An election, rtfm, and other matters

There’s a general election tomorrow in case anyone hadn’t noticed and somewhat surprisingly, I am allowed to vote. This is because I’m a Commonwealth citizen. Some people are not very happy about this. A friend of mine here is Dutch and although he has lived in the UK for 17 years, he is not allowed to vote. I think he is a bit miffed that I can. It does seem a bit unfair, I do agree, however I am grateful to have the opportunity to vote and I will be voting.

Now I have a confession to make. I have been in contact with the co-wheels car people and it seems there was nothing wrong with the car last Saturday and I am just incompetent. There is indeed an immobiliser which kicks in if the car is not started within a few minutes of unlocking it. When I first discovered this I convinced myself that their communication was poor and they should have made this clear to all new members. Then I went back and had a look at the pamphlet they posted out when I first joined up. In the troubleshooting section at the end it says: “I am in the car but the ignition will not start: The immobiliser will kick in after a few minutes of presenting your card on the reader ….”.

On other matters, Elizabeth told Ben to fuck off the other day.

Posted

May 6, 2015

Journal

Rachel M

Tags:

Commonwealth, election, manuals, rtfm, UK, vote, voting

Comments

29 responses to “An election, rtfm, and other matters”

Sandy McFadden

May 6, 2015

I love how you just added in the last sentence.

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1. Rachel M
  
  May 6, 2015
  
  Well it had to go somewhere. The end seemed like a good spot.
  
  Reply
  1. Sandy McFadden
    
    May 6, 2015
    
    I was being serious. Your posts always make me laugh 🙂
  2. Rachel M
    
    May 6, 2015
    
    Good! I’m always glad to hear I’ve made someone laugh 🙂
PedalWORKS

May 6, 2015

Too funny. I told my wife the same today but I would bet I got a much stiffer response than Elizabeth.

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1. Rachel M
  
  May 6, 2015
  
  Ben explained to Elizabeth that it was not a nice thing to say and that she shouldn’t tell people to fuck off. I’m guessing your wife didn’t respond with something similar 🙂
  
  Reply
Chait

May 6, 2015

Good to know that you can vote!

It happens to all of us who try to figure things without reading the manual. I believe it is not a bad thing. We succeed most of the time but stumble once in a while. I think it is alright. Now you know for the next time.

Sheesh! Wonder how kids pick up bad words so easily. I am waiting for the day my son will do that. I am not expecting he won’t use them.

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1. Rachel M
  
  May 7, 2015
  
  Thanks for making me feel better, Chait 🙂
  
  Reply
Steve Bloom

May 7, 2015

I expect SNP has your district locked up as it does most of Scotland, so feel free to vote Green!

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1. Rachel M
  
  May 7, 2015
  
  My seat is currently held by labour. I’m not sure how safe it is.
  
  Reply
  1. Steve Bloom
    
    May 7, 2015
    
    The Grauniad seems to think all of the Aberdeen-area seats are gone SNP. But feel free to vote Green anyway, as it seems to matter little in terms of survival of the Tories in government whether those seats are SNP or Labour.
2. Rachel M
  
  May 8, 2015
  
  Yes, my seat was lost by Labour and went to SNP. I voted Labour as a tactical vote because I didn’t want Cameron to get another 5 years. A decade of Tories is too long but it’s looks like that’s exactly what will happen anyway.
  
  Reply
3. Rachel M
  
  May 8, 2015
  
  Oh and I meant to add that I didn’t vote Green for a few reasons. I don’t like their anti-GM and anti-nuclear stance. I don’t mind not having GM foods and nuclear power but I don’t like the hard-line anti- approach. My local Green’s candidate also works for oil and gas which just seems wrong. I know you are very much against GM foods but I am not. I am against the intimidation practices I have heard used by some in the industry but I am not against the technology. I read a good article recently about a pest-resistant variety of eggplant which is being grown in Bangladesh. The farmer no longer uses pesticides at all. I am supportive of this.
  
