The grumpy thread

9,109 · August 25

On 06/08/2026 at 13:22, angle said:

Fecking French cars. Last week, the blower motor on the Picasso gave up the ghost. This means no air conditioning. I'm meant to be leaving to drive to Germany at 5am tomorrow and it's a bit hot there. Phoned the garage, they said they could squeeze me in on Tuesday and they'd order the part in advance so they could turn it round quickly.

Got a call on Tuesday - 'really sorry, we've got the dash apart and the motor we've ordered in looks nothing like what's there. There is another part number listed for your car so we've ordered that in, but it'll be tomorrow'

Yeah you've guessed it - tomorrow comes, the new part arrives, that's not right either. 'We've got the part number for the old one, we'll phone Stellantis'

Next call is at the end of the day - 'Stellantis say the part is on back order, it'll be six weeks and £500 but we've found someone else who has one in stock, it'll be on the first van tomorrow'. They also say that the part number is for a Peugeot 308 only (which didn't exist when my car was built...)

This morning: 'they didn't have one in stock. We've managed to find another one but it's in Gloucester - any chance you can drive up and get it? If not my mother in law has said she'll do it but she's looking after my daughter and she's still asleep so it might not be for a while'. Gloucester is an hour up the M5.

Even though the part number matches the wiring plug is different so they're currently splicing it together with the plug off one of the ones they've already ordered...

Still, made it to the Black Forest and back - probably 1500 miles down and (apart from replacing the blower motor) all I did was check tyre pressures and fluids.

Splashed out for Flexiplus on Le Shuttle on the way back, enjoyed parking my slightly disreputable Picasso between a Panamera Turbo and a 911 GT3 at the special departure lounge thing where my children ate their body weight in macarons...

7,192 · August 26

On 20/08/2026 at 04:34, Mally said:

Apologies for the self quote, but I've been googling. There are medical people on here @Coprolaliamaybe @UltraWomblemaybe. Sorry to put you on the spot and apologies if I'm wrong. Feel free to decline to reply.

Google tells me the above is a serious medical failure and should be reported.

Now she did deflate, tried to remove, was hard, pulled very hard, it hurt like hell and came out. The balloon was smaller than a marble at a guess. I do have a photo and can rescue the evidence from my bin.

She apologised at once, said she should have stopped when there was resistance, and checked the deflation. To her credit she didn't hide the evidence.

So.

I'm an easy going bloke, we all make mistakes. There seems to be no lasting damage, no blood, everything works.

I know I should report it , but I'm inclined to just sit on it for now. I tend to get a different District nurse every time, they are all nice, but some better at my particular job than others.

I expect the majority will say report, but I'm a funny old bugger me.

Google's shit for medical stuff. It will always tell you you're about to die or it's terrible.

This is a pretty easy mistake to make. It's drilled into us at medical school to not do it, but sometimes the inflatable balloon at the end is a bit stiff, or has been overinflated.

If there's no lasting damage from your POV, you're not peeing blood, no ongoing pain etc, I would chalk it up as you've had your drains rodded out.

Sounds like she's apologised. If she's a good nurse I imagine she's mortified and will be reflecting on it. She is unlikely to do it again. So what more would you like/ want?

Incidentally I've seen a delirious old boy rip his out with a fully inflated balloon. Not a pretty sight.

6,212 · August 26

Yesterday at a customers they had radio 6 music playing on the load speaker system, at first I thought it was Jo effing Whiley but it was actually Lauren to cool for school Laverne playing what sounded like Lift Music until she had the band The Strokes on live, I loved the Strokes as a youth but now they just sound washed up and tired and really really trying too hard, kind of reminded me of that ironic aged rock band off of Regular show just crap really

8,568 · August 26

18 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

People have had enough of bullshitters pretending to be experts. We want and need real experts.
If I need heart surgery , I really want an expert, not an enthusiastic amateur who gets his medical knowledge from watchingCasualty every week.

People who probably failed O Level Biology were touted as experts during Covid by the media, the same as those who can explain share dividends as financial geniuses are now.

28,705 · August 26

22 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Problem even with the "improve a photo" context is that so often people don't make it clear that it's been used, and even when used like that it often messes with smaller details. Not something that you're likely to notice if it's just a holiday snap from your childhood you're happy to have your dad's thumb taken out the side of the frame and the colour balance corrected - but when you're dealing with old street scenes and such like the random details that get distorted can be confusing as all hell for people using them as any form of historical reference. Especially given the number of them that seem to be popping up in the bus/coach/train scene these days where people have used AI to colour what were originally black and white photos. Can be bloody hard to spot at first glance, especially if they're not a photo of somewhere you actually personally know. Absolutely a valid use case for it (if you can justify the ludicrous power usage anyway...but that's a whole extra argument), but I really wish that people would label or watermark things to make it clear where AI has been used.

Yup, I had a right moan at one of the major posters on a local group for this. He insists on colourising all the photos he posts, which is such a shame because he's a good source of unseen old photos of the area and the originals are great!

