Now I'm actually worried about relegation this season ! http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41896041 People say that the league table doesn't lie - that your ' position' is what you deserve ! Those who saw our game on Saturday, would have to agree that, ( over 90 minutes ), a draw was a fair result...... by half time we could so easily have been 0-3 down. Bury played some really good football, and wasted two excellent chance to increase their lead. In the 2nd half Gills were better (( couldn't have been a lot worse )) -- yet we still made hard work of scraping a point. It could be said that we had several chances to score 2, 3 or more in the second half - but - we didn't ! - and we didn't against a team that is bottom of our division ' bottom for a reason - because they're not very good .' ------- are Gills any better ? Are Woking better than Bury ?, or is it one 'freak 'result ? - Will there be 46 'freak' results this season - which relegates The Gills - or is it that we're not good enough, ( over 46 games ), with what we've got? perhaps if we all paid a 'booking fee' for our home game tickets, we might be able to buy somebody who can score !
I noticed a stirring in the support after Saturdays result. To me it smacks of being fickle, and the precise reason i don't want Lovell to be given a contract, he doesn't deserve the **** various managers have experienced over the last decade and beyond. Even with our good change in performances since SL taking the reigns we are still in the bottom four, why? Because the league this year is not much to call between many of the teams. If we stay up and that's a big IF...Lovell will be a god. If we don't all the plastics can go to Charlton
Why I love self-service tills - I don't have to talk to a shop assistant. It's been a while since I have given updates on my shopping exploits - but two 'experiences' have come my way in the last week. In the first - I was in the supermarket ( with my mother - helping her to do her 'shop.' ) -- I made the mistake of not using the self-scan facility. Instead, we went to the self-service tills to scan the groceries. ........ ( at least I won't have to talk to a shop assistant ! ) - or so I thought. I never seem to have much luck with tills in shops --- the bloody till that I happened to use broke ! --- firstly it 'stalled' - 6 times ! -- the usual " unexpected item in baggage area " or " there is a problem - help will be with you soon.! So, - far from not wanting to make small talk with a till operative, I had to endure the endless wait for the one member of staff who had to resolve the issues of 10 tills. It wouldn't have been so bad if it was only once - but six times ! --------- and that was before No. 7 No.7 was a complete machine failure - that involved 3 members of staff, 15 -20 minutes of watching them trying to reassemble the till - which was doing a good impression of a large transformer toy ! - At one point I made the mistake of asking if the staff knew how long it would take to fix the till --- I should have realsied the answer was always going to be " we don't know what's wrong." At this point, I told them that I was going to take the groceries to another till. One of the staff who 'served' me, then proceeded to tap furiously at what seemed to be every button on the machine - which then miraculously decided to work again............................ 45 minutes after I entered into combat with the till, I finally managed to process the items ------ and not one apology for the seven breakdowns ( other than the one I was having )....................................... oh well, I did say that I didn't want to have to talk to a shop assistant!
The second ' shop assistant ' wasn't as intelligent as the till ! In another shop, I was purchasing only one item. It cost £ 5.50 pence. FYI the till tells the user exactly what change to give if the amount tendered is registered by the assistant. I didn't have the 'correct' money - so I gave a £20 note and a 50 pence coin. You didn't really need to have two brain cells to know that I was expecting a £10 & a £5 note in change --- you really didn't need to have a till to teach you simple mental maths to know what change to give --- but - the assistant was really struggling to know what change to give me...... She fumbled in the 'notes' section. I could see confusion on the poor woman's face - but didn't want to embarrass her - so I just waited patiently as she took out the correct change ------------------------- even as the assistant then showed the money I had given her ( in one hand ), and the £10 & £5 notes ( in the other hand ), to another member of staff to confirm that the change she was going to give was correct !!!
Sadly it is a common thing these days, mental maths a simple skill that is being lost due to the electronic devices of today. I was having this debate with someone the other day in regards to satnavs now to be included as part of your driving test. My side of the debate was that although i accept they can be very useful devices on long not previously ventured journeys, they also take away some basic learning skills, ie learning the road networks, junctions, landmarks from memory. Think about it, the majority of journeys that are made by your average car drivers are local ones, you probably keep your car for 10 years and only just touch 60,000 miles in that time, where a company driver might do that sort of mileage over a 1-2 year period. So why the hell does an average driver need a satnav on, let alone it form part of a test! Yes, i get they can tell you how long it is going to take to do your 15 minute journey to the shops and the satnav will even tell you if there is an accident, but where you going to go, an alternative route?...but hasn't everyone got a satnav for that alternative route There was a video sketch i saw once of lemmings on mobile phones, the same logic applies to satnavs, we have lost all sense of human proportion and just become a bunch of lemmings cloned by our devices.
