The grumpy thread

[wuvvum]

2 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Looks like the lightning strike knackered my router as well, Wifi is now working but all the wired connections are down.

I've just found out it also set fire to a house in the next road over.   I heard a lot of sirens but couldn't tell where they were going.

[barefoot]

We had a similar router failure because lightning. Virgin chap came out and sorted it, he pressed reset with a pin.

[wuvvum]

Tried resetting it, it hasn't made any difference.  I've found a Wifi dongle which I can use to connect my desktop PC for now but I'll have to call an engineer out at some point.

[warch]

Disclaimer: This is very very much a first world problem, because I am currently sitting in a nice detached three bedroom house in a village on the edge of the Shropshire Hills typing this;

But house selling is really fucking annoying. Our last house we sold was in Bristol nearly fifteen years ago, we sold it a week after we'd put it up for sale. 

We're getting nowhere with this sale. Reasonable price (£50k cheaper than any other comparable house in the village and surrounding area) and willing to negotiate, but pretty much everyone has been to view it has complained about one or more of three fucking things, too near a road (noisy apparently), don't like the adjacent steel fabrication place and too close to the railway (its an ex railway cottage and is named as such on the address and in the sales particulars. We haven't attempted to mask any of these issues and have in fact highlighted them on the listing information and walkaround video. 

The whole process is really dispiriting, I'm getting fed up with showing whey faced people around my house whilst they look gloomily around or refuse to show any interest. I was hoping that by highlighting any issues with our house we would weed out anyone who isn't interested or who have an issue with the location (which is reflected in the asking price), but apparently not. The problem with a lot of people living in or moving in the countryside is that they have very firm ideas about what it should be like, so anything that involves noise/people working or in fact people is seen as a no no. 

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

Feedback left for Evri.

"Package is crushed. 
Contents destroyed.
Delivery driver could hardly speak because of the cigarette that never left his mouth.
Our house now stinks of cigarette smoke.
Even by Evri's low standards appalling!"

 

Particularly annoying as I chose an E-Bayer who advertised delivery by Royal Mail and then sent it by Evri.

 

[Purfleet]

On 05/06/2026 at 13:20, reb said:

At the end of last week I decided that I absolutely needed to quit smoking, I was recording voiceovers for work and was getting out of breath just talking, which is ridiculous really.

So on Monday I went to the pharmacy to avail myself of their stop smoking help. They said I can't have patches because of the meds I'm on, so sent me away with a daft little inhilator thing. They prescribed gum too, but I already had some at home so I didn't take it at the time.

Anyway, it is currently Friday afternoon and I haven't had a cigarette since 12:30pm on Monday.

I know this should be a grin, but I have been full of incandescent rage since sometime on Wednesday, so I'm putting it down as a grump.

 

I've been avoiding using a vape too, because they don't actually solve the addiction problem, if anything they actually make it worse.

i gave up smoking about 4 stone ago

[Spiny Norman]

1 hour ago, Momentary Lapse Of Reason said:

Particularly annoying as I chose an E-Bayer who advertised delivery by Royal Mail and then sent it by Evri.

 

I leave "Not as described in listing" neg feedback for eBay sellers who do that, I've had enough of not receiving Evri parcels or opening a bag of shrapnel when it does arrive. 
The local Facebook group might as well be called 'Whose door is this?'
 

[Fat_Pirate]

2 hours ago, warch said:

Disclaimer: This is very very much a first world problem, because I am currently sitting in a nice detached three bedroom house in a village on the edge of the Shropshire Hills typing this;

But house selling is really fucking annoying. Our last house we sold was in Bristol nearly fifteen years ago, we sold it a week after we'd put it up for sale. 

We're getting nowhere with this sale. Reasonable price (£50k cheaper than any other comparable house in the village and surrounding area) and willing to negotiate, but pretty much everyone has been to view it has complained about one or more of three fucking things, too near a road (noisy apparently), don't like the adjacent steel fabrication place and too close to the railway (its an ex railway cottage and is named as such on the address and in the sales particulars. We haven't attempted to mask any of these issues and have in fact highlighted them on the listing information and walkaround video. 

The whole process is really dispiriting, I'm getting fed up with showing whey faced people around my house whilst they look gloomily around or refuse to show any interest. I was hoping that by highlighting any issues with our house we would weed out anyone who isn't interested or who have an issue with the location (which is reflected in the asking price), but apparently not. The problem with a lot of people living in or moving in the countryside is that they have very firm ideas about what it should be like, so anything that involves noise/people working or in fact people is seen as a no no. 

