The grumpy thread

[jakebullet]

It's actually my first year of hay fever, quite how I've managed 48 years without being nobbled before I don't know. Fexofenadine for the win for me.

I'm wondering if it's a covid thing, always had a fairly crappy sense of smell. Suddenly I've got more "smell power", and bonus hay fever.

[Remspoor]

Americans on YT.

First that legend* Mustie. With his will it start video on the Imp. Someone associates it with Mr Bean. 🤦

Next is Albon and his presentation on The Untold True Story of Goodwood. He has made  quite a number of errors in this one. Like associating a WW2 bomber with WW1. Timelines not correct and missing the fact that UK law prohibits road racing. Plus a number of other facts. 😩

[Chas4545]

Never ever put a vaccuum cleaner  anywhere near an eye,, even in jest.

A samsung I had had a pretty explicit diagram of what could happen in the instructions ... ugh

[Rust Collector]

12 minutes ago, Chas4545 said:

Never ever put a vaccuum cleaner  anywhere near an eye,, even in jest.

A samsung I had had a pretty explicit diagram of what could happen in the instructions ... ugh

A mate of mine put the shop vac nozzle on his forehead as a joke a few years back. The bruise it made was incredible; really vivid in colour, perfectly circular, and the same diameter as the nozzle. It didn't go down for ages afterwards either, he looked like a right fucking idiot wandering round in public afterwards. Couldn't have gone any better 😅

I have no doubt it would remove your eye quite easily 😰

[cobblers]

30 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

A mate of mine put the shop vac nozzle on his forehead as a joke a few years back. The bruise it made was incredible; really vivid in colour, perfectly circular, and the same diameter as the nozzle. It didn't go down for ages afterwards either, he looked like a right fucking idiot wandering round in public afterwards. Couldn't have gone any better 😅

I have no doubt it would remove your eye quite easily 😰

As a kid I stuck the bathroom plunger on my 7 year old sisters forehead, she spent about ten minutes ragging at it to get it off which I found absolutely hilarious, but not as hilarious as the mark it left on there for about 2 weeks

 

[Back_For_More]

6 hours ago, cobblers said:

As a kid I stuck the bathroom plunger on my 7 year old sisters forehead, she spent about ten minutes ragging at it to get it off which I found absolutely hilarious, but not as hilarious as the mark it left on there for about 2 weeks

 

a mate of ours regularly drank himself into oblivion..... 1 night passing out with his face on his pint glass. They left him there while they partied. The ring around his mouth lasted about a fortnight.

He also once shit the bed with his wife getting covered - but that's another story...... no clue how he made it through his 30's

[Datsuncog]

28 minutes ago, Back_For_More said:

a mate of ours regularly drank himself into oblivion..... 1 night passing out with his face on his pint glass. They left him there while they partied. The ring around his mouth lasted about a fortnight.

He also once shit the bed with his wife getting covered - but that's another story...... no clue how he made it through his 30's

He's doing alright for himself these days though, eh?

Well, sort of alright.

[horriblemercedes]

22 hours ago, jakebullet said:

It's actually my first year of hay fever, quite how I've managed 48 years without being nobbled before I don't know. Fexofenadine for the win for me.

I'm wondering if it's a covid thing, always had a fairly crappy sense of smell. Suddenly I've got more "smell power", and bonus hay fever.

Humans develop and lose allergies  throughout life 

[chaseracer]

On 24/06/2022 at 08:20, Bren said:

We had a severe weather warning here yesterday - flash floods. It dribbled for about half an hour.

I wonder how much the met office costs? Reading tea leaves would be cheaper.

You need to take this up with Meteogroup, the private company that took over the BBC contract from the Met Office in 2018...

[AnnoyingPentium]

Strong winds here today... caught the gate and whacked it into my car.

