A random thread for small things that don't really warrant a thread of their own

[Beardy]

On the names and children thing, when I was a scout leader I had o e chap who’s parents were both medical consultants. She was a surgeon and therefore a MRS (capital letters. Funny people medics) and she had kept her maiden name for professional pusrposes. All none of my business as a scout leader but she had bank accounts in both names and wasn’t particularly bothered about which cheque book she used to pay his subs and trips fees. The first couple of times came across cheques from an apparent random stranger it took me a while to work out what was going on!

[barakta]

Oddly, her family are the ones that seemed most perturbed by her retaining her surname. I think she made her point by writing 'not known at this address' on any cards and letter they addressed to her using my surname.

Many of my female friends did avoid changing their surnames when marrying and it is almost always their families who are the most arsy about it.

I did once convince a friend who uses a different forename to that her parents chose, whose parents keep calling her OldForename that "If you got married, your parents would be falling over themselves to call you Mrs NewName, so they can bloody well buck the fuck up and correctly use NewForename"

Basic life policy, ask people how they wish to be addressed, note it, use it. If name is hard to say or spell, learn it and do your bloody best. Avoids all manner of hurtful bullshit on gender and race lines with a little bit of effort and courtesy. It's not hard!

[Mrs Pingu]

Maybe we should just have a serial number instead of a surname. Or go all Prince and have a sigil....

[fuzzy]

Maybe we should just have a serial number instead of a surname. Or go all Prince and have a sigil....

yebbut, how do you pronounce your particular sigil squiggle? I can see it now- street full of bods and someone yells out "Oi! @€-=>!" Everyone will stop and turn to see who is calling them.

It'll never work.

[Ham]

On the names and children thing, when I was a scout leader I had o e chap who’s parents were both medical consultants. She was a surgeon and therefore a MRS (capital letters. Funny people medics) and she had kept her maiden name for professional pusrposes. All none of my business as a scout leader but she had bank accounts in both names and wasn’t particularly bothered about which cheque book she used to pay his subs and trips fees. The first couple of times came across cheques from an apparent random stranger it took me a while to work out what was going on!

Now here's a thing that I've been wondering on over the years.

You know those people who introduce themselves as "Mr John Surname"? No, you're not. You are plain "John Surname". Mr is an honorific title given to you by others, EXCEPT...... if you are a surgeon, when you are entitled to describe yourself as Mr Surname.

I wonder, can laydee surgeons address themselves as "Mister"? I'm pretty sure that whenever they baked that rule, it wasn't gender specific as everyone knew that women didn't have sufficient brains and had over-sufficiency of vapours to become a surgeon 

[Beardy]

I really must stop backing things on Kickstarter. Bt there are at least three things on there just now that I really need.

Although the frequent delays in completing and delivering items does allow me to honestly say to Dr Beardy (Mrs) ‘ooh, I paid for that AGES ago’

[hellymedic]

I wonder, can laydee surgeons address themselves as "Mister"? I'm pretty sure that whenever they baked that rule, it wasn't gender specific as everyone knew that women didn't have sufficient brains and had over-sufficiency of vapours to become a surgeon 

I am a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
Sometimes I'm Helen, sometimes I've used 'Miss', sometimes I stuck to 'Doctor'.

A Theatre Sister once asked me if I was Dr or Mr when I booked a case over the phone one night. I was tired and my voice can be quite deep but...

[arabella]

I did once convince a friend who uses a different forename to that her parents chose, whose parents keep calling her OldForename that "If you got married, your parents would be falling over themselves to call you Mrs NewName, so they can bloody well buck the fuck up and correctly use NewForename"

Basic life policy, ask people how they wish to be addressed, note it, use it. If name is hard to say or spell, learn it and do your bloody best. Avoids all manner of hurtful bullshit on gender and race lines with a little bit of effort and courtesy. It's not hard!

I wish the banks would pay attention to that.
Every now and then they refuse to do x on the grounds that the bank account name does not match.  I have pointed out several times that whereas arabella $surname is unique, never-ever-used-firstname $surname isn't. & so on.

Not that it's a good reason, granted, but I understand having a different surname to your kids can make international travel significantly more arsey depending on where you're travelling to and from.

Sounds like a good reason to me!

Well yes; but the reason people with different surnames get grief is for reasons of security theatre rather than for legitimate reasons IYSWIM.

