The grumpy thread

[dollywobbler]

They've camped in worse. I think minus 12 is the record in Lincolnshire once. There was a bit of a disaster at that one. Some bottles of beer froze. Tents can be remarkably cosy and comfortable. But not when you've got a muscle strain in your back.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

double post. can't seem to be able to delete it, either.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

wow! While I have no reason to doubt what you're saying, I guess I will never experience anything like that first-hand (not voluntarily, at least!). I literally am shivering just thinking about it!

[HMC]

Frozen beer!! not only a disaster, but a tragedy too!

[cobblers]

My cousin, last weekend, in Bakewell. I quite like camping, but not in the bastard snow.

 

 

It looks quite poetic or romantic or whatever, but after almost freezing to death trying to sleep in the back of a VW LT at oswestry in bloody april last year, I don't think I'll bother. I

[dollywobbler]

Camping the snow can be quite nice.

 

On that same trip around Britain, we spent one night in a little wooden shack, thinking it would be better than sleeping in a tent. Wrong! We were bloody freezing all night! My experience of sleeping in vehicles is pretty similar. A small tent is usually fine.

[M'coli]

Frozen beer!! not only a disaster, but a tragedy too!

Answer: you need a beer with more alcohol in it. I recommend a Belgian-style job, 2 years ago I stored my Grand Cru homebrew(about 8%abv) in the shed during the -10deg C cold snap and it was always pourable.

[cort16]

After giving it "OMG MY 7 SERIES iZ AWZUM" in the news thread it somewhat inevitable now won't start.

I came back from work, parked it outside, went out an hour and a half later and the battery is DEAD. Not just dead but not enough juice to turn the interior lights on dead. It won't even jump from my Audi. It's taking the juice but there's not quite enough to crank it. As soon as I take the jump leads off it immediatly goes stone cold. I bought a new battery for the SD1, which I've brought up the road and will try tomorrow. It being an SD1 battery the terminals are on the wrong side though.

[alf892]

My 5 series did this for a while but only occasionally and it was a twat. Leave it two days it fired up great........leave it an hour go dead. I spent hours taking fuses out and measuring current draw........leaving stuff disconnected. It always knew when to do it for max disruption to my day as well. If the interior hadn't been so damp I would have torched the thing.

 

Turned out to be the heater/air con resistor pack (aka hedgehog). I was told this at first but as it cost nearly 50 quid I was too tight to buy one for a maybe fix.

 

In the end I found the poxy thing and disconnected it.......all OK so actually bought a new one.

 

OBvs this assumes it is not just a fkd battery!

[Negative Creep]

Took the Bluebird back to get the MOT work done. You know how I said it wasn't too bad since it was just front pads and a cylinder? After finding the shoes were knackered and having to refurb a caliper it cost me coming on £300.00. I know the garage so trust their work, it needed to be done and gives another year's motoring so I can't complain.....

 

 

 

Oh wait, this is the grump thread, of course I can. Fucking cars, fed up of spending my money on them. I need a new hobby.

[cort16]

My 5 series did this for a while but only occasionally and it was a twat. Leave it two days it fired up great........leave it an hour go dead. I spent hours taking fuses out and measuring current draw........leaving stuff disconnected. It always knew when to do it for max disruption to my day as well. If the interior hadn't been so damp I would have torched the thing.

 

Turned out to be the heater/air con resistor pack (aka hedgehog). I was told this at first but as it cost nearly 50 quid I was too tight to buy one for a maybe fix.

 

In the end I found the poxy thing and disconnected it.......all OK so actually bought a new one.

 

OBvs this assumes it is not just a fkd battery!

 

I texted my mate who I bought it off and he replied with "errr, check the battery terminals are tight".

Funny that he came right out with that as his first prognosis eh? Anyway, it jumped right off a spare battery before leaving for work and sure enough the terminals were also loose.

I tightened them up and when I came back from work tonight it fired right up. Still weird though. That's interesting about the hedgehog if it does it again it'll be the first in the firing line.

[Cavcraft]

Unbelievable as it sounds I'm fed up because I'm on the Pat from work and having seen my doctor today he's given me another week off. Bored shitless, sod all I can really do and now the missus is off for five days.

[warren t claim]

Unbelievable as it sounds I'm fed up because I'm on the Pat from work and having seen my doctor today he's given me another week off. Bored shitless, sod all I can really do and now the missus is off for five days.

 

Five days of rumpy pumpy?

[Cavcraft]

You are actually joking aren't you?

[warren t claim]

You are actually joking aren't you?

 

Sorry, I forgot you said the missus is home as well.

