Shoot the Wall (A.K.A. The Rant Thread)

[Pseudonym]

Nope no screens on windows or doors, it's not normal here.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Spoiler

48 minutes ago, Pseudonym said:

Nope no screens on windows or doors, it's not normal here.

Screens don't seem to be typical in California either, despite the mild climate. But then there aren't many bugs there.  Any idea why it's not normal in your area?

Added:. I have absolutely no idea how that quote became a spoiler.  Heavens, how i miss being able to fiddle with the code!

[Pseudonym]

My quote is in a spoiler box

Probably because it's too cold about 90% of the time to open the doors or windows so there's no point. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Cold?  Admittedly I've never been over there in the winter, but in May and July we always kept the operable panel of our hotel-room window open for fresh air, even on cooler days.  That was quite a treat for us, because our summers are too hot most of the time.

[Pseudonym]

Since our summers are generally short and unpredictable there's no point having net doors. For example this week it's forecast sun all week, and it's lovely and warm, but last week it rained for four days straight and I had to put the radiators on in the evening because I was so cold. 

[Pseudonym]

Every day at 1pm a woman comes and stands under my office window, smokes so the smoke drifts inside, and then stands there hacking and coughing for half an hour with the world's grossest, phlegmiest smokers cough. One of these days I'm going to drop something out of the window onto her head. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

You could close the window at 12:55. 

[Pseudonym]

I usually pointedly shut it when the smoke starts wafting in, but it's boiling here today, all windows and skylights open, huge fan on, still roasting... Go away Phlegmy!

[Carol the Dabbler]

I thought your office was in your brother's house.  Is this woman the next-door neighbor?  Or does your window open onto a public area?

[Pseudonym]

My office is an outbuilding across the garden from my brother's house, the window opens out onto the pavement. It's next to a school so I think she's waiting for a sproglett that does a half day, nursery or something. 

[Pseudonym]

For today's rant, my damn boy cat who cut up my leg yesterday. I was on the phone and he came over and stuck his cold nose into my armpit, which was unpleasant enough, then circled around and decided to jump on my lap... using his claws on my bare leg for purchase. He's a big beastie, I was not amused. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Most of my cats won't go on bare legs.  Ewww, Mommy doesn't have her fur on today!

Dunno what they'd do if they didn't notice till they were in mid-leap.  Probably one of those cartoon mid-air U-turns (which cats can actually do).  Probably just as well, because if they were to land on bare skin, they would presumably fight for traction the same way yours did.  Cats hate slippery.

[Sheerluck]

My uncle had a kitten when I was a teen and his four under 8 kids would chase the poor thing around. So I took to putting on my shoulder to keep it out of the way. Well I guess the kitten liked it there because one afternoon the kids were chasing it and it ran straight up my leg onto my shoulder using its claws to make the climb. It's a lesson in making pets too comfortable.

[Pseudonym]

Mine used to do that as a kitten, but I never put him there. He used to climb up and sit on top of my head whilst I was getting ready in the morning. My Siamese still sits on my shoulder, she's like a parrot.

[Carol the Dabbler]

8 hours ago, Sheerluck said:

it ran straight up my leg onto my shoulder

 

8 hours ago, Pseudonym said:

My Siamese still sits on my shoulder, she's like a parrot.

Some cats are just natural shoulder cats.  I've known a few.

I once took in a stray kitten and was able to establish over the phone that she was indeed the missing kitten advertised on the vet's bulletin board, by asking her erstwhile human to describe what her lost kitten would do when you picked her up (answer:  immediately climb onto your left shoulder).

[Pseudonym]

Yep, I think a lot of cats like being able to survey their domain from height. If my boy cat tried to sit on my shoulder or neck now I'd be crushed under the weight! 😆

My Siamese is definitely weird, something else she likes to do is curl her tail around my wrist or ankle as if to stop me going anywhere. 

