Old friends

I got the email I usually get every 6 months or so; 'hey, a load of friends from school are meeting up, you should pop along, we haven't seen you in ages!' No, no I should not pop along. What good could possibly come from that?

I hate this, if you haven't seen people in ages, surely they should pick up on the hint you don't want to see at least one of them. I'm running out of nice ways to say no, pretty soon I'll just have to break out the truth 'Yeah okay, I'll go. Oh, just a heads up, one of your friends makes me properly 'hulk out' so I hope no one will be offended if I spend a good chunk of the night throwing stuff around in a blind rage because she's started crying because some guy called her psycho/told her he just wants to be friends/she couldn't find the shirt she wanted in her size/ she thought Eastenders was sad last night etc. Meet up outside at 6?'

It's a shame because there's a few people I would like to see, sadly the aforementioned drama queen shadows them -heaven forbid she misses out on something- and makes damn sure everything is about her, so ignore is not an option either. She's partial to inviting herself along too if she's not asked somewhere; 'I'll come down aswell and stay at yours too'. Yes... if only you had been asked. I could have genital warts and it'd be more welcome and easier to shift than she is.

'Befrienders'

I don't like those people who stand too close to you. You know the ones I mean; they stand right next to you on platforms and in queues etc, and edge a little closer when you move away and grin and/or nod at you. I have personal space, and it doesn't need to have a random person grinning at me in it, thanks.

It's bad because they're everywhere you go too, unless it's just me this happens to and I'm subconsciously some kind of pied piper for people with little to no spacial awareness. Which, to be fair, is entirely possible given the kind of luck I have. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect everyone else in the world to never come within a 10mile radius of me but seriously, the rest of the platform/shop is empty, I don't want to be your friend. Go away.

Outings

Why do people never cancel until the shortest possible notice?

Like when you say 'oh shall we go see 'x'' and they say 'oh yeah, sure', then either the day before or on the the day, you go to check plans and it's 'oh, sorry yeah don't really have the money'. Fair enough, but I doubt that you didn't know that you had no money when we arranged this, so why say yes in the first place? This week I have lost two (paid for)play tickets, missed a gig and will now be missing a filming. Is it so difficult to just say 'no, I don't really fancy that' or 'I'm busy so I can't, sorry' when an idea is suggested? Apparently so...

When I die, bury my under a busy street so that my resting place can be an ironic yet perfect metaphor for how my life has been lived.

Newsagents

So, you know when you go into W H Smiths or somewhere and there are loads of people reading the newspapers and magazine? Not just flicking through to see what's in it, but actually standing in the aisles reading it. What the hell is that about? If it's that good, buy it and get out of the way. It's a shop, not a library.

Flatmates

So I have one flatmate who, since lectures have finished, has decided that rather than actually do something, she'll just sit in everyday and play loud, and particularly bad, music for us all to enjoy. I know loud music is a reoccurring theme on this thing, but it's a particular bug bear of mine.

I just don't understand why, if you're listening to music on your own, you wouldn't use headphones? Or better yet, go out and do something other than just sit in all day?

There are loads of free things to do in London, but no, because then how would I get my daily intake of particularly bad hip hop? Heaven forbid I don't get to listen to it whilst trying to do coursework. Best bit is, when she's been asked to turn off, the next day it's a little bit quieter. It might just be me, but I take this as sarcasm?

It's not just her though, my coursework is quite clearly cursed. Music yesterday, then today the people in the flat next to mine (who, for reasons unknown, like to blend things in the early hours of the morning) had some repairs done in their kitchen, which backs onto my room. YAY. Now I've never actually used a drill myself, but do you really need to drill for about 5 minutes at a time? Really?

Photo: By Evan here

Those 'Marilyn Monroe moments'

I don't know how many people actually use Holloway tube, but I know that a fair few of those that do have the same disdain as I do for the updraft there.

Skirts and dresses are an accident waiting to happen on those stairs! Without warning up they go, making you flash everything. And you always get half way down and think 'Ah, yes, no unwanted breezes today!' and then BAM! Up goes the skirt.

There's no need for it. I can't think of any other station with drafts like that? I'm thinking someone, somewhere might be having a jolly with a wind machine under the stairs there...

