So, my littlest brother has managed to get himself a place at Eton to do his A Levels (that’s as well as the A Level’s in German and French that he already has!).
Two years worth of education usually costs £44,000! He has a full scholarship, so Dad isn’t paying but it will of course cost him a lot for all the extras.
I’m so proud of him, he’s worked so hard for this that he really deserves it.
Today has turned into a nightmare.
Gzu went in for a service this morning (brake warning light, and left turn indicator not working all the time), I dropped him off and had to walk home. Actually the walk was quite nice and I managed to get some good photos. Then it was back in the car (little tiny red car (LTRC) this time) to take him to get a new passenger window – Autoglass in town.
On the way City Motors call to say that the brake light in Gzu keeps coming on as the brake pads and discs are down to 95% – only £290 to fix that! What really narks me is the fact that the car had a service in January and they were fine then – could they really have deteriorated that much in 2 months – seems so.
Anyway, I arrive at Autoglass (or whatever they are called) only to be told that they don’t have the window in stock so it will have to go back tomorrow. Later I’ll take LTRC and park it in the university car park that gets locked at night so that F can take it in tomorrow.
After weeks of waiting for F to take the dyson in to be fixed I actually remembered to put it in the car and take it to Killis. Mr Killi (what a nice man) tells me that dyson vacuums became terribly made when they moved production to Malaysia – and guess what, that’s where ours was made. Needless to say, I’m waiting for them to phone me with a quote for fixing the damn thing.
So, next it was off to the post office to tax Gzu – £115 for the year! Oh, but I didn’t have the correct documentation – the paperwork for the insurance details (which I renewed on Saturday – only £420!!) was incorrect. So I’ve popped home for that and thought I’d have a cuppa.
Heavens the last few days have been expensive – thank god it’s nearly the end of the month.
And this bloody blog won’t download photos!
Well, it was bound to happen. F left the little tiny red car at the university in an unlocked car park – and someone decided to have a rummage around inside.
This is the second time it’s happened, and nothing was taken either time – actually that’s not true. The first time they took my gym bag out of the boot. When I realised I decided to have a drive around to see if I could find it, sure enough it was dumped by some bins behind St George’s library – the only thing missing was my cap!
I can’t say I’m surprised that it’s happened again as F left loads of stuff on the back seat, this time they didn’t make it to the boot where they would have found loads of bits of wood and some tools.
So tomorrow as well as driving Gzu to the garage as a warning light keeps coming on (and then walking home), I’ll also have to drive little tiny red car to the garage for a new window. I think I’ll wait for that to be done, maybe take some photos. I’ll have to take the day off work – perhaps I’ll get some things done around the house!
Anyway, F has got the minibus as tomorrow he’s going to Milton Keynes (lucky him!).
WRITTEN ON WEDNESDAY 15TH 23:14
Today I seem to have been driving forever! I had a meeting at 2pm in Lancaster, but set off early from Sheffield so that I could stop and take photos on the way. Good job I did, as I got into the edges of the Peak District it was obvious that it had snowed overnight – Snake Pass was white, and there was still snow in the centre of the roads. It didn’t really clear until Glossop.
I didn’t really get the chance to take many photos – a few gloves and socks in the road. Even driving through Stalybridge area there was nothing to inspire me so I got straight onto the M60/M6 up to Lancaster.
The meeting with OAN was un-eventful, hopefully they will come up with some small projects which we can do before the money runs out. It was funny, and might explain why I haven’t been to see them before, but I felt like a complete fraud!
These people have been in archaeology since before I went to secondary school! And I’m advising them on project development! Also, a lot of the time they assume me to have knowledge of certain things – and although I have the basics, I don’t have a wide overview that years of experience can bring.
The drive down to Gloucestershire took hours, it’s a bloody long way! A crash at Knutsford services meant I came off for a cup of tea, but other than that I motored down the M6/M5.
Just as I was arriving into town one of my absolute favourite songs came on the Radio – Bees Wing by Richard Thompson –
“Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee’s wingSo fine a breath of wind might blow her awayShe was a lost child, oh she was running wildShe said “As long as there’s no price on love, I’ll stayAnd you wouldn’t want me any other way”
Since I was driving past Stratton I thought I’d stop and say hello to M, not something I’ve done for a few years now. I sat in the car park listening to the end of the song – and crying a few tears, the end of the song seemed to say the right things –
“Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee’s wing And I miss her more than ever words could say If I could just taste all of her wildness now If I could hold her in my arms today
Well I wouldn’t want her any other way”
Today I recieved some complete nonsense from the local Liberal Democrat candidate, so much so that I felt the need to send an email complaining!!
The letter, from Denise Reaney for the Gleadless Valley & Heeley Liberal Democrats is as follows (complete with gramatical errors!):-
“Happy New Year to you. It’s seems hard to believe that it’s 2006 already.
