The grumpy thread

[bub2006]

The first time going is hard. Hell ive moved back into my nans more times thsn i care to imagine over my adult life. Ive been shit on robbed and abused physically and mentally by obe ex in the past so ended up going back again. I understand its a different kettle of fish but trust me pal you will cone out a lot stronger in the end. Your lass loves you. Focus on the good times ahead. You cant change other people nor change your past but the future is yours and yours alone to influence. Chin up fella and all the best

[taxi paul]

I am with you chompy. Due to my wife's cancer I am no longer working and being at home all day is a pain . I can't go far in case my wife needs me . I am not complaining my wife is more important than my needs. It's just that how people can sit and watch telly all day I don't know. I was going to decorate the house but the paint smell made my wife sick so I won't be doing that. I have took all the wheels off the crv and painted all inside the arches and undersea led it has well. I used to read a lot so I have been to charity shop and got some crime thrillers and I shall have a go at Reading again. I have also bought some bits of 1950's repro furniture for cheap. I can sand them down and re varnish them , if the weather gets drier so I can do them in the garden. There is such a thing has adult ADHD . I think I may have it has I can't sit still. I also hate winter. Have you thought about volunteering some where . Like a local food Bank or something. Just a thing to give you a bit of structure to your day and also meeting new people.

[ShiteRider]

Should've been in work 20 minutes ago......i've got the pedal in the carpet.

Sadly it's the clutch pedal, just waiting for tesco to open so (i hope) i can buy some dot 4.

It's only dropped an inch from the top off the resevoir so hopefully i can just lob some in to get enough of a pedal to get to work.

Orl voxhalls etc.

[Richard]

If it's covering the bottom of the reservoir topping it up won't help.

[Guest Hooli]

Start off in gear & rev match, it's a skill worth learning anyway. I once got back to Sussex from mid Wales like that.

[beko1987]

If it's a vauxhall corsa/meriva/probably everything 2000-2005 it'll need the right fluid level, also, has the pipe that takes the fluid from the master cylinder to the clutch popped off?

 

Years ago I was fettling Amys old corsa C and knocked off an innocent looking 'breather' pipe. 3 days later when the clutch went I realised it actually took all the fluid to the master cylinder. Fixed it in halfords car park, scuttle off, wiper arms off, alot of blood and cuts later got the slippery with brake fluid pipe back on, topped it all up and with a few pumps of the pedal it was fine.

 

I used to drive my old 1.4 zx by rev matching, was fun. Can't seem to do it in the xantia, it wont come out of gear unless the clutch is down and I'm not forcing it

 

Good luck!

[ShiteRider]

I'm going to need it i've had to boss on the phone going apeshit, i've been told to get a taxi in and take the 3.5t beavertail home. Fuck that for a game of soldiers i work 30+ miles away!

When it stops with freezing rain i'm walking the 3 miles to halfords. Tesco only has screenwash, all the other car stuff has been replaced with 'christmas stock'.....cunts.

[beko1987]

If your in High Wycombe/Maidenhead I'll take an early lunch, otherwise best of luck!

[Cavcraft]

What a swear word your boss sounds. That happened in my last job, I walked a mile in the rain then turned round and phoned in sick for a week with a cold.

[beko1987]

It makes me realize how lucky I am in my job, when I was stood by the xantia after it slipped the cambelt my boss just said no worries, mornings annual leave sorted keep him updated, then I got home at 3 and worked until 6, nothing more was said!

 

Same when the rear height corrector fucked up, morning annual leave sorted, and applause when I made it in 5 minutes late in the afternoon after fixing it!

[Supernaut]

I love being free of the rat race that is the commute. I live less than a mile from my work, so just walk/cycle and always know exactly how long it'll take me.

[Supernaut]

Also, connections to external sites at work are working painfully slowly.