[Low Horatio gearbox]

The vx4/90 was  running  nicely yesterday. Moved it today and it dislikes idling or anything below 2k rpm 🤷‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️

[D.E]

I am not the person to start whining "is it dun yeeeeet???" ten minutes after I dropped a car off at the garage, but I must admit my patience is wearing a bit thin with the garage where the 205 is at. Yes, I know you run a one man business. Yes, it is okay if the car isn't finished today or tomorrow. But seriously: the car is there since the 29th of May, it has been almost a entire month and he still hasn't done anything at all. I didn't exactly ask to do a nut and bolt restoration either, just two new front tyres and a tie rod. Excuses are variations of " am very busy, hopefully next week" but I 've been hearing that for several weeks now.  I don't really want to go through the trouble of taking the car back unfinished and having to search for a different garage that can actually do the work in a normal time frame, but on the other hand if I exercise more patience this may well drag on for god knows how many more weeks if he keeps doing fuck all.  I don't really understand why my car specifically takes so long either, which is frustrating. I get he's busy, sure, but in that month dozens of cars came and went. Yet there wasn't a single moment to change two tyres and a rod on mine? 

tl:dr: garage takes ages to do job, tired of it.

[chodweaver]

I am not the person to start whining "is it dun yeeeeet???" ten minutes after I dropped a car off at the garage, but I must admit my patience is wearing a bit thin with the garage where the 205 is at. Yes, I know you run a one man business. Yes, it is okay if the car isn't finished today or tomorrow. But seriously: the car is there since the 29th of May, it has been almost a entire month and he still hasn't done anything at all. I didn't exactly ask to do a nut and bolt restoration either, just two new front tyres and a tie rod. Excuses are variations of " am very busy, hopefully next week" but I 've been hearing that for several weeks now.  I don't really want to go through the trouble of taking the car back unfinished and having to search for a different garage that can actually do the work in a normal time frame, but on the other hand if I exercise more patience this may well drag on for god knows how many more weeks if he keeps doing fuck all.  I don't really understand why my car specifically takes so long either, which is frustrating. I get he's busy, sure, but in that month dozens of cars came and went. Yet there wasn't a single moment to change two tyres and a rod on mine? 
tl:dr: garage takes ages to do job, tired of it.

He's prioritising two categories of his other customers over you: the ones with lucrative easy* jobs, and the whiners. You need to get a bit more whiney.

HTH

[reb]

The main reason I haven't chucked my 205 into my friendly mechanic to do the work it needs is unless there's a deadline like a looming MOT he takes a fucking age to get round to stuff on cars he knows you don't need as a daily. Even with me putting off doing the work I reckon I'll be quicker doing it myself. Cheaper too.

[Pieman]

Driving home today from Yorkshire to the Midlands, encountered a massive rainstorm in Derbyshire on the M1 and A38.  I slowed right down cos I could barely see where I was going...90% of the other traffic didn't even have any lights on.

We should have permanent full lockdown because most of this fucking country is too stupid and ignorant to be allowed outside.

[Zelandeth]

On 6/24/2022 at 12:01 PM, barefoot said:

Remember my grumble?

I emailed this to the offending garage on Monday morning. By close of play that day, he had offered a refund which landed in my account this morning. 

I don't think that's too bad a result, do you?

Probably because they have enough sense to know that if you were to decide to pursue a claim against them via other means would likely be far, far, far more expensive.

[cobblers]

On 6/15/2022 at 9:01 PM, barefoot said:

 

Should two year old/250 mile fuel hose that's only ever seen E5 behave like this?

 

So much "fake" fuel hose about. 

This was "DIN 73378" fuel hose, but used as a pipe to the vacuum advance on my dizzy. It had never been in contact with anything other than air.

It'd been on the van for about two weeks

[Aston Martin]

Every human being that has ever been born is at Gretna services.

[grogee]

Just been out to tweak the tracking on my Puma. It was slightly too much toe-in so I drew myself a diagram which aimed to correct the very slightly wonky steering wheel as well. 

Put it all back together just as England won the 3rd test match at Headingley. Triumphantly put the tools away then tested with my Gunson's plastic tracking gauge. 

It nearly broke because I've now got way too much toe-in... I've only gone and adjusted the wrong way. 

Now sulking inside. 

Luckily no harm done I suppose, just need to go and undo my idiotic actions...

[meggersdog]

Get home from work on Saturday and my neighbour comes round with a card from DPD . Apparently he's delivered a package to the wrong address and wants it back. My neighbour tries to explain that I am always at work so wouldn't have recieved a parcel. All he said was "get him to call me on this number" I phoned the number only for it to ring out and go to answer phone.

