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Things that are beginning to annoying me


Tom Andrews

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Now cyclists who completely ignore road laws get my goat, the sort who will ignore red lights etc.

Ah, we have lots of those here. Ignoring red lights and one-way streets as if they weren't driving a vehicle at all. But I wouldn't call them cyclists, since they aren't the "lycra-breed", but rather use the bicycle (or tricycle) for hauling items around. A couple of 11kg propane tanks on the handlebar and another twin-pack in the rear isn't an uncommon sight on the street. It's lovely when they run the red lights and make pedestrians jump around.

 

I stop at the red lights, walk the bike on the sidewalk and jump back on. Or then I just wait for the lights to turn green and hit it. When I'm in the mood, I don't slow the cars down.

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Actually the biker comments bring me on to one of my pet hates: car drivers who are completely inconsiderate of other road users; bikes and pedestrians. Like the car divers who come out of their driveways at a fair speed and stop right at the edge of the road thereby blocking the footpath. And if some runner or a biker on the footpath is unlucky they just had a large obsticle placed in their way. Ive seen runners get hit before. (of course this is all in situations where the drivers cant see until they are out of the driveway - high fences or hedges n stuff - yet they still come out as fast as they can manage.)

 

Happened to me once on the way to work, cycling along minding my own business, some moron speeds out of his drive right in front of me, front wheel hits the wing of the car, bike up-ends, I slide over the bonnet, fall on the floor on the other wide, get up, turn around and this tw*t is looking at me like it's *MY* fault....

 

When I'm in my car, I hate all other motorists, and everyone on a bike. When I'm on my bike, I hate all motorists. I've been knocked down 3 times in the last 6 months, on a short 3.5-mile ride to work. It's not reasonable. Mostly, they don't even stop. If they do, they'll promise to pay for any damages and give you their insurance details, who then refuse to pay. And it's not like *I* have an insurance company to argue with them for me.

 

When passing a bike, they don't give enough room or slow down - yes, I love being blown around by the slipstream as you whizz past at 50mph a scant few inches from me. The bike lane is NOT a car park, so don't park in it. I don't need to have to swing out into the main carriageway and risk life and limb with the morons in metal boxes because YOU are too bloody idle to put your car on the huge drive of the house you just stopped outside. And so on...

 

In the car, everyone on the road seems to be an idiot, barely 50% of them signal turns correctly, they drive in the wrong lane, go straight on at traffic lights from a filter lane because it means they can get in front of the other 3 cars in the correct lane (Well, woohoo! You're 3 car-lengths further up the road than you would have been otherwise. Great!), Drive too slowly for no reason, or too fast for no reason. I've got somewhere to go, people, get a move on - but don't drive like you're at Silverstone, because your car isn't good enough for it, and neither are you. You're just an accident waiting to happen.

 

And insurance. They're B*st*rds! Why do you have to give a value for your car when you take out the policy, but if you come to make a claim, they tell you it's only worth about 40% of that? Hang on, if I'm paying a premium on a £1000 value, I expect £1000 when I make a claim. And they'll weasel out of paying for anything they can, on the flimsiest excuses. Car insurance is massively expensive, I'm over 25, got over 5-years no-claims, and the insurance on my new car (a 2005 VW Passat) is still over £700... It's unreasonable.

 

Bah, I could go on all day... :angry:

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Well, I REALLY hate British Gas. Their engineer came round and removed the old gas meter, replacing it with a new one. The read out was at zero and all paperwork signed.

A few months later I get the quarterly gas bill and pay it. Next month another bill. Thinking it a mistake I ignore it. Then a reminder, then a red letter. Thinking I've made a mistake, I pay it.

 

This repeats it self the next quarter. But checking the identical bills I notice one is for the old removed meter. I manage to 'raise the dead' and speak to a human at BG, who promise to cancel the bill and refund the money.

 

Next another reminder, then a red letter, which I ignore. (The lady ay BG said that might happen, as it was in the system)

 

Next I get a letter from a collection agency warning this unpaid bill will affect my credit rating. I ring them and explain.

 

Then I get the baliffs knocking on my door demanding money. They get told to 'fruitcake' off. I'm as big and as ugly as them, and I'm in a bad mood as they have just stopped me watching Neighbours or Top Gear.........

They aren't impressed, and demand money. I threaten to call police if they don't go away. They threaten to come back.................

 

A couple of weeks later, loud pounding on door at 8am.

 

'British Gas, come to remove your meter as you've refused to pay your bill' ' Where's your gas meter?'

[studies gas meter] 'No, not this meter, where is meter ref number *********** ?'

 

'I don't know, scrap heap, possibly?' You removed it about 9 months ago, and replaced it................'

 

'You should have told us, we could have broken in, we have every right to.'

 

Now that was a pity he said that............

 

I told him what I thought of him, BG's 'rights', his parentage, his mates parentage and the parentage of every BG employee past and present.

 

We part on less than cordial terms.

 

I then get a letter from BG omplaining about my abuse of their staff and how they have every right to conduct their work without being insulted.

