The grumpy thread

[Borsuq]

Shed withdrawal is definitely kicking in now. The FSO and Fiat, together with the CLK and Transit have been squirrelled away since November and I'm now really itching for a drive. It makes me a bit depressed that it's still probably going to be at least 3 more months before the weather is good enough to dig the Fiat and FSO out again.

The dangerous bit of that is, not being able to drive what I already have draws me in to the classifieds in search of more automotive shite. God help me if I end up with a Żuk or a Tavria by the end of winter. I've already come close once.

[AnnoyingPentium]

Peel here? Okay.

FUCKING PEEL HERE?! WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF IT?!

[Out Run]

17 hours ago, sierraman said:

Does anyone else get nagged to death over running a banger. Had a bit of agg yesterday with our car, not the end of the world (I hope...) but it was incapacitated by a coolant leak, bit of a fucker but hopefully £120 of bits and it should be back on the road. Anyhow the comment of ‘simply get a new car on lease’ always comes round. It fucks me off for a variety of reasons that people assume I’ve got a spare £200 a month to rent a car with or like the idea the car I’ve got is within my budget and if I was out of work then I’d be owing to nobody. 

The neighbour two doors up once asked me - unlike him and out of the blue - why I hadn't scrapped my 1992 Toyota, yet.

He seemed perplexed when I said it would be here long after his Outlander PHEV was reborn as a Zanussi.

It's mad how many people think it's the sane thing, to pay out for a car every month, until it is 'fkd m8'  and then repeat the process forever more.

[Borsuq]

17 hours ago, sierraman said:

Does anyone else get nagged to death over running a banger. Had a bit of agg yesterday with our car, not the end of the world (I hope...) but it was incapacitated by a coolant leak, bit of a fucker but hopefully £120 of bits and it should be back on the road. Anyhow the comment of ‘simply get a new car on lease’ always comes round. It fucks me off for a variety of reasons that people assume I’ve got a spare £200 a month to rent a car with or like the idea the car I’ve got is within my budget and if I was out of work then I’d be owing to nobody. 

When I first started driving the Navara to work our health and safety lady commented that she was glad I finally got rid of the silver POS (my CLK). Bit rude that. I still have the CLK and still drive it to work throughout the summer.

[Dead_E23]

If someone was cheeky enough to offer me advice of that type, I'd ask them whether they think it might be a better plan to use up their whole ISA allowance with stuff like index trackers before putting money into a diminishing asset like a car.

[sierraman]

On the face of it as far as an investment goes a car is a bloody awful one. 

[Jerzy Woking]

7 minutes ago, sierraman said:

On the face of it as far as an investment goes a car is a bloody awful one. 

Except for the few cars I was offered cheaply but turned down. They have now miraculously rocketed in value.

The one's I actually bought never did.

[AnnoyingPentium]

I'd rather have a shed I owned outright than finance a flashy bit of kit. I don't care about status and badge snobbery. I know my Skoda is a bit shite, but it's my shite.

[sierraman]

Completely get why someone might buy a brand new car in the same way I might fancy a new pair of trousers or whatever. Don’t get it when it’s put to you as a way of saving you money on fixing the car you’ve got.

[Dead_E23]

I treat cars exactly like shoes.

I can afford quite nice ones and like them to start off comfy but I don't feel the need to go and spend every penny I have on a pair of shoes, still less get into debt for them. I tend not to bin them until they are unserviceable or upgrade them to impress people I don't know and whose opinions I couldn't give a fuck about.  I'll fix things like a broken shoelace but unless it's a really special shoe it's going in the bin when it needs new soles and heels. 

Why would a car be much different?

[sierraman]

20 minutes ago, Dead_E23 said:

I treat cars exactly like shoes.

I can afford quite nice ones and like them to start off comfy but I don't feel the need to go and spend every penny I have on a pair of shoes, still less get into debt for them. I tend not to bin them until they are unserviceable or upgrade them to impress people I don't know and whose opinions I couldn't give a fuck about.  I'll fix things like a broken shoelace but unless it's a really special shoe it's going in the bin when it needs new soles and heels. 

Why would a car be much different?

