The grumpy thread

[dozeydustman]

3 hours ago, Tetleysmooth said:

I didn't know whether to post this here, or in the 'What the **** is wrong with you' thread.

Tetley is a worried chap this morning. I had my HGV medical a couple of weeks ago, and seemingly everything was fine, passed with no advisories. Then, either Friday or Saturday I received a letter from the Nazi party - sorry - DVLA, telling me I had to attend a 'field of vision' test. They provided a list of approved opticians, but it was the wording of the letter that got me - 'if you do not make an appointment, or turn up to an appointment, we will revoke your licence', maybe not exactly the wording, but you get the gist.

So, yesterday, Tetley turned up for said appointment. One of the first questions I asked was would they tell me if I had met the standard. They do not discuss the outcome of the test with you, it's between them and the DVLA. I  had to sit the test 3 times. You look at an orange dot in the middle of a white screen, and further dots appear in random places all over the white screen. You have to press a button every time you see a white dot appear. It's an awful test. Your eyes cross, focus, re-focus, and you're so busy thinking of that, you probably miss some dots. I had to do a regular sight test as well, in which I read the bottom line.

I got home to find yet another Nazi party letter waiting for me. Our DVLA doctor is assessing your fitness to drive, and will be writing to Dr ******** etc.etc.

I've got an awful feeling they're going to take my HGV entitlement away. I can see fine. My eyes are better than Mrs Tet's, yet the Nazis have got it into their heads that I need a white stick to get around.

Because they won't tell me anything, I now have weeks of stress coming up. Oh joy.

Fully sympathise with you here Tetley. It took 18 months to get my HGV back after I had a second bout of vertigo, despite my GP and specialist declaring me fit to drive in January 2018.

one bit of advice I will give you is inform the surgery DVLA are writing to them and see the GP who needs to fill in the report, ideally chatting with them at the same time just so they can verify that between the actual medical and the all clear being given is good.

i had mine declined on the word of a GP at the practice I have never seen nor did he/she request to see me to check and verify that what I had filled in was true. This set me getting my license back by 3 months minimum, and even after I applied again the all clear from my GP had the be given the once over by the DVLA’s medical team and I had to attend a recognised clinic.

unfortunately this is a result of that dustcart driver from Glasgow who had an attack at the wheel and killed several members of the public. By all accounts he’d not declared he’d had severe health issues in the past that might affect his ability to drive, though he’d lost his previous job as a bus driver through ill health.

it’s a real ballache and these letters are just formalities but unless something has been flagged up you should be ok

[Mrcento]

Finding car hunting fairly depressing,

On the somewhat bright side, the lack of semi interesting dailys at anywhere near a sensible price is steering me more and more towards complete "fuck it" territory and either getting something life ruining and/or MOT exempt age.

[hairnet]

rear brake master cylinder lid and bolts for honda cb500

honda uk 25 quid for the lid (!) and 80p a bolt - didnt think it was gonna be that 10-15 maybe

honda usa $3.47 for lid and 30 cent a bolt

what drugs are they on as its the same distance from thai to here as thai to usa ffs where the bike and parts are made

piss taking twats

[Lankytim]

I've been playing with my "new" V70 D5, it's the same as the old one only it isn't rotten. The interior was slightly tired so i've been swapping various parts over and i've ended up with a 90% mintola interior. The only part I ballsed up was swapping one of the rear backrests over. The original had broken plastics and was jammed shut. After much swearing and violence I managed to get it out.  The new backrest went in but needed a bit of a wiggle to click home, only I somehow managed to trap and cut three wires associated with the seatbelt pretensioners. Feck!! I've half repaired them but now I can't find my soldering iron. A quick job turned into a race against the clock to get it ready for work tonight. 

[Mrcento]

3 minutes ago, hairnet said:

rear brake master cylinder lid and bolts for honda cb500

honda uk 25 quid for the lid (!) and 80p a bolt - didnt think it was gonna be that 10-15 maybe

honda usa $3.47 for lid and 30 cent a bolt

what drugs are they on as its the same distance from thai to here as thai to usa ffs

piss taking twats

Dealer mark ups likely.

My local Fiat dealer is a bit like that. The few times i contacted them in a pinch when i just needed the part asap, they stock absolutely nothing, no matter how common the part is across the range "Needs to come from Italy pal, will be £60+ VAT" for parts that cost under £10 from a factors. Even service parts. Useless.

Actually found my local Vauxhall dealer is more reliable for having Fiat specific parts on the shelf in an emergency, often at about a third of the price of the Fiat dealer.

[andy18s]

43 minutes ago, hairnet said:

rear brake master cylinder lid and bolts for honda cb500

honda uk 25 quid for the lid (!) and 80p a bolt - didnt think it was gonna be that 10-15 maybe

honda usa $3.47 for lid and 30 cent a bolt

what drugs are they on as its the same distance from thai to here as thai to usa ffs where the bike and parts are made

piss taking twats

Performance Bikes priced up a Kwak 600 Ninja using dealer parts back in the early 90's

What was a 6k bike came in at over 25k ...

