So Now I Know What It Feels Like

Being the victim of credit card fraud is most unpleasant especially when there's no one around to give you moral support by saying 'There there!'

But all is not lost. I immediately phoned Halifax customer services. The person I spoke to was most understanding, they've cancelled the transaction & card and given me a new account number.

Someone called Ernestas Gustaitis bought tickets in Austria through Ryanair to the tune of £285.59.

Halifax has an extra layer of security for online transactions so I don't understand how it happened.

The name is Lithuanian. Thieving bastard, I hope he rots in hell.

Green Fingers

My elderly friend Joan pays the 'Shaw Trust' to cut both the front & back lawns. They recently let her down and can't return for another 6 weeks. So muggins here took pity and helped out. Last week I did the front, which is small and wasn't too bad. Yesterday I tackled the much bigger back garden. The trouble with me is that I have to do everything properly & don't know when to stop. I didn't realise until afterwards just how tired I was. I was asleep by 9pm. Today I feel a bit lethargic but that will soon pass. But that's not the end of it. I have elderly neighbours, their front garden is paved but weeds are growing in the cracks. They hate not being able to tackle the job and worry that it looks bad. When I get a spare few moments I will deal with it.

Emperor Dragonfly

Around lunchtime I saw the female ovipositing eggs in the floating vegetation of my pond. It is probably the UK's most powerful dragonfly, a true predator, more than capable of taking other large dragonflies, small butterflies and other flying insects. The emperor is one of the largest dragonflies in Europe and also one of the fastest fliers. It tends to hover, high above the water in a very regal fashion, before launching itself, like an arrow, at its prey. I was really chuffed, my plans to have a wildlife garden are slowly falling into place. More on Dragonflies & Damselflies here

Ploddishness & Cluelessness

Tired of receiving emergency 999 calls from the chronically clueless about "good stain removers" or "rats in the kitchen" the Met recently launched an alternative phone line for non-emergency situations. It is hoped the number, 0300 1231212, will help cut down the 50,000 monthly calls - a quarter in all - that do not require an emergency response. A laudable effort, though when people are calling 999 because they "can't turn their tap off", one wonders if dialing an eleven-digit number might be beyond their skill. But the Police can also be chronically clueless. Fancy leaving two dogs locked up in a vehicle on the hottest day of the year. Needless to say those poor doggies died.

Encounters with a Guide Dog

I often stick my nose into other peoples' business. That particular bit of nosey parkering took place while I was waiting for a bus in Cosham. A young woman with a guide dog was asking people which bus went to Fareham. She needed to get to a specialist shop and wasn't sure where it was situated. It was an impromptu decision, I had nothing planned so I volunteered to go with her. She readily accepted. We caught the bus and spent the journey chatting. Jenny went blind aged three and is now 37. Her right eye had been removed when she was 15 and was wearing a very realistic false eye. What a small world, it turned out that it had been made by a friend of mine who is now retired. Five weeks previously she'd an operation to restore the sight in her remaining eye. It was very successful, she'd been promised three metres of vision but could actually see as far as six. Jenny is very excited but is philosophical to the fact that it may not last In Fareham I asked other shoppers for directions and it didn't take us long to find the shop. Afterwards we went to a cafe. We caught the bus back to Cosham and then we walked round the corner to another stop where I made sure she caught the right one to take her back to Horndean. Ada her Labrador guide dog is nine years old. As she is too old to get used to another person she will spend the rest of her life with Jenny.

Pick Up Those Feet!

During the last week I've tripped over twice, the first time was coming in the back door, fortunately I landed on a mat, not a hard floor. The second was going UP stairs, on carpet. My 'reward' is a bruised knee and a stiff finger. Both times it was because I was in a hurry and hadn't picked up my feet. This is the sort of thing that old and doddery people do. This posh staircase isn't mine, I wish. Being council built housing mine are very basic.

Times Online - Money Central

MPs' expenses: the ten most outrageous claims ever

MPs are paid an annual salary of £63,291 – yet in 2007 each MP also claimed an average of £135,600 for expenses. Travel costs, staff pay and, of course, the controversial second homes allowance are amongst the many things charged to the taxpayer.

Matthew Elliott of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “Some politicians have been taking the mickey and taking advantage of taxpayers’ generosity. It is more important than ever, for the democratic system as much as for taxpayers, that the full details of every claim be published. The minority who are cashing in so disgracefully should be run out of town.”

As the row over the transparency of expenses continues, Money Central lists the 10 most outrageous expense claims ever made by MPs.

1. Jacqui Smith’s pornography

Jacqui Smith was left “mortified and furious” after it emerged she had claimed the cost of two pornographic films her husband had watched from her parliamentary expenses budget. Her expenses claims included two films, each costing £5, viewed on April 1 and April 6 last year.

2. Jacqui Smith’s house

Ms Smith is already facing an inquiry over her decision to designate her sister’s house in London as her “main home”. This allowed her to claim £116,000 on her Redditch constituency house, where her family live, as her “second home”.

3. Tony McNulty’s house

Tony McNulty, the Employment Minister, claimed £60,000 as a second home allowance for staying in his parent’s house and is also facing investigation by the Commons watchdog.

Mr McNulty started claiming allowances for the house in his Harrow constituency in northwest London in 2001 and continued to do so until January this year, even though he moved out in 2002. Since then he has lived in Hammersmith, which is just nine miles from Harrow.

Sixteen London MPs claim up to £16,000 a year for a second home, despite living less than an hour's commute from Westminster.

4. Derek Conway’s son, or “parliamentary assistant”

Derek Conway, the senior Conservative MP, used expenses to "employ" his teenage son Fredrick as a Parliamentary assistant, despite the fact that Fredrick was a full-time Geography student at Newcastle university. Frederick was paid up to £11,773 a year for his work – but was “all but invisible during the period of his employment,” according to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

5. Nick Bourne’s iPod

Last year it emerged that two members of the Welsh assembly, Conservative leader Nick Bourne and fellow Tory, Alun Cairns, bought iPods on their expenses worth a combined £398. Mr Bourne, who represents Mid and West Wales, also bought a £120 trouser press.

6. Bill Butler’s £1 charity donation

Bill Butler, the Labour MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, tried to claim back a £1 charity donation that a hotel made on his behalf. He says that the hotel made the charge without his knowledge. It was rejected by the Scottish Parliament authorities.

David Whitton, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, also had a claim rejected this year – he wanted £290 in expenses for printing Christmas cards.

7. Caroline Spelman’s nanny

Caroline Spelman, the Conservative Party Chairman and MP for Meriden, was found to have broken the rules for MPs expenses when she hired her nanny as a secretarial assistant in the late 1990s.

Tina Haynes received free board and lodgings - but was not paid - for looking after Mrs Spelman's three children. However, she was paid £13,000 a year, from Mrs Spelman's expenses, for 18-hours work a week as the MP's assistant.

8. Brian Gibbons’ remembrance wreath

Brian Gibbons, the the Labour Minister for Social Justice and Local Government, claimed £16.50 for a Royal British Legion wreath that he presumably laid at a remembrance service.

9. Alex Fergusson's charity advert

The Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament attempted to recover £132.78 for the cost of a "congratulatory advert" for a constituency charity for disadvantaged children. His claim was rejected.

10. Council tax

With the average annual council tax bill set to increase to £1,414 from next month, many struggling pensioners will be interested to learn that MPs do not have to pay council tax on their second homes. They can, of course claim it on expenses.