The grumpy thread

[Metal Guru]

  On 30/08/2023 at 09:06, sierraman said:

I don’t understand what peoples fascination is with swapping things these days, I thought we’d left the feudal system behind. 

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Swapping is bartering. The feudal system was a sort of semi slavery where you effectively belonged to the Lord of the Manor in exchange for a small piece of land to attempt to grow enough food to feed your family .

[sierraman]

  On 30/08/2023 at 09:15, Metal Guru said:

Swapping is bartering. The feudal system was a sort of semi slavery where you effectively belonged to the Lord of the Manor in exchange for a small piece of land to attempt to grow enough food to feed your family .

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Either way it’s invariably ‘let me swap my fucked car for your good one’ 😂

[outlaw118]

Fucking Gatwick Airport, specifically their website.

Had agreed* to play taxi service for Outlaw_Junior and Micro_Outlaw for their holiday in Tenerife.

Drop-off last Tuesday, no problem, aside from the Tigerbumming of £5 for 5 minutes "drop off"......

Collection 1.55 am this morning. Cheers Junior.....

Except when I checked the Arrivals on the website, it seemed there was something amiss.....a big red exclamation mark piqued my interest, but no mention of what the problem was. Still nothing around boarding time, Junior messaged to say they'd checked in, all OK, waiting for further instructions, but his phone was dying, and he'd let me know once he'd got some charge.

Kept checking, no update on web, so left home at 1am, arrived Gatwick 1.55. Checked website, still showing as 1.55 arrival. Then I had the brainwave of checking TUI website....."Expected departure 2.25am" FFS.

Turns out Moose's back seat is very comfortable, and I managed a couple of hours kip until my bladder woke me up. Still arriving at 1.55 according to gatwick's website...

they landed 6.25am, baggage collected and out by 7.25am, dropped them off home, back to Outlaw_Towers 8.50.

Had supper/breakfast, paid ULEZ (GRRRRRR) and drop off fee again, shower, took a couple of phone calls, now back out.

Going to be difficult to not slap someone today.

[chaseracer]

  On 30/08/2023 at 08:12, EyesWeldedShut said:

Bloody Romans - all their fault.

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What did they ever do for us, eh? 😉

[New POD]

  On 29/08/2023 at 11:21, Pieman said:

Wonder what would happen if a woman kissed a male player against his will?

Oh yeah, absolutely fuck all, that's what.

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Emotion is a weird thing. 

I've just spent ages on a little excel problem. I've got a look up table. 

4 columns, 1 to 10 in 3 columns, with a row for each combination, from 10-10-10 down to 1-1-1 so 1000 rows. 

The forth column is either L, M or H as per AIAG/VDA Fmea guide.

On another sheet, the user, has 3 cells, and he can specify a score of 1 to 10 for each.  And a 4th Cell where I wanted the correct L,M, or H to be displayed. 

Spent ages trying to automate this simple task. Using Xlookup or an If(and formula.

Mentioned it to another engineer, and within 3 minutes I had a solution.  I had to have words with myself to stop myself from giving him a hug, as my frustration subsided. 

[Zelandeth]

  On 29/08/2023 at 18:46, MikeR said:

Just seen this on FB , Bloody scammers up to a parking rip , watch the QR code is genuine..

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Somebody did something similar here a couple of years ago, put stickers over the pay by phone number with a premium rate number on.  Took the council well over a month to do anything about it...

Swapping a QR code though, that's nasty.  Especially as it's not difficult to put together a website that looks legit, could see that catching a lot of people.

Heck, probably including me to be honest.

[wuvvum]

  On 30/08/2023 at 12:16, New POD said:

Emotion is a weird thing. 

I've just spent ages on a little excel problem. I've got a look up table. 

4 columns, 1 to 10 in 3 columns, with a row for each combination, from 10-10-10 down to 1-1-1 so 1000 rows. 

The forth column is either L, M or H as per AIAG/VDA Fmea guide.

On another sheet, the user, has 3 cells, and he can specify a score of 1 to 10 for each.  And a 4th Cell where I wanted the correct L,M, or H to be displayed. 

Spent ages trying to automate this simple task. Using Xlookup or an If(and formula.

Mentioned it to another engineer, and within 3 minutes I had a solution.  I had to have words with myself to stop myself from giving him a hug, as my frustration subsided. 

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When I initially saw this post I thought you were going to say you'd put all your emotions into a spreadsheet.  The worrying thing is that I wasn't surprised.

[Jerzy Woking]

  On 30/08/2023 at 08:58, wuvvum said:

So this happened. 

Must have been last night, but I didn't hear anything despite the car being parked right outside my window.  Obviously someone's passed too close and clipped it.

Fortunately minimal panel damage.

Fixed* it.

