Taking matters into my own hands

Today was the last straw, I live in a one way street you can only approach from one way. and leave by turning left or right, there is a very large NO ENTRY sign at the top of BOTH streets parallel to my street.  Every time I try to go out I am being forced to give way to traffic coming into the street via the NO ENTRIES  Today, i decided "no more" and when a car approached me from the no entry and wanted me to give way so it could pass. I refused to budge, i gesticulated (no rude gestures) and told the driver that the she had come in through a NO ENTRY and should reverse back out and go the proper way, I then folded my arms and waited until she had gone. the traffic behind me couldn't go anywhere so it was no problem.  No sooner had the errant driver disappeared from my view and I had driven to the top of my street and turned left, what did I see? a car turn into the NO ENTRY that was MY exit to the main road, I dropped my window down and told the driver it was a no entry to him and he just moved his car aside for me to pass.  I turned the engine off, secured the car, got out and locked it and made to go home.  A neighbour of mine walked out of the street so I asked him to speak to the 'male' driver of the car that that was waiting for me to move.  My neighbour had a word and the errant driver turned his vehicle round and left the way I wanted to leave. 

 I think I am going to park my car smack in the middle of that road on my next day off and see if anyone begins to take notice of the road signs.....

Can't you read your road signs?

What the....Ffs!!

Unbelievable, I couldn't believe my eyes tonight when I was coming home from work, i was minding my own business walking along the footpath when a car suddenly appeared in front of me. it had come from round the corner, on the FOOTPATH for crying out loud. I waved my hand at the driver and said "it's a footpath" he opened his door and said "WHAT?" so I repeated "it's a FOOTPATH" and the cheeky beggar said, "I left you enough room to walk past".   He then got out of the car and crossed the road to go to a shop.  

And I recalled what was a 'joke' twenty years ago "How do you keep death off the road? Drive on the footpath"  Well it was corny then but my word it coming true.

"Get of the #***%# footpath!"

Another Credit Card Con!!

In August my husband Billy, and I went to Jamaica to meet some of my family, we stopped over at Atlanta for 3 hours so made the most of it and met a cousin for the first time, at the airport and had lunch with her ,it was absolutely brilliant, 3 hours was better than not at all.

Next we went and boarded our flight to Montego Bay and with happy hearts we landed and got settled in our hotel, paid the bill up front for the room and set about having a smashing time and met a few of the family in person. an Aunt we haven't seen in 30 years and went to see my grandfather's grave in Giddy Hall, Black River, St Elizabeth, also met a cousin there and the weather was good when we visited the tourist attractions. the Martha Brae and Dunn's River Falls.

We came home loaded with souvenirs and good memories and were surprised when the credit card bill didn't show our hotel payment, not in September and not on October's bill.  It did show up, however, as listed for November's bill and we got a proper shock, it is for two hundred pounds more than the hotel cost.

We printed out the hotel booking confirmation and no matter how many times we calculated the cost with 10% added for Jamaica taxes, it didn't add up.  Not in Jamaica Dollars (JMD). United States Dollars (USD) or Great British Pounds (GBP), even if we added a percentage for using the credit card.

so I called the credit card company to resolve the issue and found that there is no charge for using the credit card for the payment and the exchange rate for JMD, USD and GBP didn't bring the bill to the total cost of the hotel room;

The bill is now in dispute and we strongly believe that the reason the hotel didn't ring in the payment for so many weeks is because they thought we wouldn't notice the extra charge.  My question is. how come when we travel abroad for a holiday that we have worked and saved hard for. why do the natives of that country seem to think that we are made of money and won't miss a few pounds or in this case a few hundred pounds?

it is such a shame because now we will definitely Never go to Jamaica again not for love nor money and our friends and family are not so sure they would like to chance it either.  So this hotel will end up losing the money from us and probably customers because when the issue is resolved if it is found that we were diddled, I shall be logging in to TripAdvisor and giving feedback.  Always check your credit card bill with a fine tooth comb

Your Money through your Credit Card

UnBelieVable ffs S**t Drivers or What?

For years we have suffered from folks travelling from far and wide and parking in our streets so they can shop at the very cheap priced Asian grocery stores in our village.  Pure night mare, they are damned rude and force us to keep reversing away from our homes so they can go home, they park on the bends and corners so our children are at risk when playing our our going to and from school, they drive at speeds above 20 km in little side streets and don't a fcuk for our environment.  We the residents have no place to park our own cars and to top it off if we do these b'stards damage our cars with their bad and inconsiderate driving.

Well, two weeks ago the council came and made our street ONE WAY, no entry from the main road and no entry from the next street,  and you can believe it is well marked, brand new signage and everything and yet we STILL have the problem, only now we can't get our of our street because it is blocked by idiots mostly with no English speaking or pretending to have no English speaking.  These morons have the cheek to get upset when I stand in the road and hold them up while i give them a lecture on the High Way Code and ask them if they can read and do they know what a give way line is for and what it looks like.  Oh the frustration, it wasn't made any better by the person who damaged my car and cost me money in a respray.  I can't believe that there isn't a traffic cop in the area making a fortune in fines. We are being stripped of all sorts in the name of saving money coz the Government and councils are skint and yet there is a fortune to be made in fines from these people desperate to save a few quid by shopping in our village!

