Still Alive

I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth, I've just been in DIY Hell :)
Hard to find time to post when every spare moment is taken up with learning a new trade.
My kitchen was a bit of a s***hole, due to years of smoking, cooking and general lack of any maintenance, so I decided it was time I pulled my finger out.
Inspired by buying 2 new appliances, a fridge that needs to be plumbed in and a washing machine that is a foot deeper than the previous one.
The old washing machine had been leaking for months which brought up the floor tiles around it and rotted the bottom of the kitchen cupboards.

So the first job was to repair the floor, but after moving everything in the area I found that I had 3 layers of damaged tiles, which after removing left me with a totally uneven floor meaning I would have to take the entire lot up.
Once all the tiles were removed it was even worse as it revealed areas where walls had been removed and meant I would have to totally replace the floor using a fllor cement.
The outer wall had been plasterboarded and was showing signs of wear, so I removed that and found all manner of horrors behind it, electrical conduits not buried in walls but just hidden behind, plus a totally uneven wall.
Decided it was time I replaced the entire electrics as it was a good opportunity, and later found out the kitchen was run on an old radial circuit or basically a series of spurs.
Have added a shedload of sockets and after ripping down the ceiling managed to connect everything through a safer ring main.
The next major project was using this chance to re-route the plumbing as also on the aggenda was a replacement bathroom with a proper shower, which meant locating the upstairs taps at the opposite ends of the bath.

Currently I've finished the electrics (including replacing the fuse box with MCB's) and the plumbing is in place for the final changeover, but have spent a week plastering the uneven wall (nearly an inch thick in places).

I have experience of re-wiring and limited plumbing knowledge so that wasn't a problem, but must admit to being a complete novice with plastering so this has been a good learning curve.

Bloody Scammers

Ordered my new washing machine this week and today get a phone call from someone saying he was from the company.
He thanked me for the order and asked if would be interested in appliance cover? I said I'll think about it, so he says he needs to set up a direct debit so that the monthly premium can be taken if I decide to take out the cover.
He reads out all the info I've supplied including the last 4 numbers of my credit card, and points out that he wouldn't have that info if it wasn't genuine.
Maybe my suspicious nature but it just doesn't ring true to me.
I say to him send the details and I'll post the debit info later if I decide I need the insurance, but he claims he can't send out the info without setting up a DD first, as the post isn't a safe way to send bank info!!
Maybe I should tell my bank this when they send my statement by post :)
After refusing to give him the info, he gets the hump and hangs up.

I've contacted the company and told them their info is being used by probable scammers, will wait and see what they say.
Maybe I'll get some money off as a reward? haha

Artists to sue the RIAA

You have to laugh.
It seems most artists haven't received a penny from the estimated $400 million that the RIAA screwed out of early P2P pioneers such as Napster and Kazaa.
Virtually none of this fortune has filtered down to the actual artists they were supposed to be defending, and the artists have had enough and are threatening legal action.
The rumour is that most of the settlements were used to cover the high legal costs of actually getting the money.

So the only winners as usual are the lawyers, and it looks like they might be looking forward to another huge payday soon.

Evolution v Creation

Consumer Advice

Finally (a year after I promised the wife) bought a new washing machine today.
Our old one leaks all over the floor and the water running down the inside has corroded the foot so it now stands at an angle which means it rattles all over the place when the spin cycle starts, yesterday it shook a jug of the side and it smashed leading the wife to say "where's my new washing machine" :)
It's done well considering it's about 15 years old and the electrics have been held together with cable ties (wonderful invention) for the last 5 years.

Been looking at a couple of models for a while, but even during the "January sales" the price didn't really come down much, but after some internet searching found one at a good price today, 50 quid lower than their "Sale" price of last month.
When ordering I noticed a "promo code" box, I had saved nearly a £100 when buying a new fridge last year by using these codes, so did some searching and found a few sites offering deal codes and managed to save an extra £50 with a free delivery code and a £25 off if you spend £250 one.

