The grumpy thread

[iainrcz]

So today is the 18th of February. A year since my mum died, and also the birthday of my Mrs' mum. Who died just before my mum 😢

[Jerzy Woking]

14 hours ago, Remspoor said:

I can burn my the waste from my land. I would not really call it garden waste, because it is not my garden more like a finca . I have to get a licnce for that and during dry spells there is a total ban, naturally. Licence is free.

My sprayer is like this.

https://www.leroymerlin.es/fp/16354051/mochila-12l-pulverizacion-continua-basic-by-matabi

The old boys around me use copper ones. I also have one, that is for decoration only. Like this https://www.milanuncios.com/antiguedades-de-coleccion/antigua-maquina-de-sulfatar-3a-164506065.htm

Now that is a skip.🙂

I have a very similar licence-can only burn (sunrise to 13.30) on Tues, Thurs, Sat and Sun. The local police are well aware of what areas can have a fire on what days. They often check on addresses where they see smoke coming from where burning isn't allowed on that day

I'll get one of those sprayers as going to Leroy Merlin tomorrow to get a few other bits I need. Thanks for the link (the store is massive and I would not have noticed that looking for other things).

 

[Jerzy Woking]

16 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Does Portugal have plant hire like the UK does? A day's hire of a chipper would produce a pile of mulch much smaller than that and as it's dry it could be fed into a stove.

I can hire a chipper but I am a fool, I have lots of time on my hands, plus I quite enjoy cutting it up so it all fits in (I have a chainsaw, and I'm no afraid to use it).

The larger bits I will keep back and store so it can dry out and be burnt next winter.

[Remspoor]

18 hours ago, artdjones said:

I think he's in Spain,they may be stricter there. We can get it here in Ireland, but from the results I think they have reduced the potency by quite a bit in what you can buy over the counter.

I know that I am too. 😉 😁

[artdjones]

3 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

I know that I am too. 😉 😁

Oh yes, what part? My brother's been on the Costa Blanc's for 20 years, but he's just decided to go back to Wales in June. So no more cheap holidays 😞.

[Remspoor]

8 minutes ago, artdjones said:

Oh yes, what part? My brother's been on the Costa Blanc's for 20 years, but he's just decided to go back to Wales in June. So no more cheap holidays 😞.

I am far away as possible from any Costas . I wanted to live in Spain 🇪🇸, without hearing too much English. 🇬🇧 But that ideal is not for everyone. I have had nearly 20 years here.

I too now wish to move. The amount of land, the size of house is far too large for us now.

[somewhatfoolish]

4 hours ago, Jerzy Woking said:

I can hire a chipper but I am a fool, I have lots of time on my hands, plus I quite enjoy cutting it up so it all fits in (I have a chainsaw, and I'm no afraid to use it).

The larger bits I will keep back and store so it can dry out and be burnt next winter.

I was thinking more a day with a chipper may be cheaper than a skip and you get the benefit of something to burn in the stove.

[artdjones]

9 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

I am far away as possible from any Costas . I wanted to live in Spain 🇪🇸, without hearing too much English. 🇬🇧 But that ideal is not for everyone. I have had nearly 20 years here.

I too now wish to move. The amount of land, the size of house is far too large for us now.

Yes,I know what you mean, my brother has always insisted on living inland in the country or in a small town which is at least 95% Spanish, and he got fairly fluent in Spanish within a couple of years. His problem is getting work other than for expats. It's hard to get work if you're not Spanish.

[Remspoor]

Not if you are working for yourself.

[artdjones]

He does small building jobs, etc, but the only Spanish customers he ever had were landlords of his. He found work among English speakers up and down because of currency fluctuations affecting the customer's disposable income. He never had any problems over quality of work, but no available money , no work to give.

[Jerzy Woking]

1 hour ago, somewhatfoolish said:

I was thinking more a day with a chipper may be cheaper than a skip and you get the benefit of something to burn in the stove.

I believe that even with a chipper I'd have some waste that I would have to get rid of? The skip I can have for four weeks, and costs €100 (if only filled with garden waste) and the skip is huge.

1 hour ago, Remspoor said:

I am far away as possible from any Costas . I wanted to live in Spain 🇪🇸, without hearing too much English. 🇬🇧 But that ideal is not for everyone. I have had nearly 20 years here.

I too now wish to move. The amount of land, the size of house is far too large for us now.

I now live on the Costa Blanca, but inland (30 to 40 minutes drive to a beach) and in a predominantly Spanish town. Up until Covid lockdowns were introduced, my Spanish was coming on well. Now, with no bars or restaurants open, opportunities to socialise have gone. 

Although we have a family house closer to the coast, I only go there occasionally to sweep the patios and make sure all is good until the family can come out to it.