It was a bit annoying a few years ago, but beyond the random purple cars and sickly yellow faces, you could generally trust the content of the photos. But nowadays, these "colourised" photos are complete re-fabrications. I was struggling to make sense of a few of them, so I asked him to post the original B&W and it turns out that AI had moved the doorway, added windows and for some reason a load of bunting on the front of an old pub, and the perspective of the whole scene was knackered to the point where the pub was now located blocking the main road.

9,497 · August 26

19 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

People have had enough of bullshitters pretending to be experts. We want and need real experts.
If I need heart surgery , I really want an expert, not an enthusiastic amateur who gets his medical knowledge from watchingCasualty every week.

The problem is that there is a complete and utter rejection of expert knowledge by people who believe they know better or who don't like facts or evidence that undermine their own worldview.

I recently got asked to leave an online history group dedicated to restoring the kingdom of Mercia (yes I know) because I dared to point out that the Saxons had an ruling class and hierarchy and were related to the Norman aristocracy. On a related note I got a lot of kickback for pointing out that the town of Wrexham was originally in Mercia (its about three miles to the east of Offa's Dyke for a start).

History is rife with revisionists and online experts using certain events to push their own agendas.

12,755 · August 26

14 hours ago, angle said:

at the special departure lounge thing where my children ate their body weight in macarons...

I've always wondered what it was like that fancy looking place - if my wife finds out that there's unlimited macarons going.....

9,930 · August 26

1 minute ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

I've always wondered what it was like that fancy looking place - if my wife finds out that there's unlimited macarons going.....

19,917 · August 26

Changed the 9v battery in a smoke alarm at one of my shops this morning and put the old battery in my pocket to bring home and recycle like a good boy. Some while later as I was driving I felt my thigh heating up, the battery was almost too hot to touch. Theory is one of the coins in my pocket shorted it out, even though it was flatter than a flat thing.

27,230 · August 26

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

Changed the 9v battery in a smoke alarm at one of my shops this morning and put the old battery in my pocket to bring home and recycle like a good boy. Some while later as I was driving I felt my thigh heating up, the battery was almost too hot to touch. Theory is one of the coins in my pocket shorted it out, even though it was flatter than a flat thing.

Change of membership name for you.

31,946 · August 26

Has Raid another thing that's been totally watered down by the H&S directives now?

Have two flies here which have been driving me insane all morning and finally resorted to that. They both got directly hosed, and have completely shrugged it off as though nothing happened.

20,441 · August 26

2 hours ago, warch said:

The problem is that there is a complete and utter rejection of expert knowledge by people who believe they know better or who don't like facts or evidence that undermine their own worldview.

I recently got asked to leave an online history group dedicated to restoring the kingdom of Mercia (yes I know) because I dared to point out that the Saxons had an ruling class and hierarchy and were related to the Norman aristocracy. On a related note I got a lot of kickback for pointing out that the town of Wrexham was originally in Mercia (its about three miles to the east of Offa's Dyke for a start).

History is rife with revisionists and online experts using certain events to push their own agendas.

If YOU believe it , it’s fact. We’re back to the Middle Ages. Scientific proof doesn’t matter.

24,455 · August 26

3 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Has Raid another thing that's been totally watered down by the H&S directives now?

Have two flies here which have been driving me insane all morning and finally resorted to that. They both got directly hosed, and have completely shrugged it off as though nothing happened.

how about one of those fly swatting tennis racket thingies?

on the end of a long pole

connected to the output of a microwave oven transformer....

9,109 · August 26

8 hours ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

I've always wondered what it was like that fancy looking place - if my wife finds out that there's unlimited macarons going.....

You get given a (fairly generous) brown paper bag and are told to fill it with food for the journey. If you're six, that means:

Four cans of Orangina

Three onion bhaji wraps (NB - 'I DON'T LIKE ONION')

An egg mayo sandwich

Two packets of crisps (there probably would have been more, but only ready salted available)

A pot of fruit salad, filled to the brim so that it leaks if you don't keep it perfectly horizontal

A smaller brown paper bag of macarons (shove them in, it doesn't matter if they get squashed)

A second smaller brown paper bag of cake (caramel and banana, raspberry and dragon fruit, carrot)

10% of the above to be smashed into your car seat and/or clothes as required.

3,832 · August 26

18 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Has Raid another thing that's been totally watered down by the H&S directives now?

Have two flies here which have been driving me insane all morning and finally resorted to that. They both got directly hosed, and have completely shrugged it off as though nothing happened.

Yes, you are better of hitting them with the tin to try and kill them.

3,832 · August 26

Devon to West Lothian via ...

I don't mind my tins of paint having a stop-over holiday, just as long as they arrive when they should and without damage.

As they were due here yesterday and its Damaged Parcels Delivered I am not optimistic.

<Wonder if the tins of paint got to watch the John McPint 30 years at T' Isle of Man parade lap>

9,497 · August 26

24 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Has Raid another thing that's been totally watered down by the H&S directives now?

Have two flies here which have been driving me insane all morning and finally resorted to that. They both got directly hosed, and have completely shrugged it off as though nothing happened.

