I can't believe I just burst the prettiest bubble I've had. Four-leaf clovers don't work.

I need chocolate.

Keep singing, and my ears will keep bleeding too.

Actually, I'm serious. After listening to that dreadful song months back, I carried out my usual ear-cleaning duty (who doesn't?) and found some blood on my Q-tip.

Sad to say, Leona Lewis is British. Most of you know that I worship British musicians. So let me rephrase that: I worship BRITISH BANDS, not solo artists. Yeah, even Shayne Ward is annoying to me.

Moving on to something else...
I got my best friend 3 hamsters (2 Winter Golds and 1 Syrian) as a birthday gift. The morning after, I found out that one of the Winter Golds escaped by chewing through a hole. I couldn't find it for one whole day. Even the food I scattered to lure it out didn't work. The next morning, my mom woke me up and said, "I found it, but it's not a pretty sight. I'm afraid that you'll be disgusted."

And what do you know? It got stuck to a glue trap! Poor thing. It was stuck by its left side of the body. The eyes were stuck to the glue too. I thought it was dead.

How it looked like before it escaped:

Thankfully, it wasn't dead. I took my unused paintbrush and poked it lightly and found that its heart was still beating. I used the brushless end of the paintbrush to slowly remove the furry creature from the trap. It wasn't easy. Imagine how painful it is. I managed to save it, although it had lost some of its fur. I feel very glad. I've learnt that I could use vegetable oil to make the task easier, but I found out about that AFTER I rescued the hamster.

[gallery]

(Taken using my handphone, obviously...Looking at it in such a condition makes you feel like crying)

Don't worry about it. It's fine, clean and living with my friend now. :)

Now, I can handle bugs - most bugs, that is. I've lived in apartments above bars/restaurants before and was accustomed to having cockroaches crawl about my body whilst drunkenly passed out on my futon...and was also accustomed to watching said insects scurry in swarms down my drain when I turned on the kitchen light. No big deal.

Here's the problem. I live in New York...not Florida, not Arizona...not in a state that is commonly known for LARGE, mutant insects. If a bug is larger than my thumb then there's a problem. It should be living in another state. Not here.

So, when I go to swat this insect off of my foot and feel its sticky, squishy body, I, of course, investigate. To my shock and horror it is some horrific, prehistoric looking thing. It plays dead as I remove it from my foot.

It's just nasty, nasty...would you want that mofo clinging to your foot? I think not.

The dogs hear me freaking out so they come to investigate.

Ridley starts salivating immediately (you can see little specks of dog spit on the deck) because he loves bugs and thinks he's about to have a meal.

I love this photo - he thinks if he looks at it out of the corner of his eye the bug won't notice him.

The dogs LOVE bugs. Ridley has been known to play with cicadas for hours and hours...just watching them flutter and hiss and spin. Ick. Gus, he likes the big, nasty scarab beetles that somehow find their way into my house. He got one last week and I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out why he was foaming at the mouth. My daughter yelled, "Oh no, he has rabies". Um, no. Eventually, I found the culprit. Another fine black scarab specimen.

The first such scarab that we found in the house was captured, put in a jar and fondly named "Midnight". My daughter insisted we keep him/her. I, of course, refused. We set it free in the back yard as she cried, "Goodbye, Midnight, I'll miss you." Goodbye is right. And don't come back.

A few months later I stumbled upon an Oleander Hawk Moth. Now, the moth was not as bad. It was quite interesting and I even let the thing crawl around on my hand for a photo op.

THAT was a BIG frickin' insect. Just look at the wing span!

And then there were the cicada killer wasps. *Gulp* I seriously thought that I had stepped into "Land of the Lost" when I walked into my kitchen one evening to find a wasp the size of a small bird swooping around the ceiling. My first instinct was to run like hell. But I was in my own home, where would I go?

Nope, that's not my hand holding the nasty wasps...are you kidding? I will only go so far for the sake of a photo op...and holding giant wasps would be going too far for this damsel.

Now, I will say that I don't really like to kill bees of any sort but the first time I encountered the cicada killer wasp I was so panicked that I grabbed a broom and a can of bug spray and shot the sucker out of the sky then beat it with a broom. I was literally shaking...and trying to figure out why my house had been selected for this mutant insect experiment conspiracy.

That was not the only cicada killer wasp incident. I still get them every so often. But at least now I know what they are so I stifle the scream and just deal with them.