 

I'm beginning to enjoy this!

 

A PPO letter (Please P*ss Off) is then sent to the Managing Director of BG marked for his personal attention. I explain that they cocked up, were given suitable notice of their mistake and I didn't appreciate threats from employees of his , Credit agencies, baliffs and staff. Pointed out I wanted apologies from all concerned, refund of my gas bill for removed meter and an overhaul of their customer billing system. And had they heard of a TV programme called 'Watchdog?'

 

I got a refund.

 

I then changed to Southern Electric and Gas. But then got a phone call from British Gas asking if I wanted to come back to them (despite offering higher prices)

 

I won't repeat what I said!

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British Gas are great, aren't they?

 

After I moved into my house, I looked around a bit and got Gas and Electricity from Atlantic. Job done, no problem.

 

The former owners had British Gas. None of my business, their account was presumably closed when they moved out.

 

For a while, I got letters from BG addressed to them, which I marked "No longer at this address" and put in the nearby post box. I'm helpful like that. After a while they stopped, I figured the situation was resolved. Atlantic and BG apparently had a little dispute about the meter readings at the account changeover, but I gave them the meter readings I took when I moved in (again) and they said they'd tell BG to stick their obviously inflated readings. Fair enough, says I.

 

Imagine my surprise when I get a letter from Atlantic saying they were sorry that I was leaving. I phone them up (on their handy FREE phone number, unlike BG's pay-through-the-nose 0870 number) and ask what all this is about. They say they received information from BG that I was transfering my electricity supply to them.

 

I told them I was doing nothing of the kind, and they said it would be sorted out and I didn't need to worry. Okay, fine. I get some more letters saying it's all okay, and things carry on.

 

Over the next couple of months, this happens THREE MORE TIMES! In the end, I told Atlantic that under no circumstances were they to transfer my account to ANYONE without my personal and express verbal and written instruction to do so.

 

So imagine my surprise when I get a letter from Atlantic saying my *GAS* account was now closed, and some other letters from BG "welcoming" "The Occupier"to their "service". Needless to say, I'm a tad annoyed by this. I phone Atlantic and ask them what they think they're doing. I'm told that the notes are on my *electricity* account, not my *gas* account. And there's me thinking that having both fuels from the same company would mean only one account to deal with.

 

Anyway, I'm told it's too late to stop it, as my account is already closed. I asked why the first I heard of it was after they'd already done it. Anyway, I told them to get my account back from BG and to never, ever, ever change my account for any reason without talking to me about it first (you wouldn't think you'd have to do that, but there you go).

 

I then spent a long time on the phone to the energy watchdog, whatever they're called, and complaining about British Gas stealing my accounts without me ever contacting them, given that they didn't even know my name.

 

I had to set up my direct debit payment again for the Atlantic account, and a lot of faffing about. Letters kept coming from BG, which I sent back unopened. Eventually, I got something from some debt collection company, again addressed to "The Occupier" claiming I owed BG some £40 or so. I phoned them up and told them I'd never been a BG customer, nor would I ever be one given their business practises, and that seemed to satisfy them and they went away. Job done.

 

The most amusing part of the whole thing was at the time, BG were running a series of adverts saying that someone came back to BG every minute or whatever it was. My question was always - yeah, but how many of them ASKED to?

 

My Dad told me of a case he'd read about in the paper where someone bought a building and was going to convert it into flats. Knowing this would take about 2 years, he arranged to have the gas meter removed, and new meters would be put in each flat when the time was right. BG kept sending him bills for "estimated usage" and demanding ludicrous sums of money for gas he'd never used, which is odd considering they had taken the meter out themselves earlier.

 

So, if you're a BG customer, kick them to the curb and get a decent supplier instead.

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Cyclist should be made to pay road tax and ALL have at least third party insurance especially in citys.

 

the other thing is why should my low slung sports car have to get up onto a verge so the 4x4 thats actually designed to go off road can go past on the road But heaven for bid they get their STUPID big chrome rims dirty.

 

 

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Yeah, because that would encourage people to leave their cars at home and get a bike, wouldn't it? The insurance is a good idea, though. Bike insurance only seems to cover your bike being stolen, rather than any costs arising from a traffic collision or whatever.

 

Bikes should have to have a registration number, like motorbikes, that way cyclists breaking road traffic laws could be caught and fined or whatever. Having said that, given that I've seen police cars drive right parts cars driving without lights at midnight, making illegal turns, etc, etc, it probably wouldn't make any difference. They only seem bothered about speeding, because they can put up cameras to fine people for that and make money.

 

I'm worried that this thread is getting away from humour. And there's already a random rants thread in Off Topic.

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motorists without any empathy or consideration for other road users irritate me too. particularly many 'white van men' and mums on school runs (you know, the kind that leave it to the 11th hour to leave and are in a blind hurry) who have NO IDEA how to treat learner drivers. its amazing how often on a driving lesson i see a looming white van or 4WD driven by a school run mum driving up my *albartroth*, regardless of how bloody fast i'm going.

