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Crepey continuum

999 replies

Cremolafoam · 18/03/2013 15:12

Grin Over here!

OP posts:
CointreauVersial · 21/03/2013 19:56

Wow, Strops, confident trousers!

Blackduck · 21/03/2013 20:07

Fabbo trousers Stropps.

For me it wasn't hormones but boring bullies that made latter half of 70s hell. What little confidence I had got hammered, and my masters supervisor finished me off...that was me set up to monumentally underachieve for life.
Crap innit what can screw you up....

bigTillyMint · 21/03/2013 21:09

Like the kecks, Stropps!

Glad to hear your DD is sticking up for herself CV.

TFIF tomorrow, albeit with a 4.45 start!

Stropperella · 21/03/2013 21:28

Commiserations on the hideously early start, BTM. Hope your dd has a good trip to Belgium.

BD, yes, indeed, I know what you mean. Still plenty of time to learn to feel better about oneself, though! Or just to self-medicate with a large glass of red Grin

Go CV's dd - kick the meanies into touch. Grin

CointreauVersial · 21/03/2013 22:25

Well, I am certainly hoping that the slight bullying thing doesn't escalate. It's really just one girl, an old friend of DD1's, and she is (although one shouldn't actually say such things) "not very nice ". My heart sank when I heard they were going to be in the same tutor group. It is fine at the moment, and the school have their eye firmly on the situation because she has already bullied another girl to the point that they had to move her out of the tutor group. DD1 has her number, that's for sure, and has some good mates around her, so fingers crossed it will pass.

I have spent the afternoon phoning various companies to amend all my direct debits so they come out of my new bank account. The new bank (who shall not be named; suffice it to say that it starts with SAN, ends in DER, and has the letters IINCOMPETENTFOOLSWHOSHOULDN'TBEINBUSINESS in the middle), had sold me a "seamless" transfer system that will painlessly move all my direct debits across "within 10 working days", and yet, after SIX WEEKS nothing whatsoever had been transferred. Our pay is in the new account, bills are being paid from the (now overdrawn) old; it's not going to work, is it?

So I phoned up for a therapeutic shout at a hapless customer service operative, and, do you know what the reason was for the failure? Apparently it was down to the fact that my old account was with Cahoot, which is part of Santander Yes, the reason they couldn't transfer the account details is because it is the same chuffing bank. It is apparently dealt with "by a different department" (and that has to be one of the most risible get-out clauses ever invented). Honestly, you couldn't make it up. And at no point did they notify me of the problem. Rant rant rant.

Anyhoo, my shouting resulted in £55 compensation to cover the cost of phone calls. Quite right too.

Stropperella · 21/03/2013 22:39

I'm afraid can make no positive or encouraging remarks about SAN_DER at all. My mother and I had somewhat peripheral contact with them last year and to say they made a mountain out of a molehill would be understating the situation somewhat. A matter that several other financial institutions dealt with in one day took them 10 effing months to resolve. Communication is not their strong point.

Cremolafoam · 21/03/2013 22:43

Go CVGrin< cheers and makes whooping noise>
Bloody banks. I dunno I do think they're all out to get us. They can do what they want when it suits them.
Talking of things pecuniary , what has George Osborne done for you?
It is just possible that while I'm on the brink of losing the child benefit ( family credit already a distant memory), that I may not actually have to pay any tax on my shitty part time salary because of the higher threshold . It'll all work out the same in the end I suppose .Wink

OP posts:
Blackduck · 22/03/2013 00:45

Bloody snow here!
Remember my abortive birthday dinner/drinks with friends that has been cancelled three times, well it's looking unlikely tomorrow again! Angry

bigTillyMint · 22/03/2013 07:04

BDSad You're doomed!

It was bloody freezing here at 5am, but no snow and only a bit of drizzle.
DS is now officially 12!

Stropperella · 22/03/2013 09:13

Did your dd get off on her trip alright then, BTM? Happy birthday to your ds!

BD, maybe you should plan to do the b-day dinner on your XX and a half b-day instead. Grin

Blackduck · 22/03/2013 09:36

AHHHH - just dropped my key down the sodding lift shaft .......day gets better and better...

hattymattie · 22/03/2013 09:50

A belated love your trousers Strops - I think the world would be much more fun if we didn't all have to be so wretchedly confirmist. I've decided I'm going to be a wildly eccentric old lady and have warned DC's.

