The grumpy thread

[GrumpiusMaximus]

11 hours ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

It's the same in Ayr. Cheap parking is getting closed (multi storey car park) and cheap/free parking is becoming dearer if you want to go into the high street. Couple that with the rates of buildings and rent since it's almost a monopoly of a small amount of landlords and you don't have to think long as to why it's basically a flipping ghost town besides vape shops, totally not-dodgy* mobile phone shops, and charity shops.

Canterbury is like this too.  We've got two Park and Rides but nobody really wants to use them.  They've cranked up the parking costs in town and are now complaining that the City Centre is dying on its arse.  Not only do the Council charge ridiculous rates for retailers, the Church also own a lot of them around the Cathedral and their rates are even higher - not even tourist shops can remain open.  Naturally their own shop sits there gratis.

When I worked in Canterbury I used to park a mile away outside a load of Council houses and walk in instead of trying to park in town or at work because work was just as bad and had permitted parking with ridiculous criteria...

Thank fuck my new job is remote.

[sierraman]

In one of these community forums near us there’s been a thread for last week about where to take a car for some simple repairs. A week later they’re still gathering names and numbers to create a shortlist for this job to fit some pads to an Astra. Basically to my eyes they’ve rung round every garage in a 50 mile radius trying to find someone that would do it for £15. Eventually they’ll find a man who knew someone who had a car once who’ll make a dreadful job of it on the driveway for £11.75 doing it with one of those spanner’s you get with a bicycle. 

[Remspoor]

I got recommended one of those van life videos on YT.  Tempted fate and clicked to watch. They were vegans, and there is nowt wrong with that. However, they were eating a ready meal of vegetable salmon. Eh? How is a vegetable salmon a thing?

My own fault for watching it

[cort1977]

9 hours ago, sierraman said:

In one of these community forums near us there’s been a thread for last week about where to take a car for some simple repairs. A week later they’re still gathering names and numbers to create a shortlist for this job to fit some pads to an Astra. 

I can't stand fb groups etc where the general public try to give advice on cars. Some oxygen thief always pipes up that there's no way it should cost that much and that garages are ripping people off. Boils my piss.

I'm on a fb i3 group and it seems to attract even more mongs than normal. It's a combination of a newish car that appeals to people who like the tech but don't know basic things about cars. It may be electric but the rest of it is fairly conventional.

[sierraman]

35 minutes ago, cort1977 said:

I can't stand fb groups etc where the general public try to give advice on cars. Some oxygen thief always pipes up that there's no way it should cost that much and that garages are ripping people off. Boils my piss.

I'm on a fb i3 group and it seems to attract even more mongs than normal. It's a combination of a newish car that appeals to people who like the tech but don't know basic things about cars. It may be electric but the rest of it is fairly conventional.

It always goes ‘my m8 has his brakes done for £18 at billy bullshits driveway garage’. Presumably uninsured as well. 

[RoverFolkUs]

1 hour ago, cort1977 said:

I can't stand fb groups etc where the general public try to give advice on cars. Some oxygen thief always pipes up that there's no way it should cost that much and that garages are ripping people off. Boils my piss.

I'm on a fb i3 group and it seems to attract even more mongs than normal. It's a combination of a newish car that appeals to people who like the tech but don't know basic things about cars. It may be electric but the rest of it is fairly conventional.

Or you get some sort of unhelpful and utterly irrelevant shit "help" such as - "my Ford Anglia I had back in the day was making a similar knocking noise and Fred next door adjusted the tappets and all was well only cost me £5 maybe worth a try" 

Yep, I'm sure the fact that you paid £5 for someone to adjust your tappets 40 years ago is going to pin point this poor chap's suspension noise 🤦

[RoverFolkUs]

On 4/13/2022 at 7:41 AM, sierraman said:

In one of these community forums near us there’s been a thread for last week about where to take a car for some simple repairs. A week later they’re still gathering names and numbers to create a shortlist for this job to fit some pads to an Astra. Basically to my eyes they’ve rung round every garage in a 50 mile radius trying to find someone that would do it for £15. Eventually they’ll find a man who knew someone who had a car once who’ll make a dreadful job of it on the driveway for £11.75 doing it with one of those spanner’s you get with a bicycle. 

In similar vein - someone on Facebook was asking for recommendations for a tiler a couple of weeks ago. There were a couple of tilers mentioned by many people so they must have been good.  

