The grumpy thread

[xtriple]

I was dragged up in Rotherham! Grandad and Granma had a shop on Fitzwillian road and it was okay.... then. Went back for my Nans funeral in about 2000 and was utterly appalled. I have never been stared at/glared at so much in my life I felt like an alien in my home town. All I did was walk into the shopping centre to buy a packet of fags for my Grandad (I was putting them in my Nans handbag to take to him... not sure they'd have a taboconist in Heavon selling Park Drive) and it was a proper scary experience. Hated the place and couldn't wait to get the fuck out of Dodge.

[Exiled_Tat_Gatherer]

There's a brilliant sequence in the otherwise mediocre Twelve Tasks of Asterix where the eponymous protagonist is sent from pillar to post in a (implicitly Belgian) public building trying to obtain a certain permit.  He resolves the situation by asking for a fictional new permit brought in by a non-existent new regulation, which sends the place into chaos and ends up with one of the civil servants giving him the permit he originally wanted just to get rid of him.  Don't know how well that'd work in real life.

 

Sad because it is true!

[Exiled_Tat_Gatherer]

Sent items folder in your email;)

 

A mix of 'lost due to upgrade of servers' and stolen laptop bag with backups means I'm almost back in the dark ages.... but I'll trawl the old laptops at home and see what I have. Bound to be somewhere...........

[320touring]

A mix of 'lost due to upgrade of servers' and stolen laptop bag with backups means I'm almost back in the dark ages.... but I'll trawl the old laptops at home and see what I have. Bound to be somewhere...........

I use a webmail provider for sending such thing do its stays in their ether

[3VOM]

Two sets of thermals, textile (minus liner so it fits) over my leather jacket, heated grips, summer gloves & an open face lid made from a lovely* ride home from Bute last night. It was frosty & slippery all the way through Scotland & then started snowing at Carlisle, which didn't stop till I was back to Doncaster.

 

I was slightly* cauld when I got in at 1am....

Wasn't "No sleep til Doncaster" a big hit in the 80s?

[Tadhg Tiogar]

There's a brilliant sequence in the otherwise mediocre Twelve Tasks of Asterix where the eponymous protagonist is sent from pillar to post in a (implicitly Belgian) public building trying to obtain a certain permit.  He resolves the situation by asking for a fictional new permit brought in by a non-existent new regulation, which sends the place into chaos and ends up with one of the civil servants giving him the permit he originally wanted just to get rid of him.  Don't know how well that'd work in real life.

 

There's nothing quite like bureaucracy. In the much better Asterix the Legionary, our Gaulish hero visits a Roman Army building. When he gets there, he asks a functionary where he might find the information office, and is instantly told:

 

"No idea. Apply to the Information Office. They'll tell you."

[Slartibartfast]

Rhyl.

We used to go on holiday there up until a couple of years ago. Deliberately.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

We used to go on holiday there up until a couple of years ago. Deliberately.

 

My condolences.

[Slartibartfast]

It was ... you know ... seasidey. And REALLY cheap. Stayed at Lyons Robin Hood. Cheap shops, cheap cafes. Cheap chip shops. Good base to explore some of the really nice surrounding areas from. And loads of places selling BB guns for some reason.

[DodgeRover]

Wasn't "No sleep til Doncaster" a big hit in the 80s?

"No sheep till Buxton"

[fordperv]

[Tadhg Tiogar]

It was ... you know ... seasidey. And REALLY cheap. Stayed at Lyons Robin Hood. Cheap shops, cheap cafes. Cheap chip shops. Good base to explore some of the really nice surrounding areas from. And loads of places selling BB guns for some reason.

 

My lasting impression of Rhyl when I went there was the number of empty shop premises.

[anonymous user]

My lasting impression of Rhyl when I went there was the number of empty shop premises.

My lasting impression of Rhyl is a lasting impression, I'm sure there must be a nice bit hidden somewhere, but it is probably several hundred feet down.

[Lord Sterling]

I visited Doncaster yesterday, for the first time.

I've never been in a town that has such an air of utter hopelessness . I know this is based on one visit and on a different day I'd probably get an entirely more positive impression.

Try Scunthorpe.

 

There's a brilliant sequence in the otherwise mediocre Twelve Tasks of Asterix where the eponymous protagonist is sent from pillar to post in a (implicitly Belgian) public building trying to obtain a certain permit.  He resolves the situation by asking for a fictional new permit brought in by a non-existent new regulation, which sends the place into chaos and ends up with one of the civil servants giving him the permit he originally wanted just to get rid of him.  Don't know how well that'd work in real life.

I have been through the Belgain "pas de permits, pas de service" dredge before. It really is depressing. I needed some minor treatment at a hospital but to get the treatment meant waiting for days whilst certain documents were sent over (by snail mail) then when I actually gained the right document, I needed another one to prove the first one was genuine. I did as I was told but these days I doubt I'd have the patience for it.

 

I really like Belgium and day go back to live one day but it has a seriously trying system.

[bub2006]

I went to rhyl at the weekend on my merry tour of North Wales. It was shut.