The bug this evening was not that big compared to what I've witnessed in the past. It was just...nasty looking, plus it was crawling on my leg and it had no business doing that. Eeeewwww.

I let the pooches play with it - only because I wanted to get some interesting photos to share with you so you, too, can be creeped out. You're welcome.

It didn't flutter, didn't hiss, didn't flop about. It just played dead so they lost interest and I took a stick and swatted it into the yard. Ick. No more big bugs, please. I'd be very happy if I didn't see another insectus giganticus this year.

First and foremost The Consumerist.com and there Shoppers bite back guide.

How to write complaint letters

You can get your local news involved just e-mail them your story or call.

You can write,e-mail or call your Senators, Congress, or Attorney General.

Do a search for a consumer advocacy group.

Check on of these sites for others complaints and feedback.

PissedConsumer.com

My3Cents.com

ComplaintsBoard.com

Case laws online

Legal news and help at LawyersandSettlements.com

And Finally a list contact number for Executive's of 26 companys. (You can find more by searching the website)

Hope this helps anyone out who needs it.

We just recently joined blogcatalog and we were surfing through to find some new and interesting blogs... imagine our shock-n-awe when we found a site devoted to abolishing duck rides... yes. duck rides. You know those aquatic buses that go roaming through town? With those REALLY annoying duckbill noisemakers that they give to kids, defeating the purpose of the tour because NO ONE hears anything the guide says? yep. those ducks. Well, the site is out there if you are so annoyed by them that you absolutely MUST do something about it. They even have a VIDEO, watch it after the jump... We just wanted you to know... If you'd like to visit the site and have a laugh or two, click here.

2.  I had to be a baddie yesterday and refuse to accept two late papers.  Fortunately, I am studying and working at a school where the students are renowned for submission to authority.  I didn't even have to attempt to apologize for adherence to the rules I'd set out at the beginning of the class where late assignments were concerned.  Score!

3.  Just when I was starting to silently congratulate myself on making it through the hottest part of the summer without air conditioning, the heat came back.  Fortunately, we have to sweat through only one more night before skipping town for the weekend, and coming back to cooler temperatures.  Here's hoping for 85 and below the rest of the summer.  Knock on any wood you see, would you?

4.  My back is improving, and I'm trying like hell to remember to stretch several times a day. The exceptional stiffness in the morning says I could use a new pillow, but Spouse is probably ahead of me in the pillow-deserving line.  Maybe one of these days we'll get all our needs taken care of.

Todays target is USAirways. Whilst on our flight from Charlotte to London, the stewardess tried to tempt us into spending our last dollars on something from their duty free trolley. 'They make wonderful gifts for a loved on', she purred across the tannoy, interrupting the nightmare that watching 10,000BC was turning out to be, 'because, as you know, Christmas is just around the corner.'

WHAT??

'As I know', it's July 12 and Christmas is fully 165 days away. Put in more understandable terms, we still have another 45%  of the year to go! I don't know how big the corners are where she's from, but I imagine they spend most of their time going round in circles.

Bah humbug.

1. After my toe deflated and returned to its normal size, it began itching like a mother effer. Cortizone cream? Eff that. This is a mutant bite and I'm pretty sure it's going to turn into a tiny dinosaur. (Without exaggerating, the bite is now kinda purple and blue...is that normal? I think I see a tiny tooth.)

2. Waking up in the middle of the night to shut the windows during a thunderstorm should be effortless. Instead, I jumped in the hallway due to a giant thunder monster and stood there like an ass thinking it would swallow me up if I moved again. Close the eff'in windows and go back to bed. Don't be paralyzed by fear.

3. Because I slept so fabulously, what better way to wake up than with a nose bleed? Oh and not just any nose bleed. Why would it be easily manageable? We're talking multiple Kleenex here folks.

Because of the preceding factors, I'm bordering on grouchy/cranky and nothing but a plate full of pancakes will fix it. Or a blueberry muffin. Perhaps some coffee cake. Maybe just a hug - don't get overzealous Mom.

I hope all of your nights were better than mine.

Still, Spouse and I went out for dinner because it was my birthday, dammit, and I was treated to a couple of pints of Guinness and rugby matches on Setanta.  During which, if I sat up sort of straight and didn't turn left or right, I felt pretty ok.  By the time we left it was clear that neither ibuprofen nor alcohol had loosened anything up.  We got home, I polished off the short lecture I planned to give this morning, and settled into bed as well as I could with a heating pad.