[Cavcraft]

Plus I haven't found the bungalow yet.

[warren t claim]

Plus I haven't found the bungalow yet.

 

Lol! It even has its own set of traffic lights so punters can "come and go" easily!

[autofive]

picked up an engine tonight, lifted it in the back of the Granada, gadji said ' it might still have a drop of oil in it" drove for 30 odd miles watching it in the rear view mirror, it never moved. When i stopped noticed a streak of oil on the back bumper; the engine has pissed most of its oil in the back of the car boot carpet is soaked, spare wheel well is an inch deep in it, and and its seeped through the wiring grommet for the number plate lights and dripping on the bumper and rear valance

[scaryoldcortina]

and there is a puddle of it in front of the garage?

 

I popped over for some firewood this evening, and for a second thought I was being burgled cos there was a bunch of my cars strewn all over the lane. No, it's just A5 making a mess.......

[autofive]

i cleaned it up

 

well sort of, i ll finish it off tomorrow

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Bleedin' Sheffield Council! They just gave me a parking ticket for no apparent reason. I was parked in a bay with my permit on display, and the PCN says that I was "parked without displaying a valid pay&display ticket"! Of course I didn't have a pay&display ticket, it's only because YOU HAVE ISSUED ME WITH A PERMIT!

 

Better still, I filled in their stupid PCN challenge form, and sent them an e-mail with a bit of a complaint about its awful design and lack of the option to get a copy e-mailed for one's records. Got an auto-reply saying that 'due to a backlog, we may take up to 50-60 days to reply'. Despite the fact that the Council has a Charter that commits to 7-day replies for all queries (or at least written acknowledgement with a promise to respond within 28 days). Cue a brand-spanking new complaint about their inability to keep to their charter. I really can't believe how useless these people are.

[tonedepear]

Bleedin' Sheffield Council! They just gave me a parking ticket for no apparent reason. I was parked in a bay with my permit on display, and the PCN says that I was "parked without displaying a valid pay&display ticket"! Of course I didn't have a pay&display ticket, it's only because YOU HAVE ISSUED ME WITH A PERMIT!

 

No chance the permit was obscured by thick frost is there?

 

Anyway, appeal, they'll let you off. They usually do if you have a half valid excuse.

 

ION, in a rubbish attemt to B LIKE DOLLY I've completely fucked my back up and can't move and it hurts like an absolute bastard. I did it on Tuesday but it hasn't got better. At least I've got a 12 hour shift now, and then a long and painful drive to Durham tomorrow to look forward to.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

The real reason they ticketed me probably was that I didn't bother walking to the car in the middle of the night and set the 'arrival time' in my parking clock back to 8am (I usually do that, but not in the cold/snow/whatever), and the parking warden was too thick to work out that 18:10 means that the car's been there from last night and, consequently, at 13:00 it's only been parked there 5 hours after the start of restrictions (as against a maximum stay of 10 hours). However, I am not going to get into that argument with them- the ticket said 'failure to pay and display'.

 

It may be infuriating, however there's a good side to it, too. I have battles with them on a number of fronts (mostly dealing with vandalism etc), and all this crap can be used as evidence if I ever have to take them to court.

[Lord Sterling]

Hmmm, a few days ago won a set of new Rover 800 floor mats (again), didnt pay much for them. No sign of them yet, whilst checking on ebay I decided to have a look at the sellers feedback - Not good, seems he has failed to deliver stuff for the past couple of months and hasnt replied to the messages sent to him.

[maxpower]

seeing that whitney houston has died r.i.p

 

what a waste of a life and a great talent

[greengartside]

+1. I was only listening to her stuff this afternoon. Grew up listening to her, and gone too soon. Shame she fucked around with coke and all that. Rest in Peace.

[Cavcraft]

+2. She had a real talent, but unfortunately wasted it shoving that shit up her nose and whatever else she was on.

[michiel]

What makes me grumpy is my own cynicism, immediately thinking 'Talent? She had a good voice if you like that kind of music, but did she ever write any of her own songs? She probably just sang what others wrote for her.'

Okay, you need some kind of talent to bring other people's heartache convincingly, but to me it's all executive stuff, not really productive.

 

Still a shame though, a life wasted.

[chaseracer]

+182, Michiel; I think I need to look for a less grump-inducing job - 'mission creep' into other aspects of life is becoming noticeable...

[warren t claim]

+2. She had a real talent, but unfortunately wasted it shoving that shit up her nose and whatever else she was on.

 

Couldn't the paramedics just hammer a smaller Beyonce over her?