[meggersdog]

Yeah so the weather is hot and I called into a shop on the way home to buy a cold drink.I present the counter staff with a Scottish  £20 and the lady behind the counter says "sorry, can't accept that" (we are in Cambridgeshire,England) . I told her it is legal tender but she still refused saying her boss won't accept it. There is a post office at the side of her which I pointed out."it's a different till" she says. She agreed the post office is open so I asked if I buy a stamp from the post office with the Scottish note will that be okay. "the boss won't accept it" I pointed out he is not the boss of post office counters and has no say in the matter. I need to speak to him about this error of his judgement. All I get is a first name and he comes in on Friday mornings.

After dropping a car off when I got home I get the number of post office counters complaints but they are closed.Oh well, that's a job for the morning then

 

 

Bugger, just thought.I should have put the drink back and got a can of Irn bru instead. Then it would have been deemed racist.

Edited July 3, 2019 by meggersdog
comedic value

[Vin]

2 hours ago, hairnet said:

rear brake master cylinder lid and bolts for honda cb500

honda uk 25 quid for the lid (!) and 80p a bolt - didnt think it was gonna be that 10-15 maybe

honda usa $3.47 for lid and 30 cent a bolt

what drugs are they on as its the same distance from thai to here as thai to usa ffs where the bike and parts are made

piss taking twats

My experiences of buying stuff from the USA have always ended up with me paying 25 quid or more just to get it off the courier...?

[hairnet]

i dont need no steenkin courier

 

[barefoot]

I rather thought I'd bought a car and arranged to collect it next Tuesday, so yesterday I withdrew the cash, arranged insurance and bought train tickets.

Email this morning, 'Any chance you can come another day?'

Grumbles...

[colnerov]

14 minutes ago, barefoot said:

I rather thought I'd bought a car and arranged to collect it next Tuesday, so yesterday I withdrew the cash, arranged insurance and bought train tickets.

Email this morning, 'Any chance you can come another day?'

Grumbles...

Ask them any chance they will re-imburse your train ticket?

[barefoot]

1 hour ago, colnerov said:

Ask them any chance they will re-imburse your train ticket?

Can't do that, it appears to be a giffer buy amongst giffer buys.

Owner, chap A is in hospital, unlikely to ever come out, Chap B is selling it for him and he's got to go in next week as well. Mrs A is apparently very timid & doesn't want to be involved with sale of car to hairy, barefoot stranger.

[Mally]

Any chance is negotiable.

Tell them it's very inconvenient  as you booked a day off work and bought tickets.

Old people don't like being off work for nothing.

 

[hairnet]

you could tell them you might not buy the car............youve not quite bought it and its costing you money...........

youre buying something not feeling sorry for his medical issues

 

[New POD]

On 7/3/2019 at 5:06 PM, Mrcento said:

Dealer mark ups likely.

My local Fiat dealer is a bit like that. The few times i contacted them in a pinch when i just needed the part asap, they stock absolutely nothing, no matter how common the part is across the range "Needs to come from Italy pal, will be £60+ VAT" for parts that cost under £10 from a factors. Even service parts. Useless.

Actually found my local Vauxhall dealer is more reliable for having Fiat specific parts on the shelf in an emergency, often at about a third of the price of the Fiat dealer.

I once watched a programme on the telly with Gordon fuck fuck Ramsey, where he was helping a restaurant owner. 

 

At one point he said the rule of thumb was to charge 10 times the cost of the ingredients. 

 

So I have worked as a manufacturing engineer in factories making car parts. 

In 1996 I visited a sister plant of Lucas Industries in La Rochel, western France. They were making 1 stop start solenoid of the DPC pump every 6 seconds and shipping them to Lucas Diesel in Blois near the River Loire.  The internal transfer price was less than 4 quid. 

Some months later I thought I needed one for my AX 1.4D and took the trouble to price up various dealers prices. Given that the same engine was sold by Rover, Puegoet and citroen and the DPC pump was in every car manufacturers range, the price of this 4 quid solenoid ranged from 65 quid to 96 quid.

Later I worked making Turbos for Garrett and we sold a simple wastegate turbo with no water cooling to Ford for the Mondeo td for about £80.  One truck load a day. 

If you wanted a new one from a Ford dealer £850 quid trade price. Or 1100 retail. 

That's just the way it is. 

[New POD]

7 hours ago, barefoot said:

Can't do that, it appears to be a giffer buy amongst giffer buys.

Owner, chap A is in hospital, unlikely to ever come out, Chap B is selling it for him and he's got to go in next week as well. Mrs A is apparently very timid & doesn't want to be involved with sale of car to hairy, barefoot stranger.

Where is it.  If it's local to a shitter maybe they can go and view and buy. 

[Cavcraft]

'You HAVE to get this pension letter signed and back by tomorrow, or you might be charged again and it's £250'

 

No chance, I've missed today's deadline to get it there tomorrow.

 

'Has to be tomorrow'

 

Checks prices same day delivery £243. For a couple of forms in an A4 envelope. Two hundred and forty three quid. Rings them to say it's not happening.

 

'Oh well it'll do Friday, send it 24 hours post today'

 

Fucking good job I didn't book that courier, hey?

