The grumpy thread

[Tadhg Tiogar]

20 minutes ago, Dabooka said:

My Cougar takes it even further, by not folding in by hand either.  That's really fucking convenient when backing in to a poxy wide council garage.

Imagine how Vauxhall Vectra Mk.1 owners must feel...

[ETCHY]

3 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Imagine how Vauxhall Vectra Mk.1 owners must feel...

Yeah I never thought of that. I wonder if they're the same on DW's Vectra as his is a later one ?

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Just now, ETCHY said:

Yeah I never thought of that. I wonder if they're the same on DW's Vectra as his is a later one ?

I think he had a moan about the mirrors, so it sounds like they're the same!

[Borsuq]

2 hours ago, Dabooka said:

My Cougar takes it even further, by not folding in by hand either.  That's really fucking convenient when backing in to a poxy wide council garage.

Reminded me of a time I wanted to get a cougar over 10 years ago and was following Cougar forums because of that. I vaguely remember a guy who was always on the lookout for wing mirrors for his car because his flat was through a narrow gate that the Cougar couldn't normally clear. He had to take mirrors off their mounts (apparently they clip in and out?) every time he wanted to geth through the gate which lead to mirrors becoming wobbly after a few months.

[wuvvum]

5 hours ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Imagine how Vauxhall Vectra Mk.1 owners must feel...

As if it isn't bad enough having to drive around in a Vectra B.

[PhilA]

Lovely. Notice from local government. In addition to covid-19 we now have a significant West Nile risk from infected skeeters in this area.

[outlaw118]

I'm pissed off with 1) the weather - it's too hot and being a fat fucker, i don't deal well with heat. the last week i've been getting decreasing amounts of kip as the night-time temperatures haven't really dropped, and SWMBO won't open the bedroom windows because bungalow. 2) Been stressing about a zoom call i had today about "mental health", got myself worked up into a panic about being unable to work zoom, and that i had nigh on 6 months off work ending Feb this year due to anxiety and stress, so having someone tell me about triggers, and mindfullness really wasn't any help. 3) I'm working in an un-airconditioned office on a "Water recycling Centre" aka shitfarm. You can guess what the "ambience" is like there. had to put a call into IT this morning at 9.45 as the PC i use crashed. Finally got a call back at 3:55, " oh just unplug the red cable and put it back in". If it was that fucking easy why did it need to be referred on, why couldn't "Dave" from the company's helpdesk tell me to do that?

 

Dicks.

[Wack]

Cashcam working well on the M60 sunday evening up by the M61 turning 

Not busy , no busier than the last 5 miles but the 50 was on where the camera is , I slowed to 50 , went past, looked in the mirror at the 2 cars that had been catching me at 75+ , both got flashed , next gantry limit back to 70.

[omegod]

I crossed the Mersey gateway bridge and completely forgot to pay the £2 toll online a few weeks ago , nice £22 penalty arrived this morning. I fully expect the same bumming again tomorrow for the return journey ?

[Dabooka]

12 hours ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Imagine how Vauxhall Vectra Mk.1 owners must feel...

Dirty and ashamed?

[Tenmil Socket]

13 hours ago, omegod said:

I crossed the Mersey gateway bridge and completely forgot to pay the £2 toll online a few weeks ago , nice £22 penalty arrived this morning. I fully expect the same bumming again tomorrow for the return journey ?

I got one (I think it was last year?) and I explained that I'd genuinely forgot as I returned through the tunnel. They waivered the charge.

[Talbot]

14 hours ago, omegod said:

I crossed the Mersey gateway bridge and completely forgot to pay the £2 toll online a few weeks ago , nice £22 penalty arrived this morning. I fully expect the same bumming again tomorrow for the return journey ?

Online payment for tolls is nothing more than the ability to fine people and make more money.  If the toll were an old-fashioned booth/barrier, then it's impossible to use the toll road without paying, hence a penalty is also impossible.