Fast forward to today, this same person puts another post up slagging someone off who has done a shoddy job. "They offered to do the work for a good price" 

I kid you not, the "crook" in question is a painter and not a tiler - so basically they ignored everyone's recommendations and went with a painter to lay some tiles because he was cheaper 🤦

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 11/04/2022 at 17:56, chaseracer said:

Pretty sure Think Tank is inside the "Clean* Air Zone".  Is the Saab pez or THEFUELOFSATAN?

If you are travelling by car please be aware that Thinktank is located within Birmingham’s clean air zone.

[sierraman]

There’s a guy who posts on the Freecycle in our area, you’ve to love his optimism... constant pleas for old watches you might have, Commodore 64’s and just lately old 70’s consoles supposedly for his son. I’m guessing he’s definitely not sticking them on eBay. 

I had a laugh with them a while back posting I’d got a Capri 2.8 in the garage I needed shifting out ASAP from a garage I was knocking down. Then giving them the ‘bad news’ I’d actually had to pay someone to take it away. 

[sierraman]

On 4/13/2022 at 7:07 PM, RoverFolkUs said:

Or you get some sort of unhelpful and utterly irrelevant shit "help" such as - "my Ford Anglia I had back in the day was making a similar knocking noise and Fred next door adjusted the tappets and all was well only cost me £5 maybe worth a try" 

Yep, I'm sure the fact that you paid £5 for someone to adjust your tappets 40 years ago is going to pin point this poor chap's suspension noise 🤦

I love the mentality some people have. ‘I only earn £8.75 an hour so how can someone charge £60 an hour to fix my car!’ Like we all live in 1950’s Russia and a toilet attendant gets paid the same as a brain surgeon. 

[RoverFolkUs]

13 minutes ago, sierraman said:

I love the mentality some people have. ‘I only earn £8.75 an hour so how can someone charge £60 an hour to fix my car!’ Like we all live in 1950’s Russia and a toilet attendant gets paid the same as a brain surgeon. 

An excellent point, people forget the £1000's we spend on tools out of our own pocket, the sundries, servicing the ramps, diagnostic equipment, software subscriptions, rent, electricity, water, etc. All that before everyone's wages are paid...!

It boils my piss when people moan about being charged £30 + vat for a diagnostic scan "you've got the computer there already" - well no, it costs £1000's to buy and £100 a month for the updates, and the downtime of bringing the sorry shed into the workshop, writing up a job card, quote etc etc

[sheffcortinacentre]

I've said before blame that tosser brewer.it costs pennies to fix cars.

[mitsisigma01]

Did he even make allowances for all Ed China's labour ....🤔

[Jazoli]

It was a TV show, entertainment, no more no less.

[mitsisigma01]

But giving the impression that it's easy to make a profit as long as you have a free mechanic and workshop ....

[puddlethumper]

My trusty van has become untrustworthy by blowing the head gasket. The bottom hose from rad to engine is in 3 parts. From rad it starts off as rubber then goes into a metal pipe which then goes back to rubber on the engine. That's Xud's for you. Anyway, the end of the metal bit had rusted away in the join to the rad hose and dropped off and immediately dumped all the coolant, very quickly. I keep an eye on the temp gauge, as you tend to do with an old vehicle, but I didn't see the rise until too late. This morning ,cold engine, add water, start, fountain from the expansion tank. That's a bit fucked then.

It's a pain in the butt but I suppose it's not too bad for an engine that came out of a 94 Xantia  in 2010. Between services I've only ever added about a litre of oil since I got it. I'm going to see my favourite van surgeon and see what a new head gasket will set me back. I'm really out of touch with what it might cost so if anyone could give me a rough idea. A mate suggested getting another engine but I don't think getting a reasonable Xud is that likely although I know there are Xud fans on here so, again, if anyone knows of one I could be interested depending on what Mister Spanner says.

Great timing as well as it's twitchy bum next month with Mot stuff. 

I've been looking at what I could get for my budget if I decide to get rid but what I would get for mine would be next to nothing as it's Lhd and I can't imagine many people wanting it. Also I could end up getting something that was as much of a heap as my van, or possibly worse, within my budget, prices being what they are.  I iz woe.

[artdjones]

47 minutes ago, puddlethumper said:

My trusty van has become untrustworthy by blowing the head gasket. The bottom hose from rad to engine is in 3 parts. From rad it starts off as rubber then goes into a metal pipe which then goes back to rubber on the engine. That's Xud's for you. Anyway, the end of the metal bit had rusted away in the join to the rad hose and dropped off and immediately dumped all the coolant, very quickly. I keep an eye on the temp gauge, as you tend to do with an old vehicle, but I didn't see the rise until too late. This morning ,cold engine, add water, start, fountain from the expansion tank. That's a bit fucked then.

