The grumpy thread

[Lacquer Peel]

They're definitely solid! I can't quite get it across in a photo, but this one has utterly ruined the bonnet and wing on that side. I'm absolutely amazed there's no proper damage beyond the lights/grille and everything being a bit on the wonk now. It was quite the thud when I hit it, far more solid than the pigeon that kamikazed into the front of the last Volvo going 90...

It wasn't even that big, I'm retrospectively very nervous about the several big deer I saw loitering at the side of the A9 a couple of years ago.

I used to worry about them but they have a bit of road sense. Still, I slow down.
One foggy night on the A9 at or near Drumochter I saw a car drive over a large deer carcass at 70MPH and keep going.

[barefoot]

I hit only a pheasant in an old Beetle once. I got home & the dent in the bonnet looked like someone had swung a frozen chicken around their head before welting the fuck out of the VW with it!

[Tadhg Tiogar]

6 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

Hitting a Muntjac deer is like hitting a pig. They are as chunky as they look. 

Non-native species, because some eejit at Woburn Abbey thought they would look well on the Estate. As non-native species tend to do, some of them escaped and bred quite furiously to the extent that they are now all over the South East and have been going north for quite a while.

It's a bit like what Thomas Austin did to Australia in the Victorian era. As there were no rabbits there, and he wanted to have some bunnies to take pot shots at, he got some sent over - various types. They promptly bred like, er, rabbits, escaped and that is why Australia has had a bunny problem for decades. They have no natural predators. Even myxomatosis failed to eliminate them.

[wuvvum]

34 minutes ago, barefoot said:

I hit only a pheasant in an old Beetle once. I got home & the dent in the bonnet looked like someone had swung a frozen chicken around their head before welting the fuck out of the VW with it!

I hit a pheasant at 50 on a Honda Lead scooter once.  It did make a bit of a thud.

[Mally]

16 hours ago, Tim_E said:

 

Have I been fleeced? Should I go back and complain, or am I missing something?

1.    Yes

2. No, never darken their door again

3. £150

[Mally]

I once hit a Cow on a 250 BSA.

They are solid them Cows.

[MorrisItalSLX]

I can speak from experience that the front end of a SIII XJ6 can survive a 15-20 kph bump with a mature kangaroo, as can a mature kangaroo for that matter.

Wombats on the other hand, they’re like hitting a tree stump.

[MorrisItalSLX]

58 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

t's a bit like what Thomas Austin did to Australia in the Victorian era. As there were no rabbits there, and he wanted to have some bunnies to take pot shots at, he got some sent over - various types. They promptly bred like, er, rabbits, escaped and that is why Australia has had a bunny problem for decades. They have no natural predators. Even myxomatosis failed to eliminate them.

They did the same with Foxes too, the bastards.

[bramz7]

All this wildlife vehicle interface talk obviously did something as I saw a van obliterate a pheasant on the A303 today, stupid thing walked right in front as they always do. I'd never seen anything (bar trains and countless pigeons) hit an animal for real before!

[Tadhg Tiogar]

1 hour ago, MorrisItalSLX said:

They did the same with Foxes too, the bastards.

Then there were the various Acclimatisation Societies dedicated to bring loads of non-native plants to Australia. That went well.

[barefoot]

2 hours ago, Mally said:

I once hit a Cow on a 250 BSA.

They are solid them Cows.

I may have told this story before, but my wife's grandfather, along with his mate, used to be good friends with George Brough and used  to test ride the newly built bikes straight out of the factory. It all came to an abrupt end when Ernest's parents forbade him to do the job any more after his mate was killed after he, 'became fast in a cow'!

[colnerov]

1 hour ago, MorrisItalSLX said:

They did the same with Foxes too, the bastards.

And Cane toads, which were introduced to control cane beetles, but then because the toads have no natural predators, they now have a problem with the toads.  I see a pattern forming.

 Colin

[MorrisItalSLX]

14 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Then there were the various Acclimatisation Societies dedicated to bring loads of non-native plants to Australia. That went well.

Lantana, Privet and Blackberry come to mind.

I think it is safe to say the European settlers in Australia really cocked things up.

[myglaren]

On 10/21/2019 at 3:22 PM, Tadhg Tiogar said:

I wonder if that was a muntjac deer you collided with. Happened to me years ago when I hit one at no more than 15mph in Bricket Wood. It took out one of my front fogs and still managed to get up and walk off before I'd opened the driver's door. 

My son made Muntjacc paste of a few last year. No damage to the plasticy bumpered C5.

[Cavcraft]

I'd hate to hit any wildlife in my car and would be more concerned for their welfare than that of the motor.

