The grumpy thread

[AnthonyG]

2 hours ago, wuvvum said:

I did half-arsedly apply to them a few years ago but it didn't get very far as their office is in Ipswich and the time / cost of commuting was going to be prohibitive.  That might of course have changed though in these strange new remote-working times we find ourselves in.

It’s got to be worth a look, you might find you only have to go to Ipswich once a week/fortnight or so.

Although I appreciate it’s a major wrench for a Norfolk boy!!

[AnthonyG]

Maybe this is for the Covid thread, but it’s slightly concerning this dependence on lateral flow tests, given that the American govt/surgeon general have told their population not to use them and throw them away due to major inaccuracies, both positive and negative.

This affects exactly the same ‘Innova Medical’ ones that the NHS has ordered millions of. 

[AnthonyG]

Just to show I haven’t made this up 😜 - it was the US medicines regulator, the FDA: 

[Zelandeth]

What's that dripping noise I can hear from in the utility room?

Sounds like it's coming from under the bath in the main bathroom... let's pull the panel off and look.

Oh balls...water dripping from above, hitting the pipework where I've circled.

Zero access to that area as it's behind the bath...money is currently on the connection between the supply and the tap on the bath (which is more or less directly above there) is to blame.  God only knows how they installed it!

How messily installed the plastic pipework is here makes me skin crawl... I'd rip the whole lot out and do a tidy job in copper if I had my way!

[somewhatfoolish]

That waste looks like it's been leaking and the MDF shows signs of longterm leakage; your housemates need apprised of the phrase 'penny wise, pound foolish'.

[hairnet]

so applying for something online - not in a massive hurry

service unavailable 7am 7pm

ffs

heres the details - just deal with it whenever youre in ffs

isnt that the whole point of online

i can wait till youre next in the office fuck sake - just take this info off me ffs

[cobblers]

We need to move house. Been looking for over a year. We can buy, or rent. I'm easy. We have what I would have considered a "generous" budget, 18 months ago. But locally the property market is just fucking ludicrous and anything with a parking space and any kind of garden is just impossible.

The last place we looked at was lovely and we immediately said we'd have it and if required pay a whole years rent up front. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to secure it, and someone else ended up with it.

This morning a mediocre house came on rightmove, to let. In a mediocre place. shabby decor at what I would have called "too much" money. But it was close to work and would have been fairly practical for us, so I was prepared to pay a bit over the odds and compromise. 

We rang to book a viewing. It'd been online for 4 hours.

"We do 20 viewings a day and have two days solidly booked, sorry. Shall we put you on the waiting list?"

ffs!

[Barry Cade]

7 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

 

The level of cannot be assedness that I keep running into whenever trying to give money to businesses around here just seems to defy belief...or is it really just me?

This. 

I'm going to be replacing the MIL's  clutch next week, as no garage in the area will do it, and the ones that would even give a price were in the region of 6-700 quid.

This example of an exotic,rare and difficult to work on car to justify this lack of enthusiasm and big price?

A 2010 Focus.. 1.6 petrol

 

Had a car on the back of the truck on Saturday, puncture no spare.. rip in sidewall, so transported the old guy and car round the local tyre fitting chains. He was distraught as he was going to hospital to visit his very ill wife.

Not one place had a tyre of any brand on the shelf. 

This rare exotic car which required a tyre to be specially ordered?

A 2013 Ford Fiesta Titanium..

I Despair.. I really do.

[Zelandeth]

40 minutes ago, somewhatfoolish said:

That waste looks like it's been leaking and the MDF shows signs of longterm leakage; your housemates need apprised of the phrase 'penny wise, pound foolish'.

The waste was leaking like a sieve when we moved in and was responsible for the hole in the utility room ceiling (which the surveyor completely missed).  There was no rubber gasket in it.

The silicone along all edges of the bath was shot too which I think is where a lot of the historic water damage evidence is from.

Biggest problem we keep running into time and time again is things the previous owner wanted to look fancy...bought as cheaply as possible and installed by the lowest bidder.

That bath doesn't drain right because it's been installed a mile off level and I found the original lighting wiring just floating around loose and live in the loft insulation above it.  That set the tone for just about anything they had touched to be honest.

[timolloyd]

28 minutes ago, cobblers said:

We rang to book a viewing. It'd been online for 4 hours.

"We do 20 viewings a day and have two days solidly booked, sorry. Shall we put you on the waiting list?"

ffs!

Crikey. Where do you live, central London?

[cobblers]

1 minute ago, timolloyd said:

Crikey. Where do you live, central London?

Chesterfield!!!!!

