The grumpy thread

[Popsicle]

Mrs Popsicle told me the indicators are flashing fast on the Vectra, no problem I'm painting a bumper in the garage, give me a mo and I'll sort it out. Front passenger side not working, opens the bonnet, no way my hands fitting in there. Unbolted the fuse box to gain more room, I can get my hand in and twist the bulb holder but it can't come out as the wings in the way, no access panel in the wheel arch liner, bugger, quick check on google, front pissing bumper has to come off to remove the headlamp unit 😡.

So what should have been a 2 minute job took best part of an hour. At least it gave the paint a chance to dry before applying another coat or 5.

 

[barefoot]

18 hours ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

People getting excited about Christmas.  For fuck’s sake.

I'm getting excited...

I've given up drinking from September to December. The thinking is, if I only drink in December & from April to August, I'll be able to drink an absolute metric fuck tonne during the months that I do enjoy a little tipple.

[Fumbler]

15 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

I did not enjoy changing the clutch cable on the turbo diesel BX. It feels like one of those jobs where it’s probably alright on the earlier cars with smaller engines, but with the turbo derv lump in there it leaves fuck all space to work. It’s finally in now and feels ok. Had to do it twice as the original cable was routed wrong and I didn’t realise until it was too late. Its a bit late to start it up and wake the neighbourhood with an XUD salute, so I will be left wondering if I’ve fixed it until the morning. Fingers crossed it’s all ok.

If/when the speedometer cable snaps you're in for some fun*... No matter the engine size it's still a bitch to fit and make work.

[Rust Collector]

12 minutes ago, Fumbler said:

If/when the speedometer cable snaps you're in for some fun*... No matter the engine size it's still a bitch to fit and make work.

It will be finding a new home before then hopefully! 😅

[Fumbler]

Just now, Rust Collector said:

It will be finding a new home before then hopefully! 😅

Ohhhhh but you have not one but three! Three times the peril!

[Rust Collector]

Just now, Fumbler said:

Ohhhhh but you have not one but four! Four times the peril!

FTFY 😅

Luckily there’s no chance of me needing to address issues on 2 of them for a while lol

[Fumbler]

1 minute ago, Rust Collector said:

FTFY 😅

Luckily there’s no chance of me needing to address issues on 2 of them for a while lol

Oh god, I forgot you had four! I forgot to mention the cables come in two pieces as well. At least you've got spares.

[Rust Collector]

1 hour ago, Fumbler said:

Oh god, I forgot you had four! I forgot to mention the cables come in two pieces as well. At least you've got spares.

My goal is to get back down to one again. The 1.4 Leader and DTR Turbo will be finding new homes in due course. I’d like to repair and sell the TRS as well. The TZD is the keeper if all goes to plan and I manage to avoid buying any more!

[Fumbler]

1 hour ago, Rust Collector said:

My goal is to get back down to one again. The 1.4 Leader and DTR Turbo will be finding new homes in due course. I’d like to repair and sell the TRS as well. The TZD is the keeper if all goes to plan and I manage to avoid buying any more!

I can't find your thread at the moment but is the Leader like mine with the TU3 engine and is it structurally sound? Asking for a friend*

[Rust Collector]

3 hours ago, Fumbler said:

I can't find your thread at the moment but is the Leader like mine with the TU3 engine and is it structurally sound? Asking for a friend*

The only notable rot I could find was a small repair patch that had been done to one of the rear wheel tubs and looks to need attention again. Otherwise the usual areas in the front wings, sills, rear bumper bar all looked ok from what I could tell rolling round on the floor with the suspension lifted up.

I’ll update my thread with the pics from today, I’m a bit behind on BX related content currently! I’ve got a pic of the engine bay so hopefully that will reveal what motor it is - I don’t think it’s the suitcase lump but could be wrong as I often am.

[Fumbler]

5 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

The only notable rot I could find was a small repair patch that had been done to one of the rear wheel tubs and looks to need attention again. Otherwise the usual areas in the front wings, sills, rear bumper bar all looked ok from what I could tell rolling round on the floor with the suspension lifted up.

I’ll update my thread with the pics from today, I’m a bit behind on BX related content currently! I’ve got a pic of the engine bay so hopefully that will reveal what motor it is - I don’t think it’s the suitcase lump but could be wrong as I often am.

A good indication is if it's post 1986, it'll have a TU lump in it. I like those engines and drivetrains, because mine never gave me any real hassle.... unlike the rest of the car! It even swallowed bits of carburettor and still soldiered on.

[Rust Collector]

Just now, Fumbler said:

A good indication is if it's post 1986, it'll have a TU lump in it. I like those engines and drivetrains, because mine never gave me any real hassle.... unlike the rest of the car! It even swallowed bits of carburettor and still soldiered on.

It should be a TU then, it’s an ‘89!

[Fumbler]

2 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

It should be a TU then, it’s an ‘89!

