The new news 24 thread

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, Ohdearme said:

lways thought it was odd to be in a kids book as quite how many 6 year olds knew about myxomatosis in the 80's I don't know.

It was rife in the 50s, apparently. I heard / learnt about it at school in the 60s/70s so it would have been current in the joke* writer's mind.

[richardmorris]

11 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

It was rife in the 50s, apparently. I heard / learnt about it at school in the 60s/70s so it would have been current in the joke* writer's mind.

Watership down ( the bunny snuff movie) was out in 1978.

[eddyramrod]

On 14/04/2024 at 11:46, Datsuncog said:

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT 

If anyone's looking for @eddyramrod, it seems his laptop's gone on the blink and he's unable to access his AS account temporarily - so if you're needing to get hold of him, drop me a PM and I'll relay it via other channels!

Thanks all.

For anyone following this farce: my laptop went down (in a meeting) in Friday afternoon.  Saturday I was able to get it into my local repairer.  In the afternoon I got a phone call, come and get it... when I got there, I found they'd called the wrong customer.  Oh great.  So we went away as planned on Monday, having a couple of nights in Manchester for my birthday.  This morning I had an experience day booked, with a flight simulator.  But ten days ago I got an email: gone into liquidation, all bookings cancelled.

And now we're home, and I've picked up my messages etc.

[lesapandre]

16 hours ago, Ohdearme said:

A rabbit opened a breakfast cafe near us.

I went a few times but every time I ordered hot food, he got the order wrong, it happened to other people too and eventually it closed down.

Sad to think his business was finished off by mixing my toasties.

Business Peter'd out?

[Bren]

Polished before it rains.

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, eddyramrod said:

So we went away as planned on Monday, having a couple of nights in Manchester for my birthday. 

Sorry things went awry, hope you still enjoyed your birthday trip. Oh, and welcome back.

[eddyramrod]

We replaced the simulator with a visit to the Imperial War Museum which is near Old Trafford.  That was really interesting, and free except for the parking.

Also, later met up with a handful of current and ex Shiters, including @Ghosty and @Junkman so a rather jolly evening ensued.

[SiC]

Brake caliper and airbag module for the Z4 only arrived today despite supposed to being here yesterday. Today is a gym day so I haven't had much spare time to do much on it. However I stuffed the left airbag module into the car to see if the car could talk to it. 

Yes is the answer. This is good as it means the wiring is good. There are a whole lot of errors in it as not paired to the car and it thinks it's a E65 (6 series convertible). I need to sort an old laptop out and install some BMW specific software to properly code it in.

[HMC]

4 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

We replaced the simulator with a visit to the Imperial War Museum which is near Old Trafford.  That was really interesting, and free except for the parking.

Also, later met up with a handful of current and ex Shiters, including @Ghosty and @Junkman so a rather jolly evening ensued.

bring back @Junkman

[stuboy]

spent the day, spraying weedkiller, hedgecutting, and bining stuff from the shed

[BorniteIdentity]

On 14/04/2024 at 12:59, vulgalour said:

 being in my early forties,

This was exactly WHY I made a change (just a few weeks ago).  

It is a million times easier to A) Get hired now and 2) Adapt yourself.  I wouldn't want to be 'starting again' at 50, of that I'm sure.

Good luck.  Sometimes you have to say YES to things you'd previously have said NO to - but that's life.  Always focus on the positives, and I don't think you'll go far wrong.  Good luck!

[HillmanImp]

Just been taken out for a spin in this. 

Fucking gorgeous interior. 

Mate has paid £2.5k for it which seems fair.

The electrics survived the drive to the pub. 

[High Jetter]

No. Must resist...

.

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, BorniteIdentity said:

This was exactly WHY I made a change (just a few weeks ago).  

It is a million times easier to A) Get hired now and 2) Adapt yourself.  I wouldn't want to be 'starting again' at 50, of that I'm sure.

Good luck.  Sometimes you have to say YES to things you'd previously have said NO to - but that's life.  Always focus on the positives, and I don't think you'll go far wrong.  Good luck!

Identity change?

[andy18s]

We had a visit from the Saharan Dust Monster last night,who promptly shit over everything....

