The grumpy thread

[Guest]

For £650K you could probably buy an entire housing estate here. Take your pick!

[scaryoldcortina]

There is a nice 3 bed just come up on our street, decent size yard, garden and an allotment if you want it. £35,000.

[brammy777]

Really busy day at work, mostly friendly and easy to get on with customers. Bar one person. And of course, as usual, it was an iPhone owner. I myself own one, but this guy was ridiculous, first of all he was miffed he had got back a refurb phone as a replacement, which is standard practice for handsets replaced through warranty issues. They are pristine ones though, you don't get sent one someone has played table tennis with down the stairs with. Then he got (seriously) annoyed that it didn't mean his warranty was re-extended to 12 months. The standard procedure with the iPhone (and most other products) is that the phone is covered by a manufacturers warranty of 12 months from the time of purchase, and that if he had six months left on from the time of the replacement, that is how much remained. But no, apparently it is our fault Apple do this. It basically ended up with him refusing to take his phone back and keeping a hold of the crap loan phone. Admittedly though, they will void the warranty for the smallest bit of handset damage, which is really annoying, but we can't do anything about that, due to Apple not letting anyone else repair their phones. Oh and the other new guy is useless, he took a phone call from someone earlier, and wrote down the persons name. Great, did he get the number too? Nope.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Our perfect property has just come on the market. Only a little 2 bed place but theres a newly built annexe in the decent sized garden that would make a perfect room for my work and a two car garage with off street parking (behind a gate off an access road) for about 3 more cars. Its not very far from where we are now and we walk past it often. Anyone got £650,000 to spare? Either that or could you please orchestrate a housing price crash. Cheers.

 

Seriously now, how much is the rent on such a place?

 

If you use 5% as the minimum annual yield that would make buying seem half-sensible vis-a-vis renting, 5% of £650,000 is £32,500. That works out at just over £2,700 a month. Even in London, I can't believe the rent for a 2-bed place is anywhere near that, therefore buying would just be a waste of money (unless of course you're in the all-too-common situation of financial logic not getting you very far with a female who's got her eyes on something- "ok, I know this is going to cost us an extra 3 grand per year, for the next 15 years, but you were the one who spent £650 on that Wartburg").

[seth]

Well, its kinda a three bed as the annexe is currently set up as a bedroom and has its own bathroom.

 

Just had a quick look and found a three bed end terrace on not quite as a nice a road and without any off street parking or garage (and in fact within a parking permit area) for £695 a week.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Well, its kinda a three bed as the annexe is currently set up as a bedroom and has its own bathroom.

 

Just had a quick look and found a three bed end terrace on not quite as a nice a road and without any off street parking or garage (and in fact within a parking permit area) for £695 a week.

 

That's crazy stuff- I like how they quote the weekly rental (as opposed to 'PCM' which has become the standard in the rest of the country) in order to make it look like a sensible amount of money!

 

Still, I would be scared shitless of making such a massive bet against house prices falling, especially if I had to bet with borrowed money....

[Guest]

If I had to live in London, I think I'd just buy an LDV Pilot and put a mattress in the back.

[CIH]

If I had to live in London, I think I'd just buy an LDV Pilot and put a mattress in the back.

 

GR8 for rapings ?

[ashmicro]

£695 a week .Stone the crows

[TimothyClaypole]

Worked my first Sunday and the wankers at "Bargain Madness" next door to us decided to lock my car in the loading/parking area behind work and fuck off home at 5pm.

 

(They've had the yard to themselves for some time I suspect as they have it half full of stock... unload in front of our doors etc. so just do as they please).

 

I'll pop in tomorrow and see if they sell bike cable locks or something suitable for when I finish at 6pm and see how they fancy trying to get home at 8pm...

[Des]

Well, its kinda a three bed as the annexe is currently set up as a bedroom and has its own bathroom.

 

Just had a quick look and found a three bed end terrace on not quite as a nice a road and without any off street parking or garage (and in fact within a parking permit area) for £695 a week.

