The grumpy thread

[RoadworkUK]

I noted tonight that my n/s taillamp was out.

 

Thought "I thought these 825's were supposed to be reliable" but then submitted perhaps it's not unreasonable for a bulb to fail after seventeen years.

 

So I unclipped the lush boot carpeting to access the bulbholders and inspected. Aside from being old and unfashionable the bulbs all passed muster and there were no blackened tell-tales of shorting. I removed all the bulbs, cleaned the contacts and refitted. No dice. Fuckit I'll take a look tomorrow.

 

Refitted everything and closed the boot on the problem. Then, in a flourish of irony and much in the manner of those films where the pilot taps the fuel gauge in hope of creating more petrol, I delivered a swift rap to the lamp cluster.

 

The bulb immediately lit.

 

My Rover is turning into a 1980s Grundig.

[myglaren]

I've just found the needle I lost yesterday.

With my foot.

 

owyowyowy.

 

I was using it to sew a button on my work trousers to clip my new Hultafors knife to.  Then realised I had sewn it onto my best trousers, work trousers still in the wardrobe.  Buggeration!

[UmBongo]

Wanker kid and his dickhead mates on the wotton road playing chicken. Pitch black and raining. Dickheads

 

With any luck one of them will die.

 

No more games of chicken and no more Snake Plissken.

[sheffcortinacentre]

yep but it'll all be the speeding motorist fault.

[Noel Tidybeard]

I noted tonight that my n/s taillamp was out.

 

Thought "I thought these 825's were supposed to be reliable" but then submitted perhaps it's not unreasonable for a bulb to fail after seventeen years.

 

So I unclipped the lush boot carpeting to access the bulbholders and inspected. Aside from being old and unfashionable the bulbs all passed muster and there were no blackened tell-tales of shorting. I removed all the bulbs, cleaned the contacts and refitted. No dice. Fuckit I'll take a look tomorrow.

 

Refitted everything and closed the boot on the problem. Then, in a flourish of irony and much in the manner of those films where the pilot taps the fuel gauge in hope of creating more petrol, I delivered a swift rap to the lamp cluster.

 

The bulb immediately lit.

 

My Rover is turning into a 1980s Grundig.

2011 polo is good at that game

[jakebullet]

Jizzmopper on the quad giving it some past the local school.

 

On the bright side he was too cool for a helmet, and the roads are quite greasy with all the rain. Lets hope Chardonnay decides to donate whatever organs are left over.

[Caffiend]

With any luck one of them will die.

 

No more games of chicken and no more Snake Plissken.

 

No comfort for the poor sod who knocks 'em over. About 3 months after passing my driving test, I did just that - kids playing chicken, one ran out right under my wheels. Luckily it was daylight and I'd seen them playing silly buggers and slowed down - was only doing about 15 when I hit him. He had a split lip from falling on the road. That was it. One of his 3 or 4 little buddies then pulled a knife on me while the others broke all the windows in my car before they all legged it.

 

This was 23 years ago and guess the grump here is how much things have changed. None of the following would probably happen/be possible now, thanks to too many people who won't get involved, fucking ambulance chasing lawyers, avaricious insurance companies who probably wouldn't piss on a customer that was on fire and red tape that ties the police (individual members of whom I have personally always found to be decent reasonable people) in knots.

 

What happened next: the police were *amazing* - more interested in the criminal damage than the injury as the kid was quite clearly not that badly hurt  - I got a crime reference number etc and they were very comforting - I was only 21, new driver, and afraid I was doing a bit of a hysterical girly thing by this point, had managed to keep calm until the brats pulled the knife and started breaking my beloved car. The car behind hadn't had much choice but to stop, and driver willingly gave a statement as his poor kids in the back were really traumatised by the whole thing. Phoned my insurance company and gave them the crime reference number and instructed them clearly that if contacted, they were NOT to admit any liability. When I got the bill for the ambulance and A&E treatment (suspiciously cheap if the kid had *really* need an ambulance and A&E), it showed the kid's name (unusual surname) and DOB (!!). There was No. Fucking. Way that as a new driver (already paying more for my insurance than the car was worth) I was going to pay, or claim on my insurance (luckily I was working in the trade at the time, so got cheap replacements on the windows). So, I phoned the police and gave them the kid's name. Then looked the kid's surname up in the phone book and called that number, pretending I was a concerned bystander. When they said "oh, he's fine, he wasn't really hurt" I told 'em that I was the driver and gave them what for. That was it. Never heard anything about any of it, ever again. It's still - obviously - burned on my memory though. If I'd killed that kid, even though there would have been no way it would have been my fault I would never have forgiven myself. It was also a salutary lesson in the "speed kills" adverts being quite true - I'll admit to having a heavy right foot on the open road when I can see clearly, have always been and am to this day scrupulous about 20/30 limits round town. 

