And so, the end of an era RIP little Buster

How incredibly sad was Monday's (23/11/09) Paul O'Grady Show?  You could see how hard it was for Paul to do it but he did himself, and little Buster proud and you know what? I don't blame him one little bit for losing it briefly at the end, before the tribute to Buster, because I did too. 

It's at sad times like this that I feel the need to write something, and I hope I've done the little guy justice because, having lost a treasured companion myself, also at age 14 I know exactly what it is like to have your companion with you one minute and the next he or she is gone.

This is called Old Friend.

Old Friend

Goodbye old friend
we’ve come to the end
of the roads we travelled together
those that were fun
and those that were none of
the glorious days of summer
those twisted and turned
the ones that burned in our memories
long and forever
the calming and cold
the unerringly bold
gave us stories, well some can be told
the others we’ll keep
until outwards they seep
in my tears which I cry for you now
such a painful goodbye
till the day that I die
that moment is with me forever

Now each road that I travel
I travel alone
nothing will ever replace
that small tiny face
the one that I trace
in my thoughts, my dreams and my prayers
my other companions
try as they might
will do what they can to console
but you were my first
unconditional love
the one that I treasured bar none
they know you’re not there
and I know that they care
and are wondering where you have gone
so we keep each one close
till the time we repose
and are all together again.

© silversapphire 241109

© silversapphire 2009

All rights reserved. No part of the publications, or of this website may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means without the express prior written permission of the Author

This Poppy. A Remembrance Day Poem by SilverSapphire

Two years ago, I wrote this poem which, truthfully, had been a bugger of a thing to write.  It had been going round in my head for 18 months prior to it being born on paper, and was eventually published in 2007.  It started out as a poem for my late father who served in WW2 and who died in the 1980's age 57! but I want to dedicate it tonight to all of those servicemen and women who are still serving and to those who have fallen in wars (some which should never be fought; you know the one I mean). 

I wear my poppy with pride every year as I have done since childhood.  My dad was also in the Royal British Legion and so I was immersed in the history and reasons behind Remembrance Day since as long ago as I can remember. 

So, if you will permit me, I'd like to present it here today in preparation for Remembrance Sunday 2009.

This Poppy

This Poppy fell for my father
it does so every year
and with it comes the heartache
and many red hot tears

Shed for those who won’t come home
the ones who died out there alone

This Poppy falls in remembrance,
it’s impossible to say
how much we owe to those who fell
they fought for us, they died for us
through a living man made hell

This Poppy fell for a reason
yet its message is always lost
on those who should know better
those who never count the cost

This Poppy falls to remind us
of the sacrifices made
it’s not some casual observance
it’s not just a parade

It’s a deep and heartfelt tribute
to those faultless memories
of those who gave the only thing
they could to make us free

And to those who should know better
and we all know who they are
In remembering those
who fell in war

I won’t betray their memory
I won’t give up my liberty.

© silversapphire 2009

All rights reserved. No part of the publications, or of this website may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means without the express prior written permission of the Author

Bonfire Night, Scaredy Dogs, Birthdays & Remembrance Day

I know November 5th was a few days ago but round here, the local youths think it better to keep a few back to set off outside people's homes.  Usually at 1.30am and they do this because they know a) Police won't get near 'em in time to tell 'em off and b) Because they can!  Upshot of all this is dear old doggie gets very uptight over it (no, not worth bothering rewriting Uptown Girl by the ever wonderful Mr Joel to the words of Uptight Dog) suffice to say that as he's getting older he's getting more scared and I have no idea why, he was fine in his youth but not now.  Some expert or other says it's because their hearing is way more sensitive than ours (yep, dog owners usually know this) will ever be and I agree, to a point.  His hearing has not become more acute as he's gotten older, I would assume it would be like ours - ie, getting duller as we age - not so apparently.  Poor guy sits down, walks around and lies down looking very down in the mouth, ears back and panting and won't sit near us (as if he thinks we are the architects of all this noise somehow) and if he thinks that, then he's way too clever for his own good, over analyzing things never helps and yes, he is a border collie but he can be so stupid at times he gives his breed a bad name (but that's an entirely new blog). 

