The grumpy thread

[Parky]

No, it's just exposure to it. Those of us who work in it every day soon learn that when something goes wrong, we need an alternative route so we work one out.

 

Louise - to get to the Excel it is hard to avoid the DLR as none of the other lines go particularly close to it. One option might be to get the Jubilee to North Greenwich (by the O2) and then get the cable car over to the other side of the river. You will be dead close to the Excel centre then.

 

DLR can be picked up at Tower Hill, Bank, or Stratford. Which mainline station are you arriving at?

[Parky]

Sorry just noticed you are starting at Heathrow.

 

Journey would be a bit of a faff but this works - not the quickest but fewest changes

 

Piccadilly Line to Green Park. Roughly 18 stops

 

Change at Green Park to Jubilee line headed for Stratford and get off at Canning Town (9 stops)

 

Then DLR from Canning Town to Prince Regent (3 stops)

 

And you'll be there, well just about anyway. Custom House is the best DLR station but I think it's currently closed. Typical! If it should be opened specially for tomorrow, use that station instead.

[richardthestag]

myhermes

 

is there a less efficient delivery service with crapper customer service interface?

 

Utter shit

[beko1987]

I feel ill, not felt like this for ages and I know what's coming.

 

Dunno if it's driving 464 miles in 3 days (i rarely drive long distances, it fucked me right up. First time I've ever felt like I was going to fall asleep at the wheel), sleeping in the car without putting the seat flat for an hour, kipping on my dad's sofa afterwards for 4 hours or the quite nice chicken burger I ate from a reputable* looking shop by the Manchester Apollo...

 

I had stuff to do tonight, but it looks like I'll be having an early night.

 

Funnily* Google asked me to review the closed service station somewhere near Grantham that we pulled into their car park for an hours sleep. I gave it 3 stars, a+ car park, wud sleep in again...

[eddyramrod]

"Liked" for the review, obvs, not the rest of it.  You're probably right, it'll be all that driving.

[beko1987]

I've never felt it before! The crunch came on the a1, pitch black, never driven it before apart from that morning in the dark, so didn't know the corners, every vehicle on the hard shoulder made me pull out to l2 just incase because I couldn't judge it, my braking became sharper and I left the cruise on 62mph so the wheel shook to keep me awake.

 

I even introduced my dad to hard house for 20 miles, I think that's what made him get me to pull over.

 

I felt worse after a sleep too, should have had a rolly but I was better after 5 minutes! I'll pull over earlier next time. Was worth it though, as stupid as it sounds dad always drives to these things, and I felt like a man to be driving him this time! He's driving to London on Sunday though, but mainly because his blue badge and love of London driving makes it the right choice.

[Guest Hooli]

Fucking hell, you must have the patience of a saint to try four times!

 

Nope, just no luck when applying elsewhere.

[Pillock]

So we did the family London day out thing, and because it was a day out we drove the 30 mins to Rugby and then got on the train. Managed to get it to £99 for four of us, and then added on four Zone 1-6 Travelcards for £14 which when they're £12 each from toob stations, that didn't seem bad.

 

Except it wasn't that cheap, because I wanted to save £2 by parking on an "unofficial" wasteland carpark instead of the nice multistory at Rugby.

And as we got our coats out the boot, we heard the hissing that meant I'd just driven a week-old tyre over a massive fucking screw. But had to go and catch the train, so essentially kept remembering all day that we had to come back to a car with a flat tyre.

 

Had to use the inflate-o-gunk too as it's a 7 seat Touran with no spare, and once you've done that they won't repair them even though it was a chunky screw right in the middle of the tread pattern. So that's £80 on a new tyre, some more gunk to add to the train tickets. Bastard.

[Rusty_Rocket]

myhermes

 

is there a less efficient delivery service with crapper customer service interface?

 

Utter shit

 

They are utterly hopeless.  As well as leaving parcels for me in ridiculous places, I got scammed by them last year when sending a parcel that was apparently overweight.  It absolutely wasn't, in fact I'd been generous with the measurements and weight.

A quick google shows that they have form with this and there's nothing you can do about it.  Basically legalised robbery.

 

To top it all, I received a parcel last week from the Hermes man which should have needed a signature.  I asked him if I should sign anything and he said 'it's ok mate, I've already done it'... err, yup, great.... 

[Pillock]

Which does leave you free to claim it never arrived, and if they look at the signature you can prove it's not yours.

Depends whether it's insured and it'll get the driver into bother (yay), or the company that sent it will lose out without being able to claim from Hermes.

[J4mes]

 

My Mrs strikes again, thinks nothing of trying to mount a 5" curb. This is the back up car after she kettled the Alfa GTV.

That'll be changing the sump tomorrow then.

[sporty-shite]

the quite nice chicken burger I ate from a reputable* looking shop by the Manchester Apollo...

 

DOES NOT COMPUTE

[chaseracer]

It's a sign of the times.

 

[andy18s]

[daveb47]

Fucking angina & sciatica,not really slept for several days,combination of not being able to get comfortable & stress.

Looks like i am going to lose my Motabilty car,so on lookout for cheap 4x4 or people carrier,cant get in or out of low cars.

Got to sell Vstrom first though.

Not a happy bunny.

[tooSavvy]

^^^ so then... You been oiked off PiP?

 

I'm awaiting an Appeals Panel sitting for our Daughter....

 

FFS >> she is more ill now than when she qualified

 

 

Fkkin Govt twuntts

 

 

TS

[daveb47]

^^^ so then... You been oiked off PiP?

 

I'm awaiting an Appeals Panel sitting for our Daughter....

 

FFS >> she is more ill now than when she qualified

 

 

Fkkin Govt twuntts

 

 

TS

Yup,wankers,just when i thought this year couldnt get any worse.

