I rant quite a lot, sometimes I rant about the sheer number of times i find myself being in a position where a rant is called for. I think it's time I put some in Room 101.

Please note that these rants are my own and are not intended to cause offence. I apologise in advance if they do.

~Cars parked on pavements~
I've worked in highway and transport jobs for various councils over the years, I know that pavements are not designed for the weight of a car. Every time a car is parked on a pavement the life expectancy of it is reduced (The pavement that is, not the car, the law forbids me from kicking cars so they're safe). Pavements are damaged quicker than they should be and thus it costs tax payers more money for them to be repaired more often than they should be. It also causes accessibility issues, especially for the disabled and people with pushchairs, and I'm fed up of having to walk on the road as a car or truck has taken up all the pavement space. I don't drive, have never owned a car, but i generally am a law abiding citizen in terms of the highways. I wait for the green man, don't run out between the parked cars and tend to avoid walking down the middle of the road (Unless walking home from a drunken evening but that don't count as there's no cars driving around anyways). I do my part to keep the peace between drivers and pedestrians, I only expect the same courtesy. If you park on the pavement and obstruct the public right of way you are breaking the law under the The Highways Act of 1980. I'm claiming back my streets. (Living Streets have started a campaign against pavement parking if you want to know more http://www.livingstreets.org.uk/make-a-change/urge nt-actions/pavement-parking).

~Pointy Shoes~
Not to be sexiest, this rant applies to both men and women's shoes alike and refers to shoes that come to a point at the toes. Although not all shoe points are not created equal, some are longer than the others, i have a strong sense of loathing towards them all. I struggle to understand them. Like what I would think is the majority of people, my toes are pretty much in size order, littlest on the outside, bigger ones towards the inside, (armadil)toes. in my 32 years of life i have never seen a foot that comes to a point in the middle, if you can prove me wrong I'll gladly stand corrected. Therefore when you wear pointy shoes you're left with additional material and open space at the front that serve no purpose whatsoever other than to make you look like an elf.

~Daytime Advertising~
For the record, I have never been miss sold PPI. Nor have i ever had an accident that wasn't myself and thanks for asking but no, I would not like a pay day loan with a gazillion % APR. I don't want £5 free to play bingo online. Advertisers, if you're listening, please stop asking me. They are seriously relentless, one after the other and there is what seems like hundreds of different companies all fighting to get my attention for something I have absolutely no interest in. I once watched six episodes of Judge Judy back to back (It's an addiction, it's not my fault), there was like ten commercial breaks and each one consisted pretty much of the four options mentioned, the same company rarely showed up more than once. Now, I'm all for freedom of choice but seriously how many online bingo sites and legal loan sharks do we need?

~Sweeping Statements~
"The nation is on their feet"
"The Country has wept tonight"
"She's dragged us all into the world of gymnastics"
"The whole country is behind you"
"The whole world is watching"
"You'll always remember where you were when the gold was won"
"This is a day a the Country will never forget"
"She's a disgrace to the country"

I can go on and on. Generally used by the mass media and sports commentators, they can't just say "Wow, i thought that was pretty great", they instead have to imply that the whole entire population agree with what they are saying. In my opinion, sweeping statements aim to turn an opinion into fact for those who lack the courage to stand and say this is what I think. I frown at totality. I know what I think, I don't need someone helpfully telling me I am wrong (I tend to always be swimming against the tide) as the rest of the whole wide world disagrees. There are 62.6 million people in the UK, 6,973,738,433 people on the planet (Give or take a few), it would take a considerable amount of time to find out whether everyone agrees with you or not and therefore please restrain yourself from making statements on their behalf. Statistics are the same, I work with statistics a lot and you can bend and shape them to support any argument if you try hard enough. Statistics are not fact, they're a generalisation like sweeping statements. I'd like to sweep sweeping statements into the bin (Statistics can stay as long as they learn their place) but since I can't I'm putting them in my room 101 instead.

~And finally... vegetarians who eat fish~
Controversial, but I really don't understand it. I stopped eating meat for five years, I had to start again when my gp was getting annoyed with me for being anaemic all the time but I can't eat meat that looks like meat, I haven't been able to since as long as I can remember. When I eat meat I have to force myself to forget that it was a living animal killed purely for me to eat it. I find it difficult to have that on my conscious as I don't like the idea of anything dying on my behalf. For me the worst possible way of dying I can imagine is to drown or suffocate, to lose the ability to breath. When fish die it's like drowning in reverse. Watching fish flop around when out of water is such a terrible image to me. No measures a put in place to prevent them from suffering. Yes, some research suggests that maybe they can't feel pain but people also thought the Earth was flat. Excuse me if I don't take your word for it. You'd have to hold a gun to my head in order to get me to eat a fish therefore I find it difficult to understand why people will refuse to eat living animals but do not include fish in this criteria. I also have serious issues with fishing as a sport. If a giant came along, put a hook in my mouth and then held me down in some water until I almost died I can't help but think that I'd be slightly traumatised by this.

Thanks for letting me share my rants, feel far calmer now (Well until a fisherman in pointy shoes parks his car on the pavement and tells me the 'whole world' loves bingo adverts, then I'll be off again).

Thanks for reading.