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The grumpy thread


outlaw118

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25 minutes ago, stephen01 said:

Did you tell him where you wanted them? 

Nope, I didn't have any specific requirements, just wanted a few sockets in there like what you'd do in any normal room and presumed the electrician, being an experienced professional would use his initiative and spread them about a bit.

 

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15 minutes ago, cobblers said:

Nope, I didn't have any specific requirements, just wanted a few sockets in there like what you'd do in any normal room and presumed the electrician, being an experienced professional would use his initiative and spread them about a bit.

 

You'd hope, but he's taken the lazy approach,  4 sockets fitted , minimal cable used and zero time spent = max profits.  

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Years ago my daughter bought me a little drone , being kack handed I kept crashing it and shelved it ... Pulled it out today for a good looking at and noticed 2 props had letters on B and A , and they were opposite threads !! , Then I noticed the 2 middle props were swapped over so instead of lifting , they were pushing down ....  Let's have another try ...IMG_20230322_164659424.thumb.jpg.c03c374f38a5018b43776f979702cc6b.jpg

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On 3/15/2023 at 6:26 PM, RoverFolkUs said:

An elderly couple that I know has just had a double whammy of catalytic converter thefts from their Honda's in one go last night :(

One is a MK1 CR-V petrol and the other is an old MK7 Civic petrol that's done less than 20k miles. Both of which owned from new, unharmed in all that time 

I'm going to advise him to go through insurance, buy them back and then I'll offer to sort out some replacement cats for him as I feel so gutted for them. I expect the Civic payout could be £2-3k given the mileage. I think it's an Automatic from memory. Both utterly dependable cars that would cost an absolute fortune to replace in the current market

Fucking scrotes

The worst bit is that it's a quiet dead end road so it must have been predetermined. A neighbour has CCTV which will go to the police in the hope it may reveal some of the culprits identity. Not that it's going to get them back as I suspect the getaway vehicle is probably unlicenced, stolen, cloned, fake number plates or whatever 

Perhaps a slight positive twist on this, insurance have miraculously agreed to repair the Civic despite being 17 years old but they've considered the mileage and have taken it already to be repaired. So he's very happy with the quick turnaround and he's only down on the excess at the moment.

His CR-V has predictably been written off, he's been offered £1200 and he's currently negotiating a buy back salvage value and then he'll decide if it's worth it, depending on his excess. 

If he can increase their offer which I've encouraged him to do, hopefully he'll get a healthy payout while keeping the car to cover the cost of an aftermarket cat on the CRV and perhaps the change from that will cover the Civic excess! 

All a lot of hassle he could have done without but it doesn't sound like he's going to be too badly out of pocket and the fact they've repaired the Civic is really good because finding another just as good would have been near impossible and the payout may not have matched to do so anyway. He's not overly bothered about the CR-V because it's had a good life and he's had it from nearly new and he's not sure if he really needs it anymore so I hope whatever the outcome is that it's the best thing for him! 

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2 hours ago, MikeR said:

Years ago my daughter bought me a little drone , being kack handed I kept crashing it and shelved it ... Pulled it out today for a good looking at and noticed 2 props had letters on B and A , and they were opposite threads !! , Then I noticed the 2 middle props were swapped over so instead of lifting , they were pushing down ....  Let's have another try ...IMG_20230322_164659424.thumb.jpg.c03c374f38a5018b43776f979702cc6b.jpg

It's back on the shelf , it even spun a prop off doing a static thrust test ......

Can these things even fly ?????

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On 3/12/2023 at 3:15 PM, Stanky said:

Several people I know, from friends to work colleagues to distant aquaintances have mentioned without prompting that they just can't find any joy in life since Covid. Most recently was a work colleague who loves his shiny things - he'd just traded up his 5 series BMW for an 8 series, something he'd previously be over the moon about. He said about 3 weeks after buying it that while it was a good car, it brought him no enjoyment whatsoever.

