The grumpy thread

[3VOM]

16 hours ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Interesting. Someone somewhere will doubtless have a go at challenging that on the grounds of discrimination......

16 hours ago, Kiltox said:

I definitely think this kind of thing is brewing. It hasn’t happened yet as far as I know, though. 

I don't see it being possible to claim discrimination as that is based on ethnic, religious, sexual preference, disability etc. grounds. So long as you are rejecting all UC or HB claimants you would argue it is like a credit check or is part of a credit check, and you aren't discriminating.

 

[New POD]

2 hours ago, loserone said:

Fuck me, that's appalling (your lender I mean).  

I can see the practical need for renting houses out, particularly given the state of council housing now, but a married couple with PAYE jobs who have a decent credit rating should be able to buy a house in a nice area, not have its value artificially inflated by the buy to let industry.  

Yes indeed. 

None of the couples I've rented to have been ready to commit to marriage and have ended up apart. 

The blokes in particular seem to have a spend it now approach to money management. 

So far 27 people interested. 

11 viewings arranged for Saturday. 

 

[EssDeeWon]

2 hours ago, paulplom said:

Partner wants me to rent a house with her. It's a four bedroom detached one in it's own grounds with a garage etc. It's £850 a month!! I'm bricking it and have expressed my fears that's it's over twice what I'm paying now. On the other hand if we finished decorating her house we'd probably get £700-£800 for that. Anyone want to rent a 3 story, 4 bedroom house next door to a pub?

Good grief I would snap that up.  I have recently been looking at flats in Haywards Heath, West Sussex for that money. 

Yeah I know norf and saaf but even so..

*edit sorry I wasn't telling you what life decisions to make there, was just a comparison at property rental prices.

[Sir Snipes]

My gf and I are playing about £800 for a two bed (one and a half really) house in the sarf. 

Nice area, garden and commutable into London is why it's so much.  

[Tadhg Tiogar]

1 hour ago, 3VOM said:

I don't see it being possible to claim discrimination as that is based on ethnic, religious, sexual preference, disability etc. grounds. So long as you are rejecting all UC or HB claimants you would argue it is like a credit check or is part of a credit check, and you aren't discriminating.

 

You are still banning an entire section of the potential tenant base merely because they are dependent on State support.  It's a very substantial number of people.

[Jazoli]

16 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

You are still banning an entire section of the potential tenant base merely because they are dependent on State support.  It's a very substantial number of people.

We used to rent a lot of properties to people claiming benefits, we stopped doing it because it really isn't worth the aggro, some were fine but at least half of them caused us all sorts of issues with non-payment, entitlement, and absolutely trashing the place and breaching their tenancy agreements, housing benefit cannot be paid directly to the landlord either which makes it easier for the tenant to spend it on cigarettes or flat screen tv's, I'm not saying non-benefit claiming tenants are much better but we had far less problems with them.

[cort1977]

There is definitely a movement to ban such discriminatory lending practices.  https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/oct/21/buy-to-let-90-percent-of-lenders-refuse-loans-to-benefit-claimants

With the Tories driving out small scale buy to let landlords by phasing out the relief on mortgage interest for higher rate payers the problem may start to solve itself as people exit the market.

 

 

[Wack]

Life for me has reached an end 

Had a collection today , arrived in good time , a bit too good , wasn't ready , 10 minute wait 

Do you need the toilet 

So that's the first impression I give now

He looks like he needs a piss

[High Jetter]

5 hours ago, paulplom said:

Partner wants me to rent a house with her. It's a four bedroom detached one in it's own grounds with a garage etc. It's £850 a month!! I'm bricking it and have expressed my fears that's it's over twice what I'm paying now. On the other hand if we finished decorating her house we'd probably get £700-£800 for that. Anyone want to rent a 3 story, 4 bedroom house next door to a pub?

That gets you a decent 2/3 bed flat or 2 bed bungalow round here, without the bonus of a boozer next door.

[3VOM]

2 hours ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

You are still banning an entire section of the potential tenant base merely because they are dependent on State support.  It's a very substantial number of people.

That may well be true but they aren't, in law, a group who could claim to be being discriminated against.

[Crackers]

Yesterday I should have started my dream job in mechanical engineering with one of the country's most famous companies. 