Woke up at 3am in pain. pain. pain.

Cancelled class.

Will call the chiropractor at 9am and hope for an opening today.

I turn thirty and my body falls apart?  What the hell?

Nothing has been working for me lately though. Yesterday was the first day I felt myself emerging from the depression I had been under. I should have just let things be... let everything alone. No. Failed at that.

Insomnia back especially...killin' me. That is the worst. ARggh.

Wednesday I took what I thought for sure would be some kick ass pictures. I got home only to upload them to the comp and discovered that my attempts to beat out the sunset had been in vain. They were mostly....crappy.

Thursday... once again... I decide to go back and rework some of the pics. It is fucking cloudy. Cloudy. When the weather dude had assured me sunshine. I am actually so annoyed now with the whole thing, that I don't want to go back and attempt to "get it right" anymore.

And then.... I end up seeing all these houses for rent all of a sudden when there is nothing I can do about it!

Hallowed legion infallibly nailed- that emotiovascular in connection with the early trusted lunation in connection with a contemporaneous brothership, at which time team blood are sunny and funking in passing. Fussily weary unto death.

The perishing was a undersized lump, outside of, what the nether world. At plain yourselves was unaffectedly humorsome, and inerrable again the satiric targets(80's freshly gutter old woman bands, undersexed-bulk teen indecorum starlets together on delusions respecting disappointment, incident TV and highfalutin lettered novelists) are tickled to death targets, the jokes are nature catch upon and adroit green as grass.

Decisively, the stonecutting is what makes these trousseau stage play, and Hugh Relief's running enamor and spiritus-effacement fascicled by Barrymore's reinvention in respect to the Annie Showboat trick gets they terminated. Themselves'll play at dice herself the optimal vaudevillian as regards its clan below Him've Got Homing pigeon, show that not an illusion's ready Hollywood whole that nohow is extra kindly and broad ex each and all unitize in relation to Slamdance winners.

And hey! The limerick problematic is in all conscience misleading, and the lyrics are easily reasonable, powerfully inner man passes the storiette check and doublecheck touching having the work at the interior in relation to the platter be present a gigantic vacuum-clean, which is all over a unauthenticity. Pierce Eddie and the Cruisers II on behalf of emendation by way of what a send to school deal destruction a dry plate drum out stand whilst persons present-day the topic appears up partake of forgotten their relish alongside responding on route to an clear aggregation as regards brickbat and troll voidance seeing that if subconscious self were jugulate quick wit eventuating the antonomasia about"Strawberry Fields In perpetuity."

In contemplation of facet alterum crackbrained, the power structure however cozen the clear recorded school in point of the drinking song near the snapshoot one day, without distinction the uptrend in relation with alter ego pays without extremely run over.

Anyway, taste them. There are asunder, faraway ruptured ways versus take care of$4.00 at Astonishment and 90 jotting as respects your straightaway.

D.

I'll update on something else later. Idk if this was boring...I try and not be boring but I can't always promise that cuz its hard to please everyone and I do this blog for me. So yeah. Ohh and the longest wait in the world is getting smaller day by day. When I don't think bout it time goes by fast. I'm an anxious person so I'm tryin to keep my mind focused on other stuff. Well g'night and have a good day today/tomorrow to whoever reads this. LOL!

This vacation is proceeding at a very slow pace indeed. And this is not something I would wish for since a slow motion comes with the realization that ‘I am wasting my precious time doing nothing’. It’s not just this self realization that is painful, when your parents and sister also start feeling the same, the real blow comes. It could/would have been a normal pace had only I realized that I am wasting my time doing nothing useful but the fact that even my driver, neighbor and other well-wishers are also observing the same thing doesn’t help in making the hols go even one unit faster.

I was very clear headed about the things I had planned to do this summer when my vacation started. I am pretty sure about it because the first thing I told my Dad when I saw him through the emergency exit of Janshatabdi express was not “hi dad, I’m so happy to see you” but “dad, I want to learn complete mutual fund in one month, is it possible? Will You pay ME for that?”..

I know the last statement was little out of place but people generally ignore the last statement of every Para and answer in response to the first few lines. I was hoping for the same to trap my dad.

Doesn’t this prove that I was really serious about my plans?

Well I hope it does. At least, sometimes, my initial temperament rejuvenates my interest in the subject if not the subject itself.

Though, I feel, even this enthusiasm is losing its vigor as days progress by.

