The grumpy thread

[Skizzer]

Talking of bikes, I'm considering doing my CBT. As a novice biker, am I GUARANTEED to fall off at some point? It's all a learning curve I know..

 

I never fell off either, either while learning or in years of commuting across west London.  Just plan ahead, pay attention, assume everyone wants to kill you and don't ride like a twat.

 

Ref the discussion further up the page, most of the near misses I had on a motorbike were caused by other people on two wheels - mainly scooters and pushbikes being ridden by complete dickheads.

 

 

 

Edited to add: this is not related to chaseracer's advice to Lord Sterling!  But LS - if you get a scooter or a pushbike, don't be a dickhead

[Richard]

When telling me to deliver something to the big orange boat it might be helpful to tell me the boat I'm looking for is neither orange nor particularly big.

 

Bigorange XVIII by chdphd, on Flickr

[mat_the_cat]

I think I mentioned before that our nearest neighbours are selling their house to a company who wants to turn into a rehab centre for getting ex-cons and drug addicts back into society. Obviously not overjoyed by it, and someone has started a petition against it and we aren't alone!

 

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/objection-against-planning-application-ref

 

It feels a bit selfish and NIMBY to hope that planning isn't granted, but we are genuinely worried about more break-ins

[philibusmo]

Will send you a PM, as there's a few options! But yeah, I'm happy to lend a hand and will have a car spare, so it'd be a win-win situation for us both. Plus, insurance is stupidly simple over here (and not even compulsory!), so it's not a major hassle to get overseas visitors to get cover on our cars. I'd mentioned adding my sister and brother in law to one of our policies when they came to visit for a couple of weeks and the insurers didn't bat an eyelid, made a note of the ballpark dates and charged me nothing for it! Same with my folks when they've come to stay and borrowed a car.

 

Work may be shit, but this is a massive grin - PM will be replied to shortly.

[purplebargeken]

^^ Fantastic news that will see the value of your property plummet to prices last seen in 1753. 

[mat_the_cat]

That's another point as well, but TBH we're more worried about the potential of crime. Although we're not allowed to object to the planning application on moral grounds, or the effect on property values!

[TimothyClaypole]

If Ryanair was the only way to get somewhere I just wouldn't go.

 

 You just need the right incentive. 

 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

The only reason to buy a sports bike is to ride it like a cunt. If everyone accepts this and the riders don't expect Mrs Miggins in her Kia i10 to see them filtering at 100 mph in 70 mph traffic or approaching junctions at 120. Could they just explain this to their families so that they are prepared for the inevitable.

I've been there when I was a teenager and had decent reflexes and 20-20 vision, the worse I got were a few grazes and a couple broken fingers and collar bones. There is no way you'd get me on a bike at 50 as I know that all that power would soon corrupt me.

[Fat_Pirate]

I fell off a few weeks after my CBT, partly because my YBR125 had comedy tyres, but mostly because I'm a bell-end.  If you're sensible and like to be good at what you do, you should be fine.  I've got a problem with speed and tend to get myself into bother occasionally.

 

Bikes have ruined cars for me though.  Riding a bike can be compared to playing a violin - driving a car is like banging a tambourine

[HillmanImp]

That's another point as well, but TBH we're more worried about the potential of crime. Although we're not allowed to object to the planning application on moral grounds, or the effect on property values!

 

I recently got some twunts on my street rejected from building a house in their garden (along with some other neighbours) by looking at similar builds on the council website and looking at the rejection reasons and applying them to the building that was proposed on my road. 

 

Might be worth a punt if you have not done so already.

[mercrocker]

^^Yeah, and don't feel bad or unworthy about doing any of it either.   These centres are basically businesses.   Why the bloody hell should they be allowed to inflict this on anybody's residential area?   Pisses me right off, this sort of thing especially when they have the audacity to take a moral high ground themselves and not allow those affected to reflect their own feelings.   Rant over....

[Noel Tidybeard]

I need to get chain mail gloves for when I'm using the angle grinder with 1mm cutting discs.

I decided to escape work stress by doing some spannering after tea. Lying under the 88" cutting an exhaust bolt, holding the bracket in my left hand and the grinder in my right when the inevitable slip happened. Those 1mm discs find little resistance in flesh. When I plucked up the courage to look, it wasn't too bad. An inch long and quite deep but I've done much worse to myself. DSC_0015.JPG

 

The grump is about what happened next. I cleaned it under the tap and gave the wife and shout to get the paper stitches. While she was seeing to it, I felt myself get woozy. I thought there's no way I'm going to faint over this wee cut but I almost fell over. Had to grab on or I would have gone down. What a wuss!

Feck knows, maybe my blood sugar was low.

...or your sodium level, or flat feet, perforated eardrum could've been anything

[AldridgePrior]

 You just need the right incentive. 

 

 Unfortunately they look fuck all like anything resembling Ryanair hostesses.

 

I see the last week two Ryanair 737s clipped each other in Dublin while taxiing. One had a piece of tail fin stuck in a wing. The pilot was maybe worrying if he had enough fuel to get to his destination seeing as they are only allowed an extra gallon or something.

 

http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/1007/650519-ryanair-dublin-airport/

[320touring]

Failed miserably at booking flights- got the return date wrong-a day too late.

 

I'll have to cancel if we cant get that day off work.

[alf892]

The only reason to buy a sports bike is to ride it like a cunt. If everyone accepts this and the riders don't expect Mrs Miggins in her Kia i10 to see them filtering at 100 mph in 70 mph traffic or approaching junctions at 120. Could they just explain this to their families so that they are prepared for the inevitable.

