Room 101

[alison]

London's public transport system, which appears to have gone into meltdown mode today, at least on the east side of town  

[zxDaveM]

5 hours ago, alison said:

London's public transport system, which appears to have gone into meltdown mode today, at least on the east side of town  

 

it wasn't great Wednesday or Thursday either

[Fonty]

People who feel the need to abuse complete strangers on social media.  I posted something in response to an article about ring necked parakeets.  Personally, I think they are pretty birds but pests and said so.  Some of the horrible comments I got made me wonder about the sanity of some of these people.  

[zxDaveM]

23 minutes ago, Fonty said:

People who feel the need to abuse complete strangers on social media.  I posted something in response to an article about ring necked parakeets.  Personally, I think they are pretty birds but pests and said so.  Some of the horrible comments I got made me wonder about the sanity of some of these people.  

 

pests - 100%

[LinMM]

I love all birds but these parakeets do seem to be around in large numbers now though haven’t made it to East Sussex …yet. 
I just hope they are not driving out our native blackbirds as I much prefer the latters song to the squawky parakeet noise. 

[alison]

Noisy blighters.

 

I think I may add businesses which don't check their spam filters often.  I emailed an estate agent about a month ago, and chased them up about it last week.  "Oh yes, I see, it's ended up in our Spam folder."  I know businesses probably get a lot of spam, but surely, if your business is dealing largely with private individuals, many of whom will be using webmail accounts, you should be checking that folder regularly, even daily, to make sure you aren't missing out on anything vital, not leaving it for weeks on end?

[Sim]

Restaurants that give you a time limit on your table.  If I am spending money in their establishment, eating and drinking, I resent being told 'you have to go in 10 minutes'.  This isn't always made clear at the time of booking, and if it is I never book.  I have just booked a table somewhere in Covent Garden, and when the booking came through it gave me a two-hour slot.  So I will unbook and go elsewhere.  If I go out for dinner with friends or family, I don't want to be told when I have to leave.  More and more restaurants are doing this, and it's a bugbear of mine.  

[zxDaveM]

34 minutes ago, Sim said:

Restaurants that give you a time limit on your table.  If I am spending money in their establishment, eating and drinking, I resent being told 'you have to go in 10 minutes'.  This isn't always made clear at the time of booking, and if it is I never book.  I have just booked a table somewhere in Covent Garden, and when the booking came through it gave me a two-hour slot.  So I will unbook and go elsewhere.  If I go out for dinner with friends or family, I don't want to be told when I have to leave.  More and more restaurants are doing this, and it's a bugbear of mine.  

 

I can empathise with you Sim - who in their right mind wants to have to bolt down the rest of their meal to make way for someone else!

Mind you, the other side of the boot, you have the people who book, and don't show, which harms the restaurant's bottom line (empty tables that could have been filled) so perhaps getting a time slot is aimed at countering that. I read somewhere that some people will book 4-5 different places, then decide which to go to on the night

[Sim]

28 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

 

I can empathise with you Sim - who in their right mind wants to have to bolt down the rest of their meal to make way for someone else!

Mind you, the other side of the boot, you have the people who book, and don't show, which harms the restaurant's bottom line (empty tables that could have been filled) so perhaps getting a time slot is aimed at countering that. I read somewhere that some people will book 4-5 different places, then decide which to go to on the night

You are right, but perhaps restaurants should do as hotels do:  free cancellation until, say, 12-24 hours prior to the booking, then something will be taken off of your credit card if you simply don't turn up.  

 

I think the time slots are more to stuff more customers in so that they can make more money.  Understandable, but very much a turn-off.  For me, anyway.

[zxDaveM]

11 minutes ago, Sim said:

You are right, but perhaps restaurants should do as hotels do:  free cancellation until, say, 12-24 hours prior to the booking, then something will be taken off of your credit card if you simply don't turn up.  

 

I think the time slots are more to stuff more customers in so that they can make more money.  Understandable, but very much a turn-off.  For me, anyway.

 

yes, some sort of 'deposit' for busy times might be an idea

Otherwise, the stuffing 'em in!  doesn't make for a pleasant experience, whether timewise, or tables too close together

 

[alison]

Downstairs neighbours who don't even have the courtesy to give you advance warning that they're having major noisy building work done

[Sim]

1 hour ago, alison said:

Downstairs neighbours who don't even have the courtesy to give you advance warning that they're having major noisy building work done

Don't even start me....

[AnneMarriott]

2 hours ago, alison said:

Downstairs neighbours who don't even have the courtesy to give you advance warning that they're having major noisy building work done

 

1 hour ago, Sim said:

Don't even start me....

Or me - in our case it's next-door neighbours and it's been going on, off and on, for 15 years.

