The grumpy thread

[New POD]

10 minutes ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Doesn't dehydration to this degree turn you doolally anyway? Anecdotally from SIL who is a nurse a lot of the time when OAPs are admitted to hospital with dementia symptoms it's actually dehydration.

Since she's been with us she seems to be gradually getting more coherent.  Better food.  More drinks. More activity

 

[Mally]

I wouldn't over think it, try to help but don't push her.

She.s not going to change her ways much now. She will just start seeing you as a pain, rather than as she sees you now, a help.

 

[MikeR]

19 minutes ago, New POD said:

Since she's been with us she seems to be gradually getting more coherent.  Better food.  More drinks. More activity

 

just noticed her hands look a lot better and more filled out .. 

[cort1977]

4 hours ago, New POD said:

"not listening - because it's not what I've believed for 60 years" 

In fairness, almost everyone is like that really. 

[Mrcento]

4 hours ago, Lankytim said:

I often store chod on my inlaws drive (currently banned, but that's another story) If I ever pick up/drop off or work on a car you can guarantee that an otherwise deserted cul-de-sac with suddenly become alive with people gardening, cleaning windows or as you said, simply pulling up a chair in the front window and staring. One guy opposite even got his binoculars out despite being maybe only 50 ft away. Often a notepad comes out and reg plates are taken down. "Dennis!, Dennis! he's working on that car again! Shall I ring the police/council/crimestoppers" E.T.C 

I've taken to facing them and picking my nose with my middle finger. Nosy bastards. 

 

Do it in late afternoon/early evening and you become prime time entertainment for the whole street. It's easy to see who's watching as the lights go on. Easy to see people and their curtains move.

Those not at their windows will suddenly need to walk the dog, those without a dog will suddenly need something urgently from  their cars, do the recycling, put the rubbish out...anything to get a closer look.

Then there are the local arseholes.

'I hope you're no gonna get oil all over the place'....as you do something utterly mundane like inflate a tyre.

I make a point of trying to do everything i can elsewhere.

[Lankytim]

32 minutes ago, Mrcento said:

Do it in late afternoon/early evening and you become prime time entertainment for the whole street. It's easy to see who's watching as the lights go on. Easy to see people and their curtains move.

Those not at their windows will suddenly need to walk the dog, those without a dog will suddenly need something urgently from  their cars, do the recycling, put the rubbish out...anything to get a closer look.

Then there are the local arseholes.

'I hope you're no gonna get oil all over the place'....as you do something utterly mundane like inflate a tyre.

I make a point of trying to do everything i can elsewhere.

There's a guy opposite the inlaws who will immediately get a bucket and sponge out and start valeting his car the moment I appear and start tinkering. The road is quite narrow (but not that narrow) and if my car is parked on the road he will also decide to go out for a drive and make a right meal of reversing off their driveway, shaking his head as he drives away as if I've seriously inconvenienced him, only to return 5 mins later and make a meal out of parking his car back on his drive.  There's no parking restrictions, I'm not parked illegally and there's plenty of room. He's just being an awkward sod. 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

1 hour ago, Lankytim said:

There's a guy opposite the inlaws who will immediately get a bucket and sponge out and start valeting his car the moment I appear and start tinkering. The road is quite narrow (but not that narrow) and if my car is parked on the road he will also decide to go out for a drive and make a right meal of reversing off their driveway, shaking his head as he drives away as if I've seriously inconvenienced him, only to return 5 mins later and make a meal out of parking his car back on his drive.  There's no parking restrictions, I'm not parked illegally and there's plenty of room. He's just being an awkward sod. 

Might be a sign of mental illness. What d'ye reckon it might take to tip him over the edge?

[Lankytim]

25 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Might be a sign of mental illness. What d'ye reckon it might take to tip him over the edge?

I swapped the engine on an LDV Pilot once and that nearly finished him. 

 

Incidentally, that Pilot was the reason I got banned from the drive. After fitting the engine I fired it up and it emptied nearly the whole sump over the inlaws driveway. The engine was from a pug 405 and I'd neglected to install a blanking plug on the end of the head after the vac pump was moved.  My self congratulation over the engine starting rapidly vanished, being replaced with sheer panic.  "Dennis! he's done it again, look!"

