It costs even less if you use your own car.
Things that frustrate us all
- Thread starter rhubarbodendron
- Start date
It costs even less if you use your own car.
In areas with good, frequent, reliable public transportation, some people opt not to have a car of their own.
Kor
The trains here are pretty naff too, and there are calls from some quarters to renationalise them, because British Rail was so well funded and efficient, not.
The current spate of unreliability is robbing me of what megre remnant of a social life life I had left.
The current spate of unreliability is robbing me of what megre remnant of a social life life I had left.
I'm sure where she is is like most western countries, good transport links in the urban areas, not so good in the rural areas or areas outside large cities.
Indeed. I don't have a car of my own since usually I use the most reliable means of public transportation: my feet
@Discofan : Actually, the rented car is cheaper in my case. I live in a small country town where I can commute by bicycle and do my shopping on foot. I need a car only one weekend per month (occasionally 2), to visit my parents who are in their 80s and need help with all sorts of work that require physical strength.
If I had a car of my own, it'd stand around unused 29 days per month but still cost garage rent, insurance and repairs plus a certain amount per month into the savings to buy its succesor after some 15 years. I calculated it thoroughly and found that the rented car is far cheaper in the long run.
Also, as I am a frequent customer, my car rental gives me a 10% discount off the regular rates. =) And in emergencies I can get a car within minutes.
If I lived in a city with decent mass transit, I’d sell my car in a heartbeat.
argh of the day (besides my oven giving up its ghost just when I was about to bake cookies) - I tried to contact @Ghost07 but her number is no longer in service. The house management insists in keeping the no-personal-info policy and I can't even find out whether she's still alife 
I didn't find an orbituary but that's only a small comfort. I'm really starting to get worried now. It's been almost 11 months since she last logged on here and 16 months since she last posted.
I didn't find an orbituary but that's only a small comfort. I'm really starting to get worried now. It's been almost 11 months since she last logged on here and 16 months since she last posted.
She has problems with her hands and can no longer post; she is in assisted living. If you want to send her a letter, I can PM her mailing address to you.
Thanks auntie, that'd be very much appreciated, indeed. I do have an address for her but am not certain if it is still valid. Being aware of her hand problems, I tried to call her yesterday but the number is no longer working.
_________
My argh of the day is rather an argh of the (Murphy-) week:
Monday: returned home from 12 day work at my parents to find that I had forgotten to bring the trash out. Spent an hour to get rid off 2 generations of flies. ack!
Tuesday: heating malfunctioned
Wednesday: oven broke
Thursday: electrician failed to call
today: phone broke and important parcel went MIA. Fortunately, I managed to contact the mail company and arrange for my parcel being put aside at the depot for me to collect it there tonight. Which means a 1 hour bicycle ride to the opposite end of the town. In the cold and dark. great!
Still, if I can get into contact with Ghostie and if she's well, Murphy may do his worst =)
_________
My argh of the day is rather an argh of the (Murphy-) week:
Monday: returned home from 12 day work at my parents to find that I had forgotten to bring the trash out. Spent an hour to get rid off 2 generations of flies. ack!
Tuesday: heating malfunctioned
Wednesday: oven broke
Thursday: electrician failed to call
today: phone broke and important parcel went MIA. Fortunately, I managed to contact the mail company and arrange for my parcel being put aside at the depot for me to collect it there tonight. Which means a 1 hour bicycle ride to the opposite end of the town. In the cold and dark. great!
Still, if I can get into contact with Ghostie and if she's well, Murphy may do his worst =)
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I think Murphy is much harder at work in your life than mine at the moment.
I hope things start looking up soon.
As a former, and again current smoker, I truly sympathize. I also understand that there are many, many arseholes out there that don't give a shit. There are those of us that do. I apologize for those of us that do and that we can't help that the stink follows us (more on that in a moment).
Perhaps this will be viewed as a sob story to be looked upon with contempt. Perhaps this will be a story that allows you to gain some measure of understanding.
There are those of us that were addicted before we started. A LOT of people like that exist and have existed for as long as there has been tobacco smoking. There are also many, MANY of those people that have been able to give up that nasty habit for good, forever. I am not one of those people.
Given my physiological brain impairments and chemical imbalances, quitting was the absolute most difficult thing I've ever done in my life. Every single goddamned hour of every single goddamned day of every one of those four goddamned years all I wanted was a cigarette. I wanted NOTHING more.
After my life fell apart last November I attended a family gathering where a couple of my unapologetic smoking family members asked to talk to me while they were smoking (outside). I cannot describe to you how amazing that smell was in the state of mind I was in. A couple of weeks later I decided that I would buy "just one" pack. Then another. And another.