 

That's crazy stuff- I like how they quote the weekly rental (as opposed to 'PCM' which has become the standard in the rest of the country) in order to make it look like a sensible amount of money!

 

Still, I would be scared shitless of making such a massive bet against house prices falling, especially if I had to bet with borrowed money....

 

I'm sure we'll see a house price crash soonish, once the recession bites fully and repossessions kick in yo! Still knocking a quarter mil for a pokey terrace where I am, a bland boring craphole with a 90% population of gormless twats and dogshit all over the pavements, it just beggars belief. It ocurred to me a few years ago that I could sell up for about 5 times what I paid for the place, rent for a while and then buy it back, (and maybe nextdoor as well) after the downturn, (I was even planning to swap windows and doors for plastic shit so it would match the rest of the street, stashing the originals for my return). Didn't happen as I got ill for a while, pissed me off at the time but I'm glad now as it would have been a very long wait for the prices to drop.

We need a capital gains tax on all property sales, like 100% of what anything sells at above it's council tax valuation. If someone works their bollocks off they're taxed on what they earn so it's only fair that anyone making money from property while they sit on their arse takes a hit. If property prices are realistic then it gives a feasible option for our scummy masses to better themselves, work, save, pay their own way and have their own place. For many years doing the right thing is not just a stupid choice, it's impossible. Starting on the property ladder? Drop a sprog = home provided, work 2 jobs = penniless and living by your wits.

[M'coli]

I'm sure we'll see a house price crash soonish, once the recession bites fully and repossessions kick in yo! Still knocking a quarter mil for a pokey terrace where I am, a bland boring craphole with a 90% population of gormless twats and dogshit all over the pavements, it just beggars belief.

I'm going to be cynical here and say that the properties that are repo'd will be bought by the buy-to-let sector rather than the buy-to-live-in-it, and this will happen on a large scale. Hey presto, in 35 years the majority of rented housing stock will have transferred from council ownership to private companies, and the rents will have increased dramatically. This is not a political statement,m but one of free-market economics.

We need a capital gains tax on all property sales, like 100% of what anything sells at above it's council tax valuation. If someone works their bollocks off they're taxed on what they earn so it's only fair that anyone making money from property while they sit on their arse takes a hit. If property prices are realistic then it gives a feasible option for our scummy masses to better themselves, work, save, pay their own way and have their own place. For many years doing the right thing is not just a stupid choice, it's impossible. Starting on the property ladder? Drop a sprog = home provided, work 2 jobs = penniless and living by your wits.

Good point, well made.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

I'm going to be cynical here and say that the properties that are repo'd will be bought by the buy-to-let sector rather than the buy-to-live-in-it, and this will happen on a large scale. Hey presto, in 35 years the majority of rented housing stock will have transferred from council ownership to private companies, and the rents will have increased dramatically. This is not a political statement,m but one of free-market economics.

 

I don't think your scenario of BTL becoming more popular in the future is too far off from what's going to happen, but I can't understand how it will lead to rent increases. A lot of BTL mortgage owners, erm, sorry, landlords are finding that quite often the rent doesn't cover their mortgage. From a political perspective, you have to remember that housing, especially in a country like England where cities are spread-out pretty far (you won't find a lot of people in Spain commuting 50 miles every day- in fact, outside of Madrid and BCN, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone doing it), is chiefly restricted by planning laws. If fewer people own houses, more voters will be in favour of easing planning restrictions to keep rents lower.

 

We need a capital gains tax on all property sales, like 100% of what anything sells at above it's council tax valuation. If someone works their bollocks off they're taxed on what they earn so it's only fair that anyone making money from property while they sit on their arse takes a hit. If property prices are realistic then it gives a feasible option for our scummy masses to better themselves, work, save, pay their own way and have their own place. For many years doing the right thing is not just a stupid choice, it's impossible. Starting on the property ladder? Drop a sprog = home provided, work 2 jobs = penniless and living by your wits.

