The grumpy thread

[sheffcortinacentre]

2 hours ago, Remspoor said:

The EU are meddling again.

There is a proposal to stop repairs to major parts on cars older than 15 years old. Things like engine, brakes gearbox etc.

I know that most of you are living in the UK, but legislation if it comes about will also affect you some way. It is doubtful it would be cost effective for manufactures to keep producing parts for markets which are relatively small. 

The link is in Spanish, but there is a translation button in red. https://www.escuderia.com/la-union-europea-planea-prohibir-reparar-los-coches-mas-viejos-como-puede-afectar-a-los-clasicos/

It is obviously a stupid proposal. Here is a link to show what the average age of vehicles are in various EU countries. These are averages . Greece and Estonia have the oldest car fleets, with vehicles almost 17 years old. The newest passenger cars can be found in Luxembourg (7.6 years).

https://www.acea.auto/figure/average-age-of-eu-vehicle-fleet-by-country/

New cars sales, here in Spain, are not going well. Maybe this will boost them.

 

The UK government makes to much money for that segment of the motor industry to enforce this sort of thing.

No doubt it'll be sighting environmental benefits amongst the bullshit.

[Dyslexic Viking]

My not to old shitter flushing mechanism broke now, why does everything today has to be cheap garbage?

 

[sheffcortinacentre]

More profit.

[beko1987]

One of the only 2 people I like at my work has handed in his notice 😭

He's also the one I lift share with so I'll have to start driving 2 days a week now 😭😭

[rattlecan]

21 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

My not to old shitter flushing mechanism broke now, why does everything today has to be cheap garbage?

 

Usually coz it’s made in China & not UK. We’ve kinda forgot how to make quality 

[jakebullet]

Came back from the angriest girl in the world's to discover Ma has volunteered me again. Idiot sister has a thing where she decides she has imaginary rat infestation. The kind that doesn't shit anywhere and isn't caught in traps because THEY DON'T EXIST. There is a hole in the wall of the house up near roof level where there used to be the overflow pipe from the header tank. Imaginary rat has got a grappling hook and is using this hole to get into loft area.

I am tasked with catching this imaginary rat. Which is going to be hard when it doesn't exist. Or it could be a bat infestation! Are there any bats hanging from the rafters? Er, no...... there is nothing alive larger than a spider.

To keep out imaginary creatures up to elephant size I'm going to have to expanding foam the hole. Yes, I know don't get involved, but option B is idiot will use Ma's money to get rentokill out, who will do even less work than usual for an extravagant fee. 

[Bren]

Bastard taps. 25 years old. Cold has dribbled for years.

Stripped the cold down. One of the disc valves has a piece missing. Bought new cartridge. Old valve has a large threaded collar where it screws into the body of the mixer. This needs to be transferred to the new valve

Collar will not budge. Need to be careful because if I cannot get it off it will need to go back - if it's goosed I cannot turn the water back on. No local merchants can get hold of the collars. Knackers.

I managed to get it all back together. £14 worse off and tap still dribbles. 

Need new mixer taps and flexis with isolaters as mine has none.

I love houses.

[sierraman]

On 14/01/2024 at 16:26, Remspoor said:

The EU are meddling again.

There is a proposal to stop repairs to major parts on cars older than 15 years old. Things like engine, brakes gearbox etc.

I know that most of you are living in the UK, but legislation if it comes about will also affect you some way. It is doubtful it would be cost effective for manufactures to keep producing parts for markets which are relatively small. 

The link is in Spanish, but there is a translation button in red. https://www.escuderia.com/la-union-europea-planea-prohibir-reparar-los-coches-mas-viejos-como-puede-afectar-a-los-clasicos/

It is obviously a stupid proposal. Here is a link to show what the average age of vehicles are in various EU countries. These are averages . Greece and Estonia have the oldest car fleets, with vehicles almost 17 years old. The newest passenger cars can be found in Luxembourg (7.6 years).

https://www.acea.auto/figure/average-age-of-eu-vehicle-fleet-by-country/

New cars sales, here in Spain, are not going well. Maybe this will boost them.

 

Imagine if we’d voted to stay part of the EU! 

[sierraman]

5 minutes ago, Bren said:

Bastard taps. 25 years old. Cold has dribbled for years.

