Journal Entries
A high horse ....
Posted Dec 5, 2011
On a thread on this very site I recently asked if there was a stable nearby that I could hire or purchase such a thing, since there are rather a lot of them about at the moment.
One of the people in the thread seemed to think I already had one.
It made me wonder.
Do I have a high horse on which I sit to look down on other researchers?
I never thought I did because I'm in no position to look down at anyone but you never can tell how what you write sounds to other people.
I hear it in my head and my posts are meant to be civil, honest and funny (if applicable) but do other people hear preaching, mischief and jokes with jags?
I don't know.
There was thread last night where an eminent researcher wrote something that looked quite sharp to me - even considering that he is normally quite economical with words. Turns out that when he explained what he meant (using more words) and I re-read what he originally said it was totally not sharp at all except in my head. I didn't post to the convo by the way so no point in looking for it, I was just watching.
High horses, am I on one looking down, am I looking up or maybe I'm some sort of circus performer on and off while swinging a rope around my head? 
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Latest reply: Dec 5, 2011
In the mood .....
Posted Dec 4, 2011
... for Christmas?
I haven't been in the mood for various reasons and I haven't even started decorating the house or purchasing anything for the great Christmas giveaway but .... I've just looked out the window and it's snowing.
It's positively chucking it down and all of a sudden I have a funny feeling that maybe it is the season to be jolly and I should perhaps brush off ill-health and a heavy few months and just join the festivities.
Snow, I love it. I love the way it drops a silent blanket 
so that if it snows overnight nobody knows until the morning.
I love it because it tidies up my messy garden.
I love it because it's always such a surprise.
It's snowing.
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Latest reply: Dec 4, 2011
Najo, Wednesday 30/11/11 The end ....
Posted Nov 30, 2011
... of the journal a day thingy.
I've found it a bit of a task really and disappointingly only really posted reflections of my days - which was really boring for any readers but will now serve me as a permanent reminder of Nov 11.
All told it's been a busy month for me and it's ended more or less as it began with me being sick.
In the quiet moments this month I've been reading some things on site and some of it is quite alarming. I haven't really been posting but as an outsider for all of the conversations here it's really easy to see that not all the changes since Auntie Beeb left are for the better.
I've been shocked - yes, actually shocked to see people I 'know' and number among my friends being downright rude in their posts and I can't really grasp why.
Manners seem to have been left back at the beeb for a lot of people and that too is disturbing. I won't add my thoughts on the decision to name moderators or on some of the moderation decisions but the quicker this site is settled the better.
I don't think it's a good idea to be advertising for new blood or inviting people in until the dust has well and truly settled and by the looks of things that could be some time.
I'm not sure how much I will be participating in the coming month due to health, work and panto commitments but I will be watching in the quiet moments and hope that some sort of 'normal' service will be resumed.
Discuss this Journal entry [33]
Latest reply: Nov 30, 2011
Najo, Tuesday 29/11/11 For goodness sake!
Posted Nov 29, 2011
I don't know if it's just me or if everybody's life goes into meltdown now and again. I just find if one thing goes wrong things just keep going wronger and wronger until it hits bottom and then ... well, just sort of levels out.
I consider myself a pretty up-beat person for most of the time and my glass is always half-full never half-empty but just for the moment the downward spiral seems to be going at full kilter.
November and this journal a day thing will help me keep this particular spiral 'for the record' and at least I'll know that it's not just my imagination - 30 days in which things went bad.
I was eating a baguette with ham in it .... mmmm, it was lovely, very fresh and tasty. Then I heard a large crack somewhere in my head. It wasn't my skull, my jaw or my neck it was a tooth. Right at the back of my mouth I have a crown, a bridge and a tooth without a nerve ?! I don't remember why - it's been like that for about 20 years - all that work was done at the same time. I can honestly say it's never given me a bit of trouble in the 20 years it's been sitting in my jaw and doing all the chewing type work. Last night it seemed to find fresh baguette just one step too far.
