The grumpy thread

[Snipes]

Sprinklers (and most emergencey equipment like lighting) aren't usually designed to save the building. They're more intended to assist anyone trying to escape. It's als unlikely the fabric of the building would allow it, unless you want pipes and cables running up the side of it.

[theorganist]

Sprinklers (and most emergencey equipment like lighting) aren't usually designed to save the building. They're more intended to assist anyone trying to escape. It's als unlikely the fabric of the building would allow it, unless you want pipes and cables running up the side of it.

Fair enough I guess, I just thought it might at least slow the fire down. I think you could disguise cables etc quite well in a Cathedral to be honest, I don't think visually they would necessarily have much of an impact. We have quite a lot of cables for lighting etc in our church and it isn't too intrusive.

[Supernaut]

Nyphur, give the sniping a rest already.

 

HCB isn't the first person whose throat you've jumped down over nothing lately. Probably won't be the last either.

[Sheefag]

HCB was being a prick.

[Cavcraft]

Can we please keep personal spats to private messaging?

[BorniteIdentity]

Went to watch the Watford Rovers play the Arsenal Gunners last night. A414 unexpectedly shut, detour via old M10 and M1. Matrix signs suddenly reduce speed from 70 to 20. Then words that will fill even the bravest of souls with horror appear before me.

 

”Hazard - Oncoming Vehicle”. 

 

Having none of that, I performed an admirable 5 lane sweep to exit at 10. Got home at Midnight.

 

Heading back from work today, I was met with the sort of sight that helps explain last night. 

 

 

It took 5 vehicles and 3 separate people for the driver to finally accept defeat. I was careful not to be threatening, or frightening - expecting the elderly lady to feel embarrassment and possibly humiliation. It was more flippant disregard to be honest. 

 

I have alerted BCH road police, suggesting they go and check on her and have a chat about things. I doubt they have the resources or inclination.

[Mally]

 

That's broke then, slight flaw in the casting, or old crack.

Only lasted 10 years, they don't make them like they used to.

[wuvvum]

I have to say from the few pictures I've seen of the interior, the damage is not as bad as I'd feared.  I'm over the moon that the organ has survived - it was rebuilt by Cavaillé-Coll but parts of it are over 600 years old - if that had been lost it would have been an utter tragedy.  I was listening to Classic FM in the car on the way in to work this morning (before it was known what had or hadn't survived) and they played a recording of the Widor Toccata played on the Grand Orgue of Notre-Dame - it really does sound magnificent.

[New POD]

The National Trust can GTF.

I have a similar view to you, although I have a joint lifetime membership which my mother bought me for her 40th wedding anniversary.

 

What I needed at the time was not membership of the National Trust.

[wuvvum]

 

It took 5 vehicles and 3 separate people for the driver to finally accept defeat. I was careful not to be threatening, or frightening - expecting the elderly lady to feel embarrassment and possibly humiliation. It was more flippant disregard to be honest. 

 

This seems to be an increasingly common attitude among the older generation sadly.  Not entirely sure why.

[wuvvum]

Fair enough I guess, I just thought it might at least slow the fire down. I think you could disguise cables etc quite well in a Cathedral to be honest, I don't think visually they would necessarily have much of an impact. We have quite a lot of cables for lighting etc in our church and it isn't too intrusive.

 

That's a fair point - I would imagine Notre-Dame has a loudspeaker system installed, same as most large churches.  Not sure a sprinkler system would have been much help in this particular instance, given the scale of the fire and the fact that it started above where the sprinklers would have been, but it can't be a bad idea to have them in case of an incident in the cathedral itself.

[Supernaut]

Went to watch the Watford Rovers play the Arsenal Gunners last night. A414 unexpectedly shut, detour via old M10 and M1. Matrix signs suddenly reduce speed from 70 to 20. Then words that will fill even the bravest of souls with horror appear before me.

 

”Hazard - Oncoming Vehicle”. 

 

Having none of that, I performed an admirable 5 lane sweep to exit at 10. Got home at Midnight.

 

Heading back from work today, I was met with the sort of sight that helps explain last night. 

 

4C879B3F-0A2E-4D22-AAB0-343D61B457A3.jpeg

 

It took 5 vehicles and 3 separate people for the driver to finally accept defeat. I was careful not to be threatening, or frightening - expecting the elderly lady to feel embarrassment and possibly humiliation. It was more flippant disregard to be honest. 

