The grumpy thread

[Cavcraft]

The early 1980s were a shit time to live.

[155V6]

The early 1980s were a shit time to live.

They were if you had to do anything important like finding a job

[Cavcraft]

They were if you had to do anything important like finding a job

 

Exactly. Unless you fancied a few being on a 'work experience programme' for £19.50 a week which the employer didn't even pay himself. The 'experience' usually involved standing round until a really shit job came in which you had to do. Also 'no promises, keep your nose clean and you might get a full time job at the end of it' was always mentioned, so you worked your knackers off then got told after 6 months they couldn't afford to keep you on.

 

THAT is the reason I 'accidentally' chopped up the foreman's hand made work bench and lobbed it onto the fire, threw the YTS girl into the swimming pool, dropped boxes of expensive biscuits on the floor (so we got given them for nothing) and spent a few weeks teaching the parrot in the pet shop to say 'Tom is a wanker' about the foreman. Major success when we hid in the pet shop, he entered, and the parrot repeated what we taught him. I'll never forget that as long as I live.

 

Two weeks later I got the sack.

[cort16]

The best thing about the 80's are the cars and even they're shit

[Richard]

Exactly. Unless you fancied a few being on a 'work experience programme' for £19.50 a week which the employer didn't even pay himself. The 'experience' usually involved standing round until a really shit job came in which you had to do. Also 'no promises, keep your nose clean and you might get a full time job at the end of it' was always mentioned, so you worked your knackers off then got told after 6 months they couldn't afford to keep you on.

 

Is it any better than that now for youngsters?

[Cavcraft]

They'd probably have to do a 5 year course at college so they get a certificate that says they know how to hold a pen, or something. If they could find a job at all, of course.

[r.welfare]

Another driver pulled out of a junction (while looking the other way) and drove into the front offside of Mrs W's car. Opening comment was: "I didn't see you, I was looking the other way". Admission of guilt quite clear I would have thought.

 

However, subsequently this person is refusing to give insurance details and apparently has a witness somehow alleging it was 50:50. Hmm.

 

Luckily my wife has a witness, need to track them down for details.

 

Avensis is still drivable but has a cracked bumper and dented wing. My insurers think the fault is clearly on the other driver but now have all the fun of getting quotes, filling in reams of paperwork, fending off ambulance chasers etc.

 

Car's worth three-tenths of tap all so a good result for me would be a nice quick cheque from the other party's insurer and the option to retain our car as salvage so I can get busy with the Isopon and aerosols.

 

Place bets now as to whether it's a nice smooth process from here on in...

[Cavcraft]

I can't see you failing in that one, the point of impact alone would surely suggest whose fault it was.

 

I hope it goes smoothly for you, sometimes it's quite surprising. I just hope it's not Direct Liars, for your sake.

[r.welfare]

Cheers chap, I hope it will be straightforward and thankfully no, it's not Direct Liars.

 

Neither party was injured nor had any passengers so I won't be inflating everyone's subsequent premiums by demanding a daily hire Q7 for the duration nor filing for whiplash.

[RedSparrow]

Watched the Alan Partridge film the other day. Was quite dissapointed to be honest. These things never translate well to films.

[Station]

No, they never do, but I've not seen it. 1/2 an hour is enough, but 1 and 1/2 is a bit too much. The Americans like them though (esp Mr Bean films). Harry Hill has a new film out, with a typical line up of British comedy extras, which I bet is crap.

[philibusmo]

Yesterday I helped a friend move house using the XM, which was doing a fantastic job.

 

Then while maneuvering in a small parking area I clipped a slightly sticky out bit of a stone wall and ran a very light scrape down the rear drivers door and arch. It's so light that it is almost un-noticable but has still pissed me off with myself for doing it. Then on the final run to pick up the last couple of bags and a dog the hydraulic pipe on the underneath that I fixed last weekend decided that it would rather not be fixed and proceeded to dump all the LHM on the ground as we drove along.

 

Luckily I had a bottle in the boot so managed to complete the last run and get home but I have now spent a day that was earmarked for Lancia work removing and replacing the same hateful pipe as last week.

[Cavcraft]

Watched the Alan Partridge film the other day. Was quite dissapointed to be honest. These things never translate well to films.

 

 

I thought it was good to be honest, started off a bit slow but got going and I was LOLING away.

