The grumpy thread

[MorrisItalSLX]

Didn't Trigger "un-scrap" his Marina? It must be possible.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Spiders have spun several webs on various parts of the CX since FotU. Must get the battery back in and get down to the jet wash.

[Lord Sterling]

Yes that's exactly where the water appears from, I'll have a look later when the sun goes down a little. Thanks .

Let us know how it goes, they are a bit difficult to pin point but the expansion tanks are a known weak point in the E46s. Also, apologies for the poor spelling in my last post. Fat fingers and touch-screen tablets don't mix well

[angle]

Firstly, road resurfacing. Now, I’ve worked in highways, I know you’ll have a programme manager breathing down your neck but THIS IS NOT THE WEATHER FOR IT YOU IDIOTS. I’m not even talking about the M5 being closed because it was the consistency of Bovril – they did my road using the patented ‘tarmac and vaguely spray some loose chippings around’ technique and a week on it still covers your shoes every time you go outside. Which, with a new carpet, is great. It also now looks worse than it did before they started because anyone driving vaguely like a cock is gouging holes in it – a man in a Civic did an emergency stop to avoid a rat last night, and his skidmarks are now preserved for posterity.

 

They're back for another go. Except - they were meant to do it on Friday. All the suspension signs went up, most people moved their cars, and... nothing. At some point they came around and changed the signs so parking was suspended yesterday instead. Again, road more or less cleared, and... nothing. So everyone moved their cars back again.

 

So, at half eight this morning, a man came round with some stickers and changed '23' to '24'on all the signs. They've been around knocking on doors, but most people have left for work, there was at least 20 cars parked up when I left. So now they've started towing everyone. I think there's going to be some annoyed phone calls to the council tonight...

[Talbot]

Not giving appropriate notice and then towing any and all cars out of the way is just bloody rude.

 

I suspect there will be more than just annoyed phone calls. If someone tows a legally parked and otherwise legal car, they are denying the use of that vehicle, which I believe is an offence.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Not giving appropriate notice and then towing any and all cars out of the way is just bloody rude.

 

I suspect there will be more than just annoyed phone calls. If someone tows a legally parked and otherwise legal car, they are denying the use of that vehicle, which I believe is an offence.

 

...followed by claims for compo?

[Hertz]

Ebay. Oh my fucking god, I despair. I've had so far 16 pretty faultless years on there but this year every other sale or thing I buy I seem to be involved with either a crook or a premier league numpty. 

 

I bought a PAS pump recently, supposedly a manufacturer refurb. Just looked like it had a blow over with a matt black rattle can when it arrived. Still fitted it though and it works if you hit it with a hammer. Not ideal so asked if he could send me another to save time and costs and do another direct swap Can't do that, send me the faulty one back and I will test and send you another if faulty. He's had it back a week and now radio silence. Twat.

 

Had several sales with no money as well so had to cancel the sale then go through the rigmarole of putting it back on and getting fees back.

 

I had one dick who did the above then 2 months later decides he now wants it and says I was impatient so it's my fault. Jesus what planet are these people on?

 

So yes I now appreciate what many of you have been through with ebay. 

[Zelandeth]

You...Yes, you in the Audi A8L.  KY17ZKW.  Reality check time...

 

The fact that you want to be doing 90+mph again by the time I've got into second gear in the van is not my problem - if you're that impatient, just stay in the right hand lane and overtake me.  It was empty and nothing stopping you doing that.

 

Do NOT bloody cut in to my left, drive through the hatched area beside the roundabout then cut back in in front of me (forcing me to virtually do an emergency stop), then have to dodge to the left myself to avoid the other numpty in the BMW coming round the roundabout at 50mph who hadn't noticed I'd stopped because he was on his phone.

 

I either need to get about 20 cameras fitted to everything I drive or just stop driving I think.  You couldn't make up the nonsense I seem to be seeing almost daily these days.

[Supernaut]

My visit to the midlands to go to FoTU is what made me order a dashcam.

 

The driving down there is fucking terrible! RantingYoof picked me up from Birmingham airport, and by the time we got to Northampton we had two really bad near misses. FFS!