Student bloody finance

I think almost every student nods wisely and and has an 'ah, yeah' moment when they see that name now.

I do not understand how one company can be so awful. I had more than enough hassle with them when first setting up my loan (was assured that it was on the pile to be processed, then had them turn around in September to tell me that they had, in fact, not received anything. Thanks for that). I figured this year would be much easier, all I have to do is sign something and send it off to them, but with them even that is painfully difficult.

It's been lost in the post (in fairness, that's not their fault), but it is their fault that it's incredibly hard to actually contact them. I find it very hard to believe that a company that encourages you to do as much of the application process online doesn't have an email. Or an address you can easily write to (they, rather conveniently, tend to lose a lot of things posted to them).

Oh no, the only way you can get through to them is by phoning into their call centre and sitting on hold like a muppet for 10 minutes, if you can even get through. They're not stupid, there's a lot of people out there who have no choice but to talk to them, why not milk the incompetence for all it's worth and make 'em pay to phone in too?

I'm only on pay as you go, so it looks like I'm going to have to spend God knows how much trying to get through to them, possibly to only be fobbed off when i do get through or cut off as my credit runs out. No doubt I'll be advised to leave it a few weeks and phone back then in case the post is just slow, as I was last year every fortnight for about 3 months (maybe they use lame pigeons for all of their post and 3 months is considered a good/conceivable postal turnaround to them?).

Flip-flops

I don't think there's any need for flip-flops. I hate that stupid 'schlop-schlop-schlooop' sound they make when people walk in them.

At the beach, its annoying but you think 'okay, fair enough they are beach shoes', but people wear them in cities etc. Why? They're not really appropriate footwear, are they? How many peoples toes have been trodden on because they've worn beach shoes anywhere other than the beach?

A little (read- fairly big) part of me is tempted to stand of the back of them if I'm going up the stairs behind someone who's got them on. Mean I know, but then they might start to wear appropriate footwear. So in a way it'd be the right thing to do, it might save them getting their toes stamped on at a later date.

Plastic bags

So I'm clothes shopping, no bags except my handbag.

Cashier: Did you want a bag with these?

No, I want to walk out carrying them in my hands so that passers by think I'm an extremely cocky shoplifter. Best bin the receipt too, it'll ruin the illusion otherwise. Thanks.

Music

Is there really any reason for not using headphones when listening to music on your own? I think not.

I may well need to blow dry my hair at about 6 O'clock tomorrow morning. Nothing to do with the music played tonight, of course.

Spitting

I've come to the conclusion that people who spit in the street shouldn't be allowed out of their homes. It's horrible and makes me feel a bit ill, there's no need for it.

If i ever fall over I have a 'I hope no ones spat here/no dog has done its business here' moment, and there's no need for either really. I bet these people wouldn't spit in their houses, so why do it in the street? It's just unnecessary.

Putting the cross in crossings...

Okay, so what's with people who, when you're standing at a crossing waiting for the lights to change, come up and press the button. WOW! I'd never have thought of that one! Good job you turned up or I'd have been standing here all day!

That really bugs me.

Cinemas and cyclists

Why, in cinemas and in theatres, does somebody always come in about ten minutes after it's begun? How do they get the plot when they've missed the first ten or so minutes? Sometimes I swear they do it just to be annoying.

And they're always either next to you if it's in a theatre( the other side of you so you've got to stand up and let them past, naturally) or in front of you if it's in the cinema. Then they talk for a bit 'Oh, how much of it do you think we've missed?' etc. ARGH! I'm starting to think I need to just move to a small island, inhabited only be people who walk at a decent pace and can arrive on time.



Also, I think I've had enough of the cyclists in London. Some of them are okay, but some don't stop at the traffic lights and zip around corners really fast. I'm not sure just how much damage can be done by being run over by a cyclist, but I feel like I'm getting dangerously close to finding out the hard way.


The amount of times one of them has nearly clipped me jumping a red light while I'm crossing the road is ridiculous. I'm not sure if they have to stop at the lights by law, but surely it's in their own interests to do so too?