I'll have to find time to get to the dentist someday soon. The tooth without the nerve hurts - I don't know how or why because I can't see anything obvious but I can't eat on that side of my mouth ... maybe I'll shed a few pounds (weight).
I took a phonecall at work today from daughter's school and had to go fetch her - she was feeling sick. She's been lying on the sofa since temperature up and down the whole day.
I was at the doctor again today - I have another chest infection. More of those horse pills they pass off as anti-biotics and another course of steroids. Only back to work and off for another week! I'm sorely tempted just to give up altogether, it's getting to be a bit of a struggle.
Anyway, going to try to sleep this off - or at least sleep off the sickness caused by the anti-biotics.
Maybe things will look up when this journal a day thing is over ... it's been notably downward since it started .... when the last journal is posted tomorrow I promise I won't post another until my news is good.
Discuss this Journal entry [6]
Latest reply: Nov 29, 2011
Najo, Monday 28/11/11 Every little helps ......
Posted Nov 28, 2011
... or so they say. I've found that Tesco's value leaves a lot to be desired. Here is my story of today.
When I picked daughter up from school we decided just to hit Tesco on the way home. That way we'd be in for the night.
Tesco is very close to my home and it's one of their bigger stores so we tend to run in and out of it like a corner shop and do several small shops a week. Today I was in for some essential. I always check my receipt because there have been a few offers in the past that haven't been given at the till. Today I checked my receipt.
On of my purchases was a dozen diet coke (I'm a huge drinker of diet coke) they were priced at £4.79 and I wasn't going to bother because it works out cheaper buying them at the Mace then I noticed a yellow label 2 for £7.00 on Coke Zero, Diet, Regular 12 x 330 cans. That works out a few pennies cheaper than the Mace so I thought - what the 
I'll have them drank in a week anyway.
When I checked my receipt there was no discount given. I did what I normally do in such circumstances and walked all the way to the back of the store and checked the label (sometimes they're very misleading and I wanted to be sure before approaching customer services). The label was as I remembered it so daughter and I went to customer services.
Normally at this juncture the customer service rep will scan the product and confirm whether there is an offer or not and then usually she'll go round to the product and check the label with the customer. Today was different. She rang the manager Sam who went round and checked the label. Sam then rang to say the offer was only on Coke Zero. While I was waiting another customer service rep leaned in and confirmed that the offer was over and there were NO yellow labels round there as she had checked earlier.
Unsurprisingly this all p1ssed me off greatly.
I work in a pretty responsible job where the ability to read and respond accurately to a lot of complex medical information is key. In fact I'd go so far as to say - I'm not stupid and I can read, and I am not subject to delusions.
Anyhow, I said as much. I called the manager a liar and that if there was no such label (and bear in mind I'd seen it and checked it TWICE) he must have removed it.
At this point customer service rep walked round and came back with a small yellow label stating the offer 2 for £7.00 Coke Zero. I told her that wasn't the label that I'd seen ..... then I had a closer look. The label had been folded so that the other types of coke were no longer visible - just the Zero and the offer could be seen.
This really put my blood pressure up. 'It's been folded' I proclaimed. The manager obviously went down, saw the error and folded the paper before putting it back on display - all to make me look foolish and save a few pence. I was fuming.
Customer service rep said 'As a gesture of goodwill I'll refund ...'
'I don't want a gesture of good will' says I 'I want your cctv checked and I want to see the footage of your manager fixing the price' I was outraged at being called a liar when I knew the manager had been at his work!
Anyway, to cut a long story short I had double the difference refunded but the manager has probably got away with it.
I still feel rather cross about it. I'm thinking of writing to head office about it. It makes me wonder do I need to photograph every offer I purchase just in case they try the same stunt again. Or the other alternative is to shop at ASDA or Sainsbury's. I believe my Tesco days are over.
Discuss this Journal entry [11]
Latest reply: Nov 28, 2011
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