Woolly Socks and Worn-Out Shoes

I watched Yes Prime Minister last night and there was a conversation between Sir Humphrey and Bernard which had me rocking. The party have had an opinion poll done.  It seems all the voters are in favour of bringing back National Service Well I’ve had another opinion poll done showing that the voters are against bringing back National Service Well they can’t be for it and against it. Oh of course they can Bernard.  Have you ever been surveyed? Yes.  Well, not me actually, my house.  Oh, I see what you mean! Bernard, you know what happens; nice young lady comes up to you – obviously, you want to create a good impression; you don’t want to look a fool, do you? No No.  So she starts asking you some questions.  “Mr Wolley, are you worried about the number of young people without jobs?” Yes “Are you worried about the rise in crime among teenagers?” Yes “Do you think there’s a lack of discipline in our comprehensive schools?” Yes “Do you think young people we...

I've been married to a man for 20 years who's described in very minute detail what can happen to bodies destroyed because of fast and stupid driving; a foot in a shoe, or half a head lying somewhere, debris scattered over 300 yards, eyes that have bled because the heart exploded before impact. That's the main reason why I don't do fast and stupid driving.  I've heard so much about it that I could almost feel I witnessed it first hand.  My husband was involved in an accident in which 4 boys were killed when they hit his bus at 90mph, airborne.  Three of them were dead before impact and the other died on impact.  My husband was lucky to have survived. That's why tonight's journey home frightened and angered me so much.  There are people who don't understand, don't know, or simply don't care. Tonight it's piddly pouring and it's pitch black out there on the road - no street lights, limited cats eyes, bends, turns, double white lines fo...

It was a silly little argument that meant absolutely nothing, but I had to go off on one, didn't I, storming off like a kid in a strop. I should have known better.  It was dark and it was raining and I'd had a bellyful of Carvery.  Anyway, it was my choice to go driving off. I'd hardly covered five yards when a police van approached me from the other side of the road.  It was odd that I was driving on the right-hand-side - but then, so was the police van.  I'd not even got rid of all the condensation on the windscreen.  I was in a foul mood. So this policeman approaches my car and I wind the window down as he bends to lean over me.  He'd taken blood tests by the time I was in that little interrogation room.  I was saying for the umpteenth time that I hadn't drunk any alcohol, but he just kept interrupting me that he knew I hadn't, but the fact remained that I was over the limit and they were going to slap 3 points on my licence and a fine of £218...

I've lost count of the number of odd glances I get from people when we're talking about teenage drinking and why we should or shouldn't allow our children to drink in the house. Well, I do allow my daughter to drink in the house.  Primarily so she won't be suddenly let off the leash when she's 18, having for years been so eager to get into the pub and taste the nectar that has teenagers all over the world throwing up and ending up in hospital.  Also, so I can keep my eye on how much she wants to have a drink.  The last four-pack of Breezers I bought for her lasted 7 months. I can't keep my eye on her all the time, I know that.  I'm fortunate that she doesn't feel the need to spend her evenings with local kids; she'd much rather communicate with her out-of-town friends online and meet up with them occasionally.  What she does then is out of my control.  And that is why I allow her the drink at home.  Hopefully, then, being offered a drink away from ...

My brother once bought a handful of concert tickets for himself and his friends who said they would like to go.  A little bit further down the line, my brother having paid for them, two of his friends said they couldn't make it.  Naturally, he was a bit miffed because of the expense, but they were mates and he didn't ask them for the money because they weren't going to get the benefit of going.  That left him with two tickets that he couldn't use. So, I sold them for him on ebay.  I put them on at face value, but on bid, thinking that maybe that'll help me cover my listing fees, final value fees, and that little bit extra that Paypal take off when a seller receives payment via them.  However, what actually happened was the tickets sold for quite a bit more than we'd hoped and my brother received the proceeds of the sale, minus my expenses.  Fair enough.  It was a one-off and we weren't about to set up in business ordering tickets from ticket companie...

I'm not really that much of a political animal, and I can't in any way claim to fully understand anything about politics or economics.  The only thing that's got me looking, squinty-eyed, so closely at what's going on is my daughter who frequently goes off on one at what George Osborne and the rest of the blue-rinse brigade have been up to now. But it seems to me that someone's lost the plot.  I mean, it was my honest understanding that when a person has a job and pays his taxes and then spends the rest of his pennies on running his house and bits and bobs for himself and his family, it's quite a good thing for the economy.  People working, earning, paying taxes, putting the rest of their available pennies back into the economy to keep it running smoothly - you know, like a well-oiled machine. Right, got that bit. But then comes the complicated bit.  A VAT rise that makes everything more expensive to purchase.  Even those items on which there is no VAT are...

I have a problem with my Office Outlook which comes and goes but does seem to be a constant hassle.  I have four email addresses set up on it and for three of them I'm prompted for passwords.  Now, it's not every day, and for the most part I can ignore it.  However, when it's all day and my emails aren't getting through I tend to get a bit fed up of it all. I asked around friends and contacts to see if they could help, and I tried all the suggested solutions, but none of them were successful.  I am grateful to those who tried to help. I then resolved to try to find out a solution to my problem via the Microsoft website which seems, on the face of it, to be very helpful and offers all kinds of information and solutions to all kinds of pre-scribed questions and problems.  However, when I typed my particular problem in their search bar I was constantly offered unrelated solutions to unrelated problems. I then looked for a telephone number in the hope that som...

'Eve-Teasing' must be the most ridiculous and useless label given to such disgusting and indecent crimes against women and girls. When I think of the word tease, I usually think of playful banter between people who like and/or trust each other; I usually think of a smirky comment from a partner aimed at raising a smile.  I sometimes think of children or colleagues having a poke at someone and perhaps causing a certain amount of stress. What I don't think of when I read the word 'tease' is a woman being doorstepped by a man or a group of men and then having to suffer being fondled or injured.  I certainly wouldn't expect when I read the word 'tease' that it relates to a woman being beaten because she's stood up for herself when suffering such a crime. It seems on a level with saying a person has been hit when they have been beaten to a pulp.  It doesn't exactly state the case, does it? Example, two men 'eve-teasing' three wome...

I'm so sorry if that sounded sexist. Fact is, there are people who want women in roles even if they're not best suited for the job. Janet Street Porter on Question Time didn't fall short of saying that she wanted companies to be made to have a female quota in their boardrooms. But what about the poor souls who are brushed aside so these women can take up these roles?  It's all very well and fair and good if the women in question are the absolute best people for the job.  But what if they're not?  What if they're there purely because of some quota target being met? If a man is set aside in his search for a job or promotion simply because he's a man it is sexual discrimination, pure and simple. Isn't that illegal? It really does seem that some of these feminists (my husband calls them 'feminazis' which is a term I can't agree with, but I can see where he's coming from) don't want to settle for equality.  It does seem that th...

Don't sue me, Apple... I'm just a weary old mum missing her child. "Hi mum, I'm home." "Hello love.  How was your day?" "It was ok.  Got a maths test tomorrow so need to revise." "Ok love.  Are you hungry?" "No thanks, Mum.  How was your day?" "Yep, fine.  Your dad called about the photographs." "I'll give him a ring later." etc, etc, etc. You know how it used to go.  They'd come in from school and we'd exchange some words of greeting and talk about our day.  We'd sit on the sofa for a little while, conversing and chatting;perhaps even having a bit of a giggle over something that had happened.  It was an essential part of the day; having spent that time apart it was our chance to regroup and reinforce our family circle with a little catch-up and bonding chat session before they run upstairs and commence with their voodoo dancing around the flames rising out of the pile of ma...