Of course, but it's a bit of security theatre you can do something about with relatively little hassle, unlike say changing your nationality or the colour of your skin.

It's not just you, the adult, though.  My little dears got thoroughly quizzed once (age <10).  I had to very carefully describe to them what the security person wanted them to confirm without at the same time seeming to be telling them what to say.

and why don't females get regraded to Mrs at the age of 18 in the same was as males are regraded to Mr?

[Kim]

and why don't females get regraded to Mrs at the age of 18 in the same was as males are regraded to Mr?

IME the DVLA seem to be pioneering that approach.  Probably by accident.


I've been gradually getting organisations (or at least the ones I've had dealings with since I was a teenager and who insist on titles in the first place) to update their records from 'Miss' to 'Ms' on the quite reasonable basis that I'm  a) nearly 40  and  b) respectably civilised.

Exceptions for the ones who address me as 'Frau' because they're German, 'Mr' because their database was built by idiots, and 'Lady' because they're TV Licencing.

[ElyDave]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-44327990

It went for £28k in the end

[T42]

Nice to have the dough for such indulgences.

[Ham]

My kickstarter-backed volume will be with me soon ...it looks good, too https://www.roughstuffalps.com/

[Jurek]

This morning, at the entrance to the foot tunnel lift in Greenwich, two laminated A4 signs, printed in red:
"YOUR HOLIDAY IS COSTING US OUR HEALTH AND OUR ENVIRONMENT! LISTEN TO THE F****** PEOPLE"
That'll be the traditional South London welcome, then.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Not that it's a good reason, granted, but I understand having a different surname to your kids can make international travel significantly more arsey depending on where you're travelling to and from.

Sounds like a good reason to me!

Well yes; but the reason people with different surnames get grief is for reasons of security theatre rather than for legitimate reasons IYSWIM.

Of course, but it's a bit of security theatre you can do something about with relatively little hassle, unlike say changing your nationality or the colour of your skin.

It's not just you, the adult, though.  My little dears got thoroughly quizzed once (age <10).  I had to very carefully describe to them what the security person wanted them to confirm without at the same time seeming to be telling them what to say.

Well quite. It's got to be easier for kids to give $Answerofficialdomwants when it's also $Answertheyknowisright. And regardless of whether you regard learning to lie to officials as a grave sin or an essential skill, it's probably best first practised in less stressful circumstances. It looks like an advantage to the Spanish system where children get hyphenated surnames compounded from both parents. Unfortunately we tend to be a bit snobby about hyphenated surnames; grammar cringe security theatre!

[Jakob W]

This morning, at the entrance to the foot tunnel lift in Greenwich, two laminated A4 signs, printed in red:
"YOUR HOLIDAY IS COSTING US OUR HEALTH AND OUR ENVIRONMENT! LISTEN TO THE F****** PEOPLE"
That'll be the traditional South London welcome, then.

General loonery, or is there some particular trigger (other than half term)?

[Beardy]

In a fit of unbridled generosity I bought Dr Beardy (Mrs) two tickets to The King and I musical show in THAT LONDON on the basis that she wouldn't want to go alone and that Ms Beardy the younger would accompany her. I should have checked Ms Beardy the youngers availability because she already has tickets to see an entertainment penned by The Bard on the same evening. Dr Beardy (Mrs) sister also cannot avail herself of a free ticket because she is going on holiday that weekend.

Panic is beginning to set in because I might have to accompany her. 

[Jurek]

This morning, at the entrance to the foot tunnel lift in Greenwich, two laminated A4 signs, printed in red:
"YOUR HOLIDAY IS COSTING US OUR HEALTH AND OUR ENVIRONMENT! LISTEN TO THE F****** PEOPLE"
That'll be the traditional South London welcome, then.

General loonery, or is there some particular trigger (other than half term)?

It's a popular spot. With visitors from teh FORRINS.

[ElyDave]

In a fit of unbridled generosity I bought Dr Beardy (Mrs) two tickets to The King and I musical show in THAT LONDON on the basis that she wouldn't want to go alone and that Ms Beardy the younger would accompany her. I should have checked Ms Beardy the youngers availability because she already has tickets to see an entertainment penned by The Bard on the same evening. Dr Beardy (Mrs) sister also cannot avail herself of a free ticket because she is going on holiday that weekend.

