A few years ago I got a cold call from an insurance company. As it was coming round to the time for renewal of my home and contents insurance I stayed with the conversation. At the end I was given a quote and the guy on the other end assumed I would agree to sign up there and then. When I said I would make a decision until I received a written quotation and the relevant insurance paperwork he became extremely abusive, and accused me of wasting his f***ing time. I then hung up on him. In hindsight, I should have called the company straight back and reported him.
I had one of those calls asking if I wanted to claim for my ârecent car accidentâ. I was very cagey but did not refute anything but kept pressing them to tell me more about this âaccidentâ. When? What happened? All they could say was that âInsurance Verification Servicesâ had passed on the information. That sent me off on one about the etymology of verification and hadnât they done any Latin at school. That was like feeding strawberries to a dog. Eventually I relented and told them that, after the accident, Prince Charles was fine but Camilla was shaken up. However, I added, Special Branch said I was to mention this to nobody, so how did they get to hear about it? They hung up at that point.Â
I really quite enjoyed teasing them for five minutes.
If I miss a call [or deliberately don't answer] I look the number up on that site 'Who Phoned Me?' It's hilarious when you read some of the things people have said to these ambulance chasers. One man said yes, he'd had accident and he'd died. The guy still kept reading out his scripted questions.Â
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Just read a post on the local facebook group in the city I live in for local gardeners where someone was posting about having walked onto a neighbours property and taken seed pods of Aquillegia. I am appalled.
I love lazy Saturdays. I made a big batch of pancake batter so we could all have a fun family lunch before going out for a walk together.
Sadly my toddler decided he'd rather wear the batter and after hosing him down and wiping a big batch of batter off the walls, floor, work surfaces, under the kitchen cabinets, inside the cabinets and off us, my inclination for walking has waned somewhat.  and the bugger had the cheek to eat the lion's share of the remaining pancakes.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
@wild edges Who told you having children would always be easy and fun and life with them would be predictable rather than seat-of-your-pants?  On the other hand, why did you give him the pancake mixture before it became pancakes? Â
Well it's a debated topic in the household as to whether toddlers should be confined to a playpen or allowed to have more freedom to interact and learn. This time the 'I told you so' brigade has told me that learning about the perils of tipping batter over one's head isn't an essential part of growing up. I've learned that he's got a much greater reach than I thought when I left the bowl on the worktop and turned my back for 2 seconds though, so that's something.
I spent yesterday stripping down the washing machine and extracting small peoples' clothes from between the drum and its housing where they had brought the mechanism to a grinding halt in the middle of the night. When I say 'grinding' try to picture the noise a washing machine makes when it suddenly stops in mid spin causing the belt to be violently ejected
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
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I really quite enjoyed teasing them for five minutes.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
It's hilarious when you read some of the things people have said to these ambulance chasers. One man said yes, he'd had accident and he'd died. The guy still kept reading out his scripted questions.Â
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...