Over the last twelve months, your local Lib Dem team have been out and about in your area. Fighting hard to get your local services improved by the Council.
This isn’t easy with Labour being in charge again at the Town Hall. Once again Labour bosses have become arrogant and complacent.
Their favoured areas policy means that you get less of a service for the money you pay. It takes longer to repair streat-light where you live. You get less spent on your roads. Less spent on cleaning up your streets. That can’t be right.
Labour bosses are wasting Millions on projects like the Park Hill flats. But they can’t even keep the city moving. It’s no wonder more and more people are saying it’s time for a change.
You deserve better services than you receive from this Labour Council. The Lib Dems want better care taken of our local streets and public spaces. They want to see an end to Labour continuing to waste your money.
I look forward to continuing to work hard for you in the months ahead. If you can help with that complete the form on the back of this letter. Then return it right away using the envelope this came in. No stamp is needed.”
Aside from the fact that I disagree with the comments about Park Hill flats, I am appalled by the terrible grammar and the fact that she does not once tell me what hard work the Lib Dems have been doing.
I decided to write to the party (the last leaflet I got from them prompted me to write to Denise directly but I didn’t really get a satisfactory answer), below is my email to them:-
“Yet again I am moved to write in response to literature received from Denise Reaney, this time it’s the letter received today (13th March) wishing me a Happy New Year!!
Firstly I should state that I am a long term Lib Dem voter – but Denise Reaney’s letter has totally made me loose faith in the party.
In this letter Ms Reaney take great delight in telling all the wrong doings of the current Labour administration in Sheffield – nowhere does she give me any information as to what the Liberal Democrats when be doing instead (which was the reason I wrote to her in the first place following a similar newsletter received through my letterbox recently).
I’m sorry to say that my partner and I will no longer be voting for the Liberal Democrats in Sheffield – we already know what is wrong with Labour, what we wanted to know is what is right with the Lib Dems – but it seems that you are so complacent you feel you don’t need to tell us.
Don’t bother to reply to this message unless you feel able to provide a positive response about what the Liberal Democrats will do for Sheffield instead of just repeating the complaints about the other parties (as Ms Reaney did in her reply to my original email).
I honestly believed that the Liberal Democrats had something to say, not just the usual smear campaigns that are so commonly employed by the other two main parties. It seems that the only option left is to vote for a party who have clear policies which they are prepared to admit publicly – The Green Party.”
Lets wait and see if I get a response – I will of course post it here so that you can see.
It’s a miracle I’m still alive! This morning I came out of York station and was about to cross the road (on a zebra crossing), when I taxi driver almost mowed me down!
When I thumped the back of his car, he started shouting abuse at me! Why are people so agressive? You’d think that taxi drivers who rely on their driving licenses to earn a living, would be more careful yet they seem to be the worst – lunatics!
Oh well, I did survive and made it into the office – more on that later.
Well this weekend has been really enjoyable.
Yesterday was Durham Archaeology day, we had to get up at 5am (even before it was light!) so as to arrive in time to set up. County archaeology days are always interesting as they are aimed at the general public – most of whom are complete fruit and nut cases! Talk about care in the community!
Anyway, I managed to sell about £190 worth of secondhand books – despite the fact that I didn’t spend much time there. I’d actually got over the fact that Lou hadn’t contacted me since the year before (she was with me when I got the news about Mum’s diagnosis), and had arranged to meet with her.
It was great to get together and chat. She’s still digging for Durham Uni Unit, but the latest plan is to do an MA in Psychology. She’s been having a crap time recently because in the last six months 3 of her grandparents have died, and last week the day before her grandmother died Lou’s boyfriend finished it.
She is still enjoying digging, but wants a new challenge. What is really nice is that she is still really grateful to me for getting her into archaeology again (I pursuaded her to leave a well paid office job to go digging!).
F and I got back really late, so after the second half of a fantastic beef and mushroom pie (see above, before we started it) I went to bed early whilst F stayed up marking Geophysics assignments.
Although F got up again at 7am (more marking), we did manage a lie in as he came back to bed to listen to Broadcasting House on Radio 4. We then had to go to the department to unload the books and take the secondhand ones back to the unit.
Afterwards we spent about an hour driving around Sheffield streets looking for lost gloves to photograph!! We also found a really nice Muriel (mural to you!) up at Heeley Green. The fruits of our travels are now on Flickr.
He’s been back to the department to sort other things out, and I managed to drag myself away from the computer for a couple of hours in order to sort out some stuff in the attic (including packing up a load of my PhD stuff – I don’t think I’ll be going back to it for a while).
T has just sent me a link to her blog – I feel very privilaged as I’m the only person she’s given it to – if I can work out how I’ll give her a link to mine.
Anyway, F is cooking a roast and I’ve got a pint of perry. I’d better go do something useful – like phone T!
