The grumpy thread

[loserone]

49 minutes ago, myglaren said:

 

This guy is such a grifter.  He could be actually interesting but seems to have chosen a Jeff Wanks Cats approach 

[Spiny Norman]

Apart from this guy being a complete fud, what am I missing? Post April 2006 cars have been OMGTAX for ages haven't they? 

[loserone]

Yeah they've gone up £25 a year.

[ProgRocker]

I'm happy to be earning some money at the moment with a temp job. But bloody hell - does the commute to and from the job need to be so difficult? 

[DavieW]

This new ChatGPT shite on Facebook where everyone is making cartoon versions of themselves can FRO. 

I just know my wife's cousin and her family will cartoon-ise every picture on their phones. 🤬

[EyesWeldedShut]

Not a grump really - more of an observation. Interesting statistic from the Beeb at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yp08kmk4eo

The article is pushing keyless entry MiM attacks (as happened to the journalist). Cynical me is wondering if a lot of the Fiesta/Corsa 'thefts' are actually fake insurance claims?

[New POD]

MiM ?  What's that stand for? 

[New POD]

On 06/02/2026 at 20:56, ProgRocker said:

I'm happy to be earning some money at the moment with a temp job. But bloody hell - does the commute to and from the job need to be so difficult? 

Yes.  I can't think if any commute I've had over 36 years that didn't involve some bottleneck because of volume of traffic and or poor road/signal design. 

However I had a small win last year. Can save me a whole 2 minutes at least once a week.  It took numerous emails to my councillor and to the roads department before they reinstated a left lane filter at a set of traffic lights that used to be there but was *temporarily removed during road works (as the road is turn left into was closed for a week).  

I had to point out that the left filter signal works later in the day, so why doesn't it work at 6.30 to 8.30 am? 

Even then they ignored my emails until I Blind copied every single councillor on Sefton councils contact list and one. Just one. Not elected in my Ward either.  One took it up and got them moving. My own councillor did not respond. Obviously. 

And one of the councillors who I know personally as a friend of a friend did not acknowledge.  

A trivial matter probably only impacting 30 to 50 people per hour, in the morning.  Solved by a simple programming fix (copy the other program) 

[Cheggers]

24 minutes ago, New POD said:

MiM ?  What's that stand for? 

I'm guessing MitM - Man in the middle, where a third party device amplifies the key signal to open the car while the key is still in the house.

[gm]

On 02/02/2026 at 11:28, gm said:

TWO flat tyres on the bini this morning ! they were fine yesterday so someone is playing silly buggers  

both pumped up and holding air but something to keep an eye on 

hmm, both were a little flat again today - I pumped them up and gave them a soapy squirt 

not the local shite bag kids after all  

 

 

[Spiny Norman]

I've had that a few times when the alloy wheel rim starts to corrode and leak. My local tyre place whips the tyre off the wheel and gives the rim a quick buzz round with the wire brush and all is well again.

[scaryoldcortina]

6 hours ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

Not a grump really - more of an observation. Interesting statistic from the Beeb at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yp08kmk4eo

The article is pushing keyless entry MiM attacks (as happened to the journalist). Cynical me is wondering if a lot of the Fiesta/Corsa 'thefts' are actually fake insurance claims?

Second observation, that's not a keyless entry key.

[Sir Chocolate Teapot]

On 04/02/2026 at 16:20, Sir Chocolate Teapot said:

Certainly not my best couple of weeks. First the audi a2 had my first ever puncture  whilst driving.

And today 

The laguna in lidl carpark on start up went bang and.

This could be the reason!

Still got me home.

Questions will follow.

First day of no rain.

My 2 sets of impact sockets all 17, 19, 21 mm

Renault pulley belt socket 18mm !!

Oh well normal socket will do.

Pleased it came off. Just to find a new pulley this week for budget money.

[IronStar]

The impossible to source driver’s side front triangle window for Yugo Cabrio shattered today when being mounted. The hole for the mirror was misscut, and… 😭😭😭😭😭😭

This one was €HOWMUCH, but the trouble is - I have no fucking idea where to source another one. At any price.

[sheffcortinacentre]

Use a piece of UV resistant perspex my racer side windows have been in 8 years with no yellowing & it's out in all weathers 

[comfortablynumb]

9 hours ago, IronStar said:

The impossible to source driver’s side front triangle window for Yugo Cabrio shattered today when being mounted. The hole for the mirror was misscut, and… 😭😭😭😭😭😭

This one was €HOWMUCH, but the trouble is - I have no fucking idea where to source another one. At any price.

There might be a quarter glass amongst the piles of yugo bits I've got @IronStar, but I've no idea which one, or if it would survive the trip!

I'll have a look if you want?

[IronStar]

10 hours ago, IronStar said:

The impossible to source driver’s side front triangle window for Yugo Cabrio shattered today when being mounted. The hole for the mirror was misscut, and… 😭😭😭😭😭😭

This one was €HOWMUCH, but the trouble is - I have no fucking idea where to source another one. At any price.

A morning grin to last night’s depressing update.

Bodyshop found one…somewhere, for a grand total of 35€ delivered. We’re waiting to see if it’s the right one when it gets there. If it is, what a lucky escape.

1 hour ago, comfortablynumb said:

There might be a quarter glass amongst the piles of yugo bits I've got @IronStar, but I've no idea which one, or if it would survive the trip!

I'll have a look if you want?