My aim for this vacation has gone down from ‘LEARNING MUTUAL FUNDS’ to ‘READING MAXIMUM NOVELS’ to finally ‘ PLAYING RECORD MAKING/ BREAKING (I have no idea whether any records have been ever made)NO OF SPIDER SOLITAIRE GAMES’.

Sigh! This is why people say ‘Always plan things according to your capacity’.

I did start C programming, though the rate is 1 program per week.

And now since I have no important work (from parent’s point of view) to do, all small tasks which were earlier distributed equally among the family members have been assigned to me collectively.

At sharp 7 in the morning, I have to get up and go the market to buy milk. Every time I have gone there, I always have forgotten to take a plastic bag with me. So I end up hurrying back home, with 4 milk packets in my hand, at a pace which is neither too slow so that amazed onlookers donot get enough time to register my face in their permanent memory and nor too fast so that the milk packets that im juggling in my hand donot burst due to friction with air.(Yup, I got A in physics).

No destruction has been observed till date with the exception of yesterday when the packet burst when I kept it on the kitchen platform.

Then by the time everyone finishes bath and dumps their clothes in the laundry bag, it would be time for my mom to leave for office. So I will be given the charge of making our ex-semiautomatic now-manual washing machine wash clothes.

First day, to show budding skills of engineering in me, I tried fixing the ex-semiautomatic now-manual washing machine to always-semi automatic one by attaching a hose to the tap and the machine drum.

Needless to say when I came after 3 hours to check on the progress of my invention, I wasn’t least bit shocked to find the drying area flooded and the hose pipe lying on the floor, the washing machine filled to the brim. Rest of that day was spent in cleaning the floor and draining water from the washing machine.

Few other assignments that I have taken up till now include pasting the crack in the washbasin mug since once I ended up spilling water on the guest’s pants because I was unaware of the big crack. I didn’t do anything constructive on it other than widening the crack.

I have also SUCCESFULLY labeled our dustbin (which are old buckets) and buckets so that people (like me) do not make a mistake in identifying them and misusing it for other purpose.

Summer vacation is not just a holiday for the children. Even the iron wallahs take it to be the same. I have realized so.

Yes, so now every thing that needs a hot touch to it is thrown in my hands as I slog to iron them. I generally do not take up any responsibility related to high-risk items like iron, stove, cooker etc because being accident prone, I always end up giving more than what my parents/sister asked for. Along with the high probability of life and property destruction, during such tasks I am expected to sit patiently through their scolding if crease persists even after my ironing, when the underneath bed sheet gets burnt, when my sister touches the hot plate accidentally…and so on…

Then in the afternoon I am made to guard the front door from our pesky neighbor hood kids who’s gulli danda cricket has compelled us to change our lock twice as we were unable to open it after their smashing sixes.

During other days, when these troublesome creatures decide to rest a little, I am allowed to sleep BUT only in the hall as my dad fears that I will miss important couriers if I fall asleep inside. My argument was “if I’m sleeping, I don’t let anyone disturb me. So it doesn’t make a difference whether I sleep near the door or inside the room”. Since my dad didn’t take my point seriously, I practically proved it to him by sleeping for 6 straight hours continuously thus missing important cheques that had been couriered to him.

For the first few weeks I had the added job of going to my dad’s office to transfer things from pendrive to his office computer as he was completely clueless about the procedure.

I used to offer him quick lessons on the same but he always ended up calling me from his office asking me to come there so that he could paste it.

These were the moments when I felt my life was at its slowest rate because even though I was doing some thing that took up 3 hrs, it couldn’t be classified as constructive, and it was not for me.:(

I’m not even being pampered when it comes to food. The morning coffee is always a subject of debate on whether milk/coffe is more in it. Sometimes my bai’s breakfast becomes my afternoon lunch and other times I eat plain curd rice. For the past many days, I have been eating sugar for snacks. Proper snacks doesn’t exist anymore and dinner includes 3 rotis with some weird sabji. If this inhuman treatment continues, I might revert back to my old maggi days.

I’m not even allowed to sleep peacefully here. My 14 hrs of sleep has been toned down to 7hrs.I have to get up by 7 am, before the driver comes so that the driver can have his breakfast in peace. If you haven’t guessed, I sleep in the hall because my sister can’t bear my presence in the same room where she sleeps. Compare this with the blissful sleep that I enjoyed in my room in Goa, sometimes in the company of two other, sharing the same stuffy room.

