Our local hospital was at one time being visited by the Fire Brigade nearly every day - *Persons reported! Make pumps four!* - on account of the smoke alarms being set off by doctors making toast...
It also allows wags to finger-write clearly in any dust or dirt on the white paint, thus:
I wish my wife was as dirty as this van (in one hand) She is, mate, she is (in someone else's hand)
UK bank - sending me an "activation code" for a new "Secure Key" to access my account, that expired on 26th September, received by me in Australia on 12th October. Don't they realize that mail from UK to Australia is currently taking close to a month en route? Means yet another long-distance phone call to their help number, late in the evening for me, because of time zone difference.
UK bank - sending me an "activation code" for a new "Secure Key" to access my account, that expired on 26th September, received by me in Australia on 12th October. Don't they realize that mail from UK to Australia is currently taking close to a month en route? Means yet another long-distance phone call to their help number, late in the evening for me, because of time zone difference.
A month from UK to Australia is pretty impressive. At the moment it’s taking at least that long to send something to an address in the same postcode
I’ll be sending off 3 Xmas cakes to Blighty inthe future. Done properly via Oz Post anything from 2-3 weeks. At least 4 weeks to good mate in Co Mayo Eire and 2 weeks to nephew in NJ, USA
If my brother in Chicago wants a Christmas cake he has to visit at the right time of year. Mind you he and his wife do get lots of Whittakers chocolate (after I checked that she likes it).
TICTH: stomach bugs. Little Miss Feet was supposed to be at the Mòd today but instead we're sitting at Glasgow Airport trying to keep her from dehydrating and being very grateful to cleaning staff who've seen us mopping and offered to deal with it.
Hope LittleMissFeet is feeling a tad better.
I'm calling companies that do background security checks to Hell. I had to renew mine for a charity I work for. Did it last week, and now someone from the charity says I haven't filled it in properly, though the company hasn't told me that, and their last email said I'd given them all the information needed. The HR person got a very snippy reply from me. She knows my mum's just died and fielding yet more admin is not really what I want to be doing.
LMF managed to keep things down on the plane and all the way home, which did make things less messy than they might have been. Now asleep with a bucket in close proximity and, just as importantly, with two parents on hand rather than one.
The boyfriend is sick of hearing, "I hate the world," due to my being at the point of exhaustion with months of overwork (well, years of bearable overwork, months of non-sustainable this-cannot-be-done overwork).
Today, ICTH everything about trying to rectify an issue with HMRC's record of my name. Can't use the fancy online Government Gateway, because my ID docs are in the correct name so don't match the faulty HMRC record. Phone HMRC and answer "second level" security questions e.g. what was my net pay last month, with last month's payslip in front of me and get told I've answered the questions incorrectly. Apparently the answer is to write to HMRC. Pretty sure I tried to do this over 10 years ago and the letter either never got to them or was never properly processed by them meaning the fault is still there. How can the government have clear records (e.g. my passport and driving licence) in one name linked to my NI number, but not be willing to change HMRC's record of my name to match? (And there's only a bit over £2K tax rebate riding on whether I can get this fixed or whether HMRC send me a cheque in an incorrect name which I won't be able to cash. Somehow they are happy to collect PAYE tax, NI etc, all in my correct name, but trying to get their records into my correct name so they can give me the refund due requires hours of sweat and head-banging on my part.)
It might be worth slipping a mention of the GDPR right to have inaccurate information corrected into your letter and threaten them with the ICO if they don't fix it.
What about threatening them with the OCI if they don't fix it? 2 posts of complete gibberish as far as we are concerned.
His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are in charge of collecting tax, including tax on personal income, in the UK.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) are responsible for the enforcement in the UK of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
NI - National Insurance (a tax levied on employment income tenuously linked to certain benefits, with an associated number that is used as a unique identifier by HMRC and employers)
PAYE - Pay-As-You-Earn (the system for deducting tax and NI from wages at source in each pay period)
TICTH people who order in a food establishment then don't listen for their order number so instead of preparing yours, staff are wandering about hollering 84! 84! Order no 84!
I also get bugged when I go out for a meal and when the meals come some people in the party keep on talking, ignoring the waiter and not realising the meal the waiter is holding is theirs.
"Who's the chicken? The chicken? CHICKEN!"
.
.
.
"Oh sorry, that's mine!"
I've been out with people who look blankly at the waiter and say "What did I order? Was it chicken? Has everyone else got theirs? It must be mine then."
This sort of approach is how someone else actually ate my dinner one evening. He just claimed the next chicken dish that came along and by the time I'd said "Er, wait, what I've just been given isn't what I ordered" and realized what had happened, he was already well into my Thai chicken.
Today I consign to hell the NZ Army. Bloody drongoes drove through a braided riverbed where banded dotterels and wrybills (both very endangered bird species) were nesting - now there's no sign of the nests.
If they were going to wipe out wildlife they could at least target possums which are introduced predators.
Aaarrggghh firework season has started. That will be it now until after the New Year. Halloween, Bonfire Night, Divali, Christmas, New Year, birthdays...
