The grumpy thread

[cobblers]

Been ringing round for insurance quotes, spent 15 minutes on hold to Peter Jones and it rang off, 15 minutes on hold to Footman James for them to waste my fucking time completely because "the person who deals with modified vehicles goes home at 4"

Aidy Flux were pretty reasonable about my renewal quote (£341 for a modified van with engine change etc, 12k miles with commuting and driving other vehicle cover) but spoiled it by being tight fuckers and charging me £21 to upgrade my policy to allow me to commute to work 9 times til the policy runs out at the end of Jan!

[eddyramrod]

Theres a big British Heart Foundation shop here that does furniture. I tend to get stuck at the traffic lights outside its massive windows every day so can see inside and its seriously fuggin expensive.

 

There's a big BHF furniture shop in Barrow too, but you can't drive past because of where it is. I've bought a couple of things in there now and you know what a mingebag I am! I won't spend if I don't have to. The items I did buy have been fine, I chose carefully to fit the needs I had and didn't even look at the more expensive stuff. Some charity shops do get fancy ideas about pricing, but if the customers go elsewhere they'll soon learn.

[M'coli]

It frustrates me that more landlords and councils haven't embraced the idea of "pop-up" shops, where a small market or home trader can occupy a shop short term with no commitment. Rent and rates get paid for a short amount of time, and the high street looks better.

That's exactly what this guy in Ripon has done, it was on R4 today that he plans to open a few more.

http://www.ripongazette.co.uk/news/busi ... -1-4748006

[vulgalour]

A couple of years ago for some reason I was ringing around charity shops to find out how much out of each pound went to charity after all the expenses were taken into account. Oxfam were by far the worst, with only 10p of every £1 going to their causes. Oxfam are also, interestingly, one of the most expensive charity shops out there with one of the largest range of their own products that they sell alongside donations. Cats Protection were one of the best, with something like 80p out of every £1 going straight to their causes. Their shops are often the cheapest and they only have a very small range of 'shops own' type items. Not sure how they stack up now, of course, as this info was got a few years ago, but it did seem to be that the bigger the charity shop name, the smaller the percentage of income went to their cause. One of the best for bargains and underpriced antiques/curiosities (in my experience, got some excellent records from them) used to be the Quit shops which were a charity to help people stop smoking, but they seem to have all but disappeared in my neck of the woods.

 

Generally, I don't shop at charity shops for the charity, but for the stuff I find in them. I like old stuff, and odd stuff, and that sort of thing is usually much easier to get from a charity shop than, say, an antiques centre and usually much cheaper too. If I happen to be supporting a charity shop when I purchase brown furniture, tweed and hideous ties then that's a happy side effect.

[Cavcraft]

Don't really want to go all 'Bob Geldoff' or whatever on people, but nobody is forcing anyone to buy things from char-i-dee shops. Our local BHF is quite expensive but they do get some top notch stuff in there.

[willswitchengage]

Talking of BHF, all two wheeled ASers should do this: http://www.bhf.org.uk/get-involved/even ... -ride.aspx

[Des]

^^Is it ironic that, I for one, within minutes of attempting such a bike ride would likely collapse to the ground clutching my chest.

 

Charity shops can be the best things on most High Streets, rather than the same old same old identikit branches, you never know what you might find.

[Lankytim]

Charity shops have been shit for atleast the last 10 years. No proper antiques, car manuals or anything of any interest or value. Just total rubbish. A bit like modern car boot sales.

[Des]

You need to scour the North London area for caradee shops, they're incredible, here's recent and recentish hauls, not even trying, just popping in on the odd Saturday. If ebay hadn't turned so sour I'd quite likely be making a modest living from them these days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cort16]

They should put more shops at the dumps. Furniture, electrical gear and other usefull stuff gets sold cheap to those who want it, the profits go to charity and stuff with life left in it doesn't get landfilled.

 

There's one in Oban

 

http://www.lorireuse.co.uk/buy.html

[Polystratus]

Charity shops have been shit for atleast the last 10 years. No proper antiques, car manuals or anything of any interest or value. Just total rubbish. A bit like modern car boot sales.

