The grumpy thread

16,829 · July 11

7 minutes ago, grogee said:

7 sec 0-60

Faster than a 1970 GTO!

9,312 · July 11

12 hours ago, captain_70s said:

Down in Manchester to see ELO on the farewell tour. Entire show canned 10 mins before it was due to start...

Apparently Jeff Lynne wasn't looking well towards the end of the gig last night and had to be helped off stage. He was seemingly knocked down by a taxi last week breaking his hand.

Really crap situation all round. ☹️

We wuz there on Wednesday night and, bluntly, he looked really shite after about 50 minutes on stage.
He ended up being positioned in a chair the roadies brought on and the guy that was on backing vocals + the front members of the band started carrying the vocals*. They whizzed through the final half dozen or so tracks in the set - polished off Mr Blue Sky and then all the house lights came up. Jeff gets carried offstage by two roadies and the (bemused) audience all trickle out in a kind of subdued manner.

I was (selfishly) grumpy as I'd fucked up on the previous two tours (double booked the first date and COVID ate the second) and this was really not the final memory I wanted to have of Jeff Lynn & ELO (been a fan nearly 40 years).

In retrospect, that was unfair of me as he, patently, was not firing on all cylinders right from the start of the gig. By the end he was buggered.
I'm not sure if I rather have been in the Thursday cohort (like you) or at the Weds show. :-(

*tbf they were cracking, the sound setup was ace as was the light show. They band all gave 110% from the start and were obvs. puzzled/concerned about what was going on with Jeff Lynn.
Not surprised they cancelled last night, not sure if they should have had the Wednesday show (my wife thought, at the time, that he'd had a TIA onstage - I guess we'll find out in time.

20,913 · July 11

30 minutes ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

By the end he was buggered.
I'm not sure if I rather have been in the Thursday cohort (like you) or at the Weds show.

In a way I'm happier having had no gig rather than a sad one...

This was to be my first (and last!) ELO performance but everything I've heard suggests Jeff had been visibly struggling even for the US leg of the tour. So I reckon there is more going on than just the taxi injury.

A real shame, but such is the way of following musicians who are knocking on 80 years old...

9,312 · July 11

OK - now it's my grump.

My wife's Bini of Doom's new starter motor arrived whilst we were away at the ELO non-gig (see above).
I've fitted it. I'm cooked.
The fucking, fucker, fuckery thing does not extent the starter cog. Spins like a top, just no extension.
Great, came all packed up with a nice bit of bench test paper saying how marvellous all the electrickery is in it - shame they never checked the mechanicals,innit?

I'm past grumpy.
The £100+ new one can go back, I'm fitting a £25 used part instead.

23,369 · July 11

I don't know where else to put this. Suggested a YT video about cars. The voice sounded a bit off, not auto dubbed and not AI. I wanted to know where they are based. Looked at the profile and saw the contact email went to this website https://ruthlesstalent.com (I am not going to link to it) Looking at who they work withhttps://ruthlesstalent.com/sponsors/ Click on any of the brands and you can see videos of where they appear. This is only some of them. I am not denying that creators should not make any money. But this explains why we see a lot of the same supporters of the channels. I expect there are other such agencies.

3,364 · July 11

17 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

I don't know where else to put this. Suggested a YT video about cars. The voice sounded a bit off, not auto dubbed and not AI. I wanted to know where they are based. Looked at the profile and saw the contact email went to this website https://ruthlesstalent.com (I am not going to link to it) Looking at who they work withhttps://ruthlesstalent.com/sponsors/ Click on any of the brands and you can see videos of where they appear. This is only some of them. I am not denying that creators should not make any money. But this explains why we see a lot of the same supporters of the channels. I expect there are other such agencies.

Outside of Carvertical, VehicleScore and Topdon I don't think I've seen a single video not sponsored by one of the companies on this page in years.