[richardmorris]

We used to go on holiday there up until a couple of years ago. Deliberately.

We used to go for the day in the 1970s, there was a plague of ladybirds one year. Then the oily slime started covering the sand at low tide and we stopped. My mum has a photo of her parents on the beach in the 1950s- gran in a floral print dress and grandad in his suit and tie with the trousers rolled up and a knotted hanky on his head.

 

For real depression now, try Prestatyn.

[richardmorris]

Try Scunthorpe.

 

I have been through the Belgain "pas de permits, pas de service" dredge before. It really is depressing. I needed some minor treatment at a hospital but to get the treatment meant waiting for days whilst cfertain documents were sent over (by snail mail) then when I actually gained the right document, I needed another one to prove the first one was genuine. I did as I was told but these days I doubt I'd have the patience for it.

I really like Belgium and day go back to live one day but it has a seriously trying system.

I went to rhyl at the weekend on my merry tour of North Wales. It was shut.

I was going to do that joke about Belgium!

[Soap Distant]

All I have to say on the matter is

 

Borth.

[richardmorris]

All I have to say on the matter is

Borth.

Is that a place or a condition?

[Soap Distant]

Six of one..

 

Just north of Aber, Borth is the epitome of complete holiday boredom. There is (well, was when I was forced upon it in my youth) nothing. Nothing at all. Full stop. To this day, in the Distant household, Borth is used as a single word descriptor of extreme tedium and nothingness.

[chaseracer]

^ Ghent.

 

#privatejoke

 

[Soap Distant]

All town and cities in Belgium can be used as an insult or substitute swear word.

[Cavcraft]

We used to go on holiday there up until a couple of years ago. Deliberately.

 

 

Is that a place or a condition?

 

Borth.

[mat_the_cat]

So what the hell happened here and how would the unbiased viewer apportion blame?

 

 

Driving to work in my wife's car, just had time to think "That Transit's pretty close" and BANG! £400 down the pan. We were certainly not over the white line (although could have been further to the left I admit), but it doesn't appear as though they were either - although if you pause the clip their mirror does look in line with the centre markings. Thing is, I reckon the Transit mirror is higher than ours so would not have hit, so was it the sides of the pickup back? In which case how did that happen without their mirror clipping the car body itself?

 

Problem is the video is no proof we were on our side, and no proof they strayed onto ours. All that can be said is that we didn't suddenly jink to the right, but neither is there any sign that they did so, so I can't see an insurance company saying anything other than 50/50 liability.

 

Any thoughts?

[AlabamaShrimp]

You both look to be on your side of the road so it's just one of those things, 50/50 from the insurance 100%.

 

How's it £400 though, what's damaged?

[mat_the_cat]

You both look to be on your side of the road so it's just one of those things, 50/50 from the insurance 100%.

 

How's it £400 though, what's damaged?

 

Annoyingly, most of the damage is confined to the mirror clip on housing, but that's £80 to replace. The mirror still functions absolutely fine, but the bezel and indicator lens are cracked, and they aren't available separately to the mirror body, which is £250. Both plus VAT!

 

When you look at it really slowly the transit isn't over the line and it looks like your vehicle is. Those lenses are often misleading, and you say yourself that you definitely weren't, but that's what the footage LOOKS like to me

 

What hit, mirror to mirror?

 

No damage on theirs, so impossible to say. Anyone know the height of a chassis cab Transit mirror arm?

 

The only proof we weren't ON the white line is the lack of thumps from the cat's eyes, and hopefully it's clear we weren't actually over it otherwise there would have been more of a coming together! But I take your point, from the amount we were able to move back again afterwards. (It's one of those roads where you really want to avoid the edge further back, as it's crumbly and full of potholes. The bit we're actually on is ironically recently resurfaced!)

[Tadhg Tiogar]

All town and cities in Belgium can be used as an insult or substitute swear word.

Belgium holds the record for functioning without a government - I think it was 530 days or so - so that sort of suggests that government is not needed there.....

[AlabamaShrimp]

£250 for a wing mirror?? What are you driving? Scrappers, ebay or a shit ton of glue first if it was mine.

 

Stuff like this is annoying and with cameras in cars you can debate all day long what's happened and why but it all come done to 'it's just one of those things' type thing.

[chodweaver]

 

 

Back to gas, red. Went and gave the regulator a few love taps with a small hammer and flow has been restored. Then I saw that it says "protect from rain" on it, and am thinking that we probably should protect it from rain...

Yes, they shouldn't be completely exposed to the elements, but I don't buy that it's too cold for Propane to function - I have a small red cylinder in the camper that I switch to when it gets too cold for the cheaper blue butane cylinder to function, which is about 4°C...

 

Sent from my BV6000 using Tapatalk

[mat_the_cat]

£250 for a wing mirror?? What are you driving? Scrappers, ebay or a shit ton of glue first if it was mine.

 

Likewise if it were mine too! It's a Mitsubishi ASX, on lease so glue isn't an option when it goes back next year. 2016-onwards in scrapyards seem to be very rare, and the only quote back yet from a Find a Part place wanted £320 + VAT...