The grumpy thread

[horriblemercedes]

8 minutes ago, Spiny Norman said:

It's Glasgow's scumbag SNP/Greenie council, the whole city's like this. Like I say it's not just the odd bad one here & there, every single mile of every single road has some kind of major crater in it. There's a Facebook page called Potholes Make Glasgow (A take of the cooncil's stupid 'People Make Glasgow' slogan) with about 15,000 members which is very nearly 10% of the city's population, and it's full of photos like this. People post up warnings about them and give advice on how to claim for damages but the fashion for wafer thin tyres on 20" RIMMZZZ plays a big part in most of the tales of woe.

 

I still try to dodge the worst of them but these make a huge difference.

 

Geolandar GO15 is one of my favourite tyres ever. Good value, last ages and good on and off road. Great choice 

[Wibble]

11 minutes ago, horriblemercedes said:

I don't know about my current council, but I lived in Shropshire before this and their tips would take anything for free. Including tyres. 

 

I doubt it was generosity....I assume they had decided that the cost of disposing of it was less than the cost of clearing up after fly tippers 

Crikey! A council that might actually be reading the room and demonstrating common sense? Hold the front page!

[horriblemercedes]

20 minutes ago, Wibble said:

Crikey! A council that might actually be reading the room and demonstrating common sense? Hold the front page!

I've heard that they have regressed since I left, but they were great when I lived there (until 2023)

 

I'm not implying that they regressed because I left, just that policy has changed since then! 

[Wibble]

On 06/03/2025 at 00:22, Wibble said:

I’ll put it outside and see what happens . Wife was worried about getting done for fly tipping but we’ve had plenty of stuff leant against our wall by others which was taken or I ended up taking to the tip. Pisses me off and another reason for cctv to find out who’s doing it.

New machine now installed. What a ball ache. All was fine until it started leaking at the join for the waste. It’s so far away from the sink it has two waste pipes, joined by a bit of copper pipe and jubilee clips.

They were so old they weren’t tightening up enough, having been fine before. Fuck sake! The clips weren’t even metric when I tried a 7mm socket on them. Luckily I had some clips from the Senator’s heater matrix debacle and used these. All is now good and the new machine is working fine. 

All of this would have been much easier if my arms weren’t so fucked. Carrying a washing machine 30 yards from the car didn’t help, so the old one has  been dumped in the back garden, for now. 
 

End result is a new machine, everyone’s happy, my brokenness doesn’t matter.

[Spiny Norman]

3 hours ago, horriblemercedes said:

Geolandar GO15 is one of my favourite tyres ever. Good value, last ages and good on and off road. Great choice 

I was hoping for some OMGSNOKAOS this winter so I could go out and play with them but we barely had a flake land.

[Split_Pin]

Speaking of scumbag councils, Falkirk are raising their Council Tax by 15.6% on April 1st. To me that's FORTY QUID a month. Oh well at least I'm in steady and certain employment to be able to afford the increase. Oh wait.....

[New POD]

6 hours ago, Wibble said:

New machine now installed. What a ball ache. All was fine until it started leaking at the join for the waste. It’s so far away from the sink it has two waste pipes, joined by a bit of copper pipe and jubilee clips.

They were so old they weren’t tightening up enough, having been fine before. Fuck sake! The clips weren’t even metric when I tried a 7mm socket on them. Luckily I had some clips from the Senator’s heater matrix debacle and used these. All is now good and the new machine is working fine. 

All of this would have been much easier if my arms weren’t so fucked. Carrying a washing machine 30 yards from the car didn’t help, so the old one has  been dumped in the back garden, for now. 
 

End result is a new machine, everyone’s happy, my brokenness doesn’t matter.

I have found that rolling the old machine is easier than trying to lift it outright.

[Supernaut]

1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

Speaking of scumbag councils, Falkirk are raising their Council Tax by 15.6% on April 1st. To me that's FORTY QUID a month. Oh well at least I'm in steady and certain employment to be able to afford the increase. Oh wait.....

On the one hand we can try to be pragmatic about this. Council tax has been frozen in Scotland for a while. Now that it's been un-frozen, councils are trying to play catch up. Who had one of the lowest rates when it was frozen? Falkirk.

On the other hand, it really is a kick in the fucking teeth when taken into the context of [vaguely waves hands] everything else costing an eye watering amount.

 

Personally, I think the entire council tax system needs reformed. Make it income based, for a start.

[Metal Guru]

53 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

On the one hand we can try to be pragmatic about this. Council tax has been frozen in Scotland for a while. Now that it's been un-frozen, councils are trying to play catch up. Who had one of the lowest rates when it was frozen? Falkirk.

On the other hand, it really is a kick in the fucking teeth when taken into the context of [vaguely waves hands] everything else costing an eye watering amount.

 

Personally, I think the entire council tax system needs reformed. Make it income based, for a start.

Good idea. Then the Duke of Westminster  says “I don’t own anything, it all belongs to a trust etc etc.” Pays same as a pensioner on a basic state pension.

(Other Dukes are available for tax dodging schemes).

[myglaren]

11 hours ago, Wibble said:

All of this would have been much easier if my arms weren’t so fucked. Carrying a washing machine 30 yards from the car didn’t help, so the old one has  been dumped in the back garden, for now. 

