Dear Diary

[tonyXIII]

Dear Diary,

Exactly one week today, my sister-in-law and my step-daughter arrive to spend two weeks with us. I am dreading it. The house is not really big enough. We have two bedrooms each with a double bed, so step-daughter will be using the sofa-bed, which is in the large, open-plan kitchen/dining-room/lounge. There will be no escape. I am trapped. I can feel the breakdown approaching.

(Just to be honest, I quite like it when the step-daughter stays and I can tolerate the sister-in-law - on their own! Together, is going to be a nightmare)

The prospect is so bad that I have forgotten to renew my RLW subscription. I'll do it tomorrow.

Be good to each other.

Tony

[ckn]

3 minutes ago, tonyXIII said:

Dear Diary,

Exactly one week today, my sister-in-law and my step-daughter arrive to spend two weeks with us. I am dreading it. The house is not really big enough. We have two bedrooms each with a double bed, so step-daughter will be using the sofa-bed, which is in the large, open-plan kitchen/dining-room/lounge. There will be no escape. I am trapped. I can feel the breakdown approaching.

(Just to be honest, I quite like it when the step-daughter stays and I can tolerate the sister-in-law - on their own! Together, is going to be a nightmare)

The prospect is so bad that I have forgotten to renew my RLW subscription. I'll do it tomorrow.

Be good to each other.

Tony

Can I recommend you suddenly take up a deathly boring hobby and invite them to listen to you talk about it?  You’ll get plenty of peace after the first five minutes  

Maybe something like the genealogy of cabbages, competitive lint gathering or even professional rugby union. 

[tonyXIII]

I could not possibly inflict union on a fellow human being. Except possibly Farage and Inverdale, though the latter might enjoy it.☺

[Shadow]

Farage would avoid Rugby at school in favour of Golf. 

That and skiving off for a smoke. 

[Bleep1673]

Electronics ganging up on me,

Just because I have no internet, my phone hasn't charged, my Kindle doesn't, and my printer has died

Why is it buying a new printer can be less expensive than buying replacement cartridges?

[Bleep1673]

Oh Wednesday, the 26th of September, 

When will see your shining light of day again?

I look out across the magnificent Channel,

Across the gleaming brilliant seas.

And I sit here in wonder, "why the bloody hell didn't I buy more toilet roll"?

[ckn]

8 minutes ago, Bleep1673 said:

Why is it buying a new printer can be less expensive than buying replacement cartridges?

Back in 2001, I was closing an office for a major law firm and they allowed staff to "buy" any IT assets in the office for a donation to the firm's charity pot.  I got an essentially unused HP Laserjet 4050 and two toner cartridges for £15, its new price was around £400 or so including those toners.  It's still going and I just put in the last of the cartridges late last year, I don't expect to need to get another until 2021/2 or so.

Inkjet printers are a scam, they essentially give you a free printer with your first cartridge purchase and then make sure the ink doesn't last long or dries up quickly if not used regularly.  You can get good B/W laserjet printers for under £100 and good colour ones for under £200.  The toner is expensive but it lasts for thousands of pages and never dries out if unused.

[Clogiron]

23 hours ago, ckn said:

Can I recommend you suddenly take up a deathly boring hobby and invite them to listen to you talk about it?  You’ll get plenty of peace after the first five minutes  

Maybe something like the genealogy of cabbages, competitive lint gathering or even professional rugby union. 

CKN, I thought competitive lint gathering was supposed to be a secret, you know like Fight Club. If You go blabbering about it to others next thing you know the Taxman will be after us!

[Bleep1673]

16 hours ago, Clogiron said:

CKN, I thought competitive lint gathering was supposed to be a secret, you know like Fight Club. If You go blabbering about it to others next thing you know the Taxman will be after us!

No I thought that was this site was about. Talking about nothing & getting paid the same.

[M j M]

I woke up at about 5am this morning from a dream which appeared to involve me, Brett Kavanaugh, Wile E Coyote and Jon Lovett, set in a cartoon desert landscape. 