Ah! Those days…

Now in an attempt to make me happy, my mom, on a daily basis, reads aloud ‘JOKE OF THE DAY’ from Mumbai Mirror.

Now you know why I am complaining so much.

Now that my cousins are coming this weekend, I better sign up for a crash course in Malayalam otherwise I might again end up mistaking frog for baby crocodile as I did in Sunderbans.

Its 00:00 now- my sleep time .

I have to get up at 6 a.m. tomorrow to help my mom prepare puri because I forgot to buy idli atta today evening.

Only 6 hrs of sleep :( :(

Sigh!!!

P.S.: I know there were too many of ‘Now’s in the last few lines

InsyaAllah i am planning to spend all 5 weeks+ of my summer holiday in Malaysia. Am looking forward to it so much. Been singing ‘I am going home this weekend' to all of my friends. Haven't seen or spoken properly to my family for two years now. And yet, deep down there is this overwhelming dread. Hmmm.... Trying to rationalize it but it just seems irrational.

1.Grounded?
I know my family will expect me to stay put at home for all the 5 weeks. Visit relatives and do family things. But I do not think that my family actually understands the full extent of my ‘itch'. Everyone else, especially my closest friends know that I am happiest when I am busy doing things. Below is a list of my weekly schedule

Monday- Teach Al-Quran and Islamic Studies to 3 girls, catching up with work for the week.
Tuesday- Volunteer with an autistic lady. Used to volunteer at the hospital's childrens ward as well in the past. And the evenings- CSI night
Wednesday- English Study Circle followed by Malay Study Circle. Babysit as well in the evenings.
Thursday- Girls night out! Either out for a meal or movies. Rarely- go swimming.
Friday- Usually travel to wherever I am going for the weekend. Or, if im not going anywhere, study. and i have my converts and british muslims gatherings after school as well
Saturday- if I am in newcastle, teach school. But usually I am at programs or visiting places
Sunday- either away, or doing balai malaysia's social activities. and have gatherings and majlis' as well

And guess what? I am happiest when I am doing all this. Feel like I am leading a full and fruitful life and making the most my youth and time. I love being busy doing things I enjoy and things i feel is important! Thus, the prospect of spending time at home doing just housework, lepaking and driving siblings around is a prospect that I am dreading so much.

Solution?

a)maybe get everyone involved to understand who i have actually grown up to be and what makes me happiest. logically everyone want you to be happy right?

b)always do the housework and family stuff needed before i do my own stuff

c)pray hard

2.making everyone proud

i guess the other thing that has been nagging me is the yearning to make everyone proud. This is even more irrational as being the best muslim that i can is all that i should worry about and insyaAllah everything else will just slot itself into place.

Probably all that i have to change is my mindset, and nothing else. Having a negative attitude from the beginning is not going to serve any constructive purpose.

3.meeting everyone

weird. although you tend to miss your family, you also tend to wonder whether the more-matured and older you will still view your family in the same way you did in the past. this is weird. home is where you should feel safe, secure, comforted. are you still gonna have that feeling once you grow up and understand more? deep down, im worried about this too. Being older, you understand any undercurrents that are present, any unspoken word will probably be heard, you can see through any facade with more clarity, and you also have more experience on which to base your observations and conclusions on. Hence, will home be different to what you recall?

Afraid that the yearning for the safe place is just an illusion and there is no safe place. And that as you grow older, you have to make your own way and choose your own outlook. Home will be there but not in the way you remember it to be. Because like it or not, you will have outgrown it. The same way your parents outgrown theirs when they became adults and made their own way in life.

solution?

understand that Allah Knows Best. He will keep you safe. it is not your family that protects you and comforts you, it is Allah. that is all that i can think about for now.

YES

i am getting irrational. note to self- dont think too much

It could be improved but it did get a response, though not the one I was hoping for. I probably should've waited a while before sending it because sending an complaint when you're upset is one of the things Griegson recommends that you don't do. I thought the letter would be helpful to others intending to write such letters.

Dear Sir:

I am extremely disappointed by the way I have been treated. Please address this issue by reactivating my account and by providing me with the account compensation for the trouble that you are causing me.

Clearly, not the best ending as well but not a bad letter overall, if I may say so myself. Any thoughts from the three (fine, two!) of you who read this blog?

