Annoying visual flaw (by alaric)

Grrr, it's a little thing, but it somehow really bugs me that there's a graphical flaw in one of the icons in Mac OS X's Software Update utility:

(I added the red arrow)

You can tell how it happened, too - somebody was using Photoshop or whatnot to fade the ends of the arrows, and didn't finish the job properly.

Government Bureaucracy (by alaric)

I created a limited company in... 2000 or so, for various reasons. At the time, I was advised that a director and shareholder would probably be expected to fill in self-assessment tax returns, but that I needn't worry, HMRC would send me one when they wanted me to do it.

Anyway, apart from a latter in 2004 or so saying that they might be sending me one, I've never been sent one yet.

But last week I got a letter saying I'd not sent in my 2005/2006 one (due in by the end of Jan 2007), all demanding it and threatening fines, so I went to the local tax enquiry office to enquire. The nice lady there said I'd need to ring the order line to get the tax return form to send in, and pointed me at a phone in the corner.

So I rang up, and the person at the far end said they couldn't send out return forms for previous years, so I'd have to ask at my local tax office for one. I explained I was already there and that they'd asked me to ring her. "Well, I can't. Talk to them," she said. So I went back to the lady I'd been talking to and explained. "Oh, OK, I'll get you one," she says, and produces a tax return form and gives it to me.

If she could have done that in the first place, why send me to the phone?!?

Monster in the Sink (by sarah)

Look at it!!! Just look at it - its a monster!!!

Where did it come from? A nuclear zone? British Aracnids should not get that big and they certiantly shouldn't jump out on Sarah's whilst they are getting a drink in the middle of the night!

Destruction of the Magpies (by sarah)

I was hoping to get some nice pictures of the little blue tit family that had taken up residence in the bird box on the apple tree. The little chicks were being fed by the industrous perants and we were concerned as part of the rose bush that lives near the tree had blown infront of the opening making it a bit of a struggle.

The wind came and sorted that out for us as we hadn't wanted to disturbe them too much is we could help it.

Then Barabara comes over all sad - she found the top of the nesting box ripped off, she had already risked disturbing the nest to nial down the lid to try and prevent the magpies doing this but is had only been at the very corners and wasn't obviously secure enough :'(

She climbed up to find the little nest ripped to shreds and no sign of the eggs.

She then climbed the tree to nial it on good and proper so that if the blue tits had another brood they would be safe. Here she is hammering the lid on:

However this turns out to have been a bit in vian as she found what is probably the mother, dead and forlorn, we think she was probably sitting on the nest when they ripped the lid off.

I also found this egg down by the compost heap now it is possible that it just fell out of the nest once the chick had hatched - I can't remember what Barabara said it belonged to - something like a hedge sparrow or something. But it is possible that either the Magpies got that nest too like it did the ducks last year or (and more lickily) a cuckoo did it as this is one of their favourite nests to lay in.

It's about 3 cm long and a bright terquoise blue with little dark flecks.

The Mischevious Jean (by sarah)

Jean was helping tidy up again and came across our industrial sweet collection used for prizes at Scouts etc.... Thank goodness she hasn't worked out that they are edible! She spent ages taking every single sweet out of the tub and then carefully putting them all back in again!

Jean loves the phone, now if you phone and she's about you are lickily to be jabbered at in baby for a good ten minutes before I can prise the phone from her sticky little mitt!