I've been watching The Dog Whisperer when the mood takes me, and he advises that you don't pet the animal when it is fearful because it's just reinforcing the behaviour and as it feeds the insecurity, it makes it right in the dogs mind that being fearful is a good thing.  I knew that from ages back when I read up on it (not a total dunce ya see) as to why dogs and cats should not be encouraged in scared and fearful behaviour, because isn't it the first thing we want to do when we see an animal in distress?  We want to cuddle it and speak soothingly - NO, it's all wrong I hear DW cry.  By not giving affection when the noises start is meant to make the animal see it's ok and not to be worried, well Cesar Millan, it's not working with my old guy, he just hates the noise.  He even dislikes high winds and lightning so I think the next step is noise aversion therapy (thank you nods to BBC's 'The One Show' for that) whereby you play a disc or a tape of thunderstorms/fireworks etc (not at the same time obviously) at a level where the dog (or other worried animal) notices the noise but does not become fearful of it.  Having it on in the background makes the dog comfortable with it eventually, and hopefully it will get rid of the anxiety associated with fireworks etc.

I'm no killjoy by any means but I do think fireworks (or mortar bombs as they are round here) should be sold just for displays (like the one across from me right now in the local school, big bonny and everything (bonny is a scouse (Liverpudlian) term for bonfire, and if you didn't know already I am a scouser born & bred).  Big red fire engine comes and makes sure bonny is out properly before they all go home.  Thankfully, it's all over in about two hours and once the bonnies out, it's not so bad, unless the wind is blowing the smoke all over the place and into the houses opposite (ie MINE!).  Being asthmatic, smoke inhlataion of any sort is not a nice thing Mr School Caretaker Sir!.

And now, the bit I'm dreading ... tomorrow, I reach a birthday of a certain age (no, not that one - the next one) and I'm not looking forward to it at all, but as there's nothing I can do about it, just have to accept it and move gracefully on.  Someone told me earlier this week: "To embrace it" - oh yeah, that'd work!  Just imagine me walking down the high street 'embracing my birthday of a certain age' - I'd get locked up! 

Other half took me out to the local eatery today for lunch.  Usually it's quiet and peaceful on a Saturday lunchtime but, well, you know my life; yep it was heaving.  The table they had for us was right in front of the open fire (which was nice to see but not right in front of it) and so I refused it because I'd melt.  We sat in the bar and had lovely food, I had a prawn cocktail (being a child of the '70's, it never leaves you that) and a minted lamb steak in a red wine gravy (what they didn't tell you was they emptied half a packet of paprika all over the plate in an effort to make it look all arty and stuff).  I asked them to get me one without half a ton of paprika on it and they did, and then we had new york cheesecake.  But I don't feel so good after it, so hope the chef didn't put anything else in the other dish that he shouldn't as you do hear things of what certain chefs do to food that is sent back!  I wasn't just being awkward you see as I have an allergy to peppers and paprika and I'm reacting now, my face is so hot I could go out and be the bonfire myself- ah well Happy Birthday eh?

As well as being my birthday tomorrow, it is also Remembrance Sunday (being the closest Sunday to Nov 11th) and I am honoured that this year it falls on my day.  The Service of Remembrance is also on BBC1 tonight at 9.15pm for 1.5 hours!  I say 1.5 hours with an exclamation mark because anyone who is the same age and/or older than me will remember back to the 1970's and '80's when there was a whole Festival of Remembrance on the Saturday night before Nov 11th - always! It wasn't a paltry hour and a half of singing and marching, no, it was a full evening of military and gymnastic displays by the Royal Navy, the Army and the RAF along with, marches, music, prayers, singing and honouring the fallen with the poppies falling at the end of the evening.  Now, it seems Strictly Come Dancing and Meat Market sorry, X Factor, are way more important than remembering the lives of those serviceman and women who gave their lives to let us all live in the relative peace and ahem, security we are allotted by the great and good (if any exist) in the EU!

