it's the law, stupid

i admit perhaps i am a bit cranky in my old(-er) age. blame it on the commute, the stress of modern life, the grieving process which really does take a long time to get through. and yes, i do have little patience - but still, the law is the law.

the other morning, i arrived at the train station to go to work. it was raining. the station entrance - the wee bit that is covered, right by the doors - was rammed full of smokers. i had to run the gauntlet to get through without inhaling any of their cancer-emitting sticks. nice.

now the catch here is that, as of 1 july last year, that area is a designated no smoking area, courtesy of the uk's (slightly laggard and 'partial' - jut ban it outright in public, i say) smoking ban. it's the law, there's no (more) room for debate, it's done.

so i'm asking myself - what the f*!@, why isn't somone moving them along? just inside the doors is a station employee. "are they allowed to smoke there?" i ask, all innocent like. "no, the law says they can't - but it's raining," she replied, as if that justifies it. yes, excuse me while i go take some drugs as i'm a bit down cause of the rain.

a bit of an exxageration, granted, but what if everyone to pick and choose which laws they will comply with, dependent on the weather? "oh, i shot him cause i was down as it was snowing." "oh officer, i only sold the 13 year olds beer as they were depressed at the cloudiness." i don't think these will wash somehow.

call me cranky, but i do plan to write a letter to the station manager. and perhaps the council - let the greedy bastards get fined (fare hikes are another sore point). i shall fight for my right not to die of passive smoking.

things that make me go argh

Sorry it's been a while. Been a rough year - some of which will feature in my list of things that me go argh, grrrrrrrrrrr and cry - sometimes all at once:

* joining a group of people waiting to cross the road... and none of them have pressed the button.
* the tube. especially the platform at bank on the waterloo & city line. mingeramous.
* cancer.
* unsympathetic - even bullying - bosses. not cool. nor legal.
* people who disregard the QUIET ZONE stickers on the train. there's a special place in hell for all of them.
* bank charges - £25 for being 10p over my overdraft limit? daylight robbery.
* interest front-loaded loans, thus screwing you on early settlements. criminal surely.
* colds, viruses, any kind of leurgy going - cause i'll always catch it goddam.
* the fact that donuts make me fat. this is a constant source of frustration for me.
* people who smoke in doorways/entrances to buildings, forcing me to run the gauntlet.
* people who smoke just around the corner of a street i'm turning in to, so i have no chance to take a deep breath and run.
* public smoking really to be honest. come on government, quit losing people's personal details and bombing other countries and do something useful.
* stag dos. especially those in amsterdam.
* the hypocrisy entrenched in society about gender roles and acceptable behaviours.
* a certain hospital pissing away nearly a month of what turned out to be my mother's last four with us.
* 8 august, 4.35am. never forgotten.
* 13 august.
* the insensitivity of people.
* the fact that our house is ALWAYS so damn cold. and is too small.
* the fact that we still haven't finished putting our wedding presents away - despite being married for 3 months today and having had all the pressies for 2 months now.
* christmas shopping.
* buses that are meant to be every 6-7 minutes in reality being every 15-30. i mean you, 341.
* buses that just plain don't turn up and leave me in the cold for half an hour and make me late for work. that's you, jazz 2. (and every 20 minutes? my ass.)
* facebook being unavailable when i get home in the evening. argh.

why is ebay so pants?

This is a milder (much much milder) version of a description of ebay from earlier.

I have been trying to list an item to sell on ebay for over a month now. Yes, you read that correctly.

First I had to set up a PayPal account. I begrudgingly did so. What they don't tell you as part of the verification process until too late is that they cannot verify to a mobile phone. And you cannot then change the phone number on your account either. So I had to wait for two weeks to get a code through the post to verify my account. Account duly verified.

Next step: linking my ebay account to my PayPal. I followed the steps set out by ebay to do so. Lovely - my PayPal account recognises my ebay, and all the links to PayPal from ebay take me to my account. Excellent, I thought, accounts link.

I tried to list my item. Denied, as apparently my accounts aren't linked. Erm, hello, I did what you said, why is this not working? Cue the following email to ebay, on 24 February:

I have verified my PayPal account, and followed the steps to link my eBay and PayPal accounts. But when I try to list an item to sell, it is still telling me that my accounts are not linked. From my PayPal account, I can see my eBay account and set preferences. What else do I need to do?? This is infuriating. I first tried to sell this item 2 weeks ago but had to wait for verification since PayPal does not let you verify through mobile numbers - it does not tell you that until too late. This whole process will deter people from using your services.