[Bren]

Needed the gents while I was in Tesco.

 

Sat in trap one, a couple of female cleaners come into the gents, gabbing instead of cleaning.

 

Suffice to say, I could not perform.

 

You cannot even have a dump in peace.

[Cavcraft]

/\

Commonly referred to as 'stage fright'

 

 

What pissed me off? I was in Paris last weekend with the missus, on a romantic break. When walking down the Champs Elysees, a load of cyclists came bombing past us. They were swerving in and out of us shouting obscenities, such as 'w*nker, tw*t. knobjockey, p*ssflaps and f*cker!'

 

 

 

 

Turns out it was the Tourettes De France

[dave21478]

After many years of careful research and hands-on study, I have come to the startling conclusion that it fucking sucks being poor.

Yeah, yeah, Im not "poor" in the global sense....I live in a comfortable house, drinkable water comes out the taps and I have food in the fridge, but you know what I mean....

Im fed up making do, of getting by, of penny pinching, of deciding one or the other because I cant afford both.

Things are not helped at the moment as I have not been paid for last month. Partly my fault, partly an oversight by my employer. He is good for the money....no doubts there, but he is on a guided trek in the Himalayas and out of contact just now. The guy shits gold-plated diamonds so probably doesnt realise the effects of being a month behind on wages has for me.

 

On the up - side, I will get two wages at once at the end of this month. Since I will just about scrape by this month, the double money will be a nice windfall - an ideal time to put some money aside spunk it away on a car I dont need.

 

So how do I remedy this situation? I need a better job. I work manual labour for low pay, so being skint is no real surprise. The chances of getting a decent paying job here are precisely zero, so I am going to have to move. Probably back to UK for now as feck-knows where else I would go. This is problematic for several reasons. Mainly, I cant afford UK housing costs any more. Also, over the last 8 years here I have accumulated a vast amount of tools, parts and general junk which I will need to transport / store, which costs even more (when I moved here, I sold off nearly everything I owned and made the trip with my worldly goods in the back of a 406 estate - most of which was my tool chest.) Oh, and there is the minor problem of rampant unemployment, and general difficulties finding work, which will be compounded by my CV now having a 9 year gap.

[Cavcraft]

Cheer up mate, I thought it was great living on my own because I could have a crap with the door open.

Turns out the post lady didn't agree.

[chaseracer]

You're on form tonight, aren't you, our Billy?

 

[EssDeeWon]

Driving through Southend tonight the usual bellends are out and about but the worst was 2 Vauxhall Zafira's having a race!! One was barried up and just looked shit and the other was just standard and looked shite, both acting like dicks in fuggin Zafira's, Honestly!

 

Probably owned by the sort of twats that walk round classic car shows and talk loudly and point out RS Turbos and XR3i's and tell everyone in ear shot that they used to have one of those back in the day. 20 years on and yep, they are still being grade A knobs.

[mat_the_cat]

Suffice to say, I could not perform.

 

You cannot even have a dump in peace.

 

Never had that when taking a dump (at least you (usually) have a cubicle) but often if someone stands next to me at a urinal before the seal is broken, that's it. And obviously the more you think about it the worse it gets...

[drum]

Dave, in a choice of being skint in France or skint in the UK, I might choose France.

?.. Partly my fault, partly an oversight by my employer. He is good for the money....no doubts there, but he is on a guided trek in the Himalayas and out of contact just now. The guy shits gold-plated diamonds so probably doesnt realise the effects of being a month behind on wages has for me...

Hope your boss isn't caught up in this

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29672316

[Lord Sterling]

Jizzmopper on the quad giving it some past the local school.

I get this on my road almost everyday from the twatty chav family who live a couple of doors up (in a privately rented house probably for them by the fucking CLOWNcil)

 

Twats chav family always have these lads bringing quad bikes home, trying to start them for over 30 mins, then blezzing them up and down the pavements then, if they're feeling brave enough, up and down the road.

 

A few weeks ago, we had, for a few nights, some twat (not the chav family fortunately) and his mate blezzing around up and down the local roads, often between 11pm and 3am on their powerful road bikes who's exhausts weren't exactly muffled.

 

Oh to leave this area again...

