Don't worry tamsin, it does get easier.
I felt like a total beginner at driving for the first few months after I got my car - that's when you really start to learn to drive, but if you're not showing L plates you don't get a lot of sympathy from other drivers.
Hang on in there - it will get better very soon.

Can't drive, myself, but am reminded of a story told to me by a fabulous 90 year old friend who served in WW2 - he learnt to drive by driving tank transporters and said something similar (and he never took a driving test because they just gave hima licence after he got out of the army, something like that).

Hope it gets easier for you. Have to admit that the reason I have not yet learnt to drive is precisely fear of this sort of thing.

Very wise observation once spotted on a greetings card:

"Some days are just a waste of eyeliner. "

Waited in all morning for a couple of really really really essential parcels to be delivered. One has just arrived. The other (without which parcel A is completely useless) 'might be at the back of the van' or 'might be back at the depot' or, presumably might be completely and utterly lost. Will I still be in 'later' (anytime between 4 and 8) - or do I want to rearrange delivery for Tuesday?

And at no point did I stop smiling and reassuring the delivery man that 'that's fine', 'I understand', and 'yes, I know it's not your fault.'
:resigned sigh emoticon:, :resigned sigh emoticon:, :resigned sigh emoticon:.

Well done you! Directing the scream to here is a much better plan than giving the delivery man a bad day
It doesn't help you out any, but neither would shouting at him have got you anywhere either. I do hope that the parcel turns up quickly, and he drops it round to you swiftly to make up for you being nice about it.

(Once I was on a training course, and waiting for the [work-provided chauffeur] car to take me home. It didn't turn up. I phoned the central number to ask. They contacted the driver who said he'd been there but there was nobody around - odd, since reception was there if nothing else, and I'd finished my training early and been waiting at the time he was due to collect me! So the driver went back, and funnily enough, my husband opened the door and told him he was supposed to be bringing me home, not collecting me from home. The central services lady phoned me back and said she'd send him straight down to me, but as it was a Friday night, M25, etc, it would be at least an hour and a half on a good run, so...sorry. And I said it wasn't a problem, I had a book, I was sat on the comfy sofa in reception, and I'd see the driver when I saw him. And the lady thanked me for being so nice about it. I replied that it wasn't her fault, it wasn't the end of the world just a human error, and getting grumpy at her wasn't going to get me home any quicker. Within five minutes she phoned me back to say she'd found a spare driver in my area and had diverted him from his job a bit later on [for which she had got a replacement driver] to collect me now and get me home. Now that definitely wouldn't have happened if I'd been grumpy at her )

Nice one, mel2. At least I've tested my waterproof mascara nicely (it isn't).

Still-Utterly-Traumatised-Bag x

Hope things get better soon. x

Cannot believe my bad luck right now...

Got challenged for buying paracetamol in Sainsburys and couldn't find my driving licence so I thought I'd lost it and had no idea where as I haven't used it for a while (it's a provisional and I haven't had lessons for ages so I only use it for ID). Rang up to cancel and was told I'd have to replace it first, at a charge of ?20. I decided to do it there and then despite the fee being non-refundable as I wanted to cancel the old one in case of identity theft etc. Went to put my card back in my purse and discovered the old licence hiding behind another card! I rang up to see if I could cancel the transaction but I can't, so I'm ?20 down and having to wait for a new licence for nothing!

AAAAAAAARGH!

Can feel for you there... at least it actually wasn't stolen and on a day when handbag is stolen then you are subjected to a tax-disc theft later the same day. Ho hum it was recoverable. Your licence might have caught you ?20.00 but at least you will not have your ID taken as a result.

The tinnitus in my right ear is playing a very in tune B...

Can't wait to get my ear sorted out tomorrow morning...

That's my least favourite note on the oboe.

Having sampled the delights of the John Radcliffe Hospital a bit before Christmas when she busted her hip, Mum is back there again tonight

She had three major seizures in the space of five hours this morning

That sounds horrid. I hope she has a speedy recovery.

So sorry to hear this. Best wishes to your Mum, and to you, katyjay

Very sorry to hear this : thinking of your mum, and all of family katyjay.

katyjay and your mum!

Thanks folks.

Latest news is that they're keeping her in for observation, and she's had a CT scan which has come up normal, so next stage is a neurologist....

All rather scary.

Best wishes, katyjay.

How awful for you all, hope she gets better very soon

I hope your mum's feeling better soon and that the docs get to the bottom of it.
Wishing you both all the best, M

hope all goes well today b-c





you are in my thoughts katyjay

My thoughts are with you x



Good luck B-C, hope it all goes painlessly x

Sorry to hear about you mum Katyjay, at least the CT scan is normal, hope things get sorted with you mum soon.

Yep. Quoting myself - the second sign of madness.
I was 'in' as promised between 4 and 8 but the parcel had actually got lost somewhere completely other and so, here I am, waiting in on the Tuesday.

The good news is - they are going to send me an email with an estimated time of arrival - so I have to stay online all day!
Would have prefered a 'phone call - then I could have gone out - but an email is better than nothing.