[somewhatfoolish]

1 hour ago, hairnet said:

so applying for something online - not in a massive hurry

service unavailable 7am 7pm

ffs

heres the details - just deal with it whenever youre in ffs

isnt that the whole point of online

i can wait till youre next in the office fuck sake - just take this info off me ffs

Doovla by any chance?

[Zelandeth]

Follow up to my previous leak post... eventually figured out it was actually nothing more than the seal between the far side of the tap and the tub itself having failed...

Well...I say failed.  I can't see any evidence of it ever having any sealant or gasket under the riser to the tap...and there's a good 1/8" gap at the back edge as the cap catches on the lip of the tub.  So it's probably been leaking since the bath was installed...just happens to be directly over a wall cavity that goes all the way to the foundations so we never noticed!  Water as running down here as I had the taps open to prevent water getting into the wall via the valves I'd just dismantled and the bath tap was the lowest point so there was a slight drip there - it was running down the body of the tap and dripping down the back of the tub via the missing seal there.

Of course there's no way I can release the risers as they're screwed on from underneath...so I had to settle for prying it up and trying to blob a bunch of silicone sealant under it.  This bathroom really wants gutting and redoing from scratch in the next couple of years so my willingness to spend hours on this is seriously lacking.  The door was never properly laid, the tiles were never properly fitted so the grout is all cracked and they randomly fall off the walls, the sink has no expansion gasket around it so is cracked, the air bath is always full of mould because it doesn't drain right because it's about an inch higher at one end than the other (plug hole is in the centre) and the suspended toilet feels like it's secured with cable ties.  It's a mess.

Never, EVER buy a house that has been owned by an interior designer...

[New POD]

15 hours ago, Talbot said:

<rant>

Local HWRC (tip) now requires that you book in advance for a visit.  Shit to get rid of, so I book to pop over at lunchtime.  Load up the car, got my confirmation email, all good.

3 miles down the road to the tip at lunchtime, and it's all closed up.  Security guy wanders over:  Apparently there's been a covid incident on site this morning, so they've closed down the whole fucking site.  Despite the fact you can lob stuff in a bin while remaining outside and without touching ANYTHING there, they completely close the site.  No email sent out, no warning.. nothing.  For a service that now needs booking.  Fucking brilliant.  A complete and utter over-reaction.

2 options:  Re-book for saturday, or hot-foot it over to the next nearest one, which is 10 miles in the opposite direction to which I've come.  Well, I've a boot full of shit I need to get rid of pronto, so that leaves me with sod-all choice doesn't it.  Barrel over the 13 miles to the other tip, thankfully get let in to be able to drop off.  Lob it all out and then drive back the 10 miles to work at the speed of sound.  Get back late, hot, bothered and now with an empty fuel tank, so I need to fill up this evening, rather than at the weekend as I was planning.

All because some lazy arse who never actually assists with anything anyway at the local tip has had a positive lateral flow test.  The way they were reacting you'd think there had been a murder on site.  I know some people will say "well you can't be too careful".  Given the ridiculousness of some gatherings of people at the moment, there are bigger risks than standing in the outside air and touching nothing other than what you've brought on site yourself.

</rant>

Indeed. If the person suffering from Covid isn't standing sneezing next to you, what is the risk. 

[Talbot]

33 minutes ago, New POD said:

Indeed. If the person suffering from Covid isn't standing sneezing next to you, what is the risk. 

Their statement was "the entire site needs deep cleaning".

Well, yes, that's absolutely true, but has nothing to do with an employee having a positive Covid test.

[Bren]

2 hours ago, New POD said:

Indeed. If the person suffering from Covid isn't standing sneezing next to you, what is the risk. 

There are lots of people - especially in public services - who would happily use the virus as an excuse not to do very much.

[chaseracer]

2 hours ago, Talbot said:

Their statement was "the entire site needs deep cleaning".

"Deep cleaning"??!  It's a fucking TIP.  Literally.

😳

[Talbot]

Indeed.  And given the state of it, I suspect any covid virus landing on any surface there would die instantly.  It's pretty minging, even for a tip.

[chaseracer]

Just now, Bren said:

There are lots of people - especially in public services - who would happily use the virus as an excuse not to do very much.

Not the vast majority of the public service staff I (and @Floatylight) represent.  Still, sweeping and inaccurate generalisations are an easy alternative to fact-based argument...

[Bren]

3 minutes ago, chaseracer said:

Not the vast majority of the public service staff I (and @Floatylight) represent.  Still, sweeping and inaccurate generalisations are an easy alternative to fact-based argument...

I did'nt say the majority. And I work in public services as well.