This isn't going to make any refugees from war zones feel any calmer, let alone cats and dogs cowering under tables.
Floody bucking commuting. After 35 minutes of waiting in the cold for a bus that should have been coming I've given up and got the slow, round the houses one that takes twice as long. I left work at 5.05. I reckon I'm going to get home about 7.15! Between inadequate buses and roadworks the whole thing is a fustercluck of the first water.
On a similar tack, how am I meant to attend an appointment at a hospital which is a 40 minute drive when I am not allowed to drive? By bus, train, bus, or train, train, bus, it takes about two hours. For a four o’clock appointment I will be out from 1.40 to probably 7.40pm. It is just not realistic for a ten minute check. ( Only a partial rant, as I cannot fault the promptness, thoroughness, and frequency of treatment and reviews. If only all conditions could be treated as promptly.)
On a similar tack, how am I meant to attend an appointment at a hospital which is a 40 minute drive when I am not allowed to drive? By bus, train, bus, or train, train, bus, it takes about two hours. For a four o’clock appointment I will be out from 1.40 to probably 7.40pm. It is just not realistic for a ten minute check. ( Only a partial rant, as I cannot fault the promptness, thoroughness, and frequency of treatment and reviews. If only all conditions could be treated as promptly.)
It's probably worth asking about patient transport. You may not be eligible but it's worth a shot.
On a similar tack, how am I meant to attend an appointment at a hospital which is a 40 minute drive when I am not allowed to drive? By bus, train, bus, or train, train, bus, it takes about two hours. For a four o’clock appointment I will be out from 1.40 to probably 7.40pm. It is just not realistic for a ten minute check. ( Only a partial rant, as I cannot fault the promptness, thoroughness, and frequency of treatment and reviews. If only all conditions could be treated as promptly.)
Unfortunately this is one of the consequences of a car-centric planning mentality over many decades.
Do you qualify for hospital transport? Or is this one of those hospitals that's just outside a major town you could get to more easily? You might in that case be able to get to said major town more reasonably and then get a taxi to the hospital itself.
Floody bucking commuting. After 35 minutes of waiting in the cold for a bus that should have been coming I've given up and got the slow, round the houses one that takes twice as long. I left work at 5.05. I reckon I'm going to get home about 7.15! Between inadequate buses and roadworks the whole thing is a fustercluck of the first water.
And you were left with the niggling thought that the fast bus arrived at the stop just two minutes after you'd got on the crawly one ...
Here in Cardiff certain estates lose their bus services after 5.30pm on Hallowe'en and Guy Fawkes' night. There has obviously been Trouble in the past. I was on a (different) bus a couple of years ago on, I think, November 4th and it got egged.
It's probably worth asking about patient transport.
Those who use patient transport know that it well deserves its name.
Even so, I think 2 hours on a minibus rumbling around the countryside is probably preferable to two hours negotiating multiple changes on public transport.
Puzzler, have you checked to see if there is a community transport/dial-a-ride service in your area?
GP Surgery, Library or Council Offices should have information for anything like that locally.
Update on the bastard white van driver who drove into me a couple of weeks ago. Surprise surprise, he has denied all knowledge of the incident, so without any independent witnesses there’s nothing I can do, so it comes off my own insurance policy. There goes my no claims discount, along with the £250 excess I have to pay for the repairs. 🤬
Update on the bastard white van driver who drove into me a couple of weeks ago. Surprise surprise, he has denied all knowledge of the incident, so without any independent witnesses there’s nothing I can do, so it comes off my own insurance policy. There goes my no claims discount, along with the £250 excess I have to pay for the repairs. 🤬
Has your insurance company confirmed they can't recover or is it just at the "denying all knowledge" stage?
If you were to take him to court, and if you succeed in getting judgment and recovering the cost from him then your insurance company (if you refund them the cost of repairs) will probably reinstate your no claims bonus.
Even if you wouldn’t feel up to taking him through the small claims court, a letter before action might prompt him to refer it to his insurers. (If he’s uninsured you might not get your money back, but also he’ll be stuffed because it’s a serious offence.)
If you were to take him to court, and if you succeed in getting judgment and recovering the cost from him then your insurance company (if you refund them the cost of repairs) will probably reinstate your no claims bonus.
Even if you wouldn’t feel up to taking him through the small claims court, a letter before action might prompt him to refer it to his insurers. (If he’s uninsured you might not get your money back, but also he’ll be stuffed because it’s a serious offence.)
If there's a reasonable prospect of recovery, @Spike 's insurers will be pursuing him themselves for recovery of their outlay. That will reinstate the No Claims if successful. Once the insurance company has established liability, there should be little difficulty in recovering uninsured losses from the van driver's insurers.
The third party insurers do not need their policyholder to contact them; they still have to deal with the claim if there's reasonable (balance of probabilities) evidence. Such as the registration number matching the vehicle described. Insurance companies take a dim view of policyholders denying all knowledge and not reporting claims against them as it's in the T&Cs of the policy and renewal may be refused or attract a significant premium increase. And if it is refused, that has to be declared when approaching another insurance company for cover.
