The grumpy thread

[Zelandeth]

Motorways without hard shoulders can get in the fscking sea.

Had a (mercifully brief, and in crawling traffic) FTP today on a section without a shoulder.  Immediate cut out without warning...no chance of rolling to a "refuge area."

Lorry driver stopped and asked if I wanted help getting to the side of the road, but we both kind of looked at the situation and came to the conclusion that it really wouldn't gain us anything.  With the traffic moving very slowly I was actually more conspicuous and easy to get around where I was.  Moving to the inside of the slight curve would actually have made the situation more dangerous, odd to that may sound.

I couldn't even leave the car as there was a fucking six foot high concrete barrier at the side of the road....so my choices were basically "sit in the car, in the middle of lane 2" or "stand in a live motorway carriageway with zip for cover." Getting to a gap in that barrier would have meant jogging a heck of a lot further than looked sane down afforementioned live carriageway.

Thankfully the car decided to cooperate again after a few minutes of cooling off and I was able to get back under way without issue.

Phoned 999 the moment it happened, and the advice from the police was "Stay in your vehicle, put the hazards on and await assistance." Expected time for that?  30-60 minutes.

The whole point of motorways being designed with a hard shoulder from the start was so there was a (relatively) safe haven to retreat to in the case of trouble out of the live carriageway, dump your car and get the heck out of the way.

[Remspoor]

On 7/16/2021 at 5:45 PM, adw1977 said:

I really can't be trusted with corded hedge trimmers.

This isn't even the first time I've made this mistake.  Verdict: idiot. 

It's a good job my house has modern electrics with RCDs.

Some photos of my life saving bodgery.

  

I think that maybe I should have use the tap end over the plug tail rather than the shower head end. It is smaller and with save crushing the end so that it stays in situ.

The length of the shower hose is more than adequate. I did write previously that it is too large to pass in-between the cutting teeth. Well I tried  that today and that is not correct.  However, I have never cut the cable since I done this  a number of years ago. No I did not have the power on when testing.

I just grump is having to cut my hedge as they are conifers and the land is steep so a ladder is always required. I also seem to have some sort of allergy to conifers. So when cutting and if I do not cover up I come out in a rash. These plants are around 21 years old so there is no way they are going to be dug up. I want the privacy.

 

[adw1977]

Wow, that hedge is on a totally different scale to mine.  I only have a 5 foot high beech hedge to keep in check.

[High Jetter]

57 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

I also seem to have some sort of allergy to conifers.

I got that too, when we had them. That's a big hedge, not easy to manage unless you can climb.

[Talbot]

12 hours ago, Timewaster said:

Best wishes to @Nyphurbut I imagine a camera in that situation would record...

Flying bottle, road, sky, road sky, sky, kerb. 

Bottle chucking throbbers long gone. 

That is where front and rear facing cameras on the bike are worth their weight in gold. The rear-facing one will pick up the vehicle as it approaches, the front one will show that the bottle was lobbed from that car.

An absolutely cuntish thing for whoeveritwas to do.  One can only hope they drove off, crashed and burned to death in the wreckage.  In pain.  (I'm not in a great place when it comes to cunts like that at the moment...)

[3VOM]

No f****** internet for the foreseeable future

[MikeR]

E thingy's that can do about 20 to 30 mph , be it a bike or scooter ..

went out today for a snack  , as we are getting a pavement table , a E scooter does some 20mph or so past us on the pavement ... very quiet and very close !!

then as we head home , blue lights in the distance , a E bike has had a bad argument  with a car on a roundabout , driver is ok , but the rider was being taken away ..

now when mopeds came out years ago , with a means of propulsion and pedals , their was an up cry about the teenage death rate on a bike that could do some 40mph or more  !! 

looking at the todays h&S issues with E things , I wonder how long till they are all regulated with laws and safety equipment ...

[New POD]

The law is clear. E Scooters are illegal to use on a public highway, road or pavement. Except in certain cities where they are experimenting.  And it's not going well I understand. 

E bikes are limited to 15 mph, and that has to be achieved with pedal assist.  Twist grips are illegal.  Power has to cut off at 15 mph.  They can't be used on pavements. So if you see one not on a road and not on a cycle path, the user is a twat.  If you see one on a pavement doing 20 mph the user is a bigger twat. 

