The grumpy thread

[Popsicle]

Four bloody visits to Toolstation today, first one was for a replacement bulb for the downstairs shitter, weird thing that looks like a old style kettle element. Apparently me leaving a little floodlight unit by the door was not adequate enough.

Second trip was when the extractor fan failed in the en-suite (I fucking hate that word), it has been making funny noises for a while, despite attacking it with Henry the hoover and spraying some contact cleaner and grease in. It was nice of whoever fitted it to glue it to the ceiling instead of screwing it, so only half a ton of plaster came down on me, also the lazy twats never put any ducting in, so that damp air has been running around the roof void for years.

So the third trip was for some ducting to connect to the outside vent as I only noticed the ducting was awol after removing half the ceiling the extractor.

The fourth visit was when the outer vent flaps decided they'd had enough of being vent flaps and made a bid for freedom. I don't think the whole series of events cost more than £40 but not the day I had planned.

[Mrcento]

On 17/11/2023 at 18:03, Mrcento said:

Top tip for sellers... especially on FB marketplace, If you want to sell the thing you've advertised, as much as dealing with people generally is a fucking pain, you do actually need to reply to people. If something's still sitting there 5 weeks after you advertise it and you're just not bothering to answer anyone who is genuinely interested, that's probably why it is indeed still sat there. Thanks.

 

19 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Fb. Oh dear

Would usually avoid it like the plague, but this guy has something up for sale i've always kinda fancied trying, and its the only one currently advertised in the UK (and happens to be relatively local for collection), So of course, he won't reply to any messages. Because FB. Bad for sellers, bad for buyers. To be fair to the guy, probably been pissed off by the typical marketplace buyer, but at the point, delete the ad ffs.

And in other news, my option B i had an eye on has vanished/sold. Spent too much time chasing the other guy about option A and now have none of them to show for it. Probably my fault on that one to be fair, should have bailed on the efforts for the first car when the seller didn't answer the second attempt.

[jakebullet]

After last week's excitement* of tracing family tree we decided to go out and find some of the dead guys. We know which graveyard, we know the dates, how hard can it be?

Very. Needs a strimmer to have any hope of getting down even any of the main paths. We got slightly piss wet thru and the Mrs. kind of fell down a foot in a sunken grave. Maybe try again...

[High Jetter]

4 hours ago, jakebullet said:

After last week's excitement* of tracing family tree we decided to go out and find some of the dead guys. We know which graveyard, we know the dates, how hard can it be?

Very. Needs a strimmer to have any hope of getting down even any of the main paths. We got slightly piss wet thru and the Mrs. kind of fell down a foot in a sunken grave. Maybe try again...

Worth it when you find them tho...

[beko1987]

My mum did that a decade or so ago and it was quite fun driving round and unearthing long forgotten gravestones in some long abandoned graveyard. 

You'll need tools! 

[Zelandeth]

There we go, as expected just had the angry "you missed your appointment, how dare you?!?" letter from my GP.

No, no I didn't. It was a telephone appointment (because that's all you would offer me), and you never bloody called.  For the second time in a row.  Prior to that you cancelled it the day before.

Only a 12 week wait between each of these...it's not like we're dealing with anything which is *probably* fine but might be really serious or anything.

Need to phone up our private provider again and see if there's absolutely anything they can do to get around the referral requirement at this point as I'm just going around in bloody circles here, and have been for nearly a year now.  Even more frustrating is that they do allow self-referral for some conditions - just nothing that fits for me in this case of course.

[meggersdog]

On Saturday i did the nextdoor workshop a favour and housed a Caterham they are working on in my workshop for the weekend. I pushed it in as it doesn't start and pushed it out this morning. Nextdoor are closed due to the owner being at a funeral so I pushed the car straight out so it was in full view of the workshop.

The owner of the car turns up and starts having a right go at me for leaving his car outside all weekend. Told him it was locked away in my workshop and I've only just pushed it out. Then he goes on about leaving it in the rain, it's never been out in the rain. It's not raining now but he can see it's been in the rain. Then he goes on about leaving his tools in it outside. It's a Caterham with canvas doors and a canvas roof not the sort of car you would leave valuables in. Properly having a go at me because his car is outside and the bonnet is off.