It's a pain in the butt but I suppose it's not too bad for an engine that came out of a 94 Xantia  in 2010. Between services I've only ever added about a litre of oil since I got it. I'm going to see my favourite van surgeon and see what a new head gasket will set me back. I'm really out of touch with what it might cost so if anyone could give me a rough idea. A mate suggested getting another engine but I don't think getting a reasonable Xud is that likely although I know there are Xud fans on here so, again, if anyone knows of one I could be interested depending on what Mister Spanner says.

Great timing as well as it's twitchy bum next month with Mot stuff. 

I've been looking at what I could get for my budget if I decide to get rid but what I would get for mine would be next to nothing as it's Lhd and I can't imagine many people wanting it. Also I could end up getting something that was as much of a heap as my van, or possibly worse, within my budget, prices being what they are.  I iz woe.

I don't know what the body is like, but 305 vans aren't worth pennies any more, so a reasonably substantial amount might be worth spending. After they stopped making them the estate shaped van seemed to die a death apart from the Astra, so there's not much available to replace it, as an Astra isn't half as nice to drive as a 305.

Like you say, cheap vans are a minefield.

+1 vote for resurrection.

[RoverFolkUs]

59 minutes ago, puddlethumper said:

My trusty van has become untrustworthy by blowing the head gasket. The bottom hose from rad to engine is in 3 parts. From rad it starts off as rubber then goes into a metal pipe which then goes back to rubber on the engine. That's Xud's for you. Anyway, the end of the metal bit had rusted away in the join to the rad hose and dropped off and immediately dumped all the coolant, very quickly. I keep an eye on the temp gauge, as you tend to do with an old vehicle, but I didn't see the rise until too late. This morning ,cold engine, add water, start, fountain from the expansion tank. That's a bit fucked then.

It's a pain in the butt but I suppose it's not too bad for an engine that came out of a 94 Xantia  in 2010. Between services I've only ever added about a litre of oil since I got it. I'm going to see my favourite van surgeon and see what a new head gasket will set me back. I'm really out of touch with what it might cost so if anyone could give me a rough idea. A mate suggested getting another engine but I don't think getting a reasonable Xud is that likely although I know there are Xud fans on here so, again, if anyone knows of one I could be interested depending on what Mister Spanner says.

Great timing as well as it's twitchy bum next month with Mot stuff. 

I've been looking at what I could get for my budget if I decide to get rid but what I would get for mine would be next to nothing as it's Lhd and I can't imagine many people wanting it. Also I could end up getting something that was as much of a heap as my van, or possibly worse, within my budget, prices being what they are.  I iz woe.

XUDs aren't rocket science to put right, change from £500-600 ball park figure sounds about right to me, assuming no head damage

[Paul-l]

9 hours ago, puddlethumper said:

My trusty van has become untrustworthy by blowing the head gasket. The bottom hose from rad to engine is in 3 parts. From rad it starts off as rubber then goes into a metal pipe which then goes back to rubber on the engine. That's Xud's for you. Anyway, the end of the metal bit had rusted away in the join to the rad hose and dropped off and immediately dumped all the coolant, very quickly. I keep an eye on the temp gauge, as you tend to do with an old vehicle, but I didn't see the rise until too late. This morning ,cold engine, add water, start, fountain from the expansion tank. That's a bit fucked then.

It's a pain in the butt but I suppose it's not too bad for an engine that came out of a 94 Xantia  in 2010. Between services I've only ever added about a litre of oil since I got it. I'm going to see my favourite van surgeon and see what a new head gasket will set me back. I'm really out of touch with what it might cost so if anyone could give me a rough idea. A mate suggested getting another engine but I don't think getting a reasonable Xud is that likely although I know there are Xud fans on here so, again, if anyone knows of one I could be interested depending on what Mister Spanner says.

Great timing as well as it's twitchy bum next month with Mot stuff. 

I've been looking at what I could get for my budget if I decide to get rid but what I would get for mine would be next to nothing as it's Lhd and I can't imagine many people wanting it. Also I could end up getting something that was as much of a heap as my van, or possibly worse, within my budget, prices being what they are.  I iz woe.

Having cooked an XUD several times, each time it needed a head skim and the cam shaft bearings line bored because the heads warp, new gasket and belt and it was fixed. That was about £400 several ( probably 20ish) years ago

i have a spare head with camshaft kicking around as well as some other 305 parts like lights if you’re interested.

