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taxi4ballet

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Oh, where do I begin? OK, here goes...

 

TV presenters who can't pronounce such words as - research, nuclear, mischievous, anemone etc etc etc

 

People who insist on attempting to drive up my exhaust pipe despite the fact that I'm overtaking a convoy of lorries on the motorway in the driving rain

 

VAT on veterinary care

 

White socks

 

Pernod

 

Advertisements for online gambling - do they really think we're that stupid?

 

Come on everyone, it's your turn now! :D

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TalkTalk!

 

Supermarket shopping - sub-categories include aisles blocked by staff doing other people's shopping, goods rearranged so you can't find anything, not enough checkouts, self-service checkouts - instant apoplexy - shoppers ahead of you at the checkout taking ages to pack before realising that, yes, it necessary to pay and then fumbling through handbag, pockets, wallet etc. for the elusive payment card.

 

Inconsiderate parking

 

Dustmen who leave the wheeliebins miles from the house

 

People who think that the entrance/exit or the bottom of the stairs or escalator (theatre, department store, underground all apply)are just the place for a nice long chat

 

Doctors' appointment systems

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I couldn't agree more about tail-gaters (especially having had that done to me most of the way home on the M6 yesterday).

 

I absolutely agree about advertisements for online gambling sites.

 

I also abhor all those charity advertisements that use emotional blackmail to ask for £2 or £3 a month - daytime television is full of them

 

Cold call phone calls, whether there is someone on the end of the phone or where there is silence or a recorded message.

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Cars with sound systems so loud you think WWIII has broken out, especially at 3am.

 

Call centres, the ones staffed by poor English speakers are the worst.

 

The security queues at airports.

 

Junk mail

 

Generic clothing stores (don’t people want to be individuals anymore?)

 

Tattoos

 

Pavements covered in chewing gum

 

Mayonnaise

 

Celebrity cultrure

 

The Daily Commute because of………………people with blaring ipods; people having really loud conversations on their mobiles; women too lazy to get up in time to put their make-up on who splash foundation on you or flick blusher over you - particularly when you are wearing something pale; rucksacks swung into your face and people taking up two seats with their bags.

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TalkTalk, people who drive half way on the wrong side of the road on full beam and nearly drive me off the road (this latest last night), people with badly adjusted headlights, tailgaters, child minders who ignore their charges, bad manner shop assistants (yes, I have worked in two!), people who use four letter words instead of adjectives, belittlers, the jealous and small minded ..shall I stop? Maybe I am jaundiced because this wretched cold has come back! :)

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People who telephone you just as you are eating your dinner

 

Holier-than-thou politicians who then get caught with their hand in the till / trousers down / selling favours / entertaining international criminals / saying what they really think

 

Come to think of it, all politicians!

 

Educational psychologists who don't have kids

 

Dog owners who neglect to pick up their dog's turds

 

TV archaeologists who, on finding something ancient and weird, announce that it must have some ritual significance (own up - basically you haven't a clue)

 

Wheelie-bin-grey cars (honestly, with all the colours of the rainbow to choose from, why?)

 

Anyone who thinks it's OK to drive at 104 miles an hour with your friend's child in the back (especially if you have an electronic dashboard that shows your speed written large)

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The restaurant is attractive, the AC not too cold, the noise level reasonable, the food good, the service satisfactory - and then it takes ages to get the check and more ages to complete the transaction of paying.

 

Trying to communicate regarding a problem with someone 1/3 my age who just keeps saying "no problem." (I keep looking for signs of sentient life - and failing in my quest) No problem.

 

People who grunt instead of actually taking the trouble to form words.

 

Store clerks who are busy doing anything BUT take one's money at the register.

 

The clothes shop where there are sections for sizes of every kind except me. I'm not preggers, nor plus size, nor petite, nor short waisted, not short legged, nor a teeny bopper, nor "relaxed" (larger than normal) - how about a section for the just average?

 

The huge big box stores which have "everything" but what I want is at the other end - a two mile walk, and a frenzied search for a pay out line that doesn't include 4 screaming babies who resent being diapered in public.