Good point, well made.

 

There are some measures like that in Greece. Their only result is to ensure nobody ever reports the true sale price (even solicitors and the public notaries just assume every sale is done at the "official" valuation and have been known to cause complications to people wanting to report the real amount). GR11 for money laundering! Maybe the whole thing can be a bit tidier here, but you can be sure that the ones with real gains to report will find a way around the system.

[Negative Creep]

If I had to live in London, I think I'd just buy an LDV Pilot and put a mattress in the back.

 

 

The parking permit will probably cost more than the house

[seth]

New grump: Sheared bolts. Japanese ones. At least they're not some silly fine thread again and once I get the remains of the last one out (vice grips, penetrating fluid, phosphoric acid, nut welded on have all so far failed so currently mid war through drilling) I have new bolts that will fit the holes.

[Cavcraft]

Some vacuous bint is on the local (telly) news twatting on about being paid for sex with actors and footballers and how it's 'not fair' on her that she got th publicity and they got a court injuction against her from naming them. This was followed by some bleating about how her 7 year old son was suffering from all this.

 

Now call me Captain Obvious but I'd have sort of thought if you hadn't already sold your story about shagging a footballer then gone public telling the world how you shag blokes for money you probably wouldn't have had any publicity at all. Which I suspect she did actually want.

Put your legs back together love, stop being a slag and fuck off.

[Guest]

This University assignment. Revoltingly simple (1300 words + two minute audio package) but infuriatingly tedious to sort. For once I don't mean that from a lackadaisical point of view, it's the fact that you've got to write critically with incredible brevity to meet the word limit on an enormous open ended topic.

In terms of difficulty everything's inverted. The package is relatively simple (although I've been doing community news bulletins for years on end, so that probably helps) but the 1300 word essay is a nightmare, the key problem being that I've written 4000 words and by cutting it back to 1300 it makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER.

 

I feel a small hours logic session coming on, and then some kind of coffee and expletive filled resolution sesh first thing tomorrow morning.

 

But at least I'm being sensible with my money now.

[warren t claim]

Sorry for the many disturbances today WAT!

[dollywobbler]

Cavette - I entirely agree with you. Unless said footballer is married. All these super injunctions should be blown out of the water if it's to cover up some b*stard cheating on their partner. I believe that it is actually in the public's interest to know who has trouble keeping their pants on if it proves that they're an arsehole.

[Guest]

Not knowing enough technical French to buy bits for the 305 on eBay France \ Leboncoin.

 

The online translator in Chrome just makes things worse. Compound this with seller photos worse than Serge Gainsbourg pissing on the mouldy remains of Edith Piaf (PU 51 SEC) and you can begin to understand my problem. If you struggle with the language, you can at least get the gist by looking at the images.

 

I may well PM M.Bolleux for some pointers. For a kick off, what the hell is a front valance? 'Traverse de panneau devant \ avant'? My dictionary and translation matrix can't seem to decide if this is a 'plate metal bottom' or 'rear beam tube diagonal'. I really don't want to end buying a back axle for the sodding thing because the shipping will cost a fortune.

[Guest]

Sorry for the many disturbances today WAT!

 

Mate, mate, mate. I'm having a breather for 30 minutes, so we's good. I really couldn't give a rat's arse about sleep. I might just keep going.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

The uni stuff is all a load of bollocks, wat. Don't try too hard.

I finished my MSc dissertation in January...The whole research project had been a disaster, I was well aware that it was utter shite, and I would have probably failed it if I was marking it myself. I was hoping that they would be a bit lenient and give me a marginal pass.

 

The result came back at SIXTY EIGHT percent. That's a "merit"- only 2% off a "first-class" mark. The CIPD ("professional association" for HR, which is my "normal" vocation and was the area of study) considers the university to be a "centre of excellence" for the quality of its degrees. What a complete waste of time and money! I don't even want to imagine what a marginal pass from a non-centre-of-excellence place would look like. Probably it would just consist of the words: "DIZ DISERTASHUN IZ PUR KWALITHEE M8, ITZ BOUT PERSNEL N STUFF ROFL".