 

So naturally I'm sitting in a shitty college in a shitty part of shitty London because I'm too stupid to get the required grades for the job. 

 

?

[Wack]

2 minutes ago, Crackers said:

Yesterday I should have started my dream job in mechanical engineering with one of the country's most famous companies. 

 

So naturally I'm sitting in a shitty college in a shitty part of shitty London because I'm too stupid to get the required grades for the job. 

 

?

Move out of London and you'll be three shitty's better off

[Alex66]

Last night I may have had a mini stroke, by the time the paramedic came (not long) it was all over, trip to A&E to get checked out nowt but I am being referred to the stroke clinic. I am quite shook up by it all and its the last thing I need with going around every eve to look after a rapidly declining father whilst he waits and waits to get into a retirement home. 

[xtriple]

Not good mate, look after yourself.

My grump? I slept the sleep of the dead last night in total about 20 hours and when I woke up this morning, I didn't know where I was, what day it was or if it was day or niight time! Seriously it was 7:00 a.m. and I really didn't know whether it was the morning or evening, had to turn the telly on so I could get an a.m. or p.m.! Then had to look what day it was/is.

[Mally]

1 hour ago, Crackers said:

Yesterday I should have started my dream job in mechanical engineering with one of the country's most famous companies. 

 

So naturally I'm sitting in a shitty college in a shitty part of shitty London because I'm too stupid to get the required grades for the job. 

 

?

Been there, done that.

I don't find it funny myself, seems others do.

I eventually lowered my sights a little, and my life has worked out quite well.

Give it another go first.

[bramz7]

Yesterday I got told I had failed the interview part of a job I'd applied for, after passing all the assessments. 

I was really unhappy about it to begin with. I'm still not overly happy about it now. I can reapply in 6 months, which is fine. I just wish I didn't freeze up so much in interviews, it's literally one of two or three situations to make me become an airhead, as well as involuntarily shrinking my vocabulary. 

It's not as bad as it could be as I'm still in a well paid job in the same industry, but I am still disappointed. 

[wuvvum]

Been there, done that, feel your pain...

[somewhatfoolish]

What part of being Jones the Steam requires any of the characteristics that make a person shine in an interview? As with most technical roles the whole thing is a colossal farce as a means of selecting a good candidate. How do you interview someone for pedantic attention to detail, good memory and the ability to differentiate coloured lights in poor light conditions?

[bramz7]

Well the assessments are the main factor for those particular skills and assets, but I failed the interview on the following:

- what do I think the responsibilities are?

- what safety policies do I currently adhere to?

- a good example of teamwork 

 

My incident free career so far doesn't cater for the middle, and the example I used of the last question wasn't good enough, despite it being railway orientated. 

 

Meh!

[iainrcz]

Parked up in York, stepped out straight in to sloppy dog shit.

Obviously didn't notice, got back in to move the car.
Dog shit all over the mat.

Dirty, filthy, lazy bastards.

Sent from my VFD 710 using Tapatalk

[captain_70s]

I applied to be a train driver this year. Was going swimmingly until the evening prior to the interview a distant gong sounded in the back of my head along with the voice of my optometrist saying "it won't be an issue unless he wants to be a pilot".

Yes. I'd managed to forget that I'm partially colour blind...

I also did shit in the interview, although that may have been partially down to the fact that I knew the process couldn't go any further.

[Aston Martin]

Being a train driver sounds awful. Especially when some poor bastard decides to kill himself infront of your train.

[bramz7]

Someone I work with joined the railway in 1967 and hasn't had it happen to them, but that's just how it can go. 

There is many perks to working as a driver but suicides and anti social hours aren't two of them.

 

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, captain_70s said:

I applied to be a train driver this year...Yes. I'd managed to forget that I'm partially colour blind...

It took me a minute to realize the significance of that. If all the red signals were traditionally an X instead of a circle, would that increase the potential field of drivers by an extra 8% of men (and 1 in 200 women)? Obs would rack up the price of tickets (even higher) to change them now. Maybe it's not only red and green though...

[beko1987]

I've been putting off looking at the gear linkage bushes in the zx for a while. Today, 1st has been a bit tricky to find, as was reverse once last night... Plus it knocks and bangs like a champ in neutral! 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

2 hours ago, High Jetter said:

It took me a minute to realize the significance of that. If all the red signals were traditionally an X instead of a circle, would that increase the potential field of drivers by an extra 8% of men (and 1 in 200 women)? .... Maybe it's not only red and green though...

