Reading news is bad for your health!

Tags

Angry, Blogging, DUPcoalition, Firefighters, Government, NHS, Police, Public sector, Theresa May, Tories

There is a very good reason that I try and stay away from the news and often shy away from talking about politics: this is mostly because it just makes me very, very angry.

Sometimes I have to just try and turn away from the world because it doesn’t really make any sense and I feel like such an insignificant part of it that I know that it doesn’t matter what I feel. So if I get angry about the general state of affairs, and all the horrific ways humans treat one another then I only really hurt myself in the process.

We can all rally against our annoyances or take up our picket boards to the streets but all that really seems to do is give the overworked, underpaid police force even more hassle to contend with.

So what has got me rattled enough this morning to vent about?

Result from the Commons

Nose, and eyes to the what now??

This outdated, antiquated, ridiculous way of governing a country: making all politicians appear to be a childish rabble, with their squabbles and taunts. There are children that behave better and have calmer debates. Perhaps we should introduce a ‘talking object’ into the house of commons so that they can finally converse like socially functioning adults!

The basic line being that Tories and DUP voted not to give our public sector a pay rise: after all of their heroism and hard work in the recent events. After firemen putting their lives at risk because some idiots wanted to save some money to make a building more aesthetic for richer neighbours. After hundreds of casualties and deaths in the UK; after the bravery of the police in the face of terrorism. After the horrendous fallout from all of these events that staff from our NHS dealt with: even though their budgets and workforce are stretched to the limits.

Even after having to waste police time to use as protection for visits into public areas so a prime minister wasn’t set upon by understandably angry mobs; after the public commendations and acknowledgement of all this hard work.

Even after all of this – our government do not believe that any of these people deserve a small scrap of a pay rise.

And worse than this they cheer about it!

Amazon reviews: How much do we trust them?

Tags

Amazon, annoyed, cheated, complaint, Customer, Laundry, Purchases, Review, Reviews, Shopping

 

How much faith do we put into reviews when buying products? Are you one of those people that ignores reviews and shops on instinct, or are you like me and often base your purchases on other people’s reviews?

If you buy from Amazon and do make purchases on the trust of reviews , you may want to rethink after reading this: or at least read the reviews with a keener eye.

Personally I am a big fan of Amazon: I’m a prime customer and regularly buy from Amazon as my first port of call. It’s easy, the choice is wide and I trust it on the basis that other people like me are adding honest voices to the reviews, however my recent review was rejected which makes me wonder how many bad reviews are kept away. Not only that but the discovery that there might be a loophole for suppliers to link good reviews from different products is worrying and means I will definitely be keeping a closer eye out in future.

My honest if somewhat aggrieved review (which was rejected) for

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01930RLEU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

When deciding upon a laundry basket I had hoped that this one would reflect the reviews given however I am currently learning my lesson about reading them more closely!

The product I received was alike to the image above with four canvas bags that sit on a frame but the product received showed the poor design where aesthetics have been valued over practicality. I do admit that I was swayed by all the good reviews that I skimmed over and the star ratings, yet PLEASE DON’T BE FOOLED – ACTUALLY READ THEM!

Now that I am attempting to return this product and wondering why there were so many good reviews I notice that somehow most of these reviews are about a different product!!!

If you actually read the good reviews, many mention the ‘natural’ effect rather than metal or plastic and some say ‘sea grass’ in the review so I can only assume that these were given about a different product: perhaps a woven laundry basket or even a waste paper bin: either way most of these reviews were not written about this product! – HOPEFULLY AMAZON WILL CHECK THESE LINKS FOR INTEGRITY!

The product itself seemed to be good at first, the frame went together well and in good time: it seemed sturdy enough for the price. The problem began when we added the hooks which hold the laundry bags. Due to the sloping nature of this design the hooks were not able to sit well between the poles: they have not been made with differing ends so they would only ever be able to sit right on a level frame.

After reporting this to the supplier, I was informed that I could bend the hooks to help them sit on the poles. So taking a pair of pliers I set about trying to bend a hook so it would stay on the pole which caused the end safety caps to pop straight off. I wasn’t really happy having to force the design however it seemed easier than having to return and find another basket. After forcing a hook to stay on the poles however it was realised that the bags would also not stay on this slanted hook, obviously they slide down the hooks too and gather up (this was without even adding any laundry).

When reporting this to Tinkertonk customer support, I was offered a £4 refund and the offer to keep the basket, however I really don’t want to have to bend bars and sew bags just to get something functional, and I also don’t want to be left with extra rubbish that will have to be taken to the tip.

I had thought that a courier would just pick up the return however I didn’t realise it wasn’t prime  ( the postage was free) which meant I would have to post it at the post office. I would have asked someone with a car to do this for me however after speaking to Tinkertonk, I was also informed that they would not refund the postage anyway: leaving me very much out of pocket due to poor design!