My house and garden are both large, but after years of living in small houses and flats, this is something I have always promised myself.

[MikeR]

21 hours ago, New POD said:

Yeah, that's what dickhead clearly thinks. Twat. 

still waiting a comment on how good the room looks , or how much its has devalued the house .......

[FakeConcern]

On the land line "Hello this is an automated message from Amazon..."

Lately we are getting these two or three times a day and as it's only my 93 yr old mum who uses the land line to ring us, I can't just ignore it, lift the receiver and drop it back down or shout "fuck offfff" at the top of my voice into it. Is there a way to block these calls?

[Soundwave]

Warning: TMI incoming.  


I'm a big fan of white chocolate. I especially enjoy Lindt, and Milkybar is nice for when I'm not in the mood to spend money. I noticed Cadbury's do a white bar as well now, so I decided to give that a try yesterday evening. It wasn't especially nice, had a weird, almost smoky aftertaste to it, and lacked the vanilla flavour you get with other white chocolates. 

"So what? You tried something and didn't like it. No reason to be grumpy, first world problem!" I hear you cry. And I'd agree, except that's not what I'm grumpy about.

What I'm grumpy about is the adverse reaction my stomach seems to have had to it, which makes me wonder if the weird taste was due to something wrong with this particular bar, or whether my body just REALLY doesn't like the ingredients. One thing I am sure about is that I've spent much of this morning in the bathroom, with horrible cramps, and I've been producing stuff that does not appear anywhere on the Bristol Stool Chart. Instead, my bowels have been emitting unspeakable horrors from somewhere in the darkest recesses of H P Lovecraft's mind. Seems to be calming down a now, although I'm still cramping a fair bit.

Reckon I'm sticking with Milkybar from now on!

[R1152]

40 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

On the land line "Hello this is an automated message from Amazon..."

Lately we are getting these two or three times a day and as it's only my 93 yr old mum who uses the land line to ring us, I can't just ignore it, lift the receiver and drop it back down or shout "fuck offfff" at the top of my voice into it. Is there a way to block these calls?

If it has a valid CLID (and your line supports that), some telephones (like my elderly Panasonic) allow you to block certain numbers. The other option - although expensive - is this:

https://www.cprcallblocker.com/

A few friends of mine have them and speak well of them. You could try registering with the TPS or lodging a complaint with the ICO but I've had no success at all with the latter in trying to get them to deal with a chip shop I've never visited sending me spam texts in just-about-English.

I assume you've told Amazon themselves to cease and desist?

Edited February 19, 2021 by R1152
Added info on CLID to telephone lines

[Agila]

I don't think that's actually Amazon but fake scammer "Amazon" pretending to be them.

I think it's a premium rate number scam or fishing for details etc.

[bobdisk]

If I get any of those scammers call, I blow a football referees whistle as hard as I can when scammer starts talking. They dont call again! 

[iainrcz]

45 minutes and I'll be heading off to the fun factory.

Fuck I hate it.

[Floatylight]

2 hours ago, FakeConcern said:

On the land line "Hello this is an automated message from Amazon..."

Lately we are getting these two or three times a day and as it's only my 93 yr old mum who uses the land line to ring us, I can't just ignore it, lift the receiver and drop it back down or shout "fuck offfff" at the top of my voice into it. Is there a way to block these calls?

We've got the thing where all calls are screened, when someone calls they have to say who they are before it rings our end it seems like dodgy calls have dropped right off, you can add friends and family to a safe list so they come straight through..

[OwdChina]

Well the last four weeks have been brutally cold here in Bavaria, but on Tuesday it warmed a bit. That’s about the same time I couldn’t help but notice lots of small spots that hurt like hell on the right side of my head. This morning I was awake at 2am unable to sleep any longer, right side of my head covered in pustules and my ear swollen up twice the size of the other.............a visit to the doctor followed at 8.30. ............Apparently I’ve got shingles.......oh fucking joy. Medication of the strongest type has been issued, and after another visit to the doctor scheduled for Monday morning it’s looking like a visit to the hospital for a brief spell in one of their beds unless there is dramatic improvement........ this shit hurts like fuck.....just bloody wonderful.......

[junkyarddog]

My 205 diesel has decided to become grumpy about being woken up, so decided to change the glow plugs.

3 came out ok,one did this.

Fucking wonderful.

Of course this one has to be the cunt that isn't working.

🙄

Will try welding a nut onto it tomorrow. 

Except I'm out of mig wire......

Ffs. 

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, bobdisk said:

If I get any of those scammers call, I blow a football referees whistle as hard as I can when scammer starts talking. They dont call again! 

Doesn't work with automated calls though, shirley?

[OwdChina]

Well it’s just about nine in the evening over here and I’m gonna head for bed. Don’t know what’s in them pills the doc sorted but unbelievably I’m not in pain, this should really be in the deliriously happy thread.

