As a small boat sailor for most of my life, I have had occasions to be grateful to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and also local Solent voluntary rescue services. I have friends who serve currently in local lifeboat teams, raise funds, and others who have been lifeboat crew in the past.
When an email arrived from the Sailing Secretary of my sailing club this week I was shocked that the Government should be trying to grab back some of the funds that people all over Britain help to raise for these charities and voluntary services.
The proposal is to make them pay for the radio licences without which they simply could not operate.
Mike's email contained a link to an e-petition to the UK Government here - only UK citizens can sign and I hope that you will, or if you have UK friends who would be interested, please pass my blog link on to them.
Proposing to rob charities who do this dangerous and valuable work in such an underhand way has to be about the most despicable action yet to emerge from 10 Downing Street this year. Gordon Brown, what were you thinking!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
...If life gives you sausages
Angry at oversleeping and missing the start of the Chinese F1 Grand Prix, this morning, I looked to the fridge for edible consolation. I had convinced myself that I had removed a mini-pack of bacon from the freezer to the fridge. No, not there. I went and sulked with a cup of tea and digestive biscuits which kept me going till lunchtime. At least my hero Lewis Hamilton won, some consolation.
Still peeved, I had another look in the fridge and found some sausages which I bought because they were 2 packs at a reduced price. OK, I've got sausages, I'll have sausages in a bun for brunch and very nice they were, with a blob of spicy chutney. The rest were portioned, wrapped, labelled and into the freezer while their comrades cooked and the coffee brewed. And the bacon IS now thawing for another breakfast another day.
Time to be angry with myself and also to try and lose some of that anger. Since I split with John, I've been angry with him, his family and ex-friends who all deliberately contributed to the breakup. I know there is no point, I'll never get the chance to stand and scream my frustration and hurt at any of them except possibly John himself. I know it is damaging my life but I don't know HOW to fix it.
The moon is on the wane, so I may try a spell to 'shrink' those angry feelings and Samhain not far away, good for more spells. In the meantime, I will just try to start each day with the attitude of not trying to rail and stress against the things that life has not brought or has cruelly taken away and work with the blessings that each day does surely bring..
3 years ago this week, John and I were on holiday in the USA. While we were away, one of our cats came to the end of his time. He had a tumour, we didn't know and it suddenly advanced so that it caused so much pain he had to be put to sleep.
On the day we went to the airport, he wouldn't say goodbye to me and I felt all through the time we were away there was something wrong. I've always believed that his spirit has stayed around and have even been sure I've seen him - like this morning - sitting on the stairs.
No chance it was Bailey, he was outside sunbathing on my neighbour's driveway - I'd just seen him through the window.
Malibu - nicknamed Mogoid was there, on the half-landing and as I walked back through the hall, his shadow ran on up and disappeared at the top of the stairs without a sound. Sleep well little bushwhackers boots - I miss your clumsy un-catlikeness - elephant, not elegant we used to say of the way he stomped around.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Please Click.....
If this is the ONLY day you ever do it, please click in memory of my friend, Dee Munday.
Dee's funeral was today 16th October 2008. She died of heart failure following 3 bouts of cancer that started off with breast cancer.
Help to stop this happening to another woman by clicking on the Breast Cancer link on my sidebar, each click will help to pay for a mammogram. Thank you so much.
If you like, comment here that you clicked. It would help so much to know how many clicks for mammograms were done here which might help save a life in the future.
You could also help by donating to Macmillan Cancer Support - Dee's wish and on her funeral order of service.
Dee's funeral was today 16th October 2008. She died of heart failure following 3 bouts of cancer that started off with breast cancer.
Help to stop this happening to another woman by clicking on the Breast Cancer link on my sidebar, each click will help to pay for a mammogram. Thank you so much.
If you like, comment here that you clicked. It would help so much to know how many clicks for mammograms were done here which might help save a life in the future.
You could also help by donating to Macmillan Cancer Support - Dee's wish and on her funeral order of service.
