BS: I don't believe in this, but....

Subject: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 28 Feb 13 - 05:05 PM

Specifically, runs of bad luck betokening the interest of some sort of supernatural character out to get one.

However, within the last few weeks, the following have happened.

1. The handle of my Hoover snapped, presumably from plastic fatigue, necessitating buying a new cleaner. The only one of a reasonable price lacks the tool I usually use for cleaning the stairs, and the old one doesn't fit, so I have improvised with a polypipe screw fit connection.

2. I went to see War Horse, and a friend gave me the CD of the songs and music for my birthday. I went to play it and found the CD part of my radio/cassette/CD player wasn't working. I paid £19 for it to be looked at, only to be told the board of that part of the machine couldn't be sourced any more - and it has hardly been over used, either. I could only find one replacement, looking for DAB radio as well as the cassette, much more expensive than I hoped, only available via the Wireless for the Blind charity. It also plays MP3s from SD card and USB sticks, though. But not the recordings from the other radio from the same manufacturer, which are MP2s.

3. My bedroom TV took to constantly falling off the table on which it has been propped on a book stand because its old stand broke some time ago. Had to buy a bigger one (it was a tiny camping one) - still it plays DVDs and can record on USB sticks.

4. Someone threw an egg at my window last week, the day the window cleaner had been. I managed to rinse it off with a spray bottle aimed through a crack. This apparently happens round here occasionally, silently in the night. No sniggers, no footsteps. Odd.

5. I ordered some bookcases from a DIY store sopme miles away which said they had them, turned up, spent ages with a guy who got stuck up on his cherry picker trying to find where they were and had to be got down by someone else, only to find that their computer was wrong and they hadn't any in stock. Went to IKEA instead and got stuck in a major traffic jam on the way back. (I did know about that in advance, but it was predicted to have cleared.)

6. My handheld cordless vacuum cleaner proved incapable any more of picking up the dust from sanding the skim down on the bathroom wall, so I had to buy a new one. (Did get £5 off with an about to expire voucher, though, and it was in the sale.)

7. Found I had been driving around on a slow puncture. Went to get my electric pump to get me to a garage, only to find that the plug on it was broken, (and there were no bits any where near it). Had to get roadside assistance out, as the car was too close to another for me to get the jack under it safely - and when the guy came, I saw I would not have been able to get the wheel off the bolts anyway - he had a problem with it. It had a bolt in it, and it has proved possible to repair it for £15. I should be able to fix the pump - I have one of those plugs somewhere, and it isn't so broken I can't see which wires go where. (The bolt wasn't the sort likely to have been propped under my wheel at the time of the egg incident - got done twice at school by that method.)

8. When I finally got all my books sorted out (see number 5), I realised I have lost my Shakespeare. I think I took it to my living room when I was watching Coriolanus, but if so, I have no idea where it went next.

I do not believe in gremlins, but it is beginning to feel a little as if something is setting me up to quote Kenneth Williams in Carry on Caesar. I expect random negative things to cluster, but this is rather a lot for that. Still, all those new things should last me out, and I can fix the little TV to the wall in the kitchen, though I will have to run a coax cable through from the living room. A good thing my pension is due in in a couple of days, though.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 28 Feb 13 - 05:18 PM

WOW! We can hope that life will settle down for a bit. Things do seem to happen in clusters.

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Feb 13 - 05:50 PM

Do NOT buy a lottery ticket this week.

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: gnu
Date: 28 Feb 13 - 05:53 PM

I had a similar spate of such a while back. The PC crash ended up near $1000 plus lost time and productivity.

It passes and now I am back to being totally pissed off just once a day on average... depending on who is aggravating me at Mudcat, of course. >;-).

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 28 Feb 13 - 06:11 PM

There is often a simple explanation for a cluster of things breaking. While there's no solution, there might be some consolation in thinking back about the last time you had a cluster of good fortune at about the last time you had a cluster of needs, and replaced a lot of the things you use.

When you feel comfortable with your situation you tend to get new appliances and end up with everything you have being about the same age. You then end up with a whole bunch of stuff that all wears out at about the same time.

Since ALL MODERN THINGS are built to include an SDM (self destruct module) to prevent them from "lasting too long" and never needing replacement, everything falls apart at about the same time. SDM modules in standard formats are nearly all programed to self destruct within thirty days of the warranty expiration date, although the multiple methods employed make it impossible to make accurate predictions when the SHTF (shit hits the fan) time will occur.

Additonally, new innovations in SDM sophistication appear to allow all your devices to communicate with each other, and when one or two things crap out the group feeling of despair spreads rapidly to all your other things, and other things may just "give up" and quit.

