Let’s have a rant about behaviour and appearance

Oh yes BurgundyGran, babies with pierced ears, in my book child abuse. If you made a hole in a child's finger or toe you would be in court for cruelty.
I agree about the urinating men in France too, I don't want to see men doing that in laybys.

...or on TV for that matter...

Oh lor Harigarn...can remember being stood in playground whilst this Mum cooed over her babie's new earrings...barely 18 months old....muttering something about...oh yes I know it hurt...but is was worth it!

I am at a loss as to how their minds work. There ia nothing in this world that excuses hurting a baby. I thought minors were supposed to be protected by their parents.

I am very proud of my daughter-in-law Emma who stood out against a lot of pressure from the bride's family when my 4-year-old granddaughter was being a flower-girl (or a bridesmaid as I would call it - I am getting old) at Emma's brother's wedding. She refused, to the point of rudeness, to get a 4-year-old's ears pierced just "so she could look like the others". Attagirl!!

Wheni......you raised a good un there!

Oh dear, I seem to be guilty on far too many counts.

I think the car drivers who complain about cyclists 'cutting up' on the inside in heavy slow-moving traffic have never been in that position themselves. The alternative to 'cutting up' is to sit there in the heavy traffic breathing in car fumes. Is it really a surprise that, if there is enough space for a bike on the inside of the road, cyclists use it? Cyclists are not always accommodated even in bike friendly cities like Oxford and Cambridge and I think it STINKS when people complain that they use the edge of the road when there is no cycle path AND complain when they use the pavement. I agree that pavements are for pedestrians and when I cycled to and from work I only cycled on the pavements that were also designated cycle paths. I have seen more cars on pavements (parked and blocking the way for pedestrians) than bicycles. I think the moaners are just envious of cyclists' fitness and, in rush hour traffic, of their speed. My half hour cycle ride in and out of Oxford when I worked there was quicker than cars and buses during the busiest times. Sour grapes from grumpy old sods!

Oh yes! And I always stopped at red lights, never did any damage to anything (including the roads I was using), and sustained quite a few bumps caused by careless drivers. I'd better leave before I get really cross but I'll finish by saying that despite all the moans and groans, most drivers are in fact considerate of cyclists, as they should be, and most cyclists are considerate of other road users, as they should be too. I also drive a car and pay road tax, as do most cyclists.

Am I the only one who actually thought Steve Hilton looked cool!

helshea, I didn't see him (no tv) but if he wasn't wearing a suit I expect I'd have thought so too. It being stuffed to the brim with men wearing suits is another reason for not having a tv.

I used to be a cyclist in England: I rode the 8 miles to work and back every day, as well as going on Sunday runs with my local cycling club. My boss lived in the same town as I did, so we used to race each other home, he in his car and me on my bike. Even though it was uphill I often beat him because he was struck in traffic and I could nip through.

One day I left work and was riding to the Doctors to get my pill prescription, and was on a major roundabout. An Asian man driving a red van shot into the roundabout in front of me, causing me to veer right, and into the path of a giant truck. I was very fit, and managed to pedal out of trouble, but when I got to the Doc's my blood pressure was high. In spite of my protestations he took me off the pill.

Nine months later our son was born.

So there's an example of the dangers cyclists face from inconsiderate motorists!

well.. i think all you good ladies...have just about covered it all, i reckon!

Have you noticed Burgandy Gran, that French friends never ask to use your toilet? Even when we have people round for five hour meals, they never ask. Sometimes the men go outside in the courtyard, though....

You can't tell a book by it's cover as the saying goes. On at least 2 occasions recently I've been offered - and I accepted - seats on the tube by some rather dubious looking characters - tatty long hair, rings stuck into virtually every visible portion of facial skin, tattoed on the bits that weren't pierced - but still visible!!! In the meantime the booted and suited gents of whom there were several just buried themselves further into their papers or concentrated more fiercely on the delights of their kindles!

People - especially celebrities - who think using cocaine is cool. Not clever. Not funny.
People who invite those people to their Royal wedding - what?

Hearing an adult using enough swear words to make a docker blush, and then hitting or admonishing their small child for repeating the same words.

So much on here that I want to say "yes!" to, but to start with a response to a post on page 1, *NanaAnna" with regard to people driving too close behind you, you might find the following of interest!

