catmiss

After the debacle with gas service my boiler has broken down. After 70 minutes waiting repairs service, told me ,at 11am, a representative would attend before 6pm today or if not before 6pm tomorrow. Despite information re my age and disabilities. I was only advised to ‘wrap up warm' and wait for the engineer. I’m up at this time of night because I’m boiling up water to reheat water bottle when house temperature at 8 degrees

Annual gas servicing seems to be the latest to go to pot. For 6 years as a SCC tenant I received an appointment letter, rang to rearrange or identify a am/pm slot. Engineer arrived as booked, service completed. This year engineer arrived with no warning, just as I was leaving for appointment, he told me I was the 3 rd person that morning who had not been expecting him and new system to blame. Snotty letter received, saying I’d not granted access and giving another appointment yesterday-no one came. Rang today and told new system allocated to off sick engineer, staff can’t access this info and would be too busy to ring customers. Re-arranged for Monday am, 15 mins later another call telling me I’d missed a 2nd appointment and needed to rebook. All contacts blame new system ‘bedding in’ with no sign of an apology. As granting access is a condition of tenancy the implementation of this new system is worrying

Great post. Perhaps Anna B is still living in the 60s and 70s when her apparent prejudices were rife. Fortunately, as a child of those times, I had more enlightened parents who had gay workmates and friends who I remember with great affection and enabled subsequent long standing friendships with my gay and lesbian peers. Paedophiles come from all walks of, outwardly normal, life. People with such entrenched views are the ones who enable the ‘normal’ male and female perpetrators to carry on.

Definitely one of the longest , pub crawls with venues packed full of Friday night regulars making for a real party atmosphere. Happy days😀

Why has parliament bunked off early in the midst of the latest Covid wave, they have more holidays than teachers and on far bigger salaries. Boris has already implemented a back door lockdown- masks, passports, minimise social contact, work from home, travel restrictions and isolation rules etc. All designed not to be seen to cancel Christmas again and have to provide financial support. No doubt, if a lockdown does ensue after Christmas, we’ll all be blamed

Today I listened to a Tory supporting journalist commenting on the by election results. When asked if the Tories should ditch Boris he said no as there was no-one in the party more capable/electable than Boris- heaven help us all !!!!

I recently became disabled and, thanks to Age UK, now receive a Disability Benefit. My experience is that a lot of the general public mirror the attitude of the DWP. My current gripe is the use of ‘priority’ seating on public transport which many see as meaning priority for seating children, accommodating people with many shopping bags or people who just want the convenience of being near the doors.

The current scientific opinion seems to be that Covid will evolve as the influenza epidemic did. The yearly flu vaccine offered to the minority vulnerable is tweaked to deal with the current variant with herd immunity protecting the majority from severe disease. Fingers crossed they are right

a couple of observations: thank goodness for the menopause and, at last, my kids accept it’s ok to wear jumpers indoors!

‘I don’t believe it’😀

Some perpetrators are very skilful and manipulative when dealing with overworked visiting professionals who can often be convinced those reporting have ulterior motives.

Admittedly I’m of the older generation but I quite admire Labour stance re Public Health over party politics. ‘Vaccine passports’ is a misnomer as negative lateral flow or medical certificate is equally valid.

I’m all for freedom of choice. Freedom for those who don’t want vaccination/mask wearing and my freedom to be protected against the virus they may be carrying

Typically Boris statement last night was obviously going to put the wind up people and encourage people to get 1st, 2nd and booster doses. What better way to deter them is to have a booking system that immediately crashes and NHS and GPs teams only made aware via tv broadcast. Perhaps his mind is on finding the next donor to update decorations for the next **** a snook at the plebs’ Christmas party, obviously no Covid passport required

On the tram today there were only two young women were not wearing masks in the area I was in. Both were challenged by the female conductor, first time I’ve seen this, one fished about in bag and pockets before donning a disheveled mask whilst the other refused to wear a mask as it ‘would ruin my makeup’. My other observation is that whilst most patrons of the Moor market were masked the majority of stall holders weren’t. Is the market classed as a shop or not?

