| lesley153
|
And *splutter* from me too. :D
Sorry, I've been having a bit of a chat with Martin Dannenberg's daughter, and I'm a bit stunned and starstruck.
And I'm going again. Must get to bed before 4am!
Night. :) |
Reply #1861. Nov 14 10, 7:27 PM
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| Lochalsh
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Dannenberg? As in the person you mentioned in your other thread? My.
((((((((((Lesley)))))))
Reply #1862. Nov 14 10, 9:50 PM
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| lesley153
|
| As in the very same. "My" indeed. See now why I was starstruck? |
Reply #1863. Nov 15 10, 12:03 PM
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| Lochalsh
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Starstruck because she lives in Maryland, home of wonderful crab cakes? *ingenuous*
It seems the chat really set you to cogitating, and I know how you enjoy that!
Reply #1864. Nov 15 10, 1:08 PM
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| lesley153
|
It did! School history lessons were sterile and astonishingly boring. I married a man who had A level history, and he used to go on about things that had happened, and I used to think "How do you know all this?" I knew there was a gap in my knowledge, but wasn't compelled to fill it.
This particular investigation was sparked by a casual remark in a thread about acting. I hadn't heard of the character, googled him, and it went from there. And then it just took off!
And absolutely nothing to do with crabs. :) |
Reply #1865. Nov 15 10, 1:25 PM
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| lesley153
|
Had a rotten night last night. Had an "early" night - 2am - and spent two hours listening to an unidentifiable intermittent humming. At 4am I sat up and screamed obscenities at it.
I slept from 4-ish till 6, 6 till 8, 8 till 10 and 10 till 12, and felt like crap most of the day. It's now well after 4am and I am disgustingly awake.
Conclusion: early nights are pointless.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Still looking at microwave ovens when I remember. I've seen a few that look OK but they've all got bloody child safety locks. I don't want a child safety lock. I don't NEED a child safety lock. I am not a child and the youngest people who come to the house are over 20. I've got a child lock on my induction hob and it's a sodding nuisance. You only have to breathe on it and it locks, and you have to put your full weight on it for at least ten seconds to unlock it.
I don't need child safety caps on medicines and bog cleaners either. I'm not a child and they're a sodding nuisance too.
It's the bloody one-size-fits-all mentality again. Every house contains at least one child who can reach everything, and at least one adult permanently looking for reasons to sue anyone who crosses their path, so we'll inflict these things on absolutely everyone so they can wrench their fingers and break their fingernails.
They don't give a hoot about the safety and convenience of customers. They're just protecting themselves. Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhh. |
Reply #1866. Nov 15 10, 10:27 PM
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bionic4ever 
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I don't think I've ever seen a microwave with a child safety lock! That would drive me crazy!
Reply #1867. Nov 16 10, 9:25 AM
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| Lochalsh
|
When I think of all the things I did as a child that could have caused or indeed did cause me bodily harm, the microwave oven never comes to mind. Of course, it hadn't been invented yet. Okay, electricity hadn't been discovered yet.
I wanted to ask if we're too cautious with children these days, then I remembered over-protectiveness is not a new phenomenon--my mother was telling me to be careful crossing the street when I was eighteen.
Lesley, I fell out of a lot of trees when I was a wee lass. I guess you stayed inside and played with your Madame Alexander?
Old Lochalsh, older than Benjamin Franklin
Reply #1868. Nov 16 10, 10:39 AM
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satguru
|
A safety lock on a microwave? It'll be toilets next, bet on how long it takes granny not to make it in time. Mine- one day. And on zips on trousers, that would be fun as well. Especially if someone was looking at you trying to undo it. What a world we've ended up in...
Reply #1869. Nov 16 10, 11:11 AM
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| veronikkamarrz
|
The caps on medicine bottles, used to be dual purpose. Put it in right side up, and it locked. Upside down, and it simply screwed on! What a marvel! Discontinued? Probably.
Child guards on microwaves or stoves (never seen either) should be 'by request' and part of the sales pitch, not not just installed across the board. People leave their small children unattended in the kitchen? Imagine that!
