What made you 'Shake your Head' today?

[mayevora]

On 07/02/2023 at 07:31, Rambo said:

Looks like Ladbrokes to me.

You should've played dumb, removed £4300 to your a/c and assumed it was an "act of God" 😉

At least I’ve had an apology now. Also 3 X £50 free bets. Just have to make them count now.

[Alfa2Evora]

I took our 2 dogs into the nursing home today. Jennifer really enjoyed seeing them, as did most of the other residents and staff members and the 2 'pups' lapped up all the attention.

On the way out, the path to the car park runs alongside a grassed area in front of some of the rooms, separated from it by a low stone wall. I noticed a woman standing outside one of windows, talking to someone inside but thought nothing of it other than that it was strange she didn't just go in out of the cold. A few moments later, the reason was revealed. From out of the shrubbery in the border below the window emerged 3 Yorkshire Terriers and their ringleader, a Shih Tzu, or as I tend to refer to them, a Little Shit - apologies to anyone with a well-adjusted individual of this breed but all the ones round these parts seem to deserve my name for them.

The 'Gang of 4' rushed over to the wall, barking and snarling, turning somersaults and leaping up at the wall. My 2 responded by stepping their front paws up onto the top of the wall, leaning down towards the little yaps and the younger of my 2, who is still a bit nervous around dogs she doesn't know, gave a couple of deep, short, warning to back-off barks before they both returned all 4 paws to the pavement. As we continued our walk towards the car, accompanied by the yapping brigade keeping pace with us on the other side of the wall, the woman supposedly in charge of them who had been shouting herself hoarse but getting zero recall response from her 'charges', decided that she'd better come over and physically retrieve them - no easy task as they were running circles around her but she eventually managed at least to scoop up the Yorkies into her arms. 

Did she offer anything by way of an apology for her out-of-control pooches? Did she cocoa, and instead rounded on me saying that I shouldn't be bringing dogs like mine into the home as they'll intimidate and frighten any smaller dogs that might be around. The resident she had been talking to through the window was apparently now upset to the point of being traumatised as she believed my 2 were wolves that going to make an afternoon snack of the yaps. I simply walked on, shaking my head, although I did offer to provide her with the details of an excellent dog trainer who might be able to inject some of the social skills 'her' 4 were clearly lacking. Her response to that is .

After putting our 2 into the car, I went back inside to spend a bit more 1-2-1 time with Jennifer and the Duty Manager came over to me. She said that, on hearing the commotion outside, she'd gone to a window to see what was going on and wasn't surprised to see the identity of the perpetrators. Apparently, that's why their visits are now confined to outdoors only as they've caused disruption in the past when allowed inside, whereas ours have had and will continue to have unrestricted 'access all areas' within the complex.

 

[Escape]

Typical! Good to hear the manager at least sees things the way they really are and you and your four legged friends are still welcome. 👍

We often get similar when walking the local park. Or Cairn does have a mind of his own and doesn't really like other dogs, after being attacked by one as a pup. But we always keep him on a leash and a short one if appropriate. I'll even pick him up if he causes to much of a fuz. And still we often get remarks that his barking is the problem when another mutt of the leash approaches us due to the owner failing to control their dog or keeping him/her by their side...

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

So Wales has decided to cancel their road improvement projects.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-64640215

Apparently it’s due to environmental concerns, so nothing at all to do with the end of EU financing of these major projects post Brexit. The Heads of the Valleys project was based on EU funding and has been crawling along for years and years. It’s a joke.

[C8RKH]

Yup, nothing to do with Brexit so no idea why you had to mention it!  It's like here in Scotland, the Green's get in on power sharing and before you know it we'll all be vegans living in caves or reed houses in the name of saving the planet.

[Escape]

EU funding for ongoing projects will continue as detailed in the grant. But investing in automotive infrastructure is not politically correct these days, so certain parties will easily find an excuse not to improve roads etc.

On the other hand, everything related to cycling must be green. Where my GF lives, they're gonna cut a good number of trees along one of the main lanes in the park. Apparently 4m is not wide enough for today's cyclists, it needs to be at least 5.5m. Bear in mind this lane is for pedestrians and cyclists only, no motorized traffic! Never mind the over a century old trees on both sides of the current path. 😠

[jep]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64639550

Left off a £73m fine because they couldn't afford to pay it. 

I don't recall that being a defence for not paying a tax bill. Or a speeding fine.

 

 

[ChrisJ]

Ahh... but lessons will be learnt ..... so that's alright then

[C8RKH]

It's another company setup and run by people who really did not have a clue, like many of the energy suppliers who have gone bust. In the end the customer is the one who pays.

It's shocking that the people who do this do not end up in jail.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

3 hours ago, C8RKH said:

Yup, nothing to do with Brexit so no idea why you had to mention it! 

If you say so.

Even going back to before the Brexit vote, it was clear that the everlasting A465 project was largely funded by the EU. This was from February 2016.

[C8RKH]

If it was truly down to Brexit do you really not think the Welsh Government (like the Scottish one) would miss the opportunity to give the Westminster Tory Government another kick in the ribs?

Move on. Please. This is, as reported, another "green" victory.in the main 

Christ, in 30 years are we still going to be blaming Brexit the way some people still blame Thatcher for everything?