I spent much of 2024 and all of 2025 like this, am well aware of the frustration!  Was all worthwhile when we finally moved earlier this year, in fact I was so relieved after we got the keys (at 6pm) I immediately fell asleep (much to the annoyance of the moving company bods and my Mrs).

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

2 hours ago, Spiny Norman said:

I leave "Not as described in listing" neg feedback for eBay sellers who do that, I've had enough of not receiving Evri parcels or opening a bag of shrapnel when it does arrive. 
The local Facebook group might as well be called 'Whose door is this?'
 

I will be leaving negative for the Seller, but right now:

As if waiting 7 days is going make everything shiny !

I have also told E-bay what I think of their spamming me with useless e-mails.

Next "eBay The Sellar has farted".

Shortly followed by "Evri We are expecting your eBay Seller's fart".

 

I think I'm going to stop using EBay, it has become too utterly crap since the last change of owners.

[Coprolalia]

Bombing along the M4. All of a sudden, 'tap tap tap tap tap'.

Bong.

Low tyre pressure rear right.

[warch]

1 hour ago, Coprolalia said:

 

 

That's a textbook easy repair that is. 

[Wibble]

1 hour ago, Coprolalia said:

Bombing along the M4. All of a sudden, 'tap tap tap tap tap'.

Bong.

Low tyre pressure rear right.

At least you had a spare and not just a can of useless gunk.

[motorpunk]

7 hours ago, warch said:

House sale things 

Get the estate agent to properly set expectations with potential viewers. They’re generally useless twats, so make them work for their money. Ensure that they only send people who know what the potential things are with the house. 

[myglaren]

19 minutes ago, Wibble said:

At least you had a spare and not just a can of useless gunk.

Indeed, I must get a spare too.  I retained the spare from the previous Mazda 6 but it won't fit in the boot of the new one.

[Wibble]

6 minutes ago, myglaren said:

Indeed, I must get a spare too.  I retained the spare from the previous Mazda 6 but it won't fit in the boot of the new one.

As soon as we bought my Skoda, I got my former boss to buy a spare wheel, jack and wheel brace for it and ditched the foam housing for the inflation kit in the wheel well. Kept the pump obvs, which has been used many times.

[High Jetter]

34 minutes ago, Wibble said:

At least you had half a spare and not just a can of useless gunk.

EFA 😀

[Wibble]

Sorry, another grump. Number 2 son is in the midst of his GCSE exams now and had his final maths paper yesterday. Neither of our boys have found maths easy, arithmetic fine, just all the other stuff. Anyway, the papers were handed out yesterday and they were the wrong ones, covering stuff they hadn’t done and were meant for higher set students. No option but to try their best and the school will appeal for leniency. What a fucking mess.

[Spiny Norman]

3 hours ago, Momentary Lapse Of Reason said:

Next "eBay The Sellar has farted".

Shortly followed by "Evri We are expecting your eBay Seller's fart".

 

I think I'm going to stop using EBay, it has become too utterly crap since the last change of owners.

Tell us more about these adjustable hos...  😛

This is from my last eBay transaction where I had Evri deliver to a local Post Office, which is the only way I can be reasonably confident of receiving it since they can't just chuck it in some random doorway with a blurry photo and fling it back in their scabby 59 plate Astra estate. 

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

4 minutes ago, Spiny Norman said:

This is from my last eBay transaction where I had Evri deliver to a local Post Office,

I too have been doing that, but it was not an available option (another grump).

[Coprolalia]

2 hours ago, warch said:

That's a textbook easy repair that is. 

Is it? Never had to have one repaired before. It's something like an M8 bolt, so imagine the plug would need to be a decent size.

TBH I'm using it as an excuse to replace both rears. They're a pair of Sportrak (?!?) mud and snow tyres, and they aren't the worst tyres I've ever had but are pretty close. Absolutely rock hard and tyre noise like dying bearings. They came with the car and have barely worn in my 30,000 miles. Very easy to drift in the wet.

2 hours ago, Wibble said:

At least you had a spare and not just a can of useless gunk.

Came with a foam insert and can of gunk. First thing I ordered from eBay was the correct spacesaver and kit. Very glad I did.