[puddlethumper]

1 hour ago, Paul-l said:

Having cooked an XUD several times, each time it needed a head skim and the cam shaft bearings line bored because the heads warp, new gasket and belt and it was fixed. That was about £400 several ( probably 20ish) years ago

i have a spare head with camshaft kicking around as well as some other 305 parts like lights if you’re interested.

I could be interested in the head if it comes to it. Will be in touch if it's needed. Thanks.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Idiots down the road have bought an electric car despite having no access to outside charging on their house.  Instead, they've decided to drill a hole in their back fence and are using one of the designated 'visitor' spaces to regularly park their car.  I have a visitor, so moved my car to that space last night so our guest could park on our drive.

They knocked this morning to ask if I could move my car.  I did point out that we have a guest and that is a visitor space.  Told me they had nowhere else to charge their car and asked if I could move to a (now free) adjacent space.  I made the point quite firmly that I have a visitor and they are visitor spaces.  They have two spaces designated but don't use them because they're not right outside their house.

I didn't quite turn around and say 'well, if you don't have anywhere to charge it, then don't buy one you absolute clusterfuck' but seeing as I live here and they know where I live, it's not worth it.  I wouldn't mind so much but this is the third time they've taken liberties with the space around their house.  They illegally extended their garden a couple of years back and stole land from a communal area, then they decided to leave their bin store in the same communal area and digging up all the plants that were planted there as a result.

Selfish fucking idiots. If you can't charge an electric car, don't fucking buy one.  Or work out a system that doesn't involve pissing off all of your neighbours.

[J W Pepper]

5 minutes ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

Idiots down the road have bought an electric car despite having no access to outside charging on their house.  Instead, they've decided to drill a hole in their back fence and are using one of the designated 'visitor' spaces to regularly park their car.  I have a visitor, so moved my car to that space last night so our guest could park on our drive.

They knocked this morning to ask if I could move my car.  I did point out that we have a guest and that is a visitor space.  Told me they had nowhere else to charge their car and asked if I could move to a (now free) adjacent space.  I made the point quite firmly that I have a visitor and they are visitor spaces.  They have two spaces designated but don't use them because they're not right outside their house.

I didn't quite turn around and say 'well, if you don't have anywhere to charge it, then don't buy one you absolute clusterfuck' but seeing as I live here and they know where I live, it's not worth it.  I wouldn't mind so much but this is the third time they've taken liberties with the space around their house.  They illegally extended their garden a couple of years back and stole land from a communal area, then they decided to leave their bin store in the same communal area and digging up all the plants that were planted there as a result.

Selfish fucking idiots. If you can't charge an electric car, don't fucking buy one.  Or work out a system that doesn't involve pissing off all of your neighbours.

And that is the reason that electric cars will never work, imagine terraced houses, how are they supposed to charge? Either plug into the house and have the cable across the pavement and everyone falls over it or charging points outside and everyone fights for a space.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

29 minutes ago, J W Pepper said:

And that is the reason that electric cars will never work, imagine terraced houses, how are they supposed to charge? Either plug into the house and have the cable across the pavement and everyone falls over it or charging points outside and everyone fights for a space.

I don't have an issue with electric cars per se and I think that there has to be an improvement in the viability (and reliability) of public charging spaces to make it work.  After all, if the range is 250/300 miles you don't need to plug it in every single day - just as you don't visit the petrol station every time you use your car.  Just go to a public station, plug the car in and charge.  Doesn't take all that long in real terms - especially if it's in the supermarket car park and you're popping in to do your shopping - but for that to work, charging points have to be almost ubiquitous.

What I do have an issue with are selfish cunts and over the last four years I've lived here, this couple have always been selfish cunts.  I must admit, I did deliberately park in that specific space to make the point that it doesn't actually belong to them just because they've made a stupid purchase and drilled a hole in their fence.  And I think I made my point to some extent this morning...

[artdjones]

It wouldn't work very well in a street of terraced houses. My childhood home was only 13'6" wide, and some are even narrower.

[RoverFolkUs]

1 hour ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

Idiots down the road have bought an electric car despite having no access to outside charging on their house.  Instead, they've decided to drill a hole in their back fence and are using one of the designated 'visitor' spaces to regularly park their car.  I have a visitor, so moved my car to that space last night so our guest could park on our drive.

They knocked this morning to ask if I could move my car.  I did point out that we have a guest and that is a visitor space.  Told me they had nowhere else to charge their car and asked if I could move to a (now free) adjacent space.  I made the point quite firmly that I have a visitor and they are visitor spaces.  They have two spaces designated but don't use them because they're not right outside their house.