 

 

[myglaren]

It's not long since I had to send something off for my pension.  It was following day delivery (by 10.30 am.) and insured for £500. - £6.50!

[Lankytim]

Had a "non-accident" last night on the way to work.

The rat run of terraced streets where I live is full of parked cars and kids playing but people still bomb around in their cars. The main route through has a lane restriction with priority for cars going through in one direction, cars going in the opposite direction have to wait until the road is clear, except the number of parked cars obstructs the view of anyone approaching. To make matters worse the road I pull out of to get onto the main route is right next to this lane restriction. You have to tentatively edge out, the parked cars obscuring your view, when you finally manage to pull out you're already in the restricted part of the road and past the point of no return with oncoming vehicles taking priority.  Of course last night I did exactly that, pulled out when it was clear, immediately entering the lane restriction.  As I got to 3/4 through a minicab came the opposite way, weaving through the parked cars.  He saw me crawling along and floored it, we met nose to nose and *maybe* just bumped.  He jumped out waving his arms and pointing at the sign, I got out too and explained the sign didn't entitle him to drive at cars already in the restriction and, when I pulled out, he wasn't there. 

He checked for damage, which there was none of to either car and offered to back up, in the end I did and it all ended pretty much amicably. 

 

I did notice he had a dash cam though... It would be just my luck to end up with a letter from my insurers explaining they were settling a claim against me for 5x serious injuries and a written off Skoda Rapid taxi. 

[barefoot]

11 hours ago, New POD said:

Where is it.  If it's local to a shitter maybe they can go and view and buy. 

Chap B appears to have enlisted the help of elderly chap C!

All is apparently sorted...

[HillmanImp]

I fucking HATE cars. I need a new hobby that I have time for. Pretty much anything I can do between the hours of 8-8.15pm 2 nights a week (porns blocked on t'interweb so no, I can't do that either for those of you that were going to suggest it) as every other moment involves me having to do some fucking shit that I don't want to be it work or house shizzle etc.

Jags still dumped outside Imp Towers with no MOT in needs of lots of weldage. Only now the battery is too flat to start the car. So I've recharged the battery and gone to put it in the boot but THE FUCKING LOCKS SEIZED! Fucknuggets. I've WD40'd it but to no avail. I can jump it from the live under the bonnet tonight if I get a chance but will I need the battery in the boot already to do this? Fuck knows, I'll have a punt though. 

Sold the house in Keighley. YAY! However that means I've lost the storage for Meg the Visa which has also just run out of MOT.  Boo! Will chuck it in and see what it needs, no doubt lots of weldage. 

Porsche is rumbling along okay now though. Without wanting to tempt fate it's not broken down for a while. It's got a long list of things I know need doing though.

GT6 is still sat there waiting for me to rebuild the carbs so that I can get it running right. Only had 1 bloke come and look at it when it was up for sale and he could barely walk. I've no idea how he thought he could repair it. He couldn't even bend down to look at the sills FFS. Other than that it was approx. 30 messages saying 'LOW3ST PRYCE M8'.

I'm in half a mind to bin the lot of them and buy a fucking brand new Yaris.

 

 

[MikeR]

buy a simple car that dont need things like turbo's    ....... and other complicated things to make it go ....

they could of started again with the introduction of electric cars ......  

imagine a common battery ,  motor and control gear .......  and parts off the shelf ,,,,,,,

 

nope !

[loserone]

None of those cars have turbos.

 

Nearly every electric car does it differently, with different benefits, because noone has figured out a way that's better than the others.

[robinmasters]

I've just removed a headlight because it's the easiest way to change a bulb. Removing the headlight was a piece of piss, but that's not the point. It should be doable by Joe Bloggs, in the dark, at the roadside.

 

[Saabnut]

3 hours ago, HillmanImp said:

 I can jump it from the live under the bonnet tonight if I get a chance but will I need the battery in the boot already to do this? Fuck knows, I'll have a punt though. 

 

 

Connect the jump leads on to the under bonnet terminal then use the boot release button in the door to open the boot. You can then fit the battery and start it. It is what I have to do on my X308 as the boot lock on that is also seized.

[MikeR]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7214699/Would-sex-strike-Meet-four-women-use-bedroom-bans.html

 

who would notice ?

[wuvvum]

29 minutes ago, Saabnut said:

Connect the jump leads on to the under bonnet terminal then use the boot release button in the door to open the boot. You can then fit the battery and start it. It is what I have to do on my X308 as the boot lock on that is also seized.

And hope tae feck that the live battery cable in the boot isn't touching anything metal.

[Fumbler]

And that said metal object is somehow isolated so any exciting sparks and fires are put at bay

[captain_70s]

Went to see my mate's new house, nice and early so I could get home and be in for a DPD parcel delivery, got distracted by the waste pipe popping off the washing machine and flooding the utility room. Got home, missed parcel delivery by 2 minutes, passed the van going the opposite way...

The parcel is a new exhaust for the Acclaim.

[Supernaut]

1 hour ago, MikeR said:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7214699/Would-sex-strike-Meet-four-women-use-bedroom-bans.html

 

who would notice ?

Who would believe a word from that rag?