 

One was caused by a new-shape Merc A class undertaking us. Yoof pulled into the middle lane to overtake a truck, and as he started to pull back into the inside lane this A-class appeared from behind us at warp 9, then cut between the front of the truck and the back of Yoof's car. As he went past us, we already had 2 wheels in the inside lane again! Cue much horn blaring and swerving as the A-class just continued to fuck right off down the road without caring.

[Captain Furious]

Sunday afternoon I started getting verification text messages for an online payday loan application, I didn't think too much of it, probably some numpty mistyped their number and when they don't get the text through they'll realise and correct it.  The same text came through about 15 times...then stopped.  Monday I had another flurry of them and then they stopped.  Today I had a missed call from a number I didn't recognize, so I google it - its this payday loan companies collection department.  I'm intrigued at this point so I wait for them to call back, which they sure enough do about an hour later.

 

"Hi can I speak to Mr xxx (not my name) please"

"Sorry I think you must have the wrong number"

"Oh OK no problem, I will get the record updated.....do you know Mr xxx?"

"No, never heard of him, is this about a loan application because I've been getting text messages on my mobile about a loan"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you any details because of data protection"

"OK, so the loan is not being applied for in my name"

"No Sir, its a Mr xxx at postcode xxxxx" (so much for that privacy eh?)

"Do you know my name?"

"No Sir"

"Good - lets keep it that way and please remove my phone number from your systems too"

"No problem sir, sorry to have bothered you"

 

10 minutes later - more automated texts, another call from their collections department which went dead after I answered....now I know its not in my name, both numbers blocked.

[barefoot]

Smart motorways.

The fair wife works just off J28 of the M1

The journey time from here at J24 varies between about 33-38 minutes in normal traffic conditions.

Tonight, there's a lorry broken down just north of the junction and the journey time heading North is 90 minutes.

Before smart motorways, it would have pulled onto the shoulder and no one would have even noticed.

Brilliant.

[MikeR]

I either need to get about 20 cameras fitted to everything I drive or just stop driving I think.  You couldn't make up the nonsense I seem to be seeing almost daily these days.

 

no , just bang your car up a bit

 

 

my car has a dented rear offside wing ( not my fault , some scum who pissed off ) , however this war wound seems to say "back off"  to a lot of posher cars !!

[MikeR]

mean while at home I spend all day painting the downstairs doors with gloss , which is still drying , when I remember I have to feed man's best friend

 

 

who promptly gets excited , stands up on his back legs ,

 

and reverses his hairy arse into a nearly dry door  .........

[Timewaster]

I can pop in Saturday and have another word with him if you want?

Officially?

 

Or are you just going to wander in and say " my mate wants your old Mazda. His name is Mister Bollocks! "

[Zelandeth]

no , just bang your car up a bit

 

 

my car has a dented rear offside wing ( not my fault , some scum who pissed off ) , however this war wound seems to say "back off"  to a lot of posher cars !!

 

Scruffy looking 28 year old Merc camper van missing a bunch of bits of trim...Thought that would have put the fear into them.  Likewise the Lada with the wing tops made of duct tape...Nope!

 

Probably the scruffiest car I've owned was the first Xantia (in fairness, she was a 200+K mile car, so a few war wounds were fair!), that just seemed to attract cash-for-cash idiots at least once a week. 

 

Given the roads round here are more or less all 70mph dual carriageways with a roundabout every 0.9 miles they're a serious problem here.  Usual MO is to slowly drift into the right hand lane in front of you then slam on the anchors (at which point you also discover that they have no brake lights).

 

I did report the first few times this happened to the police, before being asked to "please stop wasting our time with crap like this" when I called 101 to report the second time that I'd nearly been taken out by the same untaxed, un-MOTed and uninsured Mondeo on the same half mile long stretch of road which would have made it really easy to find them!  Have to admit I gave up after that.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

No news from Mazda 929 dude today. I will probably call him tomorrow and if I can't get any closer to a deal, attempt to block the whole thing out of my memory

[sierraman]

They leave you hanging these fuckers sometimes. I'd want to be winching it onto the beavertail by tomorrow morning, unable to sleep with excitement at the thought of spending hours looking it over on the drive followed by a huge row when the wife gets in from work.