Reply #1870. Nov 16 10, 11:20 AM
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guitargoddess
|
I've never seen child safety thingies on microwaves either! I guess it makes sense though... 2-year olds nowadays know how to operate electronic equipment better than their parents, who knows what they might stick in a microwave and start a fire with.
I do think medicine bottles are one thing that's worth having child safety features in place even though not everyone has a child in the house to worry about. For instance, Lesley, for the moment the youngest people to be in your house are 20-ish years old, but in 5 years time, 10 years time, you might have tiny grandchildren running around your house. That's not to say you'd let them run around unattended, but kids get into things super fast! Better safe than sorry with this kind of thing, I think.
Reply #1871. Nov 16 10, 11:40 AM
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Jazmee27
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Never seen a child safety lock on a microwave, an hope I never do (I told mom to look for mouthwash without childproof locks as I can hardly open them, and don't even get me started on medicines...)
Reply #1872. Nov 16 10, 11:43 AM
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honeybee4
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I think you can request medicine bottles without childproof caps.
Reply #1873. Nov 16 10, 11:49 AM
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| lesley153
|
I thought it would drive me up the wall too, so I rang a local retailer we've been particularly pleased with, to ask about child locks. He said you simply press a button to open the door, but you just have to press extra hard at the end to get the door open.
OK, I can live with that. It's not like the padlocky things some parents use to make appliances out of bounds, although I do remember one small boy who could get through any safety measure you threw at him, including a "locked" freezer, and could often be found sucking frozen chicken drumsticks like ice lollies. And it's no worse than the lock on the induction hob.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I was little, most parents didn't decant bleach into lemonade bottles. The bottles were glass - they took the lemonade bottles back to the shop and got their deposit back - and most children didn't play in cleaning cupboards. They may have been told not to, or really weren't interested. We had better things to do than wonder what was in that "lemonade" bottle.
I didn't play with the local girls very often. They wanted us to make tents out of tablecloths in the garden and take our clothes off. Far more interesting to run round like a maniac with the local boys. I had a steam-driven scooter a bit like this:
 http://tinyurl.com/2vu4gzo
It didn't have the kick-stand the one in the picture has got, but it had a brake over the back wheel (very flash!) and I used to scoot at a million miles an hour to the local park two turnings away. I have a clear memory of scooting past a car which was reversing out of its drive, but getting past it before I could have registered on the driver's retina.
We didn't have mobile phones and we rarely bothered to tell anyone where we were going. I'm sure there were dreadful accidents and undisclosed abuse but most of us are still here. If we'd had modern-style hysterical, sensation-loving papers then, you'd expect an entire generation to have been wiped out by age ten.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was out this afternoon (with Mlle Alexander) and missed a call from a number I didn't recognise. I tried to ring it back but BT didn't recognise it either. Perhaps google will be able to identify it. Google gave me a website called WhoCallsMe.
There are three posts about this number, all within the last two hours. The third one is mine.
***************************************
1. Couldn't get to phone in time to answer. I didn't recognise area code and BT says 06 is reserved for future use, whatever that means!
***************************************
2. Just had the same number call here - American accent - something about promotion in Florida with a "please press 9 now" finale! Which, of course, I didn't do. So he just talked to Voicemail.
***************************************
3. I was out when it (whoever it is) called, without leaving a message. I tried to return the call and got "number not recognised." Googled it and found this site.
I rang BT first.
"Who called you?"
I don't know, I was out.
"We don't take reports. If people want to call you, we can't stop them."
OK, I'll report it online. Thank you, goo... **click**
Wonder where BT people learn that it's OK to hang up on customers if the phone call bores you?
***************************************
I don't think that's entirely true. There are all sorts of things they can do if you report nuisance calls. But it's not easy to talk to someone who's just hung up on you. But I'm grateful to the second poster for telling me what to expect, and to avoid it.
|
Reply #1874. Nov 16 10, 12:01 PM
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| lesley153
|
Ooh - there are five new posts since I started typing!
David, loos and zips. Great imagery. :) Oh and wet floors.
VM I hadn't heard of dual-purpose thingies, but it makes perfect sense that they would be discontinued if they were good enough.
