I think the school wants to stop it but they're not currently coming up with reasonable strategies for doing so. I am aware that the steps that I'm proposing are onerous so I understand it's not going to Just Happen, but on the other hand I don't care.
There are unfortunately too many perverse incentives against schools excluding students. To my simple mind, that's the easy solution. They're the ones making their presence in the school a problem, they leave. Hopefully when they get a place in a different school they'll behave in a more acceptable manner. If not - well, they're not my problem. Up to their parents to get their offspring's antisocial instincts sorted out.
There are also direct legal routes - some of the thinks that bullying students do are actually crimes and can be treated as such if reported to the police. I have made the school aware I will go that far.
This morning when I was taking my neighbours dog for a walk, a woman stopped her car alongside of me, got out and told me that I should not be walking the dog even for the dog to have the opportunity to relieve itself (something it was doing at the time). She insisted that taking the dog out for calls of nature was not a valid excuse for taking outside it in the heat. In fact it was only outside for no more than fifteen minutes, if that!
My neighbour is unable to walk any distance out side her flat so relies on Mrs CD and myself to provide exercise for the dog.
Lewisham Highways/Transport for London and TomTom sat nav serices.
On 1st July we were on our way to a meeting, when a hold up on our normal route led us off into byways we did not know. I had to turn the nice lady's voice on to make sure we did not miss a turning. I made a joke about seeing the Streets of London that we did not know.
Turned out TomTom did not know, either, and has led me up one of the roads closed off to cars. Can't say there wasn't a sign, checked on Street View, but the nice lady sad go ahead, so I did. To the value of £65.
I think it is the duty of Lewisham and tfl to make sure that the providers of seerviced know about these changes (though it is in their interests not to), and of TomTom to ensure that they don't provide false information. Can't work out how to get in touch with them.
I had forgotten a previous occasion in the same area. Should you happene to be driving in the area west of the Quaggy and north of the South Circular, be warned.
My son and family live in the Lee area of Lewisham and some of the roads there have been blocked off. I don't know about TomTom as I don't use DSatNav - however Google Maps does seem to know about this. I can understand your frustration and annoyance, though!
Comments
Does she mistakenly think she's a dog?
We don't know her history. She has had at least three previous owners. One set wanted to have her put down to avoid a big vet's bill. The next (to whom we still send photos) couldn't keep her because they already had a cat, and it became obvious almost immediately that Elizabeth couldn't tolerate another cat. She wasn't a good fit with her next owners (who also like getting photos of her, and send gifts) because she can't go to a cattery, on account of her aversion to other cats, and they were frequently away from home.
We are her forever home, even if she does short out our entire house by pissing on our electrics. Just glad our RCD did it's thing, and Elizabeth was unharmed.
OK, that's a bit OTT, but I have a great respect for the intelligence of Cats...
But he does get right mardy with other cats. He's quite big so is able to intimidate them. It might be harder for smaller cats to hold their own - don't know if yours answers to that description.
She's actually more nimble and active now than she was three years ago, so I think the vet may have over-estimated her age.
An animal behaviorist may be a good idea, so thanks for the suggestion.
You most certainly can't be sure it's not deliberate. Could she possibly get a shock from the behaviour?
Cat, and BiL are long since gone, one to the warm spit next to the AGA in the sky, the other to another wife.
Rooooaaassst Cat!
Is it possible TheOrganist meant warm spot next to the celestial Aga, but his autocorrect was in a silly mood?
Absolutely. Autocorrect OK but I had an exceptionally good lunch 🍷
Plentiful examples of this these past few days, from Trading Standards/CAB , Bank, to our local taxi firm, (“Download our app!).
And breathe…
I am getting heartily sick of phoning BT, but there are two positives: their reps are getting better, less scripting and more common sense, and they seem to have enough bodies to cope with the workload, even when you call at 8:30am on a weekday.
When my BT Broadband failed some weeks ago, I managed to get to talk to a Real Humming Bean - a nice lady in Falkirk (they work from home, it seems) - who (having established quite quickly that there was no obvious fault with the line) applied Occam's Razor and told me I probably needed a new Hub.
One duly arrived next morning and worked immediately. The following morning, I received a call from the Nice Lady, asking me if all was now well...
Our local GP is, alas, as @Miffy reports, though I don't think I've ever been more than about 10th in the queue...
Exactly, and the erratic behaviour of BT (Broadband and landline) is what encouraged me to fork out for a *dongle* and a Smart phone...
Ironically my ongoing issue has been a result of not having broadband on the line (4G is about 10x faster here).
