My cat has started spraying on my toaster. 

I am not joking.

Rikkitic:

 

My cat has started spraying on my toaster. 

 

I am not joking.

 

 

 

Clearly the Toaster has been making moves on the cat's territory. 

Having to listen to some soccer mom moaning about how hard it is to pick her precious darling up from outside the school every day, because most of the space is taken up by a large bus stop and the rest by all the other soccer moms who have driven there to pick up their precious darlings.  Gosh, if only there was some way to get them from the bus stop outside the school to the bus stop near their house.

neb:

 

Having to listen to some soccer mom moaning about how hard it is to pick her precious darling up from outside the school every day, because most of the space is taken up by a large bus stop and the rest by all the other soccer moms who have driven there to pick up their precious darlings.  Gosh, if only there was some way to get them from the bus stop outside the school to the bus stop near their house.

 

Well she is correct, no other business would be allowed to operate and cause that level of disruption to traffic. people let them get away with it because of "kids" and "awww the kids" and "wont someone think of the children". Meanwhile large stores are delayed and delayed because of traffic concerns.

Yeah, forgot to mention that multiple streets in the vicinity are gridlocked from about 2:30 to about 3:30 every weekday, the streets near the school because of the soccer moms, the streets a bit further away because everyone has to detour around the epicentre of the gridlock.  Heaven help them if there's a fire or medical emergency, nothing can get through.

Had a friend who lived in a cul-de-sac behind a school which had a school entrance there. If you had two wide vehicles (Remuera tractors) parking opposite each other it actually blocked the road.

Soccer mums would be there up to an hour before school finished so they could get a park , making life very difficult for the residents, he regularly had them even parking in his driveway and they got offended when asked to go elsewhere.

Apparently walking home was too hard and took too long.

Rikkitic:

 

My cat has started spraying on my toaster. 

 

I am not joking.

 

You have my sympathies.  It's happened to me several times.  The first time I didn't realise and turned the toaster on.  The smell of burning cat urine is a unique circle of hell.  I dumped the toaster in the garage and attempted to give it a deep clean but discovered that nothing on god's green earth will remove the smell.  So I just replaced the toaster.  Which the [insert four letter word here] cat urinated on again a few months later.  Out of despair for my credit card I took a chance on the original toaster and found that about 6 months in purgatory exorcised the spirit of cat wee from the toaster, and was able to thorough clean it and put it back into service.  Only for the cat to wee on it again.  Proving that I'm a moron that needs to experience things multiple times, I finally learnt my lesson and took to putting the (third) replacement toaster in the cupboard after each use, away from the overactive feline glands (and sprayed the previous toaster area with cat repellent).

sir1963:

 

Had a friend who lived in a cul-de-sac behind a school which had a school entrance there. If you had two wide vehicles (Remuera tractors) parking opposite each other it actually blocked the road.

 

Soccer mums would be there up to an hour before school finished so they could get a park , making life very difficult for the residents, he regularly had them even parking in his driveway and they got offended when asked to go elsewhere.

 

 

 

Apparently walking home was too hard and took too long.

 

And council are too slow to arrive to do anything. 

Printing this out https://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2004/0427/latest/DLM303099.html and sticking to cars is one way to educate them.

sir1963:

 

Had a friend who lived in a cul-de-sac behind a school which had a school entrance there. If you had two wide vehicles (Remuera tractors) parking opposite each other it actually blocked the road.

 

Soccer mums would be there up to an hour before school finished so they could get a park , making life very difficult for the residents, he regularly had them even parking in his driveway and they got offended when asked to go elsewhere.

 

 

 

Apparently walking home was too hard and took too long.

 

And it's dangerous .... because of the traffic.

elpenguino:

 

And it's dangerous .... because of the traffic.

 

Statistically I understand "walking buses" are far safer than cars

elpenguino:

 

sir1963:

 

Had a friend who lived in a cul-de-sac behind a school which had a school entrance there. If you had two wide vehicles (Remuera tractors) parking opposite each other it actually blocked the road.

 

Soccer mums would be there up to an hour before school finished so they could get a park , making life very difficult for the residents, he regularly had them even parking in his driveway and they got offended when asked to go elsewhere.

 

 

 

Apparently walking home was too hard and took too long.

 

 

And it's dangerous .... because of the traffic.

 

That's when I'd go out of my way to either park my car so that they cannot use my driveway and encourage the neighbours to do the same, or find an excuse to go somewhere in my car just after they'd parked in the driveway and come back a short while later so that the next inconsiderate ningcompoop has to move as well and then leave my in my driveway. By this stage there'll probably be no parks for them. Good job.

I know I'm getting on in years having hit the half century this year, but at what point did it all switch from kids all walking to school to that not even being a considered option.

If I'd asked for a ride to or from school, at best I'd have been laughed at.  Broken arm?  Don't need that to walk.  Mild storm?  Are you going to melt?  😝

geoffwnz:

 

I know I'm getting on in years having hit the half century this year, but at what point did it all switch from kids all walking to school to that not even being a considered option.

 

I wonder whether it coincides with the transition from one car per family to 2, 3, or more cars per family?

Edited to add: A quick and very unscientific Google indicates the change seems to have happened some time around the early 2000s, so it could also have something to do with Gen Y parents.  There were also lots of comments like "Why can’t they let their kids walk home? I went to that same school years ago and walked home every day. It was safe and easy", and given that violent crime has been dropping steadily throughout that time frame it's actually safer to walk now than it was 20+ years ago for people using bogeymen as the justification.

I walked to and from both intermediate and high school (finished in 2000). Even at primary school I walked halfway (there was a relatively busy road that needed to be crossed about halfway home, so Mum would come and pick me up from there when I was little).