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

not so petty but I hope the dopey eejits who held up a load of commuters at the Dusseldorf Airport train station yesterday evening, and then laughed because we missed our train (they were blocking the entirety of the escalator/travalator and despite repeated polite (then not so polite) requests refused to stand to one side).

I hope they missed their flight and get stuck with a massive bill.

I have to admit I hate people like that. Blocking an escalator because you're not thinking, fine, it happens. But not moving to one side when asked? Sheer obnoxiousness that deserves reeducation.

Petty hate of the day for me is following on from last night's rant on Twitter. People who go to conferences, talks and gigs, and spend the whole time there tweeting about it. Why? Put the phone done and become a participant in life instead.

One recently that annoyed me was someone who was at a talk that tweeted out every potential little soundbite from a talk they went to see. I was thinking of going to that talk but am glad I didn't, they made it sound like a brainstorming session in a fortune cookie factory.

I thought I'd seen it all last Sunday, Pastey.

A journalist had gone to mass, and was tweeting soundbites from the priest's sermon. I think he's lost the plot altogether.

PHoD: Not being able to book an appointment with the doctor a month in advance. We're going on holiday for a month. Hubby has trouble with appointments because of the nature of his job and I need to see the GP asap when we get back, so I thought I'd make appointments for us for after our holiday. I phoned the surgery and was told that I couldn't make an appointment yet because they don't have October up on the computer appointment system. They don't even know if my preferred GP will be working on the day I want an appointment. I was asked to call back at the end of the week, which is impossible because I'll be out of the country by then.

Oh yes, the whole GPs computer system is totally effed. Deserving of a PH on its own.

Once when I was in the UK I was with my Mum whilst she made a doctor's appointment. There wasn't one free for the next three weeks (which certainly took us into the following month). It wasn't urgent and she does get excellent care there, so it didn't worry us, but it was quite a surprise.

I have a petty hate that is so petty it's laughable. We all work, among other things, in two e-mail accounts at work. We drag all e-mails that we are going to deal with in a folder of our own and then when they're done, drag them into the "done" folder. In one account this is above all the others, in the other account it's below it. I must waste - ooh, ten seconds a day looking for the folder when I move from one account to the other.

That's the least of my work IT niggles. The others could fill a book, but then, who couldn't? And before the IT crowd here get angry with me - it's also due to the company's HR policies - they recently laid off a large chunk of administrative staff, including the entire reception and switchboard team, and some IT chaps, apparently chosen from a hat. And rumour has it that more heads are due to roll in the IT department before the end of the year.

Company IT policies can be a real problem. I worked for one company whose IT policy decreed that you could only install software on your computer if you really needed it. They then decided that the technical authors didn't need to install any software that wasn't related to the authoring task - and 'necessary software' did not include the software the department was writing the manuals for!

detol antibacterial laundry soap...

Really.... how have we coped till now, oh the bacteria and germs on the clothes ah help...

Minis.

The car kind NOT the skirt kind. They're ok.

I remember, in fact I HAD one of these:-

http://bid123sold.com/Portals/0/Austin/1963%20Mini%20Cooper%20529A.JPG

But now they look like this:-

http://seeroadconditions.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Classic-Mini-Car.jpg

And apart from the name and a basic design, they have nothing in common. They may be built in the same town (but some are built in Austria).

And the whole point of the name was that they were small. Tiny. Mini.

But now they aren't. One of the models seems to be bigger than my (admittedly smallish), hatchback.

(To be fair, I wouldn't ever buy one of the originals either. Mine was unreliable, noisy and uncomfortable).

PP.

No they don't. They look like THIS:-

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Mini_Cooper_Facelift_front.JPG

And the big ones look like this:-

http://www.orangewheels.co.uk/system/images/1118/large/Mini%20Clubman.png?1334949339

Although there is nothing to show how big it is in the photo.

PP.

If you want a big Mini, isn't that what a Maxi was for?

Ooooh, the tweeting and texting and Facebooking whilst somewhere exciting thing does my head in!

Actually, not really as I have no friends with the correct equipment to upload our location, what we are doing or who we are doing it with.

I live in Cyprus, in fact I live about 2 miles from Agia Napa, which is a lovely town we rarely venture into in the summer as it suddenly goes from quiet harbour village to HELL!

We went in for a meal with friends the other night - 6 of us had a bloody marvellous night, lots of laughs, conversation, memories, many drinks and unpronounceable cocktails. All around us were couples, groups of boys, groups of girls and mixed groups. Each and every one of them were glued to a phone or tablet screen, no doubt telling the world that they were in Agia Napa with whoever, at whatever restaurant. Apart from us and a few other people and the background music, the place was almost deathly silent as none of them were talking to each other until someone needed a photo op then they all got cheesy.

I found it very bizarre.

I loved my old-school mini (which had been converted into a ... convertible) it was titchy though and it was scary being on the autobahn a lot of the time. But on boy it was uncomfortable if you had to drive for more than an hour and it was very very thirsty for petrol.

PH: people who get on a crowded commuter train. With a bike. Who then read and don't seem to care that their front wheel is flopping all over people's clean clothes. And then get all huffy and indignant when some lady says something approximating "young man it would be much less anti-social if you timed your journey better and then instead of gawping at the boobs in the Bild, took care not to inconvenience everyone further". haha. I love being the on the morning train

Back to the Minis, we own an old Land Rover, and they're quite small, about the same size as a new Mini.

How can they get away with calling them Minis? Surely they're more Mediums?

'You have spent £x.xx more at this supermarket today than you would if you had gone to one of our competitors so we will give you that much off your next shop here' vouchers.

Over the weekend, I was given a 69p off your next shop voucher by the UK's biggest supermarket. I have a clubpointscard, so they know who I am. So they could simply discount my next shop automatically and I wouldn't have to remember to bring the voucher with me next time I go shopping.

I have loads at home that I've forgotten to take in and now they have expired.

Ah. yes. I see!

PP.

At least *they* gave you the voucher. Where I do my main shop, I have to log on to a website, enter my receipt barcode, then if I could've saved elsewhere I have to enter my name, address, telephone number and email address to print out the voucher for 69p. Which I often can't be bothered to do.

Ah yes, I see too!

Deb

Pastey

Huby has a 6 yr old 90 2 seater, I have a Fiesta. Funny that for work when we need to get a LOT of stuff in one car, the Fiesta is used more often as it has more space with the back seats down!

I'm told I just don't appreciate classic engineering... My Fiesta has a/c that doesn't leak into the passenger footwell, doesn't rattle above 50mph and costs about a third in petrol...

How much does the MOT cost each year though? Our Landy costs about 200 each year, and no tax, low insurance.
Mind you, it's not seen 50 without the aid of a hill for quite some time

Cyprus is fairly cheap for running cars unless it has a huge engine and bad emissions. MOT every 2 years after 3 years old, tax around 35 quid a year (though austerity measure mean that will be shooting up next year!). Insurance probably comparable to the UK.

We did have to get rid of his ancient Landy and RR - they were trial/off roaders only and had to be trailered but there are not many places to off-road here and 3 Landys plus trailer plus my car were a bit much for one driveway!

It seems landys are like that. You get one, and then a few years later you've got at least two. And you garage is full of spare parts.