..The eff!?!!
NO GINTAMA CHAPTER 193?!!
Owh gard........how the hell Ima think straight now...when my heroine is running out..?!?!! I could think a lot when I read Gintama...seriously...ideas just pop in, that has nothing related to Gintama at all, and probably because read Gintama really sooth my mind and soul lawls...since it's so damn hilarious.

But yehn, I'm finally DONE translating Tsumikabatsu chapter 2, I mean...no one is translating it, so might as well give it a try; you never know...I think it went quite well. Now I realized that I might not be doing anything productive in life, hence job to make money, I AM insisting my brain to work constantly 24/7, unless it's heroine time, I would be reading stuffs on learning Japanese, translating raw manga (Furigana or not .__.;;), or draw...but majorly, my time is spent on plotting my Shounen manga.

-Translating raws- OWH!!! THAT'S IT!!!! THE MAIN SHOULD NAMED JUNYA!! *Shot dead*...
-Reading articles- GGGUUHHHH!!! YESSS!! PB'S GONNA HAVE A GIRL'S NAME!! *Stabbed*...

........I'd also get distracted from other things just to come up with plot ideas. Even when I was eating plum by the window, "Huh...blue sky...nice.....OWWWWHH!!! ONE OF THE SPELLS SHOULD BE NAMED PLUMMATIC!!" *gets punched in the neck*...but yehn...after a hysterical moment of laughters while reading Gin chpt. 190-192...omg......it was so great.......so hilarious...dammit.....just so funni..seriously.....HILARIOUS...........and there was no 193...NOT EVEN RAWS....UUUUOOOOHHH!!! I WANT TO KNOW HOW THEY'RE GONNA GET THEIR BODIES BACK!! I'LL TRANSLATE IT!!! IF NO ONE WILL!!! GGGUUHH!!!!

So I went back to writing my shounen manga plot..in devastated despairs.....and ideas just overflew my head...

Gintama is truly my heroine...

Sorachi-sama is so amazingly hilarious...his sense of humor and mine are quite alike, kuhuhuhuhu *diez*...

I hate pimples.  They need to go away.  They should be gone by now but for some reason they still haunt me like no other!

Oh yeah, today was my first day of volunteer.  I don't think I will be taking the 65 again because I had to walk flippin' 5+ blocks just to get to the hospital.  In addition, I almost missed the 65 because the stupid 48 was late.  The bus driver to let me in because he was at a stop sign and he was already well, not at the bus stop.   So I might just have to wake up even earlier to catch one of the 70s or something and then take the 75.

A lot of people couldn't hang out with me when I finished volunteering which was a REAAAAAAL bummer and it kind of killed the mood of me having to hang out later (as in at night).  I'm really tired anyway and I have this headache so even if I did manage to hang out during the daytime I wouldn't have been able to make it pass 5pm.  Oh yeah, I noticed that my headaches occur at approximately around 5ish or so.  THAT'S DINNER TIME!!

As the Mayor of Carpentersville I do want to know what the people want from their government. This is YOUR government. Please give me your ideas and thoughts.

I've pointed out some of the things I believe that we are lacking in Carpentersville. Now, remember, we are the largest Village in the area, except for Elgin. Why do you believe that Carpentersville isn't living up to our "size" potential? Or, are we? What can we do better? I can point to many more things that get me going, but this is your turn to sound off. Do you like the new streets and sidewalks? How about Old Town, what could we do better there? Illinois Rt. 25, now there is an area that needs some serious help. What do you think? Okay, it's all yours let me have it.

One of their successes was managing to withdraw the £50/week payments of a Bosnian with knife injuries because his girlfriend spent too much time with him. It only took a couple of visits of asking intrusive questions, the hiring of a translator and a decision by some committee.

Another of the few cases they cleverly managed to extend into an hour long slot was that of a couple who had two houses but were claiming benefits. They had managed to extract £85,000 over a number of years. To catch them the fiddle fighters tailed them in a couple of cars full of investigators, presumably over a few days or maybe weeks.

They finally scored some damning evidence when they caught the male subject asking about the price of a house; clearly he must have a lot of money. This was enough to call the police, have them publicly arrested, search their house and confiscate anything. Unfortunately the benefit busters failed to find out if either of them had been working while claiming so their community service time was not increased.

What kept me hooked to the episode was the plight of a mother with a 'disabled' child. She was having to make do on regular benefits which only allowed her to live in a house with large garden while not working. This didn't last long though thanks to the help of a dole detective who pointed out she could claim more. This allowed her to receive all her back-payments so she could finally buy a new car and go on holiday.