 

[Parky]

Not actually a grump but miracle of miracles my VISA arrived about eight hours before I was due to fly.  Unbelievable.

As a result I now live in New Zealand - I am here now having arrived about two hours ago.  Doing two weeks managed isolation in Christchurch, after which I am free to trawl TradeMe and buy some dreadful shite.

Heres Cathedral Square, my view for the next fortnight.  Nice room, food and drink on tap, can’t complain at all!
 

[The Moog]

Toothache can get in the sea - had a wisdom tooth taken out on Thursday, sore Friday, sorer Saturday and Sunday.

Can't sleep, head throbs, paracetamol does nothing.

My dental nurse friend says likely to be infected so need to phone surgery as soon as open.

Currently counting down the hours till it opens.

[Tickman]

4 hours ago, Parky said:

Not actually a grump but miracle of miracles my VISA arrived about eight hours before I was due to fly.  Unbelievable.

As a result I now live in New Zealand - I am here now having arrived about two hours ago.  Doing two weeks managed isolation in Christchurch, after which I am free to trawl TradeMe and buy some dreadful shite.

Heres Cathedral Square, my view for the next fortnight.  Nice room, food and drink on tap, can’t complain at all!
 

That's been quite a rollercoaster, glad it worked out and hope to see loads of epic shite after the isolation.

[Soundwave]

Managed to pick up a cold from somewhere yesterday. Head is full of snot and disappointment.

[beko1987]

6 hours ago, Parky said:

Not actually a grump but miracle of miracles my VISA arrived about eight hours before I was due to fly.  Unbelievable.

As a result I now live in New Zealand - I am here now having arrived about two hours ago.  Doing two weeks managed isolation in Christchurch, after which I am free to trawl TradeMe and buy some dreadful shite.

Heres Cathedral Square, my view for the next fortnight.  Nice room, food and drink on tap, can’t complain at all!
 

Excellent, so glad you could get over after reading your troubles the last few weeks! 

Your free to trawl trademe/gumtree/whatever the equivilant is now, you just can't go collect anything... 

[juular]

22 hours ago, Lankytim said:

I often store chod on my inlaws drive (currently banned, but that's another story) If I ever pick up/drop off or work on a car you can guarantee that an otherwise deserted cul-de-sac with suddenly become alive with people gardening, cleaning windows or as you said, simply pulling up a chair in the front window and staring. . 

 

I get this too - although my neighbours are strangely supportive, despite being of the curtain twitcher crimestoppers-on-speed-dial generation.

When I first started tinkering I got quite defensive and uppity at all the staring until the nice old dear across the street mentioned in passing that she was glad to see these old cars still going and that they weren't going to waste. Another neighbor asked me to look at a warning light on her dash when I had a second. It actually turned out to create some goodwill.

Apart from the dick across the fence. When he isn't stoned off his head he likes to get a ladder and "clean his windows" about fortyeleventy times a week so he can see what I'm grinding / cutting / hammering. I think the noise bothers him, but then his Shih Tzu and Shit Rave music bothers me so I don't think he'd dare man up and actually say a thing. He's now found a hole in the fence he can peep through, so I make sure I'm picking my nose / farting loudly whenever I hear him heavy breathing. 

Me and Mrs Juular have also started having loud conversations in the garden about gonorrhea and hiding bodies in our attic.

He put his house up for sale last month. 👍

[Tickman]

2 hours ago, juular said:

Me and Mrs Juular have also started having loud conversations in the garden about gonorrhea and hiding bodies in our attic.

Outstanding

[Split_Pin]

9 hours ago, Parky said:

Not actually a grump but miracle of miracles my VISA arrived about eight hours before I was due to fly.  Unbelievable.

As a result I now live in New Zealand - I am here now having arrived about two hours ago.  Doing two weeks managed isolation in Christchurch, after which I am free to trawl TradeMe and buy some dreadful shite.

