The grumpy thread

[Bren]

Not the car that is at fault. It is the person that has done the job. 

It appears to be de rigeur that you must pay handsomely for the privilige of people doing shit work or turning up late or not at all.

[MarvinsMom]

which is why i got some scaffolding put up at home so that i could get upto the eaves of the house and give them a lick of paint and realign the guttering which was leaking.

i have had folks in before who have charged a fortune to do a shit job up there, so this time i decided i was going to do the work myself.

at least then if i did a shit job, i only would myself to blame.

[Parky]

On 6/5/2021 at 11:12 AM, Parky said:

Either that or my neighbours broke in and turned it into a cannabis factory....

It’ll be fine.  I spoke to EDF who confirmed my account was closed and nothing was owed.  I’ll happily pay the £20 or whatever was used (our bill for a family of four was on average £100 a month when we all lived there) so an empty place can’t consume much.  Ultimately what’s a debt collector in Leeds gonna do?  Come to New Zealand and take my TV?

Debt collector wants me to call them urgently on a premium rate number.  Yeah right, like I am going to do that from New Zealand on a mobile.

They asked for my new number and address but I refused.  I don’t want phone calls at 2am with Stewie Griffin on the other end screaming “where’s my money man????”

Left it as “I still have no confirmation of what I allegedly owe or why.  If there is a small sum owed to EDF I will be happy to settle directly with them but as there is nothing owed according to them I am going to need some evidence from you to back up your spurious opportunistic approach.  Please provide evidence or further info via email and I will be happy to peruse”

Bit of internet research suggests LCS buy up small outstanding sums from utility forms and HMRC, add on an admin fee, and send threatening letters to people hoping they pay up.  The amounts grow until by letter four they offer to settle for a lesser amount.  It sounds a lot like Parking Eye’s business model

 

[New POD]

23 hours ago, MarvinsMom said:

the party who changed the cans has agreed to come and replace the driverside front one after reviewing the pictures i took yesterday.

which is good.

only the first opportunity they have for coming and doing the work is the beginning of July.

which is, well actually ok, i guess since the car isn't mot'd or on the road.

i could have had a replacement can posted out, BUT, as we don't have a hydrolastic Dalek and if there is a problem with the replacement one, if they have fitted it then i cannot be at fault with it.

and we can use the time between now and then to look into the cars brakes, with a view to sending the car for a test.

Are they 4 pot AP calipers at the front? If they are 3 of the pistons will be seized.  (Says the ex owner of a metro turd...o ) 

Or rather 6 of the 8 pistons will be welded indefinitely to the actual bores. 

[New POD]

I am more grumpy, because somehow my life is more complicated than it needed to be. 

1) Work. That pays the bills. I am uncertain about the contract I'm doing. Because they really want a permie staff member but the pay wouldn't do me any favours. So long term who knows. I have the offer of a contract in Barrow, but it's inside IR35 And IF I had nothing else I would definately have to do it, but they won't wait forever, for a decision.  Then an old manager has contacted me about a permie job in Birmingham. Quite senior. Need to find out more. But I'd close my LTD company and commute from Uttoxeter 3 days a week. 

2) Fucking builder. I need to be here when he starts the Pointing. Promised last week, promised this week. Now he's saying Next week. I need more fucking notice than 11 hours given that I need to actually go to the office 140 miles away. 

3) kitchen. We have ordered an overpriced swanky kitchen. Because with has money coming to her.  It should be stress free. It's fucking not. 

4) Sons wedding.  We are on the Edge of any prep work, but have to book a meal the night before for those people attending the reversal. (I'm not sure why you need a rehearsal..all church weddings are the same) 

14 people? . What time? Wife took this on. Eventually we get clear guidance about who and when And it gets booked. 8 hours later, one of the bride's maids says her and her plus one might, be coming to the rehearsal after all. Might. So wife has to phone the place to tell them it might be 16 or not. Now ordinarily this wouldn't be a problem, but Covid restrictions make you not want to piss the pub/restaurant  around.

5) are we coming out of lockdown on June 21st.  Wedding will be 85 people. Or will it be 15 people. 

6) Son and his bride have just taken ownership of their first house. We should go visit. @MikeR's wife has gegged in. So now we have to pick her up, drive to Manchester to pick up Daughter, drive to Bromsgrove, have lunch and go for a walk before going home. All on Saturday.  

 

[somewhatfoolish]

Weddings are utter insanity; I was quietly hoping the human race would have forgotten this arcane and usuriously expensive ritual because ZOMGPANDEMIC! If you like parties, have a party; weddings should be for registry offices. Bloke I know isn't even divorced yet and is already being corralled into a £25k nightmare of meringue dress and stupid cake. I'd rather poke sticks in my eyes.