So some useful consumer advice for anyone buying on-line electricals.
There are a multitude of sites out there offering discount codes for nearly all the major electrical retailers, so it's worth a Google
Just enter "discount code" "promo" or "voucher" with the name of the retailer and sites like discountcodes, voucherstar, couponsurfer, everydaysales etc will probably have a promo code for saving some pennies.
Look around as some offers are better than others and some retailers might only accept one of the codes.

Bogof?

To lighten the tone of this blog I'm back on dodgy supermarkets.
Son's on a health kick and is eating lots of tinned tuna (sorry Greenpeace), anyway the local Morrisons are charging £3.19 for 4 tins a rise of 20p on their previous price and the buy one get one free (bogof) offer has ended, so off we toddle to Tescos and they have the same product on a "bogof" deal, "great" I think then notice the price .... £4.99!!
So £2.50 a pack is a better price but how can they get away with saying it's buy one get one "free" when they're charging nearly twice as much?
Ended up in Iceland's and their price without special offers is £2.50.
So if Tescos price is correct and it really is buy one GET ONE FREE, they are charging 100% more than a competitor.
No wonder they make so much money as it's certainly not the only product they use this scam on, but Tescos is always packed and Iceland's is usually empty?

The words "rip off" come to mind for some reason.

Racism, PC and Britain today

Probably shouldn't comment as any opinion voiced on the subject of race seems to get you labelled as supporting one or other of the extreme ends of the argument, but I'll risk it.

There seems to be an agenda at the moment perpetrated by the tory rags (Mail, Express, Sun, Telegraph etc) to bring us a few stories every day of how the Muslims and other immigrants are demanding this and that.
This leads the papers readers to come out and reply with things like "well if they don't like it ...." etc.
Then the second phase kicks in with replies claiming "political correctness" and accusing anyone who bothered to reply about being concerned of being Nazi racist scum, which then infuriates the readers further and anyone who didn't rise to the bait at first gets dragged into the argument as it now seems we aren't allowed to care about Britain anymore, leading to people who have never witnessed any of the supposed muslim takeover of Britain calling for action.
While the newspaper editors sit back smugly knowing their right wing agenda is a hot topic guaranteeing paper sales for years to come.

Maybe I'm just cynical or totally misguided?

Nothing promotes racism more than these stories of political correctness we are subjected to (e.g don't put up Christmas lights as it offends members of other religions etc.), I'm sure these are specially selected for maximum impact.
Every ethnic group and religion has extremists but it's a question of whether you listen to them or not, you could go out and interview a BNP member who wanted all immigrants shot but would you get away with calling him representative of the views of all British people? of course not, and nobody would believe it, but if you interviewed someone like Abu Hamza his extreme views are taken as the opinion of all muslims by a lot of people.

I've just viewed another link on a (normally sensible) forum I visit, to a guy reading his diatribe on "how Britain should stop pandering to the Muslims" posted by a "concerned" reader.
The guy in the video appears to be reading every headline I've seen on the Telegraph website over the last 6 months, the sort of things that are guaranteed to make you think Britain is becoming a muslim state and you need to take action.
I also know the message is getting through because I received an e-mail from my (as far as I ever knew) non racist mother-in-law with the old "bird feeder" analogy which is doing the rounds at the moment.

Unfortunately race riots are almost inevitable in the future as the British public is being conditioned by the media to treat all immigrants with suspicion, and the "PC brigade" are just inflaming the situation.
The "Sun reader" mentality that swept the tories to power in the late seventies is sadly still alive and kicking, too many people still believe everything they read in their morning papers and follow whatever lead they're told to.