Guitargoddess - "you might have tiny grandchildren running around" - this I do not need reminding. :'-(
Jazmee, I won't get you started on medicines if you don't get me started on medicines. I've always regarded blister packs as wasteful packing. I have changed my mind. They are sanity-saving packaging.
Judy, I think you can too, but food supplements come in tubs with un-undoable caps. I'm sure there's a safe answer. |
Reply #1875. Nov 16 10, 12:11 PM
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| Lochalsh
|
Lesley, when I asked you whether you stayed inside with your dolls, I had a feeling you'd answer in the negative. Despite the fact that we grew up on different sides of the pond, I think we had more in common than not.
Thank you for your description of your childhood wanderings on the scooter. What does "two turnings away" mean? You turned into one block, then another? (I'm still trying to learn your language, you see.)
I had neither a scooter nor a tricycle, but my dad did give me a good-sized bike when I was five and really too small to ride it:
http://tinyurl.com/36fjluv
In grad school, i rode a slender, black Raleigh, which I thought was really cool, since it was a British make. :)
I love my present bike--it's lavender, and, as a good Virgo, I have a matching helmet. I ride it, but cautiously, since I don't want to smash up my, er, "internal titanium":
Schwinn: http://tinyurl.com/26spucm
Sorry this is so long. Back to microwaves and bottle caps....
Reply #1876. Nov 16 10, 12:42 PM
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satguru
|
06 is a foreign call which are all beyond BT's reach to stop. Probably America although would need the lot to pin it down, unless they mask the number and end up with a garbled string so people who don't accept anonymous calls don't block them although the number showing is absolute garbage. You didn't miss anything though, my father's been getting three a day or so for weeks.
My grandma usually had to get me to open the unfamiliar medicine and drinks bottles as the procedure was too complex, but some of the fruit juice caps with three sets of rings, seals and hooks have caught me fumbling as well for some time. The only thing worse are the old milk cartons which thankfully seem to have been discontinued.
Reply #1877. Nov 16 10, 1:13 PM
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bionic4ever
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Meds for neurological symptoms should not come with childproof caps. (Unless requested.) Hard to pop one open when what's supposed to help the tremors is inside the bottle!
Reply #1878. Nov 16 10, 3:43 PM
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| lesley153
|
Lochalsh, I think you're right. I did have one doll, and I didn't know what you were supposed to do with it. I remember picking it up once and talking to it, out of sheer guilt, when I heard someone outside my bedroom, lest they think that the dolly was wasted. But it was, and they had the sense not to give me any more dolls.
I didn't realise that Mme Alexander made dolls to collect. Normally I'd have looked the name up, but I thought it was a reference to the Alexander lesson I had this afternoon, and was too tired to think it through properly. Brain is addled from lack of sleep.
Glossary: UK two turnings = US two blocks.
It wasn't long at all.
Sprog has internal titanium. I can't imagining it not being at least as strong as bone. It doesn't set airport metal detectors off, does it? I don't think his does.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David, I like your explanation better than the non-explanation ("There's nothing we can do") that I got from BT.
I am one of those people who don't accept anonymous calls, but I still get calls from - for example - the hospital, showing up as unavailable. Other entities use it as an excuse not to return calls. Half-decent companies have ways of coping, like a corner of the switchboard that doesn't block the number, or a mobile phone, but they're no use if the staff don't know they exist, or pretend not to know they exist, to save themselves the effort of ringing you back. Funny how they can always get through when they want to sell you something.
There are still awkward milk cartons. Some are like fruit juice cartons - twist the cap and break the seal. When you've finished, screw the cap back on. Easy.
Some have a screw cap which undoes very easily, but hides a hermetically sealed inner - er - seal, which has to be yanked off, usually at the expense of a few fingernails.
I've never understood why the screw cap on some cartons needs to be protected by a ring of shark's teeth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth, tremors or not - would you ask for a container with a "child-proof" lid? I wouldn't. :(
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Reply #1879. Nov 16 10, 5:14 PM
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| Lochalsh
|
Lesley, I have to go through the full search every time I fly. I step into the metal detector, it buzzes, I say "hip replacements," and I'm pulled aside.
Reply #1880. Nov 16 10, 5:52 PM
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