The grumpy thread

[paulplom 8315]

But like what haplened to @dozeydustman, you don't actually have to be touching it for it to explode.

[myglaren 4531]

Just now, paulplom said:

But like what haplened to @dozeydustman, you don't actually have to be touching it for it to explode.

No.  Once it has been stressed it can go any time.  Probably cleaning it has stressed it, if the corner is too tight a fit and a change in temperature can finish it off.

[dozeydustman 8656]

22 minutes ago, myglaren said:

No.  Once it has been stressed it can go any time.  Probably cleaning it has stressed it, if the corner is too tight a fit and a change in temperature can finish it off.

It's been there for 5 years with nary a bother, so I'm wondering if maybe it got scratched or leant on too hard. FiL normally has a cleaning lady in once a week as his hips are bad (they've both been replaced and both need re-replacing).

 

I'll be going back there tomorrow with some rubble sacks, a hand shovel and a Henry Hoover to clear up; he's staying with us tonight now as his kitchen isn't quite finished.

[dozeydustman 8656]

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

Must have been some dump!

 

51 minutes ago, Out Run said:

That was more than just a squeaker. 😂

I didn't even get that far along - shut the lav door and BANG! Bad news is my favourite beige chinos are now covered in sanguineous stainage and have holes in, so they'll be 'old' trousers now. Thankfully I have skin and stature of a hippo so I'm pretty tough and only have scratches.

Wife and FiL are more shaken up about it than I am. I know they can go at random, this is the first time one has exploded over me. Is that a cherry popped?

[Pieman 1213]

That happened to a couple of the windows at my old school - I think both times on the corner of the building, they had metal frames and I guess due to temperature expansion/contraction it just popped the glass.

[MikeR 3541]

Ironically her next door , her drains leak into mine so her rain water drains away when the soak away is full . But as my drains are full , her house is surrounded by a moat ....

[Floatylight 3169]

Arses! I bloody hate drum brakes, been trying to sort out SmollestFl Fiesta Handbrake, have managed to make both the handbrake and foot brake worse, I'll get the garage to fix it I think..

[MikeR 3541]

we have all done it , but we have just suffered the effects of pavement parking ... 

the personhole in the street is next to where everyone pavement parks , and the vibration had shook 2 bricks loose which fell into the bottom

of the sewer and blocked it ....  our personholes were brimmed with dirty water , and the down pour on top !!!

3 houses worth of shite .  that was bad but .....

Do you know what its like having a wife going on about a non working bog !!!!

any way the big water board van pulled up ,they  got the tools out and it was cleared in minutes , took longer to do the paper work !

[richardmorris 14234]

Watching around the world in 80 days with Michael palin and finding it was 1988!

[108 76]

1 hour ago, richardmorris said:

Watching around the world in 80 days with Michael palin and finding it was 1988!

I was just thinking exactly the same. Seems like it was only about 15 years ago!

 

Where did the time go?

[Jikovron 1034]

I took all this crap to the tip, of which was the 82yo neighbours tree, hes still well up for manual labour , anyhow it was shedding needles like mad so I though blimey rather than spread it all over the ground at the tip, the trailer got decoupled and pushed over to the tip wall to unload directly into the skip ,,success thinks us both till the guy who we had saved a job tells us in the shitteiest tone possible that we broke the rules doing it that way and they would be getting a load of guff from the council about it,,fuck sake the place was empty!

[dozeydustman 8656]

Not only is Vanessa Feltz not welcome blaring out the radio alarm clock, but she’s playing UB40. 🤮

[Borsuq 694]

This week is already killing me. I'm the manager of the hygiene section in a small hospital (5 wards + A&E + operating block + fairly large outpatient department) and as of today 7 out of 29 of my staff are quarantined. If even one more person becomes unavailable I'm afraid that keeping up the required 24/7 coverage will become pretty much impossible. I'm already working my staff very hard and calling in favours from them (all above board and within legal limits of course) but I doubt we can keep this up for much longer.

[paulplom 8315]

Decent parking by ghia x mondeo man ffs.

