Category: General blogging

Paranoia and the bank

So you know how in December someone stole my card details and got about £100 out of my account? I was a bit paranoid because even after it was sorted my sisters bank details were similarly nicked.

A bit past 1pm today I got a phonecall from someone saying they were the Santander fraud department and needed to double-check some things about the other fraudulent transactions made on the same day.

Santander NEVER call you directly. You get automated messages for you to call them. So I told the lady I’d call back. When I got through to Santander’s security department, they had no record of the call.

Plus it sounded like an Indian call-centre. A GOOD Indian call-centre, but an Indian call-centre nonetheless.

So the people who stole my card details also have my phone number, and my feeling that I or this household are being targeted in some way is growing.

The actual banks advice? Keep a close eye on things, let them know if anything odd happens. Helpful stuff.

Of course I’ve seen enough information about con-games I can’t help but wonder if I’m playing into their hands. What if they’re expecting you to call the bank back yourself and have tapped your phone, or re-routed the call to a fake centre, so you give the details as the security questions thinking you’ve outwitted them?

I don’t think that happened, but it’s a possibility. After-all we live in a city where fake BT vans van steal a few hundred miles of copper cable overnight and simply vanish.

Santander seem to be getting sloppy though. When asking to confirm the last digits of my card number the operator actually suggested them to me while I was rummaging in my wallet for it, which is probably the sole reason I haven’t quite calmed down again yet.  That and that they asked for the confirmation number on the back, which I’m sure they’ve asked for before but still seemed out of the ordinary.

The internet banking was also suffering a glitch at the time too, where it wasn’t able to show current balance. That fixed within a minute or two, but still, the whole thing’s got me on-edge again.

Flashing Lights and Balls

Browsing wikipedia can give you some terrible mind-viruses.

For instance, did you know the Scarborough Fair Collection has two Wurlitzer Theatre Organs in it? Okay they’re in two different locations, but can you imagine “Dueling Banjos” being performed on them?

Of course YouTube’s not much better, and seeing Jerri Ellisworth’s enthusiasm for pinball machines makes your brain crank up. One quick sound-bite of “I am.. Sinistar” and I’m not thinking of the original arcade game but the remix by NSReynard, and by extension how amazing a pinball machine based around his music and Squeedge’s artwork would look.

But then I start thinking of what a Wurlitzer pinball machine would look like too.

Not leaving this soley as a FaceBook ramble

Lordy fuck, I have managed by myself to drink a whole bottle of leftover 12% rosé without meaning to, alongside a quarter tin of Quality Streets, and am neither sugar-buzzing off my tits nor blisteringly drunk.
Surely my kidneys deserve some sort of medal; they’ve over the past few months achieved the sort of level-grinding that’s usually associated with a power-ballad training-montage.
I would say I’m officially looking for a friendly, trustworthy and tactile lady-person who is equally willing to be a snuggle-buddy as they are to indulge carnal pleasures the likes of which are know to tear the heavens asunder. But I won’t, because most previous relationships have included leaping in at the less-than-metaphorical deep-end, so I’m actually on the look out for someone personally compatible.
Though the monkey-sex thing is probably on the compatibility list somewhere.
And while we are on the topic of mind-boggling vag, to the artists out there; the female sex organ is not a slit that can simply be positioned anywhere on the bodies mid-line from breastbone down up under & around to taint without incurring some degree of factual inaccuracy. If you’re going to vainly attempt to draw the mystical and long-sought joining of male and female bits, at least have the decency to look at some actual porn first and get their googlies in the same fucking postal code as each-others!

My Xmas “card” to you!

It’s been a pretty dire year, and I’ve let most of you know I can’t afford to send cards at the moment. It also hit me tonight I don’t have everyone’s emails any-more and sending directly to just a few didn’t seem right! So here’s my Christmas card-picture to you all.

An especial thank-you goes to those of you who’ve helped me out in these past few months, and to everyone I hope the year ahead is better than the one passed. Onward and upward and all that. :)

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you all. X