Room 101

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2 more pet hates of mine are :

1. Yuppies with speedboats.
2. Militant anti smokers. Every time I come to England I come by train through the tunnel, and I've noticed that at German stations smokers have to stand in special areas (small yellow squares painted on the ground) - in Belgium they seem to be puffing away like the rest of Europe was years ago (At least at stations which are open ones) - Whereas in British stations it's forbidden completely even if standing on an open platform such as Watford junction. So, Europe's anti smoking laws are interpreted differently. There are still many pubs in Germany (Though no longer in Nordrheinwestfalen - the State where I live) which have rooms for smokers and, as long as they are effectively separated from non smokers - and, payed staff do not have to enter those areas then this seems ok. to me. This is still the situation in most of Belgium. To go further than this (as in Britain) is too much interference in people's lives - and reeks of victimization. I see absolutely no reason why I shouldn't be able to go to a designated area of a football ground at halftime for a cigarette if I want (as in most German stadiums).

Was in Switzerland in May and we could not help noticing that the Swiss seemed to be big smokers and it was allowed in Stations etc which I found surprising.
 
Todays moan

Cosmetic departments at the entrance to stores. Why do we have to be assaulted with this fug of multifarious smells because we want to go into the shop? Smell pollution in my book, almost as bad as cigarette smoke!

Put them in the basement at the back of the shop.

Seen on the back of a vehicle with a flower power paint job parked outside of my work .... "Men do not need to wear make-up" Wish I had my camera for you to see it.
 
Todays moan

Cosmetic departments at the entrance to stores. Why do we have to be assaulted with this fug of multifarious smells because we want to go into the shop? Smell pollution in my book, almost as bad as cigarette smoke!

Put them in the basement at the back of the shop.

.

I disagree. They should be put outside the back door of the shop with the smokers, and anyone who can make one of the assistants produce a genuine smile should get a prize, that is, if you can find tha assistant under all the make-up.
 
If only we could get rid of idiots like this:

Blake Peterson ‏@blake2108 15h
See Judy, not even your son cares about you. **** off

Blake Peterson ‏@blake2108 15h
Shame Judy didn't have a cardiac arrest when he won that...

.... a perfect candidate.
 
If only we could get rid of idiots like this:

Blake Peterson ‏@blake2108 15h
See Judy, not even your son cares about you. **** off

Blake Peterson ‏@blake2108 15h
Shame Judy didn't have a cardiac arrest when he won that...

.... a perfect candidate.

That is shocking and beyond the pale! I wish a plague of locusts upon him! <steam>
 
Who is Blake Peterson anyway? Never heard of him, hopefully he'll disappear into the either with all the other trolls.
Well done Judy, you boy did good!(understatement of the last 70 years perhaps).
 
Who is Blake Peterson anyway? Never heard of him, hopefully he'll disappear into the either with all the other trolls.
Well done Judy, you boy did good!(understatement of the last 70 years perhaps).

Agree, absolutely no call for that kind of vitriol. Can't such comments be removed.
 
As long as there was a company to replace them, Condor Ferries. They take serious advantage of their monopoly in providing the main ferry service between CI, UK and France. The contract is due to be renewed and they're making demnds of the Jersey and Guernsey Governments. The problem is that the politicians are too spineless to stand up to them. I don't think I've ever left on time with them, they regularly run one engine short so they take longer, the customer service is crap. I could add to the list of things I can moan about regarding them, but that is why more often than not I will fly unless I'm going to France when I'm usually going over with someone who will be driving to where I'm going.
 
A return crossing from France to Jersey at this time of year costs &#8364;344 with Condor and that is for a journey that should take 1 hour 20 minutes. A similar length crossing from Dover to Calais costs &#8364;60 return. It really does show up what the lack of competition can do.
 
A return crossing from France to Jersey at this time of year costs &#8364;344 with Condor and that is for a journey that should take 1 hour 20 minutes. A similar length crossing from Dover to Calais costs &#8364;60 return. It really does show up what the lack of competition can do.

Room 101 for the ferry company. That is extortion. Ridiculous!
 
A return crossing from France to Jersey at this time of year costs &#8364;344 with Condor and that is for a journey that should take 1 hour 20 minutes. A similar length crossing from Dover to Calais costs &#8364;60 return. It really does show up what the lack of competition can do.

A tad unfair - all it really shows up is the difference in passenger numbers, which is the real driving force behind the pricing structure. Condor transport around one million passengers annually on that route - for the Dover-Calais route, Sea France alone transport more than three times that number.
 
I can make allowances for high prices if the service is good and, in my experience, it can be abysmal. A few years ago there was a new company who were going to be competition but had an issue with the engine on the ferry they were going to use for their initial crossings. They made very few sailings because of it as it was deemed unsafe but Condor regularly do sail with 1 engine unavailable.
 
Sea France went bust in a big way a while ago, and the company that owns the offshoot is Eurotunnel. They have been stopped from buying more of the company because of the feared increase in fares. DFDS seaways are now joined up with LD Lines who are joined up with Transmanche Ferries. Condor are joined up with Brittany Ferries and they serve the western end of the channel. All of these mergers have been done to cut costs because the tunnel is taking an increasing share of the business. The costs that we moan about for our cars is though a minor part of the what is happening. Lorries pay about £800 for a crossing and that is the real business that the ferry operators are after. Unless they can get a fair proportion of that trade they are in trouble, and Brittany Ferries/Condor have been pricing themselves out. There are serious doubts about Brittany now and it remains to be seen if they can survive.
 
A return crossing from France to Jersey at this time of year costs &#8364;344 with Condor and that is for a journey that should take 1 hour 20 minutes. A similar length crossing from Dover to Calais costs &#8364;60 return. It really does show up what the lack of competition can do.

Costs about that to sail from Oban to Mull with a car, similar journey. Traffic is small compared to the channel.
 
Puters can be pretty irritating but a couple of things annoying me at the moment are:

* A Microsoft product crashes and they ask you send an error report - what do they do with them as they never fix the problem.

* That annoying message in IE which tells you that the some of content the content has not been delivered securely - do you want to continue. <steam>

Oh and I don't like the expensive, designer, non standard technology products made by Apple which have a short shelf life as they are not robust.
 
The kids have gone back to school up here which means the roads are now blocked with SUV's taking little people to school. If that wasn't bad enough these parents think it is ok to stop right outside the school I pass on the way to work and get out of the car, organise there kids, kiss em, wave, have a chat etc etc. This is made worse by the fact that the road is single track one way with double yellow lines both sides.

My colleagues at work and I have a road rage policy of applying the horn until they move for which we get looks of surprise followed by sign language abuse. <steam>

I seem to remember walking/cycling to school everyday without any harm.