Manners maketh the Man (or woman!)

I work in London and I love the place. I wouldn't be anywhere else. I arrive into Liverpool Street Station every morning and from there it's a brisk walk down to the office the other side of the river. It's rush hour and there's plenty of people about, all going about their business...and then you get the others. You know the ones I mean. Their phone rings and they stop walking to answer it....or the ones have so much rubbish to carry to and from work they need to pull their briefcases along on a trolley. And then you get the loving couples, walking hand in hand. Guys, listen up....hold hands if you like, answer the phone if you like....but try and keep up. People are trying to get to work, they want to get there so they can check their email, look on Facebook, have a cup of coffee and talk gossip with other people at work. They don't want to be stuck behind you while you talk to someone on the phone. They don't want to risk being run over as the two of you walk along, at a snails pace, so you can hold hand for another minute. Think of other people sometimes, stand to one side if your phone rings if you can't walk and talk. Stop for a coffee if you want to hold hands for another minute, but keep up the pace....
You people with the trollies, get another job, you obviously have too much stress in your lives if you need to carry that much stuff around.

Ho, Ho, Bl**dy Ho......!

So Christmas is here and the geese are getting fat, oh, wait a minute, Christmas is still a month away. Although, to be fair, my local supermarket has had Christmas cards and gifts since before halloween. Is it me, or is Christmas getting earlier and earlier each year? Maybe it's the credit crunch and the shops are trying to maximise their profits, by pushing Christmas early, but I'm sure, when I was a kid, Christmas didn't really start until we finished Guy Fawkes?
We went out shopping to Lakeside the other Sunday, normally a bit of traffic, but nothing to get excited about. It took 90 minutes for a 25 minute journey, an hour of which was going the last mile down roads where there's no other way to turn.
Last year I did all my Christmas shopping online, but I thought it would be nice, to go and see the pretty shops, to enjoy the ambiance of the festive time.
Well I'm back to trusty Amazon. They stock most DVD's, CD's, computer games and books that any of my family or friends could think of...and they bring it to me (well, via the postal service, but nothings perfect!).
Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, seeing family and friends, the giving and receiving of presents, but it's such a build up for what seems, at my age anyway, to be a bit of an anti-climax.
If you're reading this, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year....Albeit a little bit early, but that's how this started anyway!

But There's No Handbook!

Okay, well I may have mentioned before, but if not I'll say it again. I have recently acquired a daughter. Not just any daughter, but a 12 year old daughter, with all stress that being a teenage girl brings.
Now, normally, we would have grown up together, we would be used to each other and would know when to put up and when to shut up. But I never had that chance and now I'm trying to learn on the job.
Now I work with computers all day and I'm fairly handy around most things like that. I know that there will be manuals if I'm stuck, or something on the web, maybe even a video clip on YouTube to help me understand some obscure configuration.
But here is the whole point, there are no handbooks, manuals or userguides on how to handle teenage girls and their mood swings. There is nothing on YouTube or Google helping me say the right thing, do the right thing or, more importantly, knowing when not to do or say anything!
I love her to pieces and her brother too. After my first wife died, I never thought that I would ever have a chance to experience a family, and on the whole, they make it very easy for me, Most of the time.
I guess, like most things in life, it is a big learning curve (make that a giant learning curve) and eventually we will work things out.....I hope!

It's Not My Fault

How hard can it be? You give your stuff to someone in one place, you move house, it get's delivered to your new place. Admittedly, in this case, one house was in Israel and one was in Romford, UK, but the principle is the same.

The container arrived in Felixstowe on the 19th October, because there had been a strike in Israel. No-one bothered to tell us it had been delayed there over a month before it was shipped.

Once we had the letter from the receivers, we thought "okay, it's nearly here. We'll finally have a bed to sleep on, warm clothes and all the stuff that we can't even remember we packed".

We waited. Then we waited a bit more and then we phoned up.

Apparently the receiver was owed money by the shippers and, as security, had held all the containers that the shippers had stuff in. Now I think that that is actually illegal, to withhold my goods when they are owed money by someone else, but that will be another story.

After pressure from the Israel side, to the shippers paid enough money to the receivers for them to agree to release our stuff. Everyone lets out a sigh and relaxes...for about a minute. When can our stuff be delivered? In another couple of weeks!

We've weathered strikes, financial problems, general incompetence and what hits us at the final leg....."we don't have a team in your area for another couple of weeks". Is that my problem? Have we not suffered enough with this farce? Just get your fingers out and deliver our stuff!!

I'm not naming and shaming yet, but please, if you're thinking of shipping stuff from Israel to UK, feel free to ask for names...

The End of Autumn

As the sun sets over the pond and the weather starts to turn on it's final leg up to Christmas, it's time to get the winter coats out of the cupboard and to look at the settings on the central heating.

My new family come from much warmer climes and, to be honest, have been feeling the chill for a few weeks now. Of course they are excited that it may snow, and keep asking if we're going to have a white Christmas.

My family, if you get to read this, please remember. The snow looks nice, at least for the first few hours through the kitchen window. It's fun to play in in the garden, although remember your gloves, hats and scarves. But then think of me, trampling through the slush, with my feet like ice, standing at the station waiting for a train that isn't coming as the points are frozen. Walking to the office at the other end, being stabbed by the unbrellas of people that thinks it helps.

When I come home, treat me nicely, be patient and let me rant about my day and the hassles I have had, they will last as long as the snow and then everything will be back to normal.