I've heard similar from many others, which is a huge shame. I'm not sure what the answer is, only confirming its definitely widespread.

I've been thinking about this a lot this week.  I feel exactly the same - ever since Covid I'm unable to get excited about anything really.  I found the first lockdown incredibly hard and I think it's had a permanent (or at least long-lasting) effect on my mental health.  I still enjoy (to an extent) window-shopping for cars on eBay (and elsewhere), but while previously I would have thought nothing of getting on a bus to the other end of the country and driving home to a pre-booked MOT in some neglected shitheap, now just the thought of that fills me with dread, and I just sit there listing in my head all the things that could go wrong.  Even picking the MG up from near Oxford is something I was dreading, and that was MOT'd and running fine (and in the event turned out to be a perfectly OK experience).

It's not just cars either.  I have a work trip to India coming up at some point this year - the old me would have been excited about it, but while I am quite looking forward to seeing India, I'm mainly dreading being away from home for two weeks.  It's the same when visiting my parents - I always look forward to seeing them, but when I'm there I'm constantly counting down the days until I come home again.  And it's not like home is particularly exciting either - it's just me rattling around in the house on my own, spending too much time on the computer and occasionally going for a bike ride or attempting to fix the cars.  

I don't think the state of the country is helping much either.  I have never had much time for leftie liberal Guardianista types, but these days I'm finding myself identifying less and less with those on the political right too - everyone seems to have become extreme in their views, there's no attempt to find agreement or compromise anymore, and I detest the current government, so I feel ideologically homeless.

Obviously things aren't completely negative - getting the Visa and the Volvo back on the road and driving them properly for the first time cheered me up for a while, the same with getting the Mobylette road registered and usable last year, and it was nice to get a decent pay rise this year for the first time in a very long while.  Generally though I just feel "meh".  I don't think it's depression as such, just a general feeling of apathy and meaninglessness.  As I put it in a recent one to one with my manager, "I'm not about to top myself, but if a doctor told me I had six months to live I wouldn't be overly bothered".

I came across a blog the other day by a German chap about my age who's basically said "fuck it", bought a secondhand coachbuilt Transit camper, had it remapped and buggered off into the sunset with his son and their dog.  They're heading to Morocco to start with, but he has no firm plan in mind, he's just going to see where the road takes them.  He's a bit of a neo-hippy type and has some weird ideas about some things, but I admire him for actually having the bottle to do it, and the idea of living in a camper and driving aimlessly around Europe (and north Africa) is quite appealing.  Interestingly he cited the effect of Covid lockdowns as one of the things that's influenced him.  I think if and when I have to move out of my current house for whatever reason I'm going to give van life a go - I might not have a choice anyway as I probably won't be able to find a house to rent at a price I can afford by then, with the way prices are going.

Anyway, sorry for the verbal diarrhœa, but this is after all the place to vent, and if I vented to people I know IRL they'd probably start worrying about me, which is the last thing I want.

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Sometimes we need a good vent about things, it's healthy.  The fall out from the pandemic hasn't been relief and optimism that we can go forwards with our lives, it seems to be this creeping nihilism because everything has got so much harder.  It's worse when you're someone who 'followed the rules' and still suffered losses because you wonder what the point of any of it was.  To also see those who were supposed to be our leaders, the ones the help us all through this, behaving like petulant brats certainly doesn't help.  Throw in some natural disasters, a couple of wars, the reversal of human rights at home and abroad, the callous disregard for natural beauty and wellbeing by councils and water companies alike, the rising cost of living juxtaposed against the reporting of record profits... yeah.  It's going to be pretty difficult to find joy in anything.  This isn't something you can just Marie Kondo your way out of.

You just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other really.  The little moments of joy will start to reappear, it just takes a while.

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Staying home and not going out is my natural order so - not going to lie - I quite 'liked' lockdown.  Didn't miss going out and still work from home full-time even now.  I'll still go out and visit places and people but I've never been particularly inclined to or particularly sociable.

