I thought I was bad. But add to the list: The effing government - "no more boom & bust". All politicians - incompetent, self-serving, lying B******s. The weather - why should I have to dress up in several layers to keep warm/dry when I'd be happier in just trousers & shirt? Britain - this is my country, but it's no longer the place it was when I was young - who f****** changed it? The value of the £ - parity with the euro means I can't afford to get away from Britain for 2 weeks this year. The Job. The 65mile (105km for the pedants) M6 shuffle each way to get to and from The Job. Getting old. Getting grumpy. American tv programs on every channel, almost all the time. Reality tv programs on every channel the rest of the time. Wasting my time doing this on a miserable Saturday morning.
Sod it!
P.S. Mynthdd, remove Radio 4 from the list - Thursdays 6:30pm - Ed Reardon. Radio doesn't get any better than this. Is there another radio station worth listening to? I've not found it.
Don't be fooled into believing that your pc is secure, even with the most expensive or best known security products. This recent article http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1445&tag=nl.e539 gives an indication of how vulnerable anti-virus products are. I know the original posters problem wasn't due to a virus but it's an indication of what you're up against (I'm glad I don't pay for my antivirus software - AVG looks pretty good compared to the big boys).
PS. I learned another lesson this week. I thought my money was protected against fraud when paying using Paypal - not so: I bought an item on eBay recently (fortunately under a tenner). The item wasn't delivered and the seller ignored my e-mails, and presumably ignored Paypals communications. This is an extract from the Resolution of Buyer Complaint I recieved from Paypal : "After careful review, we have concluded our investigation of the Buyer Complaint described below.
We have decided in your favour, however, we were unable to recover any funds from the seller's account. As stated in the PayPal User Agreement, recovery of funds associated with a Buyer Complaint cannot be guaranteed.
Please know that we will make our best effort to recover the funds in question if they become available in the seller's account in the future, and will take appropriate action against the seller. Such action may include issuing a warning, a temporary restriction, or terminating the account. Keep in mind that PayPal uses a number of factors, including member complaints, to determine when to take action. Due to privacy laws, we cannot discuss the details of any action taken. We hope you understand our policy and that it reassures you that you are safe using PayPal. "
Actually it doesn't reassure me at all. I lost my money.
C'est la vie, or more realistically, shit happens.
Ian 53, I also had one of the early Sprayway Goretex waterproofs (inherited from my dad). bought in the early eighties I think. The pic shows me wearing it on my first summit of Scafell Pike in 2004 (unfortunately I pulled back the snorkel hood for the photo). This was its' last outing - It was wetter inside than out and the pockets had filled with water despite the flaps (my fags got all wet!). When I got back to the car I was able to wring water out of the cotton! Tee shirt I was wearing underneath. I kept the coat in the car boot after that as an emergency waterproof until I changed my car earlier this year, when the coat went in the bin - nearly all the seam tape had come off.
Dave; I think the intended Nikwax proofer for fleece & possibly softshell is Polar Proof. Perhaps that's why TX Direct didn't work too well. I won a small jar of it and didn't have a fleece I wanted to proof so I tried it out on a microfleeece which I wear next to the skin as it wicks so well (sorry Parky). I wore it on it's own on a misty afternoon on the hill; big mistake - the inside of the fleece got sweaty, failed to wick and had a horrible slimy feel - I don't rememer ever feeling more uncomfortable. The mist on the outside beaded well. Washing it in detergent returned it to normal. I imagine it should be better on an outer layer If you're worried about wash temperature, detergent contamination etc, do it the easy way. Hand washing is probably less abrasive than machine washing as well (I wouldn't trust my Paramo gear to a bloody machine). Nikwax instructions recommend 'hand-hot' wash. It doesn't take too long and it's not as if you're going to be doing it every week. And it takes gear-fondling to an entirely new level too.
I've worked in Birmingham city centre for the past 8 years. Being tightfisted, I don't pay to park (£10 per day!) but park in a residential area about a mile away and walk in. Each year my parking disitance increases as more people commute in their cars and the city council increase yellow line parking restrictions.
The worst part though, is the 60mile drive down the M6 to get to Birmingham. I've been held up by accidents when travelling home for the past 6 Friday evenings in a row, Grrrrr!
I've just learned to accept all the driving/sitting in queues/searching for parking as part of this rich and varied life. And then theres's work........
Sean Cooper
