The grumpy thread

[mat_the_cat]

The wind outside (as opposed to the wind inside - silly sod I am   ) is gusting up to 90mph apparently. Tis a tad breezy out there and some of that tad breeziness is finding its way inside through various gaps...

 

Never had it so strong around here, and we've lost the garden shed already

 

 

 

My home-made woodshed still standing though, although standing inside the caravan next to it you can see the walls bowing inwards with the pressure. It's not going to be a quiet night!

[Louise2cv]

I am a bit frightened. Wind is the worst type of weather for me.

[cobblers]

Virgin.

 

Aye.

My mams got a SH1 that has refused to give internet to 25% of stuff you connect to it. It'll let you connect but won't allocate an IP address. 

 

Even though speedtest.net reckons 80mbps+ you can't even watch a 240p youtube video without buffering on any device, they refuse to acknowledge a problem and tried to sell her a wireless range extender despite the fact that she has problems even when actually plugged in to the router.

 

I'm on sky with 6.5mbps at best and can quite happily stream 1080p50 off youtube fine. It's shit for bittorrent though.

[eddyramrod]

All this talk of PA Crestas.... I had a Velox, when I was 18 ffs! and never got to drive it more than a couple of feet on the driveway.  Still never driven one on the road.  It's still firmly the most beautiful car ever built this side of the Atlantic.

 

Also, this wind.  I live on the west coast.  Say no more!  My guard-Chihuahua keeps thinking someone's trying to break in, and barks to warn them off.  Of course Mr Wind isn't listening.

[DS20]

Winter.  The cold, the dark, the enormous heating bill.  I haz a winter-related grumpy.  

[HillmanImp]

I have not been on here for a few days as at the weekend Mrs Imps old man had a minor heart attack. He's okay of course it just required a couple of stents but my time was taken up going over to the hospital and getting pissed in various pubs nearby whilst she visited him and then offering/slurring moral support when she came out. 

 

I was meant to be driving the Shag all week as because of the time spent at the hospital (and maybe the amount of drink I had) it meant I never got round to changing the rear shock absorber, on the other side to the one that failed just before Christmas. The replacement had finally arrived in the post last week. Did not really fancy risking the suspension going on the other side so had decided not to drive it.

 

Woke up this morning to a thin layer of snow on the road outside. I drive to work over Otley chevin and really did not fancy risking the Shag with its massive cheap tyres if it was really bad over the hills so thought, sod it and jumped in the Visa (you can probably see where this is going). 

 

I had still not fitted the winter tyres to the Visa but the nice thin wheels would be bob on in the snow compared to the Shag. Even so I chucked the winter tyres in the boot and headed off to work. Traffic was a nightmare round Guiseley but it always is. I fucking hate that place. 

 

Got to work without incident, even with the winter tyres in the boot, which will obviously have been taking grip away from the front wheels with the extra weight at the rear. I was thinking whilst driving down some snowy side roads that I am probably the only person that has a set of winter tyres for their car that is effectively using them to make the car less grippy in snow. If I had binned it I might have been up for a Darwin for that.

 

Anyhoooo, I digress. I booked the Visa in at Alan's tyres and got them fitted. Was a bit pricey at £40 but not the end of the world. Headed back to work and as I was turning into the office block I heard a BOOM as the rear suspension collapsed in exactly the same way as the other side. What a load of arsebiscuits.

 

So the car is laid up at work. I could have got the RAC out to drag me home but I am just going to go over and repair it at the office at the weekend. The carpark is nice and flat and  had plenty of space unlike here. 

 

Its my own fault for not sorting it out at the weekend. Ho-hum.

 

I am looking outside now and its not snowing but I can guarantee it will, and heavily, as I will need to get to work in the morning and the car with the skinny sensible winter tyres is already there whilst I am 13 miles away in the big car with wide wheels with no weight over the drive end for minimum grippiness. 