Why is it that people seem to think that it is okay to spit up phlegm in the street? Walking the streets of Britain is horrid enough with all the rubbish, dog poo and chewing gum to negotiate – but little puddles of slime are just too much.
I’m not a football fan, but on the rare occasion that I have seen a televised match I have noticed that footballers often spit – but this is okay! It’s not nice, and I don’t particularly want to watch it, but lets be honest, these men are in the middle of a pitch without a Kleenex – they have no alternative.
I might be wrong, but I would hazard a guess that the rise in the incidence of ‘street spitting’ has something to do with the fact that these people are watching footballers and have some misguided idea that it’s either cool or at the least an expectable thing to do – afterall, multi-millionaires do it!
Would they spit on the floor in their own home or garden? NO I doubt it, so why do we have to witness this disgusting habit. The worst of all is when it is preceded by a rasping snort and clearing of the throat – impossible to ignore.
And it’s not just young men, yesterday in York a heard, and then saw a middle aged accountant looking man leave a large wet slimy patch on the pavement, I regularly see women spitting, but have to admit that they are rarely above 30 years old.
Is it beyond the wit of these people to carry a tissue (obviously a handkerchief is way to uncool), or….even to swallow?
I’d need to check, but I’m sure that it’s an offence to spit in public – or is that wishful thinking, and besides what policeman is going to waste their time (not to mention generating paperwork) with something so insignificant?
I guess we will continue to be surrounded by phlegm on the pavement – lovely!
Okay, I hadn’t intended this blog to turn into a place where I came to rant about things – but actually it probably will be – you are free to leave now, you have been warned.
Today I drove back from T & E’s house (had a fantastic weekend and looking forward to visiting them again soon) in Suffolk to wonderful South Yorkshire, along the A11/A14 I needed to stop for a wee – great I thought, services 3 miles (Cambridge Services).
OH NO! not a services at all, more like entering my worst nightmare! M Extra – where you can sample the delights of not just McDonalds, but also KFC, Pizza Hut and Le Petit Four (pastries) – and when you’ve stuffed your face with junk there is the opportunity to play in the large amusement arcade. What a day out that must be!! Luckly I managed to make it to the loo and back without being sucked in – phew!
Can this really be what people want to eat? What amazed me even more was the fact that just down the road at Peterborough Services it was the same (I didn’t stop!).
Upon returning home I found a copy of The Guardian with an excellent essay by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall ‘I’m lovin’ it’. In it he takes great delight in letting readers know that McDonald’s are to close 25 stores in the UK – I’m in full agreement with him – EXCELLENT news! (if the link still works you can read the full story at – http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1723272,00.html)
Apparently it’s not what the British public want to see (starting to restore my faith in the average UK citizen), profit margins for McD’s Europe have been dragged down. As HF-W points out – even their attempt to be ‘healthy’ has back fired on them – some of their salad meals (with their dressing) have as much fat as a 1/4 pounder with cheese AND fries!!
It makes me feel very self rightous, I haven’t eaten in a McD’s for nearly 4 years (I have been in to use their loos!! – don’t get me started on the lack of public conveniences!)
Fairtrade apathy in York
Tuesday, 14 March, 2006Did you know that it’s been Fairtrade Fortnight for the past two weeks? This year I decided to do something to raise awareness – a coffee/tea break in our York office.
I arranged with the office services manager that I could have a meeting room and some hot water jugs, and then sent off for Fairtrade tea, coffee, hot chocolate, biscuits etc. The pack cost me £13 and included free samples to give away, posters, information leaflets and balloons. I also bought bananas, juice and milk.
About a week ago I emailed the entire office to let them know that there would be free hot drinks and snacks available between 11 and 11.30 this morning, I even followed the email up with a reminder this morning.
Now bear in mind that there are about 100 people working in the office, about 60 or so are likely to be in on a Monday (it being office day). I didn’t expect everyone in to come down, but I did at least expect support from the team I work in (the Inspectorate and casework staff), of which there are at least 30, many of whom were in.
So, how many turned up? Well, about 20 in total which is great and although I didn’t charge for anything many left a donation and I raised £16 (just enough to cover costs, but I’ll be sending the whole lot to the Fairtrade Foundation). The thing that has really annoyed me was that only 2 people came from the Inspectorate/Casework staff – I know that they are busy, and that there were team meetings, but the email I sent stressed that they didn’t need to stay, they could just come down and grab a drink and snack if they were busy.
I’m astounded by the apathy and disinterest that these people have – even my line manager didn’t bother.
The problem is that this disinterest totally surprised me and put me in a terrible mood for the rest of the day! I won’t be bothering again – at least not in the York office, I get the idea that the Manchester office would be better, they are at least boycotting Nestle.
For anyone who is interested, the Fairtrade Foundation website can be found at :- http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/
Posted in General Comment | Leave a Comment »