I didn't quite turn around and say 'well, if you don't have anywhere to charge it, then don't buy one you absolute clusterfuck' but seeing as I live here and they know where I live, it's not worth it.  I wouldn't mind so much but this is the third time they've taken liberties with the space around their house.  They illegally extended their garden a couple of years back and stole land from a communal area, then they decided to leave their bin store in the same communal area and digging up all the plants that were planted there as a result.

Selfish fucking idiots. If you can't charge an electric car, don't fucking buy one.  Or work out a system that doesn't involve pissing off all of your neighbours.

Exactly the same seems to have happened with a row of terraced/townhouses opposite me. They've bought a godawful VW ID3 thing and I have no idea how they're charging it but I can already guess its going to end in tears. 

To give an idea of their next door neighbor, they put up CCTV cameras last year to find out who's cat was shitting in their front and back garden. So I'm sure they will be delighted* when "their" parking space gets taken...

Fortunately whatever they do doesn't interfere with me or my parking spaces, but I feel sorry for their neighbours who's cars are shunted out the way as this hideous id3 takes their space to reach the charger 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

What really boils my piss is that the parking spaces here are designated.  I have two (I can get a third on my drive) and every house has at least one.  They have two parking spaces.  Other spaces are 'Visitor' spaces and are specifically designated as such and it's agreed as a covenant to not park on them (and to use your parking spaces).  It's bloody irritating and like I say, not the first time that this particular lot have taken the piss.

So why then did the fire engine have to spend five minutes doing a three million point turn to get out of the development during a call out a few weeks ago?  Oh right, that's because half the residents still park in the road despite the fact that this isn't permitted and we've had letters through the door telling them not to.

It's only when a fire engine has to get to something sharpish and all the cars get moved out of the way forcibly that they might learn.

[RoverFolkUs]

52 minutes ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

What really boils my piss is that the parking spaces here are designated.  I have two (I can get a third on my drive) and every house has at least one.  They have two parking spaces.  Other spaces are 'Visitor' spaces and are specifically designated as such and it's agreed as a covenant to not park on them (and to use your parking spaces).  It's bloody irritating and like I say, not the first time that this particular lot have taken the piss.

So why then did the fire engine have to spend five minutes doing a three million point turn to get out of the development during a call out a few weeks ago?  Oh right, that's because half the residents still park in the road despite the fact that this isn't permitted and we've had letters through the door telling them not to.

It's only when a fire engine has to get to something sharpish and all the cars get moved out of the way forcibly that they might learn.

If they're hogging the visitor space and presumably are leaving their own allocated space unused, couldn't your visitors use their allocated space? 

If they quiz you on it, tell them to please do a swap and that will be fine, but your visitor had no choice as the visitor bay was occupied?

[RoverFolkUs]

Royal mail prices

I went to the post office to post something today 1st class signed for. It weighed less than 100g and was tiny, but still a small parcel.

£5.55 😳

It was £4.85 a couple of weeks ago!

Second class £4.45, used to be £3.85

I know it's only 60p but how can they justify such a hike on the signed for service, when it's not even signed for anymore "due to Covid"?

They used to increase it by 5p or so a year but 60p!?

I only went with signed for to get the necessary compensation and signature because it was an eBay sale

Fuck sake

[myglaren]

I an the same with regard to electric cars.  There are parking spaces, none of which are designated except in the minds of one or two of the residents.

I would have to have a fifty metre cable to charge one at my closest point and it would have to trail over my neighbours exit path at the rear of their house.

Even further at the front and the cable would have to cross the road into our parking spaces at the rear of the house and over a public footpath.

I opened my curtains this morning to see this:

 

 

Every time she drives in she hits the kerb with those two tyres.

I went and told her, she said she knew about it.  Half an hour later she comes out and drives off.

Her husband is home and has an electric pump.  I know this as I blew his flat up with mine last year and he went out and bought one.

Probably in his van that is parked just out of shot there.

He may well be in bed, he usually comes home after work at 05:00~06:00 at weekends but the keys would be there and her son was probably there too.  But she could have asked me to reinflate her tyres if she didn't know how.

 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

1 hour ago, RoverFolkUs said:

If they're hogging the visitor space and presumably are leaving their own allocated space unused, couldn't your visitors use their allocated space? 

If they quiz you on it, tell them to please do a swap and that will be fine, but your visitor had no choice as the visitor bay was occupied?

These are the same people that bought an electric car without the capacity to charge it and then expect it to be my problem.  I don't think they're the brains of Britain or particularly amenable to such an arrangement...