The grumpy thread

[trigger]

You sure It's not fat fingers on the keyboard and should say "Hurting" down the A1? Which i guess it must feel like driving a 2CV.

[Lankytim]

So if all farms become unprofitable due to cheaper foreign imports, is it O.K to see them all go to the wall and dissapear?

In a nutshell, yes. Tbh I don't think they'll all disappear but if there are too many of them and they're losing money then you could say it's a cull of the weakest. Incidentally I recall when foot and mouth came out that a few weeks before farmers were saying how cows were only worth a tenner and sheep 50p yet when it came to compo time all of a sudden they were worth loads more.If farming really is so bad for some of them and they can't make any money at it why don't they diversify or change careers?If there was too many newsagents in town and some had to shut because they weren't making money would they start protesting? Would the government give them hand outs for not selling twenty L&B? If some go to the wall then so be it. Yeah it'd be a shame but that's life. We can't go on throwing money at a dying cause just because it's traditional, or because they used to make a shed load of money and now don't.

I do get your point, but the reason British/E.U farming is being subbed is because of mega cheap foreign imports, which are also subbed. If the world markets were allowed to settle to their natural level then everyone would get a good deal. Youd have to pay a bit more for your Sunday roast or pint of milk though..Besides, Farmers do an important job apart from producing foodstuffs. They look after the countryside, cut grass and trim hedges, that kind of stuff- which on a large farm is a job in itself. If the Farmers didnt do it, the taxpayer would end up paying to have it done anyway.Ive worked with many farmers over the years, and O.K some of them are a bit eccentric, and all of them are money obsessed but they all work bloody hard for not much money. They may own land a few million quid but they are only the caretakers, not the owners as such.

[dollywobbler]

Hmmm. Not sure that ALL work bloomin' hard for sod all money. Don't get me wrong, I know some blinding folk who do just that, but I also know there are quite a few farmers with brand new Aston Martins...Also, last year, a farmers auction saw one farmer pay £12,000 for a thoroughly rotten Mini Mk1, and another £12,000 for an equally shafted Land Rover! Clearly they aren't all feeling the pinch... (usual case that those with loads and loads of land have the money...)

[Hudsonpie]

People.....Came out of my local Blockbusta the other night to find a guy lying in the road after being knocked off his bike. A few other people had come over to help, and luckily one was a doctor. And say what you like about the yoof....one lad took his obviously very fash jacket off for matey to rest his head on. Now bike man was in a very bad way and had gone into shock and was shaking and sweating and had hurt his legs badly. And a look at his bike said this was no grazed knee affair.As the doctor guy obviosly had the situation under control and his wife was on the phone to the ambulance, I decided to direct the traffic that was starting to pile up. Now this was on a street with cars parked either side so was tight but there is a little side road just before the accident, so I started waving people to go down the side road which also had some cars parked along it and was narrow. Now most people were sympathetic and got what was going on, and the people who were sat in there cars moved straight away when two buses turned up and had to squeeze past with, at one point half an inch to spare. One guy was a bit ignorant when I asked him to pull his pick up forward a couple of foot to give one of the buses a better sweep at the narrow road, but hey ho......But one woman really took the piss, she had ingored my signal to turn right and had tried to carry on, I walked up to her window and explained to the stupid bint that there was a man lying in the road and the traffic would have to be cleared so that the ambulance could get through.....Bitch..."Oh I cant go that way I need to go through, cant you just move him to the side of the road....?"Me..."No hes pretty bad....he cant be moved...."Bitch..."I cant go that way I'll be late..."Me..."Where are you going...?"I did'nt even get the question out before she reversed in a huff nearly mowing down another guy who was helping with the traffic, and almost hittng a car that was waiting while the second bus squeezed through.In fact I've never seen such a faff, all she had to do was go back ten feet then turn....god I wanted a gun....and 10/10 to whoever shouted out "Stupid cow..."... The ambulance turned up and normal service was resumed. All the people who helped were brilliant, even the lad who moved his dads Civic Type R despite not having a licence, but this one woman really got to me.I wanted to gouge her eyes out with a spoon and take the eyes to the accident scene to show her what was going on....

[Minimad5]

Well done Hudsonpie Respect to you sirTHANK YOU ... for mentioning that not all youth are fools.I'm sure the lad "was" licensed.. he just forgot it Have you heard on how the Bike victim is doing ?

[Hudsonpie]

Thanks Minimad, I hope he is ok too....It might have been in the local rag, but I tend not to buy it as.....(little rant about my local rag coming....).....the first page is usually some shit about a drug dealer getting busted in Torquay, then some shit about the police responding to a domestic of some kind....in Torquay. and a little column about a car getting broken into....in Torquay. The letters page, usually consisting of twenty old biddys moaning about the council...in Torquay.....Twenty five pages of property, none of which I will ever be able to afford.A Lidl ad...The TV page...The classifieds, lots of crap for sale.Lonely hearts/massage/happy ending etc...Twenty pages of sport.There is one little bit that I will look at if I am looking through said rag, the cars under £500/£300/£200 bit.....ace.

[mattblack]

Incidentally I recall when foot and mouth came out that a few weeks before farmers were saying how cows were only worth a tenner and sheep 50p yet when it came to compo time all of a sudden they were worth loads more.

I can also remember them saying 'Farming's a bussiness, there's no room for sentiment...' and then all of a sudden every cow was a member of the family and called Buttercup or Daisy...And on the subject of slip roads, if I have the courtesy to move over to let you out, WHILE TRAVELLING AT THE SPEED LIMIT, have the courtesy to hang back just a tad so I can pull back in will you? I know it will take a few seconds of your precious time not to accelerate up 65 in a 50 straight away, but hey...

