The grumpy thread

[chaseracer]

I am suffering with the brown rain at the moment. 

 

Went to the toilet 13 times last night and my arse is like a certain Johnny Cash song. 

 

"A Boy Called Sue"...?

[dugong]

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/motoring/ten-%C2%A31500-winter-wonders

 

This article on the Autocar website annoys me. It feeds into the notion that people need a 4x4 for winter, and who the fuck has £1500 to spend on a "disposable" spare car just for winter? I like the inappropriate expensive to maintain/run choices too. GREAT CHURNALISM.

 

Can one not just keep one's everyday car, possibly fit snow tyres and just drive a bit slower instead?

Does seem a bit superfluous, I admit. 

[Skizzer]

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/motoring/ten-%C2%A31500-winter-wonders

 

This article on the Autocar website annoys me. It feeds into the notion that people need a 4x4 for winter, and who the fuck has £1500 to spend on a "disposable" spare car just for winter? I like the inappropriate expensive to maintain/run choices too. GREAT CHURNALISM.

 

^Aye,what a complete load of bollocks.  A 4x4 on summer road tyres is feck all use on snow or ice.  (Mitsubishi GTO, ffs?)

 

If I were a journalist, I'd be cringing with shame at the drivel 90% of my colleagues come out with, mostly in the name of flogging something - Pistonheads links in this case, by the look of it.

 

(As things stand, I'll just have to be a management consultant cringing with shame at the drivel 90% of my colleagues come out with instead.)

[chaseracer]

Autocar.  PissedOnHeads.  Both owned by Haymarket...

[dugong]

On the other hand, the journo in question may not have had much choice in the subject matter and may have had to write the entire feature in -2 hours. 

[Pillock]

 

 

Went to the toilet 13 times last night and my arse is like a certain Johnny Cash song.

"Come in, Stranger"?

[chaseracer]

"Come in, Stranger"?

 

Punctuation is SO important, isn't it? 

[myglaren]

Would it be easier to piggy back it from someone in the UK and then on to you?

That was my role in the enterprise.

[fordperv]

I'm stuck at work because night staff havn't turned up because of the omg snow chaos, I've been here since 7am, hope they are here soon

[Lacquer Peel]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30602834

 

Snow chaos? Whut? Hardly any y0.

 

What are your plans for Boxing Day? Will a change in weather conditions have an impact? Has it started snowing where you are? You can share your experience

 

SPEAK YOUR BRAINS.

[Timewaster]

No snow here in East Anglia. It is, however, pissing it down.

[Lord Sterling]

Some attempted snow has fallen here. Hopefully it'll be gone gone by tomorrow.

[Cavcraft]

So at the worst 10-15cms of snow, possibly 2-4cms and, presumably, possibly none. And people are shitting themselves over it?

[Alfamale]

Sheffield in the grip of OMGSNOKAOS. When will people learn that if they are going up hill, moving and not heading towards anything solid not to stop FFS!

[Bren]

Weather has been mild, so I was going to tax the busa.

 

Snow has put paid to such plans.

 

As blackadder said "My life is strewn with cowpats from the devils' own satanic heard"

[Skizzer]

On the other hand, the journo in question may not have had much choice in the subject matter and may have had to write the entire feature in -2 hours. 

 

I'm sure both of those are true, but not convinced that excuses him/her peddling the '4x4 = super safe, so drive as badly as you like on snow!' myth.

 

Talking of which, I'm spending tomorrow driving 400 miles across Germany from the Danish border to the Dutch border, and a whole lot of proper snow is forecast.  Is the whole of Germany bleating to the BBC about the OMG CHAOS?  Is it fook.

[dave21478]

Maybe they took offence to the Chinese script on the declaration or maybe the size of the package, don't know, sometimes they used to slip through but now it seems like it's every one. I've ordered a few things from the US myself (mostly small stuff, lawnmower parts, seals etc.) without a hitch but most of the time the moment their ordering system sees where I am it whacks an enormous shipping charge on it, I'm talking $100 on top of something costing $5. I'm not sure if postage is really that insanely expensive in some states or it's just their way of saying "we don't want to send it to you there, but if you're stupid enough to pay this price..."

I get that a lot too. Despite their being a John Deere dealership 15 minutes drive away, its usually cheaper for me to order parts from USA, but many places bang 90 bucks or so onto the postal charge.