Researchers have been unable to agree on whether this group action is the result of "generalized despair" within your equipment, or whether it represents an attempt to organize (like a union) against the "unfair demands" of the users who expect better service than they've paid for. Suggestions that equipment items should be kept separated to prevent them from communicating with each other are impossible to follow, since the range over which they can communicate is unkown, and it's believed by some that they may have a "messenger service" of some sort that permits them to maintain contact with each other over very long ranges.

John

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 01 Mar 13 - 05:28 AM

John, that is brilliant! I have long suspected that cars get to know when one starts to think about a new one.

I forgot to mention the camera tripod that packed up on Blackheath when we went there to try and photograph the asteroid. (Both the camera battery went flat, and the computer ditto when I tried to ahow someone the Stellarium software.)

The last run was about four years ago when I was in the process of moving, and the washing machine and the fridge went in the old place and I had to buy to fit that kitchen, not knowing the sizes for the new one.

Subsequently, tradespeople engaged to do work on the old place suffered illness and accident (one was a rogue who ran off with money). and the builders who bought the place ripped out the thousands of pounds worth of work I had had done. And the house value dropped.

But this is not like the runs which have affected people I have known where whole families have had illness and death all at once. I know my things are trivial. But there are rather a lot of them. I expect a run, either of good or bad, to be between three and five, possibly six. Probability suggests longer to be rarer.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: wysiwyg
Date: 01 Mar 13 - 09:01 AM

What GOOD things have happened? Sometimes when I have a few bad things happen, I start to focus on that and it seems like a pile-up. It always helps me to change my focus.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: GUEST,Manuel
Date: 01 Mar 13 - 09:45 AM

Penny, I do hope that a good streak of "ups" is about to start for you after that long chain of "downs". A faithful reader of the Bard of Avon deserves no less.

But allow me to confess that when I saw your heading I was excited by the thought that you were going to raise the fascinating subject of the biggest turn-offs on this earth, viz. people who dare to say to others: "You know, I'm too smart to pray to God, but I'm having this or that problem, so will you, not being as smart as I am,please pray for me?"

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Will Fly
Date: 01 Mar 13 - 09:53 AM

ALL MODERN THINGS are built to include an SDM (self destruct module) to prevent them from "lasting too long" and never needing replacement

Except my Dualit toaster, of course. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 01 Mar 13 - 10:51 AM

Don't speak too soon!

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 01 Mar 13 - 01:09 PM

I've told the story before about how sometimes the built in failures can be postponed just by "buying a part." My classic case was the clothes dryer that was "on the verge of failure" and "absolutely must be fixed."

While the noise made by the then spouse was much more annoying to me than the "noise" the dryer was making, I ordered a part and set it aside for use "immediately when needed."

Twenty seven years later I installed the part to get the dryer ready to sell to an acquaintance when we (I and my new spouse) were getting ready to move. (It was still working, but the part was pretty well worn.)

John

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 04:00 PM

Latest one - last night, after googling a friend for no particular reason, I googled myself, and found loads of sites telling me I was still a director of the flats management company at my last home, when I had filled out the termination form a couple of years ago. It turned out, after a bit of poking around, that the form received by Companies House was not the one I had filled in, ending both directorship and secretaryship, but a new one ending only my secretaryship. I don't know who was responsible for that, so I have spent a morning printing out forms and filling them in, writing a covering letter and dropping them in to someone back at the old place to countersign and send on. Hopefully this time I will get removed - I don't want to find myself responsible for their debts or anything.

And the neighbourhood management here has now got a little spat going on and sides seem to be requiring to be chosen. Fortunately I have been prevented from receiving the phone calls from one of the participants, in one case by beign out, in the other by not hearing the ring - odd, as I have phones all over the place.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: GUEST,Bob Ryszkiewicz
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 04:18 PM

Penny: The expression, "she has lost her mind." What does it mean? One answer is that you have let your thoughts concentrate on the negative things that have happened to you. So, what do you get? MORE negative things. The universe thinks you want more bad stuff, so it gives it to you.

How to change that? In the face of poverty, feel rich. When the situation gets out of control, put yourself in the position of being the center of the storm, IN CONTROL.

When you take charge of the thoughts that YOU CHOOSE to let remain in your consciousness, life will change in accordance to that which you have directed it. Feel health, not disease, happy as opposed to sad.

Now, this is not all that easy, but as a Carpenter once told us so long ago, "All things beautiful, think on these things..." he wasn't trying to "rope you in" to His way, He was just telling you how the mind works...

Peace, Health & Wealth...bob

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: skarpi
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 04:41 PM

je thanks Penny you found my elf .....(álfur ) in Icelandic ..

hahaha ....

