Xmas

I can help think of all the money going up in flames, the stress suffered by all sorts of animals and the risk to person and property.

And for what? What adult hasn't seen fireworks before and what kid wouldn't prefer getting a new game for their console (where the graphics are far more amazing). ;-)

When you have the option to work and aren't 'into' the whole thing, I quite like working when there is peace and quiet around (I'm talking IT Support here). Not sure I'd want to be on Public Transport or any of the Emergency services though, having to deal with people who aren't responsible for themselves and / or don't respect anyone else.

This could be the new fireworks:

Go on ...

That's good. They were 4(5?) for a pound the last time I looked?

Oooh, I wonder if daughter will get one of those?

Newspaper I hope. ;-)

They would walk up to me with their collection box and luck dip names, pause and then 'jog on'. ;-)

And I found it funny when the thickos / gullible / brainwashed called me a 'spoilsport' (I didn't know Xmas was 'a sport') or that I was 'miserable' when I was probably one of the happiest people there. At least I wasn't moaning and groaning about how I still had to get presents for x, y and z (and didn't know what to get of have the spare cash to get it) and hadn't got the food in or decorations up! ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Offices or many companies or getting important stuff ordered delivered etc. ;-(

"Sorry mate, we can't get that (critical) part in till after Xmas now ... ".

And we have had the Internet and email / phones for years now ... why to people still insist on sending each other bits of folded cardboard (that are often heavily inked or covered in glitter and so not easy to recycle)? ;-(

I used to find it interesting, being I was often in work over Xmas doing IT stuff (and getting away from the crazies) to see all the cards up on the desks owned by women and all the unopened cards in a heap on the desks of men. ;-)

I think last year we got two Xmas cards. One was from the local Kebab shop and the other a regular we get for someone who has never lived here (but with no return address so we can inform them of their error (from the writing it looks like they are quite old)).

It took quite a while and some effort to get people to stop wasting their time and money on them for us and requested they put the money for the card and postage into a charity instead (if they insisted on doing *something*).

Some of the so called charity cards earn very little for the charity (and none of the postage cost etc) and still use up valuable trees etc. ;-(

Cheers, T i m

Yup.

LOL ... yup. Or about their Xmas plans in general ... "Ohh, sorry, did my trolley hit you in the back ..."?

It's all this 'piggybacking' of Xmas merchandising on everyday stuff that is crazy. Does *anyone* buy a loaf of bread for what 'bling' there is on the wrapper? Wholemeal, small loaf, medium cut, cheapest price, done.

Sure ... and if Xmas is the only time *everyone* is available then so be it. I just question if that is the case for most people though?

Like, I might get a call from, a mate I haven't seen or heard from for months to say he is passing and can we meet up. Nice to catch up over some food and I prefer the informality of that.

Quite. Basically, they are trying to bully you into doing what they do because they think what they do is what everyone does or should do ... and it plainly isn't. It's funny how they get it when you invite them to come seal clubbing with you. ;-)

As long as they are artificial and used year on year ...

Sounds like they might need to upgrade the lighting all year round then? ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Did you know you aren't obliged to hang onto my every word (honoured though I am to hear it).

It's not Xmas that 'troubles' me, it's people who go overboard for the wrong reasons. Again, I wouldn't expect you to even start to comprehend the real spirit of anything, let alone Xmas!

Like people that don't get the idea of a discussion in a discussion group, 'Dicky'.

Cheers, T i m

I even try to avoid any retail outlet on the weekend ... and in fact, I think all retired people should be banned from driving and shopping on the weekend as they can much easier do that during the week when all the other poor bast*rds are at work. ;-(

Cheers, T i m

Not to the KKK

In message snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, T i m snipped-for-privacy@spaced.me.uk> writes

They already do that. Have you not noticed how much slower traffic moves after the 9.00am threshold?