That'll be definite then! Same year as mine. Oh happy days....

Edit- I didn't notice this was the grumpy thread until a few minutes ago. I fear I'm risking making the thread too happy.

[cobblers]

My wife's best mate was moving house but needed somewhere to stay for a few months to keep the chain working. Not short of a few quid, they were buying a £500k place cash. This was just as we moved out of our old terraced house, so we said "ah, stay there a few months, just pay the mortgage (£200 a month)". Chain fell through, and 11 months later we finally asked them to leave because we just want rid of the place. 

They asked if they could "put a couple of shelves up" I said yep no problem just put it right when you go. We took all these rawl plugs out JUST IN THE KITCHEN! They moved some free standing shelves out of an alcove, then spend hours making their own.

 

Leaving us with this fucking mess:

Every single room has at least 6 holes in it to hang useless shit on the walls, towel rails, pointless shelves etc - they were only supposed to stay a few months! Does this bloke take tools to hang a picture on the wall when he goes to a hotel for a week?

I mean look at this - we thought they would decorate the hall/stairs as a bit of a "thankyou" for us getting them out of the shit and saving them from being homeless. Nope, but he did take the time to install an utterly pointless shelf

The shower needed a bead of silicone round it. No problem - The guys a builder!

Nope - just let it leak, here's the kitchen ceiling below:

The rest of the house is left pretty filthy too. We're not the tidiest and we have dogs so we spent 4 days absolutely blitzing the place and then paid £200 for a professional clean after we'd done our best.

They left us with a tide mark and pubes in the bath, filthy walls and floors in the bathroom, they'd been drying clothes in the attic so the walls were mouldy. Fuck's sake!

TL:DR - Seemingly respectable, well do to grown adults are actually really strange nobheads. 

I'm still trying to understand why you'd spend hours making some DIY shelves in someone elses house instead of just spending £25 at ikea! We're renting at the moment and I won't even put a picture up FFS!

[ruffgeezer]

Turned down an early shift today because the missus wanted to spend more time together before she goes back to work again next week (we've had all of the last week off together.)  Today she has spent on her coursework, at the computer almost all day, which I don't resent, but I might as well have done the shift this morning for what little we saw of each other.

[mitsisigma01]

45 minutes ago, Fumbler said:

fear I'm risking making the thread too happy.

Just get 1 bought then , that'll bring back the grumpiness 😉

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, ruffgeezer said:

Turned down an early shift today because the missus wanted to spend more time together before she goes back to work again next week (we've had all of the last week off together.)  Today she has spent on her coursework, at the computer almost all day, which I don't resent, but I might as well have done the shift this morning for what little we saw of each other.

Yep, but you were there. That's Important*

[reb]

The keyboard on my surface pro seems to have stopped working. How fucking useful.

[twosmoke300]

On 28/10/2022 at 21:56, Rust Collector said:

I did not enjoy changing the clutch cable on the turbo diesel BX. It feels like one of those jobs where it’s probably alright on the earlier cars with smaller engines, but with the turbo derv lump in there it leaves fuck all space to work. It’s finally in now and feels ok. Had to do it twice as the original cable was routed wrong and I didn’t realise until it was too late. Its a bit late to start it up and wake the neighbourhood with an XUD salute, so I will be left wondering if I’ve fixed it until the morning. Fingers crossed it’s all ok.

100% correct . Piece of cake on a 1.4 TU motor one but a twat of a job on a TD .

[ruffgeezer]

12 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Yep, but you were there. That's Important*

Aye,  it's a minor grump in reality but I feel better for having expressed it somewhere, and that's what this thread is for.

As it stands, I've just been offered another 2 shifts next week, and I'll take then option on 1 of them to read up for my next round of training.

[Crackers]

Twice I've tried bringing a classic to the Watercress Line, and twice they've let me down and left me waiting at the same Shell garage in Ropley. 

(S1 belongs to a mate and is lovely) 

[Borsuq]

Some fuckwit ripped my star off. 🤬

[hairnet]

medical might not just be physical

ffs

youd think having lots of time to fart/scratch balls/daydream/look at holidays/sleep/eat

would be fun

cant sleep cos not eating enuff/thinking too hard about stuff/wondering so  brain is whirring

sleep is all over cos not doing anything to be tired - trying not to watch much tv but cos daytime tv is shit radio wins anyway

cant/dont wanna do stuff cos might hurt whats healing

sake

'waiting sweetheart.........waiting.....'

actually cant complain about that cos thats the way things happen (they said)- cant argue with them they professional - just have to hang

[3VOM]

On 10/25/2022 at 5:24 PM, Spurious said:

Speaking of old houses. Got a knock in the kitchen as I was having my porridge early this morn. I live in a mid terrace 1890s build Yorkshire stone house

Neighbours are getting an extension done, which is fine, so have had the groundworkers out to do foundations and drainage. 