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 06:02 PM

I got a booboo in my new laptop at 29 days in. That's why I am posting this from two PCs ago and it's why I wanna strangle something.

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 03:48 AM

Ancient lore reports the case of a computer that failed, and nobody could find anything wrong until one brave soul dug deep into the innards (in the day when computers were the size of couple of refrigerators) and came up with a dead cockroach that he believed had short circuited a couple of wires.

His report was that the computer quit "because the engineer died."

The story is often cited as the origin of the term "bug" for any defect in performance, but there are better explanations since the "bugs" term was in use long before there were any computers.

For a time, a little later, I ran into a couple of tech support guys who always asked "was there any smoke?" in the hope of getting to tell you that "if the smoke gets out it just quits working."

A fellow worker made a sign that he kept on his desk for a while:

       CONSERVE YOUR SMOKE
   YOU ONLY GET A LITTLE OF IT

And long ago, when computer mice all had a little steel ball in them, lots of users reported "dead mice" when the balls got dirty, so the tech reps (they made house calls then) all carried a bottle of alcohol to clean peoples' balls.

Unforunately, after the balls had been cleaned a few times they got dirty a lot faster, and the phenomenon came to be called "drunken mouse syndrome."

Reps began carrying a few replacement balls when they went out for their regular maintenance inspections, and IBM thought it important enough that they do so that they had signs made, to be posted beside the exit from their own office to be the last thing seen on the way out:

     HAVE YOU GOT YOUR BALLS?

Lots of the signs got a hadnwritten annotation - "You gotta have balls to work here" or local variants on the theme.

(The "balls" signs are considered "collectibles" by some even now, although verifying authenticity is difficult due to reproductions.)

John

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Will Fly
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 04:00 AM

We had a computer/comms maintenance engineer at work who had this sign on his desk:

"Lack of forethought on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Rumncoke
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 07:11 PM

My husband did a maintenance call at a fire station out in the sticks, to find out why some essential hardware was behaving erratically - upon examination he found that a family of mice had moved into the cabinet and were raising their young in its warmth and security.

As mice leak, their pattering about across the boards was causing all sorts of problems.

Having skewered one on his screwdriver, the DH then explained to the crew why his kit was not working as designed.

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 06 Mar 13 - 04:15 PM

12 - a good friend has lost his dog. It turns out that one of the lads he works with in a charitable way kicked it, it ran off somewhere and has not been seen since. (Vicinity of West Dulwich station if anyone is in that area. It's a Jack Russell answering to Darwin.) He and his wife are pretty cut up about it.

13 - there is a depression outside my back door - been there since I moved in, but an article in the Guardian piqued my interest again. It turns out I live in an area where it just might be a sinkhole. Fun. (I wrote to the BGS about it, very nice letter back.) Oddly enough the environmental surveys that are insisted on nowadays on house purchases do not cover this particular hazard.

Random maths suggests that soon there will be a run of nothing much, and maybe even a run of nice. (The money I put into Teachers Assurance has finally got back to the level it started from in 2007. Hurrah.)
Penny

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: gnu
Date: 06 Mar 13 - 05:41 PM

"Oddly enough the environmental surveys that are insisted on nowadays on house purchases do not cover this particular hazard."

No problem. All ya gotta do is pay many thousands of dollars to do all the studies required to make sure there might not be any problems. I mean... looking underground comes with a price tag... no?

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 07 Mar 13 - 08:49 AM

Hundreds of quid, at any rate. But for the other hazards (radon, flooding, contaminated waste), one is told that there is something that one needs to know and must pay for. Radon - more than most areas but not enough to merit special attention. Flooding - I'm almost at the top of the North Downs, with nowhere above me to be a source of water. Waste - as far as I can make out, a small pond a farmer has put stuff in on another side of the slope.

I've been looking at old aerial photos - it looks like my depression just might be where a tree used to be, but the guys haven't lined up the old photos exactly correctly, so I'd have to buy a hi res one to be sure... only £30. There should be at least 8 metres of overburden on the soluble stuff, anyway, so I'm not bovvered, me.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 20 Mar 13 - 08:31 AM

And it continues.

Someone has hacked my credit card details and used them to order a subscription to a magazine of a sort I would not find interesting or appropriate from the States, which alerted the company, which has stopped my card so I'm cardless for a week.

They apparently tried a number at once, the company reckons they hacked the details some time ago.

What gets me is that, with Miss attached to the card name, they went for something a male would be interested in, something likely to be an unusual purchase, as a way of testing whether they had the right details. Twits.

The last lot, who operated through a local petrol station some years back, went for £2000 worth of wine from France. The woman who got hold of my cards went for HiFi at Argos. More rational.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: GUEST,Manuel
Date: 07 Apr 13 - 08:58 AM

The almost three-week silence of dear Miss penny strongly tempts one to think the twits, and others, are mercifully allowing her some much-needed peace of mind. Happily, for her sake, I continue on in the resulting ennui.