Must have been difficult if you're the gregarious sort.

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4 minutes ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

Staying home and not going out is my natural order so - not going to lie - I quite 'liked' lockdown.  Didn't miss going out and still work from home full-time even now.  I'll still go out and visit places and people but I've never been particularly inclined to so or particularly sociable.

Must have been difficult if you're the gregarious sort.

I'm not gregarious at all, but I do like human contact from time to time, and living on my own the only contact I got (apart from the occasional socially distanced "hi" to the neighbours when I was out for my daily exercise) was via the intermediary of electronics, which just isn't the same.

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On that subject,  I feel the same and what I think is one contributor is with the high street dying, I could have easily spent an afternoon there 10 years ago but now I only visit if I need to get something and spend as minimal time as possible because there's nothing left to browse. Far fewer shops as well, they just close down and turn into a vape shop or some sort of overpriced quirky coffee shop that preaches about it's almond milk or bamboo straws or coffee beans sourced from outer timbucktoo that's £6 a cup 

Take these photos of Poundland as one example: 

image.png.f82a81e0901497b8e5f7d2a2b22a67d3.png

image.png.7502f74e059075fe0e5a7aa15423bff0.png

I went into that very branch the other day and it was so sparse, and so many shelves were completely empty. It's been that way for a couple of years now and so has many other branches I've visited

Now I know most of that is a result of everything that's turning to shit at the moment but I think it's one contributor to the nation's depression. Recreational shopping is a big part of a lot of people's lives and for the high street to become so sparse and lifeless that's one less thing for people to enjoy. 

Adding something to a basket online and getting it in a box on your doorstep the next day just doesn't have the same vibe to it as walking through the high street, bumping into regulars, smiles with friendly strangers and smelling nice food or coffee from one of the neighbouring shops. Or going into an independent coffee shop and the person serving remembers your regular order 😁

Now what's more likely is that you will go to town, not be able to find what you want, return to your car to find the catalytic converter stolen and spend the rest of that afternoon on the phone to your insurance company and ordering whatever you wanted online anyway 😂

I don't get the same enjoyment from going out to eat any more, I've been served some shit food from most of my favourite outlets now so that's put me off from bothering. And the price has gone up for the privilege of course. 

Fewer friends and family seem to put the effort in to meeting up, obviously part of that is on me as I need to keep in touch just as much as they may do, which I try to, although I'm thankful for the fairly wide group of mates that I have and we've stuck together even if we don't quite see eachother as often. 

Christmas cards, anybody else's getting fewer and far between each year? I counted approx 1/4 this year of what I would have received 10 years ago

Or I've just been an arsehole that's pissed everyone off 🤣 - oh well! 

My car ownership enjoyment has turned to shit since the used car chaos came about. I fucked the Rover off when readily available parts was becoming a problem and bought a MK2 Focus, I've been thinking of changing back to something more interesting but I find more enjoyment out of running something boringly reliable that doesn't cause me a headache than something I can continually maintain and improve. 

That's my 2 cents..

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Again, never understood the appeal of the High Street and the only shops I ever liked were music shops and record stores.  Can't be bothered now unless it's an independent record store and in the mood for something odd.

I did work at Bluewater when I was a teenager and visiting that place several times a week probably put the kibosh on the idea of shopping for pleasure.  Fuck that.

Not to say that it doesn't have value to others, of course.

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Motherfucker x 2

I have been exposed to so many people with it and somehow came away scot free each time.  Woke up yesterday drenched in sweat with a pounding head and pains where I didnt even realise I had nerve endings and the test looked like this.  No idea where I got it!

Bugger

 

image0 (18).jpeg

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6 hours ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

Staying home and not going out is my natural order so - not going to lie - I quite 'liked' lockdown.  Didn't miss going out and still work from home full-time even now.  I'll still go out and visit places and people but I've never been particularly inclined to or particularly sociable.

Must have been difficult if you're the gregarious sort.