Then my dad's health deteriorated. I was in total distress. I continued to smoke. My dad died. Smoking, unfortunately, and counterintuitively, was my "safe space". My dad died. I'm still smoking.
I hope, one day, to give it up. I know it's disgusting. I know it's looked down upon in this day and age. Right now is not my time. Even my self-righteous ex-smoker mother understands my current condition. She does not like it, but unlike previously, she has not said a word about it. She understands that now is not the time.
There are those of us that, once hooked (as mentioned, many before we ever even took our first drag), cannot stop without going mad. It's unfortunate, and perhaps it IS just an excuse. Just know that many of us in that situation deeply regret how that smell affects others and we do everything we can (short of doing the impossible for us) to minimize this effect by going outside, away from anyone that might be affected by us.
Keep in mind that there are many people that think similarly of perfume or cologne. I have one friend that despises air fresheners and would rather smell excrement than those products.
No, smoking is neither good for the smoker nor those around them, but for some, it feels like a lifeline, even if it will kill us sooner than we should otherwise die. In many of our cases, we regard this as a benefit, if not a potentially painful one.
Again, I truly do sympathize.
Surely more frustrating is scissors that come in packing that you need scissors to open.
Surely more frustrating is scissors that come in packing that you need scissors to open.
Maybe you could join a support group with people with similar problems as yours. I've heard good things about some of those. Of course, you have to find the right one, IE one that corresponds to your personality.
I'm not sure if that's available in America as well but German Amazon offers what they call "frustration-free packing" for many articles.
Instead of being sealed in a bomb-proof plastic sheet, SD-cards for example come wrapped in tissue paper and shoved in a tiny paper bag or a small cardboard-envelope.
{{{{{{{Scribble}}}}}}} don't give up that fight. You made it once and you can make it again. I managed to give up smoking 35 years ago by switching to chocolate instead. The side effects are somewhat extensive (in every meaning of the word
), but being plump is still a lot better than having lung cancer.
My dad says chewing gum is best to stop smoking because you can have it in your mouth all the time, like a cigarette. (I loathe gum, hence the chocolate.)
Instead of being sealed in a bomb-proof plastic sheet, SD-cards for example come wrapped in tissue paper and shoved in a tiny paper bag or a small cardboard-envelope.
{{{{{{{Scribble}}}}}}} don't give up that fight. You made it once and you can make it again. I managed to give up smoking 35 years ago by switching to chocolate instead. The side effects are somewhat extensive (in every meaning of the word
My dad says chewing gum is best to stop smoking because you can have it in your mouth all the time, like a cigarette. (I loathe gum, hence the chocolate.)
Yes. I've actually heard good things about Quitplan and have even taken part in one of their seminars. They even paid me for it.
I admit, there ARE things I could do. There ARE probably ways that I could face this and be done with it once and for all. I just have those lingering memories of those four long, long years, as well as having the excuse to escape from my surroundings from time to time when I need to take a timeout. Excuses, excuses. I get it. I do.
I admit, there ARE things I could do. There ARE probably ways that I could face this and be done with it once and for all. I just have those lingering memories of those four long, long years, as well as having the excuse to escape from my surroundings from time to time when I need to take a timeout. Excuses, excuses. I get it. I do.
I'm not sure if that's available in America as well but German Amazon offers what they call "frustration-free packing" for many articles.
Instead of being sealed in a bomb-proof plastic sheet, SD-cards for example come wrapped in tissue paper and shoved in a tiny paper bag or a small cardboard-envelope.
{{{{{{{Scribble}}}}}}} don't give up that fight. You made it once and you can make it again. I managed to give up smoking 35 years ago by switching to chocolate instead. The side effects are somewhat extensive (in every meaning of the word), but being plump is still a lot better than having lung cancer.
My dad says chewing gum is best to stop smoking because you can have it in your mouth all the time, like a cigarette. (I loathe gum, hence the chocolate.)
How about chocolate flavored chewing gum (I can't believe they haven't made these yet)?
that called for scientific reasearch!
From what I found on German websites so far it would appear that chocolate/cocoa always contains a certain percentage of fat whereas chewing gum is soluble in fat. In other words: chocolate or cocoa powder would dissolve the gum and make it flabby.
From what I found on German websites so far it would appear that chocolate/cocoa always contains a certain percentage of fat whereas chewing gum is soluble in fat. In other words: chocolate or cocoa powder would dissolve the gum and make it flabby.