[Mr Lobster]

People.....

Woman sounds like a typical self obsessed twat with little regard for anyone other than themselves....Still, on the other side its good to see that the vast majority of people will help others in a crisis and that contrary to what the Daily Hate says, most people are generally decent.

[trigger]

Fuck.My wife has just phoned me, She driving her 2004 Nissan Micra home and the power steering has just got heavy and there a red PS light on the dash.Just done a google search and found a thread on Honest John's forum about it, it seems it's a common fault where the electric power steering motor packs up and it's a £1000 for a new one. Bollocks, Bollocks, Bollocks. It does say that's possible to reset them for £45+vat, Hope that's true.

[Mr H Sceptre]

Fuck.My wife has just phoned me, She driving her 2004 Nissan Micra home and the power steering has just got heavy and there a red PS light on the dash.Just done a google search and found a thread on Honest John's forum about it, it seems it's a common fault where the electric power steering motor packs up and it's a £1000 for a new one. Bollocks, Bollocks, Bollocks. It does say that's possible to reset them for £45+vat, Hope that's true.

Ouch! As you correctly say, 'bollocks'.Is it driveable home?

[Milford Cubicle]

Nice work modern overcomplicated but cost-cut cars!

[dollywobbler]

Chap I used to work with had a C3 that needed 'rebooting' to cure electric PAS issues a few times.

[Mr H Sceptre]

'Rebooting' and 'car' should never be used in the same sentence. You'd never use 'carburetor' and 'laptop' together would you.Modern pieces of crap.

[Albert Ross]

Disconnect the battery for 10 minutes, and reconnect, see what happens.................... It works on Citroens and Peugeots.

[Mr Lobster]

Awful lot of Renault Clio in recent Micras. And therein lies the problem. Hope its a relatively simple fix trigger.

[trigger]

Well that's strange, She's come home still with the fault and turned the engine off, I've hopped into it run it around the block to see what the problem is and it's cleared?.Just been to Sainsburys and back to get diesel and not had any problems at all, It must of cleared its self some how.Another good reason why modern cars are a pain in the arse, Why do you do need a electric motor that makes the steering mega light under 5mph anyway, It's only a little Micra, It's hardly a Bus.

[Cavcraft]

Probably the blight of the modern car a bloody sensor of some sort.

[Milford Cubicle]

Another good reason why modern cars are a pain in the arse, Why do you do need a electric motor that makes the steering mega light under 5mph anyway, It's only a little Micra, It's hardly a Bus.

It's an electric pump, does away with the old hydraulic system altogether, so it's quieter and more fuel efficient - but a PITA if it goes wrong.

[Mr Lobster]

Probably. Surprising how often turning it off & on again cures it. I've been running around in a Combo van for the last few weeks. Very occasionally the battery light comes on. Off & on cures it though so I'm not investigating any further.

[trigger]

£525 pounds alone just for a recon electric pump of ebay, Hope it's just a glitch although reading some of the horror stories on the web doesn't fill me with hope.One person had to have a new one fitted after 5500 miles and another after 22000 miles, Mines done 75000 now so it doesn't sound great.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Out of interest, do the Haynes manuals for newer cars cover things like 'rebooting'? Can it be done at home, like programming ignition keys using the special red key etc?

[seth]

You'd never use 'carburetor' and 'laptop' together would you.

Errr, we will be tomorrow

[Polystratus]

Out of interest, do the Haynes manuals for newer cars cover things like 'rebooting'? Can it be done at home, like programming ignition keys using the special red key etc?

They say either refer to dealer, or to another Haynes manual that just covers automotive electrics. You can get code readers to plug in to do the diagnostics.

[r.welfare]

A £25 code reader/resetter is a good investment for a modern. On the electric PAS front, my mother-in-law's Fabia has been doing this intermittently for the last two or three years without actually losing the power assistance at any point.

[MrDuke]

Why do you do need a electric motor that makes the steering mega light under 5mph anyway, It's only a little Micra, It's hardly a Bus.

.I think you'll find all moderns do actually need PAS, even small hatches. Apparently a new Fiesta weighs considerably more than a Volvo 240 estate, and they'll only be getting heavier.

[trigger]

I can understand the power steering bit but many of these newer car's now have a setting which makes the power steering even lightly when travelling under 5 mph, My Micra you can steer with your little finger when reversing, Just seems a bit pointless on such a light car.

[seth]

Just seems a bit pointless on such a light car.

What! You mean you expect people to actually put in some mild effort to drive these days?!

[Lankytim]

I think you'll find all moderns do actually need PAS, even small hatches. Apparently a new Fiesta weighs considerably more than a Volvo 240 estate, and they'll only be getting heavier.

WHAAAA? heavier than a 240??

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Out of interest, do the Haynes manuals for newer cars cover things like 'rebooting'? Can it be done at home, like programming ignition keys using the special red key etc?

They say either refer to dealer, or to another Haynes manual that just covers automotive electrics. You can get code readers to plug in to do the diagnostics.

Interesting.The Mini Haynes manual does instruct you to take the car to your Rover dealer if the sunroof needs attention. Mine leaks but my Rover dealer is too busy not existing to help.

[M'coli]

I think you'll find all moderns do actually need PAS, even small hatches. Apparently a new Fiesta weighs considerably more than a Volvo 240 estate, and they'll only be getting heavier.

WHAAAA? heavier than a 240??

Hell yeah! 5 door clio diesel is over 1200kg!