 

Try Oxfam bookshops for car manuals, the one Iocal to me sometimes has a good collection of Haynes and Autodata manuals.

[Negative Creep]

They should put more shops at the dumps. Furniture, electrical gear and other usefull stuff gets sold cheap to those who want it, the profits go to charity and stuff with life left in it doesn't get landfilled.

 

There's one in Oban

 

http://www.lorireuse.co.uk/buy.html

 

 

They do that in New Zealand, great idea

[autofive]

all this talk of charity shops; I should add some details of the more seedy side of charity shops.

 

They don't pay their staff, or business rates, but they do pay around 25k per annum for the managers, and more for the area managers. who make decisions based on quotas and corporate image rather then maximum donations.

 

most of the stuff that gets donated to the shops never hits the shelves:

 

clothes, bags, shoes and cuddly toys are sold by the ton for rags, (and then on to central europe or west africa by the 40ft container)

pefectly good books and magazines are pulped and sold by weight,

some shops even leave your donations out in the back yard to get rained on before sending to landfill, so they are not recycled, and the charity has to pay to dump.

 

The stuff they do sell in the shops only gets a tiny percentage for the charity concerned, and there is virtually zero controls or checks on this percentage by the charity commissioners.

 

then there is the charity bins at supermarkets and recycling sites; most of these are emptied by private contractors (they bid for the contract through shady middlemen, another level of separation from the charities), the contents of these bins end up as base product recycling (see above) or in local auction houses where they sell for pennies per huge lot (usually a dozen large bags)

 

dont get me started on the bags constantly popping through your door asking for stuff, and where it ends up

 

 

oh and the reason there isn't more recycling at landfill sites?

 

most of the council 'recycling and public waste disposal' sites in england and wales (I dont know much about the scottish system) are sub-contracted out to a handful of large companies who only pay lip service to the goals of recycling, and further sub-contract to anyone with the highest bid. Turning a blind eye to e-waste exporting and other dubious practices.

[M'coli]

dont get me started on the bags constantly popping through your door asking for stuff, and where it ends up

In our house, these end up in landfill full of used cat litter...you have to use 2 bags from 2 different suppliers so the holes don't line up!

[jonathan_dyane]

Currently suffering absolutely agonising sciatica, barely able to walk let alone drive.

 

Bad news is it's almost certainly Audi related; the reason I bought the (now departed) Merc 190 was that I was suffering sciatica and knee trouble die to my lanky legs in previous car and felt more legroom would be the cure (it was). Thought the Audi had enough legroom, but clearly it does not.

 

I managed to complete phase 1 modification (removing seat runner stop bolt and drilling and extra hole for the adjustment peg) which is what tipped me over from being in pain over into complete incapacitation.

 

Should this not work phase 2 will be a weld job to alter the runners completely, and phase 3 will be binning the hateful thing off and buying a W124...

[flat4alfa]

Charity shops have been shit for atleast the last 10 years. No proper antiques, car manuals or anything of any interest or value. Just total rubbish. A bit like modern car boot sales.

The PREEN in my town gets swept-up every morning first thing by the antiques trade. It advertises itself as 'for the local community', with pricing structures, etc, but it's nothing like it. Shady.

 

The YMCA shop admitted all their decent clothes old-fashion go straight to 'Chelsea' for the retro trade

 

I asked in Cancer Research about Haynes manuals and the like, was told they cannot sell them because of 'Health and Safety'

 

 

They should put more shops at the dumps. Furniture, electrical gear and other usefull stuff gets sold cheap to those who want it, the profits go to charity and stuff with life left in it doesn't get landfilled.

All the counties around here stopped that long ago. Northampton was one of the last. Electrical items go straight into storage cabin for collection by who knows what. Nothing leaves the premises - the workers live in fear of the cameras. 'Health and Safety'

[Wilko220]

I asked in Cancer Research about Haynes manuals and the like, was told they cannot sell them because of 'Health and Safety'

 

I fucking hate people who come out with stuff like that. How does Halfords get away with it then?

[Lacquer Peel]

Currently suffering absolutely agonising sciatica, barely able to walk let alone drive.

