A few ramblings

For the first time this week I find I have nothing new to have a 'grump' about. Or have I?

Except maybe that pig ignorant rough[ly] pensionable aged woman (no missus you didn't "fight two World Wars for the likes of me" 'cos you're barely ten years older than me!) the other day who stood just in front of me at a Bus Stop at Eccles Interchange. (It's officially called an 'Interchange' rather than a 'Bus Station' because you can jump straight off a bus and onto one of Manchester's marvellous Metrolink trams, assuming it's not already full, or vice versa, but unofficially it's because of the severe (private car) traffic congestion around here which prevents our excellent public transport network to run according to it's published timetables you are better off jumping on the first bus (sic: First Bus Company, the bus company which has the monopoly on this side of Manchester) that comes along that's going in your required direction, hence you will probably end up having to change buses at Eccles Interchange anyway!).

Are you keeping up? Well I did say I would be rambling! Anyway!

Did you know it's now fifty years ago since the STD (Subscriber Trunk Dialling) upgraded telephone system was first introduced into the UK? Before this upgrade UK telephone users had to interrupt the knitting of (or sometimes even wake up!) that nicely spoken lady in the local telephone exchange if you required a number outside your local area. The system works by prefixing local numbers with a unique set of three digits (now four) according to the area you wish to connect to. It's very simple, just dial the STD code number for the area you want followed by the local number. So why is it that, after fifty years, I'm still getting 'wrong number' calls from locals?

Actually, I recently read an article on t'internet about the official Royal approval opening of this system by H.M. The Queen. Apparently at the last minute someone asked 'but what if she dials the wrong number?' End result was that the entire UK telephone system was shut down but with just the one line enabled. She could have dialled anything and would still have got through!

PS. It would seem that my last posting re the 'God Damn Snow' joke fell rather flat, certainly amongst my local Salford/Manchester area friends judging by emails received. In reply, no I do not approve of foul (obscene) language - not on the Internet or anywhere, especially if it contains the 'F' or 'C' words, and is definitely not a normal part of my own vocabulary. However this was an old classic joke of American origin, I had censored it further, I had preceded it with a warning, and if you read it through properly you would have seen the joke - as it also reflects the British reaction to a light fall of snow compared to longer term heavier falls. For goodness sake! Enough said!

Actually, from that same joke website is another classic:-

"Look, I don't care what star you're following, get them blasted camels off my lawn! "

Cringe!



Edit: The Snow joke referred to above was later deleted when I did a clean-up of the site.