Monday, October 13, 2008
O2, your Customer Care stinks
While some mobile phone users may change their network as often as their knickers, I have, thus far stuck with O2 because they treated me well, offered me upgrades when due and recommended changes of tariff to match my usage.
Today’s events have really come as a nasty surprise. In May last year my mobile phone broke in trying to get the back off it. I was spending a couple of days away and realised I’d forgotten my in-car charger AND I’d forgotten what model my phone was. So, tried to get the back off to find the model number while in a German autobahn services and jammed it. Found a charger that worked and the phone worked too, so didn’t bother too much about replacing it for a few months until things got worse and the battery wouldn’t charge at all for more than a few hours.
At that point (about a year ago) I called O2 thinking that what I was doing was making an insurance claim. No problems, they told me that my phone was no longer made and I could have this or that blah de blah at no extra cost. I chose something and they sent it. I had to go into a local O2 store who had to BREAK the back off the old one, but no worries, I thought, it was scrap anyway. I got my SIM out, the new phone was fine.
I’ve been thinking for a few months that if I’m going to carry on doing the various part-time jobs that I am, the most useful thing would be a GPS and it seemed easiest to go the mobile phone route since I thought I was due for an upgrade.
I went into the O2 store in West Quays and was shocked to be told that they had my ‘insurance replacement’ on record as an upgrade last October and that as they changed my tariff at the same time, on THEIR recommendation, not my request, I was locked into an 18 month contract with another 6 months to run. I told the store assistant the story but she could do nothing. In fact due to ‘data protection’ she couldn’t even see all my information and having called customer services they wouldn’t tell her even with me sitting beside her with a recent bill in my hand plus other identification.
When I got home I called Customer Services again. They said their computers were down, but there was another number I could call at a different office.
Same story, repeated everything, call centre guy put me on hold, and called someone else and came back apologetic, but could not change anything. What I had was recorded indelibly as an upgrade. I asked what else I could do and was asked to write in. Of course I will be doing so, pointing out that this is no way to treat a long standing customer (over 11 years) and that other networks had already made me better offers. Oh, and that according to other literature I’d seen the phone I wanted was supposed to be free with my level of contract on O2 - so where's the problem?
What I didn’t mention was that there was no chance whatever that I was going to cough up hundreds of pounds to have that upgrade early. Oh no. I can do exactly what I’m doing now, on ebay and bidding for an unlocked handset - my chosen Nokia N95 8gb.
Your previously excellent customer care has apparently descended into the depths of don’t care there’s always another new customer around the corner. And of course, I’ll be mentioning that when I write along with the fact that my complaint is now public property here, online for all to see.
O2, you replaced a broken phone with another one. It wasn’t my fault you couldn’t give me like for like, I would have been quite happy with another identical one, even if it wasn't brand new.
I absolutely protest that what I thought was an insurance claim has been treated as an upgrade and I don’t give a damn what your system says now, it’s wrong, and you need a lesson in public relations. You’d obviously rather spend a fortune on a huge expensive shop in a premier location like West Quay than a few pounds keeping little me happy. Bad move.
POSTSCRIPT
It took a week or two, a very acidic letter to customer complaints and another phone and email spat with someone who couldn't read or just couldn't be bothered, to resolve this problem.
I am pleased to say, that finally I got to talk to someone at O2 in Leeds with a bit of common sense and the recognition that it is a good idea to keep customers happy.
I now have my Nokia N95 8gb, at no extra cost per month, and I'm having fun learning how to use it.
I was also told that it is common for O2 customer services to avoid the insurance path by 'upgrading' because apparently processing a claim makes too much work for them.
The only sad bit is that a friend showed me their Iphone on Saturday and I had to admit that it knocked spots off my new toy. I will try to put aside the feelings of gadget-envy until my next upgrade really is due!
Today’s events have really come as a nasty surprise. In May last year my mobile phone broke in trying to get the back off it. I was spending a couple of days away and realised I’d forgotten my in-car charger AND I’d forgotten what model my phone was. So, tried to get the back off to find the model number while in a German autobahn services and jammed it. Found a charger that worked and the phone worked too, so didn’t bother too much about replacing it for a few months until things got worse and the battery wouldn’t charge at all for more than a few hours.
