The grumpy thread

[IronStar]

3 hours ago, Lord Sterling said:

To be fair, the knocking down of older,  more characterful buildings happens here too. Where there is money to be made, the developers will be there.

Shame about how you feel living there. Do you have other options in terms of where to move to? Personally I'm trying Belgium simply for the fact I have family there, but the stipulation is I can't move there without having a job first which is fair enough.l, it gives me time to tie up loose ends.

This is akin to someone knocking down Keats House to make way for some flats. This is supposed to be protected architectural heritage, but anything flies here. 🙄

I hate it for years now. It was never an amazing place to live, but it’s taken a turn for significantly worse in the past 10 or so years, and it’s gotten eye-wateringly expensive. Not London expensive, but more-than-Barcelona expensive, for absolutely fuckall quality of life. It was sixth most expensive place to buy in Europe compared to income in 2022, and prices have doubled since. Air quality? Nonexistent. Water quality? I didn’t drink tap water for over 15 years now. They’re illegally building houses and dumping shit in the protected zone where water is pumped. Need to go to see a doctor? I’m paying for a mandatory national health insurance, but it’s so understaffed and underfunded that if you need anything, get your wallet ready. Fuel? Most expensive in the region. Surely, taxes are low then? Some 50% of my salary goes to taxes, plus 20% VAT on everything. Corruption is rampant. Ruling party are involved in all sorta of criminal imaginable. There’s so much dirty money floating around it’s gotten ridiculous. 
 

We’re thinking something like Portugal. Whilst not perfect, climate is nice, and it’s much better than here. Also cheaper. 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

5 hours ago, Lord Sterling said:

Personally I feel it is a place that now needs air-con. I said that because I felt others might be coming back with the "just open a window then" or what originally said. 

But as Jazoli said, I needn't justify myself. I want a basic thing, that is for my air-con to actually work but it's fallen into a farce that wasn't needed.

I daily an 09 J10 Qashqai which has aircon that has never worked. I bit the bullet a while back when one of the local chains had a decent deal on aircon refills/ if it doesn't work you get your money back type offer and bit the bullet. The fella pulled me into the workshop 10 minutes after I drove the car in and demonstrated how as soon as he connects up the machine, it audibly pisses out of my aircon system. 

My car cost me just under £2k 18 months ago - it's a cheap runabout and I decided there and then it's not worth throwing money at trying to find and fix the aircon leak - proper can of worms I reckon. If it was our family car which we use for longer journeys, I may well have felt differently. 

Window down it is!

[IronStar]

My lament summed up in by the operators of Yugoverse, Belgrade-in-Zastavas tour operators and defacto biggest Zastava owners club in Serbia. 

 

More about the place that’s getting demolished in case someone cares

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cz6m_NlMsRC/?igsh=MTgwbWZmY3FreTJtbw==

[Yoss]

30 minutes ago, IronStar said:

This is akin to someone knocking down Keats House to make way for some flats. This is supposed to be protected architectural heritage, but anything flies here. 🙄

I hate it for years now. It was never an amazing place to live, but it’s taken a turn for significantly worse in the past 10 or so years, and it’s gotten eye-wateringly expensive. Not London expensive, but more-than-Barcelona expensive, for absolutely fuckall quality of life. It was sixth most expensive place to buy in Europe compared to income in 2022, and prices have doubled since. Air quality? Nonexistent. Water quality? I didn’t drink tap water for over 15 years now. They’re illegally building houses and dumping shit in the protected zone where water is pumped. Need to go to see a doctor? I’m paying for a mandatory national health insurance, but it’s so understaffed and underfunded that if you need anything, get your wallet ready. Fuel? Most expensive in the region. Surely, taxes are low then? Some 50% of my salary goes to taxes, plus 20% VAT on everything. Corruption is rampant. Ruling party are involved in all sorta of criminal imaginable. There’s so much dirty money floating around it’s gotten ridiculous. 
 

We’re thinking something like Portugal. Whilst not perfect, climate is nice, and it’s much better than here. Also cheaper. 

Aren't there nicer places within Serbia that are cheaper/nicer and easier to move to. I'll admit I know next to nothing about Serbia. I've been to most of your neighbouring countries but rail links between those countries and Serbia seem almost non existent. Unless you want to go from Belgrade to Novi Sad there doesn't seem to be much of a network and those are modern units. I go to eastern Europe to travel on the old trains and Serbia doesn't seem to have many. 

I've just googled Hotel Jugoslavija and it looks quite like Hotel International in Brno. I stayed there in January and they have just finished doing it up. The inside is just like all modern hotels now but it looks original on the outside which seems like the way to do it. 