We share some of the common drainage system as there used to be a shared outhouse in neighbours garden. My sink drainage comes out of a Victorian glazed 6-7 inch pipe and merges into the common larger glazed clay waste pipe that drains to the street sewer. 

Turns out when the fence was done back a few years back pre-dating all our ownership, they drove the concrete fence post through our sink drain and filled it up with postcrete. My sink/washing machine now just drains into neighbours garden. 

Now left with a £600 bill to hand dig new drainage and install a better system for the front of the house. Surprise bills. Yay. Glad I'd a few pounds put away, rainy day funds. 

Couldn't really put this one off. Neighbours have the ground dug up waiting... 

I want to meet which cowboy who dug a fence hole, felt the drain and then continued to put a post through the drain and then concrete it up. Continued to cover that up and left it for someone else to find and fix. 😔

You may want to check with the local sewerage company, the drains may be their responsibility.

https://www.yorkshirewater.com/your-water/whose-pipe-is-it/

[Remspoor]

1 minute ago, 3VOM said:

You may want to check with the local sewerage company, the drains may be their responsibility.

https://www.yorkshirewater.com/your-water/whose-pipe-is-it/

Notify the Water suppler that someone has damaged their pipe. The repair  bill will be much higher.

[Spurious]

1 hour ago, Remspoor said:

Notify the Water suppler that someone has damaged their pipe. The repair  bill will be much higher.

Sadly, Yorkshire water only own up until the manhole cover on my property. Beyond that the common shared drain is both neighbours and our responsibility. 

[beko1987]

2 weeks off work ended today and I was back in the office. Traffic was hell as someone went through the central barrier of the m40 at 7am. By 8.50 when I left all the local roads were shit. 

Ended up driving up a big hill, then finding another accident, and putting a huge scrape down one wheel trim doing a 5 point turn 😡

I then just went fuck it and drove back to the m40 although down a road that I didn't have to turn off of, crawled up the slip road and half a mile to where the accident was them bam, almost empty m40. Should have just done that in the first place, those og Citroën trims were probably worth more than the car 😢

[jakebullet]

Discovered you can buy heated mirror glass for a C1 despite it never being an option. Can't be that hard to wire it up. Bought a left & right from the same seller, turned up today and they don't remotely match. 2 different shapes, 2 different powers of magnification.

One is the correct size, but there's no part number sticker on it. Contacted seller, can I swap the too small wrong shape one for the correct one? LHS is same as RHS, but 180 degrees rotated. Seller can't go to the shelf, get one of each n send me the one that's bigger size & correct as it's too complicated, and will refund me for one of them.

[anonymous user]

4 hours ago, Spurious said:

Sadly, Yorkshire water only own up until the manhole cover on my property. Beyond that the common shared drain is both neighbours and our responsibility. 

I'd check up on that one. The private sewer transfer regulations from 2011 mean that once a drain leaves your property it becomes treated as a lateral drain and is maintainable b the sewerage authority. If more than one property is connected it is treated as a transferred sewer, again maintainable by the sewerage authority.

[meggersdog]

I know it is only a google review and it shouldn't get to me but it has.

A couple of weeks ago this person booked an MX-5 in for an MoT on the Friday. He then cancelled on the Friday and rebooked for the following Tuesday. I come into work on the Tuesday and the answerphone is flashing. This person phoned at 1 O'clock in the morning Tuesday morning to cancel yet again.

This afternoon this timewaster phones to rebook yet again. Hmm, once is annoying but twice, nope not getting a third chance. I asked if this is the car that should have been in last week "yes" and the week before "yeah, sorry about that".  I told him I wasn't booking his car in a third time, so no thank you. and put the phone down. He phoned straight back so I didn't answer . He left a threatening message on the answerphone and this review.

Dreadful attitude.

Unfortunately, I had to cancel booked MOT's twice which I wouldn't have done unless I had to.

The first time, I spoke to a member of staff and asked to rearrange which we did.

The second time, due to ill health (I have Multiple Sclerosis amongst other things) - I had to cancel at very short notice. I left a voicemail and said that I would insist that I paid for the missed MOT appointment.

As far as I understand it (And I may very well be wrong), they don't do work for MOT's so my thinking was that all they would lose out on is the cost of the MOT - hence me thinking my offer to pay for the missed MOT would make up for it.

I phoned back today to be met with (Oh, you're the guy who cancelled on the Friday and then on the following Tuesday - yeahhh - no thank you" and hung up

I had a counselling session yesterday in which I brought up this potential phone call. I said I was really anxious about it - my counsellor said, "don't worry about it - they won't turn business away because you had to cancel two MOT's".

Well, they did and they have.

 

 

He didn't offer to pay for the missed slots but he did threaten this review on his message. I have reported him to google  but do I reply to this putting my side across and thanking him for the threatening message or just leave it to google ?