THE UPS AND DOWNS OF MODERN SOCIETY

[Cathy]

Hartley 353 I have a sign on my front window saying 'Do Not Knock, No Sales People, Door Knocking Here is Unlawful'. It means that only your electricity, gas, phone, council, water people etc can knock. It doesn't stop charities and others asking for donations. If people ignore the sign, and if I know their company name etc I can notify our donotknock organisation and the people/company can be fined $50,000. Maybe your council or government has something similar.

[Marilyn]

I saw your sign the other day Cazza...made me think twice about knocking!

[hartley353]

Hartley 353 I have a sign on my front window saying 'Do Not Knock, No Sales People, Door Knocking Here is Unlawful'. It means that only your electricity, gas, phone, council, water people etc can knock. It doesn't stop charities and others asking for donations. If people ignore the sign, and if I know their company name etc I can notify our donotknock organisation and the people/company can be fined $50,000. Maybe your council or government has something similar.

Thank you Cathy for your kind interest. Unfortunately we live in a country where your local council will licence people to enable them to call on you,and according to another posting the police will give their backing. Cold calling at your door or on your phone is a constant hassle for most folks many have complained and little has been done, my mum had a no hawkers sign, but it has no teeth.

[PanBiker]

I had to remind "Kevin" who graciously called me from somewhere in India to talk to me about my energy supplier that I was registered with the TPS (Telephone Preference Service). I told him I had his number and would report him if he called me again, he dropped me like brick.

The TPS site has links also to MPS (for unsolicited mail), free to register and better then nothing. The telephone service seems to work best for domestic based call centres who are signed up to the scheme. Offshore callers have to be reminded but they generally do not continue the script.

[Thomo]

We had one a few weeks ago from the asian sub continent, this abdul wished to speak to Mr Hargraves (Mr Hargraves died 17 years ago and never lived here, this house was bought for his widow. She left here to go into care 6 years ago and died in 2011) I decided to have a pull on the caller and passed myself off as Mr Hargraves, this came next:- "Mr Hargreaves, we believe that you may be entitled to a large tax refund, but we will need your bank details before proceeding any further". There then followed an extremely vitriolic goodbye from me, delivered in the best traditions of the Navy and ending in "and now **** off.

[hartley353]

I had to remind "Kevin" who graciously called me from somewhere in India to talk to me about my energy supplier that I was registered with the TPS (Telephone Preference Service). I told him I had his number and would report him if he called me again, he dropped me like brick.

The TPS site has links also to MPS (for unsolicited mail), free to register and better then nothing. The telephone service seems to work best for domestic based call centres who are signed up to the scheme. Offshore callers have to be reminded but they generally do not continue the script.

We have tried all the available services and still they come. now we let the call go to answerphone and pick up on recognition of callers voice,most of family and friends know we do this but still not the best way. Pity I could be a rich man if I was to believe the sums owed to me by others.

[Stanley]

I have an easier way. I only answer the phone in the mornings. Everyone who knows me has got used to it now. Only the occasional cold call in mornings and I simply hang up.

[hartley353]

I have an easier way. I only answer the phone in the mornings. Everyone who knows me has got used to it now. Only the occasional cold call in mornings and I simply hang up.

So when your disabled neighbour rings at 1400, to give you the news that flames are coming out of your roof,they would be wasting there time. Not a sensible option.

[Marilyn]

We simply no longer have a home phone.
Our super modern children live only with a mobile and so do we. ( we go pre-paid whilst they have plans)
It works for us. We cannot get broadband where we live ( about 8 kilometres from the city! we are in one of those inexplicable black spots) so need to have mobile Internet to survive and communicate. No point paying for a costly home phone too.
No more tele-marketers!

[Tripps]

I believe that not having a landline phone can have an adverse effect on your credit rating in this country.

[hartley353]

We simply no longer have a home phone.
Our super modern children live only with a mobile and so do we. ( we go pre-paid whilst they have plans)
It works for us. We cannot get broadband where we live ( about 8 kilometres from the city! we are in one of those inexplicable black spots) so need to have mobile Internet to survive and communicate. No point paying for a costly home phone too.
No more tele-marketers!

Marilyn had I not a very lovely woman to share my life with I also would not have a land line,ours came as part of the cable tv deal. As part of my tool kit I bought a mobile phone in 1987 on contract. I still have the contract though the phone is much smaller i keep the phone as a lifeline should i be injured whilst of the beaten track. The computer is now my first choice means of communication, a side benefit of its original purchase use of music and photograph storage...Mike.

[Marilyn]

One modern day phenomenon I really detest is the surge of people who come around before the rubbish trucks each week and loot through your rubbish. In our area there are four separate individuals, all Asian, all armed with long sticks and sacks, who poke about looking for beer bottles and soft drink bottles ( these bottles have a small refundable deposit here).
They really aggravate me. I delay putting my recycle bin out until I can hear the truck coming now, but they stand at the end of the street and make a run for the bin as soon as you turn your back on it. They pretend they do not understand English if you say anything.

