Thought For The Day

Wise words from Facebook Archives

7 February 2015 at 15:16

Irritation is something to cause not experience.

7 February 2013 at 17:13 ·

Coming back from Tesco's Fester entertained me with a fascinating tale about the coal freight train he's come across on one of his walks. 

"It was a type 66."

"I don't care."

"Oh it's one of the favoured diesel locos for freight: it's a very pretty loco, nice little awnings at the front."

Is it me?

I could cope with Thunderthighs and his encyclopaedic knowledge of buses and I knew about the insects when I signed up ....

But "pretty loco"s for crying out loud !

Cold Caller #10 Prove It

 From Facebook Archives

6 February 2017 at 19:07  ·

For the past few days someone purporting to be from Virgin Media has been trying to contact me on my mobile phone. 

This afternoon I eventually agreed to speak to him, on what sounded like a line from Asia.

"You have been with Virgin for a long time and there are special rewards for you.  Ok.  Just to prove I am talking to the right person can you give me the first line of your address?"

"No."

"No!?!"

"No. You rang me.  I don't know whether you are really from Virgin.  You should prove to me who you are.  You tell me the first line of my address."

"But I can't do that.  We're not allowed to do that."

"Well I don't give any personal details over the phone.  You're a complete stranger to me.  If Virgin have any special offers to give me they can put it in writing."

The thing is, my mobile is O2 not Virgin.
Virgin does my landline.
If they want to speak to me they can call me on that.
Or include it in my emailed invoice.

FifiD  I had the same thing. I'm with O2 too X

The Squireen  Virgin usually post offers to you or grab you when you ring them.

Mrs Lasagne  You did exactly the right thing so many scams around Ben xxx

PH  There are still too many of these going on.  I had one last week saying they were taking over my landline rental and that it would be cheaper.  When I wouldn't give my details and put the phone down they rang back!!  It's maybe a genuine deal but we shouldn't be being asked for our details by legitimate companies.

Mr Melodeon  I had a similar one claiming to be from Talktalk two days running.   

I told him 'this is a scam. I have your number and reported it.  You are being investigated as I speak'.  I've not had a call since! It seems to have worked.

Cold Caller Baiting #9

 From Facebook archives ...

Tuesday 5 February 2019

Phone rings, I pick up, after a long pause:-
"Hello"
Hello
"Am I talking with Miss Benton Bag" in a Chinese accent
Who are you?
"My name is Sue"
Sue what?
"I don't know what you mean"
Your surname. I am Benton Bag.  What is your second name?
"That is none of your business"
Well you rang me, and you have my surname, so it's only fair I have yours.
The line went dead.

Yesterday morning I had a good ten minutes toying with an Asian gentleman called Peter from World something or other, who had been getting messages on their server that there was something wrong with my router.   

He had three goes at guessing who my service provider is and seemed not to understand when I told him I'd rather chew my own arm off than use Sky.   

He asked what I was doing and I informed him I was eating breakfast and watching television.  

He told me I had to go and sit in front of my computer.   

When I told him that there was no way I was going to be told what to do by some man I didn't know from Adam and, by the way, what made him believe I actually had a computer, 

the line went dead.

I know.
It's pitiful.
But I have to get my fun where I can, and it's saving some other poor soul from being bothered or scammed.

Strawangel We do the same! 😂

Bentonbag It whiles away a few moments in a socially useful way.

Paganess I frequently do this, Friday and I kept one on the phone for a good half hour 'coz we were bored! X x

Bentonbag Oh well done! 👏👍

Drummerman Go, girl!!!

AB Brilliant!

Suitable Clothing

 “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing” Alfred Wainwright

It’s been our habit for many years to get our Saturday tea from the chip shop.   

As we’ve only had a takeaway within walking distance for a couple of years, this used to mean driving to the nearest chippy with one of the boys.

From Facebook archive

4 February 2012 at 14:02 ·

Out with Ferretfingers this morning: 55 to Haymarket; Q2 to Quayside; walk up to Law Courts; Q2 to St Peter's Basin; then walked back up-river to the Ouseburn, up the Ouseburn and up to the Cumberland Arms for lunch; 62 bus home in time to miss the snow.