Photo: Aaron Naparstek, Drachten, Netherlands

Smokers

I hate, hate, hate it when you're walking down the street or waiting at a crossing and someone's standing in front of you, waving a cigarette around. I don't have a problem with people who choose to smoke, that's their decision, but I choose not to, so why should I still have to potentially be at risk from the smoke?

Also, I think the smell is just plain nasty, and if you stand near a smoker too long the smell just starts to linger on your clothes too. Not nice.


Picture: Wikipedia Commons

Phones on the trains

Why is there always at least one person on the train carriage who just makes phone calls loudly for the whole journey?

It wouldn't be so bad but each one is the same: 'Hello...Hello...No, no you're breaking up ... Yeah I'm on the train now... I'm on the train now...No, still can't hear you properly, tell you what, I'll call you when I get there, okay? No, I said I'LL...CALL...YOU...WHEN...I...GET...THERE! Yeah...Talk soon.'

Then on to the next call, which sounds very much like, if not exactly the same as, the one before. It's good to know this is an issue over the pond too, though and not just me being fussy.

If your luck is anything like mine there will always be a minimum of one of these people in your carriage on a train, especially if you've got a fairly long journey. Quite often there'll be more than one, so once one person has given up, another starts up again so there's no quiet, unless this only happens to me and I'm doing something to attract them or something. They're even in the 'quiet carriages' too when I've been in them, although I can't remember being on a train with one of those for a while.

Also, train journeys bring up a dilemma (for me at least) when traveling alone. Do you leave the seat next to you free and put your stuff overhead/on your lap, thus making much it more likely that someone will sit next to you.

Or, do you put your stuff on the seat next to you instead; this always seems quite rude I think, and chances are somebody will ask you to move it anyway at some point, but it's less likely and usually the people who do this are the ones who get a double seat to themselves for the whole journey. I hate situations like this, which raise all of the moral questions.

London underground (again)

One other pet peeve of mine on the underground is people who ram themselves between the doors just as they're closing. ''Please mind the closing doors'' does not mean ''please go into Indiana Jones mode and dodge roll into the carriage with nanoseconds to spare, and stylishly make sure you don't leave your hat behind either''.


Earlier today I saw heavily pregnant woman wedge herself between the closing doors so that her husband/boyfriend had time to fling their suitcase onto the train. Now, I'll be the first to admit I know very little, if anything, about the 'do's and dont's' of pregnancy but, seriously? On what planet is that a good idea?


Picture:

Juℓiette's photostream

Other peoples music

ARGH! One of my thoughtful neighbours seems to think that everyone should be able to enjoy their music. While I appreciate the thought, I'd quite like to pass this time. Shame, even though so far I've had about an hour of it at least, I can't work out just who it's coming from, until I do that I can't ask them to turn it down.

It wouldn't be so bad if it was music I liked, if it was a bit of Cat Power or Laura Marling I'd be shouting for them to turn it up. But it isn't. Oh, the joys of student life.

Stressful supermarkets

Why, when in supermarkets, do people with trolleys instantly presume they have right of way? I just went shopping and people must have caught me with their trolleys about 8 times because they weren't looking where they were going. I dread to think how good their driving is (or isn't).

Awful student accomodation

I'm more than annoyed with the company I rent my flat from; 'Unite'. Like it's not bad enough that we were expected to clean the flat ourselves when we moved in, not that I can blame them for being reluctant to clean the sick from under one of the desks one of the last tenants had left behind.

Then, in November my toilet started leaking. After about one month of complaints, promises that the plumber was on site and would be up before 3pm, and mopping up leaking toilet water two or three times a day, it was finally fixed.

Okay, so it was a few days after I was told it would be fixed, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. And before it could be fixed somebody had to come out to it to ''ensure there was a leak.'' Which is good, as I don't always recognise a flooding room when I see one. Now there's a leak in the bathroom next to mine. I wish my flatmate the best of luck with that, but I'm not holding my breath that it'll be fixed anytime soon.

The cherry on top though was the dead mouse in our living room; always a nice find first thing on a Sunday morning. To add insult to injury, somebody from Unite came up this morning to check we'd taken it down. Sadly this is considered a lightening quick reaction from Unite. Our flat is one of the cleanest ones in the block, so if our flat had a mouse in it I dread to think what state some of the other flats are in.