Yeah it's shit. Mrs warch did accidentally* get me with a fairly hefty blast of the stuff the other day in a blue on blue incident (the fly flew around the kitchen and landed on my monitor). Despite me mansplaining the importance of using short controlled bursts.

24 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

If YOU believe it , it’s fact. We’re back to the Middle Ages. Scientific proof doesn’t matter.

Very much so. Apparently scientists and experts are all paid by the government to lie about things.

16,003 · August 26

36 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Has Raid another thing that's been totally watered down by the H&S directives now?

Have two flies here which have been driving me insane all morning and finally resorted to that. They both got directly hosed, and have completely shrugged it off as though nothing happened.

You could try cutting the upper part off a pop bottle, at the 'shoulder', as it were.

Put some cider vinegar, sugar and water in the bottom and invert the cut off top into the bottom, the flies are attracted to it, get in and can't get out again.

31,946 · August 26

15 minutes ago, Momentary Lapse Of Reason said:

Yes, you are better of hitting them with the tin to try and kill them.

Was thinking adding an ignition source to the mix and using it as a flamethrower might be more effective...

Just came as a surprise as the old tin (which I'm pretty sure we moved here with - so probably around 15 years old) was something I was always loathe to use, but was always instantly effective if even wafted in their general direction. Oh well! Lesson learned.

3,832 · August 26

3 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Was thinking adding an ignition source to the mix and using it as a flamethrower might be more effective...

Motion Approved!

Remember to provide photos of the aftermath...

19,917 · August 26

3 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Has Raid another thing that's been totally watered down by the H&S directives now?

Have two flies here which have been driving me insane all morning and finally resorted to that. They both got directly hosed, and have completely shrugged it off as though nothing happened.

Happened to us a while back. Mrs pointed out we'd had the tin a few years, so it may have gone off. Bought a new tin, different brand, and it's much more effective.

21,592 · August 26

8 hours ago, Momentary Lapse Of Reason said:

Devon to West Lothian via ...

I don't mind my tins of paint having a stop-over holiday, just as long as they arrive when they should and without damage.

As they were due here yesterday and its Damaged Parcels Delivered I am not optimistic.

<Wonder if the tins of paint got to watch the John McPint 30 years at T' Isle of Man parade lap>

had very similar from a place in northampton

it went further south then warrington - which i coulda collected from) then preston then here

9,930 · August 26

On 25/08/2026 at 20:50, angle said:

Still, made it to the Black Forest and back - probably 1500 miles down and (apart from replacing the blower motor) all I did was check tyre pressures and fluids.

Splashed out for Flexiplus on Le Shuttle on the way back, enjoyed parking my slightly disreputable Picasso between a Panamera Turbo and a 911 GT3 at the special departure lounge thing where my children ate their body weight in macarons...

This won't help with the current predicament, but all of the French cars I've owned have been put together with whatever components happened to fit when [car] went down the line.

I usually either took the part out and got the P/N off it, or took a picture of said P/N and went into GSF/ECP/the bin with the number saying 'fuck what the computer says, I want this.'

9,109 · August 26

13 minutes ago, alcyonecorporation said:

This won't help with the current predicament, but all of the French cars I've owned have been put together with whatever components happened to fit when [car] went down the line.

I usually either took the part out and got the P/N off it, or took a picture of said P/N and went into GSF/ECP/the bin with the number saying 'fuck what the computer says, I want this.'

Yes, this is a lesson I should have learned long ago (I'm looking at you, Citroen ZX brakes)

9,930 · August 26

15 minutes ago, angle said:

Yes, this is a lesson I should have learned long ago (I'm looking at you, Citroen ZX brakes)

My (now long dead) 306 TD didn't have the legs, calipers or brake rotors it should have had.
It had the legs, calipers and rotors from a 2.0 8v cabriolet, for some fucking reason.

We had the same problem you had - nothing came close to fitting despite what the parts computer said off the VIN.

7,879 · August 26

9 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

how about one of those fly swatting tennis racket thingies?

on the end of a long pole

connected to the output of a microwave oven transformer....

Are you a fan of Photonicinduction? (I live in hope that he will return to YouTube one day!)

9,930 · August 26

Just now, Pieman said:

Are you a fan of Photonicinduction? (I live in hope that he will return to YouTube one day!)

so long as someone touches it, goes, 'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH' then someone else replies: 'I think you'll find that's the same answer the CID gave...'

7,879 · August 26

30 minutes ago, alcyonecorporation said:

so long as someone touches it, goes, 'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH' then someone else replies: 'I think you'll find that's the same answer the CID gave...'

What's that referring to?

2,608 · August 27

8 hours ago, angle said:

Yes, this is a lesson I should have learned long ago (I'm looking at you, Citroen ZX brakes)

My Dad bought an early zx as his company car in 1992. I distinctly remember a horrendous banging noise when it had done about 1k miles. This was traced to the front brakes, something was done at the dealer that took two weeks iirc. Sounded like they had to rebuild the front braking system, so I’m not surprised that zx front brakes are weird.

19,917 · August 27

Our shower pump has gone on strike.

The grumpy thread

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