If that cunt wants an MoT anytime soon I am going to be fully booked for the next three years.  

[MikeR]

After looking around for external white paint for ages and letting the job slip ....

I noticed this today .... on the side of the tin !! 

 

[dave j]

18 hours ago, meggersdog said:

On Saturday i did the nextdoor workshop a favour and housed a Caterham they are working on in my workshop for the weekend. I pushed it in as it doesn't start and pushed it out this morning. Nextdoor are closed due to the owner being at a funeral so I pushed the car straight out so it was in full view of the workshop.

The owner of the car turns up and starts having a right go at me for leaving his car outside all weekend. Told him it was locked away in my workshop and I've only just pushed it out. Then he goes on about leaving it in the rain, it's never been out in the rain. It's not raining now but he can see it's been in the rain. Then he goes on about leaving his tools in it outside. It's a Caterham with canvas doors and a canvas roof not the sort of car you would leave valuables in. Properly having a go at me because his car is outside and the bonnet is off.

If that cunt wants an MoT anytime soon I am going to be fully booked for the next three years.  

I would have been tempted to leave it outside after that!

[Metal Guru]

On 20/11/2023 at 13:50, Zelandeth said:

There we go, as expected just had the angry "you missed your appointment, how dare you?!?" letter from my GP.

No, no I didn't. It was a telephone appointment (because that's all you would offer me), and you never bloody called.  For the second time in a row.  Prior to that you cancelled it the day before.

Only a 12 week wait between each of these...it's not like we're dealing with anything which is *probably* fine but might be really serious or anything.

Need to phone up our private provider again and see if there's absolutely anything they can do to get around the referral requirement at this point as I'm just going around in bloody circles here, and have been for nearly a year now.  Even more frustrating is that they do allow self-referral for some conditions - just nothing that fits for me in this case of course.

I know some people don’t give a shit and fail to turn up for appointments, but most of us just forget and you’re lectured about waiting lists and told you’re the reason Mrs Jones has waited 15 years for her hip replacement.

There’s a sign at my doctors that says if you’re 10 minutes late you won’t be seen. I’ve NEVER been seen within 10 minutes if my appointment time.

[Tenmil Socket]

On 20/11/2023 at 13:50, Zelandeth said:

There we go, as expected just had the angry "you missed your appointment, how dare you?!?" letter from my GP.

No, no I didn't. It was a telephone appointment (because that's all you would offer me), and you never bloody called.  For the second time in a row.  Prior to that you cancelled it the day before.

Only a 12 week wait between each of these...it's not like we're dealing with anything which is *probably* fine but might be really serious or anything.

Need to phone up our private provider again and see if there's absolutely anything they can do to get around the referral requirement at this point as I'm just going around in bloody circles here, and have been for nearly a year now.  Even more frustrating is that they do allow self-referral for some conditions - just nothing that fits for me in this case of course.

I visited the hospital to attend an appointment last year which was the first appointment I was aware of. When it was my turn to see the nurse she was a bit funny with me about missing my 2 previous appointments. It was the first I'd heard. Do they make you an appointment but fail to notify you.

Another one, a year or two ago, I received an NHS letter one day and when I opened it it was for an appointment for 2 days before.

[myglaren]

I tried to see someone to get an appointment for diabetes eye and foot testing but the department reception is closed and there were no staff visible.

Only way appears to be to telephone them.  Not likely to happen.

One of the things I hate about going there is people hanging about outside smoking, other patients inside who have been smoking or are drenched in perfume/aftershave/deodorant/WHY.

And then tried to get in to the BT shop to rearrange my account, and all these buggers smoking in the entrance under the no smoking signs!

 

On a lighter note, did eventually get in and had my broadband and phone costs halved - by my next door neighbour who works for BT 

[Alan_Green]

Earlier on I rolled past this little fella sitting at an odd angle with hazards on.  Obviously just had a little clump.  

[Spiny Norman]

Shame. Old cars are so fragile compared to modern NCAP tanks, doesn't look too bad so should be fixable.

 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

19 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

I know some people don’t give a shit and fail to turn up for appointments, but most of us just forget and you’re lectured about waiting lists and told you’re the reason Mrs Jones has waited 15 years for her hip replacement.