I see that there are forwarding services to be found online where they supply you with a USA address for ordering parts, they group your stuff and send it on to you for a fee. I havent looked into it in detail, but it might be interesting.

[dugong]

I'm sure both of those are true, but not convinced that excuses him/her peddling the '4x4 = super safe, so drive as badly as you like on snow!' myth.

Agreed. You can have the best four-wheel drive system and tyres in the world - but even those are no match for well-honed techniques such as slow inputs and forward planning. Ulimately you can't argue with physics and \ or the mu of the road surface, even if you change how you drive.

 

Several of the cars suggested (notably the Impreza) are very expensive to keep running right. A semi-presentable Sierra XR4x4 is also more than £1500.

[bub2006]

Fucking snow. Took an hour to get 4 miles from work to home. Admittedly it ended up about 8/10 mile in total. Joys of living in Derbyshire with hills everywhere and not a gritter in sight.

[dollywobbler]

^Aye,what a complete load of bollocks.  A 4x4 on summer road tyres is feck all use on snow or ice.  (Mitsubishi GTO, ffs?)

 

Actually, I found my Subaru Legacy on snow was a hell of a lot better than most FWD cars on summer tyres. I've also driven in conditions where even my well-honed winter skills failed to get a summer-tyred BX through. They did save us from crashing several times, but trying to get up a steep hill, just after a sharp bend when it was considerably below zero proved impossible. Humbling.

 

Mind you, I remember taking the Maverick out in snow and getting horribly stuck even with all-terrains. Not that I got it as stuck as the next owner, who managed to beach it in a huge snowdrift. He got a whiff of OMG 4X4 INVINCIBLE. 

 

I'm very keen to get a chance to put the XM's winter tyres to the test, but the snow has passed us by for now. 

[dollywobbler]

Fucking snow. Took an hour to get 4 miles from work to home. Admittedly it ended up about 8/10 mile in total. Joys of living in Derbyshire with hills everywhere and not a gritter in sight.

 

If the snow is hard enough, grit just gets buried. They can't cover every one of the UK's roads permanently either.

[Albert Ross]

We have about 2-3". Hoping for about 12-18" by the morning so I have nothing to do at work.

[fordperv]

Well we finally got some night staff and I'm home now, had a nurse following behind me so she could follow in my tyre tracks, that way I could make sure she got back safe, turned into a grin though because my saph embarrassed new stuff on the way back by sailing past them.

 

I had 6 inches of snow on my car, the same was on the ground, I work in Cheadle on country lanes which never get gritted or cleared and are hilly, i didn't get stuck once

[Negative Creep]

Absolutely nothing this far south, just a crap tonne of wind and rain

[TimothyClaypole]

The bloke over the roads second trip out looking at the chaos. (works nights as a "cook" or something).  

 

 

 

[oman5]

Nothing here in South wales. Bollocks, I'll have to go to work after all.

[bub2006]

We get it quiet bad round here dollywobbler. Made it home OK though. Ended up on the a38. Logic saying a busy arterial road will be relatively clear. 15mph maximum on there. Still ended up with an Audi up my arse trying to overtake even though there was drifts and no room. He eventually went past as the road opened up and i could get enough power down to get to the heady heights of 25mph. Also was overtaken by an old smiley face transit with amber beacon flashing and a seat leon on the flat bed. He come sailing past everyone,spraying snow everywhere and going sideways

[dollywobbler]

We get it bad around here too. But not at the moment it seems. Not a flake this morning. Disappointing.

[mat_the_cat]

Went to the toilet 13 times last night and my arse is like a certain Johnny Cash song. 

 

One Piece at a Time?

 

When will people learn that if they are going up hill, moving and not heading towards anything solid not to stop FFS!

 

Too right! We had a few flakes yesterday, although barely any has settled overnight (at this height anyway) but people seemed to not understand the importance of momentum!

 

[chaseracer]

Too right! We had a few flakes yesterday, although barely any has settled overnight (at this height anyway) but people seemed to not understand the importance of momentum!

 

Feckin civilians.

 

Few years ago, I was out in the Dyane and happened upon a line of confused sheeple failing to negotiate a slightly snowy incline.  Nothing oncoming so slow down, change down, signal right and gently accelerate past them.

 

For some reason, they didn't like that...