Children can be really cruel - I told DS to be nice to little boy who's a bit geeky and so not very popular. DS came back in tears for having been laughed at for being seen talking to this child. What is their problem? It is really survival of the fittest.

Oh BD hope you have a spare. Not a good situation to be in.

Stropperella · 22/03/2013 10:01

Awww no BD. Hope your day does actually properly get better.

Hatty, my ds (8) came home somewhat gloomy yesterday because a bunch of boys in his class had been laughing at his new boxers (they had swimming yesterday morning, so saw them in the changing room) because they are "babyish". They apparently have the wrong kind of superheroes on them. Hmm Marvel superheroes = OK. Generic superheroes = babyish. Ds just stuck his lip out and said "Well I like them". But he didn't look very happy.

Blackduck · 22/03/2013 10:15

it can't get worse...

Oh god I HATE all that...luckily ds's new school seems remarkably free of such things. But then ds is known as one of the two class geeks....
He has a healthy (imo) disregard for 'fashion' and what is babyish and what is not. Him and a y6 girl spent two hours last week building an amazingly long and complicated wooden Thomas train track, and the word 'babyish' was not even mentioned..

rubyrubyruby · 22/03/2013 11:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Stropperella · 22/03/2013 11:07

Hello Ruby, how's your tooth?

Cremolafoam · 22/03/2013 11:10

We are snowed in. We have no electricity. It is -7• . The electric power cable is on its side in my front garden. Airport is closed so dd may not get back from Berlin tonight.Hmm
Merry Xmas .

OP posts:
Stropperella · 22/03/2013 11:26

Oh no, Crem. That sounds awful. And very cold. Hope your dd doesn't have to spend a night at the airport.

Cremolafoam · 22/03/2013 11:37

The weather is extraordinary! Blizzard because of high winds; all the windows are white with a frozen layer of hurled snow! Dh has dug out the camping stove to make coffee. Grin
Electric company can't get here because we're at the top if a hill. And can't give us a time. I have 14% left on my phone so better sign offShock in case dd tries to email.
< Dunkirk spirit>

OP posts:
motherinferior · 22/03/2013 11:39

Roo-bee! Thought my carby grumpiness had driven you away! How are you???

We do not, at the moment, have snow...

wilbur · 22/03/2013 12:21

Gosh Crem - what a nightmare. It was snowing this morning very lightly but has stopped, thank god. Cold though, I have on 5 layers, but not -7 Shock.

I have just had such a nice time reading the memories of the 70s - we had most of that (but not the processed food, twas not allowed and I had to BEG for Findus Crispy Pancakes). Our kitchen was orange formica with [[http://www.easyart.com/art-prints/Aubrey-Beardsley/Isolde-180521.html?utm_campaign=350&utm_term=180521&utm_source=googlebaseuk&gclid=CKebx8GikLYCFUbKtAodoSgA4w this poster] on the wall. Looking that up has actually brought a tear to my eye... Our household was also subject to the random awfulness of an alcoholic parent, but all these years later I sort of feel it's a testament to the resilience of people, kids in particular, that we can come through this stuff. Not entirely unscathed, but functioning and reasonably aware.

In honour of Crem's tiered skirt (pretty sure we had that pattern too), I'm about to put a fave old picture on my profile of what birthday parties looked like circa 1976. I am in the middle wearing puffed sleeves Grin and it must be my sister's b'day as the rest are mainly her friends - she is the tall one in the dark blue top in the back row.

wilbur · 22/03/2013 12:22

Balls - poster link here

Blackduck · 22/03/2013 12:38

Ruby - how's the tooth!
Cremo - wow - sounds bad!
I am actually wondering if I should stay over tonight as I don't want to not be able to get home tomorrow (up a hill...)
Key was a friends - I WAS staying there tonight, but am now going to have to rely on the kindness of strangers...

bigTillyMint · 22/03/2013 13:21

Yes, DD is probably in a muddy battlefield in Ypres as I type!

Love the photo WilburSmile Surely it must be time for a puffed sleeves comeback? Parties were so much more special in the 70's when you got to wear a long dress/skirt.

Cremo, that sounds horrificShock And BD... where are you?

herbaceous · 22/03/2013 13:26

My mum has just sent me a couple of baby photos of me for a babyshower game this weekend. By Christ, I was ugly. Hugely fat, three rolls on the thighs, great big cheeks squashing my mouth together... Ugh. Think DS must get his looks from DP's side.