There’s a sign at my doctors that says if you’re 10 minutes late you won’t be seen. I’ve NEVER been seen within 10 minutes if my appointment time.

Back when I was at University, I did some work for a GP practice during the summer.  Just admin work in the back offices, nothing exciting.

I was asked to prepare a report on DNA (did not attend) appointments.  The figure was at about 25%.

[New POD]

4 hours ago, Alan_Green said:

Earlier on I rolled past this little fella sitting at an odd angle with hazards on.  Obviously just had a little clump.  

Thing is, there's no crumplezone to absorb the energy.  So I'm guessing all the energy was taken by the seat belts and the driver will have a massive bruise across thier chest or even life threatening internal injuries.  

[New POD]

On 20/11/2023 at 22:46, MikeR said:

After looking around for external white paint for ages and letting the job slip ....

I noticed this today .... on the side of the tin !! 

 

Brilliant. I usually buy the "exterior mediocre slow dry white, probably suitable outside if it doesn't rain too much, provided you use 3 coats of the special primer, and 4 coats of top coat and the clear laquer to protect it, with at least 24 hours between each coat" 

 

Because its 5% cheaper.  

[chaseracer]

46 minutes ago, New POD said:

Thing is, there's no crumplezone to absorb the energy.

P6 had passive safety designed in, including progressive collapse.  

This is also an interesting read: https://oldmotors.net/rover-p6-radical-disguised-as-traditional/

 

[Rocket88]

2 hours ago, New POD said:

Thing is, there's no crumplezone to absorb the energy.  So I'm guessing all the energy was taken by the seat belts and the driver will have a massive bruise across thier chest or even life threatening internal injuries.  

Err…. No. P6 was built with crumple zones. Why do people automatically assume old cars are “ death traps.”?

 

[junkyarddog]

My old jalopy has it's test in the morning,so decided to give the old girl a wash and brush up.

10mins later.

FFS!🙄

[cobblers]

 

Guess which 4 components I replaced 7000 miles ago, just before the last MOT?

[chaseracer]

1 hour ago, cobblers said:

 

Guess which 4 components I replaced 7000 miles ago, just before the last MOT?

Is this what theatrical types with mechanical sympathy might call 'suspension of disbelief'...? 

[beko1987]

Was it cheap parts doing cheap parts or alright parts being smashed to fuck over the roads though? 

[ruffgeezer]

Audi has disgraced itself - OSF caliper partially seized and cooked the pads on my way in to work yesterday.   Limped it home to survey damage- pads that horrible brick dust colour, disc tinged blue. 

Couldn't get the parts at the right price in time, so this morning ing before work I chucked a cambelt and water pump on the Peugeot 207 and finished it just in time to drive it to work for the late shift. Only the gearbox oil and rear brakes to rectify on that then I ccan bring the Getz home.

Meantime that has passed it's mot but needs inner front arb bushes and a strut top mount.  

[cobblers]

As part of an ongoing plan to stop my head exploding, every friday I finish work a bit early and have a walk somewhere peaceful, then I camp in my van at the end of a farm next to a river and on saturday morning I stop off at a nice quiet cafe and sit next to the fire and have a full english breakfast.

This morning there was a few old blokes who came in, togged up in their walking clobber ready for a days walking up lathkill dale or something.

One ordered an egg sandwich, with extra bacon. One ordered a bacon sandwich with an extra egg.

They sat down to eat them and discussed the prices they had paid for the same meal, and it ended up being 15p cheaper for the egg with extra bacon. The aggrieved party jumped out of his seat and marched up to the counter and demanded a refund of this 15p. 

Cafe owner then explained that the bacon + egg sandwich has 2 bacon + 1 egg, whereas the egg+ bacon only has 1 bacon, hence the price difference.

Overhearing this, the other guy gets up and joins in the discussion: "So a rasher of bacon is only 15p? but you charged me an extra £1 for an egg!"

The two blokes went back and forth arguing quite agressively with the cafe owner about the value of eggs vs bacon for a good 5 minutes, all while the sandwiches they were arguing over were sat on a table behind them going cold. Cafe owner refunded one bloke 15p onto his card and gave the other bloke a rasher of bacon to shut them up.

