A kids life for me everytime

Now that I have been banished to the front doorstep as we have a new baby, I see the neighbourhood kids more than I would normally do.
We live in a cul-de-sac and the neighbourhood kids are the life of "the street" - always something happening and it is guaranteed to be good fun.

I love kids, I used to be one, they have an approach to life that is so open and uncomplicated. No matter what their age, their imagination knows no bounds, it is disheartening to know that I will never be a kid again. I have always plodded on through life having a laugh, I don't take many things seriously and have found that providing the local kids with a lend of my cricket bat, football, footpump for their bikes, etc, has always brought some laughs.
Half the problems with society today and breakdown of family units can be eased by not dismissing kids out of hand, but remembering that they are just as adults used to be, before the world of work, money and pressure landed upon us.

Occasionally I will mention the local kids on here, their names limited to initials, such as K, D, M, etc. of course for their safety, as is the way in this "modern" world.

Anyways, this said, I bumped into D this afternoon... he has just started senior school (or high school as it is now called) I asked how he was doing at school, he loves it!
What is his favourite lesson? Maths!
Wow that's unusual, what do you want to do when you leave school? I want to join the army and fight for my country... with that, off he went up the street with his football cards.

A very respectable career choice, if only our armed forces were allowed to be armed forces and not glorified policemen, I'll let others inform him of this, I don't want to shatter any of D's dreams.

One time passcode - ebanking - Abbey

Have you come across the "new" banking security feature, one time passcode?
Abbey banking, have restricted my account for 9 days for online banking, posting the message, "The ebanking service is off line at the moment, please try again later."

I rang them, spoke to three customer service advisors (I use that term loosely) each did not know what was happening, but arranged to investigate and call me back.
No call came back, so I attempted to log in last night and came across the page to register for a one time passcode.
Now I am all for improved security but I already have to enter a card number, passcode and registration number, do I really need now to have this?

Without registering, banking online becomes a "view only" option, unable to make transactions, move money between accounts, pay bills online, etc.
Which defeats the object of banking online I think. Of course, if I want to arrange my banking without this I must use telephone banking, which a part of the phone charges goes to the Abbey bank!

To register for the one time passcode, you must give the Abbey your mobile phone number, so no doubt we can look forward to marketing texts being sent to my phone, no doubt we will be getting cold calls from them regarding loan products, etc.
My mobile phone is nobody's business but mine!
I don't have a mobile phone for the convenience of business to force me to use it for their benefit, I pay for it, it is for communicating with my family and friends.

Why should I have to either pay a minimum of £120 a year (to run a mobile phone), to use a banking service to manage my money, or not use the "new" service and walk across town everytime I want to pay a bill or pay Abbey in phone charges for using their telephone banking service, to control my own money?
Should I choose to register a mobile number with the Abbey, then each time I use ebanking to manage my account, they send out a passcode to my mobile to enter on their website.

It is fair to say I am raging and ranting about this, I do not care for giving away my information and privacy, to a business, bank, company, etc.
I do not trust them one bit when they state they won't use it for marketing or cold calls, every other business I know of has said this and it has not been true.
Some companies even pharm your email address when you visit their website and then sell it on to other companies, have you ever tried to stop companies from using your information to market products against you?
Every tea time we get the automated call, stating "we can wipe off all your debts," my email is spammed by the likes of comparethemeerkat, even though I have never submitted an email address to them or used their business (they can call it price comparison, I'd call it a business that makes money from all of us and increases our premiums).

Then we have the security aspect - look at how much of a "success" chip and pin has been!
Billions of pounds to implement the system, everyone sets up codes etc, and yet when the figures come out, fraud on credit and debit cards is at record levels.
Banks have even refused to pay out thousands of customers because the thief has managed to aquire the victim's passcode, so the bank pass the buck and blame the customer.

The onus is always on us the customers, to change and do things differently. Banks are greedy money making institutions and nothing else!

Other posts:
Abbey online banking nightmare
Abbey banking farce continues

Would kids today go this far for a loaf?

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They don't make them like this anymore!

Male doctors not allowed to treat women?

Our doctor is male, he has been the doctor of my wife for almost 30 years, he has been my doctor for 22 years he has been our son's doctor all 21 years of his life. He is also the doctor of our baby girl.