  Reply
  1. Steve Bloom
    
    May 9, 2015
    
    Re nukes in the UK in particular, good luck. I especially like the mafia-worthy threat from the Cameron regime against Austria.
    
    Wll Hinkley C costs (ballooned from $10 billion pounds to $25 billion even before the lawsuit) show up on Scottish electricity bills? Me and other in northern Californians are still paying a monthly surcharge for a slight error (i.e. installing half the piping backwards) made over 30 years ago in the construction of our last remaining nukes at Diablo Canyon. Lasting gifts, those nukes.
    
    I’ve caught Lynas in some pretty flagrant misrepresentations in the past and so take his claims with a chunk of salt, but broadly speaking I’m less worried about GMO veggies than grains and pulses due to the quite different scales of cultivation. The zero pesticide claim is strange. This industry site claims significant reductions, but nothing like zero. So excuse me if I’d like a bit more evidence from Lynas than anecdotes. (Note that Monbiot writes the same sort of article, but puts a fully-referenced version on his website.)
    
    Also, be aware the Bt is far from a panacea. Speaking of grains, corn, in which Bt was first extensively incorporated, has started to see serious problems after just fifteen years or so of widespread use. Remember, these insects had already acquired considerable resistance to the pesticides previously relied on. There could be some very unpleasant synergies in store. If things come to a similar pass in Bangladesh, will those farmers receive the same degree of help that the ones in Iowa will? I seriously doubt it.
    
    Re the o+g candidate, I think you said a while back that the Aberdeen economy is highly dependent on the industry? That’s not going to end well.
  2. Steve Bloom
    
    May 9, 2015
    
    Hmm, longish comment seems not to have posted.
  3. Rachel M
    
    May 9, 2015
    
    Found it in spam.
Steve Bloom

May 7, 2015

But was Elizabeth’s use of the term really appropriate in context? This educational video may come in handy.

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1. Rachel M
  
  May 7, 2015
  
  Yes, I think so. I won’t show her the video though.
  
  Reply
Steve Bloom

May 7, 2015

Ah, synergy.

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scifihammy

May 7, 2015

Not easy to own up when it wasn’t actually the car people’s fault – Good for you 🙂
And I just love how Elizabeth’s language skills are blossoming!! 🙂

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1. Rachel M
  
  May 7, 2015
  
  Haha, yeah. Hopefully we won’t hear that one again anytime soon 🙂
  
  Reply
Richard

May 7, 2015

I was once many years past at a works-family party – one of those balmy family days where food and drink flows in those long off not corporatey days. The boss asked my youngest (who was just 3 at the time) “where is your daddy?” and she replied “he’s pissed!” … He almost wet himself when he told me … “She has an incredible command of the vernacular”.

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1. Rachel M
  
  May 7, 2015
  
  I love how kids are so honest 🙂
  
  Reply
Vinny Burgoo

May 7, 2015

‘A friend of mine here is Dutch and although he has lived in the UK for 17 years, he is not allowed to vote.’

Er, he’s either too stoned to know EU electoral law or he is not who he says he is.

Reply
1. Rachel M
  
  May 8, 2015
  
  Vinny,
  
  Go to the Electoral Commission website – http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/faq/voting-and-registration/who-is-eligible-to-vote-at-a-uk-general-election. It says:
  
  Additionally, the following cannot vote in a UK general election:
  
  EU citizens resident in the UK (although they can vote at elections to local authorities, devolved legislatures and the European Parliament)
  
  Reply
  1. Vinny Burgoo
    
    May 10, 2015
    
    Whoops!
    
    (I wonder who it was who was too stoned…)
  2. Rachel M
    
    May 11, 2015
    
    🙂
anniegoldfisher

May 8, 2015

Can Elizabeth spell fcuk yet??

Reply
1. Rachel M
  
  May 8, 2015
  
  Not yet. I’m not keen to teach her.
  
  Reply