No you are absolutely right. I normally spend £15-20 on a pair of shoes, recently my brother in law kindly gave me a pair of Nike Air whatevers (he didn’t like them). They’re nice in the same way a new Mercedes is nice but like you say in the same way I wouldn’t go out and spaff £150 on them. Nice but not nice enough to warrant that.

[Dead_E23]

I'll spend a bit more than that, but I walk a lot with my dog.  Here's a pair of my boots at exactly a year old with their identical, same sized replacements:

[Dyslexic Viking]

On 05/01/2022 at 11:06, Dyslexic Viking said:

Minus 15 and this modern cars are fun

 

 

On 05/01/2022 at 13:37, Dyslexic Viking said:

Now that I have come home and thawed, I get to go more into what has happened. I was on my way home after getting vaccinated and on my way out of the intersection the engine died and will not start. Then just had to start pushing the car down to a parking lot next to the road and to my surprise a pretty woman in an Audi SUV stopped and helped me push the car. So the next challenge was to get a tow truck and the nearest was of course 70 km away. But the car has now been delivered to a mechanic and then i just have to wait for what they have to say.

But can not stop  think that these should be the most reliable and trouble free cars that exist and this has happened. And that this is the 3rd time I have experienced a car that has stopped and has to be towed and all of these 3 have been with relatively new cars while the old cars I have had have never broken down.

 

On 07/01/2022 at 22:29, Dyslexic Viking said:

 

Talked to the workshop / garage today and if there have been no misunderstandings, it looks like one of the coils has failed. Will get to talk to the general manager on Monday so know more then.

But it seems logical as this has gone 105,000 km and since it is underpowered, the engine must be pressed hard at times and it has smelled burnt in the worst cases so the coils have probably been boiled.

Got the car back today and happened more than I thought. What was the reason for everything was a damaged wire to coil no. 3 which short-circuited and knocked out the fuse to the ignition and killed coil no. 3. They have fixed the wire and replaced the coil and fuse and the car works again.

 

Not sure what has caused this possible it may be mice that have gnawed on the wire but do not know. The mechanic has also fixed this so well that I can not see where this happened. But is good to get the car back.

[AnnoyingPentium]

2 hours ago, sierraman said:

No you are absolutely right. I normally spend £15-20 on a pair of shoes, recently my brother in law kindly gave me a pair of Nike Air whatevers (he didn’t like them). They’re nice in the same way a new Mercedes is nice but like you say in the same way I wouldn’t go out and spaff £150 on them. Nice but not nice enough to warrant that.

The most I've ever spent on a pair of shoes must be about £55 at most. A pair of black and white Adidas trainers. I tend to do a lot of walking in a pair of trainers like these and I can get 3-4 years out of them typically, I'm on my third pair since the first ones met a horrific demise (the dog liked them more than me) but they're good. 

I personally don't see the point in expensive trainers or clothing that breaks the bank - I'm frugal that way (basically another way for saying I'm a bit of a tightarse, Scottish jokes may apply). But if that floats other folk's boats, then sure, do what ye like. The only thing, in my eyes, that was worth splurging some dough on was my "gaming" laptop computer, in order for it to meet most of my needs, again, see boats and flotation above. However, for when my needs require longer battery or better portability, I have a £90 Lenovo ThinkPad for word processing and listening to music... or typing this message, actually. The car was also a good choice... some days!

[MikeR]

just noticed Manchester is getting a ULEZ soon ....

the size of it !!!

[hairnet]

15 minutes ago, MikeR said:

just noticed Manchester is getting a ULEZ soon ....

the size of it !!!

stupid little green cloud signs

put the shit peugeot in and the bike and exempt so fuck it

 

[hairnet]

royal mail

royal fail

royal snail

appiontment arranged for last week (apparently)

they rang me the thursday before new year and said oh your appt you have its being changed

fine to the 18th - ok

they rang me the friday just gone and said theyve changed it again to 20th

i complained and said can you kick royal mail in the plums please

i said to them if you know the mail is dogshit if i miss your call why dont you leave a voicemail to say instead of please ring us why dont you say what youre wanting in the message

apparently they dont do that - which is insane as ive missed (theyve said) two appointments due to not getting the post in time

the letter for the appt for last week arrived today after being posted on the 10th of dec

im expecting the letter for the 20th to be sometime here in march

 

[Out Run]

8 hours ago, Borsuq said:

Shed withdrawal is definitely kicking in now. The FSO and Fiat, together with the CLK and Transit have been squirrelled away since November and I'm now really itching for a drive. It makes me a bit depressed that it's still probably going to be at least 3 more months before the weather is good enough to dig the Fiat and FSO out again.