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 08 Apr 13 - 03:19 PM

Indeed, almost all well.
Except yesterday, I set off for Meeting, having calculated the time for the journey based on normal conditions.
Then I came up behind a cyclist - the lycra clad sort. Our roads are narrowish, and bendy, with not much opportunity for overtaking. But I got past him. Only to catch up with two cycling abreast, apparently unaware either of me, or the Highway Code. Eventually I passed them. And caught up another, who noted my presence and sped up, before turning off down a side lane. Not much time lost, so far. Then I reached the peleton. Again, not taking notice of the Highway Code, and occupying the whole left lane, until they did get into single file, which was too long for me to get past within the visibility window, bearing in mind I was starting from 10 mph. Quick calculations based on the length of road to be covered under these conditions and the time, and I turned off round a side lane to go home. Only to meet more of them coming rowards me. But at least that is easier to deal with.
I'm sure they had a lovely day out in the sunshine.
I went and did some geology in the village, trying to find where the chalk is, and listening to The Reunion about Dr Who in Radio 4. Which was pleasant, but unsatisfactory, as the chalk is all buried, except where it has been disturbed with water meter installation, revealing some which is not only in very definitely the wrong place, but also the wrong sort of chalk.
Then, in associated research, I carried on with a map on the Ordnance Survey website, where one can save things in the cloud. I have been plotting all the springs shown in East Sussex in order to find the ones which don't fit the usual pattern and resemble one on my Grandad's farm, which he thought would provide enough water for the village, as it never failed, and steamed in winter. There are dozens and dozens of the things, and I had been saving regularly. And then the cloud ate the lot. Days of work. All evaporated.
But it never occurred to me to post about either of these things. The three weeks of quiet have worked wonders.
Penny

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: GUEST,Manuel
Date: 09 Apr 13 - 10:52 AM

And it was thus that my ennui, finally, ended.

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 14 Apr 13 - 08:13 AM

Would it bore you to hear about the meeting where a retired teacher, who should know better, indulged in playground nastiness presenting themself as the wronged party in a spat which had led up to the retirement of another long serving officer and went as far as issuing allegations against a third party which could be actionable. How does this concern me? I have to minute the darned stuff, and am still on the committee and will have to deal with the person concerned in future.

Do I resign because I don't want to be involved and be assumed to be of the person's party, or because I don't want to become the target, or stay on because the person has to be reined in? When the person is a long established member, here for ages, and I only moved here three years ago?

Honestly, I don't know why people can't do the work which needs doing without getting involved in I, Claudius or, possibly (I haven't see it or read it) Game of Thrones stuff. It's about serving the community, not dripping poison in ears.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: GUEST,Manuel
Date: 15 Apr 13 - 10:01 PM

Penny, at the age which I have been blessed to reach (without having yet to retire), I'm sorry to say I see no dilemma confronting you. I'd stay on and do what is right, no matter what. And it was not boring to hear of the meeting. Take good care.

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Apr 13 - 02:18 PM

I am reminded of the sign my dad had in his office at the Embassy...

I KNOW YOU BELIEVE YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU THINK I SAID, BUT I'M NOT SURE YOU REALIZE THAT WHAT YOU HEARD IS NOT WHAT I MEANT.

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: GUEST,Manuel
Date: 16 Apr 13 - 04:45 PM

Penny obviously does not go out of her way to make clear what is in her mind. Then again, perhaps it's a case of going out of her way to make her meaning unclear. Whatever the case, I'd be surprised to hear her say that I have failed clearly to understand her.

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 21 Apr 13 - 04:23 PM

Would you believe, it's found another way of getting at me?

When I retired, I put a lot of thought into what would be my leaving gift, and decided on a tree. Books which people had given had been got rid of after a number of years according to some modern theory about children not liking books older than a few years. A nice chunk of crystal (me being known for my interest in geology) - I had heard of one school where the head had had a collection, where the collection had been buried in the grounds. But we had trees that had been given in memory of children that had grown and flourished. It would be a rowan, which I knew would grow in the local soil, and I did a poster of a tree, with its variant names and folklore about it, until I could get it.

I had to wait a little, because the chosen spot had been treated a few years before to get rid of Japanese Knotweed, but the time passed, and I donated a bred variety of the tree, which the caretaker put in before I could make sure of the way it was done. He watered it regularly, but the next spring, it was clearly dead.

I researched again, and bought a native type, and gave strict instructions that I was going to put proper compost in the hole, and Rootgrow to hep it get established. The caretaker put it in again, and I had to burrow around it to add the fungus stuff. It, too, failed to leaf after the winter, and was then broken off and the support somehow removed and lost.

