What makes you grin? Antidote to grumpy thread

[myglaren]

[cobblers]

2+ years ago we bought a really expensive JBC solder rework station. £2300. Best of the best (supposedly)!

When it arrived I was quite disappointed TBH, the desolder gun wasn't anywhere near as good as what I'd been using for years (a frankenstein setup I made myself by replacing the piston vacuum pump in a PACE station with a massive venturi vacuum generator).

Straight away I emailed the company I bought it from asking if I could return it because I was very disappointed. Heard nothing back, a bit pissed off really but shit happens - It wasn't faulty, it was just not what I was hoping.

About 6 weeks ago out of nowhere we got a statement in the post from this company saying we had  £2300 credit on our account. I was baffled! Emailed them querying it and they've just sent us a refund and we can keep the machine.

That's a nice touch on a friday!

[Agila]

When you think you know someone?

@Jim Bell

No more hilarious collection threads for a bit. 

[Andyrew]

[DavieW]

Wife was asking what we should get our niece for her 16th birthday. Apparently a box of condoms isn't a suitable gift 😂

[Agila]

3 hours ago, DavieW said:

Wife was asking what we should get our niece for her 16th birthday. Apparently a box of condoms isn't a suitable gift 😂

Clothing. Probably a simple printed t-shirt of some kind.

[Remspoor]

9 hours ago, DavieW said:

Wife was asking what we should get our niece for her 16th birthday. Apparently a box of condoms isn't a suitable gift 😂

Prices are rising so it seems https://archive.ph/bniBU

 

[EyesWeldedShut]

1 hour ago, Remspoor said:

Prices are rising so it seems https://archive.ph/bniBU

 

Don't care - I stockpiled in a whole dozen in a few years back. Plenty left

[Joey spud]

Got to love a Viz top tip.

[Kiltox]

This is the guy that comes to buy every car @sierraman thinks about selling aicmfp

 

[Andyrew]

New one on me but did make me chuckle

[camryv6]

On 25/04/2026 at 11:01, DavieW said:

Wife was asking what we should get our niece for her 16th birthday. Apparently a box of condoms isn't a suitable gift 😂

Maybe she wants to be a great auntie ?

[GeorgeB]

23 hours ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

Don't care - I stockpiled in a whole dozen in a few years back.  Still 12 left

EFA

[richardmorris]

On 25/04/2026 at 11:01, DavieW said:

Wife was asking what we should get our niece for her 16th birthday. Apparently a box of condoms isn't a suitable gift 😂

To always be safe ( I never knew what 16 year old girls wanted 35 years ago and time has not improved this stat of affairs) I ask my sister for suggestions for what they actually want.

[hairnet]

@PhilA

*Runs

[EyesWeldedShut]

5 hours ago, Kiltox said:

This is the guy that comes to buy every car @sierraman thinks about selling aicmfp

 

 

No pleasing some people is there?
Last car I properly bought  came on four mismatched tyres and had two, yes - not one, but TWO Lynx air fresheners hooked on the rear view mirror.
No paperwork.
Potato crisp crumbs everyplace. 
He'd have walked away at ten feet.

It's an absolutely cracking little thing - few hundred quid on bits 'n' bobs and it has just flown an MOT with no advisories - 22 year old motor.

His loss.
My (our) gain(s)?

 

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, richardmorris said:

To always be safe ( I never knew what 16 year old girls wanted 35 years ago and time has not improved this stat of affairs) I ask my sister for suggestions for what they actually want.

Why not ask the girl what she wants?

[grizz]

These two

 

 

[Pieman]

A weird coincidence this morning - was taking some rubbish to the tip with PieMum, we stopped behind a van and I pointed out that its number plate ended "KLF".

I said "I bet if I put the radio on now..." - flicked Absolute 90s on, and guess who was playing?

[Metal Guru]

2 hours ago, Pieman said:

A weird coincidence this morning - was taking some rubbish to the tip with PieMum, we stopped behind a van and I pointed out that its number plate ended "KLF".

I said "I bet if I put the radio on now..." - flicked Absolute 90s on, and guess who was playing?

Was it an ice cream van?