The dangerous bit of that is, not being able to drive what I already have draws me in to the classifieds in search of more automotive shite. God help me if I end up with a Żuk or a Tavria by the end of winter. I've already come close once.

 

[Spurious]

3 hours ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

The most I've ever spent on a pair of shoes must be about £55 at most. A pair of black and white Adidas trainers. I tend to do a lot of walking in a pair of trainers like these and I can get 3-4 years out of them typically, I'm on my third pair since the first ones met a horrific demise (the dog liked them more than me) but they're good. 

I personally don't see the point in expensive trainers or clothing that breaks the bank - I'm frugal that way (basically another way for saying I'm a bit of a tightarse, Scottish jokes may apply). But if that floats other folk's boats, then sure, do what ye like. The only thing, in my eyes, that was worth splurging some dough on was my "gaming" laptop computer, in order for it to meet most of my needs, again, see boats and flotation above. However, for when my needs require longer battery or better portability, I have a £90 Lenovo ThinkPa d for word processing and listening to music... or typing this message, actually. The car was also a good choice... some days!

I'm on my second pair of Meindl boots. The first were a Burma and lasted 10 years with a resole 5 years through, until the uppers fell apart, total cost €260 (€60 for the resole). 

That's €26 a year for a quality boot, that would probably last longer if I looked after them. 

Replaced them with Meindl Bhutans (which using my Blue light card got a deal of ,£180) which replaced the Burma a few years back, should last as long, look bombproof. 

There's advantages to both methods. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

i'll put my hands up to spaffing £90 on some Bates boots

[grogee]

On 1/11/2022 at 11:18 AM, 3VOM said:

That doesn't sound either good or correct. I thought the trip should work fast enough so you didn't notice any shock. Where are our electricians?

Conversely if this had happened pre-RCD days, there would be a funeral being planned. Big fat 13A fuse in an electric heater, and probably a nail in the fusebox between you and the substation. 

[grogee]

On 1/11/2022 at 4:30 PM, sierraman said:

Does anyone else get nagged to death over running a banger. Had a bit of agg yesterday with our car, not the end of the world (I hope...) but it was incapacitated by a coolant leak, bit of a fucker but hopefully £120 of bits and it should be back on the road. Anyhow the comment of ‘simply get a new car on lease’ always comes round. It fucks me off for a variety of reasons that people assume I’ve got a spare £200 a month to rent a car with or like the idea the car I’ve got is within my budget and if I was out of work then I’d be owing to nobody. 

Luckily not, but I imagine the advertising is pretty persuasive. IE lots of clueless types manage to convince themselves that £300/month is 'good value'. I'm fortunate in that Mrs Grogee is very happy with our Alfa 159 that she uses every day, and it's paid for. She grumbles when it needs parts and tyres but then I remind her she could be paying £65/hour for someone else to swear at it.

Money is quite tight for us at the moment, hopefully not forever, but even if we had that "spare" £300/month I don't think either of us would think to lease a car. The closest I'd get is to take out a loan and buy a car I've always fancied, then pay it back monthly - but within a couple of years, not indefinitely. 

[MikeR]

20 minutes ago, grogee said:

somat about cars

because of ....

Does anyone else get nagged to death over running a banger. Had a bit of agg yesterday with our car, not the end of the world (I hope...) but it was incapacitated by a coolant leak, bit of a fucker but hopefully £120 of bits and it should be back on the road. Anyhow the comment of ‘simply get a new car on lease’ always comes round. It fucks me off for a variety of reasons that people assume I’ve got a spare £200 a month to rent a car with or like the idea the car I’ve got is within my budget and if I was out of work then I’d be owing to nobody. 