[Lord Sterling]

So how do I remedy this situation? I need a better job. I work manual labour for low pay, so being skint is no real surprise. The chances of getting a decent paying job here are precisely zero, so I am going to have to move. Probably back to UK for now as feck-knows where else I would go. This is problematic for several reasons. Mainly, I cant afford UK housing costs any more. Also, over the last 8 years here I have accumulated a vast amount of tools, parts and general junk which I will need to transport / store, which costs even more (when I moved here, I sold off nearly everything I owned and made the trip with my worldly goods in the back of a 406 estate - most of which was my tool chest.) Oh, and there is the minor problem of rampant unemployment, and general difficulties finding work, which will be compounded by my CV now having a 9 year gap.

Dave, I wouldn't recommend you move back to the UK, you are really going to have a shock when you get back here. Life is so fast-paced and rules have changed so much its unrecognisable and you'll be running for the nearest ferry back to France begging for your job back.

 

I was out of the UK for nearly 7 months this year and due to my employers being arses I didn't get my job back. Since being back here in the UK, very little has gone right in my life due to this culture of "box ticking" background digging and assumption-making. I really want to leave here but it doesn't look too hopeful. I really dislike being back in the UK.

 

Money isn't everything, although it does take the sting out of being piss poor and I'm one to talk as I often moan on here about having no money, but now it's even worse than ever, I really do have no money whatsoever, I wouldn't be be able to afford to eat if it wasn't for Ma_Sterling. My new job won't sub me and the DWP have decided that I haven't been in England long enough to be entitled to any kind of job-seekers allowance, you need to be here for a minimum of 3 months before you are entitled to any benefits, even as a British-born British passport holding citizen, a new rule that came in on January to cut down on "benefit tourism" which is understandable.

 

Have you thought about working for British companies in France like Eurocamp or BRAD Europe? I used to work for Eurocamp and thouroughly enjoyed it hence why I lived in Beziers. BRAD Europe have some work going in France around the Nantes area. I've recently submitted my CV to BRAD Europe but have heard nothing yet. I'm sure there are other companies too. (If you come across any, would you please let me know, I'd like to return to France at the first opportunity if I can)

 

Also, your CV doesn't have to have a 9-year gap. As you (I assume) you lived in France for those 9 years you can make what you did sound professional if your boss is willing to give you a reference. There is similar type work of what you have done in France over here in the UK too from what I've seen.

 

Good luck in whatever you decide.

[vulgalour]

I cannot sleep in my own bed and have resorted to sleeping in the spare room.

 

Between 5am and noon at regular intervals there is a screaming child next door.  Looks like it has reached that age where it's all it wants to do.  The parents are also annoyed with it, something else I get to hear through the wall.  A neighbour somewhere adds to this with a loudly banging door between 2am and 4am, and again at around 9am to noon.  During the day, someone knocks on the wall several times which sets the dog off barking as he thinks there's someone at the door.

 

I am now very, very tired.  My sleep pattern is completely bolloxed and my temper is shorter than Kim Jong Un.  I don't hate where I live because I've lived in far worse places, but I do wish for once in my life I earned enough money to live somewhere nicer.

[Richard]

It might be worth trying some earplugs. These Moldex ones are quite good, you roll them until they are really thin then put them in, then they expand in your ear and shut out just about everything. You hardly know they're there.

 

[rml2345]

^ For a home brew alternative cotton wool and beeswax is supposedly very good too. Recommended by a chap I know who's sensitive to noise.

[dave21478]

Dave, I wouldn't recommend you move back to the UK, you are really going to have a shock when you get back here. Life is so fast-paced and rules have changed so much its unrecognisable and you'll be running for the nearest ferry back to France begging for your job back.

 

I was out of the UK for nearly 7 months this year and due to my employers being arses I didn't get my job back. Since being back here in the UK, very little has gone right in my life due to this culture of "box ticking" background digging and assumption-making. I really want to leave here but it doesn't look too hopeful. I really dislike being back in the UK.

 

Money isn't everything, although it does take the sting out of being piss poor and I'm one to talk as I often moan on here about having no money, but now it's even worse than ever, I really do have no money whatsoever, I wouldn't be be able to afford to eat if it wasn't for Ma_Sterling. My new job won't sub me and the DWP have decided that I haven't been in England long enough to be entitled to any kind of job-seekers allowance, you need to be here for a minimum of 3 months before you are entitled to any benefits, even as a British-born British passport holding citizen, a new rule that came in on January to cut down on "benefit tourism" which is understandable.