Stripped the cold down. One of the disc valves has a piece missing. Bought new cartridge. Old valve has a large threaded collar where it screws into the body of the mixer. This needs to be transferred to the new valve

Collar will not budge. Need to be careful because if I cannot get it off it will need to go back - if it's goosed I cannot turn the water back on. No local merchants can get hold of the collars. Knackers.

I managed to get it all back together. £14 worse off and tap still dribbles. 

Need new mixer taps and flexis with isolaters as mine has none.

I love houses.

I’ve found lately it ends up more economical to replace the taps than the cartridges which sort of defeats the object somewhat. 

[sierraman]

On 14/01/2024 at 17:50, alcyonecorporation said:

It's already started. 

I can't get VWFS to authorise a service plan on my 10 year old Leon (110k) even though its own terms and conditions state a limit of 15 years and 200,000 miles. 

We're in to the third week of 'computer says no' and the relevant department apparently has no phones and 'only communicates by email.' 

I rearranged an entire week around getting the car serviced and was basically told to fuck off 'because the car is too old.' 
I think a public interest story on the matter would make a fascinating read. 

Why would you take to to them and give your hard earned cash to those people. A specialist would be much less and in all probability do a better job - and be grateful for your business! 

[Bren]

2 minutes ago, sierraman said:

I’ve found lately it ends up more economical to replace the taps than the cartridges which sort of defeats the object somewhat. 

Yep. I doubt a plumber would want to swap cartridges - they would fit new taps.

[sierraman]

4 minutes ago, Bren said:

Yep. I doubt a plumber would want to swap cartridges - they would fit new taps.

The chrome plating on new taps is diabolical these days though. 

[Bren]

6 minutes ago, sierraman said:

The chrome plating on new taps is diabolical these days though. 

Ours has gone. Inside the knob the alloy is crumbling. But they have lasted 25 years.

[BorniteIdentity]

4 hours ago, jakebullet said:

Came back from the angriest girl in the world's to discover Ma has volunteered me again. Idiot sister has a thing where she decides she has imaginary rat infestation. The kind that doesn't shit anywhere and isn't caught in traps because THEY DON'T EXIST. There is a hole in the wall of the house up near roof level where there used to be the overflow pipe from the header tank. Imaginary rat has got a grappling hook and is using this hole to get into loft area.

I am tasked with catching this imaginary rat. Which is going to be hard when it doesn't exist. Or it could be a bat infestation! Are there any bats hanging from the rafters? Er, no...... there is nothing alive larger than a spider.

To keep out imaginary creatures up to elephant size I'm going to have to expanding foam the hole. Yes, I know don't get involved, but option B is idiot will use Ma's money to get rentokill out, who will do even less work than usual for an extravagant fee. 

Please do get involved, continue to get involved and never ever stop. One - it makes you a decent human and B - I absolutely love reading about these endless jams and japes you end up involved in. 

[Matty]

1 hour ago, BorniteIdentity said:

Please do get involved, continue to get involved and never ever stop. One - it makes you a decent human and B - I absolutely love reading about this endless jams and japes you end up involved in. 

I always had Jake pictured as Unlucky Alf off the Fast Show. "Oh bugger..."

[vulgalour]

6 hours ago, rattlecan said:

Usually coz it’s made in China & not UK. We’ve kinda forgot how to make quality 

If we're doing the broad strokes approach to countries, then the only thing your average Brit is good at making these days is complaints.

That comment and variations on it about how it's China's fault Britain can't make good stuff any more is utter nonsense.  Britain is no longer a manufacturing power house, hasn't been for decades, while China has been investing heavily in becoming the country that makes everything for everyone.  Stuff made in China runs the whole range from hopeless eBay tat all the way through to high end tech and lots of other stuff besides.

Also Brits are fucking tight and/or skint all the time anyway.  You're not going to pay a premium for a British made thing, you're just going to moan about how expensive it is and then go and buy the Chinese thing you said you didn't want to buy because it's that much cheaper and several levels of quality lower.  Brits are world class hypocrites that way.

[beko1987]

Ugh

At least the dashboard gets nice and cleaned after 😂

Do we have a 'Dashboards under snow' thread yet? 

[High Jetter]

-6 degrees when I went out about 8 this morning. That's MINUS 6 FFS

[rattlecan]

11 hours ago, vulgalour said:

If we're doing the broad strokes approach to countries, then the only thing your average Brit is good at making these days is complaints.