Which was met with this reply, on 25 February:

Dear eBay Member, Thank you for writing eBay in regard to paying through PayPal. Please understand that since your inquiry is specifically related to PayPal, we need to redirect your question to our PayPal customer support center. As partners, PayPal and eBay are committed to provide the best customer support possible. Due to system limitations we do not have access to the best information and tools to look into your PayPal account. Hence the PayPal representatives are equipped to answer your PayPal-specific questions. To help you as quickly and efficiently as possible, I’ve forwarded your email directly to a PayPal representative. We do this to ensure the security of your PayPal account information. When you have PayPal inquiries, you’ll get answers faster if you contact PayPal Customer Service directly. To reach PayPal Customer Service, log into your account and send a secure email through the following Web page: [deleted] It has been a pleasure assisting you. Thank you for choosing eBay. Sincerely, Ryan J. eBay Customer Support

** Please note I have yet to hear from PayPal, presuming Ryan did indeed forward my email on. Bear in mind, that was the end of February...**
Now to me, the problem seems to be coming from the ebay side, since my PayPal account is verified and recognising ebay no problem. Cue my reply, to the LACK of assistance:

Dear Sir, My problem is NOT with PayPal, which you should have gathered from actually reading my email. My problem is with EBAY. I cannot link my ebay account to my PayPal - or rather I cannot get ebay to recognise that the link has been made, despite it showing on my PayPal account.This to me is an EBAY problem, NOT PayPal.Thank you.

Further compounding the inanity, I was sent this - which just about sent me over the edge:

Dear Katie, Thank you for writing eBay in regard to difficulty while linking eBay account with PayPal account. I understand that you are PayPal verified and still getting message to get your PayPal account verified. Please understand that you need to get your PayPal account verify that is currently linked to eBay. Once you do this you will certainly be able to list your item without further problems. eBay members who have taken the step to be PayPal Verified have confirmed their identity by completing the required steps tobecome Verified. The Verification process is a way for PayPal to gain additional proof of a member’s identity in conjunction withour own eBay authentication methods. This higher level of verification is designed to reduce fraud and will make it more difficult for counterfeiters to list those items on eBay. Note: eBay does not require sellers to offer PayPal for these items.I will be glad to provide you the steps to get yourself PayPal verified.There are two ways to get PayPal Verified: [which he then duly explains - and I had already done] We also offer Live Chat as an alternative to emailing us. If youPrefer to talk to us via Live Chat you may click the link found below.The link will get you in touch with one of our Billing Live ChatRepresentatives who will be able to assist you in a one on one environment: [deleted] I understand your frustration regarding this matter and apologize for the inconvenience it caused you. Sincerely,Potter S. eBay Customer Support

Please note I have not corrected nor altered any of the text - the grammatical mistakes are all Potter S. (Potter indeed.) At this point I gave up on ebay.

But alas a lack of sale of said item through local papers once again lead me to ebay's path today. Surely, I thought, it has been long enough for them to have located which end is their ass and which end is their elbow. Sadly I was to be disappointed again.

This time though, I was actually allowed to prepare the listing for my item. So after I painstakingly uploaded the pictures, wrote the text and made sure all the details were correct, I clicked on "list your item". And... FLASH. That effing grey-backed screen, screaming "Attention!", telling me I need to be PayPal verified to sell an item (even though, in ebay's own words above, handily bolded for your reading ease, you don't need to use PayPal to sell the item...) Cue much, much swearing, feelings of rage and another terse email to ebay - in response to the last email:

Dear Sirs, It has now been over a month since I last contacted you. I have followed all the steps detailed below and still I am unable to list my item on eBay.My PayPal account details are up to date and verified - indeed,I just used my PayPal account this morning. I have also added credit card details to my eBay account. I intend to contact PayPal about this, but to me it is an EBAY problem, and not PayPal.This is increasingly frustrating. I have wasted over an hour -again - preparing my listing tonight. I expect this to be remedied in the next 48 hours, as to be honest, it has dragged on long enough now.Thank you, a very frustrated wannabe eBay user.

I also took it upon myself to contact PayPal to see if they can do anything about it.

All I can say is ebay effing sucks. (And anyone want to buy a scooter? 1 year old today, 1 careful owner, selling to fund wedding...)

notes on a scandal(less two months)

Apologies, as always, for my absence. Here are a collection of random thoughts from the past two months.

• If I can hear you over my iPod, you're too loud, dumbasses.
• Why do posh people all have such loud, BOOMING voices?
• Were pale pink bianca roses the right way to go for my bouquet?
• Why does public transport suck?
• 5 inches to lose in 5 months...no problem
• Race for Life? Sure I'll run it. Errrr....
• Cranberry vodka, Copenhagen-style, rules.
• I couldn't possibly claim back a burger at Burger King on my expenses....could I?
• Al Gore's lies help spread genocide. Yes - Gore - Hitler - Milosevic - I see the similarities. Muppets. (Not Gore. The protestors. Although maybe Gore as I'm bitter at being banned from his speech.)
• Why is our bedroom always so frickin' cold?
• Snow in March. In England. The world's gone mad.
• Facebook is my new addiction.
• My wedding, my rules, my music, my food. Pppppfffffff to anyone who tries to take me on.
• Ergo, on my wedding day, I shouldn't be presented with food I don't like. That includes cauliflower.
• How can this insane country not let my nearly bro-in-law go to uni when his parents are as good as British? (I bet if he was an east European refugee, it'd be no problem.)
• How can my best mate get a 1.4pc payrise when her boss gets 40pc? And in an NHS trust which is going bust??
• £445 for a Bentley seemed crazy...till the 7-mile only horse and carriage quote came in at £745.
• My dress is the most beautiful dress ever. So ha.
• Oh the pain...the pain. That would be the impacted wisdom tooth. (3 dentist visits this year, and counting).
• The nature of emergencies is such that they are UNFORSEEN events. So if that means you are faced with (gasp) more than 2 on a morning at a doctor, deal with it, receptionists. We wouldn't insist if it wasn't.
• To pre-nup, or not to pre-nup...that is the question.