[Captain Furious]

Check the earth strap. Try a jump lead from the block to the neg side of the batt as a quick test.

Removed the starter motor tonight, fortunately it’s one of the very few jobs that are possible without too much effing and blinding. Definitely bolloxed, hooked up to a battery on the floor and still doesn’t want to turn. Dismantled it and the brushes are toast, solenoid is a bit hit and miss too. Debated a DIY refurb but I can’t be arsed if I get it all back together again and it still doesn’t work...

 

So looking at probably another 200 quid bill on top of the 400 already spent and 400 still needed to be spent on tyres. Great...however I did look at potential replacements for the same 1000 budget and there is fuck all anywhere near as decent at that price range, plus I know my air con works. So best the devil you know eh

[dollywobbler]

They leave you hanging these fuckers sometimes. I'd want to be winching it onto the beavertail by tomorrow morning, unable to sleep with excitement at the thought of spending hours looking it over on the drive followed by a huge row when the wife gets in from work.

 

Which I suspect they know and understand all too well. Hopefully as long as I don't call them again, they might realise that really, only one person wants it.

[Alfamale]

On Sunday I got offered a T-reg Corsa B 1.6 sport. Not my usual fodder but it had 35k miles, full history, new cam belt and engine overhaul all for £400. I agreed to the sellers price without argument as it was a friend of the family. Admittedly my plan was for a quick profit. When I asked when I could go get it I was told Wednesday was earliest convenient.

 

Get a call today to say sorry but it’s sold today. Cheers, thanks for that.

[sierraman]

Easy double your money on that fucker. This is the problem when its a sale when someone has had it an age, sentiment creeps in.

[Pillock]

Got the strimmer out earlier, about once every four years I get the urge to do some gardening.

 

Won't prime, won't suck fuel through. Tried blowing through the fuel pipe and it's blocked. Fuel that was in it is cloudy.

 

Put it away again. We'll meet again in 2022.

[Alfamale]

Easy double your money on that fucker. This is the problem when its a sale when someone has had it an age, sentiment creeps in.

Yeah was hoping for a quick buck. Never mind I suppose.

[beko1987]

Bought some new shitty exhaust mounts, will be bracing these with cable ties this time, fucking things. The shitty repair I did at dad's has failed so I'll wrap something else around it for the short term to stop the backbox join totally destroying itself as that's all that's holding the backbox up at the moment

 

Eva got up earlier and drank fuck loads of water it seems, as she's just wet the bed so much I've just bought another one... (it was 3rd hand and a bit iffy but still, ffs)

[PhilA]

*

 

Dear lightning,

 

GTFO.

 

Love,

 

The people who had to replace 1 ADSL line card, 8 phone line cards, 1 DS1 card, an OC48 ring card and swap out an air conditioner and the alarm panel, reporting panel and generator transfer panel today. All in one sub-exchange.

 

 

*One of many phone line cards that either caught fire and/or exploded.

[SiC]

I'm surprised at how little physical damage has been done to the board. Looks just like a bad day at the engineering office when you've connected the polarity/input voltage wrong!

 

Edit: Disappointing too that the tantalum cap on there didn't even give a fire show.

[PhilA]

Self extinguishing plastics, thankfully. If you look also two other chips blew their tops off.

 

That card was actually kinda working but was getting very hot. It did have a minor alarm on it though.

 

The gapcaps on the other side of the board mostly did their job. Mostly. Direct strike to the building, one problem that the positive side of the battery bank is connected to ground...

[Ghosty]

Showed up for my last train with my fixie and it's randomly a replacement bus. 
Double decker and the driver won't let me on because they don't usually in service and wasn't sure if it was okay. Despite supposedly being under instruction of Northerns transport coordinator, he phoned his boss and then refused to let me on (other drivers have in the past in identical circumstances).
Luckily Northern being the fuckwits they are had double booked and I got a Neoplan Skyliner to myself giving me a lift home. 
Wouldn't have been too impressed if there wasn't a backup through sheer happenstance - would have had to wait for a taxi or something also willing to carry me and my bike (which I don't imagine being too easy for a 9 mile journey at 11:30pm).

What a load of shite.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

That is seriously shite

[dollywobbler]

What is a fixie? #oldman