Reminds me of the Scotsman who went on holiday to London. Asked what he thought he said "Very noisy. Shouting and banging at 3am! Very hard to concentrate on practicing my bagpipes!"
Ants. I spray, I set traps, they arrive suddenly, and leave overnight to appear again at some point. They are the little tiny ones. What do they want, why are they here in the bathroom.? The kitchen I can understand, but the bathroom?
I had a big wolf spider in my kitchen and little long legged spiders in my bathroom. Wolfy was welcomed to stay as long as she didn't scare me suddenly, and I had no bugs in the house!
The long legged ones loved the little ants, and would leave a pile of dead ant bodies on the floor where I could dispose of them easily!
Finally got a bug man, but he killed the spiders rather than the ants. I miss the little arachnids.
Ants. I spray, I set traps, they arrive suddenly, and leave overnight to appear again at some point. They are the little tiny ones. What do they want, why are they here in the bathroom.? The kitchen I can understand, but the bathroom?
You say they’re small. Are they very small and lightish brown in colour? If so, they are Pharaohs Ants. Spraying insecticide won’t work with them. If anything, it makes it worse as it fragments the nest. You need some sort of bait (poison) which usually has the effect of sterilising the queen, preventing her from laying any more eggs. I used to treat them in my pest control days. You may need to call someone out, or do a Google search for Pharaohs Ant treatment. You may be able to buy it online
@Spike . Thanks Yes, sounds like what I have. I am indeed thinking I need to call someone, as I have also tried the bait traps. Good heavens I read they eat toothpaste. !
@Spike . Thanks Yes, sounds like what I have. I am indeed thinking I need to call someone, as I have also tried the bait traps. Good heavens I read they eat toothpaste. !
Doesn't kill the little blighters, but boy, are their mandibles shiny!
LinkedIn.
I updated my profile yesterday to eliminate the appearance that I hadn't been working since November by adding the job I've been in since May.
People are congratulating me on the new job.
I find this hard to deal with as it's still temporary, still min wage and not what I want to do for the rest of my working life. But apparently LinkedIn is what you have to do to get a job these days (it's got me a resounding zero jobs so far).
His Majesty's passport office exists to make my life complicated. Finally they've got round to looking at Captain P's documents. First they say they can't accept the multilingual birth certificate I sent. They couldn't tell me that before I sent it? This information was literally nowhere on their infernal COMPUTER SAYS NO website. Also they've rejected the photo (no reason given) so I have to send another one. I'm guessing this means I'm going to have to get his identity confirmed again, and I just can't ask the headmistress anymore, because it was embarrassing enough the first time. (Guess I'll have to importune my pastor this time.)
LinkedIn.
I updated my profile yesterday to eliminate the appearance that I hadn't been working since November by adding the job I've been in since May.
People are congratulating me on the new job.
I find this hard to deal with as it's still temporary, still min wage and not what I want to do for the rest of my working life. But apparently LinkedIn is what you have to do to get a job these days (it's got me a resounding zero jobs so far).
I've finally found out how to stop the bloody thing from trumpeting about updates, and deleted the post. I feel much better for this.
His Majesty's passport office exists to make my life complicated. Finally they've got round to looking at Captain P's documents. First they say they can't accept the multilingual birth certificate I sent. They couldn't tell me that before I sent it? This information was literally nowhere on their infernal COMPUTER SAYS NO website. Also they've rejected the photo (no reason given) so I have to send another one. I'm guessing this means I'm going to have to get his identity confirmed again, and I just can't ask the headmistress anymore, because it was embarrassing enough the first time. (Guess I'll have to importune my pastor this time.)
If yours is a paper application then it’s likely that Captain P’s pose is wrong or there is a fault with the image. Both are hard to avoid. I’m sure you have it but this page seems relevant.
They are finicky. There’s an HMPO in my home town and I know a few who have worked there.
Hope it works out for you soon.
It was an online application. I've now found out the reason, which is apparently something to do with the angle of his head. I've now shelled out for a professional photographer. It remains to be seen if I need a new identity confirmation. They also keep spamming me about resending the documents, which it's going to take time to obtain and translate. OTOH I'm pretty sure the Paris Town Hall is going to be quicker about sending a birth certificate than the General Register Office (when I asked for my birth certificate, it took them the best part of three months to send it). I won't have to pay for it either.
TBH, the whole process in France is so much more civilised I can't even. Here, you go to your local Town Hall (or the Embassy if you're overseas), and sit down with an actual live human being, and they check that you've filled the form in properly and that the photo looks like you. If you need supporting documents, they take photocopies and then give them back. All of this for about half the cost of a British passport.
@la vie en rouge I feel as a retired civil servant that I ought to apologise for my colleagues in the Passport Office, but I won’t because they are at the mercy of ministers who have had to tighten up procedures to the extent that it’s unusual to get a passport at the first time of asking.
As ever, I blame the Daily Mail and the increasingly authoritarian Home Office, which oversees the Passport Office.
Don't Get Me Started. The whole reason I have to go through this time-consuming, expensive rigmarole is that the hostile environment now applies to British citizens. The only place Captain Pyjamas (and indeed I) can't go on a French passport is the UK. And that's not despite being British citizens, but because we are British citizens. It's absolutely Kafkaesque.
And that's before you even get onto the utter fiasco which has been the implementation of this stupid new policy. I didn't even know Captain Pyjamas was a British citizen until I read about the whole shitshow in the Guardian. Quite frankly I would have seriously considered renouncing our British nationality if they didn't make you pay £500 for the privilege.
