RANT CORNER

[Euler]

My surgery isn't taking ANY appointments at the moment. The only way to speak to a GP is if you are declared an emergency, at which point they send you to A&E.

It's a farce.

[Derek27]

Doctors don't charge £145 to see you at short notice, £136 for a blood test or £30 for seven tablets!

Ive paid more than that in phone calls just trying to get through to the receptionist
My personal gripe :-
20 mins to get through to book an appointment THEY have requested me to make
hallo can I book a blah test appt please?
erm we have nothing available for the next 2 weeks
OK no problem I can wait- what do you have after that?
oh sorry we cant take bookings longer than 2 weeks
what you have to do is phone up every morning and see if you get an appt
and they wonder why they get abuse

I think it's a first, to see a new poster's first post on the rant thread. It certainly draws people in.

[greenmark]

My surgery isn't taking ANY appointments at the moment. The only way to speak to a GP is if you are declared an emergency, at which point they send you to A&E.

It's a farce.

Been like that here for years. You can't book in advance. The phone is permanently engaged until all the days appointments are gone. When you get through you're told to come to the surgery and wait.

[greenmark]

Five arrested as protest halts elite UCI cycling race
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-66404777

My feeling is they are attention seeking idiots. I just don't see the connection between a cycle race and protesting about fossil fuel exploration.

Can they not see that promoting cycling is a benefit?

[weemac]

The peloton just passed by my road-end. The speed of these guys is staggering - about 3 times faster than me on my ebike!

[Derek27]

Can they not see that promoting cycling is a benefit?

No, they're complete idiots. But until the elected idiots start passing laws to bang them up, or better still, have then lined against a wall, we'll just have to put up with them.

[greenmark]

Can they not see that promoting cycling is a benefit?

No, they're complete idiots. But until the elected idiots start passing laws to bang them up, or better still, have then lined against a wall, we'll just have to put up with them.

Don't agree with jailing these sort of protesters, but why are they like this? Where are the sage opinions in their lives that tell them that their actions are stupid or clever? And IMO they are possibly correct, but their actions are turning off a whole load of the people that have the power to make the changes they want.
For me, they are just an irritant. Climate change has happened. Next phase is how we sort out the s**t show my generation has created. Stopping a cycle race ain't gong to do F**k All.

[greenmark]

The peloton just passed by my road-end. The speed of these guys is staggering - about 3 times faster than me on my ebike!

I agree, I think that very feature is why people are addicted to the big cycle races. It isn't remote, like a stadium. They whizz past your nose. It's pretty awesome what elite humans can do.

[ShaunWhite]

I agree, I think that very feature is why people are addicted to the big cycle races. It isn't remote, like a stadium. They whizz past your nose. It's pretty awesome what elite humans can do.

They wizz past your nose once. But thankfully people have only travelled as far as the garden gate to see it.

This whizzing past your nose stuff, didn't some idiot wanting a selfie cause a big accident the other week? The crowd must be nearly as off putting as the people who go to watch rally driving.

[weemac]

I agree, I think that very feature is why people are addicted to the big cycle races. It isn't remote, like a stadium. They whizz past your nose. It's pretty awesome what elite humans can do.

They wizz past your nose once. But thankfully people have only travelled as far as the garden gate to see it.

This whizzing past your nose stuff, didn't some idiot wanting a selfie cause a big accident the other week? The crowd must be nearly as off putting as the people who go to watch rally driving.

After they whizzed past, I went back to watch the rest on Eurosport, where the first thing the commentators said was a warning about spectators on a steep hill not realising how fast the cyclists are actually approaching. So back off out I went on my e-bike to the exact spot they were talking about.

[greenmark]

I agree, I think that very feature is why people are addicted to the big cycle races. It isn't remote, like a stadium. They whizz past your nose. It's pretty awesome what elite humans can do.

They wizz past your nose once. But thankfully people have only travelled as far as the garden gate to see it.

This whizzing past your nose stuff, didn't some idiot wanting a selfie cause a big accident the other week? The crowd must be nearly as off putting as the people who go to watch rally driving.

Well, let's see if that resets fan behaviour to a more sensible level or it all goes Pete Tong and those episodes become more common. That would spell the end of road race cycling I think. It isn't possible to police an entire road race. But maybe something like Le Tour would take the odd looney incident. Dunno.

[weemac]

While I was watching an old geezer was wandering along the dual carriageway carrying a 3 wood, refusing to get off the road despite numerous police outriders flying past and folk screaming at him to move. There's just no accounting for people's behaviour.

[greenmark]

While I was watching an old geezer was wandering along the dual carriageway carrying a 3 wood, refusing to get off the road despite numerous police outriders flying past and folk screaming at him to move. There's just no accounting for people's behaviour.

I guess some people don't like a sudden influx of people with whom they have no affinity. We're an odd (or maybe not so odd) bunch eh?

[firlandsfarm]

I don't see the point of watching it ... you stand there for hours to make sure you get a good position, maybe in the rain and if you bend down to do up your shoelace you miss it!

[Derek27]

I wouldn't be able to. The courts will be too busy dealing with all the morons forcing their power company to court because they read on social media it was a clever thing to do.

Anyone who goes to court is a moron? Anyone who doesn't hand over money to anyone who asks is a moron?

It's fairly obvious James that if you were overcharged by your energy supplier over a misread meter you would challenge the bill, but it seems everybody else in the world is a moron and should simply pay up and not go to court.

Wow, could you be any more condescending?

I suggest you be prepared to accept that sometimes others may not share your opinions.

I refused to pay my final Scottish Power bill and verbally abused their staff every time they phoned me and threatened to take me to court, until they hung up.

I would have happily gone to court, but after complaining to the Energy Ombudsman, they've now offered to 1, waive all late payment fees, 2, give me a written apology and 3, waive the rest of the bill as a goodwill gesture.

It does go to show that if you have an issue with an energy company it can often only be settled in court or at the ombudsman. Energy companies are notorious for poor communications at best, and entirely ignore customer complaints at worse.