What's really obnoxious is that if there's a problem with stuff being posted to you, and you're genuinely none the wiser, the unpaid fines (which in this case are a civil offence) are treated in the same fashion as a speeding fine (a criminal offence) that hasn't been paid, so it ends up having a collection order made on it and you can end up with a bailiff banging on your door at 6am.

Utterly fucking wrong.

[Borsuq]

One of the hard disk drives in my PC failed yesterday and I had to replace it right away. Nothing super important on there, but hopefully I can recover at least some data from it.

This unexpected expense, together with this being car insurance month for me means I probably won't be able to put much aside for my FSO to the UK roadtrip budget. 

I guess I'll have to decide between getting new tyres on the FSO and saving up this month.

Photo for your time.

[Fumbler]

Just had a power surge and discovered that the back-up power supply for the Internet equipment upstairs won't supply power anymore. Only replaced the battery a couple years ago!

[Wack]

15 hours ago, omegod said:

I crossed the Mersey gateway bridge and completely forgot to pay the £2 toll online a few weeks ago , nice £22 penalty arrived this morning. I fully expect the same bumming again tomorrow for the return journey ?

It is a piss take , I bet it's £30m plus in fines by now , I forgot to pay it once but had a lightbulb moment a couple of days later so manged to pay it before it went to a PCN

£20m in fines as of June 2019

REVENUE from Mersey Gateway Bridge toll fines topped £20 million in 20 months – but campaigners claim the real cost is far higher.

Motorists who fail to pay for crossing the site in time receive a penalty charge notice (PCN).

After being pressed by Scrap Mersey Tolls, Halton Borough Council has provided the campaign group with figures revealing the income from PCNs.

The amount of revenue, from October 2017 to the end of June 2019 totals around £18,752,000.

[Wack]

Yesterday WAZE saved me hours again, 3 jobs , stoke and 2 in tamworth , sent me off at J17, got 300m and stopped, turn right down a lane, didn't see a jam all the way to stoke

 

Coming back up the M6 it was the worst queue I'd ever seen , the 2 LH lanes were all closed with one lane southbound through concrete barriers for safety , only a wide load was struggling to get through so driving very slowly , the queue stretched to 1/2 way between 18 & 17 , you couldn't even get off at 17 because the queue for that was 2 miles long

[New POD]

16 hours ago, omegod said:

I crossed the Mersey gateway bridge and completely forgot to pay the £2 toll online a few weeks ago , nice £22 penalty arrived this morning. I fully expect the same bumming again tomorrow for the return journey ?

I've got RFI tags in all our cars, so am automatically charged.  Every now and again I get £10 taken out of my account to top up my misery gateway account. 

My daughter's boyfriend, crossed it twice in 2 days by mistake, in her car, so i was charged 4 times. 

The dickhead thought it was free because her car had a tag.  

[Mally]

It was free for him.

[myglaren]

A1 all clogged up and all the roads around it in the Birtley/Washington area too.

Was going to Ravensworth Castle, 11 minutes from mine.  Magical Mystery Tour trying to get to it, then passed it without seeing it.  Two hours wasted, and 1/4 tank of petrol.

Saw on the news that the A1 had been closed due to someone buggering about on a roundabout but that was at 2am.

Most unusual around here.  Rush hour can get a bit busy on the A1 but nothing like it was this afternoon.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Dunno how anyone can function in this crazy tropical heat. Went for a biopsy at Barnet Hospital just now, and they have no air-conditioning anywhere in the building. Some of the staff are visibly wilting. Spare a thought for the in-patients who have to stay there under current conditions.....

I'm spending the rest of the day padding around at home in the nip, as it is just too hot for clothes.

[omegod]

6 hours ago, New POD said:

I've got RFI tags in all our cars, so am automatically charged.  Every now and again I get £10 taken out of my account to top up my misery gateway account. 

My daughter's boyfriend, crossed it twice in 2 days by mistake, in her car, so i was charged 4 times. 

The dickhead thought it was free because her car had a tag.  

Well fuck em, I've just linked the father in laws disabled badge to my car so it'll be free for the forseeable future, I'm gonna make 11 journeys over the bastard bridge to get my fine equivalent back  

[wuvvum]

3 hours ago, myglaren said:

A1 all clogged up and all the roads around it in the Birtley/Washington area too.

My godfather lives in Birtley and I stopped off to see him on my way back from Scotland last September.  The A1 is fugging horrible through that part of the world.

[wuvvum]

1 hour ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

I'm spending the rest of the day padding around at home in nothing but a horse riding helmet and riding crop, as it is just too hot for clothes.

EFeven more disturbing mental image.

[somewhatfoolish]

Hospitals are always like bakeries, at least at this time of year they can save on oil for the boiler.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

1 hour ago, wuvvum said:

EFeven more disturbing mental image.

I don't want to know about your fantasies.

[myglaren]

6 hours ago, myglaren said:

A1 all clogged up and all the roads around it in the Birtley/Washington area too.

Was going to Ravensworth Castle, 11 minutes from mine.  Magical Mystery Tour trying to get to it, then passed it without seeing it.  Two hours wasted, and 1/4 tank of petrol.

Saw on the news that the A1 had been closed due to someone buggering about on a roundabout but that was at 2am.

Most unusual around here.  Rush hour can get a bit busy on the A1 but nothing like it was this afternoon.

Apparently he fell off the bridge at 12:10

 

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/man-taken-hospital-serious-injuries-18752152

[xtriple]

Probably been asked before but...

I can go to the Doctors, the chemists, any local shop, supermarkets, garages everywhere, but I can't go in the vets! It is really irritating me to be honest and I have just fallen out with the second vet this month over it.

Explain I must...

Phoebe is old now (13) and a cripple (like me) but unlike me, she was a rescue and very badly damaged in the brain department, to whit, she is terrified of people. Always has been right since the day I rescued her from nasty people when she was but 4 months old. Over the course of the last 13 years, she has had multiple serious injuries and illnesses which have required surgery and constant pills and care. Now that she is old and gets more and more decrepit by the day, I try to let her have an easy life, do what she wants and keep stress to an absolute minimum.

Sound fair?

The first vet I fell out with has been her caregiver for the last 7 years and to be honest, their care has been variable as has their pricing of things (used to vary by £20 per repeat prescription until I pointed it out to them) and when she needed them during 'lockdown' they were not willing to see her or help. I had to seek alternate, emergency treatment. About a month ago I rang them for a repeat of her usual prescription and they wanted to see her which irked me somewhat as they hadn't wanted to see her before when she needed them, but hey-ho,if we can just make sure she is seen outside so I can stay with her, after all, they know she's terrified.

But no.

Even though I knew they were doing that as the week before they had seen Chester (my other useless dog )to clip his nails (dewclaws) which had grown so long they had curled around into a full circle! They did them on the pavement outside the shop, not bother to me, all is good. But they wouldn't see Phoebe outside and no, she didn't need any treatment other than the 6 monthly wank to show them she's still alive though, what I'm buying expensive pills for a dead dog is a mystery to me.

I lost my temper with the vet, or rather, I came very close to it so rung off because she was totally unhelpful/uncaring.

Found another vet, explained all this to them, no problem, the vet will see her in the carpark. And so she did, pills prescribed all is right with the world. Until today when she needed more pills (she was only given a fortnights supply to see how she did on them) when it transpires that the vet we saw is on holiday for three weeks, didn't write up her last (only) visit and they have no record of her treatment at all. They then wanted me to pay for another assessment even though it was their fault, but, whatever. Asked for the usual outside treatment, not a problem...

Except it was. When the surly vet came out, she stood so far away (like 20 feet) and had a mask and a shield on I couldn't hear what she was saying, but we got over that, she wanted to see Phoebe walk. Phoebe walked about 10 feet and stopped at the side of the car, which is as far as she can walk now. This wasn't good enough and the vet lady got 'stroppy' with me as I wasn't doing what she wanted. She then insisted she was taking her into the surgery and was going to get a lead.

It was at that point I told her I really didn't like her or her attitude to Phoebe and we would be leaving. Which we did (quietly and calmly no less).

Now all you good people will doubtless tell me what an arse I am (not news) but I just want the best treatment for her without stressing her out to the point she carks on the spot... which is a worry for me now as she is so old and...

[High Jetter]

I am thankful no image accompanies your post, TT.

[Remspoor]

On 8/11/2020 at 11:06 AM, mitsisigma01 said:

Wouldn't want to go back to the old booth method.... Its bad enough queuing in a shop behind a woman who queues and waits and loads..... Then spends 10 minutes trying to find her purse.... ???

Maybe ban women from toll roads ?

I don't understand that. Toll roads all over the content of Europe still no queues to pay*. You can even pay by card now. Maybe there are enough toll collection points? Not all are staffed these days.

[Remspoor]

12 hours ago, xtriple said:

Probably been asked before but...

I can go to the Doctors, the chemists, any local shop, supermarkets, garages everywhere, but I can't go in the vets! It is really irritating me to be honest and I have just fallen out with the second vet this month over it.

Explain I must...

Phoebe is old now (13) and a cripple (like me) but unlike me, she was a rescue and very badly damaged in the brain department, to whit, she is terrified of people. Always has been right since the day I rescued her from nasty people when she was but 4 months old. Over the course of the last 13 years, she has had multiple serious injuries and illnesses which have required surgery and constant pills and care. Now that she is old and gets more and more decrepit by the day, I try to let her have an easy life, do what she wants and keep stress to an absolute minimum.

Sound fair?

The first vet I fell out with has been her caregiver for the last 7 years and to be honest, their care has been variable as has their pricing of things (used to vary by £20 per repeat prescription until I pointed it out to them) and when she needed them during 'lockdown' they were not willing to see her or help. I had to seek alternate, emergency treatment. About a month ago I rang them for a repeat of her usual prescription and they wanted to see her which irked me somewhat as they hadn't wanted to see her before when she needed them, but hey-ho,if we can just make sure she is seen outside so I can stay with her, after all, they know she's terrified.

But no.

Even though I knew they were doing that as the week before they had seen Chester (my other useless dog )to clip his nails (dewclaws) which had grown so long they had curled around into a full circle! They did them on the pavement outside the shop, not bother to me, all is good. But they wouldn't see Phoebe outside and no, she didn't need any treatment other than the 6 monthly wank to show them she's still alive though, what I'm buying expensive pills for a dead dog is a mystery to me.

I lost my temper with the vet, or rather, I came very close to it so rung off because she was totally unhelpful/uncaring.

Found another vet, explained all this to them, no problem, the vet will see her in the carpark. And so she did, pills prescribed all is right with the world. Until today when she needed more pills (she was only given a fortnights supply to see how she did on them) when it transpires that the vet we saw is on holiday for three weeks, didn't write up her last (only) visit and they have no record of her treatment at all. They then wanted me to pay for another assessment even though it was their fault, but, whatever. Asked for the usual outside treatment, not a problem...

Except it was. When the surly vet came out, she stood so far away (like 20 feet) and had a mask and a shield on I couldn't hear what she was saying, but we got over that, she wanted to see Phoebe walk. Phoebe walked about 10 feet and stopped at the side of the car, which is as far as she can walk now. This wasn't good enough and the vet lady got 'stroppy' with me as I wasn't doing what she wanted. She then insisted she was taking her into the surgery and was going to get a lead.

It was at that point I told her I really didn't like her or her attitude to Phoebe and we would be leaving. Which we did (quietly and calmly no less).

Now all you good people will doubtless tell me what an arse I am (not news) but I just want the best treatment for her without stressing her out to the point she carks on the spot... which is a worry for me now as she is so old and...

Maybe a chat with the RSPCA would help? getting treatment is very important there is a limit to the amount of vets one can visit.