4 February 2012 at 19:28 ·

Haven't used the car since Friday.   

Went out at chip shop time to find it completely iced over.  

All the windows were like frosted glass (literally!).   

So I had to pour cold water over to melt and clear it - 

whilst being pelted with hailstones.  

Ferretfingers sat in car.  

Fester sat in kitchen sorting beetles not even thinking about offering to help whilst I trailed back and forth with a 5 litre screen-wash bottle*.   

When I commented on this? 

"Oh you're dressed for it."

 

 

 

 

*See also Fighting The Flood 

Red Letter Day

A friend of mine, who also has an autistic son, once said “It’s true we do have a hard time with our kids, but when they actually achieve something the high we get is much more than those parents raising ‘normal’ kids.  Whatever milestone their child achieves is nice for them, but they take it a little bit for granted.  For us any progress at all is absolutely marvellous and we celebrate it.”

From Facebook archives.

3 February 2011 at 09:10 ·

Last night Thunderthighs and I watched Great Railway Journeys on the upstairs tv. 

The phone rang. 

Ferretfingers picked up and came screaming into the hall "Phone Mummy".

I leant over the bannisters and asked "Who is it?" 

He shouts into the phone "What's your name?" 

then to me "It's Cousin Daisy". 

First time he's ever asked anyone anything on the 'phone - big thumbs up.

Nature Notes

From Facebook archive

2 February 2015 at 09:35 · ·

Two hen blackbirds, several great and blue tits, a goldfinch and a wren all spotted foraging in the garden this sunrise.  Good things it was so frosty the cats were out and back in again in short order.

Mr Melodeon  We too have more birds in our garden compared to usual.  Mainly great tits happily foraging about.

St Bernard  Great tits like coconuts.

Madam Fifi Can anyone explain why my sister has big Red Admiral butterflies in her house.   

She lives in Nenthead, Cumbria is snowed in with minus temperatures.  I'm no butterfly expert but this doesn't seem right, global warming

Bentonbag Some butterflies hibernate and get a head start in the spring.  In nature they'd be in holes in trees and caves where the temperature would be cold but steady.  But now of course they come into houses too.  Only houses get warm so they wake up.  When my Dad had his hip replaced (years ago) he slept for a while in the spare back bedroom which was usually unheated.  He wondered why blue tits kept hammering at the window.  Until he discovered the warmth had woken a couple of butterflies who were fluttering on the inside of the glass with the birds desperately trying to catch them from the other side.

Sandy   Thought you were going to say they were nesting in Fester’s beard

Bentonbag  He brushes it every morning or goodness knows what sort of wildlife would be lurking in there.

Cat Tales #20 Felix

Partly from Facebook archive ...

1 February 2014 at 20:20 ·

Felix is really pissed off with me. 

I wouldn't let him out into this weather 

(and wasn't prepared to even open the back door whilst he contemplated it) and I've tucked the bedroom curtains behind the radiator so he can't get onto the windowsill.

McChurch Obviously I haven`t been paying attention, but, you have a cat called Felix!?

Bentonbag uploads photo 👉

McChurch I see the resemblance.

 1 February 2021

It was fine enough last Saturday afternoon to do the front garden. 

 

The snowdrops are coming up so it’s time to flatten last summer’s Japanese anemone and Michaelmas daisy stalks so we can see them from the path.   The seedeaters have had their chance and any minibeasts overwintering should be ok as I’ve let them lie in place. It’s also the ideal time to attack the brambles as they’re one of the few things that are green, so you can see them, and there’s little other foliage around so you can get right down to the root.  

 

I was almost hidden in the hedge between us and next door, pursuing a particularly awkward briar, when a masked woman walking past stopped, looked up at our bedroom window, waved gaily and called “Hello Felix!”

Apparently he’s a lovely cat and a regular visitor at her house.

It comes to something when your cat is having a better social life than you are.