 

I'm probably better off sticking to my stopgap "job" of making a bit of cash on betfair through arbitrage...

[warren t claim]

Sorry for the many disturbances today WAT!

 

Mate, mate, mate. I'm having a breather for 30 minutes, so we's good. I really couldn't give a rat's arse about sleep. I might just keep going.

 

I could almost imagine you sitting in a quiet exam hall screaming PUNT THE FUCKER 400 YOU STUPID TWAT at your phone!!!!!

[Guest]

Sorry for the many disturbances today WAT!

 

Mate, mate, mate. I'm having a breather for 30 minutes, so we's good. I really couldn't give a rat's arse about sleep. I might just keep going.

 

I could almost imagine you sitting in a quiet exam hall screaming PUNT THE FUCKER 400 YOU STUPID TWAT at your phone!!!!!

 

I like talking shite cars, it was a welcome distraction. If you can get to that 480 before the 5GT mongs rape it for the running gear, it would be heroic.

[eddyramrod]

Free gravel. I'm grateful for donations and the hand to shovel it into the back of my pickup; especially as it came from a classic-car buddy who showed us a bunch of houses to let when we started looking, including the one he summoned me to this afternoon to collect the gravel. We liked the house too, just couldn't reach agreement with the owner on price. Hey ho. So Steve's been covering the weed-beds with lovely clean new gravel, and he had some left over. Just what I want for my own weed-beds two minutes' walk down the hill, so he rings me up as I'm enjoying a post-lunch siesta: "come and get it." Of course I do, all the tools out of the back of the pickup, sling in a shovel, all done including car chat in a bit over an hour (getting on for a ton of gravel). Which means I've got to spend the rest of the day weeding the beds, which I was hoping to leave until... well, until someone else did it ideally as I hate gardening; and then filling the spaces with hand-shovelled gravel. Once you start you have to finish, well you do if you need to get your tools back in the pickup so you can do now-delayed car stuff on the morrow. So I finished at half past nine by the light of passing traffic. My back hurts now.

 

So, thanks Steve, for the lovely gravel and the help loading it... but are you sure you couldn't have picked another day? Or am I just being ungrateful? It's not deliberate, honest...

[Guest]

Free gravel.

 

So, thanks Steve, for the lovely gravel and the help loading it... but are you sure you couldn't have picked another day? Or am I just being ungrateful? It's not deliberate, honest...

 

Nah, it just sounds like one of those jobs that you have to be in a good mood to do \ have a lot of spare time to faf with. I get this sort of thing all the time, although less gravel is normally involved. *Avoids extremely poor joke about the ex*

[eddyramrod]

Jon, there's a lunch with your name on it if you ever get over here. Exactly, a job you have to be in the mood for. Gardening? I'm almost never in the mood....

[warren t claim]

I'm grumpy because I thought a Volvo 480 Turbo with one owner and low mileage would be worth a few quid! Sad to say it seems worth more over the bridge after selling its motor to a chav with a Renner 5.

[Guest]

I'm grumpy because I thought a Volvo 480 Turbo with one owner and low mileage would be worth a few quid! Sad to say it seems worth more over the bridge after selling its motor to a chav with a Renner 5.

 

I would still buy it. If my ES is anything to go by the Turbo would be a riot.

[warren t claim]

I'm grumpy because I thought a Volvo 480 Turbo with one owner and low mileage would be worth a few quid! Sad to say it seems worth more over the bridge after selling its motor to a chav with a Renner 5.

 

I would still buy it. If my ES is anything to go by the Turbo would be a riot.

 

Negotiating with farmers is never easy. It's a proper honey though, only the wheels and a few stone chips on the nose let it down.