Panic is beginning to set in because I might have to accompany her. 

I feel your pain! I may have to go and see Michael Bubbly Buble on the same basis

[jsabine]

This morning, at the entrance to the foot tunnel lift in Greenwich, two laminated A4 signs, printed in red:
"YOUR HOLIDAY IS COSTING US OUR HEALTH AND OUR ENVIRONMENT! LISTEN TO THE F****** PEOPLE"
That'll be the traditional South London welcome, then.

General loonery, or is there some particular trigger (other than half term)?

It's a popular spot. With visitors from teh FORRINS.

Might be linked to the plans for a cruise liner terminal at Enderby's Wharf (just a few hundred yards along the river from the foot tunnel), which was granted planning permission without imposing any sort of requirement for the docked liners to use shore-based electric hookups to power onboard services (lights, aircon etc etc). Running onboard generators - with mucky marine fuel, albeit probably a (slightly) lower-sulphur variant - has been estimated by protestors to be the equivalent of about 700 trucks passing by ...

(There are a number of questions about the planning process, with local residents and councillors largely opposed to the plans and feeling ignored, while the decision was taken by a planning committee largely consisting of councillors from the other end of the borough. But the council leadership changed - a bit - after the elections in May, the local MP is opposed to the plans in their current form, and the landowner/putative developer is currently trying to sell the site, so who knows what'll happen in the end.)

[Kim]

That seems likely.  It's a bloody shambles.  I got off a train at Southampton once, and the diseasel fumes from the cruise ship(s) in the docks were worse than when I got on the train at Mordor Central.   

(It also seems fundamentally wrong that running auxiliaries for power (even on nasty marine fuel) is more economical than plugging into the grid.  Presumably the hook-up of ships designed in ABROAD is a non-trivial problem with the-great-thing-about-standards issues vis voltage and frequency, so shore power isn't just a case of providing a really big plug.)

[citoyen]

granted planning permission without imposing any sort of requirement for the docked liners to use shore-based electric hookups...

(There are a number of questions about the planning process,

File under ‘Shocking But Not Surprising’

[Jurek]

You needn't look very hard on the interwebs to see why this hasn't been well received by the locals.

ETA - Particularly as Greenwich has some of the worst air quality in London already.

[jsabine]

Presumably the hook-up of ships designed in ABROAD is a non-trivial problem with the-great-thing-about-standards issues vis voltage and frequency, so shore power isn't just a case of providing a really big plug.)

I'm not sure that, at the dockside, it *is* any more difficult than providing a really big plug - my (extremely) limited understanding and reading about it hasn't thrown up conflicting standards as an  issue to be overcome. And even if it is an issue, presumably the shore-side solution is simply to have a different transformer feeding each of the green, blue and red Really Big Plugs, as this all needs enough power that they'd need a high voltage line to the site.

*That's* more the infrastructure problem - they'd need a Really Big Cable to go along with the Really Big Plugs, and presumably need wider upgrades to the supply and distribution network across half of South East London. That said, there is an actual power station even closer to the proposed site than the aforesaid foot tunnel is, although it's owned by TfL, provides backup power to the tube, and is currently having its generating capacity increased so it can provide day-to-day power.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Provision for shore power is becoming more common at ports (big enough unused ducts and pits plus leaving space for substations) but few ports are actually installing the electrical gubbins as yet. Foot dragging because of the significant capital cost in my opinion.

[ScumOfTheRoad]

I would imagine that the way to match the voltages/frequencies would be to convert to DC, at an agreed voltage of course ?? I am not an electrical engineer.

As an aside I live in the Docklands area. There are iron covers beside the quays which are marked GPO, these are little hatches which would lift up to uncover a telephone socket for the ship whilst it was berthed.
In that area we suffer from the telephone infrastructure dating from that era, even though there are hundreds of new apartments in the area. ADSL broadband is dire in that area. One of the reasons I was told is tthat the telephone lines were originally used as alarm lines for the dock warehouses.
To prevent Mr Big and his team of robbers splicing into the lines and short circuiting the alarm, the lines had to go direct to the exchange without junction boxes. The exchange being in Bermondsey about 2 kilometres away. I used to get modem level ADSL speeds in my flat, which simply conked out on a hot day.

Thankfully now have a superb fibre optic connection via Hyperoptic, which brings fibre to the building then fans out via Cat5 cables to every apartment.