The grumpy thread

[sierraman]

29 minutes ago, Bren said:

It's like when people buy a car that advertised " Cam belt and water pump done".

If you buy a car because it's had a £350 job done on it you are on thin ice. 

It doesn’t cut much ice with me because I’d swap it myself for the cost of the belt but I guess if you aren’t handy with the tools then it’s a £500 day out I guess. It’s a nice to have I suppose, shows that someone with some sense and money has had it, many people think that ignorance will get them a pass on that front. 

[Zelandeth]

Extractor fan in the en suite died a couple of weeks ago, finally got around to replacing it today.

Yeah... knowing this house I don't know *why* I thought this would simply be a case of "replace the broken thing" rather than "spend two hours undoing the work that had originally been done apparently by a stoned gorilla, then fix what I actually set out to do."

Don't reckon the fan has been doing anything useful for a good while given that the way the outlet ducting was routed it had filled up with several litres of water.  It's now attached to one of the rafters and supported properly - hey look, it actually moves air now!

Guessing that mess is probably what killed the original fan too.

[DavieW]

Tuned to watch the snooker final and the first 2-3 mins the presenters are waffling on about the football world cup. 😠

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 17/12/2022 at 12:32, High Jetter said:

Boiler at home worked first thing then decided to stop. Not happy.

have you tried a kettle of water over the condenserate pipe in case its frozen?

[Back_For_More]

Forester 'check engine' light flicked on and then off again 2secs later..... Quick check shows coolant has been disappearing. 

Only 3days to EU 2weeks..... 

Looks like nurse it there n back with everything crossed then New Year HG job..... 

Bollox

[High Jetter]

54 minutes ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

have you tried a kettle of water over the condenserate pipe in case its frozen?

Thanks for the thought, but it's not a combi boiler. 

[Weird Car]

Went into my local Halfords yesterday to buy a brake adjustment spanner, I couldn’t find one so asked the young lad behind the counter to which he replied “never heard of one of dem before mate, and I’ve been a mechanic for 2 years” 

went home and ordered one on Amazon, but I didn’t realise until after I ordered it that it’s not showing up until January. 
 

[meshking]

I hope you felt privileged to be in the presence of greatness. Two years? Wow.

[EyesWeldedShut]

This morning's kindergarten talk from the BBC News:
(1) sack the proof reader
(2) flood warning means flooding is expected - well no shit, Sherlock

[Metal Guru]

44 minutes ago, meshking said:

I hope you felt privileged to be in the presence of greatness. Two years? Wow.

Fitting windscreen wipers now makes you a mechanic?

[Sunny Jim]

Fuck fuck fuckity fucking fuck! On the 06.41 from Castle Cary to Paddington which was delayed for over an hour due to points failure. Will now miss my Eurostar and onward train to Barcelona (non refundable). This little episode will cost me a few hundred pounds. So much for trying to be environmentally friendly by not flying.  I'm off to Gatwick to get a flight.

 

[Sunny Jim]

First available flight 06.30 tomorrow morning so I've got sixteen and a half hours to kill at Gatwick. £300 down on lost train tickets and cost of flight. This holiday will be worth it once it gets going! 

First world problems. I'm warm and dry and got food in my belly so I shouldn't really be moaning. I would say, "Worse things happen at sea" but as I'm going sailing I hope they don't! 😀

Anyone got any recommendations for good podcasts to listen to or other ways to kill time at an airport? 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

18 minutes ago, Sunny Jim said:

First available flight 06.30 tomorrow morning so I've got sixteen and a half hours to kill at Gatwick. £300 down on lost train tickets and cost of flight. This holiday will be worth it once it gets going! 

First world problems. I'm warm and dry and got food in my belly so I shouldn't really be moaning. I would say, "Worse things happen at sea" but as I'm going sailing I hope they don't! 😀

Anyone got any recommendations for good podcasts to listen to or other ways to kill time at an airport? 

13 Minutes to the Moon if you’re into that sort of thing.  The second series on Apollo 13 is particularly good.

[sierraman]

6 hours ago, meshking said:

I hope you felt privileged to be in the presence of greatness. Two years? Wow.

A mechanic but he works in Halfords... contradiction in terms there right away. 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Not my car but FiL’s Focus.  Belonged to my other half until we got the BINI then we gave it to them.  Bloody good car, too.  Have told them to get somebody to check it over for anything more structural because I am not getting involved if I can help it.

