Life is riddled with a procession of minor impediments

[TordelBack]

Ach, don't mind me moaning, it's just one gig, but it's been a profitable, and if I'm honest, enjoyable one.  I also felt like I was doing a particularly good job in difficult conditions, a feeling reinforced by my co-workers' reactions, and as usual I'd unwittingly let it become a factor in unfamiliar feelings of self-worth, which we all know by now is fatal: do the work, take the money, you are not your job.

What's annoying is as contracts go it's been all-consuming (as in 7 days a week) and despite allegedly having my weekdays free (it was nights all week and days at weekends, ugh my head) aside from child-wrangling duties, I've neglected my tendering for other work, since despite my optimistic expectations I really hadn't the energy to take on other work at the same time and it was supposed to run for at least another month.  The clients have decided to take the shifts i was covering back in-house now, which is their prerogative, although a bit more notice would have been the decent thing: communication is appalling across the board, as is so often the case.  In fairness, they have previously offered me directly-employed work on the same project, but I want to keep my own nascent business going.

I already have some limited work lined up in late Oct/Nov and I have some small things I have to finish off, and after all this is the path I've chosen.  I'm sure another juicy plum will present itself soon, and if not I have a lot of neglected chores to do.  And some sleeping.

CFM, yes, the siren-song of SW England is much-discussed in these parts: many are tempted. I order my men to plug their ears with wax and tie me securely to the mast.

[Proudhuff]

One of my pet hate on trains, buses etc is when someone gets all territorial and fancies claiming one and a half seats.

I sat next to a young guy once who actually spread his leg into my space trying to push me to the edge of  my seat. He seemed to be doing it just for the amusement factor (judging by the smirk on his face).

The laying on of hands and saying 'you seem  a nice young man' while leaning into them works, well if does if you're as big and ugly as me, having said that few try in the first place 

[Grugz]

Our slightly un hinged next door neighbour has been engaged in criminal damage for some time letting car tyres down (both ours and the neighbours on the other side but nothing could be proved and it did stop when they put cctv up, but my wife had some solar powered garden lights around an arch over my daughters bench which suddenly stopped working, my wife today thought shed just need to change the batteries but found the wire has been cut..and after having the conservatory cleaned last week we had fence paint splattered all over the front and side. obviously we didn't see her do it but we know she did. shes not the approachable type and neither is her hubby. do we contact the plods or just draw a large penis on her lawn in weedkiller? your thoughts please?

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[CrazyFoxMachine]

CFM, yes, the siren-song of SW England is much-discussed in these parts: many are tempted. I order my men to plug their ears with wax and tie me securely to the mast.

I don't even know your real name but I'd happily put you up TB although - saying that it occurs to me that you have a family. BUT THAT'S WHAT GARDENS ARE FOR.

I'll go and get a couple of pop-up tents tomorrow and we'll get this show on the road!

[Mardroid]

do we contact the plods or just draw a large penis on her lawn in weedkiller? your thoughts please?

Out of those two options, contacting the police seems the best choice... although the weedkiller thing would be more amusing. Particularly if you brought it to her attention by blaring Sprach Zarathustra from a loudspeaker nearby...


[spoiler]If I've actually given you ideas... please don't do that! I'd hate to think I was the cause of a neighbourhood vendetta![/spoiler]

[The Legendary Shark]

Buy them a bottle of moderate wine, go over and say something like "I have the feeling we're not getting along, I don't know why but we are neighbours and so I thought I'd make the effort to put things right," or something.
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The best way to defeat your enemy is to make him your friend.

[Grugz]

sharky,though you mean well, this would not work shes the isis of our street, we have kept ourselves to ourselves as had the other side to her she hides in bushes at 4 in the morning staring at the other neighbours house ,tells three year old trick or treaters to fuck off  and calls the council for everything and anything she can think of wether it be the neighbours at the end parking their taxi on the end of the street in front of their own house to us having a childs bed and cupboards on our drive awaiting the council to take them away ,shes tapped...seriously so. kimjung il or whatever hes called would be more open to reason.

and they did get moved on by the council after the neighbours petitioned at her last adress

[Theblazeuk]

Speak to your neighbours, call the council and the plods together. And next time you see her quietly say that you'll cut her ****ing head off if she does anything to your stuff again, then walk away with a big smile on your face.

[radiator]

I'm attempting to transfer some money to a contractor for some work they did for us. You think that'd be an easy task, right?

Well apparently it's not in America!

After giving up on my bank's useless website, I decided to tackle the issue in-branch only to discover the only way I can make the payment is to write a cheque* and traipse halfway across town to pay it into a different bank. Cannot believe how difficult it is made for me to do something I could accomplish in three mouseclicks back in the UK, all because the person I'm trying to pay aren't with the same bank as me.

To top it off, I requested a new chequebook before I left the bank and was told I could buy 120 cheques for around £20. Yep, they make you pay for replacement cheques, and in totally ridiculous quantities! It suddenly clicked why the fuckers only gave me a book of ten to start off with. I told them to shove it.

Oh, and you also get charged for using any cashpoint that isn't one owned and operated by your bank. They also charge you (£20) not just for going overdrawn, but also £20 for every single subsequent transaction you make once you are overdrawn.

*I can't even remember the last time I wrote a cheque in the UK.

[The Legendary Shark]

My doctor told me that I have the arteries of a 60 year old, which I think is pretty good considering all the crap I shoved through them over the decades.
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I am now officially old. 

[Dandontdare]

well, Happy Birthday to your arteries! 

I wouldn't put too much stock in these "user friendly" medical metaphors that doctors use. I get a full-on Bupa medical every few years through my job (one of the few upsides!) and last time apparently my lung-age had improved, despite me having taken up smoking again since the last one, when I'd been baccy free for about 5 years. As a non smoking 43yr old I had a "lung-age" of 48; as a 47yr old heavy smoker, my lungs have had some kind of re-juve because my lung-age is now 45, and I know (*cough*)that doesn't mean they're working better.

[Dandontdare]

double post but I've just read Radiator's post .. glad to see things haven't changed since I was there in the mid 80s. I couldn't believe they didn't have cheque guarantee cards (remember them? I would have starved as a student without the ability to run up an unauthorised overdraft on a chequebook full of sub-£50 cheques.)

I got my cash in the US by cashing checks at the uni, but when I went to California for the holidays I discovered that my checkbook was as worthless as toilet paper out of state. I had to embarrassingly borrow cash off my hosts, which cost me almost double what I'd borrowed to wire it back to them once I got back.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

I'm fuckin' sick. ME! I never get sick.

I've already missed three days of work because of this shit. The last time I missed a day of work was about a decade ago, and that was because I snapped my leg in half.

How do people deal with this? Where the fuck is all this mucus coming from*?

*EDIT: It's coming from my ears, nose and throat. My real question is; how is it possible that I am producing my own body weight in snot, earwax and phlegm every four hours?

[Fungus]

*EDIT: It's coming from my ears, nose and throat.

Maybe there's a specialism in that kind of thing? 

Anyroad, hope it's sorted soon KP.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

*EDIT: It's coming from my ears, nose and throat.

Maybe there's a specialism in that kind of thing? 

Anyroad, hope it's sorted soon KP.

Don't call me KP. It sounds like I'm nuts.