[cobblers]

9 hours ago, HillmanImp said:

Just been taken out for a spin in this. 

Fucking gorgeous interior. 

Mate has paid £2.5k for it which seems fair.

The electrics survived the drive to the pub. 

Those seats are magnificent. I think a v6 one of these might be something I need to get across in the near future.

[Dan29]

3 hours ago, cobblers said:

Those seats are magnificent. I think a v6 one of these might be something I need to get across in the near future.

I had one exactly like this in 2001 - possibly my favourite car ever and I wish I'd never sold it. The engine sounds (and looks) amazing.

[Dan29]

14 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

This was exactly WHY I made a change (just a few weeks ago).  

It is a million times easier to A) Get hired now and 2) Adapt yourself.  I wouldn't want to be 'starting again' at 50, of that I'm sure.

Good luck.  Sometimes you have to say YES to things you'd previously have said NO to - but that's life.  Always focus on the positives, and I don't think you'll go far wrong.  Good luck!

Totally agree with this - 49 year old here who spent 30 years working in radio and tv. No idea what to do next, and no idea who'd have me..! 

[Ghosty]

 

Yaris.

 

MR2 wheels fitted have finalised the look for now, staggered 6/6.5j with 195/50/15 Rainsports all round. I might space out the rear 10mm when I'm not broke.

It still needs a passenger driveshaft, but it's now had:

rear beam polybushes (before I got it)
rear ARB
front strut brace
new dampers/Eibach lowering springs
all brakes replaced
MR2 wheels and tyres
stainless exhaust
K&N washable panel filter
a fancy delrin gearknob
OEM under seat subwoofer.

At some point, the only thing left to really do is add upgraded front wishbones, and maybe 10mm spacers on the rear wheels, but otherwise it's ready to just drive and drive. I want to see it to 200k - I started at 106420 in December and I'm up to 113k.
 

 

[dozeydustman]

I’m having a lovely long weekend away.

I’m in Mittenwald, Bavaria, almost on the border with Austria.

Colin is also here making his usual demands.

„Gib mir Vögel und Kastanien, Frau.“

 

[Yoss]

4 hours ago, dozeydustman said:

I’m having a lovely long weekend away.

I’m in Mittenwald, Bavaria, almost on the border with Austria.

Colin is also here making his usual demands.

„Gib mir Vögel und Kastanien, Frau.“

 

Mittenwald is lovely. I only did it on a day trip from Munich but it looked like somewhere you could happily spend a lot of time doing nothing. It's a very pleasant train ride from Munich down to Mittenwald too. 

[EyesWeldedShut]

Denso got less dense today (maybe)

[vulgalour]

On 14/04/2024 at 12:59, vulgalour said:

Today I made my first application for regular work in 17 years. 

 

Rejection letter achieved!  That's actually impressive in and of itself, I wasn't expecting anything on the first attempt.  Found a vacancy at a local bakery that would suit so I'm going to try that out next, they want applicants to go to the bakery in person, which is a bit old school and suits me fine.  Pretty sure I won't get it though, it's for the front of shop work and I can't remember going into a single bakery where that role was done by anything other than a woman of a certain age, which I am not.

Perhaps it's my absence from the mainstream workforce for so many years, or perhaps it's the area, but the requirements on a lot of vacancies are a bit moon-on-a-stick.  Minimum wage means minimum effort, right?  It doesn't mean the employee is expected to be working 'continental shift' which is a thing I thought had gone out of fashion and am horrified seems to be back again.  It's also weird how many employers expect a part time minimum wage monkey to be driving between multiple locations without any offer for covering that cost.  All your wage is going to vanish on fuel and insurance before it even gets to the rent.  Let's not even get started on the duplicitous way that wages are actually listed on a lot of vacancies, with things like 'pro rata' being an NHS favourite to obfuscate what you actually earn.

Not sure what the deal is with the 'must speak English properly' and 'must have permission to work in the UK' statements on the vacancies is either.  It could be good old Lincolnshire racism, that's been an abiding memory of the county since I was a child, or it could just be England being England.

I don't feel particularly optimistic about getting a job I actually want to do, I will say that much.  It's early days still, we'll see what happens.

