GrumpiusMaximus

Two things from yesterday. i) My 90 year-old Great Uncle using his ceremonial naval sword (Commander, RNR) to cut his birthday cake. ii) This Ford Escort on the M20 yesterday. 59 raging horsepower and the incredible* 'Encore' spec. It's even had welding done in the last couple of years:

When I was about 7, we drove from my Grandmother's house near Hereford to my other Grandmother's house in Exmouth in one of the worst storms I've ever encountered. The route we took involved many hills and I remember there being boulders in the middle of the road that had been washed out of fields and roads looking like rivers. I felt entirely safe, warm and comfortable in the back of their Volvo 240. And that's why now even though it's been nearly 30 years, it's my favourite car.

It's such a disgrace too as every single Postie I've ever met have been thoroughly decent and hard-working people. Our current Postie is called Mel and always puts a smiley face on the delivery notes if we're out. And gives me a wave if she sees me out walking the dog. I'm so sad about what has happened to Royal Mail. It deserves so much better and all of you working there deserve so much better.

Yesterday marked three years of working from home for me. My old employer announced blanket home working starting on the 23rd of March, 2020. My department (IT) were some of the first allowed back on-site (alongside maintenance staff) around the end of June. From that point on I did one or two days a week on site, with the rest at home. Since April last year I've been at a new employer and worked from home full-time. I've been 'on-site' three times in the year, once to Crewe, once to Bath, once to Cheltenham to visit customers. Each time, my expenses were paid (and one one occasion the customer put me up in a four-star hotel in the centre of Bath - that was nice). The company I work for ditched their offices long before COVID and have been remote ever since. I was interviewed over Teams, my laptop shipped out to me and I didn't physically meet anybody from my company until late October last year. It's how I like it and not having to make small talk all the time with colleagues is a bit of a dream.

No, I just don't shop for enjoyment. We do our weekly shop online and most things we order online. For instance, we're getting our en-suite partially re-done and ordered a shower cubicle, wall panels, wall cabinet etc. all online for delivery. Most of the physically going into shops is done by my other half but we really don't have much call for it.

Your engine is Tomas Haake. It's true:

Again, never understood the appeal of the High Street and the only shops I ever liked were music shops and record stores. Can't be bothered now unless it's an independent record store and in the mood for something odd. I did work at Bluewater when I was a teenager and visiting that place several times a week probably put the kibosh on the idea of shopping for pleasure. Fuck that. Not to say that it doesn't have value to others, of course.

Staying home and not going out is my natural order so - not going to lie - I quite 'liked' lockdown. Didn't miss going out and still work from home full-time even now. I'll still go out and visit places and people but I've never been particularly inclined to or particularly sociable. Must have been difficult if you're the gregarious sort.

Get the fault from the electricity board in a recordable format. If you're insured you might be able to use it to claim...

Indeed they are and I don't think they've cleaned the workshop since your last visit.

You're barely old enough to even remember Little Chef @AnnoyingPentium Admittedly the last time I went was probably around 2014 on the way down from Gravesend to Hereford to see my Grandparents with my Dad. It wasn't bad. That was after the significant menu changes.

Would have been a lot more irritating if it had hit the windscreen. My car now has a windscreen manufactured in South Africa by Shatterprufe as a result of a similar incident. Which makes sense given that Belron are originally a South African company.

What's this? A flat tyre? Bugger. Good thing that last time I got my tyres replaced, I asked if they could put one of the worn ones on the spare rim as it still had some life in it. Even better, I still get exactly the same tyres: Even better, when I took it to my normal tyre place (Invicta Tyres in Wincheap, Canterbury) they said they could repair it as it was just a screw through the tread. £16 and a few minutes later, it's back on the car. So grump to grin, really. Plus the VW hand jack is an actually decent design - which makes it all a lot easier getting the spare on in the first place.

Is it next to Fort Inspiron?

On the other hand, you can build a fort in your living room out of old laptops. So there's that.

Good ol'-fashioned Rickroll. That makes me grin even more.

The MK1 Mitsubishi Space Wagon, whereby the styling department looked at a brick and collectively passed that over as the clay model: When I was at Primary School, our neighbour two down had one and used to take me to school in it a couple of times a week. My memories are vague but also that it was grim. This same neighbour also ended going to study to be a Vicar. Last I heard of her, she'd had an affair with the more senior Vicar... https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/no-regrets-say-married-priests-a48477/

I've shamelessly stolen these from the RetroRides thread on the same topic but these are brutal. On an MX5: https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/211374/strange-mot-advisories

My mate had this recently with a manager that hadn't been properly trained. Eventually HR stepped in and pointed out the company policy. Issue is that her partner is a teacher - but they have no kids - so if they want to go away together then it has to be in the school holidays and was being effectively penalised for not having kids. My other half is a teacher so we have the same issue. First come, first served really is the fairest way of doing it.

It's cheaper to change software than hardware. I would suspect it really is that simple. Designing a button, getting it through prototyping and manufacture, etc. is a lengthy process. Changing options on a touchscreen through code is much quicker and cheaper. The worst I've seen for it was in a modern Citroen where all of the HVAC controls were two menus deep. For certain things a touchscreen is fine but give me buttons for HVAC.

I've driven one car with adaptive cruise control, from Washington DC back to JFK and it was an absolute revelation. Loved it. Would probably use it here in the UK as well even though our network isn't quite as suited. Plus one for air conditioning, heated mirrors and auto-dimming mirrors. They're great. And one other person has mentioned it but it bears repeating. Galvanised body.

Which goes against established best practice for HR. First come, first served is the standard practice. Parents shouldn't get priority - after all having children is (in the vast majority of cases) a lifestyle choice. https://www.brighthr.com/blog/holidays/should-you-prioritise-parents-when-approving-summer-holiday-requests/ https://www.insightsforprofessionals.com/hr/employment-law/parents-priority-for-summer-holidays https://www.theguardian.com/money/2005/jul/22/discriminationatwork.workandcareers

How long until somebody gets them mixed up and tries to get in the wrong Panda? Followed by a shout of 'Dad, the lock is broken!'

Good luck @Datsuncog Went cross-country for work this week and drove back from Devon to Canterbury today via the A30, A303, M3, etc. On the A30 in the Blackdown Hills on the long downhill just after the abandoned (I think) pub I nearly had an off after some gentle braking. Must have hit a patch as the ABS kicked straight in and I had a slide. Steered slightly and planned to bin it into the verge but managed to get it back fairly quickly. However, the red van behind - which saw the whole thing - still continued to tailgate me for the next 10 fucking miles. Twat. I've done 720 miles since Monday afternoon and now I'm feeling somewhat unwell. What joy.