 

 

I get that as well , eg your fucking loaded , buy a new one you tight arse  !!

then I point out its cost me 400 notes to buy some 5 years back , and I can go anywhere , park anywhere and not give a shit ..

and I will get some dosh back when it goes !!

[Jazoli]

35 minutes ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

i'll put my hands up to spaffing £90 on some Bates boots

Yeah me too my recent Clarks boots were £120 and worth every penny, they are incredibly comfortable, look good and keep my feet dry in the 10 yards I walk to my car and will last at least a couple of years.

I've always bought decent footwear as there's nothing worse than cheap shoes.

[Wack]

I should've taken a picture 

This morning in a supermarket car park a woman of about 75 drove past me in a 65 plate Mégane 

Both front wings had dents in and the bumper was badly scuffed on the front and both corners 

The rear bumper had deep gouges on both corners 

I made sure she found a space well away from me before I left the car 

[reb]

I have to write a CV, a CV which will ultimately be rewritten by a professional. I hate writing CVs.

I'm going to get fantastically drunk first, that'll show them.

[artdjones]

6 minutes ago, Jazoli said:

Yeah me too my recent Clarks boots were £120 and worth every penny, they are incredibly comfortable, look good and keep my feet dry in the 10 yards I walk to my car and will last at least a couple of years.

I've always bought decent footwear as there's nothing worse than cheap shoes.

My best shoes are Blackthorns with welted soles. They are 20 years old and have had one resole.

Good shoes are the cheapest. When I was young and poor(er) I used to buy £6 a pair shoes from Stead and Simpson that would last six months. One month of pain to break them in, 4 months of normal use, then a month of leaks as they fell apart. After a couple of years I realised that overall better shoes were no more expensive per month and way nicer to wear. Lakes were £35 then, £25 in the sale and very repairable.

[reb]

My boots are of varying expense and quality.

Worst are the DM Industrials who's soles split within 2 months, I still wear them for work though.

The ones that get worn outside of work most are my Ariat cowboy boots, cost $$$ but look the part and are quite comfy.

Most comfortable are the cheap walking boots I bought last year, I don't even remember what brand they are, but if I'm walking any distance I wear them.

Special mention to the DMs I bought in 2013, I wore them every day for years and they've held up remarkably well, they could probably do with being resoled soon though.

Outside of boots I wear Converse trainers, because that's what I've always worn. Current pair is black with black rubber, comfy enough and can be had quite cheaply if you know where to look. Great driving shoes.

[AnnoyingPentium]

1 hour ago, grogee said:

IE lots of clueless types manage to convince themselves that £300/month is 'good value'.

I was just under £1,500 for my Fabia as a one off payment, couple on top of that the £111 I pay monthly for insurance, and the currently £14 for the road tax for the month, and the £60-70ish I put in the car a month in petrol. Even on a monthly basis, excluding shite that goes wrong, I'm still paying less than the £300 a month and that's with my new driver stripping of funds er, I mean insurance policy. Am I allowed to feel smug or what?

2 minutes ago, reb said:

Outside of boots I wear Converse trainers, because that's what I've always worn. Current pair is black with black rubber, comfy enough and can be had quite cheaply if you know where to look. Great driving shoes.

Possibly along similar lines to my Adidas then, which are perfect for driving and having abuse hurled at them. Even my old ones get used now, just for when I'm cutting the grass though.

[grogee]

Fuck this to the moon and back. I'm going to shame-tweet them, the cheap bastards. 

I remember buying this maybe a year ago from Robert Dyas. Spent time comparing, touching, deciding which one felt the best. No cheap shit for me, I thought, but I was wrong. This was just heavy but also shit. 

That purchase was prompted by Mrs Grogee bringing home some awful Chinese shit from Tesco that looked OK from a distance but simply expired if it even got close to a tin. 

Anyway I know what it'll be now - "where did you get it from, did you keep the receipt?"

NO BECAUSE I'M NOT CERTIFIABLY INSANE

And I just know that some smug twat will be along shortly to tell me to buy a 1970s metal one, which are shit, hard to use and hurt your fingers.