 

© silversapphire 2009

All rights reserved. No part of the publications, or of this website may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means without the express prior written permission of the Author

The curious case of Uptight Man at the vet's today.

Back to the vets again today for dear old collie to have his nails trimmed.  Vet was running late and he really doesn't like to.  There were two other dogs in the waiting room and everyone was chatting away - even the dogs.  Except collie got a bit scared of the lab trembling and working itself into a state of near apoplexy trying to get over to say hello (now my collie was doing this when two cats tried staring him out a visit or two back, and he definitely doesn't like being on the receiving end).  He even tried getting under the chair I was on and standing up, nearly toppling me off it.  Everyone, including me, had a good laugh at that - the things dogs do when they want to hide eh?  All the times I've been a dog owner and been to the vets I've never had that happen - first time for everything I s'pose.  There was a wire haired fox terrier, gorgeous little guy up there too.  Lab gets seen and goes home and then the terrier.  Terrier and his owner come out and are waiting to pay when a silver car screams to a halt outside the vets (on a single yellow line no less) and out gets a very uptight looking man with two cats in one cage (poor little sods), miaowing and carrying on for all they were worth!  His wife strolls in behind.  Cue collie going ballistic, his favourites are back!  The terrier's owner, a woman after my own heart, says to her dog: "No, that's not lunch."  As the cats were crying and making a really horrible sound collie starts barking which is not like him and we quieten him down. 

Collie gets seen and we come out again, engaging the receptionists in chit-chat while we wait to pay,  we explain that collie is tormented regally by cats strolling along the garage roof and wagging their tails ... at which point uptight man pipes up: "Oh well, that's just awful isn't it, it's a shame for your dog that a cat wags it's tail ... " he would have carried on, probably till he was blue in the face and burst something, but I just cut him off and carried on talking with the girls, thanked the vet and we left.

Firstly, how bloody rude is uptight man (thinking of rewriting 'Uptown Girl' to fully illustrate the point with very profound apologies to the master - Billy Joel).  Secondly, why can't he behave himself like every other owner (cat, tortoise, frog, budgie, dog etc) we encounter?  Last cat owner was a lovely lady but this guy; well, he needs to go cool off.  What a a moron!  Now, it's entirely possible that his cats had been hurt by dogs but that is no excuse for his dreadful behaviour, after all it's not my dog who attacked them, and not all dogs are the same. 

Most cat owners I know don't hate dogs and vice versa (even if the cats and dogs themselves do - it's their ancestry - no, they haven't been using a well known ancestry site to look up their ancestors, just trust me on this - ok? - notice I almost resisted saying it's in their genes, and then trying a joke about how we can't get a pair to fit!! but thought I wouldn't do that one as you probably know somewhere I can get jeans for dogs and/or cats) just the odd one who gives the owners a bad name, and uptight man was very odd indeed.  Hope I never have the extreme bad luck to encounter him, his wife, his cats or his big fast car ever again! 

Where's a traffic warden when you need one eh?

© silversapphire 2009

All rights reserved. No part of the publications, or of this website may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means without the express prior written permission of the Author

Swings and Roundabouts on eBay (I guess they sell them as well though, right?)

Newbie sellers on eBay, aren't they a hoot?

Don't get me wrong, most newbie sellers take the time to read about selling, and are clued up on the do's and dont's before they start on eBay, but there are a small number who don't, and I seem to be getting landed with them more and more and it's really hissing me off! 