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, Wibble said:

Sorry, another grump. Number 2 son is in the midst of his GCSE exams now and had his final maths paper yesterday. Neither of our boys have found maths easy, arithmetic fine, just all the other stuff. Anyway, the papers were handed out yesterday and they were the wrong ones, covering stuff they hadn’t done and were meant for higher set students. No option but to try their best and the school will appeal for leniency. What a fucking mess.

Wrong papers? Null & void, shirley. There was a similar issue for 6th years when I was in my 5th. Yonks ago tho

[Superduperminicooper]

2 hours ago, motorpunk said:

Get the estate agent to properly set expectations with potential viewers. They’re generally useless twats, so make them work for their money. Ensure that they only send people who know what the potential things are with the house. 

My house is on the market. Since early November. Drives me mad, it’s not expensive and we’ve dropped £21k off the asking price. I look at others near our price and I truly believe my house is nicer. We go to so much effort getting the house ready before viewings to find people come and see it, then moan about the size or lack of garage. All pointed out on the advert. 
 

or they just say they didn’t want it and give no feedback that we can use to make possible improvements and make it more attractive. I really think our agents are not interested in selling it as it’s not a hugely expensive house (£254k) and they won’t get a masssive commission. 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

@warch I'm just in the process of selling a house in Kent.  We've got buyers and it's all going through at the moment but we had at least three visits in a row that complained that the house was 'too small' for the price.  The size of the house is literally in the listing and the rooms are measured out!  It's a modern three-bed semi and priced competitively for the area, especially on the new build estate it's on but people always want to find a reason to moan.  Phone your estate agent and check what they're saying.  My ex ended up showing more people around it than the agent did (despite the agents' reassurance...) and did a much better job.  My theory is that they were targeting the viewings to the more expensive houses.  285K in Kent is pretty cheap by most standards.

You're paying them a big fee after all and it's their job to advertise your house appropriately.  Personally, I think it sounds delightful.

On the other hand, when we were first buying we went to one place that had a bath tub full of dead bees and recently when my ex was looking (we're on decent terms) she went to one where the floors were sticky and the bathroom floor was about to fall through it was so rotten, despite the pictures looking OK.  Even priced well, those places aren't fucking selling.

Selling and buying is a massive pain in the arse.  It's not you and I doubt it's anything you're doing.  Good luck.

[sheffcortinacentre]

11 hours ago, warch said:

Disclaimer: This is very very much a first world problem, because I am currently sitting in a nice detached three bedroom house in a village on the edge of the Shropshire Hills typing this;

But house selling is really fucking annoying. Our last house we sold was in Bristol nearly fifteen years ago, we sold it a week after we'd put it up for sale. 

We're getting nowhere with this sale. Reasonable price (£50k cheaper than any other comparable house in the village and surrounding area) and willing to negotiate, but pretty much everyone has been to view it has complained about one or more of three fucking things, too near a road (noisy apparently), don't like the adjacent steel fabrication place and too close to the railway (its an ex railway cottage and is named as such on the address and in the sales particulars. We haven't attempted to mask any of these issues and have in fact highlighted them on the listing information and walkaround video. 

The whole process is really dispiriting, I'm getting fed up with showing whey faced people around my house whilst they look gloomily around or refuse to show any interest. I was hoping that by highlighting any issues with our house we would weed out anyone who isn't interested or who have an issue with the location (which is reflected in the asking price), but apparently not. The problem with a lot of people living in or moving in the countryside is that they have very firm ideas about what it should be like, so anything that involves noise/people working or in fact people is seen as a no no. 

Exactly they all think they're gonna get a picture perfect country cottage for peanuts. The same as they see on all the property shows on TV.

[warch]

9 hours ago, Coprolalia said:

Is it? Never had to have one repaired before. It's something like an M8 bolt, so imagine the plug would need to be a decent size.

TBH I'm using it as an excuse to replace both rears. They're a pair of Sportrak (?!?) mud and snow tyres, and they aren't the worst tyres I've ever had but are pretty close. Absolutely rock hard and tyre noise like dying bearings. They came with the car and have barely worn in my 30,000 miles. Very easy to drift in the wet.

Came with a foam insert and can of gunk. First thing I ordered from eBay was the correct spacesaver and kit. Very glad I did.

It's a moot point if you're replacing it anyway but I use those mushroom type plugs which fit from inside the tyres. 