At that point (about a year ago) I called O2 thinking that what I was doing was making an insurance claim. No problems, they told me that my phone was no longer made and I could have this or that blah de blah at no extra cost. I chose something and they sent it. I had to go into a local O2 store who had to BREAK the back off the old one, but no worries, I thought, it was scrap anyway. I got my SIM out, the new phone was fine.
I’ve been thinking for a few months that if I’m going to carry on doing the various part-time jobs that I am, the most useful thing would be a GPS and it seemed easiest to go the mobile phone route since I thought I was due for an upgrade.
I went into the O2 store in West Quays and was shocked to be told that they had my ‘insurance replacement’ on record as an upgrade last October and that as they changed my tariff at the same time, on THEIR recommendation, not my request, I was locked into an 18 month contract with another 6 months to run. I told the store assistant the story but she could do nothing. In fact due to ‘data protection’ she couldn’t even see all my information and having called customer services they wouldn’t tell her even with me sitting beside her with a recent bill in my hand plus other identification.
When I got home I called Customer Services again. They said their computers were down, but there was another number I could call at a different office.
Same story, repeated everything, call centre guy put me on hold, and called someone else and came back apologetic, but could not change anything. What I had was recorded indelibly as an upgrade. I asked what else I could do and was asked to write in. Of course I will be doing so, pointing out that this is no way to treat a long standing customer (over 11 years) and that other networks had already made me better offers. Oh, and that according to other literature I’d seen the phone I wanted was supposed to be free with my level of contract on O2 - so where's the problem?
What I didn’t mention was that there was no chance whatever that I was going to cough up hundreds of pounds to have that upgrade early. Oh no. I can do exactly what I’m doing now, on ebay and bidding for an unlocked handset - my chosen Nokia N95 8gb.
Your previously excellent customer care has apparently descended into the depths of don’t care there’s always another new customer around the corner. And of course, I’ll be mentioning that when I write along with the fact that my complaint is now public property here, online for all to see.
O2, you replaced a broken phone with another one. It wasn’t my fault you couldn’t give me like for like, I would have been quite happy with another identical one, even if it wasn't brand new.
I absolutely protest that what I thought was an insurance claim has been treated as an upgrade and I don’t give a damn what your system says now, it’s wrong, and you need a lesson in public relations. You’d obviously rather spend a fortune on a huge expensive shop in a premier location like West Quay than a few pounds keeping little me happy. Bad move.
POSTSCRIPT
It took a week or two, a very acidic letter to customer complaints and another phone and email spat with someone who couldn't read or just couldn't be bothered, to resolve this problem.
I am pleased to say, that finally I got to talk to someone at O2 in Leeds with a bit of common sense and the recognition that it is a good idea to keep customers happy.
I now have my Nokia N95 8gb, at no extra cost per month, and I'm having fun learning how to use it.
I was also told that it is common for O2 customer services to avoid the insurance path by 'upgrading' because apparently processing a claim makes too much work for them.
The only sad bit is that a friend showed me their Iphone on Saturday and I had to admit that it knocked spots off my new toy. I will try to put aside the feelings of gadget-envy until my next upgrade really is due!
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Warning to USA voters - of whatever 'colour'
While I am very happy to see that a man of colour is very likely to be the next US President, I also fear for citizens the USA who may be in danger of losing other hard-won freedoms - regardless of who is in the White House for the next few years.
The US constitution supports the right to hold any religious faith or none and all that entails. However, the agenda of some ultra-Christian voters on BOTH sides seems to me to be directly AGAINST the idea of the right to choose - to love and marry whom you want and to choose to end a pregnancy.
I am referring to the abortion debate and also the tendency towards homophobia. I recently commented on another blog where the owner slams same-sex relationships and marriages. The blog owner didn't like what I said, but it had to BE said.