 

Oh - yes - the carelessly discarded heavy shopping cart which careens madly through the parking lot narrowly missing my brand new car (especially when the store has provided very handy curbed cubicles throughout the parking lot to place the cart.)

 

But - with all this - it does beat living in a cave with no aspirin in sight for the next 20,000 years.

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The restaurant is attractive, the AC not too cold, the noise level reasonable, the food good, the service satisfactory - and then it takes ages to get the check and more ages to complete the transaction of paying.

 

That too - anyone who has seen me arriving at the Coliseum, ROH etc looking stressed and with only a few minutes to spare: you now know why :). I even asked for the bill at 7 o'clock one evening and *still* only got to my seat just in time!

 

And also places where the service is quick, you have plenty of time before the performance and could easily fit in a dessert/coffee - and then they suddenly go into go-slow mode, and don't even get around to giving you a menu before it's time for you to be paying the bill. Very bad business management, apart from anything else. The other day, I went for one of these 2-course meal deals (having been to a different branch the previous week and got out of there in record time): the main course came very quickly, and I was happy because I still had 40 minutes before the concert I was considering going to started (fortunately, I hadn't actually booked a ticket, but it was a stone's throw away, and I had a film pencilled in as a backup). It took them so long to get around to actually bringing me a menu or anything that I not only missed the start of the concert, but would never have made it to the start of the film either, even allowing for a 20-minute trailer and advert section first! I ended up in a late-opening art gallery just for something to do!

 

\rant

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Taxi driver who came out of Birmingham New Street station a few hours ago indicating a right turn, and then decided to turn left just as I was crossing the road in front of him! I thought local taxi drivers were supposed to know where they were going?!

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Taxi4Ballet , just curious - how can you mispronounce 'research'? I know all about 'nuclear' (George Dubbleya Bush could never get his tongue rouund that one, could he?).

 

Anne Marriot, I couldn't agree more about the person in the supermarket queue who packs their shopping bag in leisurely fashion (sometimes removing and repacking items to their satisfaction), then takes ages rootling around for their purse/wallet when handed their bill. I have to stop myself from snapping something quite rude at them. Also, people in bank or post office queues who don't move ahead with the queue and leave long gaps in front of them cause me distress.

 

I'm sure I'll think of more.

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Taxi4Ballet , just curious - how can you mispronounce 'research'? I know all about 'nuclear' (George Dubbleya Bush could never get his tongue rouund that one, could he?).

 

Hi,

 

Research should have a short 'e' as in repair, not as in re-entry. Re-search means to look again, after having searched already!

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All the above plus:

 

Lack of courtesy on the road and off it ie, people who don't thank me when I stop at crossings. Drivers who don't stop when there is an obstruction on their side of the road and force me to stop - conversely when I have stopped because of an obstruction on my side they don't thank me - I try to always thank them.

 

People who ignore me when I've held a door open for them, moved out of their mad progression down the aisle or street - a thank you, or a smile or knowledge of my existence doesn't hurt does it?

 

But excepting the staff doing other people's shopping because non-DD did that and those trolleys are extremely heavy and unwealdy. She did her best to keep out of peoples way and help them find what they were looking for but people still threw four letter words at her - not allowed to complain as the customer is always right!

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Non-disabled people who park in disabled bays.

Ditto those who sit and wait in disabled bays at stations; they are not taxi-ranks.

This Government's seeming hatred for Police and the Disabled (which, as the disabled wife of a PC I find doubly hard!)

Cheryl Cole

Cher Lloyd

Sushi

Olives

Flies and Wasps.

 

:-)

 

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Celebrity gossip masquerading as news

 

People who replace the word 'car' with the make of vehicle, as in "I'm going shopping in the Audi"

 

The ginger cat from up the road which keeps coming into the garden and showing an unwelcome interest in our guinea pigs

 

The price of petrol

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Ooh, I forgot the neighbours' cats pooing in my garden!