3,737 · July 11

2 hours ago, Remspoor said:

I don't know where else to put this. Suggested a YT video about cars. The voice sounded a bit off, not auto dubbed and not AI. I wanted to know where they are based. Looked at the profile and saw the contact email went to this website https://ruthlesstalent.com (I am not going to link to it) Looking at who they work withhttps://ruthlesstalent.com/sponsors/ Click on any of the brands and you can see videos of where they appear. This is only some of them. I am not denying that creators should not make any money. But this explains why we see a lot of the same supporters of the channels. I expect there are other such agencies.

The only sponsor I've heard of is Hello Fresh. Don't really watch car stuff on Youtube and I've got an adblocker on the PC anyway.

12,465 · July 11

7 hours ago, grogee said:

Is the culprit also in the photo?

No it was my own stupidity.

19,398 · July 11

3 hours ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

OK - now it's my grump.

My wife's Bini of Doom's new starter motor arrived whilst we were away at the ELO non-gig (see above).
I've fitted it. I'm cooked.
The fucking, fucker, fuckery thing does not extent the starter cog. Spins like a top, just no extension.
Great, came all packed up with a nice bit of bench test paper saying how marvellous all the electrickery is in it - shame they never checked the mechanicals,innit?

I'm past grumpy.
The £100+ new one can go back, I'm fitting a £25 used part instead.

I think I've had starters that do this but if you tickle the mechanism it 'unsticks' (due to old hard grease etc) and then works properly.

Easy for me to say from the comfort of my living room with the fan on.

2,630 · July 11

My mum is 91. She's recently been in hospital, and then for respite care because she has gallstones. They won't operate because of her age, and she has a bag drain fitted. She's also partially sighted, very poor in one eye, and walks with a stick.

Just been told that a district nurse won't attend her at home because she can get herself two miles to her doctor!

I'm 100 miles away and can't currently drive, my sister works full-time and my dad is dead

I'm bloody fuming

9,312 · July 11

2 hours ago, grogee said:

I think I've had starters that do this but if you tickle the mechanism it 'unsticks' (due to old hard grease etc) and then works properly.

Easy for me to say from the comfort of my living room with the fan on.

No tickling this time. I took off the main power leads (leaving the solenoid powered up) and, sure enough - it's clicking just fine - cogs are extending

Pulled the thing off the engine and did some measuring (which, tbf, I should have done to begin with). The starter cog on the new one does not have a long enough shaft (fnarr, fnarr) to tickle the teeth on the flywheel. That may be due to BMW bolting their gearbox onto the PSA engine rather than some French Fancy - no idea - Bini seem to have a Bosch factory part, PSA a Valeo.

Happy days though - supplier has agreed that the part is wrongly cross referenced and will not fit the DV6 in a Mini (looks to fit every other DV6 ever made though) - so free return and refund on way.

No compensation for three hours of fun* other than the fact that I can now get the starter off in about 20 minutes without pulling the 'stat/draining the coolant - so that's something I'll only ever do once again in my life (next week hopefully)

4,684 · July 11

14 hours ago, comfortablynumb said:

Nothings built to last anymore... 😁

It's having a new compressor fitted on Monday 🫠. I gave the mechanic a sob story about me being a fat sweaty mess, he said drop it round Monday afternoon.

It got so hot in the van today that the odometer fainted 🤣.

23,369 · July 12

16 hours ago, Markeh said:

Outside of Carvertical, VehicleScore and Topdon I don't think I've seen a single video not sponsored by one of the companies on this page in years.

14 hours ago, DavieW said:

The only sponsor I've heard of is Hello Fresh. Don't really watch car stuff on Youtube and I've got an adblocker on the PC anyway.

These are not a adverts . Where suddenly the conversation leads into a talk about this video's sponsor.

20,270 · July 12

Here's my Grump.

1. Wife in Hospital. Tumour in her intestine is making her very weak. In pain, barely able to eat the prescribed diet of ice cream, yoghurt and build up drink. Yesterday i think she had about 600 calories. Gets very very tired by visits or even texting family or friends. Her best friend is organised to go in this afternoon, which will both cheer her up and wear her out. (Even if only for 20 mins?)

