I hate you so much right now - Car wrecking thief

So at 06.30 this morning my telephone rings, I slowly wake up and fumble for the phone. Concerned at who it is on the telephone I look at the screen and try to work it out - through two closed doors I can hear a male voice talking to my answerphone. The call ends and I pick up the message from my warm and cosy bed.



My anger is not directed at the caller, the caller was actually being nice to me. I am more angry that someone broke into my car and stole my car stereo. They broke the drivers side window, lent in and popped out the radio. The radios arent worth that much these days - and there must be thousands available for scrap yet 'they' insist on creating havoc inpeoples life by creating the need to take time off, clean up untold quantities of glass, and face a hefty increase in insurance costs.



The truth is - what many people think of as victimless crime is an absolute lie. If I manage to find out who did this to me I am so angry I could take measures into my own hands. Here's to hoping that the print that forensics took away from the car prove not to be mine - so help you Mystery Burglar - I hate you so much right now.

I hate you so much right now - No.5 bus driver who pulled an appauling manouver yesterday

OK. So, mum calls me yesterday from a pub where she is out for lunch with a friend. Something she has eaten is not agreeing with her and she and her friend are contemplating an ambulance if her private International Rescue does not come through.

So, the plan is:

1. I drive away from the restaurant to go and pick up dad.
2. I drive us both to the restaurant (passing my area some 25 minutes after I initially left it).
3. Dad takes mum home
4. I take mums friend home.

Well things did not go quite to plan but knowing I was a woman on a mission I felt quite 'agitated' and keen to arrive there safely but quickly. I hate one particular bus driver so much right now. I am writing this blog some 20 hours after the event and I am still extremely irate with him. Let me explain.

It is about 13:10 and I am in Longbridge road by what used to be the Robin Hood Pub. The traffic lights at that junction are three laned. The lane on the far right is for turning right. The lane on the left is for turning left or going straight on. The middle lane is for straight ahead only. Like many traffic lights in the area, there is a ‘zone’ right in front of the lights for bikes.

I pull up at these red lights my cars nose just edging into the bike area. A small green car in the lane on the right of me, a bus from the bus stop just pulling up to my left. I am ready to go straight ahead. I know the bus route of the number 5 bus – it too will be going straight ahead.

Having pulled up along side me, we are all waiting for the lights to change when the bus driver starts edging forward. Bad bus driver. That is not the worst of it though. The bus driver isn’t just edging forward, the bus has filled the bike area, and in a way that totally blocks my road usage – he has totally blocked one half of my lane by trying to maneuver a big bus across in front of me onto a small ‘earmarked’ for bikes.

Obviously, I had nowhere to go I had to wait for him to pull away before I did or he would have had the side of my car!!

Now, don’t get me wrong I don’t like waiting, but I am never in too much of a rush to let a bus pull out of a bus stop – but – side by side at a set of lights I tend to beat them off to save any pulling out in front of oncoming traffic further down the road when the bus stops (quite often without pulling in properly – but that’s another whine for the future). I regularly slow down and flash bus drivers with my lights to let them out and generally the bus drivers are happy with that. Generally, bus drivers are great! This one pulled a stunt you would expect of a 17-year-old boy racer antagonizing a ‘mate’

I wanted to take a picture of the back of the number 5 bus. It was quite distinctive – it had a huge advert on the back with a lollypop lady sign saying “Stop – means stop”. Alas, I could not cue my phone cam before the lights changed. If I could have, his bus would appear here now.

As the bus pulled over at the next stop I looked for the busses running number – it only had BK – which indicates it came from the Stagecoach Garage in Barking. As an aside - when did Bus Depots stop using running numbers? They always used to want the running number when you left anything on the bus.

So, if on Thursday 8th March 2007 you were the Sikh bus driver with a deep blue turban (and fairly neat little beard) who drove the Number 5 bus with the “Stop” ad on the entire rear of the bus… you would have found yourself at the Robin Hood shortly after 1.10pm (I think) – SHAME ON YOU. Get yourself some courtesy lessons. Stop using the bulk of a bus to intimidate small cars. Value road markings.

If you are STAGECOACH East London – shame on you – for such a poor standard of driving. Do you teach your drivers to be such ignorant whatsits?

I hate you so much right now - Parcel delivery

OK, here is one to make the blood boil. Parcel delivery.

Before I start ranting I think I need to draw the line clearly here. Much like the railways stopped calling its commuters passengers and started calling them customers (which in itself does not necessary infer they have to move you from A-B) so I need to explain myself here.

If I am ordering something small on the net to be delivered the chances are I would be charged 'Postage and Packing'. The packing would be the lovely smooth brown hardback envelope labelled "Do not bend" yet amazingly fitted through a letterbox horse shaped. The postage - the cost of moving the item through the post offices distributing network through to its final destination - my letter box. If I am ordering something large on the net to be delivered the chances are I would be charged "Delivery". There is no mention of packing here - and from my experience the packing is often woefully inadequate - but - that is a digression. The paraphrased dictionary definition of 'delivery' is 'to convey and hand over', and this definition works nicely for me.

The example I will be using is ordering things online - simply because it is the one that affects me most; definitions aside - I want am seething enough to rant right now!

If I buy something online I pay for the delivery (as opposed to small things where you generally just pay the postage). I do not expect to have to go and pick it up from a depot miles and miles away. Usually 'it' goes through the letter box, but sometimes if it need signing for there may be a degree of travelling to a sorting office. My local Royal Mail sorting office is great they know me there, I am blessed to be five minutes away from my local City-link depot but I am not so fortunate these days with Parcel force and a number of the small carries that shops and individuals use.

Most of us need to pay to keep a roof over our heads - so generally - we would expect no one to be in the middle of the day, but this is the time that couriers and deliveries invariably arrive. Sure some of us work unsociable hours, and way too many people are not working but generally speaking the majority of people work office hours - give or take. So, why do delivery companies deliver at this time? Now, don't get me wrong - some people are NEVER in but I would expect a couple of calls company to try to deliver more than once before delegating the responsibility to the recipient.

I know that somewhere there is a small network of deliverers - one of my catalogues (Kanopy) uses them. When I get a package it arrives in the evening - and is delivered by someone in what looks to be a private car. This is perfect for people and I applaud the level of thought that the catalogue, and I applaud the delivery company who have sussed out what their clients customers need. How come other delivery companies do not do the same thing? I think it is because the sender pays the money and once it has left their hands they don't really care that much about the inconvenience to their customer.

I think that something needs to be done about this - talk to the delivery company next time they say come collect. If you don't get satisfaction highlight it with the seller that you are not happy with the delivery company and explain why.

In the interim I will be speaking to Kanopy to find out who they use as their couriers - they do a good job - and I want to know who they are - just in case I need to courier anything. Then I will be phoning Parcel force. Expect me to be hating them very soon - they truly are appalling at their job.