I’m afraid this might be a bit of a ranty blog but a few things have built up. I’m confused, I’m baffled, I’m discombobulated!

I thought I’d draw a bunch of these things together – they may be a bit of a random hodgepodge but maybe you’ll be able to relate to one or two? Who knows? Maybe I’m the only one who’s bothered by this stuff!

1. Cars giving way when it’s not their right – this one actually makes me angry…for example – I’m turning out of a side road, someone is turning into the side road, what makes you think you can decide it’s safe for me to exit in front of you, just because you think you’re “being nice”, you can’t see what I can see, you don’t know how fast my car can accelerate, it’s not up to you to make decisions for me. And it’s even worse when you get cross when I don’t do what you want. Just follow the rules of the road, they’re there for a reason, they work.
2. Spelling my name wrong – this one is just rude. A mistake if you don’t know me, totally fine but if you’re in the acquaintance bracket or call yourself a colleague or a friend, absolutely no excuse. I especially don’t understand it when replying on Facebook or to an email – my name is right there staring you in the face. I am not male, my name is not Francis – this one deserves a separate blog – watch this space!
3. Speeding – someone with knowledge of the road and the surrounding environment has decided upon a speed limit – what makes some people think they know better? It’s just arrogant. I do think it’s mildly amusing when someone (usually a BMW or Audi driver) thinks they can make me break the speed limit by driving so close to my bumper they’re almost climbing into my boot. I know we all accidentally creep over the speed limit occasionally, I’m not talking about that, it’s the deliberate “I know better” that’s just wrong.
4. Answering an email without answering all the questions – I write an email with 3 questions in it, the reply comes back with on 1 of the questions answered, why would you only answer 1 of them and ignore the other 2?? If you don’t know the answers, say so, and either offer to find out or tell them how they can find out – surely this is just common decency?! When my questions are ignored I’m stumped, did they not read my email? Did they not understand the questions? Are they hiding something? I’m left wondering if I should ask the questions again or whether that would be futile? My bafflement could be easily avoided!
5. People trying to persuade me un-ironed clothes look ok – I choose to iron my clothes because I think they look better. I do not judge anyone for not ironing clothes, but please do not tell me “if you hang them up dry, the creases fall out and you can’t tell” – I’m sorry, I can tell. If you’re happy not ironing your clothes, that’s your choice, please don’t try to justify your decisions by trying to persuade me your clothes look ironed!
6. Parking forwards – cars are designed to reverse park and it’s dangerous to reverse out of parking spaces! It’s even scarier when people reverse out onto main roads…! So many accidents would be avoided if people used the car as it was designed!
7. Putting other people down to make yourself feel better – I understand the psychology of this one but it’s still not nice, some people seem to do it habitually and they don’t even notice, it’s so sad.
8. Wayward apostrophes – I understand there are some ambiguous situations, for example, the day we celebrate Mothers, is it a day for all Mothers or just our own? But there are some simple rules, if your pluralising something, just bung an ‘s’ on the end, why complicate it with an apostrophe?! If in doubt, that’s what Google is for!
9. Leaving the printer jammed – what is this?! You try to print something, the printer gets jammed, you walk away?! Really?! What do you think happens? The printer fairy comes along and un-jams it? Oh no, that would be me, for the 17th time today! People say they don’t know what to do but that’s just lazy, I don’t do anything special, I just follow the instructions on the screen – it’s not complicate!
10. Getting drunk – I’ve never done it, maybe I would understand if I did it but I’ve never heard someone say “I got so pissed last night, I’m going to repeat it again tonight”. But if I had a pound for every time I’ve heard “I’m never doing that again”, I’d be incredibly rich. Call me odd but the idea of being over emotional, unable to stand and feeling sick then unable to remember what happened the following day just doesn’t appeal… (small amount of alcohol gives me a migraine but that’s beside the point!). What shocks me is I thought it was something people did at uni and grew out of it – apparently not…
11. Signs pointing out the obvious – during a recent stay in Butlins Minehead, I was delighted to learn that radiators get hot, hot water comes from hot taps and a heated towel rail “may” also get hot. Unfortunately, due to the rise in litigation cases everyone feels the need to cover themselves against what I like to call “people being idiots”. If you burn yourself because you touch a radiator that’s on, I’m sorry, but that’s your fault, it is not the fault of the manufacturer or the installer or the person the radiator belongs to, you touched it with your hand, take some responsibility people!!
12. Leaving work to the last minute – never have I heard anyone say “I love chilling out and then rushing to get all my work done at the last minute”. I’ve only ever heard people say they stress out about not doing their work, don’t do their work, then cram in just before the deadline date. I understand there are psychological reasons for this but please don’t try to persuade me you want to leave your work to the last minute, it’s what you always do and you’re happy with the status quo – it doesn’t feel good, try something different!

Phew – I feel better now!

I hope I don’t come across as intolerant or judgmental, if I do, please educate me…I’d love to know the thought behind these things!

Please do also add your “I just don’t understand…” to the comments section!