2. My mother (and sister) are going camping in the Lake District. Weird choice given that they live in Anglesey. So my Mother informs me that she's going to pop in on the way this morning and insists that I go with her to visit my wife this afternoon. So far, will not take no for an answer.

3. Its not happening. I haven't even told my wife any of this. She doesn't need to know this shit. Maybe i should have mentioned it to my wife, but when I was with her yesterday evening she was struggling with basic conversation.

4. Despite being 58 years of age this will be the first time that I am not prepared to find a compromise, for my 87 year old mother.

6,715 · July 13

Home contents insurance. "Do you want us to retain your payment details for auto renewal?"

Obviously, no. Renewal one year later and the notice arrives;

"We currently hold no payment details. Please take time out of your busy day to contact us blah blah otherwise your policy will be renewed and then canceled, and a cancelation charge applied"

I mean, come on....

9,635 · July 13

29 minutes ago, Snipes said:

Home contents insurance. "Do you want us to retain your payment details for auto renewal?"

Obviously, no. Renewal one year later and the notice arrives;

"We currently hold no payment details. Please take time out of your busy day to contact us blah blah otherwise your policy will be renewed and then canceled, and a cancelation charge applied"

I mean, come on....

That sounds like something the insurance ombudsman would take a very dim view of!

Anyway, if they hold no payment details, how are they going to apply a cancellation charge?

11,790 · July 13

Built in satnav (Mazda).

Been messing around with it a bit but had to travel way south (Stockton) to see great granddaughter. Her house is a bit of a problem for satnavs and needs the street address and number, not just a postcode.

I was driving and youngest daughter copilot. Let her sort it out, which she does without much fuss. I will get her to teach me the rest of the controls one day. She found how to set the time in the previous one.

She found the talky thing, something son and I haven't, and set it with an Irish accent after going through all the others available. Got us there OK although it wanted to carry on down the A19 after the Tees, rather than leave the flyover and go the A66 Portrack lane. Apparently this was because granddaughter lives near the footie ground and some satnavs will chose a way around it on footie days.

Daughter driving back, wanted to use it to get us onto the A19 and then A1 as we were picking another daughter up from Felledge (Waldridge). Which was OK but it wouldn't shut up when we no longer needed it and there was no easy way to mute it. Had to wade through menus to be able to cancel the journey and it still warbled on for another five minutes.

6,715 · July 13

1 hour ago, adw1977 said:

That sounds like something the insurance ombudsman would take a very dim view of!

Anyway, if they hold no payment details, how are they going to apply a cancellation charge?

I'm almost tempted to let it play out just to see what happens, but no doubt it'll be BS and I'll somehow end up paying.

20,270 · July 13

1 hour ago, myglaren said:

Built in satnav (Mazda).

Been messing around with it a bit but had to travel way south (Stockton) to see great granddaughter. Her house is a bit of a problem for satnavs and needs the street address and number, not just a postcode.

I was driving and youngest daughter copilot. Let her sort it out, which she does without much fuss. I will get her to teach me the rest of the controls one day. She found how to set the time in the previous one.

She found the talky thing, something son and I haven't, and set it with an Irish accent after going through all the others available. Got us there OK although it wanted to carry on down the A19 after the Tees, rather than leave the flyover and go the A66 Portrack lane. Apparently this was because granddaughter lives near the footie ground and some satnavs will chose a way around it on footie days.

Daughter driving back, wanted to use it to get us onto the A19 and then A1 as we were picking another daughter up from Felledge (Waldridge). Which was OK but it wouldn't shut up when we no longer needed it and there was no easy way to mute it. Had to wade through menus to be able to cancel the journey and it still warbled on for another five minutes.

Wife's mazda 2 has built in Satnav. Its shit isn't it? I instead use Google maps.

9,702 · July 13

11 minutes ago, New POD said:

Wife's mazda 2 has built in Satnav. Its shit isn't it? I instead use Google maps.