 

Bad news is it's almost certainly Audi related; the reason I bought the (now departed) Merc 190 was that I was suffering sciatica and knee trouble die to my lanky legs in previous car and felt more legroom would be the cure (it was). Thought the Audi had enough legroom, but clearly it does not.

 

I managed to complete phase 1 modification (removing seat runner stop bolt and drilling and extra hole for the adjustment peg) which is what tipped me over from being in pain over into complete incapacitation.

 

Should this not work phase 2 will be a weld job to alter the runners completely, and phase 3 will be binning the hateful thing off and buying a W124...

 

Audi seats of that era are dreadful, like washboards with scratchy cloth draped over them.

[meshking]

Currently suffering absolutely agonising sciatica, barely able to walk let alone drive.

 

Bad news is it's almost certainly Audi related; the reason I bought the (now departed) Merc 190 was that I was suffering sciatica and knee trouble die to my lanky legs in previous car and felt more legroom would be the cure (it was). Thought the Audi had enough legroom, but clearly it does not.

 

I managed to complete phase 1 modification (removing seat runner stop bolt and drilling and extra hole for the adjustment peg) which is what tipped me over from being in pain over into complete incapacitation.

 

Should this not work phase 2 will be a weld job to alter the runners completely, and phase 3 will be binning the hateful thing off and buying a W124...

 

I feel your pain! I often find that a high up seating position, giving more knee bend, helps a lot. A colleague told me that for back pain you should lean the seat back back a bit because of a muscle that wraps from the front to the back of your torso.

[skattrd]

Broadband down AGAIN, less than 2 weeks since they fixed it. Fault logged and passed to BT.

 

This time DSL sync stopped at 07:59, I reckon someone in BT fucked up, as they start work at 8am.

The last fault happened whilst someone was in the exchange looking at another fault - I think the same muppet might be in there again.

[chaseracer]

...phase 3 will be binning the hateful thing off and buying a W124...

Jon: a good mate (and 2CVGB member) in Bromsgrove is about to sell his 94M W124, looking for about 800 notes - I can put you in touch if you're interested.

 

You have PM, also...

[jonathan_dyane]

Thanks but I shall have to persevere with the Audi of torture a little longer I think; the more I think about it the more it feels I would be better trying to fit a new seat into the 80, one which is more comfortable and moves further back. In Durham I have a pair of nice comfy BX GTI seats which I just might end up butchering in...

[RedSparrow]

I thought Haynes manuals were a staple of charity shops. Always found it funny that there were more copies of Haynes for each model about than actual surviving cars.

[freebird]

I used to go into every one in town to hunt down owners handbooks, I was normally certain of finding, at least, one.

Nowdays they have all gone Hoity fucking toity and bin that kind of stuff in order to ugrade their images from Flea market to a more specialised tat store with prices to match.

It WAS better in the old days.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

I was always amused by my local library's car maintenance section. They obviously bought a basketful of workshop manuals when the place opened and then never replaced them. I was last in there in about 2005, when the selection was limited to Haynes manuals for the Chevette, Cortina and Allegro (last checked out in 1993).

[warren t claim]

Fucking RealPlayer.

[Negative Creep]

Fucking RealPlayer.

 

Get VLC Media Player and ditch that piece of shit in your recycle bin

[warren t claim]

Fucking RealPlayer.

 

Get VLC Media Player and ditch that piece of shit in your recycle bin

 

Can I still play all I've downloaded on RealPlayer?

[morris_ital_lover]

Just checked with my old Realplayer downloaded videos from a couple of years ago and they still work with VLC, so most likely yes. (BTW, VLC is ace in a does the job well in no fancy shit kinda way).

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

VLC FTW.

 

I quite like ITV's new look but can't believe they've added a permanent on screen logo to ITV1, perfect for catching your eye every now and again and pulling you out of the programme. Fuck off. It was bad enough when Channel 5 did it with that stupid logo which makes it look like your TV's on screen display is malfunctioning.

 

Who's left giving a shit about presentation now? Only BBC 1, 2, & HD, and the Sky branded channels.