 

and theres always people who overtake me while im on my moped leaving no gap whatsoever and then cut straight in front of me leaving no gap again. i mean come on! theres over half of this side of the road and the other side of the road which really needs to be clear to overtake anyway... thats a lot of space, USE IT! jeez, sometimes when these folk overtake me i feel like putting an assault boot through their door.

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I've said for years that Learner drivers should have to pass a course off-road before being allowed onto the public roads with everyone else. Like Motorcyclists have to pass the CBT course. Cyclists should definitely have ot pass a test, too, before being allowed to own a bike.

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Agreed with what everyone has said about BG. And may i add BT into this. After we moved we tried to just transfer our old number to the new house along with our broadband connnection a job a semiskilled ape could do. Cue BT telling us that we've never had an account or phoneline with them while still sending letters charging us for internet usage and phone calls that we've never had their broadband service despite me showing one of their engineers two of their own routers and bills for the last 8 years.

 

And as an addition to the SLOW WALKERS i would also like to add Fat People and women with prams who insist on walking side by side forcing me to walk in the road and getting beeped at by every passing car. I will then receive dirty looks and words of caution that i shouldn't be in the road.

 

And the genius's that *badgeress* and moan to me about their hosptial appointment over running because the doctor couldn't be arsed to turn up on time or that someone had the gaul to pass out/throw up/ die when it was their turn.

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And as an addition to the SLOW WALKERS i would also like to add Fat People and women with prams who insist on walking side by side forcing me to walk in the road and getting beeped at by every passing car. I will then receive dirty looks and words of caution that i shouldn't be in the road.

 

Push

 

Them

 

Out

 

Of

 

Your

 

Way.

 

Job done. I especially like pushing fat people out of the way.

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I've said for years that Learner drivers should have to pass a course off-road before being allowed onto the public roads with everyone else. Like Motorcyclists have to pass the CBT course. Cyclists should definitely have ot pass a test, too, before being allowed to own a bike.

 

you realise that motorcycle CBTs are done on the roads don't you? the only parts you dont do on roads cover the basic operation of the bike, which (for learner drivers) is usually done in an almost dead squaddie estate, so near enough off the roads.

im not really sure if something like a CBT for cars would be worthwhile. as i said, basic operation of the car is usually learned somewhere pretty much dead. not sure as far as the highway code etc, i didnt go into much depth on that in my first lesson as i'd already been on the road for a year, but i'm assuming considerably more time would be spent on a total road newbie.

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Things that annoy me..............

 

Slow moving anything, on the road and the pavement!

 

People that take up the whole pavement/ doorway

 

When people borrow a CD and they put it FACE down on a surface! ARGGGGGHHHH!!!!

 

When you fix one thing (on a bike/car/ AEG) and two other things go wrong/break in your hand

 

When my supervisor says "oh! I havn't got any tools yet, but I DO have some MORE uniform" - WE HAVE ENOUGH UNIFORM TO CLOTHE ALL OF AFRICA!

 

There is much more but you would be here all day! :D

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I'll tell you what annoy's me, getting to the brew room and finding all the reading matter consists of printed toilet paper (you know, the Sun, Star, Mirror, Sport etc) :)

 

:(

 

I resort to bringing the private eye in. 30% of that *beep* is either big brother or maddiline McCann.

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Another one, is people who cut you up on a road, then get funny about it and blame you..

 

This happened to me and my family on the way to a Uni open day yesterday, the guy had the cheek to try and write the wrong license plate down, when my dad was stood NEXT to the back of his lorry...

 

By this happened to us, I mean we're one wing mirrr, some plating and a tyre down. And I dropped my PSP and scratched the screen. Not happy kids.

 

Still can't believe the guy had the audacity to try and lie about his licence plate number...

 

 

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re: slow walkers.

 

I can usually ignore them unless I'm on a path that's fenced on both sides. I'm a pretty fast walker (roughly 4.5mph cruising, just shy of 5 mph at speed) thanks to my (apparently freakishly) long legs, so I can usually move past pavement-based mouth-breathers without spending too much time on the road even if they do block the entire path.

 

However, when left with no choice, I tend to go for the polite escalation route.

 

I start at "Excuse me, please."

 

If there is no response I move on to "EXCUSE ME, PLEASE."

 

If there is still no response I move on to "Look, could you just get out of my way?"

 

Still no response? Well, that's when I start walking straight into people.

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People who think that the normal road rules don't apply at an airport. Double yellow lines means no waiting...so what the *fruitcage* makes you think you can park up, get out of your car and go into the terminal to check if the flight of the person you're picking up has landed yet. Can you not see the towaway signs?! Can you not see the double yellow lines?! Can you not see the traffic wardens/marshals patrolling up and down?! And why get arsy when I ask you to move along?! You're the one breaking the law, so taking my name and shoulder number down when you're the one getting aggressive and being ###### off!

 

Grrr. Minibus drivers are the worst. That, and Alpha Cars taxis.

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