That's about it for now. Been a mad two months.

But check out http://www.cirsium.co.uk - I made this!

i don't like mondays

And I suspect I may not be in the minority with this sentiment.

I actually meant to blog last night, but the day got too much for me.

One of the perks of my job is the 11am starts. This allows me to sleep to 8am. Those of you that know me well know I am not really a morning person. So having to wake up at 6.30am to be at work for 9am will leave me prickly. (I realise those of you with children may fail to sympathise, but think back to your pre-baby days.)

Waiting - in the cold dark day - for a bus which is running 15 minutes late will make me crabby. And missing my train due to late bus makes me crabbier still.

Missing out on my walk to work (a new thing I am trying this year) does irk me. Getting to work 15 minutes later than planned irked me more.

Having to change the bottle on the office water cooler for the 3rd time in less than a week mildy irritates me. Smashing my face on a bottle when doing so really annoys me. Not to mention leaving me in pain, with a fat lip and crookeder (yes that is a word...) and sore teeth.

A crucial website failing at the end of the day winds me up. It failing a second time winds me up further.

Just missing the bus (it was leaving the stop as I rounded the corner) just about pushed me to the edge. (And into a taxi - I was determined to get the train which will get me home at 8.30pm - 7pm finishes is the payoff for 11am starts).

A signal failure on the train which delays us for 40 minutes made me resign to my fate. The day was out to get me. A passenger then taking ill (which I know was not their fault, but added a further 20 minute delay to the train) sealed it.

Fiance not realising I was not joking, but was in fact quite upset about the enhanced crookedness of my teeth brought me to tears. (Although I concede perhaps the extreme tiredness after a 10-hour day, sandwiched between two frankly shit commutes, contributed.)

So that is why I don't like Mondays. This week. (And I could tell you why I don't like Tuesdays, bar a nice wee payrise, but I would hate to moan.)

i may be drunk but...

**THIS IS ALL LIKELY TO BE EDITED IN A FEW DAYS AND CORRECTED**

anyone else slightly bemused at the sex health ads this week? Yes, it's lovely that the morning after pill is available over the counter (or indeed OTC), but surely it's bettter to encourage people to stock up on cindoms rather than the morning after pill? Call me silly, buit in a country where STDs are rising at over 200pc each year, surely this is more important? Muppets. Just one example of hwat is wrong with thish country.

have had helll of a week, which i know is no excuse. work continues ot suck my soul dry, am hopeful of a reprieve in a few months. someone close ot me has been unexpectedly fired closely followed by one of my family dogs having a stroke and becoming totally blind so safe to say been a shite ol' week. Keep waiting for the shoe to drop and the third thing to go wrong. Knock on wood y'all as this wee koo cannae cope with much more.. (or inded my liver cannae cope...

it's been a busy month...

Apologies to those of you that have been checking here for me - my last post was 2 days before round 2 of the team-shrinking at work. These two facts are connected. (And I'm annoyed at having worked for 4 hours today - well 3 and a half minus lunch break but still. It's Sunday. A day of rest. And Hollyoaks. And trashy tabloids. Boo to stinky life-absorbing work.)

I digress.

Aside from work, the last month has seen some serious progress with the wedding plans. Church, reception, dj all booked. Working on finding a photographer that won't financially cripple me and fiance, and leave us with enough money to have this thing called a honeymoon - with every expense, looking more likely that honeymoon will be shrunk. Boo to stinky expenses.

Bridesmaids dresses - well a long saga, but in the end we now have 3 dresses that I like, the girls like, and that fit. Well waiting to check with BM #3, but will know next week if hers fits. And they're purple so boo to stinky matriarchs who wanted otherwise.

2 engagement parties successfully held, families mixing well. I feel one family now gets that it is not their wedding and so it will be tailored for fiance's and my personalities, but still need some work with the other. I think we'll get there with time. Or not. Boo to stinky wedding stresses.

That's about my life for the past month - work, wedding, work, engagment parties, and a bit more work in case I hadn't had enough. What's that? Light at the end of the tunnel? Am stepping towards the light tentatively...