Things that irritate me, especially when I’m feeling intolerant

If I’ve mentioned any or all of these before, in other unprompted “things that annoy me” lists, let’s just say these things are still happening, and they’re still irritating!

- When I get a comment on my food blog that asks me how to make something I’ve posted, but in a totally different way. If I’ve put up a post on baking a cake - a carrot cake, say – using eggs in the recipe, and in a regular gas oven, and the commenter says “Can you tell me how to make this without eggs and in a microwave and can I leave out the carrots because my daughter doesn’t like them?” Arrgh!

- People who call and say “I had a survey done on my property last year, and I need an updated valuation. Can the surveyor come tomorrow to look at the property?” Sure he/she can! Don’t bother telling me who you are or when the survey was done or which surveyor did it or even where/what the property is, I’ll just guess at the information and send all our surveyors out on a jolly jaunt in every direction tomorrow. Numpties...

- No matter where I park in a supermarket parking lot, even if my car is surrounded by rows of empty parking spaces in every direction, there will always be somebody who parks:
a. So close that I have to wriggle my way back into the driver’s seat, holding my breath or
b. Right behind me, up close, so that I can’t open the door to the boot (to put the shopping in) without moving my car forward first.
c. Sometimes, but very rarely, both.
To such people, I can only say - If you do this because you're jealous of the Range Rover I drive, kindly go and irritate my husband, because it is HIS car!

- Skinny women, with or without babies, who know they look great no matter what they wear and yet put up photographs to “prove” to admirers how “fat” they look in this or that outfit... and continue insisting, despite their own photographic evidence and despite the comments from breathless admirers to say how great they look, that they ARE fat and need to go on a diet because they can’t get into the jeans they wore when they were 6 years old and their husband is calling them fat (even though of course their husband loves them no matter what size they are, naturally). ENOUGH ALREADY!

- People (99.99% women) who use Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) like a fashion accessory and think it’s cute to claim to be “a little OCD” – sic - because they’re so careful about being the perfect housewife/mother even after working a full day. Real OCD sufferers find it very, very difficult to have a normal life. This trivialisation of a real malady by women who are just showing off “modestly” about their perfect selves is something that instantly raises my hackles.