[AnneMarriott]

I'm putting Royal Mail in here.  On 9th March I posted a small parcel to a friend in Norway for her birthday on the 23rd.  I sent it International Tracked.  It spent a week at Greenford, West London and then found its way to Northampton where it remains.  After a fruitless online search for an explanation for the delay I found a contact number and rang, only to have a recorded voice telling me the same dismal news i.e. "We've got it.  More information will be available as it travels through the system."  At the current rate of travel I can only hope it arrives for Christmas!  Trying to find out how to make a complaint is even more frustrating - round and round in a loop getting nowhere.  

[Jan McNulty]

11 minutes ago, AnneMarriott said:

I'm putting Royal Mail in here.  On 9th March I posted a small parcel to a friend in Norway for her birthday on the 23rd.  I sent it International Tracked.  It spent a week at Greenford, West London and then found its way to Northampton where it remains.  After a fruitless online search for an explanation for the delay I found a contact number and rang, only to have a recorded voice telling me the same dismal news i.e. "We've got it.  More information will be available as it travels through the system."  At the current rate of travel I can only hope it arrives for Christmas!  Trying to find out how to make a complaint is even more frustrating - round and round in a loop getting nowhere.  

 

Many years ago when I was in York to see BRB's midscale tour I sent a small package to a friend.  I had hummed and haad about sending it as I was due to see my friend the week after her birthday but I always think it is nice to receive the gift on the day.

 

Anyway, it never arrived.  I happened to mention this in my local post office and they gave me a form to fill in even though I hadn't asked for proof of posting.  Within a couple of days I got a really rather rude response from Royal Mail but the same day I got a text from my friend saying the parcel had arrived!

[AnneMarriott]

3 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

Many years ago when I was in York to see BRB's midscale tour I sent a small package to a friend.  I had hummed and haad about sending it as I was due to see my friend the week after her birthday but I always think it is nice to receive the gift on the day.

 

Anyway, it never arrived.  I happened to mention this in my local post office and they gave me a form to fill in even though I hadn't asked for proof of posting.  Within a couple of days I got a really rather rude response from Royal Mail but the same day I got a text from my friend saying the parcel had arrived!

Lucky you!  Incidentally a couple of years ago a friend in Italy sent me a birthday present which arrived at the Heathrow Royal Mail hub at Langley, Slough.  It remains there to this day.  My friend assures me it didn't contain any explosives, inflammable liquids, Class A drugs, nerve gas or Japanese knotweed seeds so we've no idea why it was detained.

[LinMM]

Does a parcel get detained forever then even when they know it’s probably harmless? 

[AnneMarriott]

2 hours ago, LinMM said:

Does a parcel get detained forever then even when they know it’s probably harmless? 

Either that or it finds its way to a postal worker locker ...

[AnneMarriott]

2 hours ago, LinMM said:

Does a parcel get detained forever then even when they know it’s probably harmless? 

 

2 hours ago, LinMM said:

Does a parcel get detained forever then even when they know it’s probably harmless? 

 

Just now, AnneMarriott said:

Either that or it finds its way to a postal worker locker ...

I should add that the parcel contained a candle holder so I've no idea why that should be detained!

[zxDaveM]

6 hours ago, AnneMarriott said:

 

 

I should add that the parcel contained a candle holder so I've no idea why that should be detained!

 

It wasn't Professor Plum's from the library, was it?

[AnneMarriott]

Dave, I think you've hit the nail on the head!

[Mary]

Weird questions in those surveys that arts organisations keep sending me ( I know they are forced to do this to get funding.) I always do them, to try to help, and also to give feedback. But I do dislike it when they 'come over all daft' - e.g.  - 'your well-being is important to us' etc.

 

This one from the National Gallery- somewhere I will always support, but surely an insitution which should have some gravitas - really had me baffled, and I was told I had to answer it.

 

Of the following four options, please select the one that is most appealing to you.

sensory experiences

immersive experiences

remarkable moments

stimulating interventions

Sensory experiences

Immersive experiences

 

 

 

Edited April 6, 2023 by Mary

[Mary]

My cut and paste did not work! The list of options from which I had to choose  was:

 

immersive experiences

sensory experiences

stimulating interventions

remarkable moments

 

-and I really can't say what this means in the abstract!

 

 

[bridiem]

2 hours ago, Mary said:

My cut and paste did not work! The list of options from which I had to choose  was:

 

immersive experiences

sensory experiences

stimulating interventions

remarkable moments

 

-and I really can't say what this means in the abstract!

 

How blooming ridiculous. I mean really. I would want to say 'none of the above' or 'no idea what you're talking about' (or something less polite...).

[Sim]

3 hours ago, Mary said:

My cut and paste did not work! The list of options from which I had to choose  was:

 

immersive experiences

sensory experiences

stimulating interventions

remarkable moments

 

-and I really can't say what this means in the abstract!

 

 

What the???  Like BridieM, I don't think I could have answered this in a polite manner!!  