Now you say you saw the aftermath of an accident, on a road. Do you have anything to suggest that the vehicle was modified, or it was going more than 15 mph?  Did they have a cycle helmet? It might be that the car made an error. Not unlikely ??? 

I've just cycled into the village, and the demographic and ages of people driving suggests that they should have joined me at Spec Savers. 

[PhilA]

On 7/17/2021 at 11:52 AM, Nyphur said:

Some fucking chopper leant out the window of a Corsa last night and threw a bottle of water at me while I was cycling home from a friends house. Narrowly missed me but with the shock of it flashing across infront of me I clipped the curb and came off the bike.

Other than some cuts and scrapes last night I felt relatively ok, but it took me nearly 15 minutes to get out of bed this morning, ribs had me howling in pain. Went to A&E on the advice of 111 and had an x-ray which has shown some broken ribs. They gave me a prescription and sent me on my way, Dad drove me the 45 minutes home and called into the chemist to get the prescription filled, but it says on the bottom it can only be filled by the hospital pharmacy.... Fucksticks. Drive 45 minutes back to find that the hospital pharmacy is closed on weekends! Did eventually get it sorted but could have done without that.

I am meant to be having my gallbladder removed Tuesday but I should imagine they'll cancel that now. 

Very glad I was wearing a helmet mind (I always do) as there is a massive crack through it upon inspection this evening - better than a crack in my skull.

Still a couple of cocodamol and a medicinal brandy are doing the job at the moment.

Christ, where the hell do you live again? Johannesburg?

[3VOM]

6 hours ago, 3VOM said:

No f****** internet for the foreseeable future

On phone data for next day or two

[Fumbler]

1 hour ago, PhilA said:

Christ, where the hell do you live again? Johannesburg?

If he were there he's either have some looted packaging or, if super unlucky, an emptied gun magazine zipping by him.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

3 hours ago, MikeR said:

E thingy's that can do about 20 to 30 mph , be it a bike or scooter ..

went out today for a snack  , as we are getting a pavement table , a E scooter does some 20mph or so past us on the pavement ... very quiet and very close !!

then as we head home , blue lights in the distance , a E bike has had a bad argument  with a car on a roundabout , driver is ok , but the rider was being taken away ..

now when mopeds came out years ago , with a means of propulsion and pedals , their was an up cry about the teenage death rate on a bike that could do some 40mph or more  !! 

looking at the todays h&S issues with E things , I wonder how long till they are all regulated with laws and safety equipment ...

They are regulated.  It’s just that it’s not properly enforced.

[High Jetter]

26 degrees here, brilliant sunshine, thunder has been rumbling for 30 minutes and it's just started chucking it down. Don't you love* a British summer!

[Talbot]

No, I don't.  I'm fecking boiling and might die.

Hot humid weather can bog off.

[High Jetter]

The (continuing) rain has cooled the outside temp to 22 degrees, but this has not yet been communicated to the air molecules inside the residence despite numerous openings being, well, open. I had to get something from the loft 30 minutes ago - fuck knows why the dinner is in the oven, it'd be cheaper to cook it up there!

[sierraman]

Browsing through a 2019 craptical plastics issue... are these people for real?

Twice it goes in one copy about why you should be wary of buying cheap cars not fitted with premium rubber. I don’t know where they’re finding these people selling a cheap car with a full set of Crossclimates. 

Anyhow the bullshit continues in the Mondeo guide, mechanical maladies page, extremely common handbrake light sticking on, the technical ‘experts’ went off down the route of changing the fucking master cylinder. A squirt of contact cleaner in the dipswitch under the lever would’ve sorted it. Anyway, got into the guide, ‘air con standard from launch’ - bullshit, it was only standard on the very last models, the LX and GLX it was all an option on Mk1.  ‘Cable operated clutch’ - only on the very very first models, changed to hydraulic round about ‘94. 

The bullshit that I’m reading here makes me want to sling it on the BBQ.

[sheffcortinacentre]

Their the "how many left" of the mag world.

 I knew one of their contributors (& other mags) a few years back & he doesn't know his arse from his elbow , he didn't then either.

The cobblers he writes amazes me, so many simple/basic factual errors I spot on vehicles I have very little/limited knowledge on never mind the ones I do beggers belief!

