Category Archives: Daily Life

I don’t really understand Valentine’s Day

When I was younger, I’m sure the idea with Valentine’s Day was to send a card and/or flowers and/or chocolate and/or gifts to someone you were sexually attracted to. And to make this unbelievably more annoying for the person you’re sending it to, you must write the card with whichever is not the hand you usually write with, sign it from “?”, and post it from 15 miles away so the postmark is of a different town. I mean you don’t want the person to know you like them do you? How would that make any sense?

This way, the girl who lives round the corner will never suspect you of a crime so heinous as sending her a nice card, and she’ll be confused as to why someone who has handwriting like a doctor’s house pet is writing to them from somewhere they’ve never visited.

If you want to really scare the hell out of them, you can do what I did in my early teenage years, and cycle to their house with an enormous card, leave it outside their house, ring the doorbell and run away. Nothing odd in that, right? The postman *could* have delivered it, right? Not on a Sunday he couldn’t. I can’t remember how I found out her address given that she had only recently moved there, but she certainly didn’t give it to me. Bizarrely this didn’t seem like stalking, to my teenage self. Continue reading I don’t really understand Valentine’s Day

Bristol’s Hooters Closes

Ah – it seems that Hooters in Bristol has shut down. Good luck to the employees in finding more work, and to the owner in their future ventures. And I mean that. Whatever you think of the company/brand/ethics/whatever, a lot of people will have lost their jobs and income.

I never quite got around to going. And not just because I’ve been poor and have been struggling to find employment. I thought I’d blog about why I never went. Continue reading Bristol’s Hooters Closes

Government saving – plain English?

I’ve been thinking recently, that is the government wants to save money, they could do so by making their documents easier to read.

A few days ago I received a letter from HM Revenue and Customs. I say letter – it was one piece of paper, about half the size of A5, in an envelope. On both the front and back of the envelope, it told me I could arrange payments online, via Direct Debit.

Inside, the piece of paper said: Continue reading Government saving – plain English?

Shit Web Design

I’ve only noticed the wording of this recently, and coupled with the stupidity of the design, it really stands out to me now.

Fail.

“ALWAYS clear the tick box”? What, every single time?

So instead of making people tick the box once if they do want to remain signed in, you’re making everyone who doesn’t want to remain logged in, untick it every single time they use it.

Despite this, you only remain half logged in anyway. Even with the box ticked at home, while it remembers my name and shows off everything I’ve looked at recently, every time I try and get to my account details, summary, recently bought items, etc. I have to put the password in again.

You could get around this “keep me signed in” nonsense by using Google Chrome Incognito, or Safari’s private browsing, etc., which then wouldn’t save any of your details or keep you logged into anything, but that’s not the point. It’s poorly thought through design.

I think I started thinking about this because I received a link to this “How to make your shopping cart suck less” thing this morning. While it’s a bit over-ranty in places (I don’t have a problem seeing tiny asterisks), they’re totally right for the most part. Go and check it out if you haven’t seen it already.

Make your own merchandise

My housemate has got a real obsession with the TV show Mongrels, BBC Three’s adult puppet comedy series. We had pre-agreed not to buy each other Christmas presents this year (she didn’t know what I wanted, and I’m totally broke), but it’s her birthday several days after Christmas, and last year, she paid for me to go to The Gadget Show Live in Birmingham, so it seems like I couldn’t not get her anything, no matter how broke I am.

I figured I’d get her some merchandise from Mongrels. Easy, eh? Well it would be, if not for the fact that they don’t make any. Lovable as the characters are, you can’t buy mini versions, or cushions with their faces on, or…well..anything. There’s nothing to buy from the show except series 1 on DVD. That’s a bit boring, isn’t it? Continue reading Make your own merchandise

Mr Fussy’s Marmalade

“One man’s (albeit slightly late) foray into cooking food more interesting than oven chips and beans on toast” – old strapline, 2007.

This blog didn’t exist 4 years ago.

What did though, was a food blog I started called “Mr Fussy’s Marmalade”. The basic premise is that I went through most of my teenage years not wanting to try new food. At some point in my mid 20’s, I had nothing else much going on in my life, so figured I’d try some of the foods I’d never eaten before while (sorta) learning to cook. It contained almost no pictures (which is a bit odd for a food blog, isn’t it?) ran for about 20 posts, then I got bored, and my mind wandered off onto other things (I’m still not a very good cook).

I’ve finally got around to adding those posts to this blog though (I’m not selling this very well, am I?), so if you fancy reading the sort of crap I was typing 4 years ago, then check out the new OLD category: Mr Fussy’s Marmalade.

The oldest post in that category explains it better than I’ve just done above (and also why it’s called “Mr Fussy’s Marmalade”).

The January Sales

They don’t even start in January anymore. They start from 6am on Boxing Day, depending on the shop. I’ve never quite been sure about whether or not they’re worth bothering with. I’m skeptical as to whether or not they exist, or it’s just a massive ploy to trick people into buying things they don’t really want. Is anything really any cheaper?

I remember buying a video recorder in the January sales, years and years ago. It was £200 before Christmas, so I waited til Boxing Day to see if it would be reduced. On Boxing Day, I walked into an electrical store and bought it for…exactly the same price it was in December. Maybe there were others discounted, but I had already chosen which one I wanted, so that wasn’t any help to me. Continue reading The January Sales

“Jesus! How much?!”

No, I’m not hiring a prostitute to roleplay as Jesus (there’s a disturbing thought). No, this was my reaction, after I walked into a chip shop 10 minutes ago, considered the pre-fried items relaxing in the “magic-warm-box” section (including some battered fish and a variety of non-battered sausages), and went “I’ll have the fish and chips”.

Immediately, they start on the upsell. “Large fish and chips, sir?” Continue reading “Jesus! How much?!”

Sports Personality of the Year

If you only have a passing interest in one incredibly pointless award this year, why not make it Sports Personality of the Year?

I’m not a sports fan, but people who like sports, tend to like… sports.
I’ve got friends who are into football, and what they seem to like is seeing good passes, good tackles, well produced goals, and hard-fought victories.
Of all the tediously-dull sport-based conversations I’ve ever stood on the outskirts of, while yawning internally, I’ve never once heard them go “ah but that player x.. he’s got a great personality. He’s shit at football, but what a nice bloke.” Continue reading Sports Personality of the Year

Occupy Bristol – Permission?

I read some interesting things today. First, that it looks like a branch of Costa Coffee is going to open on Gloucester Road, despite having no planning permission. That’s unusual, isn’t it?

Well, not as unusual as you might think. As the same franchisee has just opened a branch of Costa Coffee on Whiteladies Road, despite having no planning permission.

They’re both being investigated and/or served with notices to return the buildings to their respective former states, and rightly so.

With this in mind, I can’t help but notice there are some other people misusing space in Bristol, without planning permission. They’ve got a quite picturesque area in Bristol – a nice piece of grassland by the cathedral, surrounded by some of the nicer Christmas lights. Continue reading Occupy Bristol – Permission?