Seemingly trivial things that elicit an emotional response of some kind

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Annoyance with myself. I had to pick my daughter up from Heathrow on Wednesday evening which meant going into the ULEZ zone which I was completely aware of and knew my car isn't compliant. I meant to pay on my return home but it was around midnight and by time we'd unloaded the car I completely forgot. I suddenly remembered yesterday morning but that was beyond the third day so I could no longer pay the charge so now waiting for the fine so I can pay £90 instead of £12.50. I've now set up a direct debit for auto pay, not that it's something I will use very often and hopefully by time I next enter the zone I'll have a complaint car anyway.

Entirely my own fault and I'm in favour of ULEZ zones but there is a certain irony having to pay to enter a low emission zone next to one of the world's biggest airports with all the associated emissions though.

we also did that in Bristol. not having been there before (nor London in a car) we merrily drove through and didn't know Bristol had a ULEZ zone!
 

Pross

Veteran
we also did that in Bristol. not having been there before (nor London in a car) we merrily drove through and didn't know Bristol had a ULEZ zone!

I drive in Bristol quite regularly as I work there (catch the train generally but need the car sometimes for site visits). Their ULEZ (or CAZ as they call it) is pretty small and reasonably easy to avoid if you know your way around. However, there’s a couple of seemingly pointless sticky out bits that can easily appear intended to trap people, most notably a short section of the A4 that people are signed to take for Bristol airport. They also don’t have a way to check if you entered the zone so it’s entirely up to the driver to be aware of passing the signs (it’s pretty well signed with advanced warning just before the final exit option but it does feel designed to catch people out.

I also had a meeting in Birmingham just after theirs came in and when I left I reminded the person I met with who thanked me as he wasn’t aware. I got home and duly paid, or so I thought until the fine came and I checked my statements to find no sign of it going out. I must have failed to hit the final confirmation button.
 

icowden

Pharaoh
If you're going to try virtue signalling over ULEZ, expect to get mocked.

Are you completely unhinged? Look up what the ULEZ is for and why it's there. It's not that hard to understand. It has nothing to do with aeroplanes.

Spoiler: Lots of cars, vans and lorries go to Heathrow.
 
Agggh. I have my MIL staying for 3 weeks. She is lovely, but I can't understand how she has got through life so far without either becoming homeless or bankrupt. She has a TV at home and uses a Firestick. When we put the TV on for her here, she cannot use our Firestick and always asks how to watch corrie, emmerdale and eastenders! It's the same remote as she has at home.

The reclining sofa chair has a large touchscreen; you press on a large picture of a footrest to move the footrest. You push on a large picture of a headrest to move the headrest. To move everything back to 0 position, there is a large "close all" button. I have shown her how to do it twice a day for 3 days and she still cannot do it!

And finally, she was sitting out in the sun with a parasol up - the sun was moving around so I said "you need to move that way because the sun is coming around and we can't move the parasole that way". She said "oh I'm ok here it's fine". 2 minutes later: "ooh can you move my chair, the sun's right on me"
 

Pblakeney

Squire
Agggh. I have my MIL staying for 3 weeks. She is lovely, but I can't understand how she has got through life so far without either becoming homeless or bankrupt. She has a TV at home and uses a Firestick. When we put the TV on for her here, she cannot use our Firestick and always asks how to watch corrie, emmerdale and eastenders! It's the same remote as she has at home.
Does she use the Firestick though?
My Dad has a smart TV set up with access to all sorts of streaming. He watches around 6 terrestrial channels.
 
Does she use the Firestick though?
My Dad has a smart TV set up with access to all sorts of streaming. He watches around 6 terrestrial channels.

yes she has the same Firestick at her house, that we set her up with and she uses quite often. I guess the main emotion evoked here is one of wonder. She has not worked since the 80s and has 4 daughters; 3 of whom help her financially and with organising/transport to appointments etc. I wonder how she would have coped if she didn't have this amount of help. Some things are not her fault of course, but the level of ludditeness and stubborness is also something to behold. e.g in the winter, her heating is set to come on at 7am and 4pm. If she's freezing cold at noon, she'll sit wrapped in a blanket until it comes on at 4, and won't press the advance button as "it'll mess up the timer, and the British Gas man set it up". Despite us telling her that's exactly what the advance button is designed for
 

Pblakeney

Squire
yes she has the same Firestick at her house, that we set her up with and she uses quite often. I guess the main emotion evoked here is one of wonder. She has not worked since the 80s and has 4 daughters; 3 of whom help her financially and with organising/transport to appointments etc. I wonder how she would have coped if she didn't have this amount of help. Some things are not her fault of course, but the level of ludditeness and stubborness is also something to behold. e.g in the winter, her heating is set to come on at 7am and 4pm. If she's freezing cold at noon, she'll sit wrapped in a blanket until it comes on at 4, and won't press the advance button as "it'll mess up the timer, and the British Gas man set it up". Despite us telling her that's exactly what the advance button is designed for

Sounds very familiar. Absolutely anything out of routine or normal behaviour is beyond comprehension. Nothing you can do will change that.
More worrying, I fear that is the future for all of us, if we live that long.
 

BoldonLad

Old man on a bike. Not a member of a clique.
Location
South Tyneside
Agggh. I have my MIL staying for 3 weeks. She is lovely, but I can't understand how she has got through life so far without either becoming homeless or bankrupt. She has a TV at home and uses a Firestick. When we put the TV on for her here, she cannot use our Firestick and always asks how to watch corrie, emmerdale and eastenders! It's the same remote as she has at home.

The reclining sofa chair has a large touchscreen; you press on a large picture of a footrest to move the footrest. You push on a large picture of a headrest to move the headrest. To move everything back to 0 position, there is a large "close all" button. I have shown her how to do it twice a day for 3 days and she still cannot do it!

And finally, she was sitting out in the sun with a parasol up - the sun was moving around so I said "you need to move that way because the sun is coming around and we can't move the parasole that way". She said "oh I'm ok here it's fine". 2 minutes later: "ooh can you move my chair, the sun's right on me"

One day, you will be the same 😂😂😂
 

BoldonLad

Old man on a bike. Not a member of a clique.
Location
South Tyneside
Of course. I feel it creeping up on me already. Our kids will moan about us re tech in the way we moan about our oldies.

In my working days, I worked in IT. I was almost always working with people who were much younger than me, often, the age of my children (now in the 50s), or younger. I often listened to them moaning about their parents, in-laws etc, and wondered, "do my children talk about me like that?", the answer is almost certainly YES 😂
 
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