Being there.

I've been thinking today.
Yeah,yeah, get the cracks over with....you know you're just dying to make them.
:D

But anyway, as I said, I've been thinking.
Thinking about Being There.

Not the book [ which i found thought provoking but somewhat unbelievable and about which I spent a completely unproductive couple of days discussing with some much younger bods who seemed to think(amongst other things) that sex wasn't discussed between people before the 90's and that my arguments were just about rubbishing the book, but thats another post], but the reality.

I have always had someone there for me.

I can't think of a time when there hasn't been someone who I can call , someone who will talk me through it, or let me rant and hand me the tissues or the coffee.
Someone who has been able to help me emotionally and financially when I've needed it.

I have been VERY lucky.

I could look at the facts of my life and wonder at this.
Oh..perhaps it would help to clarify?
Ok, bullet point style i think.

1/.Born to an unmarried mother in the 60's when it was still very much frowned on.
2/.Left to be brought up by greatgrandmother when about 2 or 3 while mother moves to 3/.London to train to be a telephonist then a nurse.
4/.Great grandmother [ who I think of very much as my mother ] dies of cancer of the bowel and I go to live with my grandmother.

Hmmmmmm....i have lots of issues about this [4/.], given my mothers own history, and at this moment I have no wish to share them with you, but its only recently that I have come to terms with my mothers decision to let me live with them.

5/. my mum marries [ lots of issues with my dad now too]and I go to live with them in London since they can now afford a house as I've just won £1000 on the premium bonds and its enough for a deposit.
[ i had issues about that for ages as a teenager too, but given how different my life would have been had they not, i think I would have made the same decision if i had been in their shoes ]
6/.Various mild bullying stuff due to my boobs/accent/stroppiness.
7/. Married my first boyfriend.SERIOUS mistake.
8/.Erm......Oh heck lots of trivial stuff.

However, throughout the upheaval i never felt alone.

And although i didn't get on all that well with my dads family , they were also always there for me.

And the point of this?

Its important to me to be there for my family too if they should need it.

I hope I always can.

Has anything of interest happened today?

Hmmmmmmmmm.......
Well, the M25 was closed for half a day so I didn't get to work till 9.30 [ and thats late even for me]

A strange man walked past with a big scab covering half his face.

I am aparently only a slightly embarrassing parent [ according to the scores my biggest girlie gave me on the times quiz]

My boobs itched most of the day.

I lost the O ring from my right tunnel.

I nearly [ but not quite] bought 'Monster Mash'

I did buy 'Something in the air' by Thunderclap Newman. [ and rock your baby by Gordon McCrea and a load of other stuff that took me back to my teens, that I have somewhere on vinyl but not on cd ]

I discovered that one of the women i work with was also at the radio 1 road show and that she actually got to Touch a womble!!!!!!

Ah, i lead such an exciting life!
:D

9 years

Yesterday was our ninth anniversary.

Nine years since our first date that is.

We went to the cinema and saw chain reaction on that first date.

We went to the cinema for this anniversary too, but saw Nanny McFee :D
Ok, we had our littlest girlie with us, so we were a little limited as to what we could see, and she sat in the middle of us, so it wasn't what you could call romantic, but we had fun.
:D
We went for food first too, and did silly drawings on the tablecloth and pigged out on chocolate maple waffles for dessert.*drool*

I've found some more old pics this weekend , and one of them has to be the WORST pic of me that i have ever had taken.
It's so bad that Dave and Jo both didn't believe it was me.!!!!

Actually..isn't that such a pain when someone argues with you that you are wrong about whether a pic is of you when you KNOW completely and totally that it is.

In this case my dad took me and my best friend Jackie to Brands Hatch to watch the motor racing and listen to the radio 1 road show, and i wore the dress that had caused me to be ever so slightly late for my cousins wedding [ I was being head bridesmaid ] because intead of walking quickly the couple of miles to her house to get changed I fannied around in Mexborough High Street and bought this dress.
It was cream and navy striped polyester and I loved it to bits.
* laughs*
But the real disaster is the hair
*cringes*
I went to the hairdressers and showed her a pic of a soft perm, but I got a real tight afro!
It's the only time a hair cut has made me cry.
By this time I'd got over it a bit, and if I remember rightly in the end it was ok, since I cut most of the frizz out and then dyed it mid brown, but the bits of perm left at the ends came out a really gorgeous copper and everyone thought i had an expensive custom colour.

And I quote.....

