I’m going to keep this short, mostly because I’m tired but also because I have no faith in my laptop to not crash while I’m writing this. Needless to say, there are a few things that are bothering me (my inconsiderate laptop being one of them) that I wish to complain about. So, without further ado…

My laptop keeps restarting

I have Windows 8. And, for the most part, it is a great operating system. It goes without saying that it is far superior to Window Vista, which is as awful as awful gets.

Unfortunately, it is still relatively new and somewhat flawed system. On a day-to-day basis I don’t have a problem, but once it decides to do the monthly updates and installments that I cannot negate, I run into a whole load of issues.

The first time it wanted to update, it would repeatedly freeze on 17%.  No matter what I did, it would get to 17% and do nothing. I tried patience, I tried to restart it…no change. I even completed a factory reset twice, but the only thing that achieved was to delete all of my downloads and preferences. How awesome was that? Eventually I managed to solve that problem by leaving it for twenty-four hours, but that was far from ideal. But at least that will be the end of it, right? Right?

No. I had to go through another update last night. And now my laptop keeps restarting, for no damn reason! I have no idea what to do, or what is causing it. One minute I’ll be loading up the internet, or writing my book and bam! Computer switches to a blue screen and then restarts! It has done it ten times already.  Hopefully it’ll stop soon. Failing that, I’ll have to complain to the tech guys I’m paying to fix such issues, which I’m sure will be a fun conversation. Urgh. Stupid thing.

And if that wasn’t enough…

My internet connection is making me miss dial-up

I feel the sub header sums up my issue perfectly. Nobody, and I mean nobody, wants dial-up. Even people who have never had access to the internet before, when offered the chance to use dial-up, decide it isn’t worth the hassle.  Just thinking about the eee uhh eeeeeh  screech is enough to give me nightmares. Urgh.

And yet, for me at least, it seems like the dark ages of dial-up have returned. Opening up a website takes far longer than I’m comfortable with. I sacrifice my internet browsing in the hope I can still talk to Vanna, but even that has become a chore. I can’t Skype, I can’t play on Xbox Live, I can’t do anything. Even the old dongle I was using back before we got broadband (ha!) is failing me.

And it’s not like I’m used to, nor asking for, high internet speeds. I’ve operated perfectly well on awful connections. But this current speed is beyond the pale (or is it pail; one of those things I’ve never entirely been sure of; either way, my internet sucks). What are Talk Talk (my IP) using to power their servers? Hamsters? Terrible.

The biggest problem is the fact I can’t take advantage of my inability to procrastinate on the internet to instead do something productive, because the damn laptop will restart on me if I try to write, and I’ll lose all my progress. Faaaantastic.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, I’ve also had to endure several other irritating things today…

Grumpy old bus drivers

My bus fare is £2.30. I don’t always have that in exact change, so I have to use a £5, or £10 note. Usually, this isn’t a problem. I hand my money over to the bus driver, take the change, and sit down.

Today, though, it wasn’t going to be that simple. When I handed my £10 over to the driver this morning, I was on the receiving end of an expression I can only describe as something tantamount to pure, all out hatred. You would have thought I’d punched his dog in the face. Or perhaps his wife. Whoever means more to him.

To this driver, using this method of payment was the worst thing in the world. How dare I use something other than  two £1 coins, a twenty pence piece and a ten pence piece!

The problem, you see, was that the driver didn’t have the change I needed. And according to him, that was my fault. After all, why would he, a bus driver who takes fares off people all day, have enough coins to deal with a £10 note? That is such an outrageous sum of money! Nobody uses £10 notes! How stupid of me to think I could! Who do I think I am, with my paper money and no coins?

Thankfully, I did manage to get my change before the bus got to my stop. I did have to listen to the guy rant on for twenty minutes before he passed it over, but I got it.

Dear me. And this was before I had even started work! What else did my day have in store for me?

Lots and lots of monotonous work

Yay! My favourite.

Ugh. At least I don’t have to do it again tomorrow, I suppose (I was covering for somebody else today). Maybe things will be less stressful instead.

I’m not holding out much hope though. It’s the hope that kills you.

Speak to you all later,

Alex