[Talbot]

When it comes to the staff at the local tips around here, I can ABSOLUTELY believe that rather than properly risk-assess the situation and do what would actually be helpful, useful and proportional,  they would happily use it as an excuse to close the site and "self-isolate" for a couple of weeks.  On full pay of course.  I've witnessed several incidents of people who asked for some assistance, and the attitude of all the staff there was inexcusable. 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

8 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Follow up to my previous leak post... eventually figured out it was actually nothing more than the seal between the far side of the tap and the tub itself having failed...

Never, EVER buy a house that has been owned by an interior designer...

Or one which has appeared on a daytime tv makeover makeitruined show. 

Not our house, fortunately. 

[High Jetter]

Why is my local eurocrapparts sales counter so sloooow for click & collect?

[juular]

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

Why is my local eurocrapparts sales counter so sloooow for click & collect?

TADTS.

No idea how they can be so slow when they have already picked the parts, laid them aside and sent you a text. 

Then there's the queue of folk in front that all think they're Arthur Daley but have no clue what they're in for, spend 15 minutes at the desk asking for loads of parts they don't have, then leave with an air freshener.

Hate the place. 

[louiepj]

Euro Car Parts love those idiots as they don't have to apply any discount for them. Crawley has so many stupid customers they opened up a second place half a mile down the road. Recently saw one walk out with a headlamp cleaning kit asking people in the queue how to use it as his car was right outside the door, everyone turned around looked at the car headlight and immediately told him that's condensation and corrosion you need a new headlight.
He marched straight back in because f*ck us and our help he only queues once, to get a headlight.

[Sh'Eds]

FFS.

Why don't I learn to never let a car sit unused.

Just went out to the Tahoe, which was only last used 11 days ago (completing a 420 mile roundtrip with ease) to find the battery completely flat. 

Was about to take it for a clean before loading up and heading off to the American Auto Club Summer Nationals, bloody looking forward to a weekend of camping and cars. 

Took an age to find one of the two sodding battery chargers I have too. Anyway charging battery (and a spare from the corvette) and hoping I can make it today still but suspect I will just have to go over tomorrow instead. No doubt whatever I do will result in sitting in a field on Sunday with a flat battery.

UPDATE:

Less grumpy now. Have fitted half charged corvette battery (smaller than Tahoe but still designed to run a chevy smallblock so should cope). Now have car that will start. Also improved mood from source of battery drain being quickly identified. My delightful* son had left a map light on, he does love to push buttons! At least I don't have the delights of trying to track down a parasitic draw  

Now to load the filthy car and head off to a show. Will all be good with a beer in my hand later.

UPDATE 2

 

Packed and ready.

Camp set up.

Now got beer and relaxing. Grumpiness done. Proper battery on charge at home. Wife coming tomorrow and will bring it so all is right with the world.

[sdkrc]

Arguably the worst advert I've ever seen in my 30-odd years of trawling used ads

https://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-motorbikes/nissan-primera-hatchback-2000-manual-1769-cc-5-doors/1408998287

[somewhatfoolish]

Phil, prince of insufficient light, has turned the prime japanese chod into a fluffy bunny. End of days is beckoning. 🤪

[Remspoor]

19 hours ago, cobblers said:

We need to move house. Been looking for over a year. We can buy, or rent. I'm easy. We have what I would have considered a "generous" budget, 18 months ago. But locally the property market is just fucking ludicrous and anything with a parking space and any kind of garden is just impossible.

The last place we looked at was lovely and we immediately said we'd have it and if required pay a whole years rent up front. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to secure it, and someone else ended up with it.

This morning a mediocre house came on rightmove, to let. In a mediocre place. shabby decor at what I would have called "too much" money. But it was close to work and would have been fairly practical for us, so I was prepared to pay a bit over the odds and compromise. 

We rang to book a viewing. It'd been online for 4 hours.

"We do 20 viewings a day and have two days solidly booked, sorry. Shall we put you on the waiting list?"

ffs!

You need to get on a phone list of the agents serving the area you are looking in. Then they will phone you as soon as the property is on the books. Waiting for something on RM when the market is active is just not going to work.

[Remspoor]

23 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

What's that dripping noise I can hear from in the utility room?

Sounds like it's coming from under the bath in the main bathroom... let's pull the panel off and look.

Oh balls...water dripping from above, hitting the pipework where I've circled.

Zero access to that area as it's behind the bath...money is currently on the connection between the supply and the tap on the bath (which is more or less directly above there) is to blame.  God only knows how they installed it!

How messily installed the plastic pipework is here makes me skin crawl... I'd rip the whole lot out and do a tidy job in copper if I had my way!

Seeing that there has already been a whole in the ceiling  I would just cut another (larger) hole  in the ceiling and repair the leak or sort out that mess.