The grumpy thread

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I like to see old giffers driving about in battle-scarred cars, gives me hope that when I'm old and blind as a bat, i'll still be able to wobble down the road bumping up kerbs etc which is what its all about innit.

[saabhappy]

Remember that silly women - Maureen? - who was on telly a while back and had failed the test about 20 times. They made a whole series based on what a shockingly bad driver she was and she became a "celebrity" (yuk!) for a while. At the end she passed....perhaps she's the one who nearly cleaned up retrogeezer!

[wuvvum]

My wife's Grandmother was apparently very scary. Didn't really pass her test as she was so old there wasn't actually one.

My mum's mother was the same - she never passed a test as she was just given a license during the war so she could drive ambulances. Grandad always said she'd never have passed a test even then. She gave up driving when I was about 11 so my rides in her car were exciting rather than terrifying, and to be fair she never had an accident to my knowledge, but she did cause a fair few near misses...

[Station]

Old women! Was driving down an A road in my Astra with excellent visibilty at 60 mph. An old woman is sat in a side road ahead, clearly looking in my direction for about 5 seconds. She waits until I'm am about to pass, and then decides to pull out right in front of me. I slam on, go sideways around car, fishtailing all over the place in a big cloud of dust and then carry on as if nothing happened. How she didn't see a bright red car approaching from 100 yards with EYE contact?!My mate was the worst, he was simply the shittest driver I've ever seen. He used to approach a junction and just fly straight over because he just didn't know it was a junction - observational skills = 0. He said he was buying a Hyundai Coupe, which was nice, but it turned out to be an Accent Coupe.

[sporty-shite]

Sometimes, these old giffers just don't realise how bad their driving is.My grandad gave up driving after having a low speed bump into a railing, as he didn't actually realise it was there, he just didn't see it.After the accident, he had an eye test, and was declared virtually blind as a result of undiagnosed diabetes.

[maxpower]

my ex's grandad was 86yrs old when he was forced to give up driving... he had gone out to shop for a few bits n bobs and had forgotten where he had left the car when my ex or her mum went round they thought he had gone out or was at his social club, not realising he was at home carless.. it wasnt until a week had passed that they thought something was wrong so they got into his home and seeing the car gone reported it stolen... the police informed them that the car had been left slap bang in the middle of the road unlocked!! and it had been in there pound since that day. his memory had just completely gone at that split second i guess and he just left the car dementia was diagnosed and his days at the wheel was over

[Mr H Sceptre]

The same thing happened to my mate's Dad - kept forgetting where he'd left his car. Altzhiemers was eventually diagnosed. Sad.

[myglaren]

I fear it won't be very long before I fall into this category

[warren t claim]

A bit of a surreal one this.....I woke up this morning thinking I would solve all my money problems by selling my tidy Scrote RS1800 I bought 20 years ago...Then I realised I was dreaming... And I never bought it 20 years ago because I thought it was a bad investment at £1200 ish. Bollocks.I fucking need to talk to Frank asap!

[AlsoMike]

I'm going to change the subject slightly from old giffers, mainly because the thought of my Gran behind the wheel of a car scares me somewhat, but mainly because of my new enemy...PHYSICS!Why do you hate me physics? Why?! Why can't I complete the most simple of day to day tasks without you attempting to thwart my every move?! Screws fall from my grasp, plastic clips disintegrate at the sight of my hands and fibreglass snaps at the mere-ist hint of pressure. WHY?! I merely wish to carry out simple tasks and yet YOU MOCK ME! Recovering the headlining of my 205 was all I wished to do and yet you have laughed in the face of my attempts you rotten swine bastard. And now you further my despair by spilling my beer, your end is near, BEWARE.

[warren t claim]

Fucking car insurance.Renewal quote for a 160mph Suzuki Gsxr600...£8 per month.Classic insurance quote for the Mr Duke Volvo...£1337.40 per year.Go fucking figure.

[myglaren]

Have you tried Footman James?

[whitevanman]

Grumpiness..............why am I not !!!!! I'll loose my place in the charts

[Mr H Sceptre]

Fucking car insurance.Renewal quote for a 160mph Suzuki Gsxr600...£8 per month.Classic insurance quote for the Mr Duke Volvo...£1337.40 per year.Go fucking figure.