Listening to all this wound me up a lot more than it should have done. 

[Tickman]

7 minutes ago, cobblers said:

Listening to all this wound me up a lot more than it should have done. 

I don't think it did, I think the correct levels of wound up were achieved.

Life's too short for behaviour like that

[sierraman]

On 23/11/2023 at 02:08, Spiny Norman said:

Shame. Old cars are so fragile compared to modern NCAP tanks, doesn't look too bad so should be fixable.

 

But there’s no bonnet pyrotechnics, airbags or crash sensors to reset. 

[outlaw118]

Been waiting for a nerve block injection, appointment was for Tuesday 21/11, private via work healthcare provider. Had a phone call Thursday 17th around 14.30 to discuss the pre-admission questionnaire, all ok, "We'll call you back to make appointment for bloods etc". 

So I waited. Nothing until 4.25 Friday, where I was told next available appointment is Monday 20/11. No good says I, I'm in peterborough, leaving 6am. Told not their fault blah blah, if I don't come in, the op is off. 

Monday crippling nerve pain, drove to hospital in Woodford in Megamoose, 10 minutes later, I'm on the road to Peebo, £12.50 ULEZ lighter + paying for my own diesel; had I chosen to come home and get the van, it would have added at least another hour to getting there, and leave my hours short for the day, I've already lost 4 hours

Tuesday, operation; don't know what painkillers / sedation they gave me, but they were ace. Didn't feel a thing.

Until Wednesday, painkillers have worn off. Lots of ouch.

Thursday back to work, did a few hours on the road while my* office was being used. Got in there at 13.30, did what I had to do, left 16.00, returned to the van - in the office car park - and the passenger window is in approximately 4,874,165 pieces. Appears the bloke who was parked next to me has twatted it with his door and then fucked off. Clearly he's not aware that there's CCTV in the car park. Depot bird going to review, and confirm, and have a word. If not (yeah, I know it's not MY van) I'm going to have a word* with the cunt myself. 

Rang Nationwide Windscreens (it's 16.10 now), their switchboard promised me an urgent callback. I wasn't expecting them to carry the window as stock, but hoped they'd come and stick some perspex over it or summert. I cleared as much glass up as I could, but those shitty latex gloves don't really protect you from glass splinters. Then I waited. Eventually, at 18.25 I got through to them again. Depot closed at 18.00, so clearly I won't be getting a phone call / visit tonight. Went home, frozen. They eventually rang 9.45 Friday, they're coming Monday between 8 & 1. Nice. the only good point is that I'll log on at 8 and wait.

Friday, felt a bit snotty, general aches and pains.

Today, full blown man-flu. SWMBO bought me a pie yesterday, don't fancy it. I might die.

 

[Bren]

I attempted to have a look at the insignia's glove box illumination. It only worked when I pulled the glovebox to do the cabin filter.

The theory is sound but the execution can  be best described as "shit".

Everytime I put the glovebox back it stopped working. In the end I gave up.

It's a common problem. This is the first car I have ever owned that does not give me any pride - I feel the same about this as I would a freezer or a cooker. I felt more pride in the utter nails I have owned in the past.

Hopefully I can chop it in in the new year.

 

[beko1987]

13 minutes ago, Bren said:

I attempted to have a look at the insignia's glove box illumination. It only worked when I pulled the glovebox to do the cabin filter.

The theory is sound but the execution can  be best described as "shit".

Everytime I put the glovebox back it stopped working. In the end I gave up.

It's a common problem. This is the first car I have ever owned that does not give me any pride - I feel the same about this as I would a freezer or a cooker. I felt more pride in the utter nails I have owned in the past.

Hopefully I can chop it in in the new year.

 

Looks awfully the same part as used in the zafira B... The one the ex had did a melt around that area and got unplugged forever. We did wonder if it was causing them to burnt down (was back when that all first hit the news) but it then went in for its recall twice in 2 seperate occasions and wasn't picked up on and I'd left the melted holder fitted. 

I've only known one zafira B to burn down a d that was set on fire by my car at the time being set on fire so it gets a pass there! (it still drove onto the flatbed too)