Ever since I have been able to receive some British TV via my satellite dish, I have been taking a mild interest in British current affairs. I think I can safely say that I have never taken an interest in British current affairs, not even when I lived in Britain and studied politics at university there. Hell, I don’t even take much of an interest in German current affairs and I have been living in Germany for longer than I can even remember. But, now that I can watch current affairs in English, I am taking more of an interest in world politics too – so I am also watching CNN and… no, I’m still not watching the German news, but I am at least reading it.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
No Chalky Marks
There is a British ad for Dove deoderant which extols the virtues of one of their USPs - "no chalky marks!". Very impressed, I recently bought a roll.
This morning I pulled on a newly washed sweater straight from the clean linen rack only to find, when I walked past the mirror about 10 minutes later, that the left side was covered in "chalky marks".
I have to say that this sweater is a dark purple and all the other things I've been wearing recently have been light-colored, it being summer. So maybe I had not noticed any "chalky marks" on them.
So what's all that about then.
This morning I pulled on a newly washed sweater straight from the clean linen rack only to find, when I walked past the mirror about 10 minutes later, that the left side was covered in "chalky marks".
I have to say that this sweater is a dark purple and all the other things I've been wearing recently have been light-colored, it being summer. So maybe I had not noticed any "chalky marks" on them.
So what's all that about then.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Expensiquiries
I nearly fell over when I read my last phone bill. I didn't, because I was sitting down, but if I'd been standing up I bet you I would nearly have fallen over.
There was an item for which I was charged nearly 10 Euros. It was about 8 cents short of 10 Euros. That's a lot of money in anybody's currency!
There was also a note from the phone company next to it saying that they take no responsibility for this item and if I wanted to know what it was all about, I needed to call this other number which looked like it also cost a barrowload of money per minute.
I called this other number and after several false starts I finally got through to the right person (phone menu hell, plus heightened tempers (mine) delayed this process somewhat) and I was informed what the famous 10 Euro item was all about - I had been charged nearly 10 Euros for a call to Phone Inquiries!
Yes you read correctly!
I had called Phone Inquiries once for 272 seconds, which is 5 minutes or parts of a minute. Each minute costs... er quite a lot which I can't remember right now, and then you get sales tax (VAT) at 19% on top. Which comes out at nearly 10 Euros.
As I don't tend to discuss the weather, my business, my children or any matters other than the phone number I am looking for when I call Phone Inquiries, I would suggest that it was not me who had called them for 272 seconds, but they who had failed to deliver the goods in less time! Anyway, I shall definitely not be calling them e.v.e.r. again.
Next time it might be cheaper to take out an advert in The Times "Lost and Found" column!
There was an item for which I was charged nearly 10 Euros. It was about 8 cents short of 10 Euros. That's a lot of money in anybody's currency!
There was also a note from the phone company next to it saying that they take no responsibility for this item and if I wanted to know what it was all about, I needed to call this other number which looked like it also cost a barrowload of money per minute.
I called this other number and after several false starts I finally got through to the right person (phone menu hell, plus heightened tempers (mine) delayed this process somewhat) and I was informed what the famous 10 Euro item was all about - I had been charged nearly 10 Euros for a call to Phone Inquiries!
Yes you read correctly!
I had called Phone Inquiries once for 272 seconds, which is 5 minutes or parts of a minute. Each minute costs... er quite a lot which I can't remember right now, and then you get sales tax (VAT) at 19% on top. Which comes out at nearly 10 Euros.
As I don't tend to discuss the weather, my business, my children or any matters other than the phone number I am looking for when I call Phone Inquiries, I would suggest that it was not me who had called them for 272 seconds, but they who had failed to deliver the goods in less time! Anyway, I shall definitely not be calling them e.v.e.r. again.
Next time it might be cheaper to take out an advert in The Times "Lost and Found" column!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Not Turkish Delight
I am very concerned.
Opposite our house in our little street there is a shop run by a Turkish family. It calls itself supermarket but it's just like a corner shop selling mainly fruit and vegetables, some dairy products and many Turkish specialities. The father runs the shop and the two teenage daughters help him out. They seem to work there mostly in the afternoons and evenings, once school has finished.
The family is very hard-working and polite. Early in the morning you can see the father putting all the fruit and vegetable stands up outside the shop and in the evening he takes them all down again. They used to have a second counter at one of the delicatessens in the town center, but I've noticed that they haven't been there for a while.