I would love to if you can, and I’d be willing to pay for a shipping weight penalty of a very very very padded box if it’s the right one, even of this one works out. 
It’s easy to tell apart from the regular one. It has a black painted corner and a hole for a mirror drilled in it

I need what would be passenger side in the UK.

Thank you so much!

[comfortablynumb]

Damn.

Not sure if it's drivers or passenger, it seems to be completely flat, but either way it's not what you want, @IronStar

Sorry about that! 😕

[IronStar]

18 minutes ago, comfortablynumb said:

Damn.

Not sure if it's drivers or passenger, it seems to be completely flat, but either way it's not what you want, @IronStar

Sorry about that! 😕

That's a standard Yugo quarter window, which is unfortunately not compatible. Thank you for looking, though! Greatly appreciated!

Yugo technical differences below, readers beware! 😆

Early cars using that quarter window have a door-mounted wing mirror.

Later cars have no quarter window, and a mirror mounted in the corner. The last few years of the plastic-bloc bumper cars used the same setup, with different mounting brackets and Seicento wing mirrors. 

Cabrio, being a weird bastard child, has a fixed quarter window, but the mirror goes through a drilled hole, and is sitting in the corner. No other car in the lineup used this, and as only 500 cars were made in total, it makes the window stupidly rare. Why bother, and who the hell drills the glass to mount a mirror? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Why not just convert to the late-style with no quarter window, I hear you ask? You would need to cut the (freshly painted) door, as window guides and brackets are completely different, because...reasons. 

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, IronStar said:

Why bother, and who the hell drills the glass to mount a mirror? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

early AC Acedes had the windscreen motor-wiper assembly mounted through a hole in the windscreen!

[Remspoor]

19 hours ago, scaryoldcortina said:

Second observation, that's not a keyless entry key.

When i read that I thought it was bumpkin. Not because the key is key-less but  it is because the key is a Peugeot one. The same as my 3008. It is remote opening You have to press a button to unlock the car. I do not know if the tea laves can scan and use it to steal the car.

[Remspoor]

20 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

early AC Acedes had the windscreen motor-wiper assembly mounted through a hole in the windscreen!

The did the same for Leyland National buses in The Netherlands

[abir246]

Turns out some people on electric bikes have no clue on how to stop them, C280 matey rang and said this happened while his old man was borrowing the car

Not the best way to kick off the new month, he's really piffed off as it's just had all that bodywork done, can't win them all i guess

[Metal Guru]

2 hours ago, abir246 said:

Turns out some people on electric bikes have no clue on how to stop them, C280 matey rang and said this happened while his old man was borrowing the car

Not the best way to kick off the new month, he's really piffed off as it's just had all that bodywork done, can't win them all i guess

Probably it had adequate brakes for a 250W 15mph electric bike but not the 2kW 50mph bike it had been converted to.

[myglaren]

Looks like time for a new phone, USB connection is very flaky now.

Have a Motorola, possibly a G2, £110 about five years ago.  Similar ones from about sixty quid now.

I have no need of anything posh and certainly don't want to pay Apple prices and wouldn't have one at any price.

As long as it does texts, has a camera and plays downloaded music that's all I need.  Hate making or taking calls and usually don't.

[myglaren]

Also, bloody spam.

Very little in my other five email accounts but this one is packed with it, almost all for things I don't have ~ McAffee, iCloud, Norton, Costa...  All stuff I never use.

As they appear I block the sender and the domain yet still they appear in the spam folder.

At least the majority anyway, a few land in the inbox.

Time to change my email address maybe.

 

[castros_bro]

10 minutes ago, myglaren said:

Looks like time for a new phone, USB connection is very flaky now.

Have a Motorola, possibly a G2, £110 about five years ago.  Similar ones from about sixty quid now.

I have no need of anything posh and certainly don't want to pay Apple prices and wouldn't have one at any price.

As long as it does texts, has a camera and plays downloaded music that's all I need.  Hate making or taking calls and usually don't.

Hi,

Motorola tend to have a sub £10 small board with USB socket on,  if you carefully take the phone apart you can change the board for a new one with a new socket.  A few tools like tiny cross head screwdriver, old credit card (or guitar plectrum) and hairdryer are the ones I use. 

[High Jetter]

27 minutes ago, myglaren said:

As they appear I block the sender and the domain yet still they appear in the spam folder.

Spam in the spam folder doesn't bother me, it's when it gets into the inbox that it annoys me. I only use webmail, rather than an email app, and my catch-all account is with Sky Yahoo mail which is pretty good at filtering - though I do check every few days as it can be a bit over-zealous at times. 1&1 / Ionos on the other hand seems very slow to learn what is crap.

 

[Dan29]

1 hour ago, myglaren said:

Looks like time for a new phone, USB connection is very flaky now.

Have a Motorola, possibly a G2, £110 about five years ago.  Similar ones from about sixty quid now.

I have no need of anything posh and certainly don't want to pay Apple prices and wouldn't have one at any price.

As long as it does texts, has a camera and plays downloaded music that's all I need.  Hate making or taking calls and usually don't.

Phone for sale here 

 

[Datsuncog]

MrsDC messaged to say she came out at lunchtime to find the Avensis has a flat tyre - and the wheel simply will not come off the hub.

Wheelnuts off fine, but the damn thing won't budge. 

She's kicked it, she's hauled at it, she's driven it up and down the car park with the nuts loosened and still no joy. 

Heading over myself to see if I can sort anything - next stop is likely to be a can of TyreWeld and banjaxing a six month old tyre. 

That's not even the main grump, it's that it WON'T STOP RAINING 🌧