Lancaster Insurance have always been pretty cheap for me.http://www.lancasterinsurance.co.uk/

[chester drawers]

My shite is insured with these. Very reasonable and no call centre bullshit

 

http://www.bishopcalway.co.uk/

[Station]

News for the next month: Party leaders saying how other parties are shitter.

[j-j]

I'm going to change the subject slightly from old giffers, mainly because the thought of my Gran behind the wheel of a car scares me somewhat, but mainly because of my new enemy...PHYSICS!Why do you hate me physics? Why?! Why can't I complete the most simple of day to day tasks without you attempting to thwart my every move?! Screws fall from my grasp, plastic clips disintegrate at the sight of my hands and fibreglass snaps at the mere-ist hint of pressure. WHY?! I merely wish to carry out simple tasks and yet YOU MOCK ME! Recovering the headlining of my 205 was all I wished to do and yet you have laughed in the face of my attempts you rotten swine bastard. And now you further my despair by spilling my beer, your end is near, BEWARE.

Gravity: always getting you down.

[r.welfare]

The same thing happened to my mate's Dad - kept forgetting where he'd left his car. Altzhiemers was eventually diagnosed. Sad.

My 81-year-old father-in-law has early onset Alzheimers and really needs to hang up his keys. Unfortunately my 75-year-old mother-in-law has never filled up a car in her life - she can't stand the smell of petrol fumes - so he still uses the car at least once a week. Probably more as he's nocturnal these days and I suspect pops down to the 24hr garage regularly to get fags. Their nine-year-old Fabia has only done 20,000 miles but the bodywork looks like it's done this mileage in Beirut in the mid-80s. Oh, and it's had 3 clutches and a new flywheel in that time as well.I've recently fitted some parking sensors to it to try and reduce the incidence of any further damage...M-I-L has bad hips and is talking about an automatic, but I can just see an "unintended acceleration" incident with potentially tragic consequences on the cards.

[michiel]

Recently parked the Sirion around the corner next to a bright yellow Alto (of the 'go anywhere at maximum revs in first, maybe second if we feel like it' type), come back two days later to find a small dent above and lots of yellow paint and scratches on the side of the rear bumper, Alto had gone... no note, so I thought next time I see the Alto I'll check for corresponding damage - turns out its bumpers are damaged all round and covered in dark smears and paint from other cars/walls/prams, all doors are dented etc etc, so I can't even prove it was him. I won't park next to it again, even though I was only angry for 15 minutes (it's only a car after all).I'm not faultless myself though, bumped into the neighbour's Volvo 240 tank yesterday, with her and another neighbour watching, oops! We had a good laugh about it, she asked me if I didn't have any damage... nice people on my street.

[Mr H Sceptre]

News for the next month: Party leaders saying how other parties are shitter.

The build up to the election in the media over the next month is going to be unbearable.Dunno if I can even be arsed voting this time round.

[j-j]

come back two days later to find a small dent above and lots of yellow paint and scratches on the side of the rear bumper

Exactomondo same thing happened to me except replace Alto with Corsa and replace yellow with blue.No note at all (dunno about you but would always leave a note!) It was in the off street car park and the widow from above us would swing in at night and park. Trouble was she was blind as a flying mouse and frequently used my GSA as a reference point by feel.I actually think she was totally unaware tbh, I took photos and measured the height of the scrape. Then! it happens again - this time a largish dent in the exact same place as the previous scrape! This time I went a knocking on the door - she was of course blissfully unaware.. She gets her Son to 'work out' how it couldn't have been her - he was like an Engineering Phd or something but entirely failed to prove it. Trouble was I couldn't actually prove she'd repeatedly dinged my car!! In the end, luckily GSAs have removeable front wings so I just whipped it off and popped out the dent one Sunday. It never looked 100% but it was OK - She offered to pay money (sort of half admitted you see.) but I thought no.Anyway, it's a shame - old dears really benefit from their use of vehicles especially when they're on their own or have limited mobility - I just can't help but feel they should have to do a refresher driving test, even a 'lite' one that just covered hazard awareness and space etc. Dunno, for now I'm going to try and avoid them all!