[alf892]

Decided to change pads and discs on my daily........gets the locking wheel nut key out......fuck thats tight.....bigger bar.....there it goes.

 

no it fukkin didn't.......wiped out the locking nut wonderfully cleanly. The other bolts were done up to F/T nm too.

 

Its gonna cop for the smaller socket solution with a 3/4 drive air gun tomorrow.

 

Imagine trying to get hold of another key will be fun too..

[dugong]

Expecting fall out because of a mega expensive night out planned by one of my Uni mates for his birthday. 

I can't afford the tram fare and there's barely any fuel in my car, let alone for a meal and some drinks. Sorry, gonna bail - but I'll get pelters for it. 

[Station]

no it fukkin didn't.......wiped out the locking nut wonderfully cleanly. The other bolts were done up to F/T nm too.

 

 

 

Had two tyres changed the other day and the bloke was tightening the nuts (including the locking nut) with the gun doing that -d-d-d-d-d-d-d- thing. Really annoying and very amateurish.

[alf892]

 

Had two tyres changed the other day and the bloke was tightening the nuts (including the locking nut) with the gun doing that -d-d-d-d-d-d-d- thing. Really annoying and very amateurish.

 

 

yeah....you have to laugh when they do that then run run a torque wrench round them....click click....there you go guv....we does a prpoer job!

[vulgalour]

Taxed the Princess today.  Ã‚£124 thrown away, hooray.  That's not really the grump though, it's the Post Office that I'm concerned about.  There are two Post Offices nearby, one is at the top of the housing estate and opens 'sometimes' and offers no services, can't be trusted with mail and doesn't really know how to do things like Road Tax, they've had numerous complaints but just sort of hang on in there.

 

Next nearest is a mile away and is very busy all of the time.  Staff are friendly and helpful, post rarely has any issues at all and it's been serving the community for an absolute age.  Except recently it was refurbished and turned in a Londis with a Post Office wedged at the back.  Then 2 weeks later it's closed completely and the only information is that it's already gone into liquidation.

 

Next nearest Post Office is in Bolsover, which is 4 miles away, but they're closed most of Saturday so I couldn't go there for my Road Tax as other errands meant I missed them.

 

Next nearest Post Office is 7 miles away in Chesterfield!  Better yet, this is a big Post Office and again has been there for donkeys years, is always very busy and has been modernised fairly recently.  But this Post Office is due to be closed in March and merged with the WH Smiths somehow.

 

What the hell is going on with the Post Office?  I hear reports that they're making great profits, the business is doing well, but they're closing branches left right and centre and clearing them out of areas that need the services offered and closing busy, well used and presumably profitable places and taking jobs away from people.

 

I did try, several times, to tax the car online but the online taxing service has been broken for weeks and therefore no use as seems to always be the case with the online services.

[skattrd]

Had two tyres changed the other day and the bloke was tightening the nuts (including the locking nut) with the gun doing that -d-d-d-d-d-d-d- thing. Really annoying and very amateurish.

 

The last time I saw someone doing that on my car I waited until  he had finished  then I got the crappy spanner supplied with the car out of the boot and asked the bloke to try and undo the wheel nuts with that. Needless to say, he couldn't, so I stood there whilst he undid them and then torqued them up properly. I then went and gave the manager a load of verbal.... He apologised & gave me a £20 off voucher.

[Station]

The last time I saw someone doing that on my car I waited until  he had finished  then I got the crappy spanner supplied with the car out of the boot and asked the bloke to try and undo the wheel nuts with that. Needless to say, he couldn't, so I stood there whilst he undid them and then torqued them up properly. I then went and gave the manager a load of verbal.... He apologised & gave me a £20 off voucher.

 

I'll try that next time! Although he'll probably undo them and call me a 'weak, english boy' in a Polish accent.

[ruffgeezer]

Had an offer of £600 on the Ax vts, considering taking it.

[Cavcraft]

Expecting fall out because of a mega expensive night out planned by one of my Uni mates for his birthday. 

 

I can't afford the tram fare and there's barely any fuel in my car, let alone for a meal and some drinks. Sorry, gonna bail - but I'll get pelters for it. 

 

 

Don't EVER knock back a night on the piss. You're only young, and it shouldn't be done(g). I'm old, have had a really long day, but I'm still pissed.

