AND ANOTHER THING! A place to post a moan about lifes minor irritations!

I wouldn't mind so much Greatnan, if they didn't have to train for five years to become a shop assistant in the first place. What can they be teaching them? It always seems that in a small family-run shop everyone is helpful, but the big places are almost universally dreadful. We reckoned at one time that our DIY shop had been on a cultural exchange to B and Q as they kept leaping out and asking if they could help us. Unfortunately as soon as you said yes and I'd like..., they didn't know what to do next and ran away.

Aggressive cyclists, particularly those who won't ride in single file making it hard to go round them, I do excuse school kids because they aren't always as aware as they should be, I'm talking about grown adults. Also cyclists who jump red lights.

Ah - cyclists! They ride in huge groups here, blocking the entire lane of the road but you just have to be patient.
Mamie - the worst DIY shop happens to be the cheapest, so I have used it a lot - Bricodepot. When I bought my kitchen units there I had to load the cabinets (flat pack) onto one of those big flat trolleys and negotiate the aisles myself. There was never an assistant to give any advice and the girls on the checkout knew nothing.

All of the above AND other shoppers who put three items on the conveyor belt to keep their place and then go to do their shopping while the queue seethes and mutters. A refinement is to send a child or spouse to get the items. People who sit with their feet on the bus/cinema/train seat, especially when they remove them with a long-suffering sigh to let someone sit there. I think I'd better stop there because the steam coming out of my ears is clouding my glasses.

Loud headphoned people next to me on public transport. Ditto men how won't remove their rucksacks on public transport and shove them in my face.

Books written in the historic present, only discovered after I've bought it.

people who say " two times " instead of " twice" and other american figures of speech we seem to have adopted !

Mice Yes! I really can't read books in the historic present. And, in spite of the name, I find tellyhistorians difficult as well when they will insist on using it.

So agree. I made to the end of Wolf Hall, but only because I was on a plane with no alternative. Tele historians should know better. And I hate the bubbly voices on the underwater archaeology programmes too.

Has it not occurred to people who object to cyclists riding two abreast that this might be a deliberate ploy to make the car drivers slow down? Just so that they don't overtake one with only a few inches to spare, as many do, you understand .

Not guilty by the way as I always cycled on my own or behind DD (well out to protect her of course), but I know why others do it and don't blame them. As a car driver I just think, "Ah yes. How reasonable."

Hmm...not sure about that, Bags - after ten minutes of crawling behind the two-abreast cyclists, even the most even-tempered motorist might be tempted to take risks!

My pet hate is musak in shops and on the phone to large companies. If they must play music, why not choose something pleasantly bland and inoffensive, and preferably in tune? Our local DIY store is a serial offender the "music" they inflict on their poor customers is hideous and distinctly untuneful. It has been known to drive us out of the shop without making a purchase. Complaining is useless, they obviously don't care; maybe we don't fit their preferred customer profile!

Background music on films and documentaries played over people talking. Its really intrusive and makes it hard to hear what is being said.

Thinking about shop assistants, I recall buying an extremely expensive (three figure sum) pair of shoes for a very special occasion. I wore them at the aforementioned occasion and the sole and upper on one of them began to part company. I took them back to the shop and complained, whereupon the shocked sales assistant said, "But madam, you have been wearing them outside". They were definitely not slippers.

Little bags of dogpoo on National Trust properties ie places of historic interest or beauty(Aira force). Shop assistants on the phone(Fenwicks pen dept last Tuesday)Bicyclists with total disregard for pedestrians or red lights(York every time I visit)students with their feet on the seat and too loud ipads(New College Durham)Xmas cards in September(BHS) I feel better now

yes, ana, but that doesn't make the cyclists aggressive. Driver impatience is the impatience of the driver, easy though it is to blame some other legitimate road user. I suggest some of you go out cycling with your grandchildren. You might find that you think it's a good idea to ride on the outside of the kid.

Agree about the ones who disregard red lights and pedestrians though.

Ditto car drivers who do the same.

Yes, hadn't noticed the 'aggressive' bit, Bags - I just meant that cyclists trying to slow motorists down in a reasonable way might prove counter-productive! (BTW I'll still answer to nag )

Oh good, cos I like nag . You're right, of course, but the more people who understand the reason for it, the better, I think. Quite often, when I've encountered it, the outer rider will slip into single file when overtaking is safe. Most cyclists are also car drivers, after all. They do understand the other side's point of view.

But they also know who will get most hurt if something goes wrong. Self preservation is strong in most people.

Yes, that would make sense - and thinking about it, they do usually do just that!

On a Tuesday evening for about 5 months a year a very busy country road and narrow country lanes (which I have to use to get to work) is used for "Time Trailing" by a local cycling club.

They must be complete lunatics. Heads down going like the clappers, I am sure they all think they are Bradley Wiggens and seem to be completely unaware, or could not care, that it is a public road.

Last year I saw a very nasty accident. The cyclist came out of a lane at speed, did not look to see if any traffic was coming, swerved to wide and hit an oncoming vehicle. Luckily the car was travelling at a safe speed for the road and although the cyclist was injured he survived.

The point I am making is that I do not mind cyclists and will treat them as if it was a small car (overtake as if it was a mini). However I profoundly object to time trailing on a public road. In all but name it is a race and no-one else is allowed to race on a public road.

tuesday evenings, so presumably not rush hour times. Sounds as if they've tried their hardest to choose the least busy time of the roads.

Bike riders are part of the public and perfectly entitled to use public roads (most of them also motorists so they pay road tax too).

Time trialling is specifically designed so that motorists are not inconvenienced by packs of bikes, because only one bike goes at once, then there is an interval before another can start.

OK, that cyclist was careless. Some are. So are some car drivers. All human.

I'm beginning to think some non-cycling motorists are just impatient whingers who, whatever they may say about live and let live, can't stand anyone who inconveniences them in the slightest way.

Oh, and if they're cycling flat out, they are probably going quite fast so even less likely to inconvenience a car driver.

Motorists who park outside my house and then go to Manchester Airport and fly away for a week or two, and the airline pilots down the road, who do the same for two or three days at a time!