There is a very real problem of Britain becoming overcrowded in the future due in part to the steady influx of economic and political immigrants coming into Britain, but also to the longer life expectation of the elderly, I read that there are five times as many people over 85 as there were fifty years ago and for the first time in recorded history the over sixties outnumber the under sixteens, advances in medicine means people are just living longer which accounts for a high proportion of the population increase.
The "cut down to the bare bones" public services will not be able to cope, my local area has half as many hospitals as it did when I was young in the sixties and seventies, so even if the population hadn't increased in that time they would be struggling.
Labelling every immigrant a terrorist is not the answer to this problem, it just reeks of "looking for a scapegoat" to cover the mismanagement of Britain by the tories and now carried on by new (we're like the tories but nicer) labour.

I don't know the answer? and it appears after years of governments lining their pockets to the detriment of the British people they don't either.

Tesco and Alcohol

A suprisingly responsible call from Tesco to ban them from selling cheap alcohol Here
Obviously made me laugh as they are one of the companies that introduced it in the first place, and have probably been responsible for a high proportion of the drunken yobs that inhabit most areas every day.
But it seems they are finally taking some of the blame, and are being honest enough to say they won't stop selling unless their is a law as it would be "commercial suicide" for them to come out on their own.
The cynical part of me says that no company does anything these days unless there is a profit in it!, just look at anything marked Organic or environmentally friendly or even Healthy eating, they always cost a lot more than the basic label as so many people just swallow the con (pun not intended) .
They are trying to do away with plastic bags 'for the environment' of course, nothing to do with how much money they can save by not giving away free bags, while still overpackaging almost every item in their stores.
I've struggled on some occasions to buy loose tomatoes, Leeks and potatoes as a lot of stores only have them in polystyrene clingfilmed packs, surely if they had an environmental conscience they would scrap all unnecessary packaging.
The other thing I thought about was if you've been to a 24 hour supermarket, they have to employ extra security staff to deal with the abusive drunks who usually turn up late at night to buy their "fix" after the pubs and corner shops have closed.
So by not selling cheap beer they could up the prices for the regular customers while saving many wages by cutting back on security staff as it would surely lead to less drunken behaviour from the undesireables.
A win win situation possibly?
But I could be wrong and maybe they should be applauded for making an effort.

Rant - I like a pint and have been drunk on more occasions than I should admit to, but I can't understand why drinking and getting drunk seems so socially acceptable unless it's done by youngsters, whereas smoking now seems to be almost a criminal activity.
NHS figures quote -
There are 1.2 million incidents of alcohol-related violence per year.
40% of A&E admissions are alcohol-related, Rising to 70% between the hours of midnight and 5AM.
This costs the NHS £1.7 billion per year.
Obviously banning cheap supermarket alcohol won't solve the problem on it's own, although possibly helping with the amount of street corner drunks we all have to endure.
The whole culture of acceptable drinking has always amazed me, every soap opera on TV is based on the local pub with everyone in the local most nights drinking, virtually every programme on TV shows people getting home from work and having a stiff drink to relax? and just about everyone pulling out a bottle of spirits at the drop of a hat.
Maybe it's just my upbringing? but feeling the need for alcohol in everyday situations is alien to me, and just says dependency or addiction.
Alcohol is just another drug after all, but no other drug is promoted and accepted like it, and then people wonder why the young after years of indoctrination into the culture of acceptable drinking feel the need to go and get drunk?

Shit Britain

What a crap country I live in nowadays.

A country full of two faced arseholes and a general public who are afraid to say or do anything.
A country where it's frowned upon to discipline your kids when they do wrong, and when they grow up and murder people it's the parents fault.
A country where although we've adopted metrication, we still openly use both metric and Imperial measures for virtually everything, but only market stall holders get taken to court for selling a pound of apples, when every pub sells pints and the road speed limits are all in Miles per hour.
A country where the government is going to introduce laws to target anyone who downloads music from the Internet while failing to do anything to the retailers who charge 2/3 times as much for CD's than the rest of the world.
A country that still claims inflation is running at 2% when everything I use and buy has gone up by at least 10% in the last year.
A country full of do-gooders who do no good whatsoever.
A country where violent criminals get lighter sentences than shoplifters.
A country that has shut down my favourite pub, because a few people don't like smoking even though 8/10 regulars were smokers.
A country that is talking about not allowing overweight people or smokers to get treatment, while still treating drug addicts, drunks and people playing dangerous sports.
A country where everything is profit driven, basic services are cut because it's not cost effective.