Best wishes for your mother, katyjay

and B-C, hoping that your ear is very much better when they've finished with you tomorrow.

All cleared out, and all very much better

(gosh, this keyboard sounds loud when I'm typing on it )

A counter-tenor friend had this done and noted it affected his tone on upper notes, so one one hand really please you are less clogged and buzzy, but take care not to over-close jaw and to make sure you don't replace one problem with another.

Glad you can hear again.

Jo.

That was quick! (that'll teach me to look at the times that posts were posted

Glad it's so much better

Thanks everyone

GRRR sorting out internet card fraud when you've got joint credit cards and you are the subsid. card holder is not fun. I do feel sorry for hubby somehow it is his card that gets compromised, but now it is my card that needs to be cancelled on a temporary basis too.

What with at least one child viewing my purse as a place to find cash this week has been really fun on the finance front!

I have decided that I hate the BBC and that it is a useless organisation. Every time I want to watch something decent I get a message "Not available in your area" or "Not available outside the UK." and I did want to watch the link posted by crochetymum in the Wimbledon thread. I often want to have a look at a BBC link posted by another forumite and I really can't see why the BBC have to keep it all to themselves. I couldn't care less about their copyright laws - this is the 21st century and if the BBC can't feed infromation to the world, who can????

Aaaaaaargh!!! Now I have got that rant off my chest I will go and supervise the tree man who seems to be cutting off all the wrong branches in our garden!!

Maybe they'll let you watch if you pay for a TV licence in the UK as well as in France

Aquarelle, try this from Youtube (can't do anything about the BBC, unfortunately, but you might get to see the shot!) http://www.videosurf.com/video/hewitt-wond...2011-1307571235

Many thanks - yes, it did work but the quality of the utube video is poor. However I did see the shot!! Thanks again!!

I have spent the past month doing timetables for the whole of my department. I handed in the finished versions on Monday to be told today that the document I had been given and on which I based all the timetables was wrong

I can't face starting the whole thing again and nor do I have the time to do so. I have just sent an e-mail saying either they accept my version or I wash my hands of the whole thing.

Am fed up. About ten days ago was proved right about a person who I thought had high likelyhood of being verbally unpleasant the next time we ran into each other (and was accused of being paranoid then!) so had taken care even though we live close and have to walk children to the same school to not be in the same place at the same time.

Then on Wednesday saw same person ahead on walking route where there was no obvious diversion so built in delays (sudden interest in the fauna of the school hedge) getting additional people between us. Know I'm not the fastest walker on the planet etc only to find that by the end of the road this person is 15m away from me (and I'd given her a 150m and 5minute head start!) so I let her cross the road first, and even stand in the middle of the road and let an articulated lorry pass in front of me and YSD.

Now either I am paranoid or she was deliberately slowing down to confront me. I just feel I can't win... It wasn't as if I did anything wrong in the first place. (I've just become the hate figure because of things that have happened in the past)

The worst thing is I'm the one every one thinks of as "barking".

Good for you. Quel cauchemar!

It obviously helps to have a reputation of being calm, level-headed and not given to fits of temper. After sending my e-mail and posting on here I did a very long oboe practice session (until my embouchure gave out) and then played the piano for a while (which I have always found calming). I have just looked at my e-mails and have one saying "Don't resign, we will replace our document with the one you were sent by mistake first thing Monday morning."

Result!

Eating dinner in the garden I just popped something in my mouth - bit down down on a suprisingly crunchy caper and discovered I was chewing a beetle - and it was still wriggling!

Barking? Surely not; a bit borderline perhaps but no further than Aldgate East, I'd say.

If she thinks you're nuts, use it to your advantage and next time breeze past her with a crisp 'good morning' without waiting for a reply - she'll probably think you have forgotten about it (and why give her the satisfaction of knowing you haven't?).

I have only been in my new job as a Service Desk Engineer for 1 week and have already been told next week is my final week. Apparently there is some budget issues within the IT department and the manager says he simply hired more people than he could afford.

Thing is I turned down lots of other job interviews/opportunities as a result of this, telling then I had already got a job!

So no more borderline than Aldgate East! Like that!

Great just got to move back into Zone 1 via the metropolitan line.

Moorgate appears to be sensible next destination.

Thanks Mel

that really stinks. All the best with finding another job.

That's awful, Violin Hero - I'm so sorry this has happened because of someone else's mistake Good luck with finding something else asap.

It took me 2 and a half months to get that job after my previous contract ended. I went to tonnes of interviews and applied for heaps of jobs. I doubt I will find one again that pays as well for a 1st line person. I had to hold back from letting my anger out in front of my manager when he told me. If I had been told before I started then i could have been to those other interviews and possibly have a job now.

Just don't want to have to face all the applying and going to interviews all over again. Also not too sure how to put this on my CV in way that won't look bad when an employer is looking at it.

Sorry to hear this, ViolinHero, and commiserations. Much the same thing happened to my daughter last winter, although her job lasted a little bit longer than yours has. But it was definitely weeks rather than months.

She was looking for a few weeks before she landed something, but it didn't take too long. It's a bind though. Hope something better turns up for you!

Have you discussed the matter with your union rep?