[IronStar]

1 minute ago, Yoss said:

Aren't there nicer places within Serbia that are cheaper/nicer and easier to move to. I'll admit I know next to nothing about Serbia. I've been to most of your neighbouring countries but rail links between those countries and Serbia seem almost non existent. Unless you want to go from Belgrade to Novi Sad there doesn't seem to be much of a network and those are modern units. I go to eastern Europe to travel on the old trains and Serbia doesn't seem to have many. 

I've just googled Hotel Jugoslavija and it looks quite like Hotel International in Brno. I stayed there in January and they have just finished doing it up. The inside is just like all modern hotels now but it looks original on the outside which seems like the way to do it. 

Not really. Everyone and everything is in Belgrade and Novi Sad, which is same shit as Belgrade, except lead developer is owned by Milorad Dodik (Galens) and not Vucic brothers (Millenium Team). Big part of the reason why Belgrade is so shit is that there’s nothing else left, and everyone moved here. Those people don’t want to be here, so they’re treating entire city as disposable, and leaving trail of ruin.
There’s some (ridiculously slow) trains left, but infrastructure is very decayed and there’s next no investment in public infrastructure, other than linking Belgrade and Novi Sad, and building a highway for transit. 
 

I’ve linked to a story about the hotel. You could redo it, but then you can’t launder money through building and selling residential and office space. They’re building all those fucking towers for a reason. This is possibly the last place in Europe that’s so money-laundering friendly, and that’s a huge part of the reason why there are no sanctions on Russia - all low-mid level Russian dickwads are now here to launder, on top of entire Balkans and more. 

[Burnside]

We lost my Grandad this morning to Dementia, passed away at 11:27am in Hospital with my Mum and Aunty by his side.  

Should be feeling sadness but just have alot anger in me towards some people/ events leading up to it, which I won't talk about on here.

Wherever you are now Grandad I hope your at piece., thanks for all your words of encouragement etc over the years. Was and always will be appreciated. 

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, IronStar said:

Some 50% of my salary goes to taxes

Fuck that.

[IronStar]

8 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Fuck that.

46.8% of my very hard earned Dinars every month goes to whatever the fuck they’re doing with it. That includes tax, pension (capped to 1400€ at best), next to useless healthcare and unemployment insurance (capped at around 300€ / month, and you need to meet requirements to get any). 

[Wibble]

2 hours ago, Burnside said:

We lost my Grandad this morning to Dementia, passed away at 11:27am in Hospital with my Mum and Aunty by his side.  

Should be feeling sadness but just have alot anger in me towards some people/ events leading up to it, which I won't talk about on here.

Wherever you are now Grandad I hope your at piece., thanks for all your words of encouragement etc over the years. Was and always will be appreciated. 

Sorry for you loss.

[108]

2 hours ago, Burnside said:

We lost my Grandad this morning to Dementia, passed away at 11:27am in Hospital with my Mum and Aunty by his side.  

Should be feeling sadness but just have alot anger in me towards some people/ events leading up to it, which I won't talk about on here.

Wherever you are now Grandad I hope your at piece., thanks for all your words of encouragement etc over the years. Was and always will be appreciated. 

Very sad to hear of your loss. 
 

The next few weeks will be difficult but there are brighter days ahead. Forget the recent issues and remember the good days. 
 

From a fellow traveller. 

[Metal Guru]

I know food prices have gone through the roof, but the top brands are really taking the piss.

Sample from my shopping yesterday.

Heinz salad cream £3.75 Lidl’s own (Batts?) 89p. Same size more or less.

Coleman’s mustard £1.99 Lidl 59p ( slightly bigger jar too)

Kellogg’s rice crispies £2.49 Lidl £1.09 ( but for twice as much.

Now if you’re a snob or can generally tell the difference , it’s your money, go ahead and stick to brands.

What really gets me, is it’s often old people who stick to the brands they know , ( we know what we like, and we like what we know brigade), and they’re often the ones who can least afford it.

 

 

 

[myglaren]

In the main I agree and usually prefer Lidl's products but I find that their soup is quite insipid and watery.

Other than that though I don't go for big name brands.

[myglaren]

Have been fitting ground anchors in my son's garage, he was recently broken in to and two mountain bikes and a motorbike were stolen.
He has had a high security roller shutter put in place of the up-and-over door but as added security wanted to chain his other motorbike and the two replacement mountain bikes to these ground anchors.
An SDS drill would have been a better prospect but used the DeWalt.
Quite disappointing. The bits kept coming free in the chuck, vibrations loosening it presumably.
It is a keyed chuck, another strike against it, and it seems unpossible to tighten it up enough to prevent it coming loose.
Then my son suggested using his cheap Ryobi drill that may other son gave him. Keyless chuck.
Sad to say it was far better than the DeWalt.

