13 Little Exasperations Life Likes To Throw Our Way

By Toby McShane /

8. Cutting The Wrapping Paper Too Small

A little festive frustration that everyone faces is cutting the wrapping paper too small for the present you're trying to wrap. Sod's law would have that this always occurs on your final present when you have no more wrapping paper left to amend the situation. At this point, you hit a fork in the road - there's two solutions but which one you choose depends largely on the type of person you are. Person One grabs their coat, their car keys and braves it out to town - battling through the wintery winds of late December, Person One arrives at Clinton's Cards and peruses the shelf for the same wrapping paper bought previously. The idea of one present being the odd one out is a none starter. After a dedicated amount of time searching for the correct paper, Person One returns home to finish the job they started. Person Two, on the other hand, like a Santa Clause version of Stig of the Dump, will patch together the gaping holes in the present with any and all festive (or not if you're particularly bad) wrapping paper available to them. What emerges from this intense surgery is something not too dissimilar to Frankenstein's Monster.

7. The Awkward Overtake

You can see beyond them a clear path - no amblers in sight. This person your only obstacle between you and your destination. You shut your eyes, take a deep breath and step off the pavement ever so slightly to scootch around them. He knows you're there, but for that brief moment of parallel walking, its head down, shut out the world and pretend like nobody can see you. Once you've cleared the obstacle you power on, hoping to get as much distance between you and your conquest as possible. However, until you round a corner, you can feel his eyes burning into the back of your neck, watching you. Judging you.