Snowball

Rabbits are difficult pets for experienced pet owners only apparently and the reputation they have for being a child's ideal first pet is quite ludicrous. Vet fees are also a lot higher. Cats on the other hand can be mastered OK and are much better for the average person but do live for a very long time. If however you do an older cat a favour and adopt it you wont get your house wrecked by a bastard kitten. Have a look at Something Awful's Pet Island forum for more information than you could ever want or need to make a choice, I sometimes lurk in there for a laugh and to see the pet crazy Americans reaction when a British person admits to letting their cat outside.

Yup. Of course you can get them cheaper if you limit yourself to one specific train and book in advance, but if things go awry ( like a missed megabus due to delayed flight in my case) then that's how much you'll have to shell out. Just want to see them get used really. Offers?

Bugger. I have been buying them for the boyfriend when each individual one has come out. On the plus side, play.com were doing boxsets of House for 15 each a few weeks back. Not bad considering there's over 20 episodes in a season. Just looked at the website and now they are 12.99 each, a saving of 74%. Think I'll pick up the remaining ones.

Hello, To cut a long stupid story short I have 2 train tickets to get rid of, the return leg (Aberdeen - Glasgow) of a 2 part return. Off peak only. Cost to me was 94.20 for the 2 returns, but given that it's just one way left, anyone want to give me 25 for them?

I often see people slinking along a hedge on my street like they're looking for something. Professional woman on a bike, elderly guy, neds, all sorts. I often see one of my neighbours inserting packages in this hedge. Real smooth. I actually have no idea what's going on as the packages are quite big. Could be pirate DVDs but why go to the effort to conceal them in a rainy Aberdeen hedge?

I haven't been to the Belmont in a long while as when I had a membership card something went wrong 5occasions in a row. When I went to post this though although I remember being mildly grumpy, I can't remember what it actually was that happened each time. Definitely projection related though for the majority. Maybe I should give it another go while I still have a student card.

Yeah it's just a bit gloomy late on. I don't have the "it'll never happen to me" attitude so much now I'm an old cronie.

My friends have taken to not bothering with the taxi ranks and either walking out of town up King St or past the theatre toward Rosemount. They've never had to go further than that Kury place that is now called something else or the theatre before they've managed to flag down a cab on its way back to the ranks. Most drivers say when thanked that they stopped because they seemed always reasonably sober and were walking along in a calm fashion and the driver reckons they'll get a quick and painless ~8 fare out of it. I can't believe they get away with not waiting in the queue like everyone else to be honest. I could walk home in just over 10 mins but it would involve cutting through the Morrisons car park and I don't always have the balls to do it so I brave the ranks and get insults shouted at me for taking up a cab by myself.

Yeah, when the first girl put me through to the second and I asked to make sure I was through to cancellations she sounded shocked and asked what exactly I needed help with so I think I had perhaps been put through to the wrong place but it turned out she could help anyway. Best of luck with your mortgage, I'm sure it will be fine and mine is just a case of different departments not being on the same page.

Ah good, a rant thread. I applied to open a current account with Nationwide online as I'm off on holiday soon and they don't charge to use your card abroad. This was over a month before we're due to leave, plenty of time. The website said that they would only need to send me a letter to get my signature, and that they would verify my ID themselves and that they would be in touch if somehow it didn't work, which was fine. I then received the letter asking me for my signature stating that when I returned the letter signed "and the documents we need" they would open my account. Problem being that there was no indication of what these documents were. I went back to the website, double checked the ID requirements and sure enough, no documents required. So I signed the letter and sent it back. A fortnight later, not only was my first application still sitting at "Waiting for ID/Signature", but another application with a totally different number was now sitting under my name with the status of "Incomplete." The website claimed that they would send me messages at every step but I hadn't received one, let alone many. It was now apporaching a date too far on to get my debit card in time for going away, so I emailed them to ask what was up, and if I should have sent any ID back with the signed letter. I never got the promised email acknowledging my query, let alone a response. I did actually check that I had put my address in correctly at this point and it wasn't just me being a moron but I had. So the next day I phoned them. I got through to someone who said firstly that the new different application was "ehh....... that's just...... hmm.... that's just the same thing." Right. Next, "well you need to go into a branch with your ID." I explined that unfortunately that this was news to me. No matter what I said to point out how this was at odds with everything else that had happened at this point, I got that phrase repeated back to me. I gave up and asked to be put through to cancellations as there wasn't any point now in opening the account, and got put through to someone else who told me that my ID was confirmed, the previous girl was talking complete horseshit and that all they were waiting for was the letter with my signature, which must have got lost in the post. She agreed that it was now too late to get a functioning account, apologised and deleted my application. Twenty minutes later I get a response from the email enquiry telling me that I must go into a branch with 2 forms of ID before anything can happen. o_O Nationwides complaint number does not work. To make things funnier, my boyfriend went into the branch to open an account for himself (which is what I really should have done I guess) and although he managed to get one open they wouldn't take a cheque that he had to open it with because their systems were down and the girl said that it was "entirely likely that something would go wrong with your money." I do not recommend Nationwide under any circumstances. I apologise for anyone that actually read that but I have an exam tomorrow and this has been stressing me out all day, glad to get it all out!

I remember totally baffling my mum as I freaked out over an episode of Fingermouse (anyone remember it?) I always watched it whenever it was on but for some reason one day a particular episode frightened the crap out of me. Don't think they even had scary episodes but the programme always featured musical instruments and maybe the music was ominous or something. I also had to leave the room when the final round of Catchphrase come on, for no discernable reason. Again I think it was something to do with the music counting down the seconds that scared me. I was an odd child.

