The grumpy thread

[fotorabia]

It's very comfortable here on Autoshite, it all seems very honest and I feel comfortable and safe enough to actually post about mental issues which does help, a lot! More than, perhaps, people realise. Just knowing that other people can empathise and at the very least sympathise is massively useful and I do revisit previous comments when I'm feeling shitty, and womble through the forum to find stuff that gives me a lift. It might not fix me straight away, but it's the gaffa tape holding my broken brain together, and at the moment I'm happy enough with that level of bodgery.

 

Thats the stuff Volks..i readily admit Ive got what is now referred to as a brain injury..a culmination of physical and mental blows..headbutting the dashboard of a Wartburg didnt help either..Mothers trying to get me to meditate...but i find just concentrating on passions..photography and cars..and relocating actually helps matters..the latter kind of difficult...but still provides inspiration..i also avoid alcohol as Eddy sez..

[morris_ital_lover]

Alcohol is the brains gaffer tape.

 

ABSOLUTELY NOT! Alcohol is more like a cover sill.... makes things look better for a little while, but actually contributes nothing but fund-depletion. Which always makes things worse.

 

In fairness I don't know the context of Metrobi's post but for me there are plenty of similarities between alcohol and gaffer tape:

1. They often seem like a good idea at the time.

2.They never actually fix anything, apart from Ford Mondeo bumpers, properly.... as the situation normally gets worse later.

3. They are frequently used by muppets to comic and dangerous effect. (see facebook)

4. They leave a nasty sticky mess behind that's a pain to clear up.

[eddyramrod]

Fair points, Morris....

[Inspector Morose]

Alcohol is the brains gaffer tape.

 

ABSOLUTELY NOT! Alcohol is more like a cover sill.... makes things look better for a little while, but actually contributes nothing but fund-depletion. Which always makes things worse.

 

In fairness I don't know the context of Metrobi's post but for me there are plenty of similarities between alcohol and gaffer tape:

1. They often seem like a good idea at the time.

2.They never actually fix anything, apart from Ford Mondeo bumpers, properly.... as the situation normally gets worse later.

3. They are frequently used by muppets to comic and dangerous effect. (see facebook)

4. They leave a nasty sticky mess behind that's a pain to clear up.

 

More eloquently put but spot on m-i-l

[jonny69]

I came down yesterday to go to the post office to see a delivery van 'parking' downstairs and slam straight into the front of my car with a bang. I could see he was abut to ignore what he'd just done so I decided to make an issue of it, having come down in the past to find a holed bumper where someone with a towbar had smashed through it and driven off. I opened the passenger door of the van as it was reversing back and told the guy that it was my car he just drove into. He was sorry but he only touched it. Apart from that bang that I heard from all the way over there and the fact that you knocked the car out of its spot. I don't think he understood so I let him know that it was my vintage car under the cover that he just hit and that if he's bent anything he's going to be in trouble, as I proceeded to pull the cover off the front. Nothing bent, as expected but it's the principle of it. You should have seen the 'oh shit' look on his face when the word 'vintage' came out my mouth.

[dollywobbler]

We had a guy round from british gas today to change our meters to the new "smart" type. A bit of a surprise, we hadn't had a letter or anything. This in itself was fine, but while he was here he condemned the cooker, the water heater and ALL the pipework. Result - capped off meter and no gas, rapidly followed by no plaster on the wall, no gas appliances in the kitchen and tomorrow no money in the bank. Bang goes my car buying plans for now

 

I've already replastered the wall. That bit I can do legally

 

I am VERY wary of British Gas. They seem to have a jolly old time condemning anything they come into contact with. "I'll just leave this sales line number here..." It smacks a bit too much of a car dealer condemning your car when it's in for a service and then steering you to the new sales team, only in this case, they can play the 'oh, you might die' line. Perhaps it's worth sending something to the Office of Fair Trading as it's not the first case I've heard...

[tonedepear]

Smell gas?

 

I had the same problem 18 months ago when I decided to take out British Gas "Boiler Insurance" in case owt went awry with my ageing combi boiler. What happened in the end was they sent an engineer out to do a "free check" as my reward for being a new customer, and he decided my old obsolete boiler you can't get parts for was plus dangereux and disconnected it from the main, leaving me without heating or water until I shelled out £LOADS for a new'un.

 

Helpful.

 

Recently my electric shower's bust as well. I assume fitting one yourself is likely to be harder than it looks. Anyone?

[cobblers]

Recently my electric shower's bust as well. I assume fitting one yourself is likely to be harder than it looks. Anyone?

 

 

TBH they are usually easy enough to fix and spares are usually not hard to get if its anywhere near recent.

 

 

Fitting a new one is just 3 wires and a single pipe, but there is no standardization on where the pipe / wiring enters the back of the shower which can make things awkward.

[tonedepear]

its anywhere near recent.

 

Can't remember the model now, but it's BEIGE. So likely not. I'll make more effort to research what's bust then, and see what happens. It's only water and electricity, what's the worst that could happen?