[myglaren]

16 hours ago, vulgalour said:

Free washing machines are the best washing machines.  My first machine was a 1970s twin tub that was at least 30 years old when I was given it, fantastic machine that cleaned clothes better than any other machine I've used, and damaged far less than most of the front-loaders I've used over the years.  It was a bit of a faff to transfer stuff from the wet to the dry side, and it had a little leak from a pipe underneath somewhere, but I could forgive it that for the great job it did.  The other free machine we still use which is an old Indesit Moon that we got from the scrapman in exchange for the remains of a Princess.  Apparently the Moon was broken, which is why it was on the scrap van, but it's never let us down for quite a few years now, the only thing it's needed is a new door seal and a bit of a rust bleb painting.  Really, simple is best.

Youngest daughter bought one on Gumtree a year and a half ago, £70.

Works perfectly.

[anonymous user]

I always wonder about those signs on the road for deer crossing, they're always in silly places, surely they should find somewhere safer for the deer to cross.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

1 hour ago, anonymous user said:

I always wonder about those signs on the road for deer crossing, they're always in silly places, surely they should find somewhere safer for the deer to cross.

That's nothing , there's a sign on the road through Woburn Deer Park showing how many have been killed this year compared to last . I'm pretty sure we're ahead of target at the moment.

[reb]

2 hours ago, Cavcraft said:

I'd hate to hit any wildlife in my car and would be more concerned for their welfare than that of the motor.

I would like to say that I agree, but realistically if I'd been unable to repair the car without spending any money I'd be pretty stuffed as without it I have no income. I'm not sure my welfare would do too well if I couldn't pay my rent.

[xtriple]

I broke my personal rule today about being rude to people,I told the bloke with 'Besse' the collie (no longer a) pup to piss off! I was attending to important stuff under the bonnet and he appears like a bad smell, complete with out of control dog who promptly jumped up the side of the car. Fortunatley, no scratches but a tad miffed, and even more so when it jumped up again and caught me right in the bo;;ox. The final straw was when I opened the car door and the dog jumped up the door itself.

He  didn't take it well

[wuvvum]

2 hours ago, Cavcraft said:

I'd hate to hit any wildlife in my car and would be more concerned for their welfare than that of the motor.

I generally do what I can to avoid hitting wildlife, but the issue with pheasants is that no matter what avoiding action you may take, they will still always somehow manage to end up directly in front of you.

[High Jetter]

Years ago, whilst cab-driving, I had the misfortune to interract with a pheasant whilst doing 70mph* on a dual-carriageway - only a minor dent in the front spoiler of my T72 Bluebird, pleasingly. On another night I was accosted by a cat in the middle of a residential road when doing only 30*** - it bounced under the car several times but I saw it run off in the mirror. On neither occasion was I POB (passenger on board), I hasten to add.

[clayts450]

Tiny wee hedgehog was crossing the road ahead of me a couple of days back but I didn't spot him until I was right on top of him - positioned the wheels to ensure minimum chance of squishiness and was relieved to check the RVM and the little critter still bimbling across the rest of the road - checked he made it...he did.

[paulplom]

11 hours ago, xtriple said:

I broke my personal rule today about being rude to people,I told the bloke with 'Besse' the collie (no longer a) pup to piss off! I was attending to important stuff under the bonnet and he appears like a bad smell, complete with out of control dog who promptly jumped up the side of the car. Fortunatley, no scratches but a tad miffed, and even more so when it jumped up again and caught me right in the bo;;ox. The final straw was when I opened the car door and the dog jumped up the door itself.

He  didn't take it well

Tell him to fro. Nothing worse than a bad dog owner imo.

[paulplom]

16 hours ago, MorrisItalSLX said:

They did the same with Foxes too, the bastards.

Did they send the foxes to eat the rabbits perhaps? We need to send those cunts with bugles on horses over. 

[Cord Fourteener]

28 minutes ago, paulplom said:

Did they send the foxes to eat the rabbits perhaps? We need to send those cunts with bugles on horses over. 

I fear that if you do that they might breed like, er, inbred fuckwits and we might end up with a lot more cunts with bugles and horses than before. Probably the last thing the Aussies need!

[Cord Fourteener]

15 hours ago, Cavcraft said:

I'd hate to hit any wildlife in my car and would be more concerned for their welfare than that of the motor.

I try to avoid running over frogs, which is difficult. Makes me sad when i think  I've squashed one.

Though I also hate it when people emergency brake on an A road for pheasants.

[MorrisItalSLX]

1 hour ago, paulplom said:

Did they send the foxes to eat the rabbits perhaps? We need to send those cunts with bugles on horses over. 

It was the cunts with bugles on horses that came here and brought the foxes with them so they had something to blow their bugles at.

[wuvvum]

Those cunts with bugles and horses really do ruin everything, don't they?

[New POD]

1 hour ago, Tim_E said:

I try to avoid running over frogs, which is difficult. Makes me sad when i think  I've squashed one.

Though I also hate it when people emergency brake on an A road for pheasants.

Ah, we have lots of peasants not far from us. 

Since the Great Altcar hare coursing became illegal, they have diversified into breeding peasants and most end up in the wild. 

The trick is Not to get too close, to the car in front so that you are not surprised by emergency braking. 

The other trick is to aim the wheels at them because that way you get less bumper damage.