 

 

[maxpower]

this is what mine's thinks of Mr Wind

 

[Ghosty]

I was supposed to go to court today to give evidence against the cunts that mugged me in October, along with another lad that was mugged by them a few days before, but it turns out they split the trial and only heard his part today.

Nobody thought to tell me this so I was sat in a waiting room for nearly 4 hours doing fuck all, and only got told I could leave because the woman from the witness care unit was confused as to why I'd been sat there so long, went to the courtroom to see what was going on, and it was empty.

[beko1987]

Ooops, we may not have been paying our TV License (since we rarely watch it), and a summons has landed on the doormat in SWMBO's name

 

I'm dead...

[Cavcraft]

That's shit, Ghosty. Are you at least spared having to go to court now though?

[Rocket88]

I was supposed to go to court today to give evidence against the cunts that mugged me in October, along with another lad that was mugged by them a few days before, but it turns out they split the trial and only heard his part today.

Nobody thought to tell me this so I was sat in a waiting room for nearly 4 hours doing fuck all, and only got told I could leave because the woman from the witness care unit was confused as to why I'd been sat there so long, went to the courtroom to see what was going on, and it was empty.

 

That's ok, you're only the innocent victim, and therefore entitled to no consideration at all...............

[dave21478]

Every dealing I have ever had with court rooms has been a similar clusterfuck from start to finish and has left me with quite an aversion to the whole system.

[dollywobbler]

Aye. It's an unruly mess in the law courts. I briefly worked for a solicitor before sanity got the better of me, and regularly spent hour after hour waiting at courts for nothing to happen. I remember one over-running case saw ours get bumped to another court, where we waited for ages before discovering that this court didn't have a jury. All sent home. 

 

That was a proper Jeremy Kyle case too. One witness: "Am I ok to say this without getting in trouble? I chased the defendant with a machete." Defendant's ex came in with amateur dramatics but the defence barrister soon had her ranting like 'Am I bothered' girl. To be fair to the judge, he sent everyone but the legal teams out and then suggested there wasn't much of a case here at all. Still, that case managed to eat up two days of my life. I decided law wasn't for me after all and spent most of the time at the office teaching myself how to use Macros - which then became useful in my next job.

[Bren]

I have not been on here for a few days as at the weekend Mrs Imps old man had a minor heart attack. He's okay of course it just required a couple of stents but my time was taken up going over to the hospital and getting pissed in various pubs nearby whilst she visited him and then offering/slurring moral support when she came out. 

 

I was meant to be driving the Shag all week as because of the time spent at the hospital (and maybe the amount of drink I had) it meant I never got round to changing the rear shock absorber, on the other side to the one that failed just before Christmas. The replacement had finally arrived in the post last week. Did not really fancy risking the suspension going on the other side so had decided not to drive it.

 

Woke up this morning to a thin layer of snow on the road outside. I drive to work over Otley chevin and really did not fancy risking the Shag with its massive cheap tyres if it was really bad over the hills so thought, sod it and jumped in the Visa (you can probably see where this is going). 

 

I had still not fitted the winter tyres to the Visa but the nice thin wheels would be bob on in the snow compared to the Shag. Even so I chucked the winter tyres in the boot and headed off to work. Traffic was a nightmare round Guiseley but it always is. I fucking hate that place. 

 

Got to work without incident, even with the winter tyres in the boot, which will obviously have been taking grip away from the front wheels with the extra weight at the rear. I was thinking whilst driving down some snowy side roads that I am probably the only person that has a set of winter tyres for their car that is effectively using them to make the car less grippy in snow. If I had binned it I might have been up for a Darwin for that.

 

Anyhoooo, I digress. I booked the Visa in at Alan's tyres and got them fitted. Was a bit pricey at £40 but not the end of the world. Headed back to work and as I was turning into the office block I heard a BOOM as the rear suspension collapsed in exactly the same way as the other side. What a load of arsebiscuits.

 

So the car is laid up at work. I could have got the RAC out to drag me home but I am just going to go over and repair it at the office at the weekend. The carpark is nice and flat and  had plenty of space unlike here. 