So now I am left with a box sitting in my hallway and a loss of £21.19 from my bank so I am not a very happy customer: especially after realising that the main reason for my purchase (the good reviews) were not even connected to this product!

Hopefully this review might stop anyone else falling foul to this hoax!

…

Ok so perhaps on reflection this was a bit of a shouty post with far too many exclamations however I don’t appreciate being out of pocket for something that just isn’t fit for purpose. If I had ordered something and just not liked it or changed my mind then I wouldn’t expect a refund, and yes I am still annoyed, maybe because I am annoyed with myself for not actually reading the reviews properly and leaving myself open to blind faith in Amazon reviews.

The annoying thing is perhaps that if I had bought this via credit card or Paypal then they would have honoured this refund however Amazon leaves this disagreement between seller and customer. Overall though I really hope that Amazon might look into their reviews and supply better quality checks: who knows how many other products are being marketed in this way.

Failing that I hope this post might at least encourage one more person not to be deceived by a shiny star review

 

 

Scream if you wanna go Greener

Tags

Badgers, coloryourworld, Earth, Fracking, Green, Green Party, Nature, poem, Save the planet

For the #coloryourworld today it was screaming green which started with inspiration nearby..

Then a hunt for a little green guy I had been given

and then my thoughts kind of spiralled into a rhyming rant.

The Green War!

It makes me mad
it makes me scream
This war we wage
On Nature’s dream
Instead of loving our friend Earth
We plough and pillage, drain her worth
They seem to think she’ll live forever
Suited liars that think they’re clever
And with each new corrupt endeavour
Line their pockets, kill whatever
Gets in their way on land, or sea
Especially if it starts with B
We need to make our voices heard
Oppose the greedy and absurd
Or else sit back, let fat cats win
Watch Earth die – our hopes within

 

Source: Friends of the Earth

Humanity is not just for animals..

Tags

Community, Support

Last night was once of those nights where you suddenly realise that the inhumanity you see & feel around the world in everyday day life is actually not a true representation of how things could be. When it is proved that there are still many people who can join together and express great compassion and get results then it can restore our faith in humanity and set the world on balance.

Just to explain without trying to stir up any more heartache, in the early hours of the morning a tweet was sent out from someone in distress which sparked a catalogue of worried tweets within the Warcraft community. It didn’t take long for the word to spread around and people had put in some detective work to find details of a way to contact the person in order to send help if needed.
As a result of this wonderful community, today things are looking brighter and we can be reassured that the soul of humanity is still strong and thriving even though sometimes we are faced with the contrary popular opinion.

Whilst the press often give gamers a bad reputation and games are often demonised and being blamed as the source of influence for negative behaviour, it is good to see that that there are so many positive stories that often go unnoticed.

If fact I often believe that the gaming community spirit will often surpass those of everyday communities. All too often in life we are greeted with unpleasant behaviour or people that need our help. And regrettably these calls for help or violent scenes are often ignored or just brushed under the carpet, so we can all keep ourselves safe no matter what happens to others.

Perhaps in this instance I am thinking more towards scenes I have seen, unprovoked attacks that have occurred and instances where life has been devalued to a level that is just cruel.

There was a time that a brick crashed through the window on a bus and everyone got off but ignored the poor girl that had been hit with it. I remember actually swearing at people to call an ambulance (my phone was dead at the time) whilst they ran off or stood looking.

A time when a guy collapsed in a toilet at work and people were pretty much stepping over his dead body to be served and getting annoyed that I was refusing.

Another instance of an elderly gent fallen down in the road and the nearest flat concierge (my flat even) would not come to help me lift him due to ‘health and safety’

I know I am always in danger of getting on my soap box and I do understand that there are things that happen in the world which we see and we are scared of interfering or scared to be get involved due to fear of safety. I also am aware that we are now more aware of ‘rules’ during work hours for fear of getting sued or told off. But it does strike me that when some things happen in real time it is often the case that people will ignore situations rather than put themselves out. When all it needs is a little bit of common sense to prevail.

As a community in general I often feel like we are so disjointed and often work against each other when we could be pulling together and making a difference,

I  see animals that display more humanity than humans sometimes and that is a worry for future generations. Our world is changing, our sense of what is right and wrong, and what levels of inhumanity we are prepared to accept is changing.

Sorry rambling off there *steps off soap box*

All I really wanted to say was ..

I was so impressed by on the online Warcraft community for last night and this was not the first time I have experienced this and I am sure it will not be the last. We definitely look after our own and it is such a wonderful thing, would just be nice if that same compassion extended to people in the real world too.

Life is short, treat people as you would like to be treated yourself & remember that there is always somebody who does care, even if you don’t even know them yet.