To be continued

Simplistic View

Two hot topics in the news, introducing Sharia law into Britain and proper punishment for murdering thugs.
So the simplistic view is introduce some of the harsher aspects of Sharia law and stone the bastards to death, then everyone's happy ........ aren't they?

Money Saving

Was thinking of going back-packing around the world to "go and find myself",
but then I looked in the mirror, and there I was.
Fortune saved ........

Junk Mail

So were all supposed to recycle paper for the good of the planet, so I suppose I should be grateful that I get so much junk mail enabling me to put a bag full of paper outside for collection every week, which must impress any environmentalist that's passing.
Of course if they didn't shove so much crap through my letterbox every week I would hardly need to recycle, when is someone going to start sueing these people?

The Picture is just one weeks junk mail.

Depressed (not yet)

I should be really depressed today, but at the moment I'm OK... might hit me later?
To explain I play Fantasy footie with one of the newspapers and I've just missed out on a £1000 prize by one point, the second prize is only £50.
Annoyed because it turns out I was 6 minutes from winning when the idiot Croatian full back (Corluka) picked up a booking yesterday and cost me 2 points.
Suppose it hasn't really sunk in because up till yesterday it looked unlikely I would get anywhere near the top prize but after 3 inspired player picks (and one bad one) I nearly made it.
Anyway I've been playing music and updating my other blog since finding out, and music makes me forget most things.

In the last 20 years I've had many real reasons to be depressed such as death of loved ones, poverty, eviction, work stress, illness, injuries etc and I always find that music keeps things on track.
The wife knows what I'm like and leaves me to it, as talking to her when I'm stressed and depressed usually leads to an argument.
I tend to inflict my troubles on complete strangers who are detached from the reality of the situation, it works for me although I've probably left many people thinking I'm nuts.

So I've written this and realised there's nothing to get depressed about because life hasn't changed at all, in fact I'm £50 richer than I was yesterday :)
If I had got the grand the wife would have insisted on a new washing machine and me finally getting round to sorting out the bathroom, so it's saved me the effort :)

Justice?

It's a crazy world?
The local paper this week reported two crimes this week that show what's important in the British Justice system these days.

Firstly it was the tale of a road rage incident where a guy threatened a van driver with an illegal taser gun, and told his victim if he rang the police he'd come and sort him out. Mr Taser had a previous record with several convictions for robbery.
The second incident involved a bloke going into Ann Summers and walking out with five pink rabbit shaped vibrators without paying, value £250.
So which one got 3 months in jail, and which one got a suspended sentence?

Yeah you guessed it, Mr Bunny Dildo lover goes to jail while Mr Armed and Dangerous gets to threaten and rob more people.

Seems to be the norm recently, knife weilding thugs and gangs who terrorise old people get a slap on the wrist, but if anyone thieves from big business it's an instant jail term.
So as with everything else these days money and profit is all that matters, people don't.

Only healthy people allowed in Hospital

So a latest rumour is that if you smoke or are overweight you might not be treated by the NHS, Well I smoke and I'm overweight so I'm completly fucked.

I pay income tax, national insurance plus more taxes on every ounce of food I buy and every packet of ciggies I buy, I'm probably overweight because I drive a car instead of walking and pay fuel duty, Road tax, Car insurance and MOT costs which must include tax for that privelege.
I pay tax to live in my house, I pay tax on any electric, gas and water I use.
If I manage to save any money after all these taxes I am taxed on the interest.

So if I die due to not getting treatment for an illness, you bastards ain't going to get anymore taxes are you.
Do the maths, it's better to keep me alive isn't it.