 

I must plead guilty to referring to a specific car, i.e. "I'm taking the S-Max today", but that's only in conversation with Mr Spanner when discussing which car to take (the half decent one or the little A-Class on its last legs; every trip is a gamble).

 

The only other time that is acceptable is "I'm popping out in the Aston", because if I ever come into money and buy an Aston (preferably a db-5), I would take every opportunity to refer to it. ;-)

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All the above plus:

 

 

 

But excepting the staff doing other people's shopping because non-DD did that and those trolleys are extremely heavy and unwealdy. She did her best to keep out of peoples way and help them find what they were looking for but people still threw four letter words at her - not allowed to complain as the customer is always right!

 

Oh dear, I feel bad now, but I grit my teeth and have never resorted to four-letter words. Heaven forbid! I know the industrial-size trollies are unwieldy but it's when they gather in flocks for a chat or park alongside one of those multi-storey goods wagons full of products waiting to be put on the shelves that I get irritated - but then little gaggles of what are clearly "management", in suits, also block the aisles whilst apparently holding a board meeting, oblivious to the punter with her small shopping trolley saying "excuse me" several times, and that also gets my goat. Just back from the supermarket, so feeling a bit raw ...

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Being a shortcake who uses a busy branch of Tescos, occasionally I have had to use one of the large size trollies when no smaller ones are available. My problem is that when I get to the cashier's I can't reach to the bottom to get my shopping out! One of these days I will end up head first in one.

 

I must say that the shoppers at my local Tescos seem remarkably polite in terms of trolley etiquette, unlike in other supermarkets in the area.

 

Some years ago a previous car of mine was badly scratched by a shopping trolley (needless to say the person in charge of the trolley did not leave their details). I get incredibly angry when I see shopping trollies just being left lying around. I quite often collect loose ones and return them to a trolley park, much to everyone around's amusement as I am generally muttering to myself.

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AnneMarriott - non-DD also gets irritated when they gather in flocks and don't get her started on the cages full of produce - she used to complain because her co-workers didn't empty them quickly enough and then remove them from the floor. She was very proud of the aisle she was responsible for (dotcom used to finsh at 14.00) - she went down it the other day having left some months ago and was upset to see it as such a mess!

 

Janet - I want to shop in your Tesco's please - and I have a similar problem with the large trolley. Couldn't they make the bottom just a bit closer!

 

To those bothered by cats in their garden - they don't like the smell of oranges so you could surround the guinea pig cage with orange peel - sorry I have cats but lucky for my neighbours the one point blank refuses to do her business in the garden so lucky me gets to empty the dirt tray. Shes a bit old and arthritic so I try not to get too put out by it. You can also buy pellets that are supposed to keep them off your garden

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While we are discussing super markets.....(mostly foodstuff/groceries)...

 

I hate those shelves on the bottom level - not only are the goods hard to see but the price tags are utterly impossible to see unless one literally gets down on hands and knees. The tags are about 2 inches (if that) from the floor and facing outward not upward.

 

On the other hand I am always helping the shorter ladies (I am 5'7") to reach things on the top two shelves. Surely there has got to be a better way.

 

Since I live near a huge university campus - at the beginning of the term the supermarket is filled with kids away from home for the first time and trying to figure out how to feed themselves. The girls are clustered in the cracker aisle. The boys take over the meat department.

 

An actual conversation I overheard amongst the boys ....standing in front of various cuts of beef...

 

"Is that a steak?" asked one.

 

"yes," answered another, "I think so."

 

"What do we do with it?"

 

"My mom puts it in a frying pan."

 

"Do we have one of those?"

 

"I don't know."

 

I avoid the cracker aisle and the steak section for the first few weeks of a new term.

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There is, of course, the ultimate deterrent to cats in your garden - have a cat of your own!! Understand that not everyone's a cat person - you either love them or hate them - theres no middle road with them. I love most of furry four legged friends except for rats - it's the tail and mink - vicious creatures.

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There is, of course, the ultimate deterrent to cats in your garden - have a cat of your own!! Understand that not everyone's a cat person - you either love them or hate them - theres no middle road with them. I love most of furry four legged friends except for rats - it's the tail and mink - vicious creatures.

