The grumpy thread

[artdjones]

Just out of interest, here's the O level paper 2, set by the University of London in 1976. I took the Welsh equivalent the year before with grade B. No calculators or tables were allowed, and you were explicitly told that anything below a C was a fail.

fdocuments.in_o-level-mathematics-paper-2-june-76.pdf

[Metal Guru]

25 minutes ago, artdjones said:

Just out of interest, here's the O level paper 2, set by the University of London in 1976. I took the Welsh equivalent the year before with grade B. No calculators or tables were allowed, and you were explicitly told that anything below a C was a fail.

fdocuments.in_o-level-mathematics-paper-2-june-76.pdf 2.68 MB · 3 downloads

I took the same exam in 1977. I think calculators were allowed the year after. I got a fancy scientific one for passing my O levels. A couple of years before that , a basic 4 function calculator cost about £30, equivalent to about £230 today taking inflation although it would also have bought 100 pints of beer or 200 litres of petrol, 

[chadders]

7 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

D,E and O at A level would be worth at least A,B and a C today. Would get you into Oxbridge with a suitable sob story.

Do you have kids?

I have a pretty good idea how bright mine are and can therefore compare their results to my own A level results some 40+ years ago and totally disagree with your theory.

 

 

[Bren]

Clusters of blisters on my feet despite wearing same shoes. Also a couple on my head. The ones on my head disappeared after some steroids. Prior to this my skin had been itchy.

I let my consultant know. I have a feeling that my high eosiniphils are now on the move.

I think vasculitis is on the horizon.

[Metal Guru]

1 hour ago, chadders said:

Do you have kids?

I have a pretty good idea how bright mine are and can therefore compare their results to my own A level results some 40+ years ago and totally disagree with your theory.

 

 

OK , I exaggerated a bit , but how  do you equate that from 1993 to 2021 nearly all subjects had nearly double the number of A grades awarded.? Kids didn’t get twice as clever in 20 years , teaching certainly hasn’t improved, ( yes I know work load , extra curricula blah blah). A* didn’t even exist, they had to add it because A was no longer anything special. 

I see on the news kids getting 15A* GCSEs from a not very highly rated school in Carlisle. How do you even properly study 15 subjects ?  With other time table constraints, that’s less than an hour a week.

My son took his school exams 10 years ago but in Scotland so I can’t compare his results directly. Scottish results have been steadily rising year on year but not to the same extent as the English.

Im sure you’re kids are very bright. Many who get A and A* would have got them back then, but at least half wouldn’t have.

[inconsistant]

21 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

Without boasting too much but I took my A levels 40 years ago. I was in the top 6 in my year at one of the best academic state schools in the county. I got AAB. Nowadays half are getting 5 A* at crappy comps. 

But you've still ended up here with us.

[Metal Guru]

1 hour ago, inconsistant said:

But you've still ended up here with us.

Haven’t I joined an elite group of highly intelligent car enthusiasts?  ( well compared to Pistonheads anyway).

[High Jetter]

6 hours ago, artdjones said:

Just out of interest, here's the O level paper 2, set by the University of London in 1976. I took the Welsh equivalent the year before with grade B. No calculators or tables were allowed, and you were explicitly told that anything below a C was a fail.

fdocuments.in_o-level-mathematics-paper-2-june-76.pdf 2.68 MB · 13 downloads

You know I'm going to have to waste spend time attempting that? Do you know how long was allowed in that exam?

[barefoot]

At A level I got 2 D's, 2 E's & a U and I am a fucking world class genious, particularly at spelling. Ask anyone.

[mitsisigma01]

Barefoot for prime minister, can't do any worse than the other twats ....

[artdjones]

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

You know I'm going to have to waste spend time attempting that? Do you know how long was allowed in that exam?

I think 2 hours. It's the middle paper of three. I hadn't realised, but before 1975 there was no grading other than pass or fail. And that year the WJEC started looking at the feasibility of combining O level and CSE in a combined exam. So I have a top grade CSE as well as a grade B O Level. We also took the exam after only one years study instead of two. So we were guinea pigs all round.

[HillmanImp]

33 minutes ago, artdjones said:

A grade B O Level. 

That stinks 

[Zelandeth]

Why do we own so much junk!?!

[Dobloseven]

Agricultural College. 9 Hoe Levels and 3 Hay Levels. 

[Broadsword]

The current craze for new cars to be specced in Primer Grey. Why do it? They are so ugly it's distracting. I'm not kidding those block colour battleship grey cars being genuinely look like they have been left in primer to my eye!

[Fumbler]

I've just received the new PAS pump for the Volvo... Well, what I ordered was a NOS pump. What I received was a different pump from a different listing. It's still for an 850, luckily, and it certainly looks new, but it's covered in fluid and comes with an additional reservoir which I didn't ask for either.

I've waited so long for it that I might as well fit it. It's preventing me from using the car otherwise.

 

[New POD]

9 hours ago, chadders said:

Do you have kids?

I have a pretty good idea how bright mine are and can therefore compare their results to my own A level results some 40+ years ago and totally disagree with your theory.

 

 

I think what he said was in jest.  From.what I've seen, kids work harder these days 

 

[Back_For_More]

This...... Who the f*** designed this or thought it was a smart move. 

I don't want a lesson in Origami and don't intend flossing my backside...  Not to mention when it doesn't pull through the next sheet...... 

Arseholes..... pardon the pun. 

Just a pointless and fucking stupid implementation altogether. 

[Remspoor]

It is not only banger racers that destroy what look to be salvageable cars. They could certainty be able to donate spares.

 

 

[cobblers]

Fitting our new unit out at work. We need to build some enclosed office space because it's going to be impossible to heat the whole industrial unit.