[New POD]

1 minute ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Weddings are utter insanity; I was quietly hoping the human race would have forgotten this arcane and usuriously expensive ritual because ZOMGPANDEMIC! If you like parties, have a party; weddings should be for registry offices. Bloke I know isn't even divorced yet and is already being corralled into a £25k nightmare of meringue dress and stupid cake. I'd rather poke sticks in my eyes.

I vote we give each guest 500 quid and they also don't buy the dress they planned or the matching shoes and underwear  and favinator and bag and Umbrellor, meaning each one has £1000.  And the 2 hotel nights they are each funding. 

And we put that money in a pot. 

And then we use that money to rent a hotel for a weekend. Where we have a party.  Where we need to put our oldest smelliest clothes on and get ratfaced 

[cobblers]

The shamelessness of it too, with all the hire companies just inventing new things that you've just "got" to have. My mate paid £750 to rent some fucking lycra chair covers, and £200 to rent some 4 foot high wooden letters that were quickly rearranged to spell "VOLE". What a lot of shit! It makes me angry just thinking about the money wasted and the regret people will have afterwards. 4 years later he's still got £387 a month coming out of the bank to pay off the loan they took out to pretend to all their mates that they were richer than they are for one day.

I'm really salty too because as a best man I had to dye my really nice tan brogues black to match the grooms.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Personally I've never understood it either.  I don't really understand the point of marriage but beyond that, why would you spend so much money to show off to other people?

My best mate was going to get married last year and was plonking down a huge sum (around £20K) to do it.  Some of it had been gifted but they still had to pay most of it out of pocket.  They booked a venue and paid the deposit, had most of the shite arranged and some of it paid for and then Covid came and cancelled their wedding.  Then they re-arranged a smaller marriage and Covid cancelled it again.  Ironically their relationship was somewhat strained by this point.

They've now managed to get quite a bit of their money back and have arranged a third wedding that is much smaller, only has direct family attending and they're much, much happier and much less stressed, their relationship has improved and now they are really looking forward to getting married.

I think a lot of it comes down to this expectation to get married and some people start planning their 'dream wedding' in their head from the age of 10.  Yeah.  No.

[cobblers]

I don't "get" marriage at all either. Don't understand the concept of it, but unfortunately my wife does. Fortunately she's mostly got her head screwed on so we had a registry office do with a few close friends and then went out for a steak afterwards.

The waitress asked "Have you been up to anything nice today guys?" and when we told her we'd just got married, her face dropped as if something must have gone incredibly wrong.

Fuck that, I'd rather have a deposit to move to a nicer house and no wedding than have a "nice" wedding and still be stuck living in a poxy little terraced house.

[Parky]

My wedding cost $1300 NZD and was great fun.  Lovely day, loads of wine, nice and informal garden wedding with a caterer thrown in (most of the money was for her but well worth it).  Been married 20 years.

Friend?  £30 grand wedding.  White horses, best of the best, three weeks in the Maldives afterwards.  Divorced two years later when he (a) admitted he didn’t want any more kids as he already had a couple and (b) he was in love with a work colleague and had been with her since before the wedding (she was at the wedding!)

People can spend their money on whatever they want but seriously, weddings are a massive swizz.  Do the registry office for the legals and have a big party after.  That doesn’t need to be expensive

[cobblers]

Yup, we were going to have a big party in a field or something in the summer after our wedding, but thankfully covid hit which put paid to that idea, and I think she's now forgotten about it.

[myglaren]

Our wedding cost practically bugger all.

Hadn't seen her fro about seven years but always thinking about her.

Phoned (from Sweden) her neighbour to bring her to the phone.  Asked if she was up for marrying.

OK, she says so hop on a plane, get a special licence, hitched 48 hours later in the registry office, sandwiches and cakes in her parents flat, wedding night in my gran's house, train (for me) to London to meet my boss, drive him to Worcester (client Kay's Catalogue) drive back to Whitby through the snow and petrol limiting - £5 max.  Stuffed her belongings in the Volvo, drive to Immingham to return to Sweden.

Great no planning, just winging it all the way.  Her dress cost her two quid for the material that she turned into a wedding dress the night before the wedding.

No photo's.  MIL took some on her Instamatic and they were seriously underexposed.  Only two show anything at all and it looks like pikeys in thick fog.

Irony there is I was very photography interested and worked in one of Sweden's top photo studios   Oh well.

[High Jetter]

56 minutes ago, cobblers said:

 I think she's now forgotten about it.

I'd bet she hasn't, just biding her time.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

2 hours ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

....  I don't really understand the point of marriage...

....or indeed children 

[MikeR]

Or renewing vows ....

I am still here arnt I .......

[artdjones]

3 hours ago, High Jetter said:

I'd bet she hasn't, just biding her time.

Women never forget.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

22 minutes ago, artdjones said:

Women never forget.

...and they never forget what they forgave....