My youngest daughter  inherited a triangular platform on wheels that is ideal for moving heavy stuff around.

I used my grandson's skateboard to shift mine and my eldest daughters washers, driers and ovens around, as well as my own as she lives over the road from me.

B&M, and presumably others, also sell wheeled platforms for such applications.  I was recently in a B&M and the bloke in front of me bought four of them.

[barefoot]

5 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Speaking of scumbag councils, Falkirk are raising their Council Tax by 15.6% on April 1st. To me that's FORTY QUID a month. Oh well at least I'm in steady and certain employment to be able to afford the increase. Oh wait.....

My water rates have gone up from £79 to £99 per month. I calculate an increase of 25%.

[iainrcz]

Bought a new extractor, planning to run it in extraction mode using the old hole in the wall.

Anyone spot the issue?

[High Jetter]

14 minutes ago, iainrcz said:

Bought a new extractor, planning to run it in extraction mode using the old hole in the wall.

Anyone spot the issue?

Yer haven't drilled the ole yet M9 😁

[iainrcz]

6 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Yer haven't drilled the ole yet M9 😁

The black mark on right is where the old hole comes through the inside wall 

 

[comfortablynumb]

45 minutes ago, iainrcz said:

Bought a new extractor, planning to run it in extraction mode using the old hole in the wall.

Anyone spot the issue?

It'll be reet.

It's the kitchen version of egr......😁

[High Jetter]

We had no mains water on Wednesday lunchtime. Typically, it came back on late afternoon by which time I'd been out and bought bottles of water - though that's not the grump.

Looking online at S E Water's website showed the location and estimated duration of the issue, and I could submit my phone number to get updates - so I did. However, I must have given my number before, twice, so every notification came through 3 times! Can't seem to unsubscribe either, it just makes their website hang.

[Wibble]

4 hours ago, myglaren said:

My youngest daughter  inherited a triangular platform on wheels that is ideal for moving heavy stuff around.

I used my grandson's skateboard to shift mine and my eldest daughters washers, driers and ovens around, as well as my own as she lives over the road from me.

B&M, and presumably others, also sell wheeled platforms for such applications.  I was recently in a B&M and the bloke in front of me bought four of them.

Small dolly/trolley things don’t really work with kerbs, steps and uneven ground. Always used to just borrow the stair climbing sack truck from work in the past.

[myglaren]

30 minutes ago, Wibble said:

Small dolly/trolley things don’t really work with kerbs, steps and uneven ground. Always used to just borrow the stair climbing sack truck from work in the past.

I was a bit awkward in places but managed OK.

[sheffcortinacentre]

5 hours ago, barefoot said:

My water rates have gone up from £79 to £99 per month. I calculate an increase of 25%.

So in real terms that's a 2.5% increase as you obviously don't know how this stuff works ( like the rest of us).

[comfortablynumb]

1 hour ago, myglaren said:

I was a bit awkward in places but managed OK.

I'm a bit awkward ALL the time🤣

[barefoot]

1 hour ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

So in real terms that's a 2.5% increase as you obviously don't know how this stuff works ( like the rest of us).

Whatever. By means of protest I'm going to start wandering the streets after dark and shitting directly into the kerbside drains.

 

[clayts450]

7 hours ago, barefoot said:

My water rates have gone up from £79 to £99 per month. I calculate an increase of 25%.

I'm on a water meter - mine bizarrely went down from £17 to £15 per month from April. Get yerself on a meter, lad

[loserone]

5 minutes ago, clayts450 said:

I'm on a water meter - mine bizarrely went down from £17 to £15 per month from April. Get yerself on a meter, lad

We've just ordered a meter as our rates have gone up about 25%.

[barefoot]

1 hour ago, loserone said:

We've just ordered a meter as our rates have gone up about 25%.

Have other folk experienced the same? Am I being priced into having a metered account?

[loserone]

7 minutes ago, barefoot said:

Have other folk experienced the same? Am I being priced into having a metered account?

I'm not yet convinced that the meter will be cheaper but apparently if it's not cheaper we can go back to unmetered within the first two years.

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, loserone said:

I'm not yet convinced that the meter will be cheaper but apparently if it's not cheaper we can go back to unmetered within the first two years.

You sure? I thought it was a one-way street.

[sheffcortinacentre]

I'm single so meter is ideal been on one for ages, bill is a third what I was paying.

[New POD]

3 hours ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

I'm single so meter is ideal been on one for ages, bill is a third what I was paying.

My wife has a deep bath every day. I'm convinced a meter will be more expensive. 

[paulplom]

11 hours ago, barefoot said:

Whatever. By means of protest I'm going to start wandering the streets after dark and shitting directly into the kerbside drains.

 

Just leave your taps running all day and get your moneys worth.

[comfortablynumb]

12 hours ago, clayts450 said:

I'm on a water meter - mine bizarrely went down from £17 to £15 per month from April. Get yerself on a meter, lad

I'm on a water meter, since about mid last year.

I'm also on a special rate for disability needs.

I've had CONSTANT letters from Anglian water telling me I've got a leak ( I haven't) and the bill has increased despite the rate.

I'm not alone either, I've heard of dozens of people online with the same 'fault'

Couldn't be Anglian water trying to get work to get them.out of the massive financial hole they're in could it? No, can't possibly be that..🤔