Since we're building offices, we might as well make the roof of them accessible storage space? 

Nope! The extra space would take the convoluted and imaginary "rateable value" of the unit from ~£12163 to £15780. Both totally arbitrary numbers, it's still the same unit, with the same people in it, but with a bit more usable space, but this extra bit of flooring would cost us an extra ~£600 per month in business rates.

 

 

 

[somewhatfoolish]

Floor it for storage but don't fit stairs. Entirely coincidentally also have full height racking that needs a set of portable steps on wheels to access. Or are surveyors wise to such shenanigans?

[New POD]

6 hours ago, cobblers said:

Fitting our new unit out at work. We need to build some enclosed office space because it's going to be impossible to heat the whole industrial unit.

Since we're building offices, we might as well make the roof of them accessible storage space? 

Nope! The extra space would take the convoluted and imaginary "rateable value" of the unit from ~£12163 to £15780. Both totally arbitrary numbers, it's still the same unit, with the same people in it, but with a bit more usable space, but this extra bit of flooring would cost us an extra ~£600 per month in business rates.

 

 

 

How would "they" know? 

[Metal Guru]

14 hours ago, artdjones said:

I think 2 hours. It's the middle paper of three. I hadn't realised, but before 1975 there was no grading other than pass or fail. And that year the WJEC started looking at the feasibility of combining O level and CSE in a combined exam. So I have a top grade CSE as well as a grade B O Level. We also took the exam after only one years study instead of two. So we were guinea pigs all round.

Yes,Two hours. It says so on the front page . It always does but it never stops at least one candidate from asking even though they get told verbally as well. ( I invigilate occasionally).

[cobblers]

3 hours ago, New POD said:

How would "they" know? 

Well, that's the thing. The building is brand new so I'm unsure if it's been assessed by the council yet with regards to the business rates. Once it's been assessed it might be ten years before they ever check again.

We don't need the space imminently (it's already 4.5x the size of where we are at the moment) so I'll just build the offices as planned (non structural), then once we're in, settled and sure that the building has been assessed, I'll get the company to come and slap a mezzanine above them.

It seems mental - the current unit we have costs us £623 a month to rent, for 720 square feet, but to add 580 square feet of usable space to an existing building would cost us ~£600 extra rates! 

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, cobblers said:

Well, that's the thing. The building is brand new so I'm unsure if it's been assessed by the council yet with regards to the business rates. Once it's been assessed it might be ten years before they ever check again.

We don't need the space imminently (it's already 4.5x the size of where we are at the moment) so I'll just build the offices as planned (non structural), then once we're in, settled and sure that the building has been assessed, I'll get the company to come and slap a mezzanine above them.

It seems mental - the current unit we have costs us £623 a month to rent, for 720 square feet, but to add 580 square feet of usable space to an existing building would cost us ~£600 extra rates! 

If it hasn't been assessed, how do you know this? I've found council rating surveyors to be very fair and helpful, might be worth a phone call at least to check. It does sound like your making a big chunk of the space into offices, tbh.

[Markeh]

Got approached for my ideal job, at a great company and a step up from where I was. That was in the middle of June. After nearly 3 months of delays, different interview stages, having to chase to get updates, had the final stage last week, was promised I'd get a response by last Friday. I got a generic rejection email with no feedback at 5pm last night. Utter waste of time. How hard is it to spend 5 minutes writing some feedback? Demoralising as hell.

[artdjones]

2 hours ago, Markeh said:

Got approached for my ideal job, at a great company and a step up from where I was. That was in the middle of June. After nearly 3 months of delays, different interview stages, having to chase to get updates, had the final stage last week, was promised I'd get a response by last Friday. I got a generic rejection email with no feedback at 5pm last night. Utter waste of time. How hard is it to spend 5 minutes writing some feedback? Demoralising as hell.

I understand your pain, but if they are useless it's probably trouble avoided not to get a job with them. The really stupid part is them approaching you. 

[Markeh]

1 minute ago, artdjones said:

I understand your pain, but if they are useless it's probably trouble avoided not to get a job with them. The really stupid part is them approaching you. 

Yeah, in hindsight there's definitely been a few red flags about their recruitment process, so potentially a blessing in disguise. Maybe it'll either give me a kick up the arse to start properly searching for something or to keep arguing for promotion where I am at the moment.

[mercedade]

7 hours ago, cobblers said:

Well, that's the thing. The building is brand new so I'm unsure if it's been assessed by the council yet with regards to the business rates. Once it's been assessed it might be ten years before they ever check again.

We don't need the space imminently (it's already 4.5x the size of where we are at the moment) so I'll just build the offices as planned (non structural), then once we're in, settled and sure that the building has been assessed, I'll get the company to come and slap a mezzanine above them.

It seems mental - the current unit we have costs us £623 a month to rent, for 720 square feet, but to add 580 square feet of usable space to an existing building would cost us ~£600 extra rates! 

And apologies if this is egg-sucking advice, but there are firms who basically do consultancy work bickering with assessors on behalf of commercial clients about exactly this.

A mate of mine has done it, employing every ridiculous trick in the book - I've helped him lug those 1 tonne plastic water pallets from 'empty' office space to 'empty' office space, all as part of some elaborate demonstration of the usage (or otherwise) of the buildings.

[cobblers]

3 minutes ago, mercedade said:

And apologies if this is egg-sucking advice, but there are firms who basically do consultancy work bickering with assessors on behalf of commercial clients about exactly this.

A mate of mine has done it, employing every ridiculous trick in the book - I've helped him lug those 1 tonne plastic water pallets from 'empty' office space to 'empty' office space, all as part of some elaborate demonstration of the usage (or otherwise) of the buildings.

Nope, thanks mate, I'll look into it!