[Supernaut]

The only two weddings I've been properly involved in so far have been great.

The first was in a forest somewhere outside Fort William, on Halloween. Just the bride and groom, a few guests, and the registrar. We went back to the local youth hostel and got shitfaced, but not after driving through all the flash floods! It started chucking down with rain shortly after the ceremony, and after the half-hour drive back into town things had started flooding.

The second was just in 2017. A couple of my mates got married, so I was invited as the groom's guest / best man, and another mutual friend of ours was invited as the bride's friend / maid of honour. The couple paid for our plane tickets out to Calgary and they got married on the banks of Lake Louise. The only other people were the registrar and two photographers (and all the people watching from the foot path, it was in July!). I spent the rest of the afternoon batting off tourists due to me wandering around Lake Louise in a full kilt outfit and sporting a Scottish accent! We then spent a week driving around the Rockies and generally being idiots.

IF I ever find somebody, and get married, I'll be going for fun rather than bling.

[Jerzy Woking]

I got married in St Petersburg in the registry office which was situated in a beautiful building overlooking the river.

No expense expended. No dressing up, we took the underground and trolleybus to get there. No family there, i had no idea who the witnesses were that my wife found in the building. Sat down, signed a bit of paper, and hey presto, we were married.

Bus back to our apartment, where later a few of her friends popped round with beer, vodka and Moldovan champagne (which tasted like very heavily sugared cider).

Best wedding day of the three I have had.

[MarvinsMom]

Never, ever invite me to a wedding.

out  of those i have been to, cousin Catherine's lasted 3 months (though the groom turning up wearing a Barnsley FC football shirt didn't inspire confidence)

and then Kim's (an old school friend) that lasted i think 6 weeks, while cousin Dianne's marriage lasted the honeymoon, and our Erica's lasted precious little more before her husband ran off with the guy who had been "the best man"

i believe the technical term is "Jonah" 

 

[Supernaut]

"Oh, look" thinks I, "I can get 500mb fibre broadband from Vodafone for only £5 per month more than I'm paying Plusnet for 70mb"

I tried to place an order on Vodafone's website, and while entering payment details it won't accept a name for the account holder longer than 21 characters. Err... what? I've heard bad things about Vodafone's customer service in general, so maybe this is a good early warning sign to give them a swerve.

I only looked because they just finished installing fibre past my front garden a few weeks ago.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

8 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

... only looked because they just finished installing fibre past my front garden a few weeks ago.

The only fibre I like is All-Bran.

[MarvinsMom]

there are times when i kinda think i've missed out on marriage and kids.

especially now i'm hitting middle age and the few friends i have who did all that their kiddies are now going off to university and leaving home, it brings it home to me that i have sorta wasted my life.

but by not doing the family thing, which i am certain i would be shit at, cos, well, i'm too self centred, and it does also mean that i haven't properly grown up, as i have not ever needed to!

hence a house with some proper crappy interior decor, and that is full of old trains, toy cars and bits of old motor cars.....

[Tadhg Tiogar]

6 hours ago, cobblers said:

..... My mate paid .... £200 to rent some 4 foot high wooden letters that were quickly rearranged to spell "VOLE". ..

I'd have paid to see that!

[beko1987]

Went to the office for the day for the first time in probably 12 months... I'm knackered! Wasn't even a full day, a morning of meetings, pub lunch then we went home and I'm still exhausted... 

I used to do it 5 days a week too, seems mad now! (not the pub bit, or the finishing early bit...) 

[artdjones]

4 hours ago, Jerzy Woking said:

I got married in St Petersburg in the registry office which was situated in a beautiful building overlooking the river.

No expense expended. No dressing up, we took the underground and trolleybus to get there. No family there, i had no idea who the witnesses were that my wife found in the building. Sat down, signed a bit of paper, and hey presto, we were married.

Bus back to our apartment, where later a few of her friends popped round with beer, vodka and Moldovan champagne (which tasted like very heavily sugared cider).

Best wedding day of the three I have had.

The trolley bus would sell it to me.

[Jerzy Woking]

2 minutes ago, artdjones said:

The trolley bus would sell it to me.

They were a delight in winter. No heating, icicles hanging from the roof, and thick ice on the windows. I often got off not knowing where I was, as couldn't see my location through the ice.

Still took it in preference to the warm bus and metro.

[omegod]

Newpod. the covid wedding shite is a pain, my brother got married at Briars Hall last weekend with a max 30 people and it upset him to have to cancel so many people, was still a lovely day but no fucker was dancing in the evening which was a bit awkward.  

My wedding was good but cost 14k, I spent half the day saying hello and the other half saying goodbye and I didn't even see the evening buffet which was a pisser as I'd specced fucking salt and pepper ribs 

[High Jetter]

I have Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Matrimony" running through my head now! "...when we turn up an hour late like two frozen peas..."