Things that make you go "aaargh"

General Discussion
1

I can think of many but perhaps the criteria should be that it is something that makes no sense & could be very simply corrected.


My first contribution would be tablet blister packs. My doctor prescribes me with four different tablets a day & I can get two months at a time. Two packs give me 28 days & the other two 30 days.Only one month lasts 28 days so the 28 packs are always short by 2 or 3 every month. The 30 packs are only 1 short for the majority of the year. Either would be OK but because there is a difference in the industry I end up with either a shortfall or a surplus of my medication!


Why cannot ALL manufactures decide on a pack size & stick with it??

2

With you there.

3

There was a further perverse side to this Brian, that was the 'machine minding scam' that went on. IF you were a Union Member theoretically you could get a night's machine minding on the massive multihead presses used by the major dailies. All you needed to knoiw was how to do what was called 'the flying splice' when a roll was about to finish.

A moderate skill and quite easy if you didn't panic, and it saved downtime on the machines if they had to stop. A night session which might require one or two flying splices if I recall correctly, could earn you £300!!! Which was huge money even in the 70's.

Need I say this was only offered to the 'friends of friends' in the Union? And today we talk about corruption of politicians, bankers et al. It has ALWAYS existed, everywhere.

4

Actually I have an old aargh there. I had a chapter in somebody's book based on my thesis in the early 1970s. CUP turned down my photographs I wanted included and asked if I could make line drawing versions. I asked a friend who has then a visualiser for a top London ad agency if he could do it for me. He did and I paid £20, happy as Larry and all. Except for one thing, he did not want to sign them because his employer would have come down on him like a ton of bricks for doing freelance on the side if found out and CUP required at least initials. My friend said do it. I signed and handed them over to CUP but the print department came after me. There I was in the SLADE trap you mention. I had to join or drop the pics. As you will remember, when you joined you signed up for a year although subs were monthly. I did as bid, left the country for four months and returned to find a letter from SLADE's solicitor. I paid and asked if I could pay the rest of the year in advance and got a very nasty reply. When my year was up I told them I was no longer a designer - as if I ever had been.

5

Mark, I am sure you know the newspaper maxim that 'Good News doesn't sell newspapers'.

6

Brian you just jogged my memory (once again!) In my London 'print' days, (I ran a design studio in Grays Inn Road many moons ago), one of my haunts was The Journos Club in Fleet Street - plus of course happy days in El Vinos.

My admittedly somewhat blurred memories, were of just about everybody in the places being being more than slightly inebriated - and yes, me included. However the longest surviving memory was an 11.00 am start in one place and noting a guy already three sheets in the wind, and being told he was 'the Leader Writer' for one of the then quality dailies. I have never been able to read these again in the same light.

Mind you these were some of the few happy memories of London.

It does lead on to things that 'used' to make me go 'aaargh' in those days, which was the compulsory Union Membership. Without your Union stamp on a piece of artwork, you couldn't get anything printed. I gloried(?) in being a Member of SLADE - Society of Lithographic Artists & Engravers, who did nothing for us whatsoever except send round the heavies for the 'Union dues' every month. NB always paid in cash!

Although elsewhere I have slagged off Murdoch, I still applaud him for breaking the back of the obnoxious practises of the print unions in the UK at the time. Trade Unionism at its worst.

7

Iam using the paper we all seem to be talking about because it is a good way of getting in touch with UK citizens in France and they need to know the state of affairs re using the form S 1 for pre-planned medical treatment in UK which you cannot find in France. That 's all.

8

I think I know where Patsy & Brian are coming from. I watch the UK news regularly & end up thinking what a self serving load of drivel is "reported". The news media seem to try very hard to steer public opinion in a direction the public do not wish to go. The recent horse meat fiasco is a case in point - the use of the word "contaminated" cropped up in many stories, as if the meat had been laced with rat poison, rather than "mislabled" or "mixed with" which do not have the same scary impact.

Despite this, I continue to watch with a kind of morbid fascination!

9

Either wisdom comes with age or age follows wisdom, either way we learn. I used to be on several trusteeships and knew several well known journalists and parliamentarians. There were only ever one of each I ever continued to trust until this day, even some of the others I once considered 'friends' are not worth wasting the time of day on. As for nearly all of the world's press, as far as I can read any of it, I read several every day and only by seeing different slants on issues from more than one country and a wide political spectrum do I consider myself to be on the way, but far from, seeing what is really going on. Big aaarghs all round.

10

Brian, I can think of many publications that fall into that category, and I can still remember coming back from Australia and looking forward to some the pleasing Sunday 'reads' of my younger days in the UK. One of my very few happy memories of the country.

It was an awful revelation when I read the pretentious tripe of the so-called 'quality press', and the almost unbelievable rubbish of the dailies.

I couldn't get over the fact that Andrew Neil on his TV show 'The Daily Politics' when keeping a straight face introducing 'journalists' and 'political editors' from the Daily ***** and similar.

Yes, Murdoch DOES have a lot to answer for, and to think I used to know him moderately well in Australia through Board Meetings I attended. I even quite liked the man in those days.

11

I know which one she means Norman whereby 'touch' and 'bargepole' spring to mind. The rag is like a self-flagellation. One always wonders why anybody does it!