 

I have alerted BCH road police, suggesting they go and check on her and have a chat about things. I doubt they have the resources or inclination.

 

Can you explain what's going on in that picture?

To me it looks like some people have decided to have a picnic around a Juke. I'm assuming the driver in question is in the Juke, but what were they trying to do that prompted people to surround them? Were they trying to turn right into the oncoming traffic that you're sat in?

[BorniteIdentity]

Can you explain what's going on in that picture?

To me it looks like some people have decided to have a picnic around a Juke. I'm assuming the driver in question is in the Juke, but what were they trying to do that prompted people to surround them? Were they trying to turn right into the oncoming traffic that you're sat in?

 

Sorry. It’s chaos.We are on a roundabout. The green Astra is trying to turn left into oncoming traffic on a dual carriageway. The fact the road is curved to prevent this from happening is of no concern or consequence; the driver just thinks it’s a bad road layout and must hairpin left to continue her journey.

[Supernaut]

Oooooh! Right.

 

Yeah, it's obvious now you mention it's the Astra at fault. Holy shit.

[Datsuncog]

Received a slightly worried-sounding text to say the Yaris' Engine Warning Light has come on, and won't go off again.

There is sufficient oil, I'm told, and there is sufficient coolant. No abnormal noises bar the top end of the VVC 1.0 unit, which is a bit tappetty - but then it's been like that for the past 20k miles. Temp normal, no smoke (though a slight blow at the centre silencer which has developed over the last couple of days).

Ah great. I've advised that it's unlikely to explode imminently, and while I'm hoping it's the lambda sensor being over-dramatic, it's quite possibly something else. 

And there I was wondering what I was going to do tonight, having finally got the bathroom sorted...

 

Plus, the Forester has taken to popping headlight bulbs as a pastime. Two nearside H4s in as many days.

[somewhatfoolish]

 

Since the citizens of Belfast still can't shut up about the bloody Primark fire last year (also presumed caused by careless hot work in the roof), I can't begin to imagine how Parisians, people of faith, and those with strong links to Paris are feeling this morning.

 

Solidarité.

Probably more to do with it being a nice old building rather than Primark being inside it.

 

Sprinklers (and most emergencey equipment like lighting) aren't usually designed to save the building. They're more intended to assist anyone trying to escape. It's als unlikely the fabric of the building would allow it, unless you want pipes and cables running up the side of it.

Hi-fog/Water misting is less intrusive(smaller nozzles and smaller bore pipework) and retrofitting is probably easier if not cheaper; it effectively prevents any firespread and causes little damage to anything unless left running for days. It's commonplace on ships(although not mandatory which I think it should be, it would save pretty much every life lost to engine room fires) and the cost is now nugatory compared to the cost even of a few years maintenance never mind a total rebuild like the GSA or a partial rebuild like Notre Dame, insurance companies need to think very hard about encouraging owners to fit this stuff even if governments won't.

[Datsuncog]

Probably more to do with it being a nice old building rather than Primark being inside it.

 

I'd love for that to be the case, but no.

 

While the fire in August last year is constantly referenced with tears and sadness as if it's Belfast's own 9/11, I haven't heard many people express much in the way of actual sorrow for the building.

 

The folks I work with just keep bitching on about how the makeshift branch that set up in the ex-New Look store doesn't have the same range of cardigans. Although when this stop-gap store opened in December, you'd have thought it was the first Red Cross convoy into Basra, the way people were carrying on. 

 

Rather dispiritingly, the general consensus amongst shoppers and traders seems to be that the burnt out shell should be demolished ASAP, so that the adjacent branches of Zara and Tesco can re-open. But it's listed, so it can't. There's a campaign set up to de-list it so it can be flattened which, thankfully hasn't gained much traction.

 

I'm sad for the building. I'm not, apparently, in the majority.

[barefoot]

Insurance / Thatcham Grump...

 

For the last couple of years I've had the bay insured agreed value and with a 3,000 mile limit. This was always a bit tight and, as we're off to the Scotlands this year it seemed time to increase it. Not a bother said the nice folk at Lancaster, before imposing a most onerous list of conditions. 

The usual half a dozen photographs, but also proof of NCD, compulsory fire extinguisher, whether they'll ask me later for some kind of maintenance certificate remains to be seen, and a Thatcham cat 2 immobiliser. The premium is only a shade over £100, so I reasoned that the £200 for an immobiliser would probably be money well spent in the long run. I am not insured for theft until it is fitted.