[Stanley]

Thank you Hartley for your valuable advice. (Again!) I'll run my life my way thank you, have survived so far....

[hartley353]

Thank you Hartley for your valuable advice. (Again!) I'll run my life my way thank you, have survived so far....

Sorry Stanley my subtle humour is missed by many, I shall have to add that slavish phrase LOL to my postings to indicate the genre.

[Thomo]

One thing that has a massive effect on the modern world is not a new invention, a gadget, or must have toy, it is something that has been with us for a very long time, and that is just what it is "Time"!
When or how it was decided to make a day divisible into hours, minutes and seconds I know not, the mathematics are quite simple and for many years it has governed the lives of most of us, to a greater or lesser degree, but in a more gentle fashion, that has all changed now. Time has always been a valuable commodity, something precious, and not to be wasted, something to enjoy or endure, whatever the individual chooses to do with it, it came with a built in flexibility and how mankind used it was a matter of choice mainly relative to work or play. Yes it has changed, and many people no longer have the "time" to be polite or considerate, its all about Me, Me, Me! Nowhere does this manifest itself more than in modern driving attitudes, drivers will take extreme risks to save that valuable second with total disregard to their own safety, or worse, the safety of others. I could go on at great length about the variety of ways in which precious seconds can be saved when it comes to motoring, here are just a few to be going on with:- Ignore speed restrictions, take the shortest route through car parks ( the Co-op Car park here is well known for this), don't give way to traffic coming in the opposite direction, even if they have the right of way, use "force majeur", a tactic often used by the drivers of massive UAV's, leave common sense at home, your seconds are more important than those of the other morons on the road. Other examples will follow shortly in a post about modern motoring. "Drive safely, and within the limits of your abbilities"!!!, give the rest of us a chance to enjoy our time.

[Thomo]

Education. Here there have been many changes, and something happened here the other day that I believe deserves a mention. One of our Nieces on my wife's side brought her 3 year old Daughter to see the kittens, this young woman was brought up in the Catholic faith, her Father was a devout Catholic, and he and his three children have done much for the local Church and community. Our Niece who is the youngest of the three is a teacher at a Catholic School in Great Harwood, and her Daughter could have gained a placement there. Fine but all of her little friends go to school here in Barlick. However it appears that when the Little Girl first goes to School, there will be no place for her at the Catholic School, due to a large influx of EU immigrants of that faith. She has at present been given a place at Gisburn Rd, School, our Niece has no quarrel with this as it is a good School with a good reputation, the Children there are mostly protestant or Islamic. The main problem would occur later on as the Catholic High School at Colne usually takes only Children who have been in earlier Catholic education, needless to say, our Niece finds this all a bit unfair. If I were to be be in her position, I would be fairly damned angry! Looking at Education in general, I am often amazed when those in control propose a new way of teaching, that is in fact something that was abandoned years ago ie, "lets start teaching skills that would be useful in the workplace and in life in general" here when I say workplace, I do not include office or bank etc. There was a prog, on TV the other night where youngsters were introduced to "Horticulture" most of them were unaware of what Horticulture even meant, and these were 13 & 14 year olds, the looks of horror when it was realised that something like this could have a detrimental effect on their level of cool was unbelievable! as soon as science was mentioned, the attitude changed, back to offices, labs and computers, now it was cool again. My last four years at the local Secondary Modern included the usual Maths, English, French, History, Art, Science, RE and PE and music, it also included an afternoons Horticulture, a mornings Woodwork and an afternoons Metalwork, all three of the latter have been extremely useful, not just at work, but in life in general. I was re-educated whilst in my 30s courtesy of the Royal Navy, thanks to the brilliant staff, my maths skills were fine tuned from moderate to high, my early science was replaced by physics, my previous practical skills were replaced by advanced engineering, and my insight into such things as Government and life in general was raised to a new high, and all this without the use of modern technology, this we were not allowed near until we had proved that we could do what had to be done without it. "Teach the basics first, and improve on it later"!!

[Tizer]

Some of the universities with good science departments used to offer their students the chance in their spare time to learn practical skills of use to scientists such a glass-blowing, metalworking, electrics etc. I wonder if they still do this? I'll bet they don't because so much is `bought off the shelf' now rather than DIY and the students will be more likely to learn computer skills. Practical skills still come in handy though - the Manchester scientists who got the Nobel prize for developing graphene separated the ultra-thin layers by carefully peeling them off sticky tape! (I'll bet they were railway modellers in their youth, that's how many lads got practical skills and learnt to be resourceful.)

[Thomo]

Thanks Tiz. I have been an avid model-maker since age 7. Model aircraft, flying and static, model boats and ships, sail-able and static, including "Ships in bottles" (Source of income at one time), some "Kit built" but mainly "Scratch built". Something else that comes as a result of that is patience and determination. The "Stuff" to do it is still in the garage, but other projects must be completed before I dare even think about going there again!