If he's uninsured, then things get a bit more complicated. But that's easily checked online if you have the registration. As are details like MOT and tax, which often make interesting reading in these sorts of situations.
Thank you for the useful advice on accessible a distant hospital.. I do not qualify for hospital transport. Yes there is a voluntary community transport system, though I am not sure if it is feasible as the destination is out of the borough. Still investigating possibilities
Comments
Well done
A month from UK to Australia is pretty impressive. At the moment it’s taking at least that long to send something to an address in the same postcode
You gets what you pay for
TICTH having no hot water.
I'm calling companies that do background security checks to Hell. I had to renew mine for a charity I work for. Did it last week, and now someone from the charity says I haven't filled it in properly, though the company hasn't told me that, and their last email said I'd given them all the information needed. The HR person got a very snippy reply from me. She knows my mum's just died and fielding yet more admin is not really what I want to be doing.
Today, ICTH everything about trying to rectify an issue with HMRC's record of my name. Can't use the fancy online Government Gateway, because my ID docs are in the correct name so don't match the faulty HMRC record. Phone HMRC and answer "second level" security questions e.g. what was my net pay last month, with last month's payslip in front of me and get told I've answered the questions incorrectly. Apparently the answer is to write to HMRC. Pretty sure I tried to do this over 10 years ago and the letter either never got to them or was never properly processed by them meaning the fault is still there. How can the government have clear records (e.g. my passport and driving licence) in one name linked to my NI number, but not be willing to change HMRC's record of my name to match? (And there's only a bit over £2K tax rebate riding on whether I can get this fixed or whether HMRC send me a cheque in an incorrect name which I won't be able to cash. Somehow they are happy to collect PAYE tax, NI etc, all in my correct name, but trying to get their records into my correct name so they can give me the refund due requires hours of sweat and head-banging on my part.)
His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are in charge of collecting tax, including tax on personal income, in the UK.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) are responsible for the enforcement in the UK of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
NI - National Insurance (a tax levied on employment income tenuously linked to certain benefits, with an associated number that is used as a unique identifier by HMRC and employers)
PAYE - Pay-As-You-Earn (the system for deducting tax and NI from wages at source in each pay period)
I also get bugged when I go out for a meal and when the meals come some people in the party keep on talking, ignoring the waiter and not realising the meal the waiter is holding is theirs.
"Who's the chicken? The chicken? CHICKEN!"
.
.
.
"Oh sorry, that's mine!"
This sort of approach is how someone else actually ate my dinner one evening. He just claimed the next chicken dish that came along and by the time I'd said "Er, wait, what I've just been given isn't what I ordered" and realized what had happened, he was already well into my Thai chicken.
If they were going to wipe out wildlife they could at least target possums which are introduced predators.
This isn't going to make any refugees from war zones feel any calmer, let alone cats and dogs cowering under tables.
And the Commonwealth Day successor (on the same date) barely got off the ground.
It's probably worth asking about patient transport. You may not be eligible but it's worth a shot.
Unfortunately this is one of the consequences of a car-centric planning mentality over many decades.
Do you qualify for hospital transport? Or is this one of those hospitals that's just outside a major town you could get to more easily? You might in that case be able to get to said major town more reasonably and then get a taxi to the hospital itself.
And you were left with the niggling thought that the fast bus arrived at the stop just two minutes after you'd got on the crawly one ...
Here in Cardiff certain estates lose their bus services after 5.30pm on Hallowe'en and Guy Fawkes' night. There has obviously been Trouble in the past. I was on a (different) bus a couple of years ago on, I think, November 4th and it got egged.
Even so, I think 2 hours on a minibus rumbling around the countryside is probably preferable to two hours negotiating multiple changes on public transport.
GP Surgery, Library or Council Offices should have information for anything like that locally.
Has your insurance company confirmed they can't recover or is it just at the "denying all knowledge" stage?
Even if you wouldn’t feel up to taking him through the small claims court, a letter before action might prompt him to refer it to his insurers. (If he’s uninsured you might not get your money back, but also he’ll be stuffed because it’s a serious offence.)
If there's a reasonable prospect of recovery, @Spike 's insurers will be pursuing him themselves for recovery of their outlay. That will reinstate the No Claims if successful. Once the insurance company has established liability, there should be little difficulty in recovering uninsured losses from the van driver's insurers.
The third party insurers do not need their policyholder to contact them; they still have to deal with the claim if there's reasonable (balance of probabilities) evidence. Such as the registration number matching the vehicle described. Insurance companies take a dim view of policyholders denying all knowledge and not reporting claims against them as it's in the T&Cs of the policy and renewal may be refused or attract a significant premium increase. And if it is refused, that has to be declared when approaching another insurance company for cover.
If he's uninsured, then things get a bit more complicated. But that's easily checked online if you have the registration. As are details like MOT and tax, which often make interesting reading in these sorts of situations.