For emergency getyouhome repairs those glue/resin strip plugs you insert with a needle tool are cheap and work brilliantly, they're very durable too and last for ages (but aren't meant to). 

[New POD]

9 hours ago, Superduperminicooper said:

My house is on the market. Since early November. Drives me mad, it’s not expensive and we’ve dropped £21k off the asking price. I look at others near our price and I truly believe my house is nicer. We go to so much effort getting the house ready before viewings to find people come and see it, then moan about the size or lack of garage. All pointed out on the advert. 
 

or they just say they didn’t want it and give no feedback that we can use to make possible improvements and make it more attractive. I really think our agents are not interested in selling it as it’s not a hugely expensive house (£254k) and they won’t get a masssive commission. 

My son is in the process of buying this. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/173949977#/?channel=RES_BUY

At the moment there is a delay because his solicitor is not happy that there's no paperwork for the extension or the garage conversion.  The seller needs to prove thst planning permission was either granted or not needed and that building regulations have been met.  Seller doesn't seem arsed. 

Also the council haven't adopted the road. Despite the rest of the estate being adopted.  

The solicitor acts for lender as well as the buyer so he's acting out of boths best interest 

[High Jetter]

11 hours ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

a bath tub full of dead bees

That's a niche hobby!

[horriblemercedes]

On 11/06/2026 at 13:13, warch said:

Disclaimer: This is very very much a first world problem, because I am currently sitting in a nice detached three bedroom house in a village on the edge of the Shropshire Hills typing this;

But house selling is really fucking annoying. Our last house we sold was in Bristol nearly fifteen years ago, we sold it a week after we'd put it up for sale. 

We're getting nowhere with this sale. Reasonable price (£50k cheaper than any other comparable house in the village and surrounding area) and willing to negotiate, but pretty much everyone has been to view it has complained about one or more of three fucking things, too near a road (noisy apparently), don't like the adjacent steel fabrication place and too close to the railway (its an ex railway cottage and is named as such on the address and in the sales particulars. We haven't attempted to mask any of these issues and have in fact highlighted them on the listing information and walkaround video. 

The whole process is really dispiriting, I'm getting fed up with showing whey faced people around my house whilst they look gloomily around or refuse to show any interest. I was hoping that by highlighting any issues with our house we would weed out anyone who isn't interested or who have an issue with the location (which is reflected in the asking price), but apparently not. The problem with a lot of people living in or moving in the countryside is that they have very firm ideas about what it should be like, so anything that involves noise/people working or in fact people is seen as a no no. 

I went through this with my parents' house in a very similar location and I think, simply, it really is a waiting game. Over the years they listed it several times and the experience was as you described.

 

Eventually in 2024 they listed it again, and quickly the right couple came and just bought it. Didn't get any other real interest at all. It was perfect for them and their family, but not very suitable for many others at all. Just as it had been when we moved there when I was a child, decades ago.

 

It's the luck of the draw with houses like that in terms of timing, unfortunately.

 

I'm feeling optimistic about mine, when it's time to sell, because one of my neighbours (in an identical house) listed theirs recently, for the exact amount I have in my head as the value, and it was gone in a week or maybe 10 days. I can actually see it from where I'm typing.

This is a 1970s suburban housing estate. Not posh, not fancy, but not a dump. Pleasant and dull enough in its way.

[Zelandeth]

Dreading this nonsense with ours when we come to sell.  Odd layout which is going to put a lot of people off I suspect.  It worked well for us - right up to the point at which work from home became a thing at which point it very much didn't any more.

[warch]

2 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Dreading this nonsense with ours when we come to sell.  Odd layout which is going to put a lot of people off I suspect.  It worked well for us - right up to the point at which work from home became a thing at which point it very much didn't any more.

Its all the needless timewasting that people indulge in that really pisses me off (theirs and mine).

Our house is called Crossing Cottage. It is as the name suggested located on a road at the point where it cross a railway line. But I've had people come to view it and complain that it is too near to a road and a railway line (?). For added emphasis this information is visually available in the listing description, on Google Streetview and mentioned in the sales particulars and the on the video walkaround. 

The adjacent steel place is also photographed, is also clearly visible on Streetview  and is also mentioned in both the sales particulars and the walkaround. 

I mean I usually check Google Streetview if I'm  going somewhere so I know what it looks like when I get there. Same with work things like assessments, I can do a lot of the legwork for things like visual impacts without leaving my office.