[Weird Car]

Our new kitten, 3 brand new appliances, air fryer, microwave and coffee machine 

then my 1963 English Electric fridge that’s been in daily use since it was bought new, been in the family for generations and is probably the most reliable appliance we’ve ever owned 

[Rustybullethole]

Fed this little fella a tasty morsel as he were swimming up the Thames.

I then remembered that ducks are supposed to eat grapes these days. He had other ideas and jumped out to pester me for more cheese and onion crisps.

 

Came right up to my feet in the end though drew a line at taking crisps from my hand. Handsome little devil he was. 

[LightBulbFun]

16 minutes ago, Weird Car said:

Our new kitten, 3 brand new appliances, air fryer, microwave and coffee machine 

then my 1963 English Electric fridge that’s been in daily use since it was bought new, been in the family for generations and is probably the most reliable appliance we’ve ever owned 

that fridge is Awesome! love the fact its managed to survive and be passed down, so much stuff like that gets chucked out just because "it looks dated" or is "not in fashion" any more which I have always found so incredibly wasteful 

not quite as impressive as your fridge but the oldest Appliance in our Kitchen is a Toaster my Mum has had since 1995, that will still quite happily toast 4 slices of bread, at one point my brother/his now wife, wanted to replace it with something new, just because "its a bit old" I basically said over my dead body! eventually, they moved out, and the toaster remains

 

Kitchen needs a Mazda Netaline now  (either that or @Zelandeth bedroom/workstation needs a suitably vintage fridge installed into it...)

 

 

[myglaren]

I thought that my fridge freezer was knocking on a bit at 23 years old.

[Yoss]

I came across this old picture of mine earlier whilst looking for some others and I didn't want to hijack @Dyslexic Vikings thread any further so this seems, as good a thread as any. 

This was an accident damaged Triumph 1300. You can just see a kink in the roof. We had stripped everything we could including the front panel as it was perfect and they were known for rotting there. I was just waiting for the scrap man to arrive when I took this picture. 

What I didn't notice at the time was everything around it because it was all completely normal then (circa 1991 I think). Surrounded by prime chod with the guy working on his Volvo and somebody else just contemplating life in front of his Nissan Sunny, or it could even be a Datsun, it's quite the action shot. Plus next doors Talbot horizon. It really was a different world. 

[Lord Sterling]

Was watching "Blik Op de Weg" which is some sort of Dutch traffic program, a bit like Police, Camera, Action but less dramatic and presented seemingly by a sharp-suited yuppie looking bloke called Leo de Haas.

I don't understand a thing given I don't speak Dutch, but hey, I lived in Brussels before and we had them as neighbours etc...

Anyway, as some lady was being interviewed about road safety, a Series 2 Jag came wheel spinning out of a junction:

It reminds me recently a few months ago when the road was damp and I came wheel spinning out of a junction in my Jag XJ, but that was on the count of my tyres being a bit shit. They are due to be replaced very soon when I get it back.

[Weird Car]

1 hour ago, LightBulbFun said:

so much stuff like that gets chucked out just because "it looks dated" or is "not in fashion" any more which I have always found so incredibly wasteful 

I think it helps that this fridge doesn’t really look all that dated, just being a compact under counter white box that and the fact it’s just continued to work perfectly hasn’t warranted the need to upgraded, grandad had it new, used it right up until his death in 2021 then dad used it as his beer fridge unable to throw it away due to its sentimentality, then I took it in 2022 when I first moved out and it’s been mine since 

[jim89]

38 minutes ago, Lord Sterling said:

..., but hey, I loved in Brussels before...

I'm sure many shiters have too, possibly with the same lover* 😉😉

[cobblers]

Police interceptors. Pair of drugged up scrubbers in an uninsured Seat Leon crashed into the side of a house when being chased by police.

Unsecured massive sub box in the back of the car hit them in the back of the head and sparked them out 😀

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, Weird Car said:

Our new kitten, 3 brand new appliances, air fryer, microwave and coffee machine 

then my 1963 English Electric fridge that’s been in daily use since it was bought new, been in the family for generations and is probably the most reliable appliance we’ve ever owned 

Meow! 63, really? I'd have thought they'd still be rounded designs then - my Mum was a PA for some bigwig a bit earlier at EE.