Today I get a phonecall from the DPD driver wanting his parcel back. I told him I never recieved a parcel so can't give it back. After a lot of "are you refusing to give it back" he then starts with "well I will get in touch with our legal department then. I can't give him something back I never recieved. He is all " I delivered it, got a photo of it on your doorstep"  Couldn't comprehend leaving something outside in the open does not mean it has been recieved. He was still talking about his legal team and me refusing to give something , wrongly delvered, back.

I stayed calm but what an arse. The rightful owner might have collected it themselves I don't know . Just made me grumpy that somebodys mistake is down to me. 

 

[Fumbler]

Naturally, as I've just jettisoned the Micra, the BX decides it wants me to hate it. It's done so by leaking more oil from the speedo cable, into the replacement speedo, and buggering it up. Apparently I'm going 70 when going 30. It's now also smelling very fume-y in the cabin. Father's (very nicely) lent out the Volvo for the week.

[Pieman]

Heard today that a friend of mine over in Poland took her own life a few days ago.  She was just 28.  😭

[rainagain]

On 4/7/2022 at 12:51 PM, reb said:

After a few days of niceish weather, it's now absolutely freezing in my house again. My usual approach to this is to go back to bed, but I'm working so can't do that. I've got a wee oil filled radiator next to me but that seems to be doing the square root of fuck all except making the leccy meter (metaphorically) spin like a top.

I'm getting central heating and double glazing apparently, but I'll believe that when it happens.

Small single bed electric blanket laid over your chair can be quite effective. Most are only 40w as well. It’s a shame we don’t live in a nation that’s rich in oil gas and has plentiful wind power, oh wait. 

[Mally]

16 hours ago, Fumbler said:

Naturally, as I've just jettisoned the Micra, the BX decides it wants me to hate it. It's done so by leaking more oil from the speedo cable, into the replacement speedo, and buggering it up. Apparently I'm going 70 when going 30. It's now also smelling very fume-y in the cabin. Father's (very nicely) lent out the Volvo for the week.

I had this on an MGB. The Speedo repair man suggested removing  Speedo cable from the gearbox, extracting the  inner cable, and drilling a tiny hole in the outer cable close to the nut.

Reassemble, and the offending oil then runs through the hole onto the road instead of spiralling up into the Speedo head. It really is a minute amount.

 

[vulgalour]

 

 

Finished all the welding on the Maestro, emptied and reloaded the boot, fitted some interior stuff... spotted something shiny in the boot.  Odd, I didn't put anything shiny in the boot.  Oh, it's daylight.  That's a little rust hole next to the lower rear captive nut for the rear exhaust hanger.  It's going to take me longer to empty the boot and get all the tools out than it is to repair that and it's not something I can just ignore.  The orangey rust is mostly iron filings and rainwater from previous work that I need to clean out when it's all dried out again.

 

[purplebargeken]

On 6/26/2022 at 11:00 PM, D.E said:

I am not the person to start whining "is it dun yeeeeet???" ten minutes after I dropped a car off at the garage, but I must admit my patience is wearing a bit thin with the garage where the 205 is at. Yes, I know you run a one man business. Yes, it is okay if the car isn't finished today or tomorrow. But seriously: the car is there since the 29th of May, it has been almost a entire month and he still hasn't done anything at all. I didn't exactly ask to do a nut and bolt restoration either, just two new front tyres and a tie rod. Excuses are variations of " am very busy, hopefully next week" but I 've been hearing that for several weeks now.  I don't really want to go through the trouble of taking the car back unfinished and having to search for a different garage that can actually do the work in a normal time frame, but on the other hand if I exercise more patience this may well drag on for god knows how many more weeks if he keeps doing fuck all.  I don't really understand why my car specifically takes so long either, which is frustrating. I get he's busy, sure, but in that month dozens of cars came and went. Yet there wasn't a single moment to change two tyres and a rod on mine? 

tl:dr: garage takes ages to do job, tired of it.

29th May. Fuck that. Phone him, firmly but politely say..... you've had it since 29th May, I need it back, fully sorted on xx date as I need to use it from then. Phone him 2 days before hand reiterate your original statement. 