 

Its my own fault for not sorting it out at the weekend. Ho-hum.

 

I am looking outside now and its not snowing but I can guarantee it will, and heavily, as I will need to get to work in the morning and the car with the skinny sensible winter tyres is already there whilst I am 13 miles away in the big car with wide wheels with no weight over the drive end for minimum grippiness. 

Glad your F-i-L is ok.

 

A friend of ours had a number of stents inserted before christmas. A physically fit 44 year old having a heart attack - you just never know.

[cort1977]

Agree courts can be a right mess.

 

Once went to court as a witness to a traffic accident.   It was open and shut, the idiot defendant was completely in the wrong.   I strongly suspect that his solicitor advised him to get it to go to trial in the hope that the victim might not turn up (she was very old poor lady) or the witnesses wouldn't show etc etc.   When they saw all the witnesses were there they just pleaded (plead?) guilty.   Wouldn't mind but me and my mate had to take a day off work, drive from Aberdeen to Inverness, hang around all morning only for the scrote to plead guilty which he could have done by post months before.

[Bren]

That's ok, you're only the innocent victim, and therefore entitled to no consideration at all...............

Believe me, the CPS are a law unto themselves.

[Ghosty]

That's shit, Ghosty. Are you at least spared having to go to court now though?

No, I'm bloody not - got a phonecall from the witness care unit after I left saying I should expect to be back in March.

Basically - adjourned 2 months because they made one case for two seperate incidents with the same defendants, then realised it was too big at the 16th hour.

 

After the year I've had here so far, I'm seriously considering fucking off back to Manchester when the academic year's over. I don't feel safe here.

[jakebullet]

Tax credits helpline.

 

Letter arrives demanding information, you must phone us on our premium rate number. So I do. First joy, their computer doesn't understand yorkshire accents. Tax credits. TAX CREDITS. FFS taaaaaaax creeedits. I'm then on hold for 33 minutes, with farty tunes volume 6, and the robot bint reassuring me someone will give a shit shortly.

 

Some vaguely human twat comes on the line, what do I want? So your income was a pittance? Jolly good. I'll ask you the same question in 3 slightly different ways to try and trick you into saying a different amount. And your childcare costs haven't changed? Er, no. Given I have zero children I think they're likely to remain pretty static.....

[michael1703]

Bollock pain, the right one for a day and a half and now the left ones hurting.

 

Might need looser pants or I'm going to have to go to a doctor and get my plums out

[AnthonyG]

Don't want to scare you, but that needs checking out sharpish.

 

I had the same, went to a GP on Monday, was under the knife by Wednesday

 

To be fair the NHS really proved itself then, and I am now nearly 12 years older than I thought I would be in 2003

[xtriple]

Bollock pain, the right one for a day and a half and now the left ones hurting.

 

Might need looser pants or I'm going to have to go to a doctor and get my plums out

That don't sound like fun! One of the few things on me that DON'T hurt are my danglers- which is just as well as a previous girlfriend nicknamed me: 'Billy big balls'!

[cobblers]

Sony head units. All the features, but with a front panel designed entirely by marketing wankers.

 

I have several. I bought one, it was a disappointment and is now in a drawer.

This one came in the latest car and it really infuriates me.

 

 

It's not that offensive to look at, but the buttons are impossibly small and laid out terribly.

See that massive button with "ZAP" written on it? that makes it go into some mode where it plays ten seconds of every song. I have no idea why it does this or what the aim is, but it takes about 20 seconds of random button mashing to get out of.

See the button below right of the volume knob? The easiest one to find. A single click of it makes the backlighting constantly cycle colours like a fucking fibre optic christmas tree. It takes 12 button presses to put it back to red.

 

Next track and previous track are really hard to press without knocking "source" or "ZAP" because they are recessed and a stupid shape. You have to hit them right in the middle or they bind up and don't work.