[Dawnstar]

I think "stimulating interventions" sounds rather painful, as if they're giving their attendees electric shocks or something! Actually that's probably the sort of "art" installation that would be nominated for the Turner prize nowadays...

[Mary]

Well indeed.

Normally there us a space for 'Other' and normally I write something like:

 

'?? None of these- I just want to see ballet/theatre/listen to music/look at paintings'

 

as the case may be.

But no such space was provided and I could not continue the survey without ticking a box. This is bad as they will be able to claim that lots of people ticked one of the meaningless boxes  meaning something by it ( heaven knows what)  - when in fact.....

 

I certainly wouldn't tick 'interventions' to which I am a bit allergic. I remember once making a special trip to see some paintings to find someone had covered them all with some kind of lace doily arrangement- yes it was an 'intervention'.

 

 

[alison]

Just when Lin and Jan have bumped the Room 202 thread, I have to bump this one again  

 

The driver of my local bus route from the office to home decided he(?) didn't want to stop for me tonight.  That's a bus which only runs every 20 minutes at this time of night.  For reasons I won't bother going in to, I'd had to work very late tonight, and had just missed one bus.  The driver of the next bus must have seen me - I was already standing under the streetlight, with my hand out, when he was still probably over 100 m away - but nope, he wasn't going to bother to stop.  Leaving a lone female at a bus stop at that time of night (or any other time, for that matter) is unacceptable.  So, effectively a 40-minute wait for a bus

[Jan McNulty]

That’s dreadful Alison.  

[AnneMarriott]

6 hours ago, alison said:

Just when Lin and Jan have bumped the Room 202 thread, I have to bump this one again  

 

The driver of my local bus route from the office to home decided he(?) didn't want to stop for me tonight.  That's a bus which only runs every 20 minutes at this time of night.  For reasons I won't bother going in to, I'd had to work very late tonight, and had just missed one bus.  The driver of the next bus must have seen me - I was already standing under the streetlight, with my hand out, when he was still probably over 100 m away - but nope, he wasn't going to bother to stop.  Leaving a lone female at a bus stop at that time of night (or any other time, for that matter) is unacceptable.  So, effectively a 40-minute wait for a bus

...and weren't we all told after the dreadful murder by a serving police officer to flag down a bus if a policeman tried to arrest us late at night?

[LinMM]

So sorry to hear this Alison I’ve become particularly nervous travelling late at night these days so would dread a situation like this possibly bringing on a panic attack. 
I hated doing it but I did once try to report a driver who didn’t stop on an hourly bus service here in Brighton but at least it was mid afternoon.
It is easy to do that here with a phone number and email for the service etc. 

They said they would look into it but I didn’t hear any more ….just felt I was doing something! 

I don’t know whether you could try to make a complaint as this really should not happen. 

 

[bridiem]

10 hours ago, alison said:

The driver of my local bus route from the office to home decided he(?) didn't want to stop for me tonight.  That's a bus which only runs every 20 minutes at this time of night.  For reasons I won't bother going in to, I'd had to work very late tonight, and had just missed one bus.  The driver of the next bus must have seen me - I was already standing under the streetlight, with my hand out, when he was still probably over 100 m away - but nope, he wasn't going to bother to stop.  Leaving a lone female at a bus stop at that time of night (or any other time, for that matter) is unacceptable.  So, effectively a 40-minute wait for a bus

 

That's awful Alison - I'm so sorry.

[Emeralds]

13 hours ago, alison said:

Just when Lin and Jan have bumped the Room 202 thread, I have to bump this one again  

 

The driver of my local bus route from the office to home decided he(?) didn't want to stop for me tonight.  That's a bus which only runs every 20 minutes at this time of night.  For reasons I won't bother going in to, I'd had to work very late tonight, and had just missed one bus.  The driver of the next bus must have seen me - I was already standing under the streetlight, with my hand out, when he was still probably over 100 m away - but nope, he wasn't going to bother to stop.  Leaving a lone female at a bus stop at that time of night (or any other time, for that matter) is unacceptable.  So, effectively a 40-minute wait for a bus

Oh no ☹️..... that’s horrible, Alison. I sympathise.  Hope you wrote down what time it was and the bus stop location  (if the driver was speeding away too quickly to note the licence plate number), and put in a complaint. There’s no excuse for not stopping for any passenger, who had his/her hand out to hail the bus, especially when it’s 20mins between buses. 

3 hours ago, LinMM said:

So sorry to hear this Alison I’ve become particularly nervous travelling late at night these days so would dread a situation like this possibly bringing on a panic attack. 
I hated doing it but I did once try to report a driver who didn’t stop on an hourly bus service here in Brighton but at least it was mid afternoon.
It is easy to do that here with a phone number and email for the service etc. 

They said they would look into it but I didn’t hear any more ….just felt I was doing something! 

I don’t know whether you could try to make a complaint as this really should not happen. 

 

Definitely report it, LinMM- well done. Especially when it’s an hourly service !