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?).