 

This is due to some people in the fluids labs apparently transferring 'large amounts of data' to the point that our firewall is completely bricking it. The dickheads are doing it over lunch and have locked up their lab and fucked off for lunch themselves. It's well above my paygrade, but you'd think that a 5-6 figure piece of enterprise-level networking equipment would have some sort of safeguard against this in place. Instead, the entire university's external internet connection is on its knees at the moment. FFS.

[Bren]

A few days ago were were warned for snow and freezing temperatures.

 

Instead we have had rain of biblical proportions- so much so the carpets in the A6 are wet due to a blocked plenum. When I poked the drain through it was akin to pulling the bottom hose off a rad that much water came out. Well done VAG.

 

Instead of cutting police, fire NHS etc get rid of the met office - I could do a better job with tea leaves and fir cones.

[Captain Furious]

Not sure if this is a grump or a grin

 

A quote from the Wall Street Journal but I can't link it because it's subscription, about Students who are upset about the outcome of the election so have had to have a "cry in day"

 

“People are frustrated, people are just really sad and shocked,†said Trey Boynton, the director of multi-ethnic student affairs at the University of Michigan. “A lot of people are feeling like there has been a loss. We talked about grief today and about the loss of hope that this election would solidify the progress that was being made.â€

 

There was a steady flow of students entering Ms. Boynton’s office Wednesday. They spent the day sprawled around the center, playing with Play-Doh and coloring in coloring books, as they sought comfort and distraction."

No wonder the world is going to hell in a handcart with these soft cunts...cry in days and therapy dogs, fuck me, now I really do fear for the future

[twosmoke300]

A few days ago were were warned for snow and freezing temperatures.

 

Instead we have had rain of biblical proportions- so much so the carpets in the A6 are wet due to a blocked plenum. When I poked the drain through it was akin to pulling the bottom hose off a rad that much water came out. Well done VAG.

 

Instead of cutting police, fire NHS etc get rid of the met office - I could do a better job with tea leaves and fir cones.

 

Even better is the designers of this "premium" car also put the convience control unit in the front footwell under the carpets !

[Bren]

They did - and many a poor owner has been stung.

[chaseracer]

Certainly, they'd be poor afterwards.

[Cavcraft]

Just to add the absolute wankery lever of driving skills* recently this evening one driving instructor was almost touching the bumper of the car in front at 50mph and another had (presumably) a learner driving with the fog lights on.

[saucedoctor]

I saw a driving instructor using his phone while driving last night. I really need to get another dashcam.

[Tickman]

....... another had (presumably) a learner driving with the fog lights on.

When the Corsa came out the fog light illuminated the switch only BSM had so many that when they complained that a warning light was put on the dash.

 

Sorry for the useless Vauxhall info.

[Lankytim]

Yesterday the Wife's water pump on her Multipla died a rattly watery death, Today the PT cruisers front brakes seem to be sticking on when reversing, causing a horrible juddering. No idea what could be causing it unless crappy aftermarket pads are getting stuck or something.

 

Busy weekend ahead and I'm already fully booked with family shit.

[Louise2cv]

New (to us) car buying and child car seats.

 

[Parental health and safety angst]

 

WHY aren't things that are legal requirements STANDARDISED???!

 

In some cars Megan's Britax seat will fit. Some it won't. I can get my head around that. But, some cars it can go in rear facing or forward facing (which is why we bought this chair), in others it will only go in forward facing.

 

Huw's seat is fitted slightly differently and with this chair the stumbling block is seatbelt length. Who knew seat belts were different lengths? Who knew that some popular family cars have rear seat belts that are too short for use with some child seats?

 

Then there is something about the child seat not touching the seat belt buckle, which seems to be vitally important but not really known about.

 

I'm sure it'll all work out I'm just panicking that I'm going to spend a shed load of money on a car and then find we are stranded because the seats don't fit and then have to spend a further £200 or £300 on child seats.

 

[/Parental health and safety angst]

 

 

In my day we slid around on or got stuck to the skin melting vinyl and enjoyed it etc etc

[chaseracer]

In my day we bounced around in the back of a 1967 Mini van and enjoyed it etc etc

 

"I am considerably older than yow", etc. etc. 

