The grumpy thread

[R1152]

One of many reasons I binned Avast!... 

[jayroller]

45 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

Oh just fuck off.

It is an AntiVirus programme though, what do you expect? 😉

[R1152]

1 hour ago, omegod said:

Have you SEEN what she has done?! It hurts the eyeballs. 

[Low Horatio gearbox]

Having just looked.....jesus tittyfucking christ,  my eyes... my eyes, my eyes.   The saying money doesnt buy taste never more apt.

[Stanky]

Good grief, yes it definitely needs to be redecorated! Have they wallpapered the sofa, or fabric trimmed the walls?

[beko1987]

Imagine trying to find the sofa after a few cans! 

[chodweaver]

I had to stop reading about this matter. I just got too effing angry.

[chodweaver]

Good grief, yes it definitely needs to be redecorated! Have they wallpapered the sofa, or fabric trimmed the walls?

I think that's the 'after' pic

[Stanky]

2 minutes ago, chodweaver said:

I think that's the 'after' pic

There is already a charity for this sort of thing I think? https://www.mind.org.uk/donate/

[eddyramrod]

14 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Today has been one of "those" days.

I took the dog out this morning, leaving MrsR supervising the washing machine.  When I come back: "the drum won't spin."  Fortunately it had reached the end and she was able to empty it, but I tried, and sure enough, locked solid.

So ALL the rest of my morning consisted of dismantling the machine to see what was blocking the drum, and doing some incidental cleaning because the machine hasn't been out of its slot in 7 years... then I had the bright idea of removing the drive belt.  Which leaves the drum able to spin freely and smoothly, so nothing is blocking it at all.  The motor has obviously seized.

So a little online searching threw up a motor specified for this machine, brand new, £102.  A whole new machine costs £179.  I could buy a motor and it might not fix the problem; or fit it poorly (quite possible); or something else could break in short order.  Or I could buy the new machine.  I suspect that's what I'll do in the end, even though it goes against the grain.

This afternoon I tried yet again to phone the caravan park on the south coast, where we are supposed to be staying at the end of April, but it's looking unlikely we will be able to make overnight stops on the way there.  Yet again, the park is "engaged."

Then, for the first time, we decided to have a McDonalds for tea, delivered by UberEats.  We got a discount code the other day and thought it was worth a try.  I managed to navigate the order process and got a message that it would arrive by 1725.  A map appeared, tracking the driver (or, as the caption said, cyclist).  When it showed him in Derby Street, which runs past the end of my street, I decided to step outside and take it from him.  And I waited.  And waited.

So I went back in the house, and instead of the map was a message telling me my order was cancelled.  I phoned McDonalds, and was eventually answered by a very helpful and sympathetic lady.  She said it was probably the driver who had cancelled it, and yes, he was driving not cycling; that was an Uber default setting.  While we were talking, he walked back into the branch, without my meal, but she couldn't ask him about it because he doesn't speak English.

Fucking marvellous.

So the first time I placed an UberEats order has turned out to be also the last.  And if anyone ever asks me for a recommendation I will say  "go to the shop and pick it up yourself."  I ended up flinging some chicken dippers and chips in the oven.  Hardly the big satisfying burger and milkshake I was primed for!

Today has been unremittingly shit.

Well... the washing machine is sorted!  Lynne mentioned it in an online chat with her daughter - who has ordered us one from Argos!  Nice!

[MikeR]

last week the Focus clutch peddle starting clicking ..

it was observed the push rod was moving along the pin on the clutch peddle in order to escape captivity

a tie wrap fixed it and some star clips were ordered , they arrived yesterday .

so get back under the dash and the clutch master cylinder is now leaking ,

but the star clip has fixed the clicking .... 

car is now booked in for  pre mot work and fixing  at the end of the month

[iainrcz]

Woke up in a semi reasonable frame of mind this morning.
Decided to wash the car, so now it's bloody raining.

I'll have a coffee and lay some pipe, see if it stops.

Sent from my VFD 710 using Tapatalk

[Spiny Norman]

3 hours ago, R1152 said:

One of many reasons I binned Avast!... 

+1.

Probably the least intrusive AV nowadays is Windows own one, but on the laptop I don't bother with anything since they all behave pretty much like the malware they allegedly protect you from.
My desktop PC has enough headroom to accommodate an AV program but the laptop gets bogged down so much from all the updating and general nonsense these things do it's just not worth the bother. Stick to reputable websites, don't click on any unknown links in emails and don't have any access to anything financial on the machine and it's all good.

