FACED with a challenge is your response appropriate and effective or are you like me and let the little things in life get to you?

Are you someone who gets frustrated about every day activities you can do little about? I certainly am. I wish I was different but I think at my age it’s unlikely that I will change.

My husband is always calm and when I get annoyed about something he says things like: ‘how important is it on a scale from one to 10?’ It might not feature in his scale but it still makes me cross.

At lunchtime I popped out to do some food shopping.

The car park is one of those where it has one-way signs, so you can go only up or down certain rows.

A woman driver came in the wrong way and nabbed a space which another lady was waiting for. She was either brazen or completely oblivious but she never let it trouble her for a second, meanwhile I was outraged on the other driver’s behalf.

Why do I let these things vex me? I’ve no idea.

Other frustrations include people parking in disabled spaces – even for a moment – while they get cash out of an ATM. It’s so lazy.

Sitting in traffic jams exasperates me, people who drive up bus lanes is another pet hate that is making me cross just thinking about it.

Delays at the airport – I hate being late taking off or landing. I like to be on time for everything so it irks me when planes can never leave on schedule.

I loathe people who eat with their mouth open – it’s so horrible yet you have to look at them even though it makes me want to heave. Surely manners are something you learn when you’re at primary school?

People who cough without covering their mouths is another odious habit.

Queue jumpers get my blood boiling – whether you’re in a shop or a pub – just wait your turn.

Chief bugbear at the moment is telephone cold callers. Last night I was up a stepladder scraping off wallpaper when the phone rang. I climbed down to answer it only for it to be someone wanting me to take part in a survey.

I wanted to scream, shout, throw the phone down and rip the man’s head off. Ok so he didn’t know I’d been up a ladder but it’s so annoying to be disturbed when you’re at home. I once made the mistake of taking part in one of those surveys and ever since I’ve been inundated with junk mail.

One of the reasons I hate football so much is that I can’t stand the commentators talking drivel. It drives me insane that they spout such nonsense. David Coleman once famously said: “If that had gone in, it would have been a goal”. I rest my case.

I’m sure I’m not alone in finding the world an aggravating place – in fact the more I think about it, the more I’m convinced I probably shouldn’t step foot out of the house. It is the little things that we cannot change or control which cause us the most anxiety.

Many of my frustrations are completely irrational and I know there are far more important things in the world to worry about.