I can place the reason for all of these rolling around in my brain right now (they are all things I've fallen asleep whilst listening to in the past four days) but I'm struggling with what it means and the reality of what I've become.

[Wiltshire Rhino]

1 hour ago, M j M said:

...and the reality of what I've become.

You've become Road Runner! #beepbeep

[M j M]

6 minutes ago, Wiltshire Rhino said:

You've become Road Runner! #beepbeep

This is what I fear, although it could be worse I suppose.

And it beats the recurring dream I had for a few months in late 1999 about Cas beating us in that year's play offs.

[Shadow]

Regimental reunion yesterday, also marking the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the battle of Salerno.

whilst at the reunion I remarked that I hope I’m in as good state as some the WW2 vets.

today I think they are probably in better shape than I am. No matter how hard we tried to pretend, we aren’t in our twenties any longer.

[ckn]

My train arrived in London five minutes early today 

[Clogiron]

On 9/30/2018 at 9:05 AM, M j M said:

I woke up at about 5am this morning from a dream which appeared to involve me, Brett Kavanaugh, Wile E Coyote and Jon Lovett, set in a cartoon desert landscape. 

I can place the reason for all of these rolling around in my brain right now (they are all things I've fallen asleep whilst listening to in the past four days) but I'm struggling with what it means and the reality of what I've become.

On first read I thought that said 'Joan Jett' now that type of dream I can relate to:Kavanaugh spying on Wile.E getting down to it with Joan, phew. Mr Coyote is my hero, everything we touch turn's out bad (Inc Joan)

[Spidey]

Dear Diary

In the past week I’ve watched my pro team get relegated, then my local team get stuffed in the first round of the promotion playoffs, please don’t let Warrington win the grand final my mates will have a field day over the winter 

Suffering Soapy Viking 

[MattSantos]

Wife is 13 weeks pregnant. A lot going on next year

[Farmduck]

[Padge]

On 9/26/2018 at 9:22 AM, Bleep1673 said:

Electronics ganging up on me,

Just because I have no internet, my phone hasn't charged, my Kindle doesn't, and my printer has died

Why is it buying a new printer can be less expensive than buying replacement cartridges?

When I was a service engineer on the road one company I went to had a cupboard full of printers which they bought in bulk. When the cartridge went in the printer they binned it and just got a new one out of the cupboard. It actually cost them less then keeping cartridges.

[Padge]

6 hours ago, MattSantos said:

Wife is 13 weeks pregnant. A lot going on next year

Seems like something has been going on this year. 

[ckn]

Yes, this is the right thread for this, I'm not ranting, more resigned to it.

This year's law firm trainee pay deals have been announced.  This is for unqualified lawyers straight out of university and two years from their solicitor qualification:

	First year salary	Second year salary
Allen & Overy	£45,000	£50,000
Clifford Chance	£46,600	£52,500
Freshfields	£45,000	£51,000
Linklaters	£47,000	£52,500
Slaughter and May	£45,000	£51,000

I simply can't get my head around someone earning £45k+ for their first job straight out of uni.

[ckn]

Karma works quickly these days...

I was waiting for someone to leave a parking spot so I could get it, another idiot in a brand new Mercedes E-class shot in before I could even start to move. He misjudged and smashed his front into the bollard. I gave him a round of applause as he got out to check the quite considerable damage 

[JohnM]

1 hour ago, ckn said:

Karma works quickly these days...

I was waiting for someone to leave a parking spot so I could get it, another idiot in a brand new Mercedes E-class shot in before I could even start to move. He misjudged and smashed his front into the bollard. I gave him a round of applause as he got out to check the quite considerable damage 

Probably a trainee lawyer.

[ckn]

"I'm off now so don't disturb me" email sent, out-of-office set, work machine closed down.  Aaaand on holiday until 22nd October

Leaving tomorrow for sunny Italy for two weeks.

I hear John Drake has been practicing his "oh for f***'s sake" responses for the time I'm away as he'll now have to dig into the political threads again

[ckn]

Thought for the day: Is the new Cliff Richard song "rise up" essentially a geriatric's version of Twisted Sister's "We're not gonna take it"?