I remember using Norton on my old XP lappy which had a Celeron processor and 512Mb RAM, why does a machine with an  i3 CPU and 4Gb RAM make such a meal of it?

 

[R1152]

2 minutes ago, Spiny Norman said:

+1.

Probably the least intrusive AV nowadays is Windows own one, but on the laptop I don't bother with anything since they all behave pretty much like the malware they allegedly protect you from.
My desktop PC has enough headroom to accommodate an AV program but the laptop gets bogged down so much from all the updating and general nonsense these things do it's just not worth the bother. Stick to reputable websites, don't click on any unknown links in emails and don't have any access to anything financial on the machine and it's all good.

I remember using Norton on my old XP lappy which had a Celeron processor and 512Mb RAM, why does a machine with an  i3 CPU and 4Gb RAM make such a meal of it?

 

^^This^^

When my renewal for BitDefender comes up, I'll bin it and just stick with Windows' own software, or at a push use what my Linux machine uses - ClamAV. I have to say that BD seems to have a minimal impact on this lappy, but it has been upgraded (because you can do subtle ones to HP business machines) to an i7 with 16Gb of RAM and an SSD...

[iainrcz]

I just have windows 10 defender or whatever it's called.
Used to have a raft of stuff in the past, but it seems fine with just that on.

Being careful with what you download is a big part of it.

Sent from my VFD 710 using Tapatalk

[Remspoor]

7 hours ago, Low Horatio gearbox said:

Having just looked.....jesus tittyfucking christ,  my eyes... my eyes, my eyes.   The saying money doesnt buy taste never more apt.

The only thing I can see wrong is that there is no Beige.

[reb]

Went to go for a drive in the Volvo to celebrate it being back on the road. Turn the key and all the dash lights come on as normal, turn it to start it and... nothing. This isn't the grump as it just does that sometimes, a prod of the starter with a pry bar generally sees it right. The grump is the fact that the left hand bonnet catch won't un-catch. It's like it's not doing anything at all when you pull the lever, even pulling it while gently* pulling up on the bonnet did nothing. Will have to investigate further in daylight but it's put somewhat of a damper on my evenings plans. Bastard thing.

[omegod]

22 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Today has been one of "those" days.

I took the dog out this morning, leaving MrsR supervising the washing machine.  When I come back: "the drum won't spin."  Fortunately it had reached the end and she was able to empty it, but I tried, and sure enough, locked solid.

So ALL the rest of my morning consisted of dismantling the machine to see what was blocking the drum, and doing some incidental cleaning because the machine hasn't been out of its slot in 7 years... then I had the bright idea of removing the drive belt.  Which leaves the drum able to spin freely and smoothly, so nothing is blocking it at all.  The motor has obviously seized.

So a little online searching threw up a motor specified for this machine, brand new, £102.  A whole new machine costs £179.  I could buy a motor and it might not fix the problem; or fit it poorly (quite possible); or something else could break in short order.  Or I could buy the new machine.  I suspect that's what I'll do in the end, even though it goes against the grain.

This afternoon I tried yet again to phone the caravan park on the south coast, where we are supposed to be staying at the end of April, but it's looking unlikely we will be able to make overnight stops on the way there.  Yet again, the park is "engaged."

Then, for the first time, we decided to have a McDonalds for tea, delivered by UberEats.  We got a discount code the other day and thought it was worth a try.  I managed to navigate the order process and got a message that it would arrive by 1725.  A map appeared, tracking the driver (or, as the caption said, cyclist).  When it showed him in Derby Street, which runs past the end of my street, I decided to step outside and take it from him.  And I waited.  And waited.

So I went back in the house, and instead of the map was a message telling me my order was cancelled.  I phoned McDonalds, and was eventually answered by a very helpful and sympathetic lady.  She said it was probably the driver who had cancelled it, and yes, he was driving not cycling; that was an Uber default setting.  While we were talking, he walked back into the branch, without my meal, but she couldn't ask him about it because he doesn't speak English.

Fucking marvellous.

So the first time I placed an UberEats order has turned out to be also the last.  And if anyone ever asks me for a recommendation I will say  "go to the shop and pick it up yourself."  I ended up flinging some chicken dippers and chips in the oven.  Hardly the big satisfying burger and milkshake I was primed for!

Today has been unremittingly shit.