I'm sure they'll be rammed full of twinkly LEDS and plastic xmas trees now, but at any time of year the local one has more clothes, furniture, food and ornaments than plants ... they always seem to have shelf space for diluted weedkiller at around the same price as the concentrate from amazon

It can, true, but whilst they obviously stand out (holding up a long queue of traffic) they aren't generally en-masse during the week.

Plus they aren't 'on a mission' as the commuters generally are (so possibly not a direct comparison), and you have the school dropoff drivers just after nine who are often clear from 10 on, so that should really be your comparison time.

Get past one (doing 25 in a 40 limit) on a weekend and you can be sure to come up behind another doing the same pretty quickly. On a weekday it tends to be clearer longer. If you can wait till it turns dark, that tends to filter a few more out (but not all).

You know when you are driving along merrily, generally keeping up with the speed limits and all of a sudden you come to a comparative halt. You look ahead up the queue and see that it's a car. Now, it could also be a horsebox or HGV or tractor and trailer or some other vehicle that is legally or physically restricted to less that the speed limit and whilst that's frustrating, you often feel they are doing the best with their lot.

The same applies if you see it's a learner, but if they are doing way less than the limit (under good conditions etc) I question their 1) readiness to be on such a road or 2) how good their instructor is as they are supposed to encourage their learner up towards the speed limit to prevent people following from taking unnecessary risks (in overtaking etc). [1]

Bit it's often it's *just* a Nissan Micra or Kia something (nothing wrong with the cars of course), driven by old lady (the older men can sometimes still 'get on with it') who seems to be completely oblivious to the queue of vehicles behind them who aren't just going for a coffee at the garden centre and are trying to gets stuff done. ;-(

I have no issue with people just sticking to or close to the speed limit (eg not going faster than) as there are often cameras in the most unexpected places that would be known by the locals but not everyone else.

But when they slow for *every* corner, *every* oncoming vehicle (even just a car and in the daylight!) *every* sign and *every* undulation in the road, it does get frustrating, especially so when you are on a deadline yourself.

The Mrs isn't as confident driving as she once was and so won't actually drive at night or in traffic / unknown places if at all possible because she doesn't want to be one of those people described above.

And 'getting on with it' isn't just about speed is it, it's about judging gaps, it's about not being in the way yourself (not stopping across junctions etc), getting right off the road and *then* deciding where to park in the garden centre ...

We had one the other day and this time it was what can be another rolling roadblock, a Mum in an SUV with kids.

They pulled into the very busy trading estate car park and into the equally busy drive-through lane at McDonalds, only to stop, back up a bit (trapping the car behind halfway across the road) and sit there waiting for a car to leave because she saw the owners walking back towards it (and there were plenty of spaces elsewhere)! Now, if you are going to do that, at least pull over to let people past so they can clear what became a logjam in all directions behind her, not stop in the *middle* of the drive though lane! Even several people hooting at her didn't seem to make any difference. ;-(

Cheers, T i m

On my first lesson my instructor picked me up from College and at the end of the lesson we stopped outside my (Mum and Dad's) house. I asked what we were doing stopped there and he replied, 'This is where you live' (he worked a few doors along at a local petrol station so we had known him for years). I replied that my moped was at college and I needed it for the next morning so he told me to drive us back to college and 'put my foot down'. ;-)

We kept to the speed limits but a bit of it was an A road so we were making the most of that. ;-)

T i m snipped-for-privacy@spaced.me.uk> wrote in news:0033ue1ejkl0aaqsg9mssjdiv1pg8k6765@

Totally agree!

I guess you only listen to right songs too and at the right time, a typical right brainer through and through, right enough. :)

Makes a change from blaming the three day week ...

"Don't you know there's a war on?"

"Earthquake at the production plant ..." ;-)

Cheers, T i m

I once had three control panels being built in Uxbridge delayed, because "The truck carrying the relays was hijacked in Mexico." It was such a daft excuse that it just had to true!

SteveW

I agree (and not unlikely I'm guessing).

Cheers, T i m