Nanny Strikes Again......

Good to see yet another small piece of personal freedom being eaten away this week as Nanny decides we now need stricter enforcement on mobile phone use in cars.

It sickens me to see all these evangelical police morons wheeled out in television interviews, telling us very sternly how very dangerous it is to use your mobile whilst in motion. The radio ad campaign focuses on telling us how dangerous it is to do two things at once....what? Like listening to a dumb-arsed radio ad and driving at the same time you mean?

What next I wonder? Banning passengers in case they distract you by talking? And what about smoking? Picking one's nose? Eating a chocolate bar? (as I incidentally watched a fine officer of the law doing whilst driving in heavy traffic on the A3 yesterday).

Yes, all these things are a little more dangerous than giving driving your 100% attention, but no-one except those who passed their driving test in the last three days actually does that!

How about the government and their chief tax collectors, the boys in blue, get off our case for a change and stop coming up with new ways to criminalize the population?

Fascism seems to have stopped sneaking in the back door these days and comes along through the front, bold as brass, and announcing it's arrival with TV and radio advertising Her Goebbels would have killed for in his propaganda ministry.

I Dont Know Where It Goes....

Time just slips by; I can't believe it's been over two weeks since I posted last. Frankly it's a good job nobody's reading this, otherwise you'd be most disappointed with my productivity levels.

So, what's happening in the world? Well, I've learned a few things in the last couple of weeks...

1, Little Miss Sunshine is not, in fact a lame chick flick as you might imagine, but is in fact highly entertaining. I apologise to the producers and my other half for my very man-like assumption before seeing the movie.

2, In spite of NTL's aim to be the worlds worst customer service organisation, they are still topped by that old faithful, any railway (in this case South West Trains) employee. Special mention goes out to the miserable bastards at Walton on Thames station, who on a daily basis manage to demonstrate all the charm and personality of a concentration camp guard, in spite of all being in apparently good health, employed, and not with a great deal to be pissed off about in life.

3, No matter how old you get some of the very best things in life can still get even better.

4, Tinned fruit smoothies are awesome!

5, I accept that Windows new MediaCentre is quite sexy but IE7 is the spawn of the devil and another step towards Gates attempt at world domination.

6, If someone doesn't assassinate Ken Livingstone, we'll have congestion charging out as far as Heathrow by the end of 2007. One of the thankfully few things I shared with Maggie Thatcher is a sometimes irrational, yet always powerful dislike of this odious little man and everything he touches.

That's it for now, but it is only Sunday afternoon, there's plenty of time for me to find something to moan about yet this weekend.

Just One More Thing....

I was looking for a picture to illustrate the last post, and whilst searching for a suitable 'CHAV' image, stumbled across this which I have to share with the rest of the world. Apologies to any non-Brits who may not get this one, ask a Brit friend, they'll explain.

Absolutely priceless.....

Life Imitating Art....

I saw a comedy sketch a while ago, in which an irritating man on a train goes through his entire mobile phone book, telling each of his friends the same banal story of his day, far too loudly, and to the annoyance of fellow passengers.

I have to admit, I thought it was a bit over the top, as I'm one of those people who things that, as long as you're maintaining a respectable (i.e. normal conversational level) volume, talking on the phone on a train does not deserve the sneers of others, or the placing of those annoying little window stickers declaring this to be a 'quiet zone'.

Just because the little Nazi's who like to rule the lives of others have found a new thing to moan about, it doesn't make you a criminal if you'd like to tell your partner you're on the way home from work, or need a lift from the station for fucks sake.

That said, I was shocked to find myself sitting next to a classic CHAV on the train yesterday who proceeded to do exactly as the man in the sketch did, informing all of us at full volume, at least three times, all about the frankly boring events of his weekend, including a less than veiled reference to his own sexual conquests.

So to the baseball-cap wearing, shell-suited fucktard on the train from Waterloo to Basingstoke, thanks for giving the anti-freedom Nazi's of South-West Trains an excuse to try to ban yet another normal activity. Twat.

More From The Nice People At NTL........

Yet again I find myself apologising for my lack of productivity in the blog department. In my defence, I'm actually starting to get a lot busier in the world of work these days, a concept I would not have even been able to contemplate some months ago!

Today's piece marks a return to one of my favourite topics, for ranting, and one of my least favourite organisations, you guessed it, good old NTL.

Latest in their catalogue of ways to prove they could not perform any amount of customer service if their collective balls were placed in a vice, and the level to which it was being tightened depended upon it, comes from a friend of mine who was due to have their services connected at his new home earlier this month. He received his little text message reminder the day before installation was due, and on the long awaited day, we sat eagerly awaiting the wonderful ability to once again connect to the world outside his flat.
And we waited.
And waited.
And waited.
We gave up waiting, and called those wonderful people at NTL for an update. Well didn't we chuckle when it was explained that the appointment had been cancelled, and rescheduled for another date, IN FIVE WEEKS TIME!!
Really? By whom exactly? Some faffing about, a little more time with the holding music, and some traditional buck-passing ensued before we were informed that, they did not know who had changed the date for installation.
Ok, my friend, being far more patient than I, (I would have reached down the phone and ripped out the persons heart by now had it been physically possible, as we all know that employees of this company deserve to die horribly) asks how soon this error can be rectified, as they had at least accepted it was not him that cancelled the appointment......

Not until the date in five weeks time, as this was the earliest available slot he was told.

He has since had tv/telephone and broadband installed within a week via SKY & BT, it took him all of 30 seconds on the phone to NTL to explain why he wished to withdraw from the planned agreement, and he was dealt with by someone who had obviously dealt with many such cancellations.

Do these wankers really think that we are so stupid that when they change the company name to Virgin Media soon we will assume all is now well and they will become a glorious example of the best in customer service?

Mr Branson, pull out of this deal now, or risk being associated with a company with a worse record in customer relations than the manufacturers of Zyklon B.