I actually went to McD's last night and the drive thru lady asked if I could park up and they would bring out my 3 big mac meals and a cheeseburger, sat there like a lemon for 10 minutes and decided to go in and mix with the ubereats drivers who are allowed into the restaurant, I had a moan to the manager who said he was just waiting on the milkshakes and handed me the food bag, I was about to lose my shit but then noticed there were an extra 2 cheeseburgers in the bag by mistake   Uber must be making a killing judging by the amount of drivers in and out while I was there 

[eddyramrod]

At least the drivers are eating well!

[R1152]

9 hours ago, Stanky said:

Good grief, yes it definitely needs to be redecorated! Have they wallpapered the sofa, or fabric trimmed the walls?

That wallpaper was £100 a metre, I'll have you know. Wonder if it was from George Osborne's family, or doesn't Samantha Cameron do a line in interior furnishings?

[Floatylight]

Just brought the freshly cleaned passenger seat from the Festa in from the garage to dry in the house overnight amd managed to snap off the slide release handle into pieces, looks like they are made of unobtainium..

[artdjones]

28 minutes ago, R1152 said:

That wallpaper was £100 a metre, I'll have you know. Wonder if it was from George Osborne's family, or doesn't Samantha Cameron do a line in interior furnishings?

They could have saved some money by going to wherever it is the owners of Indian restaurants go. 

I wouldn't have it myself, but it isn't that terrible.

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, eddyramrod said:

At least the drivers are eating well!

Did they bring sandwiches?

[somewhatfoolish]

1 hour ago, R1152 said:

That wallpaper was £100 a metre, I'll have you know. Wonder if it was from George Osborne's family, or doesn't Samantha Cameron do a line in interior furnishings?

Did they go to the same wallpaper shop as Derry Irvine and Sally Berk-Cow?

[R1152]

15 minutes ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Did they go to the same wallpaper shop as Derry Irvine and Sally Berk-Cow?

Must've done. Christ, I remember when a few rolls of Anaglypta was all you needed, or woodchip and emulsion if you just wanted to hide crap plaster.

[chodweaver]

Did they bring sandwiches?

No, Subs.

Elder son works* for UberEats - When he started, they were still being used by Subway, but Subway have since brought their deliveries back 'in house'. The reason? Too many complaints from customers that only half their subs were being delivered - there were no tamper-proof stickers on the bags and some drivers had been helping themselves.

* If the shit hits the fan, I'm sure that Uber will claim that he is not employed by them, but contracts directly with the customers...

[Tickman]

16 hours ago, reb said:

Went to go for a drive in the Volvo to celebrate it being back on the road. Turn the key and all the dash lights come on as normal, turn it to start it and... nothing. This isn't the grump as it just does that sometimes, a prod of the starter with a pry bar generally sees it right. The grump is the fact that the left hand bonnet catch won't un-catch. It's like it's not doing anything at all when you pull the lever, even pulling it while gently* pulling up on the bonnet did nothing. Will have to investigate further in daylight but it's put somewhat of a damper on my evenings plans. Bastard thing.

Have you tried pushing the bonnet down while the release is pulled?

My 940 needed this doing as the cable had stretched enough to not release one side.

I fixed* it by having a bungee cord in the car that would hold the pull while I pushed the bonnet.

[EssDeeWon]

An email from The AA...

To remind me its nearly Mothers Day.

Seriously, Fooook Offff!  Stick to what you're good at repairing cars at the side of the road.

[chaseracer]

The AA is a financial institution, funded by venture capital, with a breakdown service loosely attached...

[reb]

3 hours ago, Tickman said:

Have you tried pushing the bonnet down while the release is pulled?

My 940 needed this doing as the cable had stretched enough to not release one side.

I fixed* it by having a bungee cord in the car that would hold the pull while I pushed the bonnet.

Bouncing on the bonnet while MrsREB pulled the lever got it open and closer inspection revealed the cable that goes between the two catches has stretched, so I'll rob the one off the spares car and see if that fixes it.

I can't quite figure out if the problem with the starter is a loose connection or if the connection post for the battery line to it is damaged. I do know it made lots of pretty sparks and fired when I poked it with a breaker bar while turning the key. Stupidly I closed the bonnet before checking to see if it'd start a second time, which it didn't, and it's nearly dinner time so it can wait until tomorrow to have a closer look. If it comes to it fitting a new starter doesn't look to be too awful a job, but it will lighten my wallet somewhat more than I'd like if I fit a new/remanufactured one, at least there's a few used ones on eBay at the moment.