Heres Cathedral Square, my view for the next fortnight.  Nice room, food and drink on tap, can’t complain at all!
 

So glad you made it. 

Enjoy your new life and may you stumble upon a thousand Holden Camira Estates.

[Parky]

1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

So glad you made it. 

Enjoy your new life and may you stumble upon a thousand Holden Camira Estates.

Found a saloon in a field on TradeMe but seems to have vanished.  The ad may reappear, the6 sometimes do.  Meantime here’s some shite on my watchlist for your delectation.

Really want that Celica.  Might just buy the thing sight unseen.  

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Those Japanese spec p10s are very different than euro ones and the 1.8 is a flier; I'd struggle to choose between the Trueno, Primera or Celica tbh

[Saabnut]

I rarely eat chocolate despite being a fat bastard, but when I do I am partial to a Cadbury's flake. Not had one for a couple of years, but a friend has just visited and brought me one!

Jesus, what have they done to them? I knew that some cadbury recipes have changed since being taken over by our masters over the pond, but I can report a flake now is like eating crumbly sugar with a hint of chocolate flavour. So sweet!

Another pleasure gone.....

[New POD]

2 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

So glad you made it. 

Enjoy your new life and may you stumble upon a thousand Holden Camira Estates.

Is that a mk2 cavalier ? 

[New POD]

10 minutes ago, Saabnut said:

I rarely eat chocolate despite being a fat bastard, but when I do I am partial to a Cadbury's flake. Not had one for a couple of years, but a friend has just visited and brought me one!

Jesus, what have they done to them? I knew that some cadbury recipes have changed since being taken over by our masters over the pond, but I can report a flake now is like eating crumbly sugar with a hint of chocolate flavour. So sweet!

Another pleasure gone.....

There's a fine balance.  My mother in law supplied some frozen apple sauce for our roast pork yesterday.  I don't think she actually put sugar in it.  It was so sharp, that it hurt to eat it. 

Just a couple of spoons would have been enough.  

I've had very little sugar in any form since lockdown began, but in the same meal, had defrosted a Tesco black forest gatox, for pud.  But so much sugar that again was inedible.  No wonder I've lost weight.  

 

[Lord Sterling]

On 11/15/2020 at 11:35 AM, Lankytim said:

...you can guarantee that an otherwise deserted cul-de-sac with suddenly become alive with people gardening, cleaning windows or as you said, simply pulling up a chair in the front window and staring...

Don't get me started on that....

I remember working for Brum Clowncil some years ago. We had a small Luton-type truck to deliver bins. Even the quietest of cul-de-sacs would turn into the M25 at rush hour with people coming and going.

[artdjones]

All your experiences make me glad I don't live in a city in the UK. Although to be fair, when I did, my neighbours were fine with fixing cars in the street. Back in the 1980s that included sill welding, clutch changes, Mini subframe swaps and the like outside our terraced house.

What has happened to Britain since 1990?

[Dick Cheeseburger]

I'm currently working from home. I've set up in the spare bedroom and keep the door closed most of the time as I have customer calls to make.

This is day two of doing it. My fiancée is currently furloughed and at home 24/7 as is our toddler son. He's off to the childminder's each Wednesday and Thursday so he keeps his routine /social interaction.  My fiancée is able to relax a bit when he's asleep each day - usually an hour in the morning and up to a couple in the afternoon.  She tends to catch up on tv and do a few chores.

Is it wholly unreasonable of me to expect the occasional cup of coffee or even lunch? I take a 30 minute lunch break and spent half of it making something to eat yesterday. Our boy had already been fed so I couldn't enjoy quality time at the table with him. 

Today no lunch has been made once again, and there are two crusts left. Our son has just had his lunch. Apparently there's an Asda delivery later though so I can make a late lunch after that. My fiancée popped to Tesco earlier to see if our son's hat had been handed into lost property, but wasn't aware we were low on bread, so didn't think to buy any.