I got a very cheap whip from the London Wildlife Trust last year, and installed it in a hole lined with a cardboard box, filled woth bought in topsoil, and treated its roots with Rootgrow again. Before Easter, it had leaves and flowers at the top of the stem. Hooray.

I went in on Friday, and couldn't see it. All the leaves and buds had been stripped off, and it had been pulled up. Fortunately the roots seemed OK, so I have brought it home and potted it up, with more Rootgrow, and hope that it will be able to recover. But I am terribly hurt that the attitude of the school seems to be that children are like that, what can you expect? I don't think it was the children who threw away the support this time, or disposed of the fence I put round it.

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: gnu
Date: 21 Apr 13 - 05:44 PM

>:(   !!!

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 22 Apr 13 - 09:34 AM

Today's bit of negativity - I ordered an aerial photo of the site of my home in 1945, in order to get a good look at the trees and round agricultural objects that might be in the place where I have the depression in the back garden. Off went the money via Paypal, back came an email with the link to the photo for me to download, I clicked on the link, and found nothing. Presumably the past has been erased by a timeywimey glitch reversing the polarity of something or other. I emailed the company - no answer. I've emailed again and used their contact-us form. We shall see - or not.

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 22 Apr 13 - 11:01 AM

Forgot - last Tuesday I went to vacuum my car, thought affectionately of Dad giving me the little vacuum that plugs in the cigarette lighter, and found that... yes, the vacuum gremlin had struck again. It simply would not work. So I've got a new one, an expensive one, because all the cheaper ones had lousy reviews on line. It works a treat. But another link is gone.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 22 Apr 13 - 11:02 AM

And the photo company has kindly emailed me an attachment of the aerial picture of what it used to be like round here - work needs to be done. But not yet.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 26 Apr 13 - 06:49 AM

The rowan is aready putting out new leaves!

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Edthefolkie
Date: 26 Apr 13 - 01:04 PM

I think when you start recalling disasters of one sort or another, they begin to assume massive proportions which really aren't as bad as they seem. However, when I started writing a little document about my adventures with cars, I realised that either I have total recall or I just have bad karma.

For instance, I once drove into town to check out the new Citroën dealership. Half a mile from the dealer, the car dumped its power steering fluid all over the road. I wrestled mightily with the recalcitrant vehicle and arrived at the dealership, only to find that it didn't open for another week. So I had to drive 10 miles back and developed very muscular forearms.

On another occasion, my ma in law was getting married for the second time, and that morning I thought I ought to treat our bright yellow car to a car wash. One of the door mirrors was removed by a rotating brush and I had to leap out to get it back before it was crushed. I also had to hide my trouser bottoms in the church.

Then there was our brand new car which was hit up the back by a former Mumbai bullock cart driver. And the car which caught fire while a friend was underneath fixing the engine mounts.

There's loads more, but I just shrug it off these days. Especially when I heard my mate's stories about his horsebox full of scaffolding bursting a tyre, his E-type falling off a trailer, his purchase of a large unstartable Renault van from a transgender couple, etc etc. Life's like that, so get used to it.

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 26 Apr 13 - 04:40 PM

Sounds as if there's a song in there somewhere.
Penny

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 30 Apr 13 - 01:15 PM

I'm not entirely serious about all this, of course. But I have now managed to lose about £15, and have no memory of where or how I could have done so. I don't know if I spent it and forgot, or misplaced it while accessing my purse, or what. It's as much the not knowing as the losing that bothers me. Fortunately, I can manage without it, as many couldn't.

Looming is the neighbourhood committee meeting on Wednesday, which will take place under the aegis of our local Livia avatar (if you have been watching the repeat of I Claudius, you will know what I am on about). Having encouraged, in a very unpleasant way, the existing Chair who has served the community for 20 years to retire, she will be gloating. Another member has felt driven to resign by the atmosphere. If I carry on I open myself to attack if I do not acquiesce to the machinations. If I resign as well, I can't really complain if the neighbourhood is run in a way I object to, can I? I'm not happy.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 13 May 13 - 06:23 PM

The meeting was OK, all sweetness and light. Astonishing.

My blender has packed up, emitting smoke from the motor. More expense.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 13 May 13 - 11:46 PM

This should brighten your day....I posted it on three different threads, that rarely meet.

GfS

Try this for amazing news...

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 14 May 13 - 09:22 AM

That is amazing.

And my friend's laptop has a problem with its battery.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 May 13 - 10:33 AM

Penny, if only it were fifteen pounds (is that about a stone) instead of £15, eh? Perhaps the gremlins didn't convert currency between weight and money.