As brb says, this happens only too often. If you really want to see confusion, just try giving someone like that £21.50 for a purchase of £6.45
Are some people completely mad !............................. I nearly didn't get to the game today - and I almost killed somebody ! ( I'll claim it would have been justified. ) On my journey to Priestfields today, I came closer to an accident on the road than The Gills got to scoring a goal ! I was on the 'main ' road. I was approaching a T junction on my left. I saw that a car was approaching the STOP line at the junction - and, indeed it appeared to be reducing speed --------- I 'stupidly ' assumed that the driver was going to come to a STOP at the junction. Almost at the last moment, I realised that the driver wasn't looking at where he was going ! I saw him with his mobile phone raised fairly close to his face. He was busy texting ( one handed ) - whilst (not ) controlling the car with the other. I quickly realised that the driver hadn't got a clue as to his position in the road, nor my presence just a few feet away. This other motorist, without taking his gaze off his phone, then went straight over the STOP line and into the middle of the junction ( and didn't even begin to turn left or right ). Now the car is at right angle to the main road. I was forced into an emergency stop - millimetres from broadsiding the idiot -- who then slammed on his brakes - looked up for a nano second, and then turn the steering wheel ( one handed )- whilst still texting !
Who gives a f@@@ - or should I get out more ? I thought that you couldn't get anything more irritating on commercial radio than the PPI adverts......... seems I'm wrong ! All I can say is that I'm grateful for the advanced warning ( not that I buy the Mail on Sunday ). Today, I heard several adverts on the radio station of my choice -- telling me that in tomorrow's MoS, there are a load of photographs of Meghan Merkle's parents (( latest love interest of Harry ))........ I'm not going to apologise for having zero interest ( other than being annoyed with another sponger of my tax ).
come on brb - you forgot to mention McDonald's contribution ---- and that of Akinfenwa for Wycombe........ " Never look back."
Oh i never looked at the goal scorer for AFC, tell yer what mate, keep this between ourselves and pretend i never mentioned Charlton, hopefully pegleg and grumpygit will not see it.
...... . Talking of which I've just returned from Medway hospital - I had to take mum for a blood test. These days mum can hardly walk. She has arthritis, swollen hips and knees. She has dementia and virtually no memory - oh - and broken vertebrae in her back - ( yet not considered disabled for a Blue Badge - and she has TWO lots of Morphine three times a day for her pains )!!!even if there were no "disabled" bays available. I had to " dump" off my mum at the main entrance - and go looking for a parking space --- whilst hoping mum wouldn't wander off ! I went to Reception and showed the staff the GP form. I was told that I was in the wrong part of the hospital - I needed Eliot Ward ( not an inconsiderable and painful walk for my mum.) When we got there, there is a tiny A5 size notice - with even smaller writing telling you that you have to take a ticket - and wait for your number ( 60 ) to be called. I didn't see the notice. I made the obvious choice of speaking to a receptionist in the room. I showed the GP form ( 2nd time ) -- now to be told that I was in the wrong ward !! ( 2nd time ). I wasn't amused - and explained that the reception staff in two wards were using us as human yo-yos. That one or both staff didn't seem capable of understanding the GP form - and said that my mother had ran her marathon for today - and she was too crippled to be messed about. At this point, the receptionist looked at the GP form again ( 3rd time ) and then said.. " The form is actually marked up as urgent ( in 9 parts -- yes -- NINE places ), so we can do it here. The nonsense went further - the nurse who ( eventually ) took blood from mum, asked if mum was supposed to have " fasted" -- even if the form from the GP said 'No fasting'. Isn't our NHS wonderful ? - all that 'treatment' - and I didn't even need an anaesthetic ---- ( but I've got a bloody kingsize headache ! )....and so have you after reading all my nonsense !
Always, Trying to be serious for a brief minute...The whole blue badge thing is about how you fill out the form, in her last few years my mum lived with us, after initially being denied a badge I was grumbling to the district nurse and she filled out a new form for me..needless to say the badge arrived. As for the hospital, they have wheel chairs available for patient use just inside the main entrance, if none are there just ask.
Grympygit - I didn't invite "serious" to this thread ! OK - I too have heard that it's how the application for the Blue Badge is worded ( by 'medical professionals ). We will try again - in the meantime we are getting my mum a wheelchair (that's not her Christmas present !! ). Regarding your scandalous accusation that I whine - - I am guilty as charged -- but I have much mitigation. I am probably " old school." With due humility, I am not unintelligent ( even if no Einstein ). I don't expect people with whom I deal to be the brain of Britain - but - I don't suffer fools gladly - such as two officials in a hospital who give me conflicting information - especially when one of them managed to miss the 9 places marked " urgent" on the form , it is no wonder that when I had a plaster cast removed from my arm a few years ago, and when the Doctor then said that my arm wasn't broken, I did wonder what were his professional credentials - I had seen the X ray - I saw the " break " - I felt the pain -- THAT was why I had the cast on my arm ! - Merry Christmas - bah humbug ☺
I don't believe this! a second serious post. When buying a wheelchair make sure to get the blue badge first, it entitles you to exemption from the VAT element of the chair, if your mum is diabetic she can get VAT exemption already. I do have plenty of experience of how hospitals can work...........some many years ago I was in A&E waiting for x-ray results on my boys leg (football injury) we were in one of the rows of cubicles separated by just curtains, next door were two doctors discussing the x-ray of another patient. The younger sounding voice was saying what needed to be done for maximum results, free of pain and freedom of movement, that's when the older sounding voice said she is 84 it would be a waste of resource, he seemed to put quality of life low in his order of priority.
Thanks, grumpygit Diabetes is about the only thing my mum hasn't got ( other than a sense of humour ) - - I reckon I ruined that in childbirth ( I can't be serious for too long.)
