hmmm / HSH
Heathrow at 8am isn't the best place to be to relax.

Foreign kids running around hitting things (sadly not each other, I'm hoping the international "beat them with your fists" action is enough to start them off)

"BING BONG can Mr/Miss/Ms/etc go to gate etc as they are now going without you"

Harrods adverts constantly saying you can save £1.26 off the 'high street' price of a £50 teddy bear. Bargain.

Big pink balls (fnarr) the size of cars hanging from the ceiling, looking like they are held up with cheese wire, over the seating area.

At least I have my sanity. *runs round screaming*

Oh, and Morning :)
(Ethelred is watching cheese grow, Tue 9 Dec 2008, 8:08, 18 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

You wanna try
Heathrow at 6am yesterday morning.

T4 has the shittiest road signs around when you're trying to get out!
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 9 Dec 2008, 8:34, Reply)

Liverpool Street tube, this morning
A pale looking woman just vommed on the floor, making the station smell pungent.

Having commuters try and force me out of the way because I refuse to be rude and shove the people in front of me out of the way.

The announcer sneering "Ladies and Gentlemen please be vigilant for security risks and report them to a member of staff" over the tannoy. Fuck off. If I wanted to join the Stasi, I'd would have.

And the arsehole in Cafe Nero this morning, for whom I held a door open for. He may hopefully be wondering why I shouted "You're welcome" in my most sarcastic tone.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Tue 9 Dec 2008, 9:19, Reply)

PJM
People not bothering to thank me when I hold the door for them is one of my major bugbears. Instilled by my parents, naturally.

Pity the two old women who, when my brother (aged about 8) held the door open for them and they didn't thank him, were chased down the street by my mother, brother in tow, and forced to both apologise to him for their bad manners, and then thank him for holding the door!

Actually, no. Don't pity them. They should have known better. Rude old bags.
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Tue 9 Dec 2008, 10:11, Reply)

^^^
Pffft!

Awesome!
(Bazongaloid, Tue 9 Dec 2008, 10:25, Reply)

There's no excuse for bad manners
If someone holds a door open then at the very least reward them with eye contact and a smile.

When I'm running the country people like that will be shot. Along with everyone who voted Labour in either 2001 or 2005.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Tue 9 Dec 2008, 10:26, Reply)

PJM...
I take it those were the years you DIDN'T vote for 'em?
( Cawl, Tue 9 Dec 2008, 10:33, Reply)

^^^
I think that's a little harsh. What were they supposed to do? Vote in Iain Duncan Smith? Vote in Michael Howard?

There wasn't really an option and much as I don't like the current government (i didn't vote Labour or Tory in either election btw) I'm still glad that Cameron isn't currently the one in charge.
(Bazongaloid, Tue 9 Dec 2008, 10:35, Reply)

Okay, I'm reasonable....
The ones that voted Labour in 2001 get off with a warning.

The ones who voted Labour in 2005 after the WMD bullshit and the hysterical bollix about ID Cards will be shot.

As for my political leanings, I hate the Tories and distrust them hugely. But I hate Labour more.

I'd vote Liberal Democrat if their policies weren't exactly the same as Labour's (barring ID Cards).
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Tue 9 Dec 2008, 10:39, Reply)

@Al
Yeah, my mother's ace. Both my parents are. And I'm surpremely glad they were so strict to my brother and I when we were growing up, because so many of my contemporaries have not the slightest idea about social graces/common human decency and politeness, and that dismays me.

@PJM: I'm with you on the "not trusting Conservatives, but at least they're not as bad as Nu Labour" front.
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Tue 9 Dec 2008, 10:48, Reply)

Really?
I've been disgusted with every hoe secretary that Labour have installed, along with most other members of the cabinet, and the constant attacks on civil liberties.

But at this stage, do you really think that the conservatives could get us out of the financial mire better than Gordon Brown? Cameron is outlining his thoughts on the matter today. He was saying on the Today programme that he would actually be tightening spending now rather than increasing it.

I'm not saying that Brown is perfect, and the current crisis is largely down to him not wanting to stand up to the big businesses over the last decade, but what would the Tories have done differently? They don't want any regulation at all.

edit - "hoe" secretary - actually, I think i'll leave it. It's more apt.
(Bazongaloid, Tue 9 Dec 2008, 11:10, Reply)

@al
I'm not really thinking about the financial crisis especially. Yes, Brown is probably better than Osborne at doing the sums. I'm anti-Labour in general, and have been since about 2001 (long before the financial crisis started, and long before I even started to think about how I'm going to be able to get a mortgage etc).

EDIT: pffft. Hoe.
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Tue 9 Dec 2008, 11:18, Reply)

I've got Stansted at 4.30am to look forward to on Thursday
Hopefully they'll have the perimeter secured by then :/
( snee held his breath since, Tue 9 Dec 2008, 11:21, Reply)

@al
"hoe secretary"

*pfft* Jacquai Smith springs to mind...

I hate Labour for several reasons. Firstly they're obsessed with curtailling civil liberties. Respect is important to them, yet they treat their voters with so little. So much of the Magna Carta has been repealed since 1997.

Secondly, they're also obsessed with making the British public pay more. Ever wonder why the cost of your passports, rail tickets, electricity and water bills, council taxes and everything else that isn't directly attributable to PAYE has risen exponentially over the years? Don't think that they'll stand up to big business - they don't. They're as Thatcherite as Major was in that respect.

For a government so committed to the environment, it is perhaps strange that they've openly discussed what amounts to a tax on trees.

They need to be kicked out as soon as possible.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Tue 9 Dec 2008, 11:22, Reply)

Oh I agree
with all your points PJM. But kicking them out in favour of the Tories isn't going to make any of those things better is it?

That's what really makes me angry with politics in this country, you don't actually have a choice. We are pretty much fucked either way.
(Bazongaloid, Tue 9 Dec 2008, 11:28, Reply)

@Al
Exactly my point. New Labour is just old Labour but having wholly embraced Thatcherism. Remember the "Clause 4" controversy a few years back?

The Lib Dems have historically been committed to taxing to the hilt and spunking it away on shit - just like Labour in that respect.

The Tories want to reward the wealthy, deregulate everything and shift the burden of taxes onto the lowe/middle class. Don't forget that Fuel Tax, Council Tax and indeed many of the massive arsenal of stealth taxes deployed today were dreamed up under Major's government.

We desperately need an alternative. It's why more and more people are voting for extremists, because they feel like they're being ignored.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Tue 9 Dec 2008, 11:34, Reply)

PJM
Run for parliamant. Seriously. You speak more sense in these little posts than most current politicians do all week.
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Tue 9 Dec 2008, 12:02, Reply)

I would, but for two things
Firstly, I'd be in the House of Commons for four minutes before I call someone a cunt. There are plenty of viable candidates.

Secondly, my youthful faith in democracy has been tainted. I'd give it six weeks before I start going all Stalin and having people machine gunned.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Tue 9 Dec 2008, 12:04, Reply)

I would love
to go into politics and start a party. I know for a fact there are people out there who would fall over themselves to vote for someone who even hints at removing unnecessary speed cameras, or fucking off ID cards. Or doing something about the extraordinary disparity between taxes and public services.

However. Politics kills you inside.
( Kroney, Tue 9 Dec 2008, 13:41, Reply)