I checked my mail from ebay today.

And I got this......

'I tell you what, you are a very sad woman. You haven't got a clue what the hell your on about! Obviously you have no life and this is a bit of fun for you, you couldnt just take my critiscism and accept it, you must a loser! well i have reported you to ebay and because you have pissed me off i will make it my hobby to ruin your life!!!
Goodbye arsehole!!!!!!!!!!' [spellings and missed words left in for acuracy]

I think she might have taken my negative feedback a bit hard.

Pot, Kettle, Black

Bloody people !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In particular bloody people on Ebay.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr Arggghhhhhhhhh [ to nick an expression ]

I am now the proud owner of 2, yes folks 2!!! negative feedbacks on ebay.

Shock! Horror!

I see it in your faces as you read this...what HAS she done to get such a blemish on her so far pristine Ebay character?

Well, let me unburden myself on your willing ears.
OK, so you're reading and not listening, but so what, I'm stressed here, And what do you mean you're not willing????
Huh huh. Just sit down and let me rant will you, I'm losing the thread.

Right , Are we sitting comfortably?
Then I'll begin.

When I sell something on Ebay I always put in my description that you need to allow 14 days for delivery, since i don't always get a lunch at work and can only get to the post office once a week on my day off, so from past experience i know it can take that long from the end of the sale to the winning bidder getting their item.

I write this CLEARLY in my postage bit.

I also send things recorder so that I'm sure that they get there, and first class because [ silly me ] untill recently I didn't realise that you could do 2nd class recorded.

I weigh my stuff, packed, and add the cost of the packing materials to the postage and thats how much i charge.
So, depending how heavy it is, depends how much its going to be.

Now, I sold a pair of babies double blade starter skates for the massive cost of 50p.
Yes folks, these cost me £15 it think when i bought them for my littlest girl ,who never wore them, but i sold them for 50p plus p+p which was about £3.87 , since they are steel bladed and weighed a fair amount.

Half term and a manic work week happened at the same time, so i didn't get them sent the first week.

Then I got an email from the winning bidder asking when she would receive them.

i mailed back with an apology [ in retrospect this was an error, because i should just have pointed out that I say allow 14 days, but hey, i thought I was being polite ] and sid that due to half term i hadn't yet despatched them.

She then sends a snotty email about how dare I charge excessive postage and what kind of household do i run if I can't cope with going to the post office when I have children around, that she wanted them as a birthday present, and since the birthday has passed that she wants a refund.

I reply with polite pointing out of my delivery times , stating that my postage is based on weight and cost of box etc, and that its sent that way for safety not speed. Also saying that had she told me that she needed them for a birthday I would have tried my best to ensure delivery in time, and I refund her.

I get another mail all angry saying i'm ripping her off and demanding the refund NOW and how dare i say she's being snotty? and what a lame excuse half term was..she's a housewife etc etc and tthat all her previous customers [all 8 of them] don't agree with me about her attitude, and some dig about people with negative feedback.

So, i go look at mine.

Along side her accusation of me ripping off people and neg feedback score, i see another abusive one from the twat that has not payed me for an item he bought after bumping up the bidding , saying amongst other things that I didn't leave feedback!

I scooted over to his page, left negative but polite fedback there, and then mailed the first woman back.

By this time I was pretty angry, but working with the public has tought me that there's little to be gined by leading off, so i tend to get very very calm and precise.
So I mailed her saying that I assumed she was referring to my NON PAYING BIDDER as well as the neg she left me, that she seemed to be intent on making this a mud slinging match, that I refer her again to my delivery times, the fact that I was under no obligation to refund her, that I had done nothing wrong and that my personal circumstances were none of her business, with a final note that if she did not understand the terms of sale it was not my problem.

I also left her neg feedback, stating that she had falsly accused me of ripping off postage , so maybe she'll think twice before boasting that she has no negative feedback.

I also read some of her other feedback, and guess what?
Her very second one was from a woman telling her that postage of £4.00 was a little excessive when it only cost £ 1.20 to send.

Just for clarity, the blades weighed just under 700g when packed which has a postage charge of £3.18, the rest was for the box.

In a sense I'm glad I hadn't read that when I mailed her last, because I would have had to mention it, and it would have brought me down to her level.

As it is , if she cares to report me then I have been polite and factual all the way through, and hopefully anyone wanting to buy from me in future will read the neg and my response to it and make up their own mind that I wasn't ripping anyone off.

Still makes me GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR though.