Couldn’t leave it on my conscience to leave it and not tell them though as they would never notice and it could be the tip of a rusty iceberg…

[sierraman]

1 minute ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

Not my car but FiL’s Focus.  Belonged to my other half until we got the BINI then we gave it to them.  Bloody good car, too.  Have told them to get somebody to check it over for anything more structural because I am not getting involved if I can help it.

 

New wing time, all the secondhand ones will be fucked in same place. £50-60 for a new one, £150 if you want it painted. 

[Stanky]

21 minutes ago, Sunny Jim said:

First available flight 06.30 tomorrow morning so I've got sixteen and a half hours to kill at Gatwick. £300 down on lost train tickets and cost of flight. This holiday will be worth it once it gets going! 

First world problems. I'm warm and dry and got food in my belly so I shouldn't really be moaning. I would say, "Worse things happen at sea" but as I'm going sailing I hope they don't! 😀

Anyone got any recommendations for good podcasts to listen to or other ways to kill time at an airport? 

Sorry to hear this, I can recommend The Minimalists Podcast though. Plenty of content to catch up on.

A friend of mine's dad used to travel a lot with work so spent loads of time in airports, he used to join queues for things to kill time. Find something with a long queue, wait in queue until you got to the front then walk off and find another queue. He said it gave him something to ocus on which made time pass quicker than just sitting in an uncomfortable chair staring into space for hours on end. Not entirely convinced myself, but might be an option as you get into the 9th or 10th hour?

[barefoot]

Acquire a fluorescent coat & a clipboard and move groups of waiting passengers & their luggage from one area to another. And visit as many canteens as you can at 00:01 when much of the food goes out of date and is given away to hungry looking folk in yellow coats with clipboards.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

38 minutes ago, sierraman said:

New wing time, all the secondhand ones will be fucked in same place. £50-60 for a new one, £150 if you want it painted. 

Cheers.  Other one has a rust patch too but it’s at the top and in the middle, well above the arch and has been bubbling for at least five years.  Might be two new wing time.

Thing is, it’s a 1.4 and therefore the slowest thing since a glacier but it’s given superb service for many years.

[somewhatfoolish]

On 12/18/2022 at 12:28 PM, richardmorris said:

Neighbour isn’t going to be happy when he gets back. Huge water leak this morning. Emergency estate warden broke in with the easy measure of cutting through the lock with an enormous angle grinder.

<snip>

my neighbour is in the process of moving out, and had turned the heating off.

 

Your neighbour turned their heating off in winter and didn't also turn off the water? I can see insurers denying claims and the landlord pursuing them for the loss.

[sierraman]

15 minutes ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

Cheers.  Other one has a rust patch too but it’s at the top and in the middle, well above the arch and has been bubbling for at least five years.  Might be two new wing time.

Thing is, it’s a 1.4 and therefore the slowest thing since a glacier but it’s given superb service for many years.

Apart from the wings and the back end of the sills they look worse than they actually are. You can buy a patch to weld into the bottom of the wing but for the fucking about I’d just chuck a pair of wings on it. 

[MiniMinorMk3]

3 hours ago, Sunny Jim said:

 

Anyone got any recommendations for good podcasts to listen to or other ways to kill time at an airport? 

Paging Mike Hunt or Arnie Dashit

[Zelandeth]

3 hours ago, barefoot said:

Acquire a fluorescent coat & a clipboard and move groups of waiting passengers & their luggage from one area to another. And visit as many canteens as you can at 00:01 when much of the food goes out of date and is given away to hungry looking folk in yellow coats with clipboards.

It's ridiculous what a high vis jacket and looking like you're meant to be there can get you.

I knocked on the door of the MD's office in Aberdeen Airport one afternoon a few minutes before I was due to have a meeting with him and suggested that they might want to have a little think about improving their office-area security - given that I'd just walked in the front door of the terminal, turned left and had made it as far as his office without being challenged ONCE.  Several security doors and a lift that needed a keycard and a code to operate - just followed others through.  Nobody batted an eyelid.  This would have been 2010 or so, so not exactly ancient history either.

I believe their response was something along the lines of "You have got to be ****ing kidding me..."

I think they were very glad I delivered my report to them verbally rather than in writing as I suspect that saved them rather a lot of paperwork.

[Weird Car]

Went to go check on my Proton today, it went in the garage to have the front suspension rebuilt “as you can see it’s completely collapsed on the drivers side” it’s a garage I’ve used before and trusted though it’s  about 30 miles away so I can’t check on the car very often, he’s now had it 4 months with the parts still boxed inside and hasn’t touched it yet, I asked today and he said it’ll be done by New Years and he’s had a massive work load with other staff away for Xmas etc. 

looking at the condensation inside it looks like the sunroof may have stated leaking and I can’t sort that out until it’s home. 