I think I read this thread when you first started it, but haven't been back for a while. Probably just as well, I don't want to give my pickup truck any more ideas, and it's close enough to the house that it can probably pick up vibrations from the computer where I'm reading this. In the space of about six weeks it needed an expensive regular maintenance (based upon mileage, and it was about 40,000 over the recommended for this service) plus a wheel bearing and then a full brake job.

I have a tree suggestion. If you recall that John kept his dryer going for decades by buying a replacement part for "just in case," you might want to look at this American organic gardener's tree planting instructions in case the current tree dies. He doesn't put anything in the hole but native dirt, and makes sure it isn't planted too deep (the trunk flare should be above the soil level). If the tree knows that you have instructions for its replacement, it is bound to thrive.

If you ever decide you want a partner in crime in your wanderings around the countryside looking at rocks and remnants of earlier civilizations, check with our Bat Goddess (Linn) - she is a bit more than an armchair archaeologist and we are just nuts enough that we have mailed rocks back and forth to each other due to our interest in geology and fossils. Perhaps that would confuse the gods of bike riders and imminent sink holes. And I know she would adore being there if a sink hole occurred and revealed the burial place of some ancient king.

Finally, see if you can inoculate the household with Manuals Online, where you can find the operating manuals for friges, vacuums, televisions, CD players, etc. I've gotten everything from instructions for a string trimmer for the yard to CD players bought at garage sales. If you can just convince the gremlins that you are on top of them, perhaps they'll disable the SDM (self destruct module) on their own.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: artbrooks
Date: 14 May 13 - 11:24 AM

Remember, it's all about the innate perversity of inanimate objects. I was trying to remember the title of a quite old short story about kitchen appliances becoming self aware and taking over the world, but couldn't.

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 14 May 13 - 04:21 PM

The tree is doing really well - major buds have sprouted leaves, and new budlets are appearing in the scars of old leaves.

My Shakespeare has not turned up, despite my buying the contingency replacement paparback copy from Oxfam.

The roofing felt pulled away from the house front, just before the new lot of bad rain arrived, but the local builder has fixed it and isn't charging me! I'm now waiting for him to fit in re-laying my patio so the water drains towards the garden not the house, and move the rockery rock he was getting rid of for another customer from my garage to the garden. Then I can carry on sorting out the mess from last year's scaffolders.

I've got the small spare room working as a propagator for veggies, and have transferred the first, French beans, out to the garden. Mind you, I did choose the wrong day, and they got a bit windblown. Next, the runner beans. And the peas.

So I think the gremlins have probably packed up - the blender is a brand which has the burning out problem, apparently.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 16 May 13 - 02:15 AM

A rare coincidence that I think is worthy of note:

We have had some "difficulties" with the local municipal gestapo, and after almost three years of trying I finally obtained a complete copy of the local "Municipal Code."

The copy obtained was availably only as a "web page," and of course html presents some difficulties in reading and reviewing, marking up comments and all that, so of course I "ported it to a Word .doc."

After cleaning up broken formats, redundant line/feed/page breaks and the like, the coincidence is:

The Municipal Code for the City of Park City Kansas is exactly

                      ☠ 666 PAGES ☠

But of course I'm not superstitious (I thought).

John

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 16 May 13 - 04:05 AM

Oooo, perhaps you need to adorn it with a crucifix bit of clipart!

And yesterday, a follow-up to my first post.

I fixed the the tyre inflator with a new plug, and yesterday noticed the tyre with the mended slow puncture was a bit squishy, so went to pump it up again. No power. So when I went to buy a replacement blender, I also bought a replacement inflator. No power. No power to anything I plugged in. Went to the garage which fitted a new fuse - FREE - Hooray! I assume that the old inflator was the cause of the fuse blowing, so kept the new one.

Meanwhile, my neighbours along the road have had their cars keyed. Not nice.

This morning, I saw a jay in the garden. I've not seen anything that interesting before. It was not in full colour plumage yet. Nice.

And my investments that went down so steeply shortly after I started them have not only restored their original value, but amounted to enough to cover the loss to the rogue trader. I'm looking for something safe and ethical to move the money to. They are supposed to be in an ethical fund - but it turns out the company think that ethical includes Shell Oil, Diageo and Rio Tinto Zinc, which I have profound doubts about. It doesn't just mean no guns and no tobacco, in my book.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 May 13 - 01:11 PM

Can you save in the U.S.? Vanguard is a well-respected firm that has no-load funds and many Indexed funds that you can use for regular investing or use in retirement accounts.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 16 May 13 - 04:20 PM

I think that might lead to tax problems. And their page is not accessible here, either. But thanks, anyway.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 23 Aug 13 - 10:21 AM

Further activities of the gremlins....