Opposite our house in our little street there is a shop run by a Turkish family. It calls itself supermarket but it's just like a corner shop selling mainly fruit and vegetables, some dairy products and many Turkish specialities. The father runs the shop and the two teenage daughters help him out. They seem to work there mostly in the afternoons and evenings, once school has finished.
The family is very hard-working and polite. Early in the morning you can see the father putting all the fruit and vegetable stands up outside the shop and in the evening he takes them all down again. They used to have a second counter at one of the delicatessens in the town center, but I've noticed that they haven't been there for a while.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Earl Walks Into a Cupcake's Office
A real live earl came to my office last week.
I know! It's all go in Casa Cupcake.
I mean, he didn't just turn up. He called the day before and asked if he could come by and bring me some work. And I knew his name, so I could have figured it out for myself, but I didn't.
It was only after he handed me the stuff he wanted me to work on that I saw his name directly after the word "earl" (and "Earl" was not his first name).
He came in just as I was in the middle of a very irate phone call to someone else, so I was not either looking or sounding my best. And when I got off the phone I got it tangled up in my hair and couldn't get it out, and he made some sympathetic comment about that. And then when I was about to go downstairs to photocopy his papers, I asked him if he would like to come with me, which, I realized afterwards, sounded as if I didn't trust him to sit in my office on his own.
Holy crap! I wonder if it would have been possible to create a more negative impression. However, when he comes back next week to pick up the work I shall make sure I wear my best dress and lots of smiles. I am angling for a dinner date. I'm not quite sure why, and I don't even know if he's single, but it would be fun, I think.
I know! It's all go in Casa Cupcake.
I mean, he didn't just turn up. He called the day before and asked if he could come by and bring me some work. And I knew his name, so I could have figured it out for myself, but I didn't.
It was only after he handed me the stuff he wanted me to work on that I saw his name directly after the word "earl" (and "Earl" was not his first name).
He came in just as I was in the middle of a very irate phone call to someone else, so I was not either looking or sounding my best. And when I got off the phone I got it tangled up in my hair and couldn't get it out, and he made some sympathetic comment about that. And then when I was about to go downstairs to photocopy his papers, I asked him if he would like to come with me, which, I realized afterwards, sounded as if I didn't trust him to sit in my office on his own.
Holy crap! I wonder if it would have been possible to create a more negative impression. However, when he comes back next week to pick up the work I shall make sure I wear my best dress and lots of smiles. I am angling for a dinner date. I'm not quite sure why, and I don't even know if he's single, but it would be fun, I think.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
I Wrote Lol So It's OK
Would you ever have thought, many years ago when we used to live in an offline world, that there would be one single word that we would be able to write to convey to other people that the nature of our intentions was harmless, kind, gentle, nice, sweet, even loving and above all non-hostile?
Stop right there and rewind. Why would we even be doing this in writing and not in speech? And did I say one single "word"?
Sometimes I wonder if we used to communicate in the past at all. We seem to do nothing else these days. When we're not busy talking on the phone, we're busy writing via some form of modern communication. In fact many of us seem to prefer the writing to the talking!
And lol, which was not even a word in the first place, has already had a change of meaning during its short lifetime. If you want to express laughing out loud these days, you need to write LOL!!! And just to make sure the other person got it, you sometimes need to add, I really did lol at that!
Lol beats everything, even the smiley :) :D :-)
As long as you attach lol to the end of your comment, be it on Facebook, Twitter, in an e-mail or in a text message to name a few modern methods of communication, you can basically write what you like. Lol diffuses any possibly hostile, unfriendly or ambiguous situation, renders any rude words harmless and even removes any serious undertones, making you sound laid back, cool, chilled and totally relaxed.
Stop right there and rewind. Why would we even be doing this in writing and not in speech? And did I say one single "word"?
Sometimes I wonder if we used to communicate in the past at all. We seem to do nothing else these days. When we're not busy talking on the phone, we're busy writing via some form of modern communication. In fact many of us seem to prefer the writing to the talking!
And lol, which was not even a word in the first place, has already had a change of meaning during its short lifetime. If you want to express laughing out loud these days, you need to write LOL!!! And just to make sure the other person got it, you sometimes need to add, I really did lol at that!
Lol beats everything, even the smiley :) :D :-)
As long as you attach lol to the end of your comment, be it on Facebook, Twitter, in an e-mail or in a text message to name a few modern methods of communication, you can basically write what you like. Lol diffuses any possibly hostile, unfriendly or ambiguous situation, renders any rude words harmless and even removes any serious undertones, making you sound laid back, cool, chilled and totally relaxed.
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