Before renewing the policy, I sought an installer but sadly they  couldn't come until a week after start of policy - today in fact.

Half an hour before he was due to arrive, I got a call telling me he won't be there,

'All I can do is apologise' mumbled the half wit at the other end of the line.

An apology is frankly of no use whatsoever, what a chap like me needs is a 'don't worry, he'll be there at dawn tomorrow'.

But no, because of the bank holiday,

'is that the very bank holiday I'm booked into a campsite on, with no fucking theft cover?'

He won't be able to come until next Tuesday.

 

You can't beat good service, this incidentally from

www.tsnautomotive.co.uk

the company at the very top of Thatcham's list of approved installers.

 

Honest, I seem to spend half my life on trust a fucking trader dot com!

[Supernaut]

Go big or go home.

 

Not only have I started a block of 4x 12 hour shifts today, the second half of this block will be night shifts, I've just been informed.

 

I've never done 12 hour shifts before, and never done night shifts. Fuuuuuck me. This is going to be grim.

[Sheefag]

Ideal time to put on a stupid voice and ring every cunt who's pissed you off for the past ten years.

 

When the satellite internet company gives you lemons.... etc.

[anonymous user]

I always thought it was go broke, or go home. (Never go to a casino with me)

[somewhatfoolish]

12hr shifts are unremittingly grim; even with a good night's(well, day's as it was a nightshift) rest I was generally starting to nod by the end.

[loserone]

I bought a headphone valve amp for nightshifts. Got very familiar with Tom Waits

[Supernaut]

12hr shifts are unremittingly grim; even with a good night's(well, day's as it was a nightshift) rest I was generally starting to nod by the end.

 

Just over half an hour left and I've lost count of how many cups of coffee I've had today. Just finished one and I'm still nodding.

 

I get lots of time off between shifts, though. Job-hunting time!

[Split_Pin]

Opie Oils, shower of bastards. They said 2 weeks ago that the oil I ordered was out of stock but would be in next (now last) week and did I want to wait or get a refund. No bother to wait said I as it only looks like a few days delay. Roll forward to yesterday when I ask for an update, to be given a vague answer of "as soon as possible". I replied saying that's a bit vague and 'Samuel' retorted that I hadn't asked for a date in my last email. When I said ok please give me a specific date since you appear to have a one in mind, he gave me the same "as soon as possible".

 

There's no hurry but I canny stand an obtuse bellend.

[Lord Sterling]

Bastard BMW keys. Bastards!....

 

I mean really.

 

A couple of years ago I picked up a Diamond-shaped BMW key identical to mine off the bed of an old car-transporter trailer. I thought I could gut the scrap key to repair my own key. Turns out it's a bit harder than I thought.

 

The transponder bit is wrapped in copper wiring, easy enough to remove no worries. Unfortunately, the copper wiring in the scrap key has snapped in a tight place where it is supposed to be held in. I could try and shove a bit of wiring on there but knce the key is back together the chances of it coming loose is too high.

 

 

The reason for the failure is the battery track which conducts the leccy between battery and board has snapped.

 

Everywhere it's £30 to get the key sorted, £25 more than I usually have. I am getting fed up this. Plus the BMW now just opens all windows when I use the remote on the other key.

[Inspector Morose]

When you next in LS? I’ll come down and bring my magical soldering stick over.

[Lord Sterling]

When you next in LS? I’ll come down and bring my magical soldering stick over.

Cool! Should be in Sat/Sun and Monday. Will be brum town on Friday.

[richardmorris]

Something fishy is going on here but I can’t work out what....

A customer has a bill from December 2017 for £600 ish that they ignore and pay at the start of May 2018.

More work received from them in May, June, and July 2018 for £500. They have not paid these bills yet.

 

Roll on to this month, and more work arrives for £300 ish.

We don’t do the work as the previous three months bills are not paid.

We sit on the work until he phones up asking about it.

 

Says, ok sorry send me the invoices again and I’ll pay.

 

Yesterday says he’s paid can we do the work.

Ok, no problem.

 

Today though, they say they paid the 2017 bill twice in May 2018 and so are in credit.

 

I’ve not had chance to check the bank statements yet, but our excell spreadsheet shows two payments against the same invoice. It wouldn’t have been flagged by the accountant as one was at the start of May and the other the 31st which would have gone into this year’s accounts.

 

But why didn’t they query it at the time, or in the last twelve months?

 

 

Sorry if the answer is obvious, but we’re naive and trusting.

[Sheefag]

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome