The grumpy thread

[vulgalour]

Coolness factor helps balance out them being such ungrateful lumps.

[danthecapriman]

3 hours ago, vulgalour said:

Going through a period of unhappiness with the cars just at the minute.  I just want to drive them, I'm fed up of fixing them, chasing mystery faults, and having to stop a job part way through because I simply don't own the tools to complete it.  I mean, this is all normal but still, it's driving me absolutely spare.

It’s been over 4 years since I last drove my Capri. I know exactly what you mean.

Trick is to buy more old cars, many more, so you’ve always got one that works!

[sheffcortinacentre]

Strange I've sent & received new & used car parts Inc Canada during vivid with no problem.

If it's a non crown post office then nowadays they don't like anything that's even slightly unusual.

[adw1977]

33 minutes ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

If it's a non crown post office then nowadays they don't have a clue what the rules are.

FTFY

[wuvvum]

I went out at lunchtime and started the Mondeo so I could move it off the pavement.  It started up after a few seconds of cranking, chucked a puff of blue smoke out of the exhaust while it burned off the residual oil still in the cylinders from yesterday, but other than that it sounded as OK as it ever did, although I didn't rev it above idle.  The plan this evening was to drive it down to the car park (with the intake pipe disconnected from the manifold in case the turbo does start pulling oil through again), drain the oil and refill with the correct amount, but of course as soon as I finished work it started pissing down with rain so that didn't get done.  Hopefully tomorrow. 

Remains to be seen whether the turbo is actually knackered - replacement turbos aren't hugely expensive but I doubt I could be arsed to replace it if it is gubbed.  By the time I've done that and the crank pulley and investigated why it's guzzling diesel I will have spent more than the bloody thing is worth.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

10 hours ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Strange I've sent & received new & used car parts Inc Canada during vivid with no problem.

If it's a non crown post office then nowadays they don't like anything that's even slightly unusual.

My local PO is run by a family of Iranians. They take their rules and regulations very seriously and even made a point of showing me the internal Royal Mail missive that sez all car parts are banned from being posted via RM for the duration. 

[Supernaut]

ECP really do peddle some complete horseshit sometimes...

Last I checked there wasn't a specific cure or vaccine for it... so this is just overpriced general purpose anti-bacterial stuff?

[Tamworthbay]

22 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

ECP really do peddle some complete horseshit sometimes...

Last I checked there wasn't a specific cure or vaccine for it... so this is just overpriced general purpose anti-bacterial stuff?

Lots of chemicals will splat viruses, Covid included, but unless your surname is Trump you wouldn’t want them inside you which is the problem In developing treatments. It would probably work as sold but how much need there is for it is another question. I think they have just jumped on the bandwagon with two feet.

[155V6]

I bought two small items from eBay.

The 1st one I thought would be the problem,it was delivered by Yodel & turned up earlier than expected,so a nice surprise.

The 2nd one,the listing said it would be delivered by Hermes,but I could pay a small amount extra to have it by Royal Mail,which is what I did.

I didn't want to use Hermes,as they come to my work anytime after 6.00pm,& we close at 5.30.Last time,I had to hang around at work for nearly an hour after everyone had gone home.

You can guess what's happened?,he sent it by Hermes anyway!

Now I've got to keep looking at the tracking all day,to see where it is,& find out if I need to stay behind again.

I've messaged the seller,but not expecting much there,so quite annoyed ?

[High Jetter]

I'm still waiting for a LED lamp, one of 4 stock items I ordered from ECP on June 14th. I have the other 3 bits, and raised a support ticket on June 23rd. I've responded to their automated reply to that after one, two and 3 weeks - still no communication from them. I tried phoning a couple of times, apparently the average wait time is approximately 2 hours FFS! What else can I do?

[myglaren]

On 7/13/2020 at 12:27 PM, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Trying to send two medium to large parcels to Italy. Royal Mail sez these come within International Signed & Tracked, but local post office sez no and tries to divert me to use Parcel Farce.

This then becomes academic when the post office sez Royal Mail won't carry any car parts, new or used, because Covid.

Fuxake.

Recently used DPS to send a heavy parcel of car manuals to Spain.  A lot cheaper than RM/Parcelforce, collected from mine, delivered three days later.  Entirely without hassle.

[High Jetter]

^^ Is that DPD or UPS?

[myglaren]

DPS - I wondered at first as my former next door neighbour works for DPD.  German mob apparently.  Went through Parcels2go.

[Mally]

Recently swapped houses with my son. Used his broadband for a while (sky).  Changed mine over on Friday (BT)

Fri/Sat/ Sun/ fine. Late Sun night lost the wifi, flashing lights etc, Came back after 10 mins but verrrry slow.

Mon slow but workable at times. Today (tues) rang BT. Yes sir/name /address/problem.  Broadband poor.

Ah you are new, settles down over 10 days. Yes, but it's supposed to go up and down, I've got a speed of 0.11.

Ah1 I'll pass you on, Yes sir/name/address...................  I'// pass you to an engineer.

Yes sir, name/................

Much flashing lights later, seems fine at our end sir, maybe in your property. I'll send someone on.............22 July.

I'm in Spain then, Ah, next Thursday then.  OK thanks.

Can't be my end can it? Sky use BT line do they not? All I've done is plug my hub in and it worked 3 days.

Oh by the way sir, there may be a bill depending on the fault.