 

It beeps every time I turn the ignition off. You can't stop it doing this.

 

Every time you disconnect the battery it goes into demo mode where it lights up blue, beeps every time you press a button and flashes lights and stuff constantly. You have to turn every single stupid setting back off manually, individually.

 

When adjusting the volume, if you go over a bump and accidentally press the knob it puts you into a sound menu. It has something called EQ7 which basically makes everything sound shit and distort. I accidentally turned it on and now I can't work out how to turn it off, just how to change the EQ7 mode. 

 

The technology behind it is great, but it's just designed to look good in a shop display with absolutely fuck all thought given to actually having to use it every day.

[Cavcraft]

Oh aye, court cases. Took a day off work once as I was witness to (what turned out to be a really horrible arrogant) driver jump a light, plough into a taxi driver then try to blame him. Sat there most of the day bored beyond belief, went up, told the truth, taxi driver rightly got compo'd.

 

Fast forwards all of fucking three days later and I'm on the way home from the pub in the same taxi driver's cab. Stops outside my house and f*ck me, he's asked for the full fare! I paid it then told him the next time he was in a crash he'd better hope I didn't witness it, the tight bastard. 

[twosmoke300]

Ahh the fucking Sony beep. Really grinds my gears.

[dugong]

Sony head units. All the features, but with a front panel designed entirely by marketing wankers.

Is it mechless, cobs? The Clarion below has the cleanest face design I've seen for a while in a modern head unit - it's just a pity it doesn't make different illumination options (I'm sad enough to want the buttons to match the instruments at night).

 

I'm getting one for the KNOB_VAN at some stage. I have to go mechless because there's so little depth in the dashboard for a CD unit. 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200917071438?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[Joey spud]

I woke up with a sore and swollen ball when i was in my early twenties and went to the docs after work at 6pm.

 

By 8pm i was under the knife having a twisted testicle sorted out.

 

Dont take any chances with your nads is my advice.

[Honey Badger]

Is it mechless, cobs? The Clarion below has the cleanest face design I've seen for a while in a modern head unit - it's just a pity it doesn't make different illumination options (I'm sad enough to want the buttons to match the instruments at night).I'm getting one for the KNOB_VAN at some stage. I have to go mechless because there's so little depth in the dashboard for a CD unit. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200917071438?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Thanks for that Dugong, just the kind of head unit I was looking for, I like clarion stuff

 

Slightly cheaper here

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Clarion-FZ102E/dp/B00BS67ZEE/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1421358802&sr=1-4&keywords=clarion

[cobblers]

Is it mechless, cobs? The Clarion below has the cleanest face design I've seen for a while in a modern head unit - it's just a pity it doesn't make different illumination options (I'm sad enough to want the buttons to match the instruments at night).

 

I'm getting one for the KNOB_VAN at some stage. I have to go mechless because there's so little depth in the dashboard for a CD unit. 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200917071438?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

I have also got a mechless one and it's even fucking worse! The volume knob is a "mega control joystick" which makes it impossible to actually control cos any slight bump means you knock it the wrong way and it all goes to shit. After 20 minutes it gets hot and starts intermittently losing connection to the USB device every 5 minutes. That clarion looks nice and basic but a bit too much like something from a 1997 argos catalogue for me (I realise this is a plus for most people but I've got a 2005 VAG HOT HATCH. The lights are the right colour tho!)

[steve_earwig]

That Sony looks like the thing that was in the Iveco I hired last year, nothing seems to do what you expect, I spent a while stabbing at it but eventually slapped it with the palm of my hand - it released the face part thing and it fell out on the floor. Perfect.

[Pillock]

I quite like that Clarion, shame its twice my meagre budget. I'll probably end up with a mechless Argos one with all the problems discussed above, because above all I never learn.

 

I had a Wharfdale from Argos. Every feature under the sun, none of which worked well. Thankfully it broke after four months, the lass at Argos just rolled her eyes and said something about "putting it with the others" as she did a refund.