[Fumbler 3305]

FFS. Failed driving test. 4 majors, 2 of which were after I knew I failed. Examiner was the most miserable bint I've ever had the misfortune to be sat in a car with. It was at rush hour too, so the town was rammed. Main failure point: bad emergency stop- "Too soft" was the examiner's reason, fair play as I don't have ABS and I need to shove the brake pedal. Fine line between skidding on the wet roads and not slowing down enough, unfortunately. She took great delight in explaining to my instructor how shit I was, and didn't take kindly to my car either. Even decided to make a jab about my test preparations, complaining about the cleanliness of the interior. The wipe was barely soiled for christ's sake.  Was it really necessary to complain about that and make me feel even more shit? I think not.

TL:DR- Failed, 4 majors, 7 minors, unsympathetic and unpleasant examiner, rush hour, nerves and a little bit of bad luck. Now I have to go back to college and pretend that nothing ever happened.

[Talbot 7409]

2 minutes ago, Fumbler said:

didn't take kindly to my car either. Even decided to make a jab about my test preparations, complaining about the cleanliness of the interior. The wipe was barely soiled for christ's sake

That deserves a complaint.  She is there to assess your driving, not to comment on your car or it's condition.

The 1983 Micra 1.0 I took my test in was a)Fucked, b)Filthy and c)a decade old.  It didn't affect my ability to drive, nor should it have any effect on the outcome of your test.

[Fumbler 3305]

2 minutes ago, Talbot said:

That deserves a complaint.  She is there to assess your driving, not to comment on your car or it's condition.

The 1983 Micra 1.0 I took my test in was a)Fucked, b)Filthy and c)a decade old.  It didn't affect my ability to drive, nor should it have any effect on the outcome of your test.

Perhaps so, but fair's fair. I failed on valid grounds and I don't think the DVSA would give two fucks about the tester's preconceptions about the vehicle. I think if I was driving a 13 year-old Toyota Aygo, things may have been different. I certainly wouldn't have failed the emergency stop! Anyway, retest booked for December 8th. If I have that bint again, I think I know what the outcome from that will be!

[LightBulbFun 8449]

22 minutes ago, Fumbler said:

FFS. Failed driving test. 4 majors, 2 of which were after I knew I failed. Examiner was the most miserable bint I've ever had the misfortune to be sat in a car with. It was at rush hour too, so the town was rammed. Main failure point: bad emergency stop- "Too soft" was the examiner's reason, fair play as I don't have ABS and I need to shove the brake pedal. Fine line between skidding on the wet roads and not slowing down enough, unfortunately. She took great delight in explaining to my instructor how shit I was, and didn't take kindly to my car either. Even decided to make a jab about my test preparations, complaining about the cleanliness of the interior. The wipe was barely soiled for christ's sake.  Was it really necessary to complain about that and make me feel even more shit? I think not.

TL:DR- Failed, 4 majors, 7 minors, unsympathetic and unpleasant examiner, rush hour, nerves and a little bit of bad luck. Now I have to go back to college and pretend that nothing ever happened.

sorry to hear that but best of luck for the next test  

if it helps im waiting for my 2nd test on the 13th of October and I actually have a driving lesson later today  

but yeah its one of the things im worried about for my next test

the lady I had for my first test (that I failed) was a nice lady, and im worried next examiner I get will be a total arse or something...

[MorrisItalSLX 11142]

49 minutes ago, Fumbler said:

FFS. Failed driving test. 4 majors, 2 of which were after I knew I failed. Examiner was the most miserable bint I've ever had the misfortune to be sat in a car with. It was at rush hour too, so the town was rammed. Main failure point: bad emergency stop- "Too soft" was the examiner's reason, fair play as I don't have ABS and I need to shove the brake pedal. Fine line between skidding on the wet roads and not slowing down enough, unfortunately. She took great delight in explaining to my instructor how shit I was, and didn't take kindly to my car either. Even decided to make a jab about my test preparations, complaining about the cleanliness of the interior. The wipe was barely soiled for christ's sake.  Was it really necessary to complain about that and make me feel even more shit? I think not.

TL:DR- Failed, 4 majors, 7 minors, unsympathetic and unpleasant examiner, rush hour, nerves and a little bit of bad luck. Now I have to go back to college and pretend that nothing ever happened.