Oh and where can I claim my refund for the health services I've paid for all my working life, that you intend to deny me now?

January Sales

I thought there were laws against companies offering "sale" goods, that weren't actually cheaper than the pre-sale price?
Obviously doesn't apply anymore or the agency that regulates this is too damn busy to keep track of all the offenders.

I finally made my way into town today for the first time since Christmas and am confronted everywhere buy "half price" "60% Off" etc sale offers.
Now I can't say I have a complete list of every price offered pre Christmas, but do have a good memory for the prices of the things I bought people for Christmas as the rip-off prices are imprinted on my brain.
So I have a look today at (for example) a scarf and glove set I bought the wife which was only a fiver before Christmas, now it's 50% Off bargain and it costs ... £6!!
I thought my maths were ok but I'd figured 50% of £5 to be £2.50 obviously I was wrong.
A whole list of other stuff I'd bought was now on sale but exactly the same price it was before the sale.

I know that by sticking these signs on things cons thousands of people into buying them, as it appeals to our mentality but surely there must be others out there with enough common sense to see the con? or am I the only one that looks beyond the offer at the actual price tag before purchasing?

TV For The Deaf

British TV seems to assume that deaf people only watch television after midnight, when they put their "sign zone" on, most of the major channels BBC, ITV, C4 and a few cable ones do it.
I don't want to sound like I'm having a go at the deaf, but why in this digital age can't I turn off the big lump in a loud shirt doing the hand jive right in front of the section of screen I'm trying to watch?
Those that use "signing" are forced to stay up late at night to watch a limited selection of programmes, where surely as with subtitles you could have an on/off choice at any time of day?
Had to laugh when I noticed one of the MTV stations were doing it as well, the poor woman signing seemed to be having trouble with the rap lyrics they had her interpreting.

Porn and the Internet

Love it or loathe it, porn is the reason why the internet is so big these days.
I doubt if many if they were honest could deny they've never looked at porn usually within days of getting a internet connection.
I Remember watching a program years back which detailed the fact that most internet inovations were powered by the porn industry, secure transactions were made possible by companies set up to handle porn subscriptions before banks and retailers ever dreamed of going online.
Basically if the porn industry hadn't embraced the internet so readily 10-15 years ago it would most likely still only be available to the very rich and in a vastly reduced form.

What reminded of this, was I have a Rapidshare account for downloading the sort of stuff you find in blogland, cheap enough on it's own but can be free if you fancy uploading stuff for others to download (although 10,000 downloads for a free month is a bit steep).
I've uploaded various stuff around the net with a limited success over the last few months (a couple of hundred downloads only), so I tried uploading a couple of porn clips this morning to a popular forum and nearly a 1,000 downloads in 8 hours!!

As I say despite the denials I know what most of you are really looking at :)

Merry Christmas

Just like to say to anyone that reads this blog -
I wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Although I don't really hold with the whole Jesus thing, I'll celebrate with the god of commercialism like everyone else and use it as an excuse to get drunk, over eat and watch some crap films.

Have a good one.

Commercials

Although I generally hate advertising due to the fact that everything is being taken over by it, I do enjoy some of the better made commercials.
Maybe it's just me but with a lot of commercials I watch I totally miss what they are actually advertising?, my son was mentioning if I had seen the new Carling ads? and I said I hadn't seen them.
When he described them to me I knew which ones he meant as I quite enjoyed them but hadn't even noticed what they were advertising?
Another one, an excellent set of animated adverts from Lloyds TSB bank I thought were advertising trains?

Have a look - Carling 1 - Carling 2 - Lloyds Trains 1 - Lloyds Trains 2 - Lloyds Trains 3 - Lloyds Trains 4 - Lloyds Trains 5
In case any of you are thinking of joining Lloyds .. don't do it they're a bunch of crooks and hopefully they'll go bust.