London underground and butter thieves

I quite often get cross on the underground. Not furious, just into that passive-aggressive state where you sigh loudly and sarcastically, then dart away quick in case whoever annoyed you heard you.

Topping up my oyster card today and if the guy in the queue behind me had got any closer to me I'd have been giving him a piggy back. I hate that, especially when you're putting in your pin number. Some people have no sense of personal space, and I'm a person who doesn't really like people in mine.

But getting your tickets is only half of it. You've then got to get down the escalators. I can't talk for every station but I know my local one seems to have a 'stand to the right but feel free to put your bag/suitcase/pram to the left' unwritten rule.

Then on the platform people do the one thing that really drives me crazy; they stand right in front of you. I know everyone's got somewhere to be and its not nice to stand if you've got a long journey, but seriously? It doesn't get much ruder than standing directly in front of someone. In these situations I can manage a 'how rude!' or a sigh, although really I guess the best thing to do is move directly in front of them.


But my main bugbear on the tube is when you go to get off, and everyone on the platform stands in front of the door, looking at you with a 'hurry up, I want to get on' look in their eyes. I don't know if these people are used to being around people who can teleport, but I can't so it's completely beyond me why they make no effort to let people off of the tube. It's not like it's not in their best interests too.


Also annoyed today by one of my flatmates, who I've yet to discover the identity of, who keeps not only stealing my butter, but leaving toast crumbs in it too. It wouldn't be so bad, but I don't eat toast. If you're going to do something like that at least don't leave any evidence!


Tube picture: BBC

There's no such thing as a quick trip to Covent Garden...

At the weekend I had the bright idea to just 'pop down' to Covent Garden to pick up a blouse I've had my eye on for a while. Not the best idea. For one I always end up coming back having spent a lot more than I planned to, mostly on things I don't need. Also, as far as slow moving crowds go this place must be beaten only by Oxford Street.

There are crowds outside the tube stop, further down there are people randomly stopping to take pictures and around the square there are huge crowds surrounding the street performers. I don't know how the people who work there cope; I get stressed enough just cutting through there. I don't think I could face having to do it at least twice a day.



The crowds around there are so big it's not just a case of cutting through them, if you try that you could well end up just trapped in the middle of one and they're so spread out that it's difficult to get around them too. The ever popular 'excuse me, please' just gets disgruntled looks and shrugs in response.

Maybe they should have one side of the piazza filled with street performers and the other side empty for people to cut through? I know that'd suit me better and that way we'd have the best of both worlds.

To be fair I am a fast walker, whenever I go out anywhere I don't bumble, I'm practically on a full blown mission to get there and get back A.S.A.P. Even if I'm on holiday I can't quite get into the 'I'll take my time' mentality that a lot of people seem to have.

I do understand that Covent Garden is a lovely place with a great atmosphere, I fully get why people want to stop and take that in, I just wish they weren't doing so in front of me.


Picture: nixsight.net

A quarter of a million more tourists in 2009

London was visited by 550,000 more tourists in 2009 than the year before, bringing the total number of tourists in '09 up to over 26 million. But 2009 also saw a drop of 3 percent in the number of overseas tourists while the number of British people visiting the capital rose by 11 percent to 11.3 million.

The release of these figures follows a campaign, fronted by Visit London, called 'Only in London', to encourage tourists to discover more areas of London, some of which are barely known to Londoners let alone visitors such as the Tooting Bec Lido. The state the pound has been left in after the recession has meant that London has also become a popular destination with Europeans who want to make the most of the low exchange rate and bag a bargain from the designer stores.

Over £2 million has been poured into the 'Only in London' campaign in a hope of further encouraging tourism and generating an extra £60 million, on top of the £8 billion that was generated from tourism in 2008. Last year Britons alone spent £2.4 billion in London, 7 percent more than foreign tourists. Spending for 2009 hit an all time high in London, with tourists spending, in total, £10.5 billion.

Source:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23682672-26-million-visit-london-in-year-as-domestic-tourism-soars.do

Intro

This blog will be my forum to rant about whatever has annoyed me, be it a friend, slow moving tourists, delayed tubes, whatever.