Grinch Corner

Or ban them completely . On my last flight to Barbados, I was very fortunate to be upgraded to first class, not prompted or requested. There was a spoilt child in the row alongside who did nothing but whine and winge the whole way. To cope, the child's parents and I resorted to drinking as much champagne as we could manage .

 

Nor Cows, remember the protests over milk price's when farmer were talking cows into supermarkets, they alone should know the rules as their farm dogs are no aloud into the dairy where the milk tank is, but you see that going on all the time

 

I know a lot of shops stopped supplying 'Bags for life' as they were having to give out far too many replacements!

 

I remember one year being relieved when I was too ill to go into work between Xmas and NY, because I could not be bothered with all the chat and not so subtle judgement on presents given and received. Most years, it was really strange how suddenly, there was a work culture there, of discussing every present that had been exchanged between family members. Lots of gloating/smugness/disappointment ensued when all had been dissected and scrutinized! Looking back, I wish I had just made something up to keep the gossipers quiet!

 

When we first moved to Belgium in 1991 I was surprised to discover that it was normal practice for people to take their lap dogs/rats to the SM. They'd sit on their cushion in the child seat of the trolleys. It was a few years before rails appeared outside the doors with a picture of a dog and a sign saying they would wait for their owners there.

I would think anyone with a service dog would expect problems and be prepared - a simple card in their bag with a quote of the relevant act and then a call to the police if the eejit jobsworth didn't co-operate.

 

Here's Sean Dilley's account - he's fully aware of his rights, and he does tell people, and he still gets treated like this.

'Refused service again with my guide dog, I'm done speaking out'

 

Its that time of year folks.

 

We're lucky this year, our bin day didn't change.

 

Bin day unchanged here too. It’s tonight, so I’ll be listening-out for the clinks of shame from all the bottles going into the neighbour’s bin - it always looks pretty full most weeks so it will be groaning under the weight this time!

 

We have a neighbour here with a regularly clinky bin @AuntyRach, but not much shame .

 

We can't hear the clinking of our neighbour's glass recycling bin over the noise of ours

 

One of my genteel lady clients used to include, as part of my duties, wrapping the weekly, empty gin and sherry bottles in newspaper before putting them in the bin.

 

Even if I'm way up the back garden I always know when my recycling bin has been emptied.

 

Anyone feeling Grinch-y about New Year celebrations?

“What are you doing for NYE?”

Well, I’d like to go to bed at a normal time and not be woken by fireworks. As next door seem to have won a lifetime supply of extra loud fireworks (can’t think of another explanation) then I certainly will be “seeing in the New Year”, whether I want to or not.

 

We haven't bothered to do anything at New Year for many years. The last time we planned to go out for a New Year event at a local hotel was at the Millennium. When we discovered they had more than doubled the cost from the previous year we decided not to.
We watched TV coverage of events from London for a few years but the quality of that coverage fell off steadily too.