"X" isn't going to be easy to discern if you are half a mile in advance of the signal. 

When multi-aspect signalling (MAS) became standard,  signal heads were (and still are) generally - 

Distants: Green/Yellow, or Y/G/Y

Stop signals (formerly starters or homes): Yellow/Red (last signal before entering a terminus), G/Y/R, or Y/G/Y/R.

To some extent route knowledge, which every driver is expected to have, can mask colour-blindness but that's not always a help if you're approaching a signal at line speed from a considerable distance. 

In the last 10-15 years,  signalling has increasingly moved towards LED heads, especially those made by Dorman, which only have two aspects at most, but the bottom one can show G, Y and R, whilst the top aspect (if there is one) can only show Y. How does a colour-blind driver discern which indication is which?

Only if the railways convert to computerised "moving block" signalling - such as Thales TBTC used on some London Underground lines now - will colour-blindness become unimportant as there won't be any illuminated signals to observe. 

[bramz7]

You've also got a cavalcade of yellow/blue/red/green etc buttons and lights in the train for stuff like engine faults, interlock, TPWS alarms, power reduction etc.....

[dozeydustman]

8 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

"X" isn't going to be easy to discern if you are half a mile in advance of the signal. 

When multi-aspect signalling (MAS) became standard,  signal heads were (and still are) generally - 

Distants: Green/Yellow, or Y/G/Y

Stop signals (formerly starters or homes): Yellow/Red (last signal before entering a terminus), G/Y/R, or Y/G/Y/R.

To some extent route knowledge, which every driver is expected to have, can mask colour-blindness but that's not always a help if you're approaching a signal at line speed from a considerable distance. 

In the last 10-15 years,  signalling has increasingly moved towards LED heads, especially those made by Dorman, which only have two aspects at most, but the bottom one can show G, Y and R, whilst the top aspect (if there is one) can only show Y. How does a colour-blind driver discern which indication is which?

Only if the railways convert to computerised "moving block" signalling - such as Thales TBTC used on some London Underground lines now - will colour-blindness become unimportant as there won't be any illuminated signals to observe. 

Being colour deficient can affect future jobs, however as I don't have the most common form of colour-blindness (red-green) I passed the medical for HGV. Blue & purple throw me out, along with pink & grey and very pale or very dark colours.

I did try to get a job on the tube once, I did say I was colourblind in a weird way and they still brought me in for an interview (I failed on the role-play to which I pointed out on their pre-interview letter "the interview does not include a role play" or words to that effect), and the medical prior to training would state if I would be offered the job deffo.

Basically if you can read a certain number of Isihara plates you'll be accepted for training as a train driver or even platform & signalling staff

[Alex66]

5 hours ago, HarmonicCheeseburger said:

The external HD we back up our photos etc too, has started ticking, so currently getting everything off I can, which is fun.  Oh and it sometimes crashes the transfer so I have to stay with it. 

 

Coffee is my friend

 

 

Had that happen once with a music drive, now I have an OTT set of drives to back up my photos I have 4 sets for photos. If you have Amazon prime they offer infinite photo back up as part of the deal plus unlike other specialized back up services your drive does not have to be attached every 28 days or something silly.  Good luck with it that can be a fraught time.

[Split_Pin]

For the past year my wife has been fucked about royally by the NHS with a painful mass on her shoulder (they think its calcite). In the long list of not doing the right things for her in the name of saving money, she got an excruciatingly painful steroid injection a month ago. She saw the Physio yesterday who again tried to fob her off with exercises which don't work. My wife was however well armed for this and knowing it was a man, she went all-out with a soliloquy, sobbing Eastenders style and after making him uncomfortable for about 15 minutes, she finally got a referral for surgery. This morning however she was in so much pain she was sweating and shaking and has had to make an appointment with the doctor for stronger painkillers.

I feel so helpless and just want to take her pain for her

I have also developed some sort of reaction to the fibreglass wool which is being installed in the new walls being built around my desk at my office, I feel as if I have been kicked in the face by a pony. Can't wait until 25th November to start my new job.