h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I boot my computer with a mental list of half a dozen things I want/need to do. Then hootoo opens up and I forget what they were.

is my friend!

"Booking fees for tickets for gigs, theatre and cinema."

Absolutely. About a month ago I tried to book a ticket to a small gig by The Civil Wars.

I went to one major ticket site who were charging (from memory) £16 for the ticket. No problem. Went to pay and they charged a booking fee (I think it was £1 or £2) and a postage fee of about £5. The only postage option was Royal Mail Secure Delivery. They did not provide an option to pick up at the box office, print my ticket myself or get it sent through standard Royal Mail post - all of which would have been cheaper.

I thought "sod that" and went to another major ticket site. They only charged £15 for the ticket and £2 something processing fee which was the only fee they charged and included Royal Mail standard post.

I bought some tickets for Manowar (for my son) and was charged (I think) £3.50 for 'delivery' for EACH ticket. It was e-mailed to me - I had to print a sheet with a bar code for each one. And THEN I had to chase them up for it when it hadn't come after a few days.

Now that IS a con.

PP

Fitted sheets, how do you fold them

Right swl are you listening and watching carefully:

Fold the sheet in half - either crosswise or lengthwise, although crosswise is easier to manage.

Take the four corners - i.e. the points at which the corner seams finish, which correspond to the four top corners of your matterss - and fold the pockets at the end of the sheet so that both face the same direction. That means that one will be inside out. Tuck the inside-out pocket into the right-way-out pocket. This will make a sort of square, but the long bits which go down the side of the mattress are still sticking out at the sides.


Holding the same four corners again, fold these sides inwards so that you now have almost an exact square, which, with a little tweaking at the corners will be relatively flat and which you can then continue to fold to the required size and shape.

Not easy to describe in words, but with a little practice you can do it with a couple of flicks of the wrist.

Are you sure that isn't an origami swan?

Yep - and paper in Golden Ratio is easy to calculate financially too. A sheet in DIN (hun norm)A0 is exactly one square meter.Just fold and cut and you have two sheets of A1 of half a sq m each. Go on and on - the sheets will always have the same height to width ratio.

Pit

the government and these riots. just talk cameron, just talk. *sigh*

ph? the sheer amount of paperwork and pressure involved in going to poland and arranging it. bloody hell. yes, mother, we need flights but i won't start searching and wasting time and energy until they get back to me on when i should be able to get there. now shut up unless you want to bloody do it.

When your fingernails get a little bit too long and you lose part of an eyebrow trying to scratch an itch.

TC, that fitted-sheet-fold is sheer brilliance. Can't wait to apply it.

I know this is Ask, but I've got to share two other how-tos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbTnRkEn8U8 (fold a t-shirt)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uONg5voLxo (tie a shoelace)

Petty hates: being told I've made a good choice, particularly if it's by the vendor.

Thought of the day on radio 2

It's often not enough nowadays to just put a leg against the bed in order to get the other one into a trouser. Too often it's necessary to lean against it.

Leaning against your trousers doesn´t help. I´ve tried.

auto-shlusell-hose'

car-key-trousers

It's more elegant to sit on the bed and put your feet into both legs, pull them up to the knees, then stand up and pull the whole lot up.

You learn this sort of thing after several operations and dressing with the ensuing limited strength and agility.

Ah but would it stop the annoyance?
Perhaps it's more practice I need.

>>Perhaps it's more practice I need.<<

Yes, by all means. Get used to wear pants, at least when you go out.

Pit

Aha! If it's annoyance you're after, just pull your trousers on while standing in the middle of the room. Laughs guaranteed all round!

Yeah, laughs guaranteed but not all round

My internet is playing silly buggers again. I only got it fixed round a month or two ago. Argh.

Recumbentman, I couldn’t tie my shoes or my school tie til I was sixteen. My father had to teach me. My grandfather never learnt to tie his shoes and he died at 61. (Is it “learned” or “learnt”?)

Rod, just physically jump into your trousers!