At about 12.30 on the 13th (a Tuesday) as I drove through Catford on my way to see a friend, I was waiting, in the left hand lane at some traffic lights. They changed. I started to move off. A white box van pulled in front, left signal flashing. I stopped. He stopped. I couldn't work out whether he intended to turn left or go straight ahead. I engaged reverse. He turned to go ahead, and the upright rail of his lift platform scraped my wing.

He drove off. I drove after. I wasn't sure if he was planning to stop. He turned in to a side street, I followed, we parked, and exchanged the usual pleasantries. He semi acknowledged fault. Because of following, I have no witnesses.

This was two days before changing my insurer. So, consequences....

My new premium goes up £142, thus wiping out the advantage of changing. My new company ups the excess to £250, £50 more than the current one. I have to pay the £200 excess on the repair. I have to pay £50 deposit on the courtesy car. I have an extra £6.60 on my mobile phone bill (0800 number, not covered in my "plan") I have overfilled the courtesy car tank because the gauge didn't show the amount until I drove off, so it looked as though I had calculated wrong. That's £5. Most of this should evaporate when the other party owns up.

I am now stuck indoors waiting for the car transporter, possibly until 6 pm, unable to do anything.

Meanwhile, on Monday, I'm sitting in my kitchen at 2.30 pm when I see a bright flash, like lightning, inside the room, in my right peripheral field. I check all the electrics, and there's nothing wrong. I can't work out how someone could be using a flash on a camera outside and it reflect into the place I saw it. So I rang the NHS line 111. They advised me to see the doctor, sharpish. So I did. She finds I have raised blood pressure, and organises checks, and tells me to have my eyes tested.

A friend suggests that the sun could have flashed into my window with someone opening one of theirs. This isn't feasible from the positions at the time. On Tuesday, I see a lot of flashes, from the rear screens of cars picking up sunlight as I drive to the shops. Thsi gives me an idea. At 2.30, I set up a video camera where my head would have been, and go outside with a mirror. This shows that I do not have a head problem. A car, going over a speed bump outside, would provide just the same sort of brief flash.

The first blood pressure test is down a bit, but not enough. The optician finds my eyes healthy, but also that I need a new prescription - over £300 (at Specsavers) for reaction lenses and a polaroid pair for driving. Varifocals.

The second test is also down, but not enough, and next week I have a day with a 24hr monitor. I do not want to have to go on medication for this. I'm already doing the right things diet wise, but need to lose more weight. And exercise. Exercise is so boring.

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 23 Aug 13 - 12:22 PM

Take a vacation, Penny, right at home. Drive as little as possible, and when you do drive, drive when traffic is light. I like 2 pm, myself.

Wait till the kerfuffle over the accidents is done and the money has been straigtened out, Then have your blood prssure checked when you are feeling less anger and worry.

Can you get away with one pair of glasses, putting polaroid clip-ons over it for driving?

I agree that exercise is boring. Ah, to be a child again, when running around like crazy was great fun!

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 23 Aug 13 - 01:36 PM

Theoretically, the second pair of glasses is free!

Just had a call from the transporter driver, stuck on the M25. I don't know why they used the branch in Middlesex rather than the one in Erith.

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Mrrzy
Date: 23 Aug 13 - 03:20 PM

Now that the third person I know has been rearended this week, I've stopped worrying about that at least...

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 25 Aug 13 - 03:10 AM

Actually, it was the other driver who was in line for three accidents, as, when he had hit me, he had already had a disagreement with a poorly cemented wall, about 20 minutes before.

Meanwhile, yesterday the gremlins got to work again. Settling down to watch TV, suddenly there is no signal. There is no signal from either of the two transmitters in the area, on either of the TVs I test. It is possible for a signal to be picked up for some, but not all, of the stations with an aerial which came with a portable set balancing on the curtain rail. so it is the aerial on the roof which is faulty. There is an extreme downpour going on at the time, so presumably the set up has a leak in it somewhere. It will be right at the source, since the signal is split between three cables on the roof, and two of them are not delivering signals - I haven't tested the other one yet. It is a Saturday night on a Bank Holiday weekend, so nothing to be done at least until Tuesday. I can get some programmes via the internet, so all is not lost, but more expense.

Maybe when the forecast sun comes out from behind the nimbostratus, things will improve.

Then, while watching Harry Potter, full of pixelling out and seized blanks, there is a huge noise from upstairs, of things falling. In the corner of my bathroom window, I have one of those spring loaded poles which support shelves for bathroom essentials. This has collapsed into the bath. The bathroom smells of my favourite foambath, which I save for best, as it is no longer available - the plastic bottle has become brittle over the uears, and has now broken. The bath is layered with other bottles - fortunately no others have broken.