So imagine my surprise when the wife goes off for her 6 week check up, after giving birth.
When she returns, she informs me that our doctor is "not allowed to do it!"
The reasoning for this, is that it has been stopped incase he "touches her in an inappropriate manner"
Exactly what else does a doctor do? Do they heal by the power of the mind?
Not only did this appointment waste the doctor's time, but it highlights just how stupid today's world really is.

If my wife has a heart attack and her doctor is on hand to administer emergency treatment, will he be prevented from doing so in case he touches her boob?
Those making the rules governing us, need to get a grip!

7 days on the breadline - episode 2

Last night was episode 2 of the series, where four "stars" move in with a family and attempt to live "on the breadline"

Mel B has to look after six kids on a limited income. To her credit she tried to use her influence to help them out, free gym membership (instead of the £300 gym membership at the local gym) for the mother and children she was teamed up with. A 45 minute journey to get to the gym though didn't make sense, a common sense approach would have been to hit the local school? where they let the public use their facilities? or exercise without the need for a gym on tennis courts, swimming baths, etc?
I am not going to knock her though, because she is trying - that's all you can ask really.
In episode 2, Mel tried to sort out the girls bedroom by black bagging all the clothes that were everywhere in their room, but way too much washing to be done in the home, so she took it all to the launderette, a service wash for all these clothes cost £100, which she made the camera crew fork out for hehe.
Mel then went to Asda instead of the nearby supermarket, as it would be cheaper. (All us common sense users know that NO supermarkets are cheap, it is a false economy, what you get for a reasonable price with an offer, they more than add on to the regular products that are bought every week)
Unfortunately, Mel took one of the children to Asda in a taxi, which costs £6.50 one way, £13 just to pick up shopping is not a great way to save money, using the free bus from the supermarket would have been! (At least she got the camera crew to pay for the taxis!)

Next up, my favourite one of the four celebs, Keith Allen. A family of six living in a two bedroomed house (if my memory serves me well) and the front room doubles as a bedroom for a 17 year old.
I was impressed last week with Keith's approach, he didn't try to lay the law down, he didn't use his celeb status at all, he looks right at home.
Whilst the other three celebs went to bingo or went to the gym as a treat, Keith got some ingredients together as a treat and let the young children in his care make their own pizzas (see what I mean? good old common sense Keith, well done!)
The home has a problem with rats, which Keith tried to resolve, ringing the council twice but receiving no reply, so he tried again a few times a day later and finally got a call back. Stressing the urgency, they sent someone out to have a look around and Keith made the teenager pick up the dog muck in their back garden, "Don't give them an opportunity to put down in their report that there was dog muck and it is attracting the rats!" Simple, effective words of wisdom, you should never do anything to let the authorities get off the hook without doing anything.

Keith then arranged a meeting with the local council, about rehousing. Along with the single mum of the family before going in he provided her with information on what the law says must be the case, forwarned is forarmed and all that.
It highlighted for me a failing of many people, they envy others for simply knowing their rights and making sure they are enforced, help yourself appears to be Keith's way and I agree with it.
Keith introduced a keyboard into the front room for some fun, he told the cameras that "If you leave the instrument in the room and the kids are around it, they will mess about with it!" which they did.

Next was Trinny, who was caring for a lady who couldn't walk very well. She introduced her to a mobility scooter which is free for the day to get around town, using the benefits on offer which the lady had no idea about.
Trinny also talked to the lady about being rehoused, to a place without steps to help her get out more, another good example of helping yourself I thought.

Finally we had Austin, the former England rugby player. He was dealing with a young offender on a tag and awaiting trial for stealing a car.
As with all kids/teens, there is a good side if you take the time to look for it and we found it this week, as this rebel teenager who has caused so many problems for his mum, it was revealed he visits his grandad everyday and clearly has a soft spot for him.
In this episode, Austin went along with the teen to have a game of footy, down at the local astroturf pitch. Playing there was a group of Iraqi lads and Austin asked them if they wanted a game with the estate lads.
All seemed well as they had a good game, but two of the lads refused to play, they didn't want to associate with them as they were, "arrogant!"
Austin picked up on it straight away and rightly so... sport has no barriers, which is why it should be used to solve problems everywhere. Why not fly over afghanistan and drop thousands of footballs instead of bombs?

Next week is the last episode I think, personally I would rather have seen 4 politicians take part in this for the week, as it is they that control the country and create the climate these people live in.