I live in a well maintained council bungalow. During the pandemic, and as someone identified as extremely clinically vulnerable, I’ve had several phone calls from SCC housing representatives checking on my wellbeing. Today I had a call from ‘tenant support services’ who seemed to focus on the state of repair of my property and seemed intent on finding fault and a little irritated when I had no complaints. My suspicions were aroused when she seized on the information I provided re waiting for an aids and adaptation assessment and, when I refused her offer of intervention, said she I could wait another 6 months. She then asked for contact details of family who live in social housing and, when I refused, asked me to provide them with her phone number. This was unlike any other call I’ve had and has left me wondering if this is a private company seeking to profit from disrepair etc claims.

Must confess to being a real commoner. I don’t like fresh or smoked salmon but love a bit of tinned (pink or red) with pepper and malt vinegar. In the 70s new boyfriends were assessed over a Sunday tea of salmon salad. Must have been a good tactic as my mum’s pronouncements turned out, after much enjoyable research , to be correct

Now that is too much!!!

Whilst I’ve taken advantage of all 4 of the free vaccinations I’ve been offered in the belief that I’m doing the best to protect myself I wouldn’t support compulsory vaccination. We’re fortunate to live in a country where we still have freedom of choice

Had my booster last week, 3 Covid jabs and a flu vaccine and still no ill effects. Still keeping, other than fully vaxed family and friends, socially distanced and mask wearing in public places. As the government seems to have absolved themselves of responsibility, after imposing severe restrictions, it’s down to individuals to make their own decision/assessment of risk

Years ago when my kids, now 34 and 36, were young every year we went to a communal organised bonfire and fireworks , everyone brought food for a barbecue and it was a lovely experience for all. One year we spent a lot of money for tickets to attend the organised event at Meadowhall, succumbed to kiddie power for exorbitant priced merchandise, rides and food amounting to near enough a weeks wages. Needless to say we returned to the community event which the kids actually preferred

Thanks for the sarky comments. When you’re advised to put out your bins 3 days before due collection you are going to need to add refuse. I have no problem with the neighbours who regularly fill my bin on the normal collection day but find it selfish to do so during strike action. Collection was made, whilst I was at a medical appointment, on Monday pm after action ended but my refuse wasn’t collected as selfish neighbours had added so much of their crap the bin lid wouldn’t close. Thankfully collectors of the communal bins agreed to empty my bin on Tuesday. Perhaps the people who disposed of their wallpaper strippings and discarded carpeting should take more responsibility for disposal. I expect more of the same selfish behaviour as strike action continues

I don’t particularly trust this ‘corrupt’ government, but having been NHS advised to shield for nigh on a year I took advantage of the vaccines offered to me earlier this year. Since then I have availed myself of the flu vaccine and, most recently, of the Covid booster. I still follow the original ‘hands, face, space ‘ message and use a face mask in public areas and, fortunately, have not had Covid which would undoubtably be the end of me. I don’t know the ins and outs of the conspiracy theories, statistical discrepancies or scientific arguments but I do know, as a retired employee, I will trust the NHS

I am disabled and have to use a walking stick. Both bus and tram priority seats are often occupied by people who choose the first available seat. I am often met by abuse if I ask to sit in a designated seat. On a bus recently priority seats were occupied by children and their mother with the only other available seats at the rear of the bus up a step which I couldn’t negotiate. I had no option but to stand but the driver refused to move until I was seated due to my disability. I ended up having to alight the bus and wait 30 minutes for the next bus. Another interesting phenomenon is people using seats at bus and tram stops as resting repositories for shopping bags

I reacted to a Neighbour Next Door and put my half full black bin out Friday night as instructed ready for a potential weekend collection. Went out Saturday morning to add bagged rubbish to the bin only to find some ‘kind’ soul has filled my bin to capacity. I live on my own so rarely fill my bin so others often take the opportunity to use the spare capacity. Only a problem when their crap inhibits the lid closing resulting in my bin not being emptied. Particularly selfish today when we don’t know if the bins will be emptied this weekend, my original half full bin would have accommodated my refuse until the next fortnightly collection