So what drives you round the bend?

FROM cold callers and annoying ring tones to dyeing a load of washing red . . . it’s the little things in life that drive us around the bend. Now a nationwide survey has discovered the top 50 frustrations in modern life.

Topping the list is bad weather on holiday, followed by waking thinking it’s a Sunday when it’s a Monday and your partner forgetting your birthday or anniversary. Reporter Karen Doherty asked Oldham shoppers what really getstheir goat.

BROKEN lifts and escalators according to Lynne Morris, of Royton, especially when she has young daughter Kailtlyn in her buggy.

“I got stuck on the escalator in Spindles for a while. We ended up in a pile-up,” she explained.

Friend Claire Johnson, from Moorside, added: “I hate queuing for things, on the phone especially; automated customer services where they put you on hold for 10 years.”

Pauline Bardsley (67), of Chadderton, agreed: “I have just had to queue up all the way round the post office to post a latter abroad. It was like a snake. I have gone in before and walked out.

“The closure of all the small post offices annoys me and the other thing is the closure of Broadway Library. That’s so inconvenient for people in the area. All the years it has been there as a nice building.”

But husband Keith (72) is more laid back and joked: “Don’t set her off again, we could have a soap box here! There is not a lot that bothers me.”

Alan Tupman (52), from Alt, agreed: “Now’t like that bothers me. Every day you take it as it comes, you expect it to be frustrating. You just keep calmer as you get older.”

Daughter Victoria Grady (34), of Clarksfield, said she was like her dad but added: “Buses are one thing. If you are waiting ages that annoys me because I can’t drive.”

However, Ian Wroe is annoyed at the disintegration of neighbourly spirit and pride.

“There is no neighbourly situation the same as it was. People are more peasant-like, they don’t give a damn. That’s my general gripe,’ said the 67-year-old, from Greenacres.

“Things aren’t as safe as they used to be. I remember as a child coming into town on a Saturday night and going to the pictures. You did not see any trouble. That’s what I don’t like about the modern world and I think Oldham has lost a lot of character.”

David Featherstone (46), of Chadderton, is angry at the MPs’ expenses scandal and said: “It’s obviously been going on for years.

“When they say they think they have done something wrong, and they will go at the election rather than now, they just want to claim their bonus.”

Christine Burgess (66), from Fitton Hill, has two gripes and explained: “Old people. They have a go at all the young people and they are worse than some of them. Respect has to be earned and they do not earn it the way they treat young people.

“I also don’t like what the council is doing to Oldham. They are stabbing it in the back. Where is all the money going?. “They have ruined the market. They won’t do the stalls up and they won’t reduce the rent. Are they planning to build something else there?”