I had taken it down when the window surveyor came on Friday, and then re-erected it. Apparently it was OK, but a visitor had moved it slightly, tucking the curtain behind one of the shelves, just enough to start it slipping. This morning I shall have to spend time sorting out the mess. Ho hum. I just love having to do jobs I've already done all over again.

And then, when I logged on this morning, firefox wuldn't start properly, because it was determined to add the Yahoo toolbar with all the little extra apps I would enjoy using. NO I WOULD NOT! This is a netbook with a tiny screen, so extra toolbars steal the view of what I want to see. And it's MY netbook, so I get to choose what is on it. Who do these guys think they are, hijacking other people's devices. The NSA? Sorted for now. But it still hangs around even when I've used Add/Remove programmes in Control Panel.

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 26 Aug 13 - 08:49 AM

And now, a further twist to the aerial issue. I have a set top version plugged in and hanging over the curtain rail, and can watch off air ITV and other channels on its multiplex. Not BBC. So I went into the recorded programmes to delete the ones where nothing had been recorded, and there BBC was, perfect. I suppose the tuner used must have been better than the one I had been watching - except that this is the recorder which complains about weak signals when everything else is perfectly happy.

Jack, I go along with what you describe - but how the dickens do things know when it is a bank holiday?

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Suzy Sock Puppet
Date: 26 Aug 13 - 11:24 AM

GfS, that is like the most amazing thing I have ever seen!!!

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 28 Aug 13 - 10:58 AM

Today I have the 24 hour blood pressure monitor on, and it looks as thought there will not be a problem as the figures look well within normal. My pulse is a bit fast...

Not going to have to start meds, then.

And I've had calls from both insurance companies - the other party has owned the fault, so all that money will be coming back.

A good day...
Penny

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 29 Aug 13 - 08:57 AM

Apparently it is not totally clear that I don't need meds, and they need to know about what lifestyle changes I need to make, so I have to have a fasting blood test next Friday morning.

So next week I ahall be abjuring anything that might worry them. And exercising.

I wonder how they would react if I said I wasn't going to take meds yet, and they thought I should.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 02 Oct 13 - 06:37 PM

I had thought that this was going to be a short term thing - after all, things go in threes, don't they?

Car repaired OK. Non-fault confirmed.

Meanwhile, my dishwasher started to be unreliable, in many different ways, so it was a bit of a toss-up as to whether I got a new one or not - until Monday, when the reverse threaded thing holding the rotary arm split. Choice of two makes, Zanussi - Italian made in Sweden, or Bosch -German made in Spain. Bosch has better reviews and a better energy rating.

I ordered one, to collect myself (it's table top, so fits in the car and I can lift it) so I would get it today. On unpacking it - it's dented. Replacement can only get here next Wednesday.

And it isn't the doing the washing by hand that's the problem. I had to empty out the cupboard under the sink to get at the hose connections, and now I'm stuck with boxes of cleaning stuff on the floor - all the bottles would have to go back separately, and then come out again. (Still, I have inventoried them all, so I won't get any more washing up liquid, suface cleaning sprays or handwash pumps, which I seem to have been stock piling.)

And I have the offending dented thing in the garage on a table, so I can't put the car away.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Ebbie
Date: 02 Oct 13 - 07:50 PM

I think that's called Life in the Modern Society, Penny.

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Andrez
Date: 03 Oct 13 - 06:17 AM

Hi Penny, reading this thread with enjoyment and mirth in its entirety for the first time, methinks this is the stuff from which a good folk (or country) song or three could be compiled. Wot say you? Do you write, play or sing at all?

Cheers,

Andrez

Subject: RE: BS: I don't believe in this, but....
From: Penny S.
Date: 10 Oct 13 - 04:14 AM

Yesterday, the new one arrived. The delivery slot was between 2 pm and 9 pm. They got here at 9:10 pm. We checked the new one for dents.

I went to bed, leaving the new machine in the garage.

This morning, I got it upstairs to the kitchen, re-emptied the cupboard, connected it up, and started it on the rinse cycle to check the connections. I put super absorbent cloths under all the connections to check I'd done it right. At the end of the cycle, the one under the mains connection under the sink was dry. The one under the drain connection under the sink was dry. The part under the input connection was dry. The part under the output connection was dry.

But, the part at the corner of the machine was wet, and investigation revealed that it was wet under the side of the machine.

I rang up John Lewis. They offered me a choice of another replacement or a visit from an engineer. I'm going for the engineer, between 8 and 2 am on Saturday. With the threat that if it's my fault I'll have to pay.

I feel like screaming. And I wish I'd gone for the cheaper Zanussi.