The latest escapade happened two days ago when I bought something from this particular seller.  I don't pay immediately any more as I don't get paid immediately any more, so I pay within the sellers timeframe, and if they don't give one like this person then they get paid when I do (about 4 days after the auction) which is usually within most people's "reasonable" expectations.  Except, this one decides to pester me with a barrage of emails as soon as the auction ended demanding to know when, where and how I am paying.  I have learned from bitter experience that these types are after starting up a war of words by email because despite saying things to the contrary, they have no other life than having a go at a stranger in cyberspace.  I did not reply to her mail until today.  Yes, yes, I know I should have followed my own advice because the last time I tried sorting something out amicably I ended up in  in a war of words with some eejit in the west country because I had dared to advertise postage which was for special delivery, and was therefore higher than what this fool considered normal.  Every five minutes there'd be an email from her till I asked her to either buy the item and I'd look at the postage or go away.  She wouldn't go away and she wasn't even buying the item.  You would not believe the state this one got herself into, degenerating into spiteful, nasty language until I had no option but to block her email addy and report her to eBay.  All because she wanted some stranger to lower postage on an item she wasn't buying!  Isn't that the most moronic thing you've ever heard?  There is absolutely no sense in it at all - what a moron! 

Anyway, back to today's debacle, new person decides I am at fault for her getting married a few weeks ago; because I haven't paid yet her 2 kids won't have xmas presents.  This as well as saying she hasn't pestered me and I wasn't being fair because I had somehow forced her, by replying to her email, to tell me all this.  Yep, really worrying isn't it - didn't realise I was so powerful.  Any way, after her last missive, I told her not to send any more emails as they would be deleted without being read.  So go on, guess what she did next - that's right!  She sent another email!   I'm so stupefied by the eejits on eBay really I am, and yes I did delete it without reading it. 

Ebay is a great way of buying and selling, but people like this one really do bring it down and make it a less than enjoyable experience.

On the other hand, my little camera arrived today with all the bells and whistles on it (why you need bells and whistles on a camera is anyone's guess), it's a reconditioned Kodak, and it's so perfect, a little gem of a thing.  There had been a problem with getting it due, not to the post strikes like you might imnagine, but because the shipment mine was in had been damaged and they wrote and told me so, kept me informed evey step of the way, said that a new shipment was coming on Monday 26th Oct and I'd be told when it was coming out.  It arrived this morning, in a FedEx bag and delivered by Royal Mail - go figure!  The company also gave me £5 refund for all the hassle.  It is such a refreshing change to have a company that treats it's customers decently and does exactly what they say they're going to do, I am really pleased with them so I'm going to buy from them again when I need more batteries and any accessories for this little beaut.  Oh yeah, forgot to mention the company trading on eBay is based in New Jersey with European depots (mine was sent from a depot in Swansea), being an American based company probably explains the courteous, polite way in which I've been treated; all employees work to the same standard and it's really encouraging.

If you're interested in the model it's a Kodak EasyShare ZD710, it's tiny but perfectly formed and I love it ta bits!

© silversapphire 2009

All rights reserved. No part of the publications, or of this website may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means without the express prior written permission of the Author

Yes, It IS necessary to blow my stack when talking with my bank!!!

You know I'd told you about the problem I was having on Saturday and how I'd found a bod at my bank who'd help?  He didn't!!  I should have been worried when he kept telling me how good he was at 'helping people.'  How is this bank able to employ people who say they'll do something and don't, all they do is pay you lip service?  Is this unique to me and my bank, or does this happen to everyone?  It's abysmal service.

What my bank has done has charged me a 'late payment fee' even though it was their fault, it was the computer doing it, allegedly.  Funny that, I'll only ever fall for that one when a computer becomes sentient (and even then I'd wonder) because these guys programme the bloody things, so how is it 'the computer's fault?'  They must think I'm as stupid as they are, and that is the wrong thing to do believe me!  It's not as if you only have to tell one person the problem and get it sorted, what happens is that I have to tell different people (usually in different departments 'cos you've come through to the wrong department madam' or 'I need to transfer you to soemone who can help you as I can't do it') the same problem and it gets as bad if not worse as when you're looking for car insurance.  What I need is something along the lines of go.compare (and no, I'm not breaking out into opera at the moment) or one of the other available comparison websites where you ask the question once and you get the answer many times.  I know that sounds daft but that's what happens with my bank, only I have to ask the question many times and it gets so annoying and very, very frustrating to say the least. 