As does everyone else with any common sense.

20,270 · July 14

10 hours ago, Jazoli said:

As does everyone else with any common sense.

My sister and mother drove from LL58 to me in L37 and then after lunch to CA12. On Saturday.

The 65 reg Focus has in built Sat Nav (and hand free phone calls. My sister has a smart phone too.

Now, if it were me, I'd be going over the merseygate way. And up the M57. Rather than the way they came through the tunnel. And God knows how many sets of traffic lights coming out of Liverpool.

No. They took nearly 2 and 3/4 hours to do a 2 hour journey.

Because they didn't use SatNav, because they know the way.

When they were leaving I asked which way they were going to the lake district.

Up the coast road to Southport and then to Preston. Through the centre of Preston and onto the M6.

I pointed out that if they went South and across to the M6 using the M58 it would be 2.5 hours and if they went their way on a hot Saturday afternoon. It would take 3.5 hours. Just use Google maps FFS 😉

9,702 · July 14

4 hours ago, New POD said:

My sister and mother drove from LL58 to me in L37 and then after lunch to CA12. On Saturday.

The 65 reg Focus has in built Sat Nav (and hand free phone calls. My sister has a smart phone too.

Now, if it were me, I'd be going over the merseygate way. And up the M57. Rather than the way they came through the tunnel. And God knows how many sets of traffic lights coming out of Liverpool.

No. They took nearly 2 and 3/4 hours to do a 2 hour journey.

Because they didn't use SatNav, because they know the way.

When they were leaving I asked which way they were going to the lake district.

Up the coast road to Southport and then to Preston. Through the centre of Preston and onto the M6.

I pointed out that if they went South and across to the M6 using the M58 it would be 2.5 hours and if they went their way on a hot Saturday afternoon. It would take 3.5 hours. Just use Google maps FFS 😉

Some people just can't be helped and refuse to use tools that are freely available to them

4,932 · July 14

Insurance company was supposed to ring me at 10 to discuss the offer they would give me for the Safrane. Twice I have rung them😡 They finally ring me 10 mins ago. ‘Oh we can’t seem to get any kind of valuation on any of our systems, it’s going to be a couple more days’ My piss has boiled😡😡😡

Told them I’m going to the insurance ombudsman as this really isn’t good enough, they have had a week to sort this. Surely it’s not that difficult to get on eBay and find a couple that sold a few months ago (like I did🙄🙄) ?

Bloody annoyed.

20,270 · July 14

1 hour ago, andyberg said:

Insurance company was supposed to ring me at 10 to discuss the offer they would give me for the Safrane. Twice I have rung them😡 They finally ring me 10 mins ago. ‘Oh we can’t seem to get any kind of valuation on any of our systems, it’s going to be a couple more days’ My piss has boiled😡😡😡

Told them I’m going to the insurance ombudsman as this really isn’t good enough, they have had a week to sort this. Surely it’s not that difficult to get on eBay and find a couple that sold a few months ago (like I did🙄🙄) ?

Bloody annoyed.

Remember it needs to be retail valuation. You can't be expected to buy off some dodgy bloke on Facebook market place.

20,270 · July 14

On 12/07/2025 at 07:41, New POD said:

Here's my Grump.

1. Wife in Hospital. Tumour in her intestine is making her very weak. In pain, barely able to eat the prescribed diet of ice cream, yoghurt and build up drink. Yesterday i think she had about 600 calories. Gets very very tired by visits or even texting family or friends. Her best friend is organised to go in this afternoon, which will both cheer her up and wear her out. (Even if only for 20 mins?)

2. My mother (and sister) are going camping in the Lake District. Weird choice given that they live in Anglesey. So my Mother informs me that she's going to pop in on the way this morning and insists that I go with her to visit my wife this afternoon. So far, will not take no for an answer.

3. Its not happening. I haven't even told my wife any of this. She doesn't need to know this shit. Maybe i should have mentioned it to my wife, but when I was with her yesterday evening she was struggling with basic conversation.