I quite liked lockdown too, except for the Teams call every day at 5.25pm from the boss "just to see if you're coping OK"

Yeah like fuck you care, you're just making sure I'm not dossing.  An email or a phone call would have been fine but you just want to make sure i'm in front of the screen like a good little drone. 

Mind you after two weeks of it the novelty had worn right off and I actually wanted the misery of a two hour commute every morning and evening.  Ultimately I like the demarcation between home and work.

Our lockdown here last year wasnt so bad, we split into two teams and did one week in, one week out which I quite liked.  Particularly the halving of the fuel and parking costs each month.  We could still do that but our regulator wont allow us to do certain tasks out of the office anymore which is a shame. 

 

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7 hours ago, High Jetter said:

So you buy everything online?

No, I just don't shop for enjoyment.  We do our weekly shop online and most things we order online.  For instance, we're getting our en-suite partially re-done and ordered a shower cubicle, wall panels, wall cabinet etc. all online for delivery.  Most of the physically going into shops is done by my other half but we really don't have much call for it.

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8 hours ago, High Jetter said:

So you buy everything online?

Ditto here. Arse end of anywhere so we were always  in the habit of online buying anything specialised/hard to get locally. Used Amazon Prime a lot.

Once lockdown fully kicked in we started to get Tesco/Asda/Morrisons all suddenly offering deliveries to our postcode. Both now tele-work (there's a quaint expression) too.
So these days I go into the town only for things like the dentists, vets, odd emergency purchase. Save a lot of time and a bit of money on the commute(s).

I've also never shopped for 'fun' and the idea of wandering around Bluewater chills my blood. Fortunately child bride is the same. Possibly I'm shy/hate crowds/don't feel the need to socialise much but that's subjective

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Buying things in shops can be reserved for stuff that you can source better locally - local meat from the butchers etc.

We're occasionally going into shops these days but it's pretty much only in order to train the kids because they have no experience of crowds or cities etc.  

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6 hours ago, Parky said:

I quite liked lockdown too, except for the Teams call every day at 5.25pm from the boss "just to see if you're coping OK"

Yeah like fuck you care, you're just making sure I'm not dossing.  An email or a phone call would have been fine but you just want to make sure i'm in front of the screen like a good little drone. 

Mind you after two weeks of it the novelty had worn right off and I actually wanted the misery of a two hour commute every morning and evening.  Ultimately I like the demarcation between home and work.

Our lockdown here last year wasnt so bad, we split into two teams and did one week in, one week out which I quite liked.  Particularly the halving of the fuel and parking costs each month.  We could still do that but our regulator wont allow us to do certain tasks out of the office anymore which is a shame. 

 

My wife works from home permanently now ( office once a month), but they have to “go down the pub” after work one night a week. “Optional” , of course. Load of bollocks , but me playing “Hurry up Harry” by Sham 69 in the background , wasn’t appreciated.

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16 hours ago, wuvvum said:

I've been thinking about this a lot this week.  I feel exactly the same - ever since Covid I'm unable to get excited about anything really.  I found the first lockdown incredibly hard and I think it's had a permanent (or at least long-lasting) effect on my mental health.  I still enjoy (to an extent) window-shopping for cars on eBay (and elsewhere), but while previously I would have thought nothing of getting on a bus to the other end of the country and driving home to a pre-booked MOT in some neglected shitheap, now just the thought of that fills me with dread, and I just sit there listing in my head all the things that could go wrong.  Even picking the MG up from near Oxford is something I was dreading, and that was MOT'd and running fine (and in the event turned out to be a perfectly OK experience).

It's not just cars either.  I have a work trip to India coming up at some point this year - the old me would have been excited about it, but while I am quite looking forward to seeing India, I'm mainly dreading being away from home for two weeks.  It's the same when visiting my parents - I always look forward to seeing them, but when I'm there I'm constantly counting down the days until I come home again.  And it's not like home is particularly exciting either - it's just me rattling around in the house on my own, spending too much time on the computer and occasionally going for a bike ride or attempting to fix the cars.  