Now, apparently because their error has put my account 'in arrears' (something I never am by the way) they want those arrears before they take off the late payment fee.  After explaining for what seems like the 45th million time that I am not in arrears - it is their error, ergo they remove their error and the charge too; or I take it further, I am put on hold while they discuss the matter yet again.  Then they come back and magnanimously announce that they will remove the arrears and the late fee and give me £5 compensation 'for all the phone calls' - but, if we're talking compensation for stress and irritation here, throw in some hurt feelings we could be talking about a few grand here, oh yes!  But, that won't happen, because all I want is fair play and their errors taken off my account and not passed on to me as if it's my fault!!!

Moral of the story here is don't just put up with what your bank say if you know for sure you are in the right.  If you can't get anywhere speaking to the bod at the end of the phone, ask to speak to someone higher up, thereby reducing stress, cost and any frustration ... unless, you're with the same bank I'm with and if that's the case, I suggest you find a nice clean, flat piece of wall where you can bang your head!

© silversapphire 2009

All rights reserved. No part of the publications, or of this website may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means without the express prior written permission of the Author

Is it necessary to blow my stack every time I need to call my bank?

It seems so!

I have problems every single time I need to talk to my bank over one problem or another (usually of their making).  It gets so bad I think I may as well just give up, but I don't give up and that's probably not a bad thing but I can feel it having an effect on me.  Apparently, after years of low and normal blood pressure, it is now high, or at least it's on the 'high' side of normal or so the doc says, I mean is it any wonder when some teeny tiny little problem that should take no more than 5 minutes to sort out takes over an hour?

Before it was taken over by a bank I would never go near with a ten foot bargepole, it was a great bank, very helpful people you could call on a dedicated line and problems large, small and indifferent were sorted out quick and easy, but things went from great to unbelievably abysmal in the matter of a few months.  Doesn't matter that I've been with present bank since the early eighties, still get treated by some of them like I'm 6 years old and that's not a good thing to do to me!

Since the complete domination of the call centre, personal, decent service has gone (this lot are in the UK and can understand what I'm after which you'd think would be half the battle, but no, they are always 'not the right department madam, I'll transfer you' at which point you are not transferred but cut off).  Not only do I end up being cut off (is there a more annoying and soul destroying sound than the single tone you are left with when that happens?) and wanting to throw the phone out of the window, I want to go down and pitch up at 'Bank HQ' and have it out with 'em there and then.  If I manage to get reconnected to this 'service' after waiting an eternity for the phone to be answered, I am likely to be met with a pseudo sympathetic teenager saying: 'oh that shouldn't happen' when you tell them you are likely to explode if they don't help.  Oh, and that recorded message in one of the most infuriating tones ever which 'us lucky customers' must endure, telling me they are: 'busy helping other customers.'  Wonder how long those lucky people waited to be 'helped'?

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggggggggggggggg (pause for breath) gggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Today I finally got the problem sorted out, a full hour and twenty minutes after I started calling.  I wouldn't mind (well I do actually - see above) but I ring the right department, and am led upon a useless and time consuming merry chase around the various departments and personalities that infest this bank's call centre, before the merry-go-round stops at the very first place I came in.  So, the upshot is that I did finally get the current problem sorted by a helpful guy in the (right) department (a full blown rarity I grant you).  He not only sorted the problem out but is going to give me a small amount of financial compensation - which won't be going into double figures so don't get excited.

Why banks don't employ people who have a brain cell (like the guy above) I don't know - probably costs more you're right. 

The current problem was, apparently, the computers fault! 'Oh,' I heard myself saying 'that old chestnut.'

Now it;'s time for a well earned cup of tea with sugar in and possibly a lie down in a dark room for an hour or so till the husband traipses in from wherever he's been today, Bluewater I s'pect!  Ah well, at least the old car passed it's MOT today!  Small mercies I know!

© silversapphire 2009

All rights reserved. No part of the publications, or of this website may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means without the express prior written permission of the Author