What makes you grin? Antidote to grumpy thread

[DeeJay]

Today was Little White Dog Fest 2k16, yo!

 

image.jpeg

Looking at the fine collection of ladies parading I not surprised you bought a "Little White Dog".

[Lord Sterling]

On Friday I was tired and stopped off at a motorway services after picking up a Fiat 500 Abarth from an old airfield in Nottingham. As I'd just bought some Krispy Kreme doughnuts and got back in the car, what do I see at the far end of the carpark? A familar Red Rover 400 lowered on Corsa wheels, yep, it was our very own Vulgalour.

[Pillock]

That was lucky, imagine if you'd have gone over to introduce yourself and it was a different lowered red Rover 400 on Corsa wheels?

 

Are you enjoying the job Mo? It sounds pretty good to me, I like driving new cars but get a bit bored of the same car so I reckon I'd enjoy it. Even the best job can be ruined by an arsehole boss though. Plus you get to eat at service stations all day. They're still the future of travel. 

 

When the guys delivered my company car, it only had 45 miles on the clock yet there was chocolate mashed into the seat and a coffee stain next to the cup holder. Fair play though, the guy spat on the corner of his hankie and "cleaned it up" when I pointed it out on the delivery report form. 

[bub2006]

tent and blow up bed?

Too cold,too low and too much assembly!

[Tamworthbay]

Too cold,too low and too much assembly!

a caravan isn't any better set up time wise, they are just as cold unless you have blown air heating like the posh new ones do, too low? I have a nice camp bed that is over a foot off the ground, got it from blacks in a sale when they had marked it up wrong, should have been £50 with 10% off but they had written the discount instead of the price where the price should have been so the manager honoured it and I got it for a fiver!

[bub2006]

I've never been a fan of camping,done it though as they was a lot cheaper. I've spent many years touring so its a sort of ark back to my childhood. As for set up time,I've never managed to set up a comfortable sized tent height wise alone but for the caravan its a case of wind legs down plug in cable and you are done. Ideal for me.

[bub2006]

A bonus is I haven't got to hang the caravan out to dry if it rains!

[Tamworthbay]

A bonus is I haven't got to hang the caravan out to dry if it rains!

rain? If you were going to Greece or Cyprus in summer it may be an issue but not in the uk.

[Cavcraft]

We bought a fancy tent last year and all the clobber to go with it. It's too much effort for a lazy sod like me so I'm going to try and swap it for a caravan at some point.

[Pillock]

Tents are OK unless it rains - we've got a 12 man (for four of us - it's big enough to park the car in the middle part) and it whizzes up quite easily. It cost us £30 from someone locally who was getting rid as it was too big.

Only problem was it hadn't been looked after very well, and the poles were starting to split - we then spent another thirty quid on poles and elastic to rebuild them, but it's good for a few years yet. If it rains we just lob it in the back of the car and hang it up in the scout hut over the road, the same as we do with mess tents.

 

I don't reckon tents and caravans are interchangable at all - if you go to a car show, then a caravan is often a no-no unless you're turning up as the gates open. Wouldn't want to take a caravan onto a packed field at Santa Pod, be a nightmare. Then again, if you're on a nice site with toilets and showers and flowerbeds and people that say good morning to you, a caravan seems a much nicer way to spend the holiday. Tents are shelter, caravans can be lived in. 

[Tamworthbay]

That is why I love tents, it means you are out and about, in the local pub, walking or doing whatever. With a caravan it's just a lot of sad old people doing exactly what they do at home with a smaller tv. I had a caravan briefly when our nipper was born and was just utterly embarrassed about using it, it felt like one step away from the care home.

 

And I love being in a tent in the rain as long as it's a good one. My fave is a cheap eurohike one I got from millets about twenty five years ago and has done about 100,000 miles on the back of my motorbikes and been reproved more times than I recall. One loop for a peg in the groundsheet has a repair with a big old fabric plaster that is still waterproof after twenty years and amazes me every time I think about it. It's been all round Europe, every corner of the U.K. And in every month of the year. I got a replacement a couple of years ago as it was new and free from a mate but we haven't bonded.

[Lord Sterling]

That was lucky, imagine if you'd have gone over to introduce yourself and it was a different lowered red Rover 400 on Corsa wheels?

 

Are you enjoying the job Mo? It sounds pretty good to me, I like driving new cars but get a bit bored of the same car so I reckon I'd enjoy it. Even job can be ruined by an arsehole boss though. Plus you get to eat at service stations all day. They're still the future of travel.

 

When the guys delivered my company car, it only had 45 miles on the clock yet there was chocolate mashed into the seat and a coffee stain next to the cup holder. Fair play though, the guy spat on the corner of his hankie and "cleaned it up" when I pointed it out on the delivery report form.

 

Thankfully I'd already met Vulgalour so knew what he looked like

 

I like the job, it's better than being stuck between 4 walls with a load of tossers who don't like you, bosses breathing down your neck expecting you to be hitting "such and such" targets by a set time etc...

 

When your out on the road, you are your own boss, as long as you do the required checks on the vehicle, drive safely to your destination, have enough money for non-car travel/food and book up a hotel if you need to stay out, you'll do fine. There are loads of people who have done it for years, they have thier own stuff to moan about most of which doesn't bother me.

