Chris goes to China…

No more arguments… No more heartache… It’s over! We had a long MSN today which is too personal to publish here… She is history.. I’ll have to think of something else to talk about in this blog! Any ideas?

Hello again.. Some of you may know that I run another website: http://www.harphampix.com which is a photo community website. At the top of every page I proudly say, No Ads, No Banners, No Popups, No Way… because it’s an ad free site which I’m quite proud of..

Recently, there has been massive news interest here in the UK for a missing 4 year old girl who was snatched whilst she was on holiday in a quiet resort in Portugal. The parents have had an audience with the Pope and a massive search for her has been launched. The idea is to give maximum exposure worldwide in an attempt to recover the little girl. I thought I’d do my bit by placing a banner at the bottom of each page. (By the time you read this, I hope the banner is removed and Madeleine has been found) However, here is a transcript of a phone call with my other half… This was a couple of days ago.. I didn’t speak to her today!
“Hi, I’ve just been looking at your website”

“Oh, that’s good. Did you see anything interesting today?”

“Not really… But I saw the advert at the bottom of the page for some missing kid! I’m really surprised at you!!”

“Why?”

“Because you state No Ads, No Banners, No Popups, No Way… at the top of each page and then you have an ad at the bottom of each page! That’s contradicting!”

“Well, it’s not really an ad… I’m not getting any financial gain from it or anything…”

“But it’s a banner, and you said no way to banners!”

“Yeah, but this is for a missing kid!”

“I’ve never heard about this story!”

“Which is why I’m trying to promote awareness around the world, in my own small way.. ”

“It’s not been on the news in Austria!”

“No.. But maybe it will in the next few days, hopefully!”

“I’ve just looked at the BBC website… She was snatched whilst the parents were eating!”

“Yes, that’s true”

“So they deserve all they get!!”

“What?”

“They don’t deserve any help, they deserve their kid to be be snatched!”

“That’s a bit harsh, they checked on her every 20 minutes.. This was a planned kidnap”

“They’re milking it, and you’re encouraging it.. Thousands of kids are snatched every year!”

“Maybe there are a lot of kids snatched, but every little helps, and I’ll do what I can to help promote the search”

“Why aren’t the parents searching?”

“They are, but what can they realistically do? The Portuguese police are in charge.”

“They’re just touring Europe enjoying publicity!”

“You really think so?”

“YES!!!”

“OK - Bye for now, speak to you soon…. “

Oh well… It seems you enjoyed our rant on MSN earlier… Here’s today’s argument! For background information it may help you to know the following:

• She doesn’t live in the UK any more, she lives in Austria. Where?? Austria, it’s a puppet state of Germany.
• She hates the UK.
• She loves Austria
• Why? Who knows, or cares…
• Austrians speak German, along with 2 or 3 other non-descript countries.

Today, I happened to mention that I had been to Germany… Kaiserslautern to be precise… I was there for just 2 hours! I bought a VERY undercooked burger/hotdog.. I returned it to the vendor and tried to explain it was not cooked, in English, because that’s what I spoke when I purchased it! English was spoken by the vendor quite fluently when I was buying it…

Surprise, surprise!! When I was complaining the vendor could no longer speak any English! I happened to mention this fact to my other half…

Oh my! You know when you’ve said something “not right” don’t you? Here’s a brief transcript from my Austrian/German based ENGLISH other half:

“Oh! So you EXPECT them to speak English do you??”

“No, but they were speaking perfect English when I bought it”

“Ah! How much German did you speak?”

“None…”

“So you come to Germany and expect them all to speak English?”

“No, but they were all speaking English before….”

“And I doubt you even bothered to learn German!”

“No, I was only in the country for 2 hours!”

“You make me sick!”

“Oh, I should learn German for a fleeting 2 hour visit?”

“Yes, it’s only polite! You cannot expect them to speak English!”

“I don’t! But they COULD speak English perfectly well when I bought the thing.. When I complained about it, they couldn’t”

“Football hooligans deserve all they get.”

“Right… I’ll speak to you again tomorrow… Bye”

This is NORMAL these days… I cannot win. Suggestions welcome!

Chris says (12:31):
Did you get a reply from Nicole?
Joanne says (12:31):
no
Chris says (12:31):
She’s not been online all weekend, maybe she’s moving..
Joanne says (12:31):
do you chat to her on msn?
Chris says (12:32):
No, cos she’s not been online
Joanne says (12:32):
normally?
Chris says (12:32):
I’ve never spoken to her on MSN
Joanne says (12:32):
so what do you mean then, sh’e not been online?
Chris says (12:33):
She’s in my contacts, and I’m in hers..
Joanne says (12:33):
for msn?
Chris says (12:33):
yes
Joanne says (12:33):
but you’ve never spoken to her?
Chris says (12:33):
that’s right.. This is hard work!
Joanne says (12:33):
it certainly is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Joanne says (12:34):
why have you never spoken to her on msn if you’re in each others contact list?
Chris says (12:35):
Because I added her to mine, and she added me to hers.. presumably when I was asleep
Joanne says (12:35):
so how did she know your contact details?
Chris says (12:36):
She sent her details for msn in an email.. So I used those
Joanne says (12:36):
so how did she know your contact details?
Chris says (12:37):
If I add her to my contacts, she gets mine.. Or something like that..
Joanne says (12:37):
yeah right!
Chris says (12:37):
You got the same email
Joanne says (12:38):
don’t remember seeing anything about msn contact details
Chris says (12:38):
oh well, they were there… Otherwise how would I know?
Joanne says (12:38):
know what?
Chris says (12:39):
her MSN details
Joanne says (12:39):
because you obviously asked her for them
Chris says (12:41):
23/05/2007
Chris says (12:41):
email from Nicole to BOTH of us, with her MSN contact details
Joanne says (12:42):
after sending yours to her on 22/05/07
Chris says (12:42):
and I copied you in on it!
Chris says (12:42):
It’s no secret
Joanne says (12:42):
if you hadn’t how would i have known you sent her your details
Chris says (12:43):
What have I done wrong now? When she sent me her MSN I added her
Joanne says (12:44):
after you had sent her your details
Chris says (12:44):
which I told you about… What’s the problem?
Joanne says (12:44):
who said there was a problem?
Chris says (12:45):
I add lots of people to my MSN. I use it a heck of a lot.
Chris says (12:45):
It would be very useful to talk online rather than via email
Joanne says (12:45):
especially as she doesn’t reply to e-mails
Chris says (12:46):
That’s hardly fair.. She’s been brilliant up to now.. For some reason she may not have internet access this weekend
Joanne says (12:47):
its exactly fair, i send her an e-mail and she hasn’t replied, i’m stating a fact!!!!!!!!!!!
Chris says (12:48):
one email
Joanne says (12:49):
the only one i have sent and the only one that hasn’t been replied to, if i had sent her 50 e-mails and she hadn’t replied to 50 then its the same isn’t it?
Chris says (12:50):
She’s replied to all the others, plus she was quick to send the first one. As I haven’t seen her online this weekend I am assuming she doesn’t have access, or she’s doing something else.
Joanne says (12:50):
well you asked if she had replied to my e-mails and i said no
Chris says (12:52):
Take it up with her if you feel it’s not right
Joanne says (12:52):
maybe i should because i’m obviously getting nowhere with you
Chris says (12:53):
ok - I can’t speak for her, I have no idea why she hasn’t replied, I can only surmise
Joanne says (12:54):
i’d better be going anyway, we’ve obviously got nothing to say to each other today
Chris says (12:55):
take care
Joanne says (12:55):
bye