[mk2_craig]

Changed a failed side lamp bulb on this shitheap today. Even a 2 minute job like this turned into a half hour battle, bulb holder seized so out with the jack/brace/pliers and wrench the damn thing out after taking the wheel off. 
 

Anyway, eventual success, and a free fix thanks to the box of reusable bulbs salvaged from scrap shitters. 

[High Jetter]

9 hours ago, vulgalour said:

Pretty sure I won't get it though, it's for the front of shop work and I can't remember going into a single bakery where that role was done by anything other than a woman of a certain age, which I am not.

You never know what it might lead to. Many years ago I had a guy who had just sold his business to retire early apply for a part-time job which was way, way below his capabilities (a stone mason). His big hobby was DIY and I had some refurb work in flats waiting to be done so we got along just fine. Moral is, you just don't know.

[beko1987]

I had a bakery job once. Was quite young so didn't appreciate it as much but it was good. Friendly customers, place always smelt nice, could make your own massive sandwiches at lunchtime for free. 

After a foot in the door you could ask about displaying some artwork with your contact details on it or something? 

[dozeydustman]

11 hours ago, Yoss said:

Mittenwald is lovely.

Indeed it is. I’m quite well rested after my 21 hour day yesterday. Everyone else is full of beans as they got to sleep on the journey.

There was even legroom on the plane.

Thankfully an empty row so I could sprawl out. We flew Lufthansa from LHR to MUN which included 1 cabin bag and a hand bag per passenger. Ryanair, Easyjet etc now charge for that so many of the flag carriers and premium lines work out cheaper, you get a bit more room in front of you and tend not to attract the undoubtedly annoying brummie who demands Fosters beer* and English chips when dining out in foreign climes.

Going into town shortly. Haven’t noticed any tat yet save a T5 with a misfire.

[vulgalour]

55 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

I had a bakery job once. Was quite young so didn't appreciate it as much but it was good. Friendly customers, place always smelt nice, could make your own massive sandwiches at lunchtime for free. 

After a foot in the door you could ask about displaying some artwork with your contact details on it or something? 

I made sure to staple a business card to my CV.  Do you know what, it was a woman of a certain age on the counter too.  I'm halfway between their two shops, distance-wise so I'm quite literally ideally placed for location and neither are particularly far away from current home.  There's been a couple of funeral director vacancies come up too, as usual the hours are the problem since they do tend to be a bit all over, which would be fine if the pay was a bit higher so I could afford to just have that as a job so I didn't need to worry about juggling current job and the weird hours.  Funeral work doesn't particularly bother me, it's a career path I've tried to get into before, but the hours and the need to have a very reliable car to get you where you need to be at short notice has always been the difficult bit.

Happily, not in a mega rush here so I can be a little bit picky.  Hopefully something part time will pop up that will work well alongside my current job and give me some work variety and wage security which is what I want most.  I'm literally looking for the sort of job that doesn't expect me to work towards climbing the corporate ladder, or Being Part Of A Team, or whatever.  Just a job that pays a wage and expects nothing more than my regular attendance and sunny disposition.

 

[Yoss]

47 minutes ago, dozeydustman said:

Indeed it is. I’m quite well rested after my 21 hour day yesterday. Everyone else is full of beans as they got to sleep on the journey.

There was even legroom on the plane.

Thankfully an empty row so I could sprawl out. We flew Lufthansa from LHR to MUN which included 1 cabin bag and a hand bag per passenger. Ryanair, Easyjet etc now charge for that so many of the flag carriers and premium lines work out cheaper, you get a bit more room in front of you and tend not to attract the undoubtedly annoying brummie who demands Fosters beer* and English chips when dining out in foreign climes.

Going into town shortly. Haven’t noticed any tat yet save a T5 with a misfire.

I always tend to use BA these days simply because Heathrow is so much more convenient from where I am. And there are regular normal service buses from all over west London. I've found a few areas five minutes off the end of the M3 with unrestricted parking, then get the bus into the airport. So it's £1.70 each way instead of whatever airport parking is. I'm usually only going for about 4 days so I travel light. Would obviously be different if I had proper luggage to worry about.

[wuvvum]

Well that was a more than averagely productive lunch break.