I'm not gay, but I have no problem whatever with anyone who is, and if what they want is to legally and openly commit to someone else of the same gender in a long-lasting relationship I celebrate their loyalty to their partner and what is more, I support their right to adopt children or to use IVF and donors to have a child that is at least partly biologically theirs.
Abortion has always been a difficult question for me. On the one hand, I feel incredibly sad that any life however humble should be ended - killing even an ant upsets me. Every kind of living thing has its place. But there are times, to prevent the birth of a seriously disabled child, where it would harm the mother's physical or mental welfare, or following rape or incest, where, surely it is better for abortion to be available in the safest and quickest circumstances.
In the UK at least, the law still requires the agreement of two doctors to an abortion, although the common availability of the morning-after pill has undoubtedly helped many women avoid a confrontation with their doctor or their family.
It isn't a perfect system and I truly believe that making it on-demand would be better, once a woman has made that choice, any delay, even days. is worse for her mentally and physically and worse for the foetus.
I would hate to think that this legal right to choose could be lost to American women and that in the 21st century there could be a regrowth of illegal abortionists with all the risks involved.
What is worse is that some of the same people who are against abortion are illogically also against teaching young people about contraception. An educated choice to be celibate is one thing, Do your best to pass on your personal morality if you wish, but don't take away their right to know how their bodies work and how to prevent unwanted pregnancies because not all of them will listen and follow what their parents believe.
Which brings me to this. Morality is not a mathematical axiom. What one person considers perfectly OK, may be horrendously immoral to someone else. Take for instance how Saudi Arabian tradition and law demands what a woman should wear in public, certainly not tight jeans, short skirts and midriff baring t-shirts, commonly seen on the street elsewhere in the world.
I don't impose my personal morality on anyone else. And if I lived in the USA, I would not appreciate my President - or Vice President - potentially imposing theirs on me.
The US constitution supports the right to hold any religious faith or none and all that entails. However, the agenda of some ultra-Christian voters on BOTH sides seems to me to be directly AGAINST the idea of the right to choose - to love and marry whom you want and to choose to end a pregnancy.
I am referring to the abortion debate and also the tendency towards homophobia. I recently commented on another blog where the owner slams same-sex relationships and marriages. The blog owner didn't like what I said, but it had to BE said.
I'm not gay, but I have no problem whatever with anyone who is, and if what they want is to legally and openly commit to someone else of the same gender in a long-lasting relationship I celebrate their loyalty to their partner and what is more, I support their right to adopt children or to use IVF and donors to have a child that is at least partly biologically theirs.
Abortion has always been a difficult question for me. On the one hand, I feel incredibly sad that any life however humble should be ended - killing even an ant upsets me. Every kind of living thing has its place. But there are times, to prevent the birth of a seriously disabled child, where it would harm the mother's physical or mental welfare, or following rape or incest, where, surely it is better for abortion to be available in the safest and quickest circumstances.
In the UK at least, the law still requires the agreement of two doctors to an abortion, although the common availability of the morning-after pill has undoubtedly helped many women avoid a confrontation with their doctor or their family.
It isn't a perfect system and I truly believe that making it on-demand would be better, once a woman has made that choice, any delay, even days. is worse for her mentally and physically and worse for the foetus.
I would hate to think that this legal right to choose could be lost to American women and that in the 21st century there could be a regrowth of illegal abortionists with all the risks involved.
What is worse is that some of the same people who are against abortion are illogically also against teaching young people about contraception. An educated choice to be celibate is one thing, Do your best to pass on your personal morality if you wish, but don't take away their right to know how their bodies work and how to prevent unwanted pregnancies because not all of them will listen and follow what their parents believe.
Which brings me to this. Morality is not a mathematical axiom. What one person considers perfectly OK, may be horrendously immoral to someone else. Take for instance how Saudi Arabian tradition and law demands what a woman should wear in public, certainly not tight jeans, short skirts and midriff baring t-shirts, commonly seen on the street elsewhere in the world.
I don't impose my personal morality on anyone else. And if I lived in the USA, I would not appreciate my President - or Vice President - potentially imposing theirs on me.
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