The grumpy thread

[richardmorris]

  On 18/10/2024 at 11:42, horriblemercedes said:

The spare tyre isn't tested on MOT

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I have a historic* 1988 spare in the x1/9. It’s like polished coal. And never been on the road.

[Stinkwheel]

Exploding pressure brake bleeder (yes I only put in the allowed pressure) and brake fluid in the eyes and all over my bloody garage makes me very grumpy indeed. I nearly put a hammer through the bloody windscreen because the car was obviously doing it on purpose - bastard!!!! 
 

and breathe. 

[reb]

I ordered an armchair from amazon, delivered by DPD. It's just been delivered... to someone else! You can even see in the picture that it's not even the right number on the door!

[reb]

  On 19/10/2024 at 16:31, reb said:

I ordered an armchair from amazon, delivered by DPD. It's just been delivered... to someone else! You can even see in the picture that it's not even the right number on the door!

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Amazon support is fucking useless. I click through the options for "I didn't get this" which eventually says "contact 3rd party seller" which gives me a different chatbot, which then tells me "contact amazon" then dumps me back to the first chatbot. Rinse and repeat.

[New POD]

  On 19/10/2024 at 16:31, reb said:

I ordered an armchair from amazon, delivered by DPD. It's just been delivered... to someone else! You can even see in the picture that it's not even the right number on the door!

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My brother in law once ordered a 3 piece suite and a different one arrived.  As he didn't have any seating, he took delivery and kept it in the packaging whilst he spoke to the company.  Eventually his wife, decided to check out the retail price for what they had been delivered. Twice the price.  And it was so much nicer too. So they decided to stop phoning the company, who never got back in touch to rearrange delivery of their chosen suite and take that one back.  They went out of business 4 months later. 

[reb]

I figured out how to speak to a human, who immediately gave me a refund.

Obviously I'd rather they'd just delivered my fucking chair though!

[richardmorris]

  On 19/10/2024 at 16:37, reb said:

Amazon support is fucking useless. I click through the options for "I didn't get this" which eventually says "contact 3rd party seller" which gives me a different chatbot, which then tells me "contact amazon" then dumps me back to the first chatbot. Rinse and repeat.

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I went through this with Amazon before. Never arrived despite saying delivered. No proof of delivery though and they did refund. Turned up out of the blue 6 months later, so the brio railway track for my niece was a free Christmas present not a birthday one.

  On 19/10/2024 at 16:37, reb said:

Amazon support is fucking useless. I click through the options for "I didn't get this" which eventually says "contact 3rd party seller" which gives me a different chatbot, which then tells me "contact amazon" then dumps me back to the first chatbot. Rinse and repeat.

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[richardmorris]

For anything expensive from Amazon I tend to arrange a local pick-up just in case. It isn’t far in my case just the local coop.

[reb]

  On 19/10/2024 at 16:51, richardmorris said:

I went through this with Amazon before. Never arrived despite saying delivered. No proof of delivery though and they did refund. Turned up out of the blue 6 months later, so the brio railway track for my niece was a free Christmas present not a birthday one.

 

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With any luck whoever it did get delivered to is both honest and knows where my house is and brings it round. Free chair!

[artdjones]

  On 19/10/2024 at 15:45, richardmorris said:

Just cleaned the windows. Now the sun is on them, they look worse!

 

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Get a pro in.

[artdjones]

My grump is that most jobs on cars are made more difficulty by the people who have worked on the car before you. I did a timing belt change on a 1.5 DCi Renault today. When the time came to take the crank pulley bolt out, the impact gun wouldn't touch it. So I got a friend to jam a chisel into the fly wheel teeth after removing the starter and attacked it with a socket and a 5ft scaffold pole on my t bar. Result? The 6 point socket split, and I wouldn't even try with my 12 point. I nipped over to a neighbour's and borrowed an old school 6 point Bahco socket from him which moved it, but it was tight enough to need a 2 ft breaker bar for ¾ of the way out. There was some grey stuff on the threads which had turned to powder. I suppose it was some kind of thread lock. Once the hole had been blown out with the compressor, it was possible to screw the bolt in using fingers only. So that wasted quite a bit of time.

[richardmorris]

  On 19/10/2024 at 16:54, artdjones said:

Get a pro in.

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They do the outsides. 

[artdjones]

  On 19/10/2024 at 17:08, richardmorris said:

They do the outsides. 

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They will probably weep next time, then.

Get a cheap squeegee, put a good layer of Fairy Liquid sudsy water( maybe with some vinegar in)on the window, squeegee it off, then use some dry microfibre cloths to carefully polish off any residue.

Never use the squeegee exactly parallel to the window frame, always at a slight angle, and each stoke should slightly overlap the one before.

[Pieman]

  On 19/10/2024 at 16:31, reb said:

DPD.

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That reminds me - I went to my boss's house in Surrey a couple of weeks ago (was going with him to an event so he let me leave my car at his place while we took the same flight).  As I arrived, there were two fairly large cars parked up virtually opposite one another in the cul-de-sac he lives in (there was an entire road they could have parked in, but no, they had to park opposite one another for maximum inconvenience).  That isn't what made me incredulous though.  As I approached, a DPD van pulled up to deliver a parcel, and the driver left the van in the middle of the road directly between the two parked cars.

I am sure he did it deliberately just to piss other road users off - he left the engine running in the van while he made the delivery and I almost got out and shifted the thing myself!