I had no water all morning/afternoon yesterday then brown supply for a few hours. I had problems with water pressure a while ago and they told me it was because I lived beside Pittodrie and I should try not to wash when there was a match on. o_O On the next phone call they freely admitted that older buildings need pressure of a certain amount (say, 4 whatever the measurement is) but in order to cut costs they have reduced the pressure to old Victorian buildings to less than this. They send a man out somewhere to turn it up. I don't trust the water board.

I've been told Thora Birch and Kirsten Dunst before, but the fact that the proponents of these names were drunk speaks volumes. When I put my face into the MyHeritage thing not of all the faces I got were female. I'm under no illusions!

I don't think it's as bad as it used to be, a lot of students and immigrants have moved in because of the cheap rents I guess. Still looks like a bit of a dump but I once got lost in the area at the back of three in the morning one weekend after seeing a drunk mate home (about 3 mins from my flat :O) and wandered around for a bit and never saw a soul about. Could have been lucky though. As for vandalism, dunno what Froghall is like but I live in between Froghall and King Street and my car had been vandalised 3 times since I got it last August, always on a Friday night. If you do move in try and find a cul de sac to park in or something.

I have: 1l Gorbatschow vodka (cheap-o) 1/3 bottle JD 70cl Jim Beam 3/4 bottle Spirit of Louisiana- which is actually Tesco's rip off, Asda's is called Deep South and is apparently nicer (that'll be why I've got so much Spirit of Louisiana left) but I wouldn't know cos it's my boyfriend that drinks it not me 1 bottle Sainsbury's TTD rip-off Baileys which has been in the fridge for about 2 years but still seems to taste OK :O 1 bottle Lanson champagne

I like Aberdeen fine. Likely wont be here constantly as the institution I want to work for doesn't have an office up here but I'll probably leave and come back. It may not be so big and multicultural after the oil is finished but that's going to take a while anyway. I'm always surprised when I'm in a part of Aberdeen that I'm not often in- there are always bars, restaurants etc that look interesting but I have never been to and sometimes have never even heard of. I don't make the most of this city and doubt a lot of people do, but they probably still moan about it.

I have a small one bedroom flat in the King Street area of Aberdeen and I got the central heating replaced in October last year. New boiler and 5 new radiators and I think it cost about 3,000. I used North East Heating (or similar name, they have an office on King Street close to the Old Fire Station) and had no complaints. They always came on time and gave a good honest appraisal of what needed done and the cost. They also fixed a plumbing issue I was having for free.

I have one weekend camping ticket for T for sale. Have decided to go on holiday rather than go to a festival this year. 170 anyone?

My personal experience so far has been that ScotRail/GNER isn't worth it, no matter how cheap it is... megabus all the way. Every single time I have been on a train in the last 5 years there has been vast overcrowding, or a loud aggressive drunk, or some football hooligans terrorising young families, or offshore workers with a rapidly disappearing 12 pack of Tennants roaring into their phones in the silent carriage, or some other waste of space that has ensured that by the time I get off the train I'm ready to scream. My personal favourite was the woman who sat with me and my 2 colleagues at one of the tables and proceeded to have a 3 hour long screaming match with her boyfriend on her mobile, frequently hanging up on him only to phone back 30 seconds later asking why the hell he hadn't called her back immediately to receive more abuse! There are never any staff to witness any of this unreasonable behaviour either it would seem. On the megabus, which I have taken a lot more often, there has never been a single disturbance and I've hardly ever been late. If the customer service is as bad as it seems as well, I'm going to try and never go near a train again. There, that's my OAP rant for the day over

I wouldn't go with the King Street School of Motoring. I know someone learning with them at the moment and they don't seem that great. No record card with times/dates of lessons to keep you right, and the guy has stood him up once cos he put the appointment in the wrong page of his diary o_O. He also wont book the same time every week- i.e. if you know you're free every Thursday at 3 he wont book that slot for you every week and there's every chance he'll have given it away to someone else so you'll have to shuffle committments about and make other arrangements. He's had coming up for 20 lessons now and there's never been any mention of theory or practical testing. My friend went out and got his theory done under his own steam and the driving instructor didn't say anything when he told him that he'd achieved it next day. I find it a bit odd that a driving instructor wouldn't take an interest in all aspects of obtaining a driving licence- I know when I was learning my ace instructor told me all about the theory, how to book, what to revise and how to go about it etc, and really took an interest. This guy that my friend has "never says anything" apparently and just chews gum constantly. He has been admitted to hospital for quite a long stretch of time recently however so there will have been a strain on the business.

I've had a very positive experience so far with my peak student JJB membership at 32/month. I've never had to wait more than a minute for anything I've needed to go on and that's even when I've gone after work at half five. After 7pm and it gets even quieter. Lots of people with varying ability so no embarrassment factor either. Never tried to join a class though so don't know what they're like busy-ness wise. They have closed peak membership at the moment though but off-peak is still open. I wish I could go off-peak, although I do go on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and it's quiet.

I'm a trainee chartered accountant but really I don't much accounting, I work in the corporate tax dept and deal with compliance issues in various countries and will probably get into consultancy the longer I am there. Don't everybody rush at once to ask me about my thrilling job...

Can I ask those of you that were there for half seven what the timings were? We got there at about ten past eight, thinking that we'd just have missed Briggs at the worst , but when we got there the Mad Caddies seemed to be halfway through their set! They must have fairly whizzed through the support bands, I was gutted to have missed any of the Mad Caddies.

I have 2 tickets for Frankie Boyle at the Music Hall on the 22nd Feb and am looking to swap them for 2 tickets for the 24th Feb. Just realised I have tickets for a gig on the 22nd. Anybody, please!?

Oh yeah, definitely! I'd rather be made to feel like a blithering idiot than have a life-threatening illness any day!