[chaseracer]

Two-thirds of PIP appeals succeed.  Worth a go.

[eddyramrod]

Last Sunday (Easter Sunday and my birthday) I took the Cadillac up the motorway a bit to a truck show.  It's a whole-weekend event spread over two villages, Brough and Kirkby Stephen.  I've been going to this one since we returned to Blighty.  There's no exhibition category for cars, you just show up and park on the street where you can, and people give your car a glance on their way to the next Commer TS3 or Leyland Titan PD2 (yes, buses are a major part of the event).  Last year Marvin'sMom attended for the first time, to relay me a front wing for Hyacinth.

Anyway, last Sunday...

Despite the rain I thought I'd put the bonnet mascot on the Caddy, as we were going to a show; driving along with the shield-and-laurels in view does make the occasion a bit special.  The mascot is held on by two 10mm nuts, you have to open the bonnet to get at them.  One has already gone missing, some time ago, but that's ok, one will hold it on.

So I took the nut off, fitted the mascot, and went to fit and tighten the nut.  And the 1/4" drive 10mm socket flew off my extension bar and disappeared somewhere in the engine bay.

Fucking marvellous!  I backed the car up a few feet to see if the socket was on the ground, but no.  Nor was it visible anywhere within the bay.  I even checked around the inlet manifold and the carb, as best I could without removing the air cleaner.  I had a little torch in my pocket which was a blessing for the really dark bits.  Still no socket.  Oh and of course all this time, I'm getting wet...

So I put the mascot back in the glove box where it lives, and went anyway.  75 miles each way.  I hadn't bothered to take a reading before, so that surprised me a bit.

All the way there and back on the sodden motorway I was questioning my sanity.  The rain stopped, more or less, as I arrived, and managed to stay off for most of the day until it was time to go.  That was something, I suppose...

There seemed to be fewer exhibits, possibly because of the weather, than previous years; there were certainly fewer stalls.  Of the stalls, two were model-car dealers I expected to see.  One sells new stock, at what I would consider retail prices; the other sells used stock, at least I hope he does or he's not going to make a living!  He won't be selling any to me as his prices are way above even ebay.

So I had a miserable show with a miserable drive each side of it; I took hardly any pics and completely failed to buy any model cars; I didn't even get an ice-cream.  I couldn't put the mascot on the car because of the lost socket.  On top of all that I missed two of the three BTCC races on the telly, which I could have been watching from the comfort of my reclining armchair with my warm and loving dog on my knee, but no, I'd planned to go out and I went.  I began to question my sanity even before I'd reached the M6 on the way there.  As yet I haven't come up with any other answer than "WTF were you thinking of, you idiot????"

[Mr A Lawrence]

But....... Did you find the socket??

[eddyramrod]

No.  At least, not yet.  Today is sunny, and the car is On Show again tomorrow, so I might just nip outside now and have another fumble under the hood for a few minutes.  That's if the damn thing didn't fall out on the motorway...

[eddyramrod]

No. 

I'll rephrase that.

Yes.

I went out to have a look, and what a difference a nice day makes!  There was the socket, lurking at the foot of the radiator grille.  How it didn't escape I can't imagine.  So, that's one element of my above Grump mitigated.

 

And thank goodness.  10mm and 13 mm sockets seem to break or disappear with alarming frequency, which I'm sure is closely related to their position at the top of the "most-used" chart.  I should buy those two sizes in bulk!

[tooSavvy]

Two-thirds of PIP appeals succeed.  Worth a go.

100% of Dole claims4me*

 

*other claimants performance may vary.

 

 

TS

[andy18s]

I'll rephrase that.

Yes.

I went out to have a look, and what a difference a nice day makes!  There was the socket, lurking at the foot of the radiator grille.  How it didn't escape I can't imagine.  So, that's one element of my above Grump mitigated.!

Could have been worse....

[robinmasters]

Two-thirds of PIP appeals succeed.  Worth a go.

So two thirds of people who don't appeal are likely to be struggling along without the money they deserve? Conniving government bastards.

[bub2006]

C2 is fighting me again. Old sump corroded and leaking so fitted new sump. New sump leaked slightly so thought I'd put some gasket sealant on as well as gasket and retighten the sump nuts. All was well. Nipped to cemetery and was greeted with this site. C2-1 bub-0 but hoping to make it a score draw. Failing that I've got some matches and a Jerry can of asdas finest.

[tooSavvy]

So two thirds of people who don't appeal are likely to be struggling along without the money they deserve? Conniving government bastards.

Straight Up..... Low hanging fruit M8

 

Kick em off - regardless - won't/don't fight it? = easy money saved DWP.

 

 

TS

[Tamworthbay]

C2 is fighting me again. Old sump corroded and leaking so fitted new sump. New sump leaked slightly so thought I'd put some gasket sealant on as well as gasket and retighten the sump nuts. All was well. Nipped to cemetery and was greeted with this site. C2-1 bub-0 but hoping to make it a score draw. Failing that I've got some matches and a Jerry can of asdas finest.

Top tip- cable tie a washing up bowl under the car, it will collect oil which you pour back in and impress the layyydeeeees who will think it's a rally car.

[Guest Hooli]

I got a puncture in the bike thursday, that's not the grump.

Both rear calliper retaining bolt holes stripped when I took the wheel out, that's not the grump.

 

Fitted thread inserts today & put the calliper back then the bloody bleed nipple snapped! THAT's the grump.

 

FFS haven't I've given it enough time & attention lately?

 

I gave up & washed the Saab instead.

[twosmoke300]

Suzuki isn't it ? Only the softest most corrosion prone componants will do !