4. Despite being 58 years of age this will be the first time that I am not prepared to find a compromise, for my 87 year old mother.

She did take no for an answer.

62,770 · July 14

20 hours ago, New POD said:

Wife's mazda 2 has built in Satnav. Its shit isn't it? I instead use Google maps.

20 hours ago, Jazoli said:

As does everyone else with any common sense.

I've only used the built-in satnavs in my cars in anger twice, both when I was on holiday in remote locations and couldn't get a data signal for Google Maps (no signal at all in the Scottish wilderness and in the Lake District I could only get Manx Telecom). To be fair both got me where I needed to go but it was a bit of a clunky process.

(I do have an offline mapping app on my phone now (didn't on the Scotland trip) but when I tried to use it on the later trip it wanted to check for map updates before it'd open - which it obviously couldn't do because no signal :roll: ).

So yeah, they do have their uses, albeit infrequently.

24,003 · July 14

55 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

I've only used the built-in satnavs in my cars in anger twice, both when I was on holiday in remote locations and couldn't get a data signal for Google Maps (no signal at all in the Scottish wilderness and in the Lake District I could only get Manx Telecom). To be fair both got me where I needed to go but it was a bit of a clunky process.

(I do have an offline mapping app on my phone now (didn't on the Scotland trip) but when I tried to use it on the later trip it wanted to check for map updates before it'd open - which it obviously couldn't do because no signal ).

So yeah, they do have their uses, albeit infrequently.

I’ve a few on the phone- google maps, waze, tomtom and calimoto ( primarily a biker oriented one for fun routes). The car has tomtom built in, but it’s traffic knowledge isn’t very quick.

25,069 · July 15

Away in the camper, I've had a mission of a day and done fifty miles on the mountain bike. I'm fucking starving!

Turned up an isolated country pub (no other source of food for ten miles in either direction) at 4pm:

"sorry, not serving food while 5"

Fair enough, I said. I'll hang about til 5 because I've not eaten since 7:30am.

Bought a pint and sat in the corner of the totally deserted pub..

5pm rolls round, I wander up to the bar to order the massive pile of chips and beef that I've been staring at on the menu..

Same woman I spoke to earlier :

"have you got a booking?"

No...

"we're fully booked tonight, sorry"

July 15

On 11/07/2025 at 10:07, grogee said:

OK here's my grump: Set off to see the nu_Mrs Grogee last night, with the intention of working from her house today.

I had a big list of stuff to bring which I dutifully packed into the car.

Got up this morning to switch my work computer on... And I've left it at home.

I've phoned in sick, but it's academic really as I'm a scumbag contractor so no sick pay and this will cost me 5 hours pay (early finish Fridays).

Ah well, I think we're going to tour some car dealers today to try out some new car options for her. Shortlist is MG3 hybrid, Rennow Clio Hybrid, and Yaris hybrid which she tried and liked.

MG3 is rapid - real world about 7 sec 0-60 apparently. But a three-speed auto (!) which I haven't seen in a new car since 1987.

Clio looks nice (to me) and I don't have the same fear of Rennow products since they started making non-flaky cars.

Trouble is, I think it's the same powertrain fitted to the Nissan Juke which I've been testing at work, and I was not very impressed. Coarse and quite clunky.

Toyota is the boring and sensible choice, and their CVT is really slick.

Toyota hybrid is the way to go , we had a load of corollas on fleet up to 4 years old after covid , we didn't have any issues at all , full , mundane but as faithful as your old dog

35,382 · July 15

On 10/07/2025 at 15:35, Kiltox said:

Will be out of work imminently because the company that I don’t actually work for but that takes a big slice of the invoice every month is going into administration.

🤦‍♂️

Well this happened today - I was told by the umbrella company that actually pay me to stop work immediately and await further instruction.

Likely going to lose 6 weeks pay minimum but there’s a chance of restarting with another agency fairly quickly.

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