A lazy day


This was the day I was going to:
  • Do the supermarket shopping for the items I forgot to get yesterday
  • Go  to the bank and building society.
  • Take Paddy for a walk.
  • Hopefully catch my friend at home so that I could deliver her birthday present which is now over a month overdue.
  • Bath Paddy.
  • Do the hoovering, dusting and clean the bathroom.
  • Do the ironing.
So, what I actually did was:
  • Go to the suppermarket for the items I forgot to get yesterday.
  • Go to the bank and building society.
  • Take Paddy for a walk.
  • Do the ironing.
This was because:
Friend wasn't in yet again
And ...
When I got home from town, Keith was already settled in front of the television, engrossed in yet another horrible war programme.  (That 'Yesterday' channel has a lot to answer for!) Normally when he is watching something deadly (nearly always), I catch up with a few Radio 4 podcasts on my Ipod or listen to some music and read or go and do some housework, but today, I put on my laptop, stuck on my earphones to listen to some music and began my usual websurfing, only this time it turned into a bit of a marathon session, as I decided to visit some of the links on the blogs of my blogroll -  friends of friends, as you might say. It's amazing how time flies when you do that; rather like penetrating deeper and deeper into a maze, but very interesting and a great way to find more blogs to visit regularly.
Of course, there are two slight problems with that:
  • It will now take me a little longer to do the rounds of my fellow bloggers each day.
  • I still haven't done any of the cleaning.
Oh well, tomorrow is another day...
with another list.

How dentists age!


I had to go to the dentist yesterday. It was only for a checkup but I knew I also needed a filling, with the accompanying, dreaded injection - in the event, I needed two of those! My dentist is Latvian. Her English is fine, although she doesn't speak much and actually, I wouldn't care if she was Martian because, as I think I have mentioned before, NHS dentists are like hens' teeth around here, so  Keith and I consider ourselves  lucky to have found one. Well, I think Keith considers himself lucky, but he hides it well when the time comes for him to go.
Anyway, in keeping with the dental theme of the day, Keith found me the following:
(Apologies for the capital letters, but that's how it came.)

MY NAME IS ALICE SMITH AND I WAS SITTING IN THE WAITING ROOM FOR
MY FIRST APPOINTMENT WITH A NEW DENTIST. I NOTICED HIS DENTAL
DIPLOMA, WHICH BORE HIS FULL NAME.
SUDDENLY, I REMEMBERED A TALL, HANDSOME, DARK HAIRED BOY WITH THE
SAME NAME HAD BEEN IN MY SECONDARY SCHOOL CLASS SOME 30-ODD YEARS AGO
COULD HE BE THE SAME GUY THAT I HAD A SECRET CRUSH ON, WAY BACK THEN?
UPON SEEING HIM, HOWEVER, I QUICKLY DISCARDED ANY SUCH THOUGHT. THIS BALDING, GRAY HAIRED MAN WITH THE DEEPLY LINED FACE WAS FAR TOO OLD TO HAVE BEEN MY CLASSMATE. AFTER HE EXAMINED MY TEETH, I ASKED HIM IF HE HAD
ATTENDED MORGAN PARK SECONDARY SCHOOL .
'YES, YES I DID. I'M A MORGANNER! 'HE BEAMED WITH PRIDE.
'WHEN DID YOU LEAVE TO GO TO COLLEGE?' I ASKED
HE ANSWERED, IN 1965. WHY DO YOU ASK?
'YOU WERE IN MY CLASS!' I EXCLAIMED.
HE LOOKED AT ME CLOSELY.
THEN THAT UGLY,
OLD,
BALD,
WRINKLED,
FAT ARSED,
GREY HAIRED,
DECREPIT,
BASTARD ASKED.....
'WHAT DID YOU TEACH?'

Something to smile at

That locksmiths' forum that Keith subscribes to hides a wealth of entertainment that you would not immediately associate with locks and keys...
Like this for instance. Enjoy!


Parking at Eagles Meadow


This week's local free newspaper carried an item about a man who had driven over to Wrexham from Crewe to avail himself of the shopping delights of our lovely new blot on the landscape shopping centre, Eagles Meadow, which has disrupted the daily life of the town for a good two years and counting and has reduced the town centre to a ghost of its former self.  However, that is not the point of this post. No, this post is about the man from Crewe who parked in the car park, was assisted in buying his ticket from the machine by the attendant on duty and then went off to do his shopping, secure in the knowledge that he was legally parked.
However, on his return, he discovered that he had myseriously incurred a £70 parking fine, in spite of coming back before the end of his allotted time. It seemed that, having placed the ticket on his dashboard, the draught caused by his shutting the car door had flipped the ticket over so that the attendant couldn't read it. Fair enough, you might think, although hardly deserving of a fine of £70.  However, the attendant was the one who had helped him with the ticket machine and had watched him place the ticket in his car! So even though he couldn't read the ticket, he knew that it was valid.
When the 'spokesperson' for the firm responsible was wheeled out, she said, oh yes, he would have been given a ticket in the circumstances but, if he appeals and can show his ticket (he has and he can), the fine will be waived.
So am I the only person who read this and wondered why on earth the ticket would be given in the first place knowing that it will be rescinded on appeal as a matter of course?
Of course, this kind of incident is not going to do a lot to encourage people to do their shopping there either, but I can live with that.

Plaster board and dust

So, we're still no further forward on the British Gas smart meter front and I've given up making non-existent appointments with them...