That comment and variations on it about how it's China's fault Britain can't make good stuff any more is utter nonsense.  Britain is no longer a manufacturing power house, hasn't been for decades, while China has been investing heavily in becoming the country that makes everything for everyone.  Stuff made in China runs the whole range from hopeless eBay tat all the way through to high end tech and lots of other stuff besides.

Also Brits are fucking tight and/or skint all the time anyway.  You're not going to pay a premium for a British made thing, you're just going to moan about how expensive it is and then go and buy the Chinese thing you said you didn't want to buy because it's that much cheaper and several levels of quality lower.  Brits are world class hypocrites that way.

I think you'll notice I 'did' say we've forgot how to make quality

[castros_bro]

19 hours ago, jakebullet said:

Came back from the angriest girl in the world's to discover Ma has volunteered me again. Idiot sister has a thing where she decides she has imaginary rat infestation. The kind that doesn't shit anywhere and isn't caught in traps because THEY DON'T EXIST. There is a hole in the wall of the house up near roof level where there used to be the overflow pipe from the header tank. Imaginary rat has got a grappling hook and is using this hole to get into loft area.

I am tasked with catching this imaginary rat. Which is going to be hard when it doesn't exist. Or it could be a bat infestation! Are there any bats hanging from the rafters? Er, no...... there is nothing alive larger than a spider.

To keep out imaginary creatures up to elephant size I'm going to have to expanding foam the hole. Yes, I know don't get involved, but option B is idiot will use Ma's money to get rentokill out, who will do even less work than usual for an extravagant fee. 

Can't you deploy an imaginary rat trap to catch the imaginary rat?

[jakebullet]

42 minutes ago, castros_bro said:

Can't you deploy an imaginary rat trap to catch the imaginary rat?

Last time we got her some idiot plugs. Plug it in, led comes on and it's repelling elephants. But she's decided they're no longer working and the imaginary creatures are back  

[NorthernMonkey]

Procur a dead rat from somewhere.

Place aforementioned ex-rat in tool bag.

Retreat to loft with tool bag.

Stamp your foot/shout a bit.

Remove rat carcass from tool bag and emerge from loft with it held high.

Revel in glory.

Package rat and send to next eBay customer demanding refund for mis drilled pool ball or discoloured dice.

Everyone’s a winner.

[Pieman]

3 hours ago, jakebullet said:

Last time we got her some idiot plugs. Plug it in, led comes on and it's repelling elephants. But she's decided they're no longer working and the imaginary creatures are back  

This woman is far more than just a selfish idiot, she needs mental health treatment I think.

(I am not saying that in a derogatory way, I am genuinely worried.)

[iainrcz]

I've been under the weather for a couple of weeks. Not sleeping brilliantly. It caught up with me on Monday morning driving home from work.

I literally shut my eyes for 1 second, managed to clip something at the side of the road. Could have been a lot worse.

I'll probably arrange a smart repair through Toyota for when it goes for MOT in march.

 

And no, I don't live in Australia.

The picture flipped for some reason.

[chaseracer]

Please get the tyre sorted sooner than that!

[beko1987]

22 minutes ago, Nyphur said:

For the Skoda I put a bath towel on the dash and chuck a hot water bottle on it 15 mins before I need to go out,  shifts the ice on the inside nicely.

I think most of it is moisture inside the car, both the crystal filled things I've got in it are quite full now. 

Ironically after scraping it my mate called saying he'd drive today so I locked it up and walked away 😂 Aftr sitting and breathing in it to put more damp inside 🙄

I've been told re-useable microwaveable ones exist which I'll have a look for on pay day. Not going to begin working out where a tiny drop of moisture might be coming in on a 23 year old citroen, it'll only be a problem for a month or so before it warms up again 👌

[DavieW]

Staying away with work. Checked in to Premier Inn and arranged dinner for 7.00. Arrived down in restaurant at 6.55 to be told my table wasn't ready and to take a seat in the lounge.  

At least 3 people came in after me for 7.15 bookings and got taken to their tables straight away. 

Surely it should be me then the 7.15ers?

Oh well, sitting here now with a plate in front of me but pissed me off a bit. 

[Dyslexic Viking]

I'm not feeling great and I got even more snow last night, from what I can see I'm guessing around 40 cm of snow came during the night.

The 2 sticks sticking out of the snow are the windscreen wipers for the car.

[rattlecan]

Wow! 

[beko1987]

Hey it worked, the blades won't be frozen to the windscreen 👌

Did you need to dig it out or did you turn around and go back inside 😂