[ashmicro]

As Cobblers says, it's not hard if there's been one there before, IE, the wiring and pipe is there already. *usually* the water pipe comes into the arse of the shower wall unit. The new one I fitted for Katie's mother came with an additional 15mm right-angle joint to allow you to adapt for a sideways on feed (I didn't need it).

[richardthestag]

We had a guy round from british gas today to change our meters to the new "smart" type. A bit of a surprise, we hadn't had a letter or anything. This in itself was fine, but while he was here he condemned the cooker, the water heater and ALL the pipework. Result - capped off meter and no gas, rapidly followed by no plaster on the wall, no gas appliances in the kitchen and tomorrow no money in the bank. Bang goes my car buying plans for now

 

I've already replastered the wall. That bit I can do legally

 

I am VERY wary of British Gas. They seem to have a jolly old time condemning anything they come into contact with. "I'll just leave this sales line number here..." It smacks a bit too much of a car dealer condemning your car when it's in for a service and then steering you to the new sales team, only in this case, they can play the 'oh, you might die' line. Perhaps it's worth sending something to the Office of Fair Trading as it's not the first case I've heard...

 

We asked British gas to quote for new boiler. They threatened to condemn the whole system because yellow plastic above ground pipes that we're perfectly legal and safe 15 years ago when installed are no longer legal above ground, still use them underground.

 

Mrs the stag called me at work and I had to rush home, mid winter because the fuckers were about to cut us off. I buried the offending pipe using a couple of sacks of peat that I found in the greenhouse and gas engineer admitted defeat and left.

 

Complete bunch of cnuts but because of liability etc if they re not sure they are obliged to cut you off.

 

Of course I arranged for friendly local heating engineer to replace the offending pipe work so that it was the correct spec above ground. He also installed new boiler for a fraction of bg quote.

[richardthestag]

its anywhere near recent.

 

Can't remember the model now, but it's BEIGE. So likely not. I'll make more effort to research what's bust then, and see what happens. It's only water and electricity, what's the worst that could happen?

 

 

Is your friend

[Louise2cv]

British Gas are (IMO) evil. They probably incentivize the condemning of systems.

 

...Well, that might be a bit harsh but an engineer will possibly be rewarded if the customer goes on to get BG to put it right. Plus he/she will probably be hassled at least twice a day about the importance of quoting/making a sale and will probably spend more time doing that than actually fixing/servicing anything.

 

They are possibly far more interested in sales than repairs these days. Profit each year is not the goal. MORE profit than last year is.

 

I'd rather stay warm by burning £10 notes on the grate than buy my energy from them.

 

*All of the above is a bitter and twisted opinion rather than a statement of fact if any BG lawyers are watching.*

 

**Other evil companies are available.

[DSdriver]

They condemned us once for not having a large enough air brick to the boiler so I put a bigger one in. They then said that that one was not suitable because it was made of terracotta not plastic and some of the holes MAY not be big enough. Fuck off. I reconnected after the guy left and we haven't died in the intervening twenty years.

[autofive]

i suggested to scary that it might be worth getting a second opinion about his boiler, as i dont trust british gas 'engineers' either.

[DSdriver]

RIP

dealerplates.co.uk

gone but not forgotten.

I presume the link they have left on their website to craftsuprint is just because they have been pissed off by them and feel they need to be annoyed by lots of punters asking if they do nummerplates.

 

Off now to find another company who will not unfortunately have the right dealer logo.

[Cavcraft]

We had a guy round from british gas today to change our meters to the new "smart" type. A bit of a surprise, we hadn't had a letter or anything. This in itself was fine, but while he was here he condemned the cooker, the water heater and ALL the pipework. Result - capped off meter and no gas, rapidly followed by no plaster on the wall, no gas appliances in the kitchen and tomorrow no money in the bank. Bang goes my car buying plans for now

 

I've already replastered the wall. That bit I can do legally

 

I am VERY wary of British Gas. They seem to have a jolly old time condemning anything they come into contact with. "I'll just leave this sales line number here..." It smacks a bit too much of a car dealer condemning your car when it's in for a service and then steering you to the new sales team, only in this case, they can play the 'oh, you might die' line. Perhaps it's worth sending something to the Office of Fair Trading as it's not the first case I've heard...

 

We asked British gas to quote for new boiler. They threatened to condemn the whole system because yellow plastic above ground pipes that we're perfectly legal and safe 15 years ago when installed are no longer legal above ground, still use them underground.

 

Mrs the stag called me at work and I had to rush home, mid winter because the fuckers were about to cut us off. I buried the offending pipe using a couple of sacks of peat that I found in the greenhouse and gas engineer admitted defeat and left.

 

Complete bunch of cnuts but because of liability etc if they re not sure they are obliged to cut you off.

 

Of course I arranged for friendly local heating engineer to replace the offending pipe work so that it was the correct spec above ground. He also installed new boiler for a fraction of bg quote.

 

 

Ah yes, the shower of shit that are (is) BG still continue to piss people off and attempt to fleece them. I do actually wonder at times how they actually have any customers left.

