I don't approve of the habit of disapproving of people for Doing Christmas Wrong. I have my own opinions of when is The Right Time for my own Christmas decorations to go up. If others want to put their own decorations up weeks earlier because having them around makes them happy, then what right to I have to sneer and disapprove? But... (Is this a ( Read more... )

Do it online, the easy way, they said. I like to do things online, anyway, so with my passport due to expire soon, I headed online to renew it. First, though, I braved the hideous blow to self-esteem that is the photo booth, obeyed the long list of instructions about how to get a passport-approved picture, and got my set of hideous photos.

( Passport renewal woes )

Some weeks ago, I was complaining here about the fact that three of my staple food products had been discontinued. One of these was M&S tomato and basil soup. Well, a few weeks ago, entirely by chance, I happened to notice some familiar-looking tins in a rack at knee-level underneath the fridges that contained various ready meals: more precisely, ( Read more... )

I have a well-worn map rant. I will put it behind a cut, since it is so well-worn that everyone has probably heard it before.

( Open Wardrobe of Outrage, take down Rant Hanger no. 5, take up well-worn rant )

I have never worked out what is more annoying: having a favourite food product vanish without trace from the shops, or seeing those dreaded words: "New, improved recipe ( Read more... )

1. The long-awaited new Megan Whalen Turner, out yesterday: "usually delivered within 1 to 2 months." WHAT?

2. My Kindle is refusing to charge, and I'm off on holiday on Friday, on a holiday that will probably present a lot of reading time, and I won't have space in my luggage for many books. Waaah!

What on earth is the sense in having a Kindle edition of books 1, 3 and 4 in a series, but not of book 2 ( Read more... )

You know Shepherd Book's thing about the special hell reserved for people who talk in the theatre? Forget talking in the theatre! The special hell needs to be reserved for designers who think that fake pockets are a good idea ( Read more... )

Today's grumble about something entirely trivial and unimportant concerns socks ( Read more... )

Today's entirely-unimportant-in-the-scheme-of-things rant subject is automatic doors. More specifically, it's lazy automatic doors that perform their duty but slowly and too late. So there you are, brisk shopper, striding purposefully towards the door. (I always stride purposefully, even if my brain hasn't yet clarified what the purpose actually is ( Read more... )