 

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Hopefully the car that hit it was torn open like a sardine tin.

[richardmorris]

  On 30/08/2023 at 08:58, wuvvum said:

So this happened. 

Must have been last night, but I didn't hear anything despite the car being parked right outside my window.  Obviously someone's passed too close and clipped it.

Fortunately minimal panel damage.

Fixed* it.

 

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It’s not as if it’s a huge car in black either.

[New POD]

  On 30/08/2023 at 14:55, wuvvum said:

When I initially saw this post I thought you were going to say you'd put all your emotions into a spreadsheet.  The worrying thing is that I wasn't surprised.

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I try not to do self analysis. The sums don't add up. 

[wuvvum]

  On 30/08/2023 at 15:12, Jerzy Woking said:

Hopefully the car that hit it was torn open like a sardine tin.

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That would be gratifying, but given the gauge of metal that Renault 6s are constructed from I think it's unlikely unfortunately.

[DavieW]

Cyclists - specifically the ones who strap their bikes onto the back of their cars blocking the number plate and rear lights.
Also, when I'm thinking of bikes and lights, we were in Edinburgh last week and I don't think I saw 1 Deliveroo bike with any lights - surely Deliveroo should have a code of conduct for their employees/contractors or whatever they're called.

[sheffcortinacentre]

They do it's called don't give a shit.

[Jerzy Woking]

  On 30/08/2023 at 22:33, sheffcortinacentre said:

They do it's called don't give a shit.

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The Spanish government gave Deliveroo an ultimatum in 2021 (or possibly 2022). Either they made their riders employees of the company (which they are!) or cease trading. Deliveroo chose to stop trading. 

Profits before employees. Utter shits.

[sheffcortinacentre]

That's the modern way.

[somewhatfoolish]

  On 30/08/2023 at 23:21, Jerzy Woking said:

The Spanish government gave Deliveroo an ultimatum in 2021 (or possibly 2022). Either they made their riders employees of the company (which they are!) or cease trading. Deliveroo chose to stop trading. 

Profits before employees. Utter shits.

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Is it really that hard to write an app to sell takeaway food? The hard part is herding the food outlets and bikers into signing their life away.

[Spiny Norman]

I really don't see how companies like Deliveroo and Just Eat can be allowed to operate in the UK. Other than the obvious fact the UK is a complete shitshow  captured in a race to the bottom  nowadays...
They rely on 'non-employees' using what 90% of the time are in some way illegal transport, whether private cars uninsured for business use or these fucking E-bike things that look like they weigh as much as a small moped and usually get ridden by stoned arseholes either on the pavement or weaving in and out of traffic. I thought these things were just plain illegal to ride anywhere other than your own private property?

[Metal Guru]

  On 31/08/2023 at 00:07, Spiny Norman said:

I really don't see how companies like Deliveroo and Just Eat can be allowed to operate in the UK. Other than the obvious fact the UK is a complete shitshow  captured in a race to the bottom  nowadays...
They rely on 'non-employees' using what 90% of the time are in some way illegal transport, whether private cars uninsured for business use or these fucking E-bike things that look like they weigh as much as a small moped and usually get ridden by stoned arseholes either on the pavement or weaving in and out of traffic. I thought these things were just plain illegal to ride anywhere other than your own private property?

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I suspect the government regards Deliveroo as a throughly enterprising company and a good example of what you can do without EU interference .

[Wack]

Idiot parent 

Came home yesterday , blind bend on the estate with a hedge blocking the view, rounded it , a kid about 4 riding a bike with stabilisers up the wrong side of the road towards the corner with dad holding his daughters bike 50m away while she tried riding without stabilisers.

Luckily I'm the guy crawling on the estate not the many idiots that fly round the corners.

There's one knobhead with a corner house , he parks his car outside far to close to the corner forcing you on to the wrong side of the road to get past it , there's an idiot woman that comes round that corner at speed , I'm amazed there's not been a head on because if you were passing the parked car there's no way she'd be able to stop 

 

[New POD]

  On 30/08/2023 at 20:16, DavieW said:

Cyclists - specifically the ones who strap their bikes onto the back of their cars blocking the number plate and rear lights.
Also, when I'm thinking of bikes and lights, we were in Edinburgh last week and I don't think I saw 1 Deliveroo bike with any lights - surely Deliveroo should have a code of conduct for their employees/contractors or whatever they're called.

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Dear Davie,

I AM an Afrikan Princess, with a vast Fortune in Gold Blocks, which are unfortunately impounded awaiting duty, paid from a UK bank account......

Code of Conduct my arse. 

[Jerzy Woking]

  On 31/08/2023 at 01:50, Metal Guru said:

I suspect the government regards Deliveroo as a throughly enterprising company and a good example of what you can do without EU interference .

