Absolutely Average

Now I may not be a huge fan of abstract art but I don’t think it gives me the right to stick a wad of gum on a $1.5m painting.

I mean, really, how dumb do you have to be not to realise that paintings on display at The Detroit Institute of Arts are probably there for a purpose? Or that the people wandering around looking at the pictures & other exhibits really do prefer their artwork without gum stuck to it.

He is only 12 and I don’t think he understood the ramifications of what he did before it happened, but he certainly understands the severity of it now

Apparently the boy has been suspended from school. That’s a punishment for a 12yr old? Now can anybody tell me they have (or know someone who has) a 12yr old child who actually likes going to school.

Anybody who read my “original post”:http://www.absolutelyaverage.com/article/11/ever-been-had about or had any problems dealing with “GetMeTickets”:http://www.getmetickets.net should know that the official receivers have updated the “GetMeTickets site”:http://www.getmetickets.net and have posted this addition:

All enquiries regarding tickets should be directed to the Special Managers via this email address or by telephoning the dedicated help line on 0870 141 7168.

God I hate people who do this. I travel on one of the busiest sections of road in the UK every day and without fail if there is an accident anywhere along this section of motorway (M6 southbound heading for Birmingham for anybody who knows it) grinds to a halt. This is because some Pr1ck has decided to slow down to see what is happening. Don’t these people know that they are probably the cause of most of the accidents on this section of road.
I heard on the travel news this morning that on another section of the motorway there was an accident Northbound and 2 further accidents Southbound virtually opposite the first one. Well doesn’t take a bl00dy genious to see what has happened here.
This brings me to the second part of this rant, Tailgating. Only one question, WHY? I think drive quite sensibly (although slightly over the limit on motorways, maybe 80mph instead of 70mph) always leaving a decent distance between myself and the car in front and then all of a sudden some Idiot in his Subaru Imprezza Turbo is about 10ft behind me flashing his headlights. I can’t go anywhere as I’m overtaking so what does he want me to do. Now imagine the guy in front of me sees an accident and hits his brakes so he can gave a good gawp at the scene, I then have to slow down to maintain my distance and then CRASH Turbo man has ploughed into the back of me, gets out of his car and rants at me for slowing down, as though him hitting me is my fault. This did actually happen to a friend of mine but of course the guy in front is oblivious to anything, he’s seen the accident opposite and that was all he was interested in. He happily goes on his way ignorant of the accident he has caused behind. So I say to all rubberneckers & tailgaters Get the feck off the roads until you get a common sense implant
Does this happen anywhere else in the world or is it just us Brits?

On this day the world is spending Billions of $$$ on sweets, flowers, t@t & cr@p. *_WHY???_*
If we really wanted to show others how loving & caring we all are then why don’t we do something useful with the money instead and maybe I dunno:

* Dig 1000 wells in the worlds driest regions
* Create a some farms (and train farmers to work them) in areas where famine is a problem.

I’m sure this would give people a warm fuzzy feeling all around the world & also help eradicate some of the worlds worst problems.

If you wish you may make a comment with your own ideas where our Valentines Day money could be better spent.

I thought I was wise / smart enough to recognise a scam when I saw one but unfortunately alcahol has a way of dulling the senses.

_So what happened I hear you ask_, well I’m going to tell you:

One group I’ve always wanted to go and see is “The Eagles”:http://www.eaglesband.com, so when I heard from friends in the pub that they were doing a UK tour but the tickets were running out fast, I went online as soon as I got home and started the process of finding some tickets.

That’s where my troubles started, all of the usual ticket agencies were bogged down (I presumed it was people trying to do the same thing as me). I eventually found “www.getmetickets.net”:http://www.getmetickets.net and yes they had tickets available all be it at hugely inflated prices, but what the hell, it’s a once in a lifetime event (and of course I was somewhat under the influence), so I paid nearly £150 each for the tickets (including booking fees etc.). Now all I have to do is wait for my tickets _right_?

Wrong, today while reading the news I come across “this article”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4685936.stm which throws a spanner in the works. Upon further reading I then see “this item”:http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/reports/consumer/consumer_20050913.shtml and also “this one”:http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/reports/consumer/consumer_20051024_2.shtml (both from the BBC consumer watchdog program) which tell me that “www.getmetickets.net”:http://www.getmetickets.net is definately not a site I want to be buying stuff from.

Ok so what do I do? Well the first thing I did was log onto the venue’s website to see if there are any tickets left and pray. YAY they have some left so I manage to buy 2 better tickets for half of the price, so now I’m definately going to the concert. Then I contacted my credit card company who told me that _YES I am covered *but* I have to get written documentation that I am not going to receive my original tickets, failing that I will have to wait for the concert date to pass then my claim can go through_.

Ok this is not the ideal situation but it’s one I can live with, unlike some poor people who bought tickets as presents for family & friends, paying by cheque or debit card. These unfortunate persons have no chance of getting their tickets or money back.

*Yeah Right*: With all of the news today dominated by how much profit the oil companies have made this year e.g. “Shell reports record UK profits”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4672716.stm of £13.12bn (and BP expected to make even more) I have to ask myself a few questions:

1> How much petrol / diesel do you have to sell to make that much profit?
2> How much duty has the government raked in from these sales?
And finally
3> How much tax does the government expect to get from all of these profits?

OK I think the answer to #1 has got to be a lot.

The other 2 are more difficult, but let’s try and be objective here, most people have only see the numbers quoted for the profits and have said _yay it’s been a good year for the oil companies_.

I say it’s been an excellent year for the tax man. First he taxes the hell out of us for our petrol. The official figure for duty (the figure the government tells us) is approx 70-75% of the price is duty. Now let’s turn that around a bit, pertol is currently approx 90p per litre so duty of 70-75% on 90p is 63-67.5p per litre.

This means that in real terms with an actual price of 27-22.5p per litre it turn out that the price of pertro actually increases by 333-400%. Not a bad little return for doing absolutely sod all.

Of course the government will also take an extra slice of the profits that the oil company has generated to the tune of up to another 25%. Now if we estimate that the oil company makes half of the original price of petrol and half of that is profit then that now increases the amount of TAX (let’s be honest it is all TAX) the government earns on the price of petrol to a staggering 444-533%.

Oh how the tax man must laugh.