12

Patsy, if it bothers you so much, then why read it?

13

A certain newspaper for the English that comes out in France, which seems to have sold itself down the river in complete and utter praise of anything and everything French. Whilst I would hold that we are here because we thought it was good to be here there are an awful lot of things that are not as printed - Rose coloured glasses do not even come into the diatribe in the central pages of one of their issues - I would have thought that the person writing said piece was not in touch with reality at all - but then most publications are based, in fairness, on generalizations and misinformation. It is not heaven here and neither is it hell but please can we have a reality check on what is written or is that asking too much.

14

Very true. The Channel must have magic powers on people's sizes.

15

AI is a franchise business run entirely for profit - not for making friends - thought it was a great post and you should save it to put it on here next time the issue comes up - as it will!

16

Hahaha, I had a similar response for less Mark. Somebody made an enquiry about installing solar energy. I happened to say that there are some British and French installers who do not have the qualifications or experience to make the installations, to avoid them and make enquiries to ensure that they are what they claim to be. I also had all the discourtesy and respectful conduct sermon.

I was told that mentioning the nationalities was prejudicial and that I should avoid making possibly false accusations. Huh??

After a second run in for having an 'opinion' I have never bothered with AI again.

17

Angloinfo. When will I ever learn? Ai must be run by a communist government or at least modelled on one! I posted a comment about UK registered cars ( a separate discussion, please don't comment on the topic on this thread!) & had it removed with this message:-

"Sorry, but your posting (below) to AngloINFO Poitou-Charentes's Discussions has been removed as it goes against our rules regarding respectful conduct to other users.

Discourtesy towards any individual or group is not permitted in AngloINFO's Discussions."

I reproduce the comment here because I hope someone can tell me which individual or group I was being disrespectful to?

I wrote -

I did say that this is not always a popular subject! It is usually not popular with those who KNOW that they are illegal! It’s not just illegal, its immoral, antisocial, irresponsible & selfish. I’m referring to those who continue to run these cars year after year, as I’m sure many of us have “taken a chance” using a vehicle briefly which may not be 100% (but I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to boast about it).

Some have asked me what it has to do with me? I should mind my own business, find something better to do, get a life, etc. These ignorant twits don’t seem to realize that I use the same roads that they do. I am at risk from them. In the event of an accident (an unforeseeable incident) I could suffer loss or injury which, as they would find their insurance void, I would not be compensated for. I do not have to tolerate that just because some halfwit wants to interpret the laws to suit themselves!

These scumbags seem to have the following blindness

A French resident is someone who lives here. If you are not sure if this applies to you try this simple multiple choice test.

Where do you live? A) France B) Somewhere else

If you have picked A then you are a French resident.

This means that if you bring a car from abroad to use here you have ONE month to register it here, though the authorities will stretch it to six if the paperwork is complicated. This is why insurance agents put a time limit on foreign car cover. Any agent giving you cover on a yearly basis is taking your money falsely or you are lying to them about your details. Contact the head office of your insurance company & you will be told what company policy on this matter is. It is too late if you have already had an accident to find that your insurance was hooky.

If you are visiting France then you can use a UK registered car here. This is a courtesy, not a right, & the car must conform to all the rules of its registered country. So it must have valid UK road tax, ditto insurance & if necessary a UK MOT. Vehicles cannot be driven on a SORN (Statuary Off Road Notice). These are for vehicles which are kept off the public roads. Again, a pointer for any halfwit who cannot understand this – a “road” is that hard surface linking towns & villages together & used by vehicles other than yours. You can find these all over the world. If your car is on one when you have told the UK authorities that it is not, that is a LIE!

Also note that it is a SORN, not a SOUKRN, so includes roads in other countries.

Another explanation. Export. Some people fill in the section of the logbook notifying the DVLA that their car has been exported. This has the effect of de registering the car in the UK. It will no longer be legal to drive it anywhere. Vehicles are issued with registation numbers for a reason. So are guns. To possess a gun with the serial number removed is very suspicious – the possessor has something to hide. To posess a car which in effect is not registered anywhere is equally dodgy. Almost every country in the world requires their residents to register their cars, how else can the drivers be held accountable? Some Brits still decide to operate outside the law & just because they have not been caught feel that it’s OK to continue to do so. I wonder if Fred West, after his first murders, felt that as he had not been caught it was OK to continue?

If you know the law & comply, ignore this post – it does not apply to you. It is aimed as a “heads up” to those who don’t comply that the gendarmes are checking & that they ARE confiscating unregistered cars.

I’m just passing on the information.

18

I am like that. I can see a flower, a cowslip precisely, at the bottom of our field roughly 100m away. I have reading and middle distance that do not work for the street at all. So I use the middle distance at the cinema, watch TV and a few things of that ilk but I cannot walk down the street. The two sets of bins end up in strange places, although I tried never to lose the readers which I then put on my head and search the entire house turning the air blue...

19

My TV pair are bi-focals, but I can't get on with them at all in the street, and walk as if I am drunk (which I am not). Plus my distant vision is not a problem at all, neither is driving or the normal walking into walls bit every day (I jest).

I just can't work out why they all end up at a meeting all the time.

20

It has worked for me for many years now.