[sierraman]

31 minutes ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Their the "how many left" of the mag world.

 I knew one of their contributors (& other mags) a few years back & he doesn't know his arse from his elbow , he didn't then either.

The cobblers he writes amazes me, so many simple/basic factual errors I spot on vehicles I have very little/limited knowledge on never mind the ones I do beggers belief!

One thing makes me laugh, I think this illustrates how far it’s strayed from blokes in sheds welding up old Austin Cambridge’s is when you look at a months outgoings on their fleet, one had blown £2500 in import taxes, another £4500 in bodywork. These figures more than anything else show that Classic Cars have very definitely become a middle class pursuit, chucking a couple of grand a month at it. If we were to look 20 odd years ago it would have been a differential, a pair of Princess Calipers or whatever from the breakers for a score, if the price was even mentioned, it seems it’s part of the sum up for the month. 

[High Jetter]

Sure, an alternative is no mag. Subs are optional.

[sierraman]

The other alternative is to look on here. No cheque book restoration jobs, just normal regular people welding bits of plate on for the test or finding bits in a breaker so the car will be running for work on Monday morning. 

[yohan]

Shouldnt really talk about my customers but… this one deserves a mention.

I have visited him twice to service and repair his mower which he had bought second hand and it is of a cheap B&Q own brand variety. Not so bad if its just used every other weekend, but no, he uses it everyday to earn a living. He then asks me to repair his 4 month old strimmer of same brand and origin. I then point out that the parts he needs are only available through a warranty claim which I as an independant mechanic am not allowed to do (rant within rant).

So anyway, next appointment is arranged to repair something else on his mower, parts are ordered and visit arranged in one weeks time. Then in the meantime I start getting phonecalls from him 2 to 3 times a day every day including late evenings and weekends. His strimmer is broken again but still usable and he has found a second hand obscure chinese branded one locally to buy, should he buy it he asks? No I tell him because the brand has disappeared and parts are an arse to find, so lets just fix the other one when I come for the mower. .. OK… Next day… the strimmer is cutting out… wait until tuesday when our appointment is I tell him… 2 hours later… it doesnt start anymore, seems to be siezed… right make a warranty claim… 1 hour later… B&Q wont accept it anymore so he just went and bought the one I told him not to… next day…can I come and fix the new one… yes on tuesday… ok… monday evening 7pm… A customer just booked him to cut grass tomorrow morning can I reschedule the appointment… Sorry fully booked until my holidays and I dont come back until mid august… „ok I‘ll wait until then“…

[wuvvum]

Been looking at jobs online - thinking of trying to find a job based in London but that allows me to work remotely for most of the time.  Except that some of the salaries are absolutely shocking.  One I was looking at - admittedly an entry level position and not the sort of thing I would be looking for - offered a salary of £20K a year.  How the actual fuck is anyone supposed to survive on £20K in, or anywhere near, London?!

[New POD]

4 hours ago, wuvvum said:

 How the actual fuck is anyone supposed to survive on £20K in, or anywhere near, London?!

By living in a house share in Hemel.Hempstead and cycling to work? And eating Tesco value beans on toast for your main meals. And having a partner with a 20k job.  Hence the number of HMOs and the popularity of spare room dot co dot UK (which is very London centric) 

That is you can't live independently, alone, in nice secure accomodation in London. 

[New POD]

7 hours ago, yohan said:

Shouldnt really talk about my customers but… this one deserves a mention.

I have visited him twice to service and repair his mower which he had bought second hand and it is of a cheap B&Q own brand variety. Not so bad if its just used every other weekend, but no, he uses it everyday to earn a living. He then asks me to repair his 4 month old strimmer of same brand and origin. I then point out that the parts he needs are only available through a warranty claim which I as an independant mechanic am not allowed to do (rant within rant).