I don't think the state of the country is helping much either.  I have never had much time for leftie liberal Guardianista types, but these days I'm finding myself identifying less and less with those on the political right too - everyone seems to have become extreme in their views, there's no attempt to find agreement or compromise anymore, and I detest the current government, so I feel ideologically homeless.

Obviously things aren't completely negative - getting the Visa and the Volvo back on the road and driving them properly for the first time cheered me up for a while, the same with getting the Mobylette road registered and usable last year, and it was nice to get a decent pay rise this year for the first time in a very long while.  Generally though I just feel "meh".  I don't think it's depression as such, just a general feeling of apathy and meaninglessness.  As I put it in a recent one to one with my manager, "I'm not about to top myself, but if a doctor told me I had six months to live I wouldn't be overly bothered".

I came across a blog the other day by a German chap about my age who's basically said "fuck it", bought a secondhand coachbuilt Transit camper, had it remapped and buggered off into the sunset with his son and their dog.  They're heading to Morocco to start with, but he has no firm plan in mind, he's just going to see where the road takes them.  He's a bit of a neo-hippy type and has some weird ideas about some things, but I admire him for actually having the bottle to do it, and the idea of living in a camper and driving aimlessly around Europe (and north Africa) is quite appealing.  Interestingly he cited the effect of Covid lockdowns as one of the things that's influenced him.  I think if and when I have to move out of my current house for whatever reason I'm going to give van life a go - I might not have a choice anyway as I probably won't be able to find a house to rent at a price I can afford by then, with the way prices are going.

Anyway, sorry for the verbal diarrhœa, but this is after all the place to vent, and if I vented to people I know IRL they'd probably start worrying about me, which is the last thing I want.

Great post.

I was feeling " meh" before covid. Middle age, feeling it as well, not really seeing friends anymore and not doing my hobbies. Covid just made it more significant.

Now I cannot get excited about anything. I am too old for my job now - I am 51 in July - rolling around on the floor with coked up idiots is too much. I am not sufficently skilled to get another worthwhile role so I think it is time to get out of dodge and do something else.

When you are younger life gives. As you get older it takes.

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I definitely feel different since Covid. I absolutely understand what is meant by no longer finding excitement or joy in things. I no longer feel motivated to do the things that I liked doing and now want a quieter, easier life.

My life changed significantly in that period, so I always put it down to that. New job made massive changes to how I do things. Mostly positive. 

But yeah, it feels like some kind of spark of fun has disappeared and as much as I try to ignite it again, I just can't. Previously I hadn't thought much of it, but I'm reading the replies here and finding that they describe how I feel about things completely.

 

I'm not unhappy as such, but there is just a difference that I've been struggling to put my finger on

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2 hours ago, horriblemercedes said:

I definitely feel different since Covid. I absolutely understand what is meant by no longer finding excitement or joy in things. I no longer feel motivated to do the things that I liked doing and now want a quieter, easier life.

My life changed significantly in that period, so I always put it down to that. New job made massive changes to how I do things. Mostly positive. 

But yeah, it feels like some kind of spark of fun has disappeared and as much as I try to ignite it again, I just can't. Previously I hadn't thought much of it, but I'm reading the replies here and finding that they describe how I feel about things completely.

 

I'm not unhappy as such, but there is just a difference that I've been struggling to put my finger on

I've not had Covid (that I'm aware of anyway), but I've never felt the same since my first jab which wiped me out for a day or two.

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6 minutes ago, Tenmil Socket said:

I've not had Covid (that I'm aware of anyway), but I've never felt the same since my first jab which wiped me out for a day or two.

For me I don't think it's a result of the virus itself, it's more something that changed during that time

 

Maybe it's an extra cynicism in me or a wariness or a sense of some other loss. I only really know that I feel different these days, but it has taken a while for me to decide that it is almost certainly linked to the Covid period

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