The cow that failed my first and second test was also awful. First time was fair as I made a major error (didn’t wait long enough at a stop sign) but the second time I still don’t understand. She had no interest in explaining what happened, just handed me the fail slip and buggered off. Both times she was less than impressed with my car (30 year old Jaguar XJ) as it needed a bit of coaxing to start and apparently had “very tired suspension that really needs looking at”. Yeah right, I think you’ll find that’s how it’s supposed to be love, the shocks and springs were practically new!

For my third test I used a different test centre and got a lovely young lady who was quite taken by the old Jag, passed with flying colours.

I’m not sure what the lesson is here, try and hit it off with the tester? Probably not.

[Fumbler 3305]

2 minutes ago, MorrisItalSLX said:

The cow that failed my first and second test was also awful. First time was fair as I made a major error (didn’t wait long enough at a stop sign) but the second time I still don’t understand. She had no interest in explaining what happened, just handed me the fail slip and buggered off. Both times she was less than impressed with my car (30 year old Jaguar XJ) as it needed a bit of coaxing to start and apparently had “very tired suspension that really needs looking at”. Yeah right, I think you’ll find that’s how it’s supposed to be love, the shocks and springs were practically new!

For my third test I used a different test centre and got a lovely young lady who was quite taken by the old Jag, passed with flying colours.

I’m not sure what the lesson is here, try and hit it off with the tester? Probably not.

Perhaps so. She wasn't very happy at all when she first looked at my car- you could see her shoulders sink. Weirdly enough, all the other testers were happy, jovial and were making their candidates feel right at home. I think I'll get a different tester next time, hopefully. I know that several of the testers in town are very nice people; my friends passed their tests with them!

[Talbot 7409]

20 minutes ago, Fumbler said:

She wasn't very happy at all when she first looked at my car- you could see her shoulders sink.

So had a pre-conceived expectation regarding your driving based on your car.  Certainly sounds like it. 

Maybe you'd have still failed, but possibly on one major not four. 

[Fumbler 3305]

2 minutes ago, Talbot said:

So had a pre-conceived expectation regarding your driving based on your car.  Certainly sounds like it. 

Maybe you'd have still failed, but possibly on one major not four. 

Indeed, perhaps I would have still failed if I was unlucky enough to have still got an emergency stop to do, but oh well. Experience nonetheless. I'll hopefully get someone else instead, but being a test in December at 8:18AM, I might have icy roads to contend with as well. Perhaps a good thing coming out of this is that I will have sorted the rear brakes by then during the half term, making me feel a whole lot safer driving in those conditions!

[captain_70s 13041]

1 hour ago, Fumbler said:

 Main failure point: bad emergency stop- "Too soft" was the examiner's reason, fair play as I don't have ABS and I need to shove the brake pedal. Fine line between skidding on the wet roads and not slowing down enough, unfortunately.

I wonder if an instructor used to post 2010 cars would actually even register an emergency stop in a car with tiny discs, narrow tyres or all wheel drums.

My mates have taken my Dolly and Acclaim for a spin and vocalised about the comparative lack of braking compared to their newer cars and suggested they're in bad condition. In reality both had recent brake work and were operating pretty much perfectly, they're just old designs and it takes less braking force to lock up the wheels on tyres half the width of modern cars.

I took my test in my instructors modernish Proton Savvy. 

[Zelandeth 12975]

Just went to take the dogs out...got about 1/4 a mile before about half a dozen police appeared out of nowhere, clearly after someone and firmly ordered me to get home and stay inside.

Another day in sodding paradise.

Christ I want to move out of this place.

[paulplom 8315]

All the best drivers fail their first test. I did anyway and I'm an amazing driver and never make any mistakes.

I took my first test in my beige x reg metro 1.0 hle. Failed.

I hired an instructors red f reg metro city and passed.

[beko1987 19836]

4 hours ago, Fumbler said:

FFS. Failed driving test. 4 majors, 2 of which were after I knew I failed. Examiner was the most miserable bint I've ever had the misfortune to be sat in a car with. It was at rush hour too, so the town was rammed. Main failure point: bad emergency stop- "Too soft" was the examiner's reason, fair play as I don't have ABS and I need to shove the brake pedal. Fine line between skidding on the wet roads and not slowing down enough, unfortunately. She took great delight in explaining to my instructor how shit I was, and didn't take kindly to my car either. Even decided to make a jab about my test preparations, complaining about the cleanliness of the interior. The wipe was barely soiled for christ's sake.  Was it really necessary to complain about that and make me feel even more shit? I think not.

