iRamble.co.uk

posted by Kate on Jun 3

My telephone rang a total of 24 times today and only one of those calls was worth having!

I have been registered with the Telephone Preference Service for a very long time and my home telephone number is also ex-directory.

So can someone please tell me why I have had so many calls offering me goods and services from companies I have never heard of?

A new mortgage? Why? I don’t even have an old one. New windows and doors - I don’t need them. A special offer on orthopaedic pillows, new blinds, a loan… the list is endless and some of them hung up when I answered.

Why me? Do they know I’m off work? Is it a plot hatched by the people who stressed me out in the first place, trying to make it worse?

I have been a database administrator for more years than I care to mention and at work I check my data every month for customers registered with the Telephone Preference Service to make quite sure that nobody calls them on an ad hoc basis - only when necessary.

It is ridiculous and a waste of money to make these calls in the vain hope that someone will buy a product. Surely the art of marketing is to reach somebody who is interested in buying the company product.

AND the biggest irritation and the reason for this post is - when I explained to one caller that I was registered with the TPS - she said “TPS? What does that mean?

I rest my case and before anyone tells me that its not just happening because I’m off work - it probably happens every day. I need to say that I realise that and I am now going to train the dog to answer the phone and growl down it.

That should stop them!!!

posted by Kate on Jun 3

I only wanted to park my car for ten minutes while I picked up the flowers for my daughters floristry course this evening.

There was an available space next to  a small red vehicle with an elderly lady sitting in the passenger seat with a mug of tea and some biscuits on the dashboard. I smiled at her as I checked my purse for the 30p ticket fee - murphy’s law was with me yet again as I realised I had no change.

I rushed to the nearest shop, got the right change for the machine and was just about to collect my ticket when I noticed the car park attendant standing next to my car. I legged it over to him in an attempt to stop him writing me a ticket, foolishly thinking I could explain….. but, he was having none of it:

"You parked without getting a ticket, are you disabled? where is your badge?"

I found my self stammering:

"I only went to get some change for the machine, I have it here look!"

"But you haven’t bought a ticket with it have you?"

"I was just going to when I noticed you standing beside my car. I can go and get it now."

"Its a bit too late now isn’t it" he sneered "I’ll give you one of my tickets, next time you’ll remember to bring the right change."

I was just about to lose it with him, after all I am off work suffering from stress, when the door of the little red car opened and the elderly lady started to speak:

"Young man?"

Young? Well I suppose he appeared that way to her.

The man turned as she spoke.

"Leave the girl alone, she went to get change, she’s got change now let her buy a ticket. Stop bullying her - surely you’re not employed to do that?"

Girl? mmmmm well in the scheme of things I must fit the category, chronologically at least.

The attendant started to bluster:

"Well actually, it is my job to fine payment evaders."

The lady looked at me:

"Go and get your ticket my dear and let me speak to this young man while you do."

I did as I was told and went over to the machine and got a ticket, but when I turned to go back to my car I noticed the attendant was walking away, in the opposite direction to me.

I got back to my car and put the ticket on the screen. I turned and looked at the lady who had shut the door again and was sipping her tea. She looked at me and winked. I asked her what had happened.

"Nothing much my dear - I just told him what I thought of him and he left."

I thanked her for her help and she just smiled and went back to her tea.

So I have decided to look around for my Fairy Godmother the next time I meet a bullying Jobsworth. She is magnificent!!!!

posted by Kate on Jun 2

It is indeed a sad day marking the passing to a higher place of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.

I have never been a dedicated follower of fashion, as the song says and anyone that knows me will testify but the haunting scent of Rive Gauche has been more than a passing fancy with me for many years.

This perfume has been on every one of my Christmas and Birthday lists and fortunately my partner is aware of my obsession and I am never left without.

May your God go with you Yves, you will never be forgotten in this house!!!

posted by Kate on Jun 2

Ah - this wonderful time of year has arrived, the heady smell of blooming flowers as industrious gardeners work their way around their gardens is only overtaken by the odour of burning food as they sit and eat al fresco whilst viewing their neat lawns and beds.

When I moved here some 6 years ago I liked the idea of the small slabbed area at the rear of the property, my idea was to grow the things that I liked in pots and make a magnificent display with no lawn mowing involved.

This has worked to a certain degree but the row of conifer trees at the end of the property have always been a problem.

When I moved in their leafy branches reached the ground and it seemed that the whole view from my kitchen window was….. conifer!!

I started by cutting off the lower branches to a height of six feet so that the earth they were planted in was visible - then I planted spring bulbs there. But the tops of the trees were obviously still growing and very much out of control.

Last Saturday a friend was coming over to decapitate the trees, the effect would be that they would look almost like conifer lollipops, tall trunks and not much foliage. It worked beautifully and the garden gets so much more natural daylight.

But, the bulbs under the trees had finished and no bedding plant will grow there so i was left with the dilemma of how to make it look good.

On a shopping trip to Tesco I discovered they were selling solar lighting at half the original price - in fairness I have tried solar garden lights before but have not found them to be very good, mostly because the solar panel was on top of the lamp and quite small. But the colour changing globe sticks that I bought had a solar panel that could be placed in the sunshine and a long wire so that the globes could be placed under the trees.

That night they looked amazing and by day they are still attractive as garden ornaments with their chrystal globes.

Fired with enthusiasm I went back to the store and bought two sets of blue LED string lights which now wind through the bottom branches of the trees and around the trunks.

The effect is stunning!!! Initial outlay £40 altogether and no running costs.

Okay - lets get the barbeque going and burn some food!!!!!

posted by Kate on Jun 1

It’s true - I do ramble. I write short stories, the odd poem, reviews and letters of complaint! I like rambling and now I have the perfect place to do it!!!

But what shall I ramble about on here? Life? Probably the best thing - after all its the one thing we all have in common and we all moan about its vagaries at times - yes I think that there will be a few posts about life in general and the way it treats me in particular.

Work? Now there’s a subject - and one which I have many a rant (sorry ramble) to make. I feel there will be many posts on this.

People? Oh yes, I meet some of the strangest and some of the nicest people and this may be the place to discuss them, protecting the names of the innocent of course.

I might add a short story at times just for added interest, and, maybe a few photographs.

How great is this? My own place to share my views!!!

Watch this space!!!