Is it that time again?  Is it truly Halloween?  Which means it’s less than a week till none stop mini Beruit in the majority of people’s back gardens (weather permitting of course) - sigh!  Guy Fawkes has a lot to answer for!! Wonder what this country would be like had he succeeded in blowing up parliament; goodness knows it needs blowing up these days the state this country has gotten into but then that’s just my opinion.  At least I live in a nation where I can freely share my opinion without fear of reprisals (stops a moment, looks around with paranoid eyes) - yeah…..(gulp)…

Meh!  It’s all gravy.

I have heard it all now, the guys behind Tora Bora once responsible as a refuge to the terrorism of Al Qaeda wants to move away from Terrorism and towards Tourism; I ask - What’s the difference??

Sorry about the post drought for the past few days, I have been struck down by MAN FLU!!! for the past week or so, and it’s grew to it’s climax around Monday(ish)…

…Lucky I am feeling lots better today, and I am even wearing PINK in honour of Breast Cancer Research - “Wear it Pink” Day!

..OK…ok……

I “know” I was very critical when Doctor Who was brought back to our screens (I can’t trackback since it lies in a different blog that is a bit broken right now) - but tonight I watched the first couple of episodes of “TORCHWOOD” an adult spin-off of Doctor Who

First impressions?  Why couldn’t Doctor Who be more like this?! I really enjoyed it, there were some class one liners in there and if this is the shape of things to come, it is promising; I still feel it needs to mature a little -  but then so did Friends and Star Trek Next Generation and look at the cult status of those now! 

I am certainly willing to give this some more time (sorry about the pun) - Mr Russell Davies get’s a tentative thumbs up from me on this one

…I’ve had a cold threatening to take over my life all week, and since I booked Thursday and Friday off work to have a break from the humdrum of workdom - I figured this would do the trick, well at least the cold has abated; but it would appear that it has sent in reinforcements in the form of a rather nasty cough!

There’s just no justice in the natural world of germ warfare….

Apparently a fellow blogger passed through Crewe on Friday but didn’t stop to say hi!? It’s ok though I’ll let her off. 

Coz…

a) I’m still full of lurgy

and

b) I’m an incredibly forgiving kinda guy

….In other News!

Happy Birthday Mum!

I read this on another blog, dating back to 2004 >> Scam 

Well - this morning I received a call from what appeared to be a private mobile number >> 07096 806461

A message to all of you out there that might read this, if you get a call from this number or any 0709 number that hangs up straight away and you don’t recognise it, then DO NOT RING IT BACK!!!!

What happens is you ring the number and you are immediatley redirected to a premium rate number, I have just reported this to my supplier (Vodafone) who appeared slightly less than helpless to offer me any support or advice on this (the exact response I got from the call handler was “I am not trained on this sort of thing” and well - at least he was honest…), it still sucks considering I have been one of their customers for over 3 years!  (I have of course taken a note of the complaints address and will be writing a stern letter)

Things like this should have been outlawed by now?! As the above link demonstrates this sort of thing has been going on for years, so what are Offcom doing about it? 

I was only redirected for 4 seconds until I realised and quickly terminated the call, but that has potentially cost me upwards of £1.75 or more!!

Even if everyone were to hang up within 4 seconds like me, that’s still a revenue of over £26 per minute.

How on earth this can remain legal is beyond me, and I think that the responsibility needs to be placed on the carrier.  For example if my bank pays out an unauthorised charge, they are liable to pay it back, and put a claim in to the source of that charge.  In the same respect, I should be entitled to be refunded any Premium Rate charge on a redirected call - it should be the carrier’s responsibilty AND duty to recover the cost, and investigate this problem which in my opinion is borderline Communications Fraud.  Maybe then they will do something about making this illegal?

One thing I would like when I complain to Vodafone is “WHAT PREMIUM RATE NUMBER” the above call redirects to, so that I can make an official compaint to ICSTIS - The Premium Rate Services Regulator. Remember - I have been stung, you don’t have to be, if you read this, then be WARNED!

*****DO NOT RETURN A CALL ON YOUR MOBILE IF YOU DON’T RECOGNISE THE NUMBER*****

Madonna wants to adopt a baby?!  Must be a slow news day.  Goodness knows I will sleep tonight knowing what I do now….(Is my tone sarcastic enough?)…

I have been reading in the press latley about the “veil” row which is currently occupying Ruth Kelly’s time and British Airways is now banning crosses from being worn “visibly”.  For goodness sake!!  One should be defined by one’s actions NOT by one’s attire!

What does it matter if someone wears a veil or a turban, or a cross!  If the job that the individual(s) carry out is done courteously and professionally then that’s all that matters surely? 

Reading things like this makes me realise just how “Draconian” institutions remain in this day and age, no wonder there is growing religious apartheid around us.  Just let people be  what they want to be, and work where they want to work.

Why can’t people in power simply adopt the “Live and let live” point of view for a change and maybe just maybe the world would be a better place for it?

Sometimes we become our own worst enemy.