TL:DR- Failed, 4 majors, 7 minors, unsympathetic and unpleasant examiner, rush hour, nerves and a little bit of bad luck. Now I have to go back to college and pretend that nothing ever happened.

Been there done that! As soon as the car behind beeped at me 12 minutes into my first test I'd failed (would have failed by mounting the kerb to get past the van to my right too so I was fucked anyway) 

Then it snowed for 3 months (2010) and it took ages to get a retest! 

I know it's not autoshite or cool etc but can't you just smash the test out in your instructors modern? Mine changed his car 3 days before my test too (another excuse I used)! Went from a 57 plate fiesta to the new blobby shape 10 plate, everything was a fuck ton lighter with less feedback and toss visibility. Had the 4 miles to Wycombe to get used to it! 

[PhilA 13973]

I thought I had failed my driving test, maybe 100 yards out of the test center.

I took my test in a "sad face" N reg Fiesta na diesel. The thing was dog slow.

The road from the test center went flat for a while then into a slight hill start onto a dual carriageway flyover.  I approached the give way, and there were 2 cars at the bottom of the flyover headed my way, one in each lane. I was waiting so I didn't have to rag it but the examiner said "why are you waiting? Go." So, I did. Lumpy bumpy jerk but didn't stall, pulled out into the right lane when told we'd be going right. 

I worried the whole time that was a fail. But, it got marked as a minor for not being smooth, but it wasn't considered a dangerous maneuver because I did not endanger myself or any other road users. 

So, the grumpy examiners who fail for either no reason (no, give me a good damn reason) or pile the faults on when it's not really a big issue need to be questioned as to their reasoning.

No, they are not gods, no, most of them can't drive for toffee themselves and yes, you've paid them, you should get a comprehensive reason(s) for failure.

 

 

In other news, there's another hurricane coming, due Friday. Not looking forward to that, most particularly because it will cancel Saturday's car show.

 

Phil

[clayts450 7976]

On 10/4/2020 at 1:52 PM, clayts450 said:

Two consecutive days of having to leave home at 0230 to pick up goods and deliver, yesterday to that London (just round the corner from RobT funnily enough), today to Newcastle. That's not the grump to be fair.

No the grump came when I had to fill up this morning at an Esso station. Real old skool pumps, had to wait for the pump jockey to wake up and press the dispense button from the sales booth. Said pump then delivered fuel at a rate of 1 ml per second. Bearing in mind the van needed 40+ litres it took forever. To cap it off, the dribble of diesel from the pump was so pathetic it failed to register that the van's tank was full. Being half asleep, I then pumped what seemed like about 100 litres of diesel all over my shoes, my clothes, the forecourt and the side of the van. Yeah, wasn't dribbling then, was it, the fucker ?

Fucked my fuel economy figures right up. Plummetted from 53.6 to 41.6

Fuelly over a cliff

 

What a difference a day makes. More or less same amount of fuel went in this afternoon, last tank covered trip up to Newcastle and back, trip today down to Weston Super Mare (501 mile, plus still 14 litres left). This time the fuel stayed in the van's fuel tank, rather than drenching me, net result +7 mpg.

 

[MrBiscuits 428]

34 minutes ago, PhilA said:

I took my test in a "sad face" N reg Fiesta na diesel. The thing was dog slow.

Me too, It was a red N reg one, almost new at the time with all wheel trims removed for resale value.

Dog slow is absolutely right. It even made my Mini 1000 feel quick. Very hard to stall though.

For one lesson we went to a NSL dual carriage way I was instructed to floor it but we ran out of road before it got to 70 😀

[Zelandeth 12975]

2 hours ago, beko1987 said:

I know it's not autoshite or cool etc but can't you just smash the test out in your instructors modern?

This all day long.  I asked my instructor about taking the test in my own car, his advice was that doing that was a 99.9% certain route to a solid fail.  He always strongly, strongly discouraged anyone from using their own car for the test.