So anyway, next appointment is arranged to repair something else on his mower, parts are ordered and visit arranged in one weeks time. Then in the meantime I start getting phonecalls from him 2 to 3 times a day every day including late evenings and weekends. His strimmer is broken again but still usable and he has found a second hand obscure chinese branded one locally to buy, should he buy it he asks? No I tell him because the brand has disappeared and parts are an arse to find, so lets just fix the other one when I come for the mower. .. OK… Next day… the strimmer is cutting out… wait until tuesday when our appointment is I tell him… 2 hours later… it doesnt start anymore, seems to be siezed… right make a warranty claim… 1 hour later… B&Q wont accept it anymore so he just went and bought the one I told him not to… next day…can I come and fix the new one… yes on tuesday… ok… monday evening 7pm… A customer just booked him to cut grass tomorrow morning can I reschedule the appointment… Sorry fully booked until my holidays and I dont come back until mid august… „ok I‘ll wait until then“…

That's no way to run s seasonal business. If I mowed lawns for a living, I would have 3 back up plans,  and I'd have a stock of spares. 

I'd be on first name terms of an equipment hire shop owner.

Oh and I'd have a repairer (you), with a contract, where he came within 24 hours and fixed it. For which I'd obviously pay more. 

Perhaps you could help him with his business model. Why not offer to rent him the equipment he needs, and take the stupidity out of his decision making? 

Leaves him.to worry about his customers and how to get more work. 

[sierraman]

32 minutes ago, New POD said:

By living in a house share in Hemel.Hempstead and cycling to work? And eating Tesco value beans on toast for your main meals. And having a partner with a 20k job.  Hence the number of HMOs and the popularity of spare room dot co dot UK (which is very London centric) 

That is you can't live independently, alone, in nice secure accomodation in London. 

That’s not living. 🤣

[New POD]

1 minute ago, sierraman said:

That’s not living. 🤣

No.  But if you live in London.are single, and on £20k that's the reality. £1436 a month take home. 

Now you can get a studio flat for £700 - £800 plus bills,  in what area ?  But there's never going to be money in the pot. 

Or you go "lodger" or house share in a nicer area. 

It's shit. And reason why other cities are nicer. 

[yohan]

1 hour ago, New POD said:

That's no way to run s seasonal business. If I mowed lawns for a living, I would have 3 back up plans,  and I'd have a stock of spares. 

I'd be on first name terms of an equipment hire shop owner.

Oh and I'd have a repairer (you), with a contract, where he came within 24 hours and fixed it. For which I'd obviously pay more. 

Perhaps you could help him with his business model. Why not offer to rent him the equipment he needs, and take the stupidity out of his decision making? 

Leaves him.to worry about his customers and how to get more work. 

You are right in that he needs help, but I think in more ways then just running a business, since he cant even work a ruler when I ask him to measure the diameter of a hole, so that I dont have to drive half an hour there and half an hour back to determine which version of a part fits his strimmer.

Since Im only a mobile mechanic and not a dealer, I had pointed out where and what to buy.  But he has neither got the money (living in a sink estate) nor even heard of such lofty brands as john deere or husqvarna… 

[chadders]

6 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Been looking at jobs online - thinking of trying to find a job based in London but that allows me to work remotely for most of the time.  Except that some of the salaries are absolutely shocking.  One I was looking at - admittedly an entry level position and not the sort of thing I would be looking for - offered a salary of £20K a year.  How the actual fuck is anyone supposed to survive on £20K in, or anywhere near, London?!

People still living at home, which is not too far from work. Some of our junior admin staff were in this category.

[New POD]

5 minutes ago, yohan said:

You are right in that he needs help, but I think in more ways then just running a business, since he cant even work a ruler when I ask him to measure the diameter of a hole, so that I dont have to drive half an hour there and half an hour back to determine which version of a part fits his strimmer.

Since Im only a mobile mechanic and not a dealer, I had pointed out where and what to buy.  But he has neither got the money (living in a sink estate) nor even heard of such lofty brands as john deere or husqvarna… 

When people say they'd like to be self employed, but they don't have any ideas, I always say, what was the last thing you paid for.  Could you do it better? In this case, are we are all thinking we could do it better?  I could get finance, get the right tools, in the right van, go to the right areas and get customers who'd pay a proper amount, and employ people a lesser amount, whilst making sure that I was making a profit and making sure my back up plans were in place. 

Probably. Why don't I? Lazy. 

[MikeR]

I have parked my Focus up on the drive ...

decided that the C1 can do more than its nominal 3K miles a year .......

being a Diddy car , its first  run out was to Knotty Ash ....