Younger daughter did some ancestry research and it looks like I can get Irish citizenship through my paternal grandmother. Given the arrangements in Ireland post Brexit I am tempted!
I have realised that the Passport Office has a form you can fill in to tell them about your experience with their service. Being a generous soul, I have provided some helpful and honest feedback
I have realised that the Passport Office has a form you can fill in to tell them about your experience with their service. Being a generous soul, I have provided some helpful and honest feedback
As did I not long ago - it was a pleasure to do it. They kept telling me my eyes were shut in the photos I submitted, which they obviously weren't, and that wearing glasses was not allowed. I knew that, which was why I wasn't wearing them. Taking the picture with a different phone worked. On the other hand, do I really look like that...?
Younger daughter did some ancestry research and it looks like I can get Irish citizenship through my paternal grandmother. Given the arrangements in Ireland post Brexit I am tempted!
It's money well spent. I did exactly that, thanks to Grandpa John, and much enjoy being Irish when I travel now. I have an Irish birth certificate that I claim makes me four years old.
TICTH my new-to-me mobile. When the nice bloke in the bank tried to get my banking app set up, the bank couldn't send a text with the six-digit code. He thought it looked like a signal issue, and I schlepped back to the shop, where the bloke there did something or other and the texts appeared, but past the expiry time.
I tried to set it up myself with the house Wi-Fi, but no luck. I'm thinking seriously about saying "f*** it", and getting a proper new one.
Update: went back to the shop again, and the nice geek asked which network provider I was with. I told him, he fiddled about with the SIM card, and now it seems to be working: I was able to set up the bank app all by myself and sort vital things like renewing the house insurance.
Another non- techie here.
New laptop, which grandson set up, so that’s solved the problems with the old one, but had to create a new password for my email account and now it’s not downloading new emails to my phone and ipad. Working fine on laptop, but that is upstairs in my study. Grandson is not responding to my messages!
Thanks, tried that, but it didn’t work.
I am thinking maybe I need to uninstall the email account from each device, then reinstall?
Not sure I know how to do that of course.
Comments
Just so long as the people on the other side don't take up the bagpipes ...
The long legged ones loved the little ants, and would leave a pile of dead ant bodies on the floor where I could dispose of them easily!
Finally got a bug man, but he killed the spiders rather than the ants. I miss the little arachnids.
Ugh! We've just got a draught coming through ours tonight but thankfully not ants.
You say they’re small. Are they very small and lightish brown in colour? If so, they are Pharaohs Ants. Spraying insecticide won’t work with them. If anything, it makes it worse as it fragments the nest. You need some sort of bait (poison) which usually has the effect of sterilising the queen, preventing her from laying any more eggs. I used to treat them in my pest control days. You may need to call someone out, or do a Google search for Pharaohs Ant treatment. You may be able to buy it online
Doesn't kill the little blighters, but boy, are their mandibles shiny!
I updated my profile yesterday to eliminate the appearance that I hadn't been working since November by adding the job I've been in since May.
People are congratulating me on the new job.
I find this hard to deal with as it's still temporary, still min wage and not what I want to do for the rest of my working life. But apparently LinkedIn is what you have to do to get a job these days (it's got me a resounding zero jobs so far).
I've finally found out how to stop the bloody thing from trumpeting about updates, and deleted the post. I feel much better for this.
If yours is a paper application then it’s likely that Captain P’s pose is wrong or there is a fault with the image. Both are hard to avoid. I’m sure you have it but this page seems relevant.
They are finicky. There’s an HMPO in my home town and I know a few who have worked there.
Hope it works out for you soon.
TBH, the whole process in France is so much more civilised I can't even. Here, you go to your local Town Hall (or the Embassy if you're overseas), and sit down with an actual live human being, and they check that you've filled the form in properly and that the photo looks like you. If you need supporting documents, they take photocopies and then give them back. All of this for about half the cost of a British passport.
As ever, I blame the Daily Mail and the increasingly authoritarian Home Office, which oversees the Passport Office.
And that's before you even get onto the utter fiasco which has been the implementation of this stupid new policy. I didn't even know Captain Pyjamas was a British citizen until I read about the whole shitshow in the Guardian. Quite frankly I would have seriously considered renouncing our British nationality if they didn't make you pay £500 for the privilege.
Especially if you managed to not use words that rhyme with duck, punt and spit!
As did I not long ago - it was a pleasure to do it. They kept telling me my eyes were shut in the photos I submitted, which they obviously weren't, and that wearing glasses was not allowed. I knew that, which was why I wasn't wearing them. Taking the picture with a different phone worked. On the other hand, do I really look like that...?
It's money well spent. I did exactly that, thanks to Grandpa John, and much enjoy being Irish when I travel now. I have an Irish birth certificate that I claim makes me four years old.
I tried to set it up myself with the house Wi-Fi, but no luck. I'm thinking seriously about saying "f*** it", and getting a proper new one.
very relieved piglet
New laptop, which grandson set up, so that’s solved the problems with the old one, but had to create a new password for my email account and now it’s not downloading new emails to my phone and ipad. Working fine on laptop, but that is upstairs in my study. Grandson is not responding to my messages!
I am thinking maybe I need to uninstall the email account from each device, then reinstall?
Not sure I know how to do that of course.