[eddyramrod]

On 6/26/2022 at 11:00 PM, D.E said:

I am not the person to start whining "is it dun yeeeeet???" ten minutes after I dropped a car off at the garage, but I must admit my patience is wearing a bit thin with the garage where the 205 is at. Yes, I know you run a one man business. Yes, it is okay if the car isn't finished today or tomorrow. But seriously: the car is there since the 29th of May, it has been almost a entire month and he still hasn't done anything at all. I didn't exactly ask to do a nut and bolt restoration either, just two new front tyres and a tie rod. Excuses are variations of " am very busy, hopefully next week" but I 've been hearing that for several weeks now.  I don't really want to go through the trouble of taking the car back unfinished and having to search for a different garage that can actually do the work in a normal time frame, but on the other hand if I exercise more patience this may well drag on for god knows how many more weeks if he keeps doing fuck all.  I don't really understand why my car specifically takes so long either, which is frustrating. I get he's busy, sure, but in that month dozens of cars came and went. Yet there wasn't a single moment to change two tyres and a rod on mine? 

tl:dr: garage takes ages to do job, tired of it.

I've had that twice in recent years.  Both times I've repossessed the car and both times it has (eventually) gone to scrap.  Both have been well-documented here too: Hyacinth (Rover SD3) and Hairy Pussy (Jag X308).  The garage that had Hairy Pussy has gone now, replaced by a Hertz depot.

On 6/27/2022 at 1:39 PM, Aston Martin said:

Every human being that has ever been born is at Gretna services.

Yep, been there, done that; a year ago, to meet Andy CMS and swop my lovely Volvo for his Disastra.  I think it's because there's only one set of buildings, accessible (in theory at least) from both directions.

On 6/27/2022 at 12:57 PM, Pieman said:

 most of this fucking country is too stupid and ignorant to be allowed outside.

Total truth!

[D.E]

26 minutes ago, purplebargeken said:

29th May. Fuck that. Phone him, firmly but politely say..... you've had it since 29th May, I need it back, fully sorted on xx date as I need to use it from then. Phone him 2 days before hand reiterate your original statement. 

I've chosen a similar approach. Yesterday I had an appointment at the dentist (which is close to the garage) anyway, so I took a small detour to check wether any work had been done and, if not, to speak to the mechanic. Unsurprisingly, it appeared the car was still on the old tyres so had a bit of chat. I've told him that I need it to be done next week (which isn't a total lie, I have some meetings coming up that I would like to attend with my own 205 instead of a borrowed Swift) and that I will come pick it up in the weekend, wether it's done or not.  He agreed that it took too long and promised to do his best to have it done this week, which unfortunately isn't a cast-iron guarantee but I hope setting a deadline may urge him to actually do something. I must say though that I don't find his excuse to make much sense. The two tyres shouldn't be a problem and can be replaced "within 20-30 minutes" (which is a fair estimated time, I guess) but he worries that the tie rod might cost him quite some time. Still, if that's true, just not starting at all wouldn't solve that would it?

27 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

I've had that twice in recent years.  Both times I've repossessed the car and both times it has (eventually) gone to scrap.  Both have been well-documented here too: Hyacinth (Rover SD3) and Hairy Pussy (Jag X308).  The garage that had Hairy Pussy has gone now, replaced by a Hertz depot.

But were the Rover and Jag cars that needed a lot of work?  I see zero reason to scrap or even sell my 205. It's a great car and the things that need doing... aren't they really quite  common? Each car has wear on the tyres and steering/suspension components.

[Wack]

I was at my mother in laws house tidying up the garden a couple of weeks ago when a guy from british gas asked to look at the gas meter , I didn't know at the time he was selling smart meters, I told him nobody is living there and she wouldn't want a smart meter anyway

Then he told me because of the age of the gas meter she had to have one , I said good luck with that because I won't be here

today there's a letter with a date to get a smart meter fixed, turns out he's telling people they have to have one fitted when they don't , it's not compulsory , I'm guessing he's on commission for every smart meter appointment so now I've got to find out where to report him, the area is full of pensioners, fine if they want one but not if they don't

[eddyramrod]

5 hours ago, D.E said:

But were the Rover and Jag cars that needed a lot of work?  I see zero reason to scrap or even sell my 205. It's a great car and the things that need doing... aren't they really quite  common? Each car has wear on the tyres and steering/suspension components.

They were, both needed significant welding, but that doesn't stop me feeling your pain.  If anything, yours is worse because the jobs are relatively paltry.  You should have had the car back at least two weeks by now.