 

Have you thought about working for British companies in France like Eurocamp or BRAD Europe? I used to work for Eurocamp and thouroughly enjoyed it hence why I lived in Beziers. BRAD Europe have some work going in France around the Nantes area. I've recently submitted my CV to BRAD Europe but have heard nothing yet. I'm sure there are other companies too. (If you come across any, would you please let me know, I'd like to return to France at the first opportunity if I can)

 

Also, your CV doesn't have to have a 9-year gap. As you (I assume) you lived in France for those 9 years you can make what you did sound professional if your boss is willing to give you a reference. There is similar type work of what you have done in France over here in the UK too from what I've seen.

 

Good luck in whatever you decide.

 

 

Thanks, but no - I am done with France. Eight years here has been enough.

 

Prices are going astronomical....fuel, food, utilities, taxes...its becoming unaffordable, and not just for me but a lot of people are struggling now. Politics is changing, its becoming more and more right-wing, with the extreme right having  a pretty good chance of winning the next election. Anti-immigrant sentiments are rising. A local employer will never hire a foreigner over a French person, no matter what your qualifications or experience are. 

The entire bureaucratic system is designed specifically to stifle innovation and start-up businesses. Customer service is non-existent, choice is limited,  and as for cars, which are my hobby and my passion - I am fed up of being expected to pay double or triple UK prices - not just to buy a vehicle in the first place, but the cost of spare parts and service items too. Its illegal to modify a car in any way apart from cosmetically and everyone drives like a fucking nobber in their leased Dacia Sanderos and Nissan Jukes. 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Must say, whenever I go to France I shit myself about how much food costs. You go in a supermarkets for a few bits and come out €60 worse off every time. I can feed myself really well for a week on £25 here. When I go, I ram-raid Aldi on the way out and take a sack of cheap food with me. All that right wing bo11ox would piss me off too. Plenty of that here though - all 3 parties fall over each other to sound 'tough on immigrants', it sends me into a depression that sounds similar to yours if I read the paper too much, I have to seek solace in old shite cars and electronic music to stop me from giving up altogether.

 

Strongly agree about the French system squashing any innovation before its starts as well.

[dollywobbler]

You very much have my sympathy about living on low income. It can be mightily stressful. Getting back on the property ladder here will certainly be tough, but you could always live in a caravan or camper - there are folk doing just that around my way. Unemployment is allegedly falling too. Allegedly.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I don't think it is in reality, I just think lots of people are getting kicked off JSA for new and interesting reasons that didn't exist previously.

[Cavcraft]

Exactly, I reckon if your cat looks at you at a jaunty angle and they can prove your dog can 'do a Fenton' it's classed as part time work, so you're not technically unemployed.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

My new job won't sub me and the DWP have decided that I haven't been in England long enough to be entitled to any kind of job-seekers allowance, you need to be here for a minimum of 3 months before you are entitled to any benefits, even as a British-born British passport holding citizen, a new rule that came in on January to cut down on "benefit tourism" which is understandable.

 

Not to me it isn't. If you have a british passport you're hardly a 'benefit tourist' are you for gods sake, they could easily check your UK NI number and see you've been working and contributing in the past, the tricky shitehawks. Plus, you have been working within the EU which as a citizen of the European Union you are perfectly entitled to do as described in the Maastricht Treaty, to which this country has signed up to. If, to work in the EU means you get penalised to the tune of 3 months benefits on your return, that sounds like a disincentive to work abroad to me which I'm sure is borderline illegal but not in the slightest surprising.

 

But, thats modern Britain for you, repeatedly shafting those who have least to the delight of the tabloid press.

[chaseracer]

I don't think it is in reality, I just think lots of people are getting kicked off JSA for new and interesting reasons that didn't exist previously.

But, thats modern Britain for you, repeatedly shafting those who have least to the delight of the tabloid press.

 

This, sadly.

 

I'm a professional 'lefty gobshite', and even my mojo is flagging...

[Richard]

They have been finding new ways to exclude people from unemployment figures for as long as I can remember.

[Asimo]

And half of the jobs that are out there are utterly pointless. 

 

Endless phone time, e-mail answering and box ticking with a net output of less than nothing and no chance of feeling good about a days work well done.

[dollywobbler]

And half of the jobs that are out there are utterly pointless. 

 

Endless phone time, e-mail answering and box ticking with a net output of less than nothing and no chance of feeling good about a days work well done.

 

I have less sympathy with this one. I've done all manner of shitty jobs and at the time, I was glad to have a job at all. I'm not sure miners really had that much job satisfaction, or people working in those huge weaving sheds. You can't expect every job out there to deliver satisfaction. 

 

I am mightily sick of endless attacks on the poor though, especially while the upper echelons seem to be having a jolly old time. Using the work shy as an excuse to punish ALL people on benefits is a bloody disgrace, and don't get me started on this 'work for benefits' lark. Neat way of defeating minimum wage there...