[Merryck]

6 hours ago, FakeConcern said:

On the land line "Hello this is an automated message from Amazon..."

Lately we are getting these two or three times a day and as it's only my 93 yr old mum who uses the land line to ring us, I can't just ignore it, lift the receiver and drop it back down or shout "fuck offfff" at the top of my voice into it. Is there a way to block these calls?

I've been getting these lately on my mobile, always from a slightly different mobile number. They spoof the number so you can't easily block them as they change every time.

If it makes you feel any better over the last week or so I've had one of them threaten to blow up my house, one of them literally scream at me and another tell me he knows where I live (but couldn't provide an address).

I make a sport of upsetting them and wasting their time. The longer they're on the phone with me the less time they can spend scamming someone who doesn't know any better.

[bobdisk]

13 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Doesn't work with automated calls though, shirley?

Thats true, but not all scammers are automated calls! You can usually tell the live ones because they ask a question.

[New POD]

15 hours ago, Floatylight said:

We've got the thing where all calls are screened, when someone calls they have to say who they are before it rings our end it seems like dodgy calls have dropped right off, you can add friends and family to a safe list so they come straight through..

My parents have something that they type in the numbers of the people they know, and if another number comes it, goes straight to automatically asking for thier name, phone number and business. 

My mother in law phoned them before Christmas and being an 82 year old, got all flustered and never got through.  

Apparently my numbers come up son's mobile, and son's landline.  My sister has been trying to move them into what's app video calling on thier mobiles, but like all old people they want to keep them safe in a draw, turned off, with the battery flat in case of emergency, wrapped in bubble wrap..... 

To be fair to my dad he takes his if he's going out and my sister programmed it to connect to his car, so I've had him sound incredibly confused to be speaking to me whilst driving. 

 

[somewhatfoolish]

2 hours ago, New POD said:

My parents have something that they type in the numbers of the people they know, and if another number comes it, goes straight to automatically asking for thier name, phone number and business. 

My mother in law phoned them before Christmas and being an 82 year old, got all flustered and never got through.  

Apparently my numbers come up son's mobile, and son's landline.  My sister has been trying to move them into what's app video calling on thier mobiles, but like all old people they want to keep them safe in a draw, turned off, with the battery flat in case of emergency, wrapped in bubble wrap..... 

To be fair to my dad he takes his if he's going out and my sister programmed it to connect to his car, so I've had him sound incredibly confused to be speaking to me whilst driving. 

 

Buy them one of those alexa things?

[barefoot]

19 hours ago, bobdisk said:

If I get any of those scammers call, I blow a football referees whistle as hard as I can when scammer starts talking. They dont call again! 

I think it's an urban myth that this actually does anything. It may have done back in the mists of time when technology was much simpler, but I tried it once and the Chinese idiot on the other end just continued babbling along and then paused for a moment before continuing as if nothing had happened. I suspect that the telephone moderates the volume at the other end. All it did for me was to cause my two cats to leap up in the air and run outside at high speed. 

[MikeR]

the joy of upright hoovers , I took my spare hoover around to a house to give the carpets a good going over as they had been tickled by one of

those battery powered ewbank gizmos for years ....

5 seconds later the belt fails , so I take it back home to find the spare belt , take it apart and the belt has only popped off , so I popped it back on

and it carried on working , and filled its container with fluff and dust ,

so much for those battery powered ewbank gizmos

[beko1987]

I feel I'm about to have insurance issues... 

I'm back with Zenith, I was with them with the 406. This is key... 

Currently my car is showing as uninsured which is odd, so I went into panic mode earlier hunting for the insurance details for the policy I know I bought as I've got the bank transaction. Nowhere. I even logged onto work where I found the 'please leave us feedback' email, but nothing else. 

Aha! It's all online now, fair enough. Off I go... Gl02bhx... No records found. Feck. Tried a few more times and resigned myself to not driving anywhere tomorrow (which ironically was the plan, I'm chasing up paying for insuring my car to sit in its parking space...) and phoning on Monday. 

I'm sat here now with a cuppa and just relaxing when my brain woke up and I punched in Hy02fua (old 406 plate which I had to find my old thread to remind myself) and 'Hello Mr Watson, welcome to your account' and theres 2 options... One for the old policy with no info in the box, and a 2nd fully filled out for the xsara, which opens into the full account page . Ffs. Panic over for now, cover only started yesterday so could be a slow mid update sonewhere

Downloaded my cert of insurance just in case and will probably have to call them at some point to straighten it all out as I imagine that'll be a heap of fun stood on the side of wherever I am trying to remember the reg of a car I scrapped years ago just to access my account to report a claim if needed.