[meggersdog]

On 12/18/2022 at 12:39 PM, RoverFolkUs said:

I'm invested in this now, need to know more when tomorrow comes 🤣

Well the car came in with a new front shock. He actually brought the failure sheet with him and what got his goat was the tester failed his car for having the wrong bulbs and no beam pattern. Before logging it in I checked the headlights, sure enough it is fitted with xenon bulbs. The previous tester said it was a fitting kit and is illegal to fit to a halogen headlight. If it is a fitting kit it was very neatly done as to me it looked factory fit. Never seen one before but do fitting kits supply a warning sticker in many languages warning you not to open the cover as there is high voltage ? and whoever fitting the kit put the stickers in exactly the same place on both headlamp covers. No I think they were factory fit.

Anyway on with the test. The advisory for product on the lens was actually the reason there was no beam pattern. A quick rub with some wet & dry and a buff with G3 produced a distinct line and kick-up all be it the nearside was pointing to the moon so that got adjusted. The rear tyre did get a fail but not for tread depth (it was still 1.8mm not 1.6) yes the previous tester failed to mention the nail in that tyre nor did he see the  cut  deep enough to reach the cord. It failed on condition rather than tread depth. He had gone to Leister to go christmas shopping and is actually from Oakham so only about twelve miles from us.

[RoverFolkUs]

6 minutes ago, meggersdog said:

Well the car came in with a new front shock. He actually brought the failure sheet with him and what got his goat was the tester failed his car for having the wrong bulbs and no beam pattern. Before logging it in I checked the headlights, sure enough it is fitted with xenon bulbs. The previous tester said it was a fitting kit and is illegal to fit to a halogen headlight. If it is a fitting kit it was very neatly done as to me it looked factory fit. Never seen one before but do fitting kits supply a warning sticker in many languages warning you not to open the cover as there is high voltage ? and whoever fitting the kit put the stickers in exactly the same place on both headlamp covers. No I think they were factory fit.

Anyway on with the test. The advisory for product on the lens was actually the reason there was no beam pattern. A quick rub with some wet & dry and a buff with G3 produced a distinct line and kick-up all be it the nearside was pointing to the moon so that got adjusted. The rear tyre did get a fail but not for tread depth (it was still 1.8mm not 1.6) yes the previous tester failed to mention the nail in that tyre nor did he see the  cut  deep enough to reach the cord. It failed on condition rather than tread depth. He had gone to Leister to go christmas shopping and is actually from Oakham so only about twelve miles from us.

The dead giveaway would be if it had no headlight washers? Obviously (a minority) of cars with headlight washers still only have halogens, but all xenon's would have headlight washers (afaik) so as long as the washers are in place and it's not obviously modified that would satisfy me if I were a tester 

Not as bad in the end as it sounded from the outset then

[richardmorris]

4 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Your neighbour turned their heating off in winter and didn't also turn off the water? I can see insurers denying claims and the landlord pursuing them for the loss.

Lots of people from crown estate in high viz around today sucking their teeth at it. Neighbour still not around - I presume someone has been in touch by now?

it’s been consistently below 0 for a week here day and night. Must be an insurance job as the place needs to be gutted and dried out - icicles were coming out of the air-vents in the window frames. You could see and hear water pouring through the ceilings and out the window sills. Horrific damage really - £100,000? All floors, plasterboard, ceilings. Electrics, wooden floors and carpets, kitchen, plus furniture?

[Zelandeth]

5 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Your neighbour turned their heating off in winter and didn't also turn off the water? I can see insurers denying claims and the landlord pursuing them for the loss.

Absolutely this.  That would be absolutely classed as negligence on the part of the policy holder (at least based on the wording in our home insurance paperwork anyway). 

Though we've heard of a whole bunch of places that have had freezeups over the last couple of weeks both domestic and industrial in spite of being occupied and therefore there being heating to some extent active.

[richardmorris]

2 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Absolutely this.  That would be absolutely classed as negligence on the part of the policy holder (at least based on the wording in our home insurance paperwork anyway). 

Though we've heard of a whole bunch of places that have had freezeups over the last couple of weeks both domestic and industrial in spite of being occupied and therefore there being heating to some extent active.

I’ve not seen him around for weeks. He always was a part-time tenant though. Been there about six years I think, mx5 hasn’t moved since the month he moved in. I’ll be on the look-out for kitchen cupboards when they chuck it out as mine could do with some new doors.

[High Jetter]

Might need to dry them out first tho...