Fortunately said staff (me), who are now being complained about at Principal level, have logged every single unanswered call, unanswered e-mail, and all ignored posted letters. And every demanding call and e-mail when something was required from the family. (Usually to get offspring to "be good" in the holidays. Unfortunately, offspring behaves for me and a few others but not for immediate family. Also unfortunately this one falls between so many categories for support/help and almost every department just wants to pass this mess on elsewhere. - mostly as a result of family demanding immediate action, but then not engaging with those trying to help.)
Also fortunately, said staff (me) had kept copies of all their own written paperwork pre-review meetings and have sent them to those who are actually responsible for following through on the review meetings, who are also swearing blind none of that paperwork exists on their systems in any form...
How long, oh Lord, how long?!?!
So then, I'm looking at my accounts and wondering how to transfer the payments from my current account to the credit one, just for neatness - there's enough in there, when I see an incoming payment from EDF. They;ve sent my money back.
So I ring them this morning. Obviously off the script. I cannot be told anything about this because they haven't been authorised by the owner of the account to deal wth me. "But it's MY bank." Can't be done. "It's MY money." Not do-able. "Don't you want to be paid?" "Yes, but we can't deal with you." "You took my money last week. The bank was happy." we need authorisation.
At some time this afternoon, he will have to growl down the phone that he authorises me. And then we may find out just what is going on.
What sort of scam involves someone paying with their own money into someone else's account?
And if they want their staff to be treated kindly, as per the annoouncement at the beginning of the menu, why don't they get staff who can reciprocate and sympathise with a problem?
No-one else has sent payment back. Though the bill acknowledges nothing has been used, there is a standing charge to be paid, so it can't be that no payment was due.
I have just squeaked. Considerably. There are a small group of students who seem to have it in for her. I had a call with the school yesterday which resulted in one of the offenders threatening physical violence against her if she complain again. I've been back on to the school today and laid out our basic position - my daughter will not be going physically into school until they have explained how they are going to keep these students from being able to get to her. There are several things they could do to achieve this:
1. Chaperone the offending students around the school;
2. Require the offending students to stay in isolation all day;
3. Temporarily exclude the offending students;
4. Permanently exclude the offending students.
Frankly I don't care which they do but I'm not forcing her in until they do something. Their current approach of escalating sanctions isn't working; I'm not interested in anything happening to them after the event; I want the events preventing in the first place. It's a safeguarding issue.
I'm shaking. I went through this shit when I was at school and no-one could fix it and it fucked me up. I'm not having it happen to her.
I’m truly sorry for you and for her Karl, and I sincerely hope you ‘squeak’ gets some result. I went through some of this stuff within school myself, and also know how viscerally anything that hurts my children reaches me.
My normal instinct is to stay ‘on side’ with an institution rather than escalating, but there comes a point…
Have you asked/considered telling the school that the abuse your daughter is experiencing is peer on peer abuse leading to significant harm to her, and requiring them to treat it as a safeguarding concern?
Have you considered making a complaint to the DfE or Ofsted?
Would accessing support for you as her parents from E.g. Young Minds parents’ helpline be useful?
There are unfortunately too many perverse incentives against schools excluding students. To my simple mind, that's the easy solution. They're the ones making their presence in the school a problem, they leave. Hopefully when they get a place in a different school they'll behave in a more acceptable manner. If not - well, they're not my problem. Up to their parents to get their offspring's antisocial instincts sorted out.
There are also direct legal routes - some of the thinks that bullying students do are actually crimes and can be treated as such if reported to the police. I have made the school aware I will go that far.
And your daughter will never forget it.
Despite the efforts of these types, she got an end of year outstanding effort award.
👏
I know it may not seem relevant, but is your daughter the only victim of these little toe-rags, or do they bully other kids as well?
My neighbour is unable to walk any distance out side her flat so relies on Mrs CD and myself to provide exercise for the dog.
No doubt, no doubt...
On 1st July we were on our way to a meeting, when a hold up on our normal route led us off into byways we did not know. I had to turn the nice lady's voice on to make sure we did not miss a turning. I made a joke about seeing the Streets of London that we did not know.
Turned out TomTom did not know, either, and has led me up one of the roads closed off to cars. Can't say there wasn't a sign, checked on Street View, but the nice lady sad go ahead, so I did. To the value of £65.
I think it is the duty of Lewisham and tfl to make sure that the providers of seerviced know about these changes (though it is in their interests not to), and of TomTom to ensure that they don't provide false information. Can't work out how to get in touch with them.
I had forgotten a previous occasion in the same area. Should you happene to be driving in the area west of the Quaggy and north of the South Circular, be warned.
I shall PM you.