Gawd blimey it ain't half hot here. Yes, yes, I know it's not as hot as elsewhere in the world (had someone on another forum from Australia scoffing 'you call that hot?' well, yea, for the UK it is bl**dy hot, obviously it won't be as hot as Australia, it's the other side of the planet and we're fairly far north), but for here it's scorching. I've taken to coming into work stupidly early to try to get out mid afternoon rather than baking all day - yesterday I got in a right state, mega stressed when the printer refused to print a plan I'd been working on for the best part of four hours that needed to be sent, sun in my eyes across my desk, sweat running off me, outside was even worse like walking into a physical wall of heat when I had to literally run to the post office, eurgh. I like the heat, but not so much I'm working and trying to get stuff done to a deadline. 

[Pseudonym]

Forgot to mention the pretty epic fire that firefighters, the army, and the RAF are currently battling on the moors outside Manchester. People being evacuated from their houses, they've even brought in Chinooks. 

Swansea airshow this weekend, hoping to see some good stuff from the garden, can't face the crowds at the beach. 

[Arcadia]

Good heavens. Things are certainly … uh … eventful … out your way.

I always shake my head at those videos of cute little kittens climbing up people's legs. You won't find that so cute and funny when that kitten becomes an adult, buddy boy! And then there's the people who think it's cute to wrestle a kitten with their hand. Just wait until those adult teeth grow in and see how much fun it is then ...

I adopted a cat that had obviously been treated that way; took me two years to train him that it was not acceptable. In the meantime he severely bit my elderly dad, who didn't realize what he was getting into. Not much fun, that.

[Pseudonym]

I still wrestle one of my cats. But yes, when they are teenagers and don't realise it's not cool to draw blood (or don't care) it's not fun. I have a scar on the back of my hand where my first cat sank a fang in over and over and over again until he was an adult and stopped doing it. One of other cats just used to yell constantly and the only way I found to keep her quiet was to put her in my hoody, with me wearing it, and just walk around with a lumpy cat pot belly. 

[Arcadia]

Yeah, I had one that yelled until you picked her up and carried her around. Sitting in your lap wasn't enough; you had to move. A few minutes of that, then she was content to be set back down. I loved that cat. 😊

[Van Buren Supernova]

Piss at people who don't treat others fairly. Privileged people who never understand daily struggles of others and abuse their power. 

And pissed because there was nothing much I could do about it, although I had tried. At the very least I had plant the seed that they are idiots but too bad they are cowards, too afraid to take back and admit their mistakes.

The highest overconfidence that one has for others is trusting that they would do things that are smart and beneficial for them, in long term. But noooooo.....idiots.

[Pseudonym]

Yea, I hate people like that too. Thing is, I think everyone hates people like that, including the people who actually do it!

You have to be so bolshy with companies these days to get a decent deal, it's really annoying - British people are not known for being particularly pushy, but it's the only way you get treated fairly. These days every time something is up for renewal I contact the company involved, challenge them to match a different price, and pretty much without fail they do it - sometimes knocking off crazy amounts in the blink of an eye. "What's that, you want to pay £150 less? Okay, no problem, done." Just renewed my mobile contract for a hell of a lot better deal than they were offering online. Why can't they just treat customers fairly rather than messing about with having to contact them? I've had to personally negotiate new deals with almost everything I have, it's ridiculous. At least I've done it enough that I'm getting pretty good at it. 

This will be TMI, but my sunburnt back is now peeling. I'm shedding everywhere like a snake.  🐍 🐍 🐍

[Carol the Dabbler]

5 hours ago, Pseudonym said:

You have to be so bolshy with companies these days to get a decent deal, it's really annoying....

[....]

This will be TMI, but my sunburnt back is now peeling. I'm shedding everywhere like a snake.  🐍 🐍 🐍

Ooh, can I come over and peel you?  Been ages since anyone I knew had a good sunburn.

I got the meaning of "bolshy" from context in your next paragraph, but still can't shake the image of British consumers leaping about on their tippytoes in order to impress the phone company.

Added:  Are those snakes from the new forum emoties, or what?  They seem to be non-deletable. 

[Pseudonym]

Yep they are. Lol, no, no relation to  Bolshoi!

[Carol the Dabbler]

6 hours ago, Pseudonym said:

Lol, no, no relation to  Bolshoi! 

The sound is so similar (and of course they're both Russian) that I got curious and looked up both words.  Bolshoi literally means "big" (for the size of the theater building), and bolshy comes from Bolshevik, which means something like "one of the majority."  So I'd guess the words really are related.