The NEW Modern Family

This young man competing in the British Transplant  Games, is Aaron, he was one of the four people lucky enough to receive organs from my son, Wade, in May 2000, he calls me Maxine and refers to me as his "Donor Mum.  It was both a pleasure and a treat to watch him running in the 100m race and he won 2 silver medals before I got to the games and I have to say it was fantastic and I am so pleased he wants to have me in his life.  We are now a Donor family .  In the midst of those who  have received organ donations (Gifts of Life) you will find Donor families cheering the competitors on, for me it was very emotional, knowing that Aaron was 'running like the wind' because Wade made it possible, Wade's life, although cut short,  was NOT wasted he leaves a wonderful legacy and will never, ever be forgotten - Just thought I would share this!

Dave Says "I think this could be a draw!"

Bribery & Blackmail

What kind of person uses "just think about what you''ll get in my will" or "I'll kill myself and it will be your fault" to try and make you do something? 
There are some sick b*****ds out there and my response to both of those emotional blackmails is "Shame on you" and "Go on then knock yourself out".

If you have to use blackmail and bribery to get somebody to do something isn't your brain screaming at you that something is dreadfully wrong?  What is WRONG with YOU? Get your act together go hide under a bush until you come to your senses if necessary.

Only an idiot would do something in the hope that they will get something in the 'Will' i can just imagine your face when the solicitor reads the 'Will' out and you hear him say to so and so I leave you my fancy toilet roll holder!  What a mug!!!  What if you die first? you'll never know what you might have inherited. 

if you really want me to do something so badly that you have to resort to emotional blackmail and empty promises - just offer to pay me to do the deed, if the price is right and the deed is above board then I will seriously consider it.

Blackmail of any kind doesn't wash with me if you're going to kill yourself it's your problem and It won't affect me at all and if you use the "Will" bribe i will be laughing too hard at the prospect of a lace toilet roll holder or used bedpan kind of bequest to answer in which case you can assume it is a "No thank you very much and I will be on my way now".

A bit of Competition

It was that time again on Saturday, yes the Annual Family &  Friends BBQ with fun and games.  This year it was the 3 legged stool competition. We got into groups with a ton of old newspapers and goodness knows how many rolls of selotape and we had to make a sturdy 3 legged stool.  When the stools were finished they were lined up and 2 lightweight lasses (a cousin and a niece) had the job of sitting on the stools to see which was the strongest and didn't collapse, thus deciding on a winner. 

What a lot of fun it was everybody joined in and indeed each group was focussed on winning the trophy.  No two stools looked alike they were all shapes and sizes and it must have taken about 45 minutes to make them.  The fact that everybody no matter how old or infirm could take part made it more enjoyable but being on the winning team was a big fat bonus and next year we are going to have "The Lilo Challenge" I might have to lose a bit of weight for that one ha ha ha

Some of the contenders with their entries (me between the two fellas)

Dealing with $&%# Cats cra**ing in the garden

I have spent a bloody fortune on plants that have died within weeks of being planted killed by putrid cat s**t.  I bought some roses bushes in the hope that the thorns would scratch the blighters and act as a deterrent but oh NO!! The roses died a gruesome cat s**t death.  I bought a little picket fence and banged some  panel pins in before strategically placing them in the garden, great job you think but after 2 days the pesky cats managed to squeeze one in where there was a too large space.  

Enough is enough my blood is getting to boiling point by now and I am also suffering from lack of flowers in the garden when suddenly, it hit me, a cunning plan took place involving chicken run wire stuff.  We went to the garden centre and bought a roll of the wire stuff and proceeded to cut it up and bending it into an arc shape covered the front garden with it, it is brilliant, we cut out areas for roses and other plants and got a string of bumble bee solar lights which are threaded through the wire and attached to the picket fence we erected and so far we have had a whole week free from cat s**t and in the mornings it smells lovely and fresh around our front door with the added bonus of evenings with the garden being lit up by the bumble bees -shame I didn't think of it sooner.

"What the @$^(&)!

Having a bit of bother at work, I was getting frustrated and P****d off, I was ready to take the next day off and not as a sicky either.  Eventually, i recalled the "conflict management" training we had all undertaken so I spent about an hour rephrasing and practicing what I would say to the colleagues who had caused the feelings of conflict.

when the opportunity arose to speak quietly with each individual concerned I was happy when the first one aplogised and said they had not realised what was going on.  

The second one made a few excuses for their behaviour and I explained the procedures before getting an apology and feeling no more conflict went home happily.

However, yesterday I went into work feeling optimistic and ended up feeling even more conflicted as one of the culprits did exactly the same thing again, I was so angry I assumed what had happened was because the Manager made changes and didn't inform me so I decided to speak up.