[hairnet]

yeah but you bought spaghetti

[overrun]

The last time I saw someone doing that on my car I waited until  he had finished  then I got the crappy spanner supplied with the car out of the boot and asked the bloke to try and undo the wheel nuts with that. Needless to say, he couldn't, so I stood there whilst he undid them and then torqued them up properly. I then went and gave the manager a load of verbal.... He apologised & gave me a £20 off voucher.

It amuses me when they then walk around pretending to torque-check them.

 

I ask the bloke to do mine up properly and he does.

Then again, if I have a puncture I usually just buzz the wheel off and take it down in the boot or use another car.

When I get home I impact gun it back on. Lol.

 

I also keep a deep drive socket and breaker bar in my boot, though.

[dugong]

 

Don't EVER knock back a night on the piss. You're only young, and it shouldn't be done(g). I'm old, have had a really long day, but I'm still pissed.

 

Appreciated, but how does one go on the lash when one has no money even though he's just been paid? (see riddle of the weekend wage earner). To be honest, I can't be bothered hearing about brilliant and successful everyone has become and how they can't move for offers of Christmas work. That and the fact the boss is going is why I'm not attending the work Christmas do - too expensive and too awkward. I really can't afford to go out and about, pay bills and be sociable. It sounds like I'm having a pop, but I'm not. 

The best I can do at the moment is getting away from it all at the unit, drinking char with the burner on and listening to Ice Cube. People are welcome down there any time I'm around, which will be quite a lot given that I tend to loosen up out in the middle of nowhere. I jury rigged an old iPod dock together that has a phono in so I can plug in my S3 and listen to KEXP in front of a roaring fire. I'm planning to take my netbook and charger down there and really get stuck into some job applications and copy writing. 

 

 

What the hell is going on with the Post Office?  I hear reports that they're making great profits, the business is doing well, but they're closing branches left right and centre and clearing them out of areas that need the services offered and closing busy, well used and presumably profitable places and taking jobs away from people.

 

 

The Post Office got privatised because the Government could float shares and make a mint off an already profitable business. The crown offices (those directly run by the Royal Mail) resisted and went on strike a few months ago. The other semi-franchised offices only see profit in merging with retail outlets and \ or closing down altogether. I did a piece on it for the BBC a little while ago, it made for depressing listening but it proved an excellent talking point. 

[vulgalour]

The unit is pretty neat, it gets my vote, and the instant coffee isn't too appalling which is no mean feat.  Company is okay too, I guess

[Cavcraft]

Fair comment Jon, sounds like a brown bag/bottle of vodka job then!

[Mr Lobster]

 

The Post Office got privatised because the Government could float shares and make a mint off an already profitable business. The crown offices (those directly run by the Royal Mail) resisted and went on strike a few months ago. The other semi-franchised offices only see profit in merging with retail outlets and \ or closing down altogether. I did a piece on it for the BBC a little while ago, it made for depressing listening but it proved an excellent talking point. 

 

 

Post Office is separate from the privatised and very profitable Royal Mail. Most of the Crown Offices are now striking but nothing has been or is likely to be acheived it seems. Some of the Crown Offices (our local one especially) lose huge sums of money. Even the staff say that nothing will be achieved and are very fed up with the situation and accept that they are out of a job come March which seems wrong as on the whole they do an excellent job. Sticking a counter in WHSmiths or wherever isn't in any way going to improve the service for customers.

 

Crown Offices are all due to be on strike this coming Friday and Saturday btw.

 

I don't really understand why the Post Office and Royal Mail were split into two distinct businesses anyway as they both (at the moment anyway) seem to be reliant upon the other.

[Cavcraft]

This will be music to a couple of people's ears:

 

Spent pretty much the whole pissing day trying to make my iphone tether to my tablet, due to Apple's incredible fucking stupidity.

 

Does it work now? No.

 

Did iTunes save all my data like they promised would happen? No.

 

Did I really spend ten minutes having to explain what tethering is to an Apple employee? Yes.

 

Did they suggest it wasn't their fault and must be the tablet? Yes.

 

Were they pretty much up shit creek without a paddle when I explained we'd tethered it from two other phones and it worked? Yes.

 

Have they called back at all, despite 'half an hour' now being 4.5 hours? No. 

 

Fuck them.

[overrun]

Drove over to the storage place to find my car blocked in.

I did intend to give it a run out tonight to an open air screening of The Fast and the Furious.