[whitevanman]

I used to be a non voter...but many years ago it was pointed out to me that IF I didn't vote, I shouldn't complain about the state of the country got me thinking...So now I always vote....and enjoy a damn good moan about the state of the country

[j-j]

News for the next month: Party leaders saying how other parties are shitter.

The build up to the election in the media over the next month is going to be unbearable.Dunno if I can even be arsed voting this time round.

Isn't it tho? You always see the campaigners on TV doing the old 'door to door' thing - I can honestly say I've never had one come to my door anywhere! And if they did, it would be like "who are you anyway"? But maybe depends on whether you vote for the 'party', policy, the candidate or any combination of the three. I'm tempted to vote LD but does anyone think they can deliver? 'course they wouldn't get a suitable majority. I'd just love to see an alternative for once.

[j-j]

ROADWORKSI know, it's obvious but specifically the new speed humps on our street - road resurfaced and new bumps put in. March 18th for 2 weeks. Fine, but they're still at it!Rain seems to constantly stop play and they've left these half complete speed bumps with big, stepped monoblock things that 9/10 cars seem to be unable to get over! It's amazing how paranoid about their precious newmobiles some people are. Becuase these have been left 1/2 done for over a week now, they are already starting to deteriorate. The road is 'closed' except for access but traffic has gotten impatient after nearly 4 weeks and it's back to normal. Except it's slower than walking pace due to the Passat drivers practically stationary on the twin peaks of the mono blocks.Today, sunny and dry there are no workies at all doing anything! Now that the financial year is over maybe they'll not finish it MINIs seem to be especially bad at getting over these.

[maxpower]

News for the next month: Party leaders saying how other parties are shitter.

The build up to the election in the media over the next month is going to be unbearable.Dunno if I can even be arsed voting this time round.

Isn't it tho? You always see the campaigners on TV doing the old 'door to door' thing - I can honestly say I've never had one come to my door anywhere! And if they did, it would be like "who are you anyway"? But maybe depends on whether you vote for the 'party', policy, the candidate or any combination of the three. I'm tempted to vote LD but does anyone think they can deliver? 'course they wouldn't get a suitable majority. I'd just love to see an alternative for once.

the three parties are all the same.. full of b/s until they are into number 10 then forget everything they said.... as for the annoying campaigners coming to the door to get my vote.. i just say im voting b.n.p... seems to get them away from the door

[dollywobbler]

I usually vote Lib Dem and probably will this time too. Perhaps if the two main parties get a kicking, they might actually rethink their strategies. However, too many people either don't vote at all (an utter, utter waste) or just opt for one of the top two.

[j-j]

the three parties are all the same.. ... as for the annoying campaigners coming to the door to get my vote.. i just say im voting b.n.p... seems to get them away from the door Very Happy

Haha! i'd do that if they ever showed up!

full of b/s until they are into number 10 then forget everything they said.

yea, that's the fear isn't it - total 'we'll say anything' and practice none of it. It's this reason alone that puts me off the whole thing.

[Mr H Sceptre]

News for the next month: Party leaders saying how other parties are shitter.

The build up to the election in the media over the next month is going to be unbearable.Dunno if I can even be arsed voting this time round.

Isn't it tho? You always see the campaigners on TV doing the old 'door to door' thing - I can honestly say I've never had one come to my door anywhere! And if they did, it would be like "who are you anyway"? But maybe depends on whether you vote for the 'party', policy, the candidate or any combination of the three. I'm tempted to vote LD but does anyone think they can deliver? 'course they wouldn't get a suitable majority. I'd just love to see an alternative for once.

Yep, I've always voted Lib Dem in the past. I guess it will come down to the weather on the day - if its raining then I aint voting.

[Richard]

In 1992 a Lib-Dem canvasser doorstepped me when I was trying to get in from work and stood between me and my tea. I have never voted for them since.

[wuvvum]

I'd be seriously tempted to vote Lib Dem if they weren't far too pro-Europe for my tastes. I haven't decided yet how I'm going to vote - I'm really not convinced Cameron is up to the job, and we know for a fact that Broon isn't. Maybe emigration is the answer...