[Kiltox]

Mentioned on social media that I have this Astravan coming in on Monday - guy keeps messaging me about it.

Told him it's here on Monday and the price is firm, he can see it on Monday once I confirm it's here

 

Messaging me every hour or so with stuff like "can you let me know the address so I can pick up on Monday m8" 

"what's the engine size"

"how long is the MOT"

It's like a heartbeat to check that I'm still alive!

[beko1987]

New (to us) car buying and child car seats.

 

[Parental health and safety angst]

 

WHY aren't things that are legal requirements STANDARDISED???!

 

In some cars Megan's Britax seat will fit. Some it won't. I can get my head around that. But, some cars it can go in rear facing or forward facing (which is why we bought this chair), in others it will only go in forward facing.

 

Huw's seat is fitted slightly differently and with this chair the stumbling block is seatbelt length. Who knew seat belts were different lengths? Who knew that some popular family cars have rear seat belts that are too short for use with some child seats?

 

Then there is something about the child seat not touching the seat belt buckle, which seems to be vitally important but not really known about.

 

I'm sure it'll all work out I'm just panicking that I'm going to spend a shed load of money on a car and then find we are stranded because the seats don't fit and then have to spend a further £200 or £300 on child seats.

 

[/Parental health and safety angst]

 

 

In my day we slid around on or got stuck to the skin melting vinyl and enjoyed it etc etc

The newborn car seat we have had for both kids just about fits in the Meriva, as in the front seat has to go right forward, and the seatbelt just reaches around and clicks in.

 

He's not far off outgrowing it now thankfully so we can get rid of it!

 

I had to push it into the seat foam of the first ZX I had with Eva in it to get it to fit, it's fine once the belt is on but it has to go over the back bit when balloons out before it thins out where the belt clips in.

[dave21478]

Child seats can be a proper nightmare. When I was a shop monkey for Halfords, kids seats were the bane of everyones working day. I got sent on a training course about them, so it always fell to me to be the one dragging the display models out to the carpark to try in peoples cars. The range of vehicle seats, seatbelt lengths and locations is boggling and the difference between the way the same kid seat fitted in different cars was massive.

Apparently the buckle shouldnt touch the seat frame due to it possibly exerting forces in the wrong direction on the buckle in the event of a crash. Dont be afraid to get a little violent when fitting, some required a knee on the seat (remove child first) and full adult bodyweight to press it into the seat foam before fastening the belt in order to get them to hold tightly.

Ah, the joys of wrestling 4 different seats into the back of somebodys 3-door Punto on a rainy saturday afternoon, trying not to trail muddy water all over their carpet and rummaging around amongst the crayons, half-sucked sweeties and fluff down the back of seat cushions to find belts and buckles......

 

I think ISOfix is intended do solve this but I got out of the game before it became common so dont know anything about it.

[Louise2cv]

We went paranoid parent extended rear facing so have extra hurdles of tether straps and props, neither seat is iso-fix because iso-fix seat only go up to 18kg but kids have to be in seats at weights up to 25kg

 

The other annoying thing is that they have a recommended use of 5 years which is annoying when you buy something that boasts of "being the only chair you need, ages 0 to 7!"

[Cavcraft]

Mentioned on social media that I have this Astravan coming in on Monday - guy keeps messaging me about it.

 

Told him it's here on Monday and the price is firm, he can see it on Monday once I confirm it's here

 

Messaging me every hour or so with stuff like "can you let me know the address so I can pick up on Monday m8"

 

"what's the engine size"

 

"how long is the MOT"

 

It's like a heartbeat to check that I'm still alive!

I get that quite a lot and when they finally take me, I either tell them to FRO or just block them

[Cavcraft]

Louise, not sure how old your kids are but there's been something on the BBC news this morning about babies in car seats.

[Louise2cv]

Ta Cav, the lady in the shop mentioned this, I think it's for new babies but I'll look it up, cheers