I've been there when I was a teenager and had decent reflexes and 20-20 vision, the worse I got were a few grazes and a couple broken fingers and collar bones. There is no way you'd get me on a bike at 50 as I know that all that power would soon corrupt me.

Yep............I realised this too.

 

I suddenly got an imagination and found myself imagining what would happen id Mrs Miggins was at the next junction or a farmer was hallway out of his field around the next corner.

 

To start with I told myself this could be overcome by more careful riding..............and then the rush hits when you twist that throttle

[Slappy]

Failed miserably at booking flights- got the return date wrong-a day too late.

 

I'll have to cancel if we cant get that day off work.

 

 

Did that in April, except myself and the GF arrived for the return trip from Barcelona a day early. 2 days after we'd had a massive falling out due to a foot-in-mouth moment by me.

 

I'm not exactly flush, but I took the 300 euro hit on 2 tickets for the next plane out of there. Now on a short leash when it comes to organising ANYTHING!

[Skizzer]

A couple of weeks ago I sent a parcel to a friend in South Africa with UPS.  The value of the package was about £250, and UPS charged an unpleasant, but 'competitive' as we went through a price comparison/shipping agent, £70-odd for the delivery.

 

Now it's arrived in SA, but UPS is refusing to release it until we pay an additional £200 in unspecified 'brokerage' fees.

 

Can anyone help me understand how that's not 1) in breach of both basic contract law and the Unfair Contract Terms Act, since I have a piece of paper saying customs brokerage is free and there is nothing more to pay, and 2) criminal extortion?

[Parky]

I think I mentioned before that our nearest neighbours are selling their house to a company who wants to turn into a rehab centre for getting ex-cons and drug addicts back into society. Obviously not overjoyed by it, and someone has started a petition against it and we aren't alone!

 

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/objection-against-planning-application-ref

 

It feels a bit selfish and NIMBY to hope that planning isn't granted, but we are genuinely worried about more break-ins

Get the history, gardening, and insect books out. See if Charles Dickens once had a slash there, or if there is a rare orchid there, or if it is a haven for Stag beetles. Get some heritage or botanist interest and development stops dead.

 

Unless you live in my local area, where developers buy delapidated building, get flat development turned down, building sets itself alight a week later, and then development goes through anyway.

[Richard]

That's standard procedure pretty much everywhere.

[Parky]

The only reason to buy a sports bike is to ride it like a cunt. If everyone accepts this and the riders don't expect Mrs Miggins in her Kia i10 to see them filtering at 100 mph in 70 mph traffic or approaching junctions at 120. Could they just explain this to their families so that they are prepared for the inevitable.

I've been there when I was a teenager and had decent reflexes and 20-20 vision, the worse I got were a few grazes and a couple broken fingers and collar bones. There is no way you'd get me on a bike at 50 as I know that all that power would soon corrupt me.

This is the reason I haven't done my full test. Having done CBT in January and scaring myself on a 125, I would definitely kill myself on anything bigger.

 

There are some great looking 125s around. Yamaha MT's and Kymcos new CK looks pretty decent for two grand. Unless you are Dani Pedrosa, do you really need any more?

[drum]

Mat the cat - Place some bat droppings on the window sill.

[AldridgePrior]

Skizzer, that's fucking shocking.

[Fat_Pirate]

There are indeed some great 125s, but they're all around £4K and still have 15bhp, tops - that's a liability outside of an urban area.  You can get a brand-new SV650 for that money, and it's 70bhp will take you anywhere you like - and you'll make considerably better progress than many a supercar.

[SambaS]

'see you next week Richie', 'yeah, see you next week buddy'.

 

Yesterday I got a call from my boss. He said he had some bad news. I had time to bet he was laying me off. But his words I wasn't prepared for.

 

Richie has died.

 

The day before when I left he was his normal happy self, laughing and joking with everyone. On the night he has a massive stroke and was taken into hospital where he was on life support but never recovered. 36 years old. A local lad who had worked for my boss as his right hand man since he was 15

 

The words didn't sink in, the world went a bit funny as we continue speaking I had to stop him and ask him if he'd just told me that

 

I don't proclaim to have been best mates but we developed a friendship working together every day. He was telling me how he soon hoped to move over to Canada with his brother, as he'd just recently come back from a holiday over there.

 

A week ago he had time off for flu symptoms, and this week he was saying he still wasn't feeling right. But the news hit hard. Ive known grandparents die and felt nothing, other distant family members too. But I cried like a girl yesterday.

 

4am on an October morning is cold an miserable enough. Monday morning I don't want to think about.

 

Rest in peace Richard Stocksley x

[Skizzer]

God, that's awful.  Really sorry.

[fordperv]

SambaS that is terrible, thoughts out to his family and friends

[AlabamaShrimp]

Not very good with sympathy type stuff but that's shit

[beko1987]

That's awful! We lost a colleage a few years ago like that, laughing and joking with him out to the car park Fri night, had a heart attack that Saturday morning.

 

Bad times, my condolances

[Lukas]

I hate it that men from the past of Mrs. Lukas appear frequently on social networks and via whatsapp and all those modern teenager-shit asking her if she want to meet "like they did".  I am not jealous. But maybe a bit...

 

@SambaS: Small and unimportant problems, compared to your story. I am very sorry to read that, my thoughts are with you and his family and all the friend who miss him. RIP.

[HillmanImp]

Thats scary shizzle. How do you have a stroke so young? Is there an undrlying health condition, is it lifestyle or sheer pot luck?

 

Can understand your shock there as its just not expected.