There was a woman old enough to know better who used to practically tailgate me on my way back from the school run. The journey was along very narrow, winding rural roads, although tbh "roads" is a somewhat generous term. One day when she had really pissed me off , I waited until we were on a particularly narrow stretch, pulled over, put the hazard lights on, got out of the car and opened up the back of the estate car, and then just stood there. After a very short time, she wound down her window and asked me what the * I was doing. I replied " I thought you wanted to get in the back of my car, so I was trying to make it easier for you!"

The other thing that relates to people driving too close, is a sticker that my friends husband had in his van. It featured a big sort of lip stick kiss type image (I'm sure you can imagine what I mean?) with, underneath, the immortal words:

"If I wanted you up my arse, I would have kissed you first"

I used to drive a tatty old Fiesta. The engine was still in good nick when it wasn't worth spending what it would have cost to repair the chassis so we allowed him to die with dignity. Anyway, because it was old and had a small engine and a female driver, whatever speed I was doing was too slow for a lot of the twerps on the road. One day I hired a transit van to take some furniture to my sister who lived about an hour's drive away. I drove at slower than my usual speeds because both it and the roads were unfamiliar (she had only just moved house). Nobody tailgated me! My bet is that they assumed it was a man driving because it was a van so 'he' was, naturally, driving at the right speed. Grrr.

Every day it seems news programmes berate us for getting fatter and fatter. My theory (probably flawed) is that when clothes weren't stretchy, expensive to buy and people didnt have so many you had to fit into them so you needed to keep control of your weight. When I started wearing leggings at loose tops at the first go round (was it the 80s) I thought my clothes still fitted me whatever I ate (dont use the scales much) Now that people wear sports clothes as day wear the waistband can expand to take whatever portion sizes their owner throws down. I hate seeing sportswear on people who arent taking part in sport anyway and huge men with large beer bellies wearing track suit bottoms and football tops are the absolute worst. I wouldnt want to se the return of the corset for women but we have let it all hang out a bit I think.

Good point susie. The whole nation appears to be going sloppy. I can't bear to see anyone in public, especially overweight, in trackies - the waist always seems to be below the belly and the top never seems to reach the bottom (if you get me) so all is revealed! I don't use scales -too scarey - but go by the waistband and the roll of flesh above it!! Just lost some weight because of a bug and gone down over 1 size which is wonderful but won't last, but at least I can enjoy a short spell of trousers fitting comfortably

There was an article on the news last night about the rate of obesity in Britain being likely to rise to about 40% in the next few years. Being interviewed was a young mum who said that you could buy chips for a pound and a pizza for £1.25, so that's the type of food they eat. Obviously lack of money is a real issue here, but it's also glaringly obvious that the shops that these foods can be bought from (eg. Farmfoods, etc), also sell bags of frozen veg for a pound. I use them myself as they are really good value. I wonder if it would be possible to get funding for older people (not the Jamie Olivers of the world), to set up kitchens to teach younger people how to buy and cook nourishing, but cheap food? I would definitely volunteer to do this.

I think it has more to do with conveniance ...easier? quicker? to buy ready to eat food ...which usually has to do with fried foods ...even if it comes in a bun with a bit of salad. Then there are all the 'snack' foods now available.

I can never remember eating like this as child ...it was a special treat to have fish and chips ...possible once a month...that was the only 'fast' food available.

And of course ...I walked to school and back home for lunch.

I have to say that I love fish and chips, from a chip-shop, but really cannot afford it. It costs about £5 each now!

If you are grossed out by the sight of bulging flesh and too much rear view cleavage, don't come to sub-tropical Queensland! Honestly, I loath the doughnuts some women have around their bodies, bulging out between tops and skirts.

More and more people are showing bum cleavages - yukkk, especially in a crowded train, when the standing offender's bum is about sitting passenger's nose level!!

But the worst I saw was a very fat old lass with a zimmer frame, leaning forward, skirt sort of ruched up at the back, globby legs flashing at the world. I thought she might have been a bit doolally, but she was talking quite normally to someone, who was fortunate to only have a front view.

For the price of one portion of fish and chips I am sure I could make a meal for a family of four, not saying it would be gourmet but it would be nourishing. I do think the younger generations need some old fashioned post-war cookery lessons