[wuvvum]

Did the oil change on the Mondeo this evening.  It went fine, but I seem to have lost my 8mm socket.  Can't find the fucking thing anywhere, which is bizarre as I didn't go anywhere with it - I was just laying under the car using it to take the undertray off.  Only thing I can think of is that I've managed to catch it with my foot when it was on the floor and I've booted it across the car park somewhere - although I did have a good look and I can't see it.  A replacement socket is only a couple of quid, but it's still bloody annoying.

[paulplom]

Fuck. 

The dog's just pissed on it as well.

[Tickman]

3 hours ago, paulplom said:

Fuck. 

The dog's just pissed on it as well.

What are you feeding the dog that its piss melts tyres?

[Tadhg Tiogar]

48 minutes ago, Tickman said:

What are you feeding the dog that its piss melts tyres?

Dog piss is highly corrosive! See what it does to a lawn!

[MarvinsMom]

1 minute ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Dog piss is highly corrosive! See what it does to a lawn!

and to street lamps, we have had a couple come down, especially on the sea front!

dog piss and salty sea air rots the hell outta steel street lamps.

[paulplom]

21 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Dog piss is highly corrosive! See what it does to a lawn!

Doesn't taste very good either.

[paulplom]

The local eastern european tyre emporium guy fixed it for a fiver. Didn't take the wheel off or even let the air out. He just plugged it with a red rubber thing and blew the tyre to the correct pressure.

 

[paulplom]

It looks like the end of a screwdriver handle.

[xtriple]

Proper effin' grumpy twat here! Cannot acces Barclays online banking just get a message about my browser sent a rude message and I have been reported for being a pervert (actually: your browser sent a request our server did not understand), my door lock is broken so I can't lock the door, I can't tax the car and the dogs are both covered in paint from the decoraters.

Plus, I took them out, Chester fell in love with a Rockweiler (sp?) and buggered off and refused to come back - I nearly left the sod to it, and every driver on the road can't drive! Apart from me who is perfect obviously  

[Mally]

1 hour ago, paulplom said:

The local eastern european tyre emporium guy fixed it for a fiver. Didn't take the wheel off or even let the air out. He just plugged it with a red rubber thing and blew the tyre to the correct pressure.

 

Supposed to take the wheel off, tyre off, inspect, looks a big tool that , likely a big hole fnarr.

If repairable plug from inside with large head so it can't pull out, balance, refit. Wallet out.

Be reet, It's on the back anyway, waddyou want for a fiver.

Edit, red plug temporary. If he'd done a proper* job he'd have used black.

[paulplom]

First time I've had a puncture fixed where they haven't took the wheel off. 

I'd rather it was done properly. I would hate to think what would happen if the plug came out at 120 on the A19.

The tyres are the same age as the van and have 39k miles on them. I might change them anyway if I ever get two minutes. When I changed the fronts I put michelin quashqi tyres on (same size), they have much better grip although would void my insurance no doubt if that plug came out on the A19

 

[MikeR]

FFS cant any thing be left in peace , what do they hope to do , soak in WD40 and crank it up again ...

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1310295/Titanic-ship-voice-marconi-wireless-telegraph

must all about the telly rights for the documentary , a pile of salt water eaten wood and copper is not going to look like much .

[Zelandeth]

Well that was annoying.

We've had a tree felling company in today to get rid of the oversized monster that's tearing up the driveway today.

85% of the way through the job they found a nest with a pigeon in.  So they'll need to come back in a week to see if it's moved on by then.

We now have a tree that is totally bare aside from the top couple of layers of branches, looks ridiculous.   Couldn't have been one of the trees round the back of the house, could it?  Nope...got to be the one out front.

[LightBulbFun]

22 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Well that was annoying.

We've had a tree felling company in today to get rid of the oversized monster that's tearing up the driveway today.

85% of the way through the job they found a nest with a pigeon in.  So they'll need to come back in a week to see if it's moved on by then.

We now have a tree that is totally bare aside from the top couple of layers of branches, looks ridiculous.   Couldn't have been one of the trees round the back of the house, could it?  Nope...got to be the one out front.

Happy to see you have managed to start getting rid of it/won your battle against the council to get rid of it? (or is that another tree?!)

[Tadhg Tiogar]

5 hours ago, MikeR said:

FFS cant any thing be left in peace , what do they hope to do , soak in WD40 and crank it up again ...

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1310295/Titanic-ship-voice-marconi-wireless-telegraph

must all about the telly rights for the documentary , a pile of salt water eaten wood and copper is not going to look like much .

Might be better to try making a working replica 

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, LightBulbFun said:

Happy to see you have managed to start getting rid of it/won your battle against the council to get rid of it? (or is that another tree?!)

The council have utterly failed to provide anything in black and white to say it can't be touched, and I've the paper trail to show I've been trying to get a yay/nay answer out of them going back five years - so it's going.  Especially as I know full well that they wouldn't hesitate to send me the bill for damage to the footway etc when it utterly undermines it.

There definitely isn't a formal tree preservation order on it, just seems to be some vague 40 year old word of mouth "agreement" that was something to do with the Homeworld '81 development.  Which as far as we've been able to ascertain isn't written down anywhere.

We've good reasons to remove it at this stage on safety and maintenance grounds anyway.  It's utterly undermined one side of our driveway and soon will do the same to the other side, has started to lift the footway and it's far too big for being so close to the properties.  If it came down in strong winds it would be nasty.