 

The only arsehole things about it can be the money, it's not a set wage as such, more you get paid per drive and per vehicle inspection. Then travelling between jobs must be done via Bus/train/taxi/thumbing lifts, which can be a right pain. Thumbing lifts is one thing I've never been successful at, I'd rather walk to the job and make some tracks rather than waiting for that one person who might be nice enough to give me a lift. Also, you don't often get to go home of a week, your either staying in hotels or in the car/van (van NOT recommended when it's cold, ask me how I know...) which means buying food in. Again, not fun when all your bills have come out and your left with £1.86 in the bank.

 

You have to pay for your own non-car travel (bus/train/taxi) which you get back as expenses included in your pay packet. However, you really need to let them know how much you have actually paid for non-car travel otherwise you only get back what they have set, I.e: travelling from Kidderminster to say Bromsgrove, they say it'll cost you £4.15 when in fact it might cost you £15.00+ in taxi and train ticket fares.

 

All in all, it's Ok, it's a job that's different, you get to see a lot of the country, drive different cars and get paid for it.

[Spottedlaurel]

Sorry if I missed someone else commenting on this, but did anyone see the Mazda 626 in The Windsors on Friday evening? Looked like a 2-tone blue D-reg saloon, seemed to be driven by the wicked stepmother Camilla character. Definitely worth a grin (as is the programme itself).

[JohnDeere]

Other half gets into car to drive down to London. Two minutes later there's a tap on the door. "There's a flashing red light on the dashboard, does that mean there's a problem?" he says.

 

That's because you haven't started it yet, it's the alarm that's been there for the last six years....

[Pillock]

Then I'm really chuffed for you Mo_Sterling, sounds like you're doing well

We've got a new system at work for claiming expenses, it's all done by smartphone now so you get a taxi or the train, take a photo of the receipt, upload it, tap a few details in about why you were doing what you were doing and the money just plops into your bank about a week later. Pretty good really.

[bub2006]

That is why I love tents, it means you are out and about, in the local pub, walking or doing whatever. With a caravan it's just a lot of sad old people doing exactly what they do at home with a smaller tv. I had a caravan briefly when our nipper was born and was just utterly embarrassed about using it, it felt like one step away from the care home.

 

And I love being in a tent in the rain as long as it's a good one. My fave is a cheap eurohike one I got from millets about twenty five years ago and has done about 100,000 miles on the back of my motorbikes and been reproved more times than I recall. One loop for a peg in the groundsheet has a repair with a big old fabric plaster that is still waterproof after twenty years and amazes me every time I think about it. It's been all round Europe, every corner of the U.K. And in every month of the year. I got a replacement a couple of years ago as it was new and free from a mate but we haven't bonded.

Only time we have stayed in the van when I was young was if it was absolutely hammering it down,board games time! Any other times we was out and about seeing things. My dad hated staying in watching TV.

[Tamworthbay]

Weird thing is I love staying in a static caravan, guess I should just get a list of care homes ready.......

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

 

[MarvinsMom]

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3579523/That-ll-engine-flooded-Three-cars-worth-total-91-000-swamped-tourists-caught-high-tide.html

[captain_70s]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3579523/That-ll-engine-flooded-Three-cars-worth-total-91-000-swamped-tourists-caught-high-tide.html

 

"Honda 4x4 CR-V - worth up to £32,000"

 

Aye, those '03 CR-Vs are really on the up now, especially the ones full of fucking diamonds.

[robinmasters]

It's twenty to eleven, and I'm sat on the garden, in a t-shirt, drinking beer and watching old Top Gear.

 

[robinmasters]

It's twenty to eleven, and I'm sat on the garden, in a t-shirt, drinking beer and watching old Top Gear.

 

As a secondary grin to this, old Clarkson has really big hair, wears cowboy boots, and tries very, very hard to sound like Quentin Wilson.

[michael1703]

I'm OK for storage. As for using it,I live in Derbyshire and there is lots of fields scattered around for caravan owners to pitch up on. Be nice to say bugger it and clear off for a night

Are you sure you're ok for storage?

 

Text received tonight. Bcan I move the vectra by Monday. I live in a small narrow cul de sac with a double drive. I have a trailer,xantia,moped,2 pushbikes and a fiesta there already and now the vectra has to be moved. Only one word can surmise this predicament. Bollocks.

[bub2006]

Yes. I'm pretty sure I am. I've found a friend who doesn't mind a shonky caravan on the drive. So yes storage is OK.

[bub2006]

Doesn't want any shonky cars though. Go figure that out!

[Lacquer Peel]

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3579523/That-ll-engine-flooded-Three-cars-worth-total-91-000-swamped-tourists-caught-high-tide.html "Honda 4x4 CR-V - worth up to £32,000" Aye, those '03 CR-Vs are really on the up now, especially the ones full of fucking diamonds.

It's a bloody Nissan X Trail!

[dollywobbler]

Three cars? BORING! We do things properly in Wales.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-36243086

[xtriple]

Just had a VERY interesting letter through the post.  I couldn't believe my eyes.... Being paid for something I did years (2013!) ago.... So just checked my bank account and there is a large payment to me there.

 

Fook me! I are rich beyond the dreams of avarice!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, not quite, but better off than I was as the dollop has eaten large amounts of disposable over the last 6 months and I was feeling a tad skint!

[Captain Furious]

I could do with some of that luck, all I ever seem to get are surprise letters from the tax man, informing me he has somehow calculated I've underpaid yet again, despite the fact I am PAYE and have no extra taxable benefits.

[doobietoo]

Some muppet decided today would be a good day to paint the lampposts on the industrial estate I frequent while proporting to earn a living. Why is this a grin? Because today is the day the many cherry trees on the estate have picked to divulge themselves of about 100,000 billion blossom petals so we now have lovely pink lampposts