[reb]

Whenever my granny visits me she brings me a huge jar of nescafe. I don't really drink instant coffee, but it's handy to have so I'm not complaining, however of all of the instant coffees red nescafe is easily the worst. It is on par with the asda stuff that costs £4.50 for 500g or whatever it is now.

Of course I would never mention this to her, because in her mind Nescafe is exactly how coffee should be. I have nothing to gain from shattering this illusion for her.

[EyesWeldedShut]

34 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

I know food prices have gone through the roof, but the top brands are really taking the piss.

 

Saw some Heinz the other day - bloody hell...

[SunnySouth]

Well I’m fucking glad that survived Southport’s finest… Looks like it nearly didn’t 😮

[SunnySouth]

48 minutes ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

 

Saw some Heinz the other day - bloody hell...

Been buying own brand? Feel cheap now, dontcha?!  

[EyesWeldedShut]

7 minutes ago, SunnySouth said:

Been buying own brand? Feel cheap now, dontcha?!  

Nah - female of the species in this house has a total 'meh' about any sort of baked beans - can't even watch them being consumed by another.
So, I am beanless until she pops off on a trip (four weeks time, cue beans, black pudding, fried eggs etc etc).

My Scottish monetary prudence would point me towards the own brands though  

[myglaren]

I prefer many 'own brands'.

Heenz Beenz are too sweet.  As are their sauces.

[Metal Guru]

35 minutes ago, SunnySouth said:

Been buying own brand? Feel cheap now, dontcha?!  

I like Branston beans. I think they are £3.75 for a six pack in Home Bargains.

[EyesWeldedShut]

3 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

I like Branston beans. I think they are £3.75 for a six pack in Home Bargains.

Those with a little bit of hot smoked paprika are probably the best out there.....

[myglaren]

20 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

I like Branston beans. I think they are £3.75 for a six pack in Home Bargains.

And even less at FarmFoods.

[ruffgeezer]

Fitted a genuine Volvo towbar to the XC70, struggled to get the socket sitting right.

Checked the Internet again, the genuine ones are either for the V70 or the XC70 but not both.  Guess which one this twat has now got fitted?

Whatafuckingcunt.

[High Jetter]

10 hours ago, myglaren said:

And even less at FarmFoods.

Beans Meanz Heinz. We've tried various own brandz, we know what we like. #old giffer

[Metal Guru]

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

Beans Meanz Heinz. We've tried various own brandz, we know what we like. #old giffer

I actually prefer Branston to Heinz regardless of price. 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

22 hours ago, reb said:

Whenever my granny visits me she brings me a huge jar of nescafe. I don't really drink instant coffee, but it's handy to have so I'm not complaining, however of all of the instant coffees red nescafe is easily the worst. It is on par with the asda stuff that costs £4.50 for 500g or whatever it is now.

Of course I would never mention this to her, because in her mind Nescafe is exactly how coffee should be. I have nothing to gain from shattering this illusion for her.

You clearly haven't tried my Great Uncles Graham's (91) legendary coffee.  Always Maxwell House.  The knowledge of its awfulness has been passed down the generations.

[Rust Collector]

Whilst I like good coffee, I’ll happily drink instant if it’s all that is available - a lot of the own brand ‘gold blends’ are palatable enough plus they’re cheap so great to leave in the cupboard at work.

That red Nescafé stuff is absolutely vile though, I really struggle to drink a cup of it. Add in the cost of it due to being a brand name product, and it’s truly bewildering how any of it gets sold.

[barefoot]

26 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

That red Nescafé stuff is absolutely vile though...

I love it. I only buy it when it's on 'offer', but I buy a trolley full to keep me going. And when I go camping - regularly - I always take the Nescaff 3 in 1 sachets of red coffee. It's a fucking winner.

[95 quid Peugeot]

On 30/07/2024 at 14:53, wuvvum said:

To be fair, 10 litres of oil for under 15 quid is ludicrously underpriced these days, without counting the two cans of engine flush they were supposedly throwing in.

I've bought 5l of 20W50 for 18 quid from another supplier - still cheap enough.

Latest oil order from carousel cancelled and refunded...twats

[EyesWeldedShut]

38 minutes ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

You clearly haven't tried my Great Uncles Graham's (91) legendary coffee.  Always Maxwell House.  The knowledge of its awfulness has been passed down the generations.

I wouldn't need to - I can still recall my mother's infatuation with a substance called 'Mellow Birds' coffee back in the 70s/80s - that nearly put me off coffee for life (or, at least, until I left home)