 

Ha! Good idea - not sure what our dog would think! :-)

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DD and non-DD both want a dog - not sure what the cats would say and as DD away most of the time and non-DD job hunting then it's down to me to walk it and much as I need the exercise (I really need the exercise) I need to get a job as well to pay for both of the D's and the cats as well as they cost a fortune too!

 

Another to add to the list - why does the cat's arthritis medication come in a size of capsule suitable for a horse! I have to break it open and mix the powder with fish paste to administer to the cat and this then interferes with her diet. The wet diet cat food was so expensive I had to swap to the fish past and the powder just doesn't mix with the dry cat food. Have these people ever tried to give a cat a tablet!!

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Shed roofs that leak

 

Definitely. You should have seen me on New Year's Day, in the *pouring* rain, pretty much with a sou'wester on, trying desperately to re-roof, at least temporarily, the shed. The downstairs neighbours had the entire family visiting: I suspect they were all looking through the window wondering "What on earth is that mad woman doing?!" There *was* method in my madness, though: you should have seen the weather forecast for 2nd January. The shed would probably have collapsed due to the weight of water!

 

People who ignore me when I've held a door open for them, moved out of their mad progression down the aisle or street - a thank you, or a smile or knowledge of my existence doesn't hurt does it?

 

But you don't exist - you're just a semi-invisible obstacle to their progress :). And apparently it does hurt. Just like those people who sit in the window seat on the train when I'm in the aisle seat, need to get off before I do and think they can just shove their way past me without as much as an "excuse me" or a "sorry" (and these are SouthEastern Networkers I'm talking about - there really *is* no room to get past unless I move).

 

Non-disabled people who park in disabled bays.

...

This Government's seeming hatred for ... the Disabled

 

Definitely with you on those two, spanner!

 

I know the industrial-size trollies are unwieldy but it's when they gather in flocks for a chat or park alongside one of those multi-storey goods wagons full of products waiting to be put on the shelves that I get irritated

 

Yep. And have you noticed how often people pay no attention to their surroundings when they park the trolley in an aisle? Combine two of them parked opposite each other *and* a multi-storey and you're really in trouble. Is it so difficult to leave a path free for a trolley coming through rather than stick two parallel to each other in the middle of the aisle so not even someone without a basket can get between them?

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To those bothered by cats in their garden - they don't like the smell of oranges so you could surround the guinea pig cage with orange peel - sorry I have cats but lucky for my neighbours the one point blank refuses to do her business in the garden so lucky me gets to empty the dirt tray. Shes a bit old and arthritic so I try not to get too put out by it. You can also buy pellets that are supposed to keep them off your garden

 

Trouble with this is that we have a cat ourselves! She (fortunately for the guinea pigs) seems to understand in her own furry way that they are our pets too, and as such are out of bounds when it comes to hunting...

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Alison - South Eastern Trains aka can of sardines! Just mastered getting in the correct part of the train so I don't have to "leg it" at Haywards Heath when the train splits

 

Porthesia, isn't HH on Southern? Actually, they're even worse. They introduced a "Priority Seat" card just about as I stopped commuting (I always tried to avoid using them form the homeward commute, anyway, because I knew what hell they were), so I thought I'd never need one, but I've lost count of the number of times I've attempted to get on a post-rush-hour or weekend train and wished I'd had one! I actually limped all the way to the front of a 12-coach train at Victoria once in the hopes of finding a seat, and then couldn't make it back to the ticket barrier, so had to wait until the next train came in on that platform before I could get home!

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Ahh, see I still don't know where I live even after 2 years!! Live in South East so presumed rail was the same and you are correct it is Southern and it is a dreadful service. They had 2 trains at 1 platform in Victoria and we got so confused as to where one train ended and the other started that we once again got in the wrong part of the train - at least we were in the right train. It's impossible to then walk through the carriages as it's always jam packed so once again had to leg it at Haywards Heath!!

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