Finally, having rehearsed what I was going to say to my Manager, I spoke when the opportunity arose and again I was gobsmacked to find that she was not aware of the situation she had not made any changes to the way we work the colleague had taken it upon himself to do as he pleased,  I was not at all impressed.   

Today at work I was very pleased to see that the Manager is taking it upon herself to ensure that the proper procedures take place and I am just hoping that the future is bright and  'sun kissed orange' and there will be no more conflict issues....

He should have kept Quiet

Today Billy treated us to breakfast at our favourite café, I was reading the menu up on the wall, for want of something better to whilst Billy looked on Google for flights to Jamaica. 

Anyway, I read aloud in shock from the menu 2 toast, 2 hash browns, beans, 4 rashes of bacon, 4 sausages………… I didn’t read the rest.

4 sausages, does anyone actually eat 4 sausages? That’s just greedy.  Mr K the proprietor wiggled his finger at a table in the corner, just as one of the guys at said table turned to look at me and said “I’m not greedy, I’m just hungry.  Well, Mr K was doubled up clutching his belly quietly laughing, unseen,  behind the counter Billy and I had to contain ourselves (with great difficulty) I managed to apologise to the guy but it was hard not to laugh out loud. Mr K kept looking at me and laughing from his hiding place.  Billy and I managed to have a half decent conversation, finish our breakfast and leave the establishment without further ado.

When we got outside we split our sides laughing “I’m not greedy, I’m hungry”.  I told Billy, good grief, if that’s what he eats when he is hungry I would hate to see him eating when he’s starving and he should have kept his mouth shut, I wasn't talking to, or about him so the saying is very true, 'If you listen in to other people's conversations you won't hear anything good about yourself!'

Mistaken Identity

we were on the plane at Heathrow, homeward bound, Manchester here we come.  The aisle seat was taken up at the last minute by a man who caused Billy to sit up all excited and whisper to me "That's Phil Neal, used to play for Liverpool, I know it is. it's him".

As I was getting pen and paper out of my bag so that he could get an autograph, I heard Billy saying "You're Phil Neal". and I heard the man saying "No, I never have been and I never will be!" He then closed his eyes and appeared to be sleeping all through the flight.

Billy told me the guy was lying.

Back home Billy was telling Josh about the incident and he Googled Phil Neal as he was talking, so he could show Josh who it was.  Well we screamed laughing when it appeared that Billy had been sitting beside Phil THOMPSON after all and the poor man had not been lying about his identity hahaha ha ha

"Billy, you Plonker!"

Taking the P** at Duty Free

Mumbai Airport, fist of all we sat for a coffee/tea and inviting a fellow traveller to join us at out table we were pleasantly surprised to discover he lives less than ten miles from us in Manchester UK ha ha ha. 

We went to duty free after our refreshments to buy a bottle of Malibu, very good price too (did you know they don't sell cigarettes at Mumbai Airport)??  Anyway. bottle of Malibu in hand we approached the till, boarding card, passport and money handed over.  Not so quick my friends....

The two guys serving us declined our Rupees,  "We only accept Rupees from people with an Indian passport",  we were informed.   I responded by declining to buy the bottle and giving them the trouble of undoing the transaction and we walked away.

Seconds later an Airport member of staff approached and asked did we need a smoking room and was everything OK?

"Not really", I told him and explained the problem with the Rupees.  We were informed that these two jokers are supposed to take Rupees off everybody and are pulling are trick to get Dollars and GB pounds (exchange rate scam).  Then the airport gentleman stood by the cash desk right in front of the two jerks and helped u to approach people asking if they had an Indian passport and when we did find a chap who did have an Indian passport and was willing to take our Rupees and buy the Malibu, the fun began.

The kindly chap went to the cash desk and asked for the bottle of Malibu which just happened to still be sitting there.  He handed over our money and was passing his passport over and surprise, surprise, the jerk at the till called me over and asked for my passport, let the Indian passport holder go, and served me the Malibu in exchange for Rupees AND then had the bloody temerity to ask me to buy another one since he had my passport details already in his till.   Aaaargh!  I don't thinks so mate - Up Yours!!!

Red Faced...

Am so keen to get to Goa that when the boss said I could go home early today, I skipped off and was soon embarrassed when I had to go back for my bag and my belongings aaaargh!!!!

The Holiday Spirit is catching.....

Feck, Feck, Feck!!

I've only been using pritt stick instead of lip balm all morning - AAaargh!  teach me to look first eh?
Although on the bright side - it's official proof the stuff is useless as my mouth is not sealed shut

Put your Minions to work - I have!

Dave, my minion came to serve me on Christmas day and has settled in well 'Chez Bailey'.  
it didn't take long to teach him the ropes and he is very good.  However, he has now taken to doing Daily "Dave says" dairy, including a photo on my face book page.  He says it is so his minion brothers and sisters can see how he is doing and not miss him so much.  Dave is currently looking forward to his very first trip on an airplane.
Here are a couple of examples of his daily entries

Dave says 'shopping is hard work'

Dave Says "Hoovering is such fun".

Dave Says "I'll make a Princess out of you".

Dave Says "WHAT a Party, What a night.... "