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Whereas Spain saw Deliveroo as abusing the rights of its its delivery riders and drivers.

Who of course are employees, not subcontractors. With no British interference.

[jakebullet]

Just come back 30 seconds after some arse has hit a cat and fucked off. It's rather dead. I've seen it about before so it's a local cat, but what do you do with a dead cat that isn't yours?

[barefoot]

Place it in the gutter where it won't be reduced to mush and knock a couple of doors.

No need to do more. Word will soon spread.

[Rust Collector]

Yeah, last time I found one it was on a busy road so I picked it up with a blanket from the boot (was very weird picking up a flat cat that was as stiff as a board) and knocked on a couple of nearby doors. Somebody recognised it as belonging to a farmhand who lived in one of the cottages there and said to leave it with them. Was better than leaving it to get gradually more and more chunked in the road outside his house.

[New POD]

  On 31/08/2023 at 12:57, jakebullet said:

Just come back 30 seconds after some arse has hit a cat and fucked off. It's rather dead. I've seen it about before so it's a local cat, but what do you do with a dead cat that isn't yours?

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https://vegandad.co.uk/vegan-road-kill-recipe/

This is obviously not cat, because vegan, so I think it's not as sick as what I was going to suggest. 

I'll get my coat...sorry. 

[myglaren]

Just passed a SAAB 96 in a motorway underpass roundabout, pulled onto the footpath, ambulance in front, police car behind so a bottleneck for traffic, two very worried looking women talking to a copper.  A bit chaotic as there are lights on the roundabout and anyone on it can't see what the holdup is.

[Zelandeth]

Milton Keynes bloody council again.

There's a pretty damned busy roundabout just by us.  Has traffic coming off and (not) decelerating down from 70 on the A5 into the 40mph area, via its own filter lane.  Traffic actually coming round the roundabout exits onto lane 2 just before the filter lane ends.

Left to right in the above image is the local traffic flow, which makes up the bulk of the traffic on the roundabout.  A5 approach is from the north, so top of frame.

They are currently resurfacing a bunch of roads around here - and the state they've left this in just now is with all the lane markings on the roundabout itself missing - but also the filter lane markings.

However there's absolutely nothing to warn folks coming off the A5 that anything unusual is going on, so the first you know of the filter lane being missing, so cars cutting across assuming they have right of way, is when you see three people in quick succession nearly get T-boned in front of you.

There are no road work signs, no temporary give way signs, no cones, nothing, as you're coming off the A5.  Also nothing on the roundabout to alert you to the existence of the (currently invisible) filter lane joining from your left which usually has priority so isn't expecting to have to give way.

Nothing in place to show where the stop lines for the signals are heading in the opposite direction either - so the signals are all to pot as the vehicle detectors haven't a clue what's going on.

The filter lane then also reappears where the but they've been working on ends, causing complete confusion among the drivers who suddenly find themselves straddling the line they didn't know was there.

It's not exactly difficult traffic management we're talking about here.  How nobody's (as far as I know) had a shunt there today I've no idea.

I've been involved in roads from the authority side of it in my previous job and can confidently say if I'd had anything to do with signing off the way this has been left that I'd have been out the door with my P45 in hand before you can say "God the coffee here is awful" in one of the meeting rooms.

The resurfacing work they've done in a lot of areas around here over the last few months is an absolute joke as well.  In most cases they've not actually planed any meaningful surface away, and have just thrown down another 1/2" or so of wearing course - which is exactly following where all the existing ruts and pot holes were - they're just damned near invisible now rather than being something you could drive around.  One bit over by Newport Pagnell I'm pretty sure is actually worse now than before they started...which given the state of it is quite an achievement.

[jakebullet]

  On 31/08/2023 at 13:01, barefoot said:

Place it in the gutter where it won't be reduced to mush and knock a couple of doors.

No need to do more. Word will soon spread.

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Success. Local facebook has reunited dead cat. Still a bit shit to fuck off at warp speed when you know you hit it. Mind, prolly do the same no matter what he hit.

[Dyslexic Viking]

Dad's Yaris failed the MOT and is now uneconomical to fix so he is looking for another cheap small car and is short of choices. So I was stupid enough to show him an ad for an old Yaris for sale 3.5 hours away and the result is that I have to have a 7 hour drive on Monday for a damn Yaris. And I don't have a good feeling for the car or the seller either.

So all hope lies in it being  stolen or it catches on fire or a piano lands on it before monday.

[High Jetter]

  On 31/08/2023 at 12:57, jakebullet said:

Just come back 30 seconds after some arse has hit a cat and fucked off. It's rather dead. I've seen it about before so it's a local cat, but what do you do with a dead cat that isn't yours?

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My brain works rather sideways, sometimes. This post reminded me of

(I am sorry for the cat and it's owner btw)