|
Grump's Corner (directly related to
'things' affecting my lifestyle in NSW, Australia) |
|
29 September 2010 Telstra Shops I do not know if my
experiences at the Castle Hill Telstra Shop are typical, but it is
consistent: ·
Twice in the
last month I have attempted to change my pensioner discount from one line
into the house for another, ·
Can it be done on the internet: who knows? Don’t try searching the Telstra website: it
is singularly unhelpful in this regard. NSW Radar Speed
Cameras How come the
average driver will be booked for doing a few ks
over the speed limit, when L-platers and red P-platers can exceed their limit
by 20kph without being booked? 30 January 2010
Sydney
(or, insert your city here) Drivers
A recent trip across the city from the Baulkham Hills Hilton to Cape
Banks reinforced the lemming-like behavious of
drivers:
Drivers intending to take the off-ramp (i.e. the left lane) perservered with the left lane despite the signage, red
'X' indicating the lane was blocked and the radio notifications until they
could see the broken down vehicle, then tried to merge right... 15 November 2009 Telstra/Bigpond - their website... The two best things
that Telstra/Bigpond could do are:
21 September 2009 My first experience of a 'domestic' flight on the internal leg of an
international flight... Part 1 - Sydney to
Brisbane (the 'international' bit):
Part 2 -
Brisbane to Sydney
Not the
end of the world, but the plane landed 21:15 and I get out of the car park
about 23:00 Both Qantas and Macquarie Airports need to get their act (including
information and signage) together! And congrats to STA for the busses and staff! 17 March 2008 The criteria for a
truly successful con is that the marks NEVER realise they are being conned. The ultimate
example must be having marks that are prepared to die for a cause, in the
belief that their cause is just (funny how the power brokers never fall into
this category). The sickest example
is that there is an unending supply of marks. 4 February 2008 Development of 'service desks' subsidised by the pharmaceutical
companies? Having just
'invested' an hour or so of my time trying to resolve a problem with my
Bigpond website hosting I am left with:
Telephone help
desks
Internet help pages
And the connection with pharmaceutical
companies? Presumably they
make money out of selling happy pills; after this evening's example, there
must be a lot of people that need happy pills to cope with 'service' desks! 29 January 2008 Vehicle Tail/brake lights Over the last
30-odd years or so, car 'designers' appear to have let the design of
headlights to the otherwise unemployable - there is no excuse for what
has happened, and also inexcusable that the regulators (ADRs
in Australia’s case) have allowed headlight design to become an expensive (and
potentially lethal) fashion accessory. Having successfully
developed (???) headlights to their current idiocy level, vehicle
manufacturers have discovered that they can let their wannabe designers loose
on tail light assemblies. It is bad enough
that some (too many) taillight assemblies are designed (?) such that minor
carelessness when loading something into the boot/hatch/rear door becomes a
big-dollar expense to replace the assembly (and they break or crack SOOOO easily) - the wannabes have discovered LED
lighting; and if a few LEDs are good, lots must be
better. There are cars on
the market that have tail lights so bright in darkness the driver of a
following vehicle has trouble seeing - and then there are the brake
lights. With all the
whiz-bang computer technology available, surely if the manufacturers want to
use such intense lighting there could be some way of reducing the intensity
in relation to the ambient light level (gadzooks,
1950s technology?). 2 January 2008 News (or the lack
thereof) Those with little
interest in the 'how' can skip
to the last paragraph We live in an age
of (near) instantaneous media coverage of 'news'; but what is 'news'?
And the
whinge
If there is
something newsworthy, it will be done to death. If there is
something remotely newsworthy, it will be done to death. If there is nothing
newsworthy, opinion will provide enough to fill the gaps. 19 December 2007 If only to show that a 'grump' is not that way due to some innate
disposition It is one of those
'evenings' in Sydney suburbia - low 20sC, gentle breeze, no
mosquitoes or flies, not overly humid, twilight as I finish off mowing the
backyard lawn after a pleasant evening meal. The aging cattle dog has spent the time
watching me on the sit-down lawn mower (not REALLY quality cattle-dog time,
but the next best thing). Sigh! 2 December 2007 Cable TV Why are there
advertisements on cable TV? The increase in monthly costs of 'cable' have vastly exceeded
CPI, together with economies of scale and advertising has been added??? 20 November 2007 M2 Westbound... In conjunction with
the 'widening' to three lanes from the toll booths to the western side of the
Epping tunnel (actually, no widening; only narrowing of each lane to fit in three)
have come a number of other changes:
Is the speed camera
for the 70kph limit area, or is the 70kph limit for the speed camera? Arggh! (no,
I have not been 'booked') If the triplication
of this section of the M2 is such a perceived safety problem, why was is undertaken? 10 November 2007 - OK! So I have been occupied on other things King Georges Road - Wiley Park How much longer
does the vehicular traffic in Sydney have to suffer this permanent traffic
chaos? Isn't 50
years long enough? Parked cars near
the shopping precinct on King Georges Road were creating a bottleneck back in
the 1950's... Every day of the
year, thousands of drivers are inconvenienced (at the best!), an untold
amount of excess fuel is consumed, and no bugger cares. 16 October 2007 40 days of Federal
Election Campaigning... What did we ever do
to them to deserve such treatment? We
give them a sense of (self-)importance, staff to
wait on them hand and foot, chauffeurs, overseas trips, massive remuneration,
arguable the world's best superannuation - and how do they repay us? We have this
spectacular system where those people who we do not want in general society
are identified (called pre-selection), and isolated in a series of padded
cells cleverly disguised from them (called parliament houses) where they can undergo
mutual mental masturbation without disturbing the populace or calling on any
intelligence... 6 October 2007 Why do Winemakers
put preservatives in wine? My wife and I used
to enjoy a bottle of wine with the Sunday roast meal - we no longer have
a bottle of wine with the Sunday roast... Not that either of
us have become teetotal; simply, if my wife shares the average mid-range
Australian wine she ends up with a violent headache. Q - What has
changed? A -
Preservative 220 (sulphur dioxide) In common with many
households, the mid-range (A$15-35) bottle of Australian drinking wine would
not last very long in this household.
It is purchased for drinking in the (comparatively) short term, not
for cellaring. So, why do the
winemakers put so much preservative in it?
Surely not so that it can be cellared for decades this is drinking
wine, not connoisseur's wine! Have you tried
buying a bottle of wine without the dreaded preservative 220? Ask at your local bottle shop and chances
are there will not be a very big range. Preservatives
undoubtedly have their place. It is an
ancient art; look at how successful the ancient Egyptians were at preserving
bodies - but then I would not take one of their pieces of handiwork out for a
good time on a Saturday night... I would like my
drinking wine to be something I could share with my wife - not something
on a shelf to be admired for how long it will remain (further) 'unspoiled'! 27 September 2007 Headlights of oncoming cars (at night-time):
Maybe,
if the police started to book a few drivers for having misadjusted
headlights, driving towards oncoming traffic when on high beam, and/or
driving towards oncoming traffic with the driving lights on, together with a
bit of an advertising campaign there would be fewer accidents caused by
drivers being blinded certainly life would be a lot more comfortable for
oncoming traffic. |
|
|