Christ, I might as well jump on the bandwagon and say I have mental health issues because 45 years ago our PE teacher used to peak down our shorts to make sure we had no undies on ... Or, I could just get on with my life, like I have done...

 

[andydclements]

1 hour ago, jep said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64639550

Left off a £73m fine because they couldn't afford to pay it. 

I don't recall that being a defence for not paying a tax bill. Or a speeding fine.

 

 

I'm not going to defend Amigo in any way, but for the decision to not make them pay, that makes sense. Had they been forced to pay, the impact may well have forced them, to go into administration, and debt sold on with upheaval for customers and somehow the taxpayers would have ended up footing the bill.

[Escape]

What bothers me about this is that the company probably went to great lengths to enforce full payment of fines etc form their customers should they be late paying back their loan or something.

[jep]

9 hours ago, andydclements said:

I'm not going to defend Amigo in any way, but for the decision to not make them pay, that makes sense. Had they been forced to pay, the impact may well have forced them, to go into administration, and debt sold on with upheaval for customers and somehow the taxpayers would have ended up footing the bill.

Agreed.... But the fine should remain a debt owed and be paid via installments. 

Exactly as happens with any individual who owes money they cannot pay. You put a plan in place to avoid bankruptcy. 

Just letting Amigo off completely sends a very bad signal to others.

Justin

 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

9 hours ago, C8RKH said:

If it was truly down to Brexit do you really not think the Welsh Government (like the Scottish one) would miss the opportunity to give the Westminster Tory Government another kick in the ribs?

Don’t worry, they did that anyway. The Deputy Minister for Climate Change, who announced this new policy stated “Even if we wanted to keep progressing with all the road projects in the pipeline, we just do not have the money to do so. Our capital budget will be 8% lower next year in real terms as a result of the UK government’s failure to invest in infrastructure.”

Sure they can sell it to the voters as an environmental decision, but they clearly don’t have anything like the money needed to complete the projects they have planned over the past 10 - 30 years.

[Chillidoggy]

I always thought that ‘EU money’ was only the U.K. getting back a bit of what it had already paid in.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Or in Wales’ case a good deal more than it paid!

[Bibs]

How does 7.8km of road cost £58m? That's £7,500 per metre of tarmac, I'm sure they get a discount buying in bulk too! 

That said, Kent County Council nearly had to declare bankrupcy recently. They did manage to spend £92m on one roundabout beforehand though. Everyone locally said the traffic issue there would have been solved if they'd have removed the traffic lights so a tank of fuel on the angle grider vs £92m?! 

https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/inside-major-a249-stockbury-roundabout-8110608#:~:text=National Highways reopened the coastbound,top of the existing roundabout.

[Kimbers]

At what point do career criminals get decent sentences?

2 Officers hospitalised, multiple Police cars damaged at Tax Payer Expense and look what they were charged with:

"Wingate, of HMP Hull, pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods, aggravated vehicle taking, two charges of assault causing actual bodily harm and four counts of criminal damage. 

He was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison. He was also banned from driving for three years and three months. (out after less than 2)

Palaima, of Throstle Row, Middleton, Leeds, pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods, aggravated vehicle taking (being carried), two charges of assault causing actual bodily harm and one count of criminal damage.

He was jailed for 25 months and banned from driving for 25 months." (Out after 12)

They even live streamed the chase.

Career Burglars, violent criminals and thats what they get. And the Force, via the Public pick up the bill! 

Full story here.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-64640690

 

[windymiller]

last minute amazon prime ordering for the wifes birthday and then realised id ordered via the wifes account and not mine 😞

[Barrykearley]

Winner winner 💪

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

I was driving Westbound on the A50 dual carriageway towards Uttoxeter this morning. Suddenly I saw a young woman walking down the middle of the opposite carriageway. She was looking down at the road and seemed completely oblivious to the high speed oncoming traffic, so clearly not of sound mind. Just checked the internet and no reports of any major accident there, so I hope she was saved.

A few minutes later the A500 southbound was closed for a nasty truck on truck accident, so it was a scary trip all round.

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/driver-injured-removals-van-totalled-8249135

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

I know I’ve posted one like this before, but this really made me shake my head today.

I was watching the BBC Breakfast national weather forecast a few minutes ago. Basically it’s going to be incredibly mild for the whole country and throughout Europe for the whole of this week. Temperatures in the low to mid teens in the UK.

I then browse the newspaper front pages on the BBC website and see this:

 

I know it’s only the Star, but surely it’s lazy and irresponsible journalism to print this? People are really worrying about paying their energy bills and headlines like this can only add to that despair, if they are led to believe that another week of polar temperatures is coming.

[Rambo]

This "polar bomb" nonsense has been going on for weeks now, despite it being the warmest winter for many years in this part of Scotland. It's is deliberate scaremongering and up here we get "be aware, yellow flag" warnings st least once or twice a week (usually wind or rain though)

It has become a bit like "the boy that cried wolf" situation so much so that no one now takes the blindest bit of notice.

[ChrisJ]

Soon the government will be able to send us all a text warning us about this - Public emergency alerts to be sent to all UK mobile phones - BBC News