I'm not an easy person to live with at times, I'm sure. However, surely it's not unreasonable of me to expect a little bit of timesaving help and thought during the day whilst I'm working? We've been together for bloody years, but my god do I feel low down the ladder when it comes to priorities. I had to walk away from the situation earlier when told 'I'm not your mother'. I'm still bloody fuming tbh.

Any thoughts?! 

[Agila]

18 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

I'm currently working from home. I've set up in the spare bedroom and keep the door closed most of the time as I have customer calls to make.

This is day two of doing it. My fiancée is currently furloughed and at home 24/7 as is our toddler son. He's off to the childminder's each Wednesday and Thursday so he keeps his routine /social interaction.  My fiancée is able to relax a bit when he's asleep each day - usually an hour in the morning and up to a couple in the afternoon.  She tends to catch up on tv and do a few chores.

Is it wholly unreasonable of me to expect the occasional cup of coffee or even lunch? I take a 30 minute lunch break and spent half of it making something to eat yesterday. Our boy had already been fed so I couldn't enjoy quality time at the table with him. 

Today no lunch has been made once again, and there are two crusts left. Our son has just had his lunch. Apparently there's an Asda delivery later though so I can make a late lunch after that. My fiancée popped to Tesco earlier to see if our son's hat had been handed into lost property, but wasn't aware we were low on bread, so didn't think to buy any.

I'm not an easy person to live with at times, I'm sure. However, surely it's not unreasonable of me to expect a little bit of timesaving help and thought during the day whilst I'm working? We've been together for bloody years, but my god do I feel low down the ladder when it comes to priorities. I had to walk away from the situation earlier when told 'I'm not your mother'. I'm still bloody fuming tbh.

Any thoughts?! 

I'd normally joke and say "take a packed lunch" but I won't.

Not unreasonable at all. I wouldn't do that to my wife and she wouldn't do it to me. We would talk about what time it needs to be ready for and it would be sorted. Communication could be done entirely by text to avoid disturbing your work etc. 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

2 hours ago, Agila said:

I'd normally joke and say "take a packed lunch" but I won't.

Not unreasonable at all. I wouldn't do that to my wife and she wouldn't do it to me. We would talk about what time it needs to be ready for and it would be sorted. Communication could be done entirely by text to avoid disturbing your work etc. 

My thoughts exactly. Discussion will happen later when our lad has gone to bed. 

[gm]

the first picture was taken on 15th November 2019

the second picture was taken today - the 17th November 2020

how the hell can a cam belt last only a year ? 

what doesn't make sense is the tensioners are both nice and free spinning ( I replaced them last year) and there are no signs of wear on the belt. maybe I over-tensioned it ? I don't reckon so but can't think why else it would pop like that.

thankfully, I was only half a mile from home so ran back, borrowed a willing neighbour and came back in the civic with a towrope.   

[Zelandeth]

Why the fluffing hell are MK Council gritting?!?

Lowest forecast temperature tonight is 11C...2C on Thursday night...but it's meant to be raining on Wednesday...so anything laid down now will be long gone.

[beko1987]

8 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Why the fluffing hell are MK Council gritting?!?

Lowest forecast temperature tonight is 11C...2C on Thursday night...but it's meant to be raining on Wednesday...so anything laid down now will be long gone.

I think they salted the m40 last weekend, driving to Wycombe to get the bird the spray was full of shit, and the car has those black run lines up the bonnet that only happens when they've spread something

[vulgalour]

@Dick Longbridge Working from home is a tough adjustment, especially if you have to do it in isolation.  I've been working from home for years and I usually keep the door open because as soon as it's shut, I get forgotten about!  Seems to be a fairly normal thing, people interpret the shut door as 'do not disturb' or 'there's nobody here it's just me'.  Best thing to do is work out what your schedule is and ask your other half to pop their head in when you've a break planned, eventually you'll get used to each other and the new routine, but it can take a little while and the transition can be pretty demoralising without anyone really doing anything.  The brain is a tricksy thing, especially if you have to work in isolation.  If you don't already, make sure you get away from your desk for at least five minutes every two hours or so, it's good for your brain and your body to get out of the cubicle, even if you're only getting a cuppa.