[reb]

  On 19/10/2024 at 17:23, Pieman said:

That reminds me - I went to my boss's house in Surrey a couple of weeks ago (was going with him to an event so he let me leave my car at his place while we took the same flight).  As I arrived, there were two fairly large cars parked up virtually opposite one another in the cul-de-sac he lives in (there was an entire road they could have parked in, but no, they had to park opposite one another for maximum inconvenience).  That isn't what made me incredulous though.  As I approached, a DPD van pulled up to deliver a parcel, and the driver left the van in the middle of the road directly between the two parked cars.

I am sure he did it deliberately just to piss other road users off - he left the engine running in the van while he made the delivery and I almost got out and shifted the thing myself!

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Recently I was in town and one of their drivers had left their van fully on the pavement next to the main road, more or less completely blocking it. I may* have bashed/folded the mirror with my shoulder as I passed.

[myglaren]

  On 19/10/2024 at 17:17, artdjones said:

They will probably weep next time, then.

Get a cheap squeegee, put a good layer of Fairy Liquid sudsy water( maybe with some vinegar in)on the window, squeegee it off, then use some dry microfibre cloths to carefully polish off any residue.

Never use the squeegee exactly parallel to the window frame, always at a slight angle, and each stoke should slightly overlap the one before.

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That was what I did.  Looks like impressionist art anyway.

[richardmorris]

  On 19/10/2024 at 17:39, myglaren said:

That was what I did.  Looks like impressionist art anyway.

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This was after window spray and two microfibre cloths.  Ho hum. £17 a month for the outside 5windows

[chaseracer]

  On 19/10/2024 at 17:57, richardmorris said:

£17 a month for the outside 5windows

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HFM??!  We used to pay 13quid for a 3-bed detached; nine windows plus conservatory.

Until the bloke subcontracted to his mate, who was a dick...

[richardmorris]

  On 19/10/2024 at 18:01, chaseracer said:

HFM??!  We used to pay 13quid for a 3-bed detached; nine windows plus conservatory.

Until the bloke subcontracted to his mate, who was a dick...

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It was £15 for ten years. 

[Bren]

I had a tooth extraction a couple of weeks ago - a molar. The socket took it's time to heal and I now have a bone spur in the socket.

I had a tooth on the other side filled - dentist spotted that it might be cracked. I can't bite down on it - hardly eaten anything for two weeks and for the first time in 52 years I am developing a set of abs....

[artdjones]

  On 19/10/2024 at 18:01, chaseracer said:

HFM??!  We used to pay 13quid for a 3-bed detached; nine windows plus conservatory.

Until the bloke subcontracted to his mate, who was a dick...

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I would have thought a union man like you would have been all for the working man making a decent wage. And £13 for a three bed with conservatory wouldn't come near that.

[chaseracer]

  On 19/10/2024 at 19:01, artdjones said:

I would have thought a union man like you would have been all for the working man making a decent wage. And £13 for a three bed with conservatory wouldn't come near that.

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[chadders]

Ours is £22.50 for the roughly 25 windows on the ground and first floors plus the conservatory. It was £20 up to a couple of years ago.

It doesn’t add up to me but he regularly holidays in Turkey and often spends £1k on a new puppy. Anyway it's his business, literally.

[Metal Guru]

  On 20/10/2024 at 09:28, chadders said:

Ours is £22.50 for the roughly 25 windows on the ground and first floors plus the conservatory. It was £20 up to a couple of years ago.

It doesn’t add up to me but he regularly holidays in Turkey and often spends £1k on a new puppy. Anyway it's his business, literally.

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Helps when your business is cash and you “only” turn over £12k a year.

[chadders]

  On 20/10/2024 at 10:09, Metal Guru said:

Helps when your business is cash and you “only” turn over £12k a year.

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It does but if still doesn't seem enough.

He's got an assistant and they're here for about half an hour.

I can't be bothered with the numbers but he runs a fairly new van so his overheads won't be trivial.

[andy18s]

  On 19/10/2024 at 15:45, richardmorris said:

Just cleaned the windows. Now the sun is on them, they look worse!

 

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We use one of these little Karcher vacuums, brilliant bit of kit

[artdjones]

  On 20/10/2024 at 10:48, chadders said:

It does but if still doesn't seem enough.

He's got an assistant and they're here for about half an hour.

I can't be bothered with the numbers but he runs a fairly new van so his overheads won't be trivial.

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So one man hour for £22.50. I'd say he has another "sideline" in the back of his van. Or is money laundering. Even minimum wage is £11.40ph, put National Insurance  and a new van onto that, plus the fact that neither of them will be earning while they drive to the next job. You're right. That doesn't add up. It would only add up if the charge was £50.

 

[Remspoor]

  On 19/10/2024 at 15:45, richardmorris said:

Just cleaned the windows. Now the sun is on them, they look worse!

 

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Cleaning vinegar (do not use table vinegar) and newspaper.  We grab free newspapers when they are left around and save them up.

[myglaren]

3 a.m. a couple of nights ago it sounded like squirrels in hobnail boots in my attic, immediately above my bed.  Went on for about an hour then silence.  Began again at 05:20-ish.  Only for ten~fifteen minutes this time.

I should go and check but it is not in the main attic but an annex that is very difficult to access.  No one has been in there in at least twenty years, only the bees and starlings that nest in there.

Maybe next year.

And laid in the bath reading, sounded like the bloke next door was coming through the wall with an SDS drill.

I suspect it was the wind attempting to remove the solar panels though.  I hope they don't leave without saying bye-bye.

[maxxo]

No doubt going to end up being a grump from this

but the fact is I spend around £800 a month on tabs 

i can’t justify it, I can’t continue smoking 40 a day

i can’t be bothered

im sick of it

I’ve been recommended this so let’s just

im annoyed at myself for becoming such a chain smoker

i can’t afford it yet I literally sit there all day burning money