[vulgalour]

My patience, which is already tissue paper thin, is wearing even thinner. Thanks to yet another money cock up with things not coming in when they should and other things going out before they should, it's entirely possible that one or both of my cars will have to be sold this year just to keep on a level footing. I'm really too ill to work at the moment (and have missed a couple of deadlines, not to mention the work that's piling up in the wings that should be done by now) but at the same time literally can't afford to take any more time off. Every time I just about get my feet under me something else comes along to knock me on my arse.

 

I'm looking at what else I can do to solve the problem, but it looks like at the very least come September when road tax and MoT are due on the Princess, she'll be coming off the road indefinitely. I can't afford to cancel my insurance because if I do there's a good chance I shan't be able to start it up again because of the rising costs but at the same time, insurance is so expensive and the other crap that's going on is sapping so much of my money out of me that I can barely afford to do anything other than insure the cars.

 

This is getting to be beyond a joke, it really is. It feels like all I do is earn money to give it to other people and on the rare occasion I do get to spend something on myself - like the new mirrors (about £15) for the Princess - I'm rewarded with yet another surprise bill, or increased payment or some other bollocks that needs the money I've just spent on myself. The bank won't help, in fact the bank's fees on the overdraft are part of the problem and helping to keep me in debt, the fuckers, and I can't afford to borrow any more cash... *Expression of frustrated rage*.

 

This is offset by the generosity of friends, family and forum folk of course, and I am grateful for that, but sometimes I do wonder what I did so bad to get shit on so much over the last 18 months. The rain can fuck off too, I very nearly went outside and shouted at the weather earlier because it's stopping me doing anything productive outside and my garden is a massive mess because everything is growing too fast.

 

Sorry... here ends the rant, just had a massive need to vent at the world.

[Timewaster]

+1 on British Gas being a shower of bastards. They seem to still trade on their long lost status as a public utility.

They are right up there with the AA as a name that clueless punters have heard of and therefore trust.

[warren t claim]

Maternal Bonding.

 

Mutha_Claim isn't getting on with the 106 as well as I hoped she would. The sad thing is that I have no idea what to look for as a replacement for her as she never knows what she likes until she's had it a while. Sometimes it's the most obvious stuff she doesn't like driving, she's hated driving every XUD powered 306 I've had but liked the HDi ones! She was happy driving a 3.0 Omega but refuses to drive the W124, even though they're similar sizes and both autos. She really liked the CAVCRAFT Escort estate for some reason but won't entertain the thought of a cheap Escort Cabriolet.

 

I WISH I WUZ ADOPTEDZ.

[scaryoldcortina]

To be fair to BG, the boiler was faulty - I got a tame gas fitter to confirm it for me, it leaks gas through the pilot when switched off. Not a problem as long as it stays lit but potential disaster if it went out. I'd rather buy a new boiler than risk blowing the house up. In fact, a new boiler should be delivered tomorrow and I'll fit it then get mr tame gas bloke to connect it up. Meter relocation, plastering and pipework tidying (water and gas) were already on the to do list, it's all just been brought forward.

 

The cooker wasn't faulty - there was a minute leak from the flexi pipe fitting. Unfortunatly, I left it outside (wedged between the wall and the shed) while I was plastering the wall and some scrap hunting barsteward has gone and nicked it. Cheeky feckers cut the flex off the freezer and took that too!

[hairymel]

My patience, which is already tissue paper thin, is wearing even thinner.....Every time I just about get my feet under me something else comes along to knock me on my arse......the other crap that's going on is sapping so much of my money out of me that I can barely afford to do anything other than insure one car

 

It feels like all I do is earn money to give it to other people and on the rare occasion I do get to spend something on myself ..some other bollocks that needs the money I've just spent on myself....bank's fees on the overdraft are part of the problem and helping to keep me in debt...the fuckers,... *Expression of frustrated rage*.

 

sometimes I do wonder what I did so bad to get shit on so much over the last 18 months. The rain can fuck off too,....... my garden is a massive mess because everything is growing too fast.

 

angyl -

 

i could have written those comments recently m8, life has a habit of kicking you in the nuts sometimes

 

there is an upside though :- just keep plugging away at it and one day you will forget how shit everything is

 

my only advice is to keep doing the things you enjoy and fuck off the things you don't.

 

get out of the house - even if its for a walk to the shops

 

 

 

remember that a lot of people give a shit about you and don't be afraid to ask them for help

 

 

 

if it helps to cheer you up my landlord has fucked off to france and the leccy has tripped in a locked area he has the key for.

 

my beer is warm and i have no idea when he is coming back

 

 

i have enjoyed reading car mags in bed with a torch though

 

take it easy mate

[wackywacerwill]

Stayed in all day today to take delivery of a set of bunks for the dustbin lids. They came at the eleventh hour with all the bits needed to construct, shame the headboard had the holes drilled in the wrong place mind Looks like I'll be staying in all day tomorrow with another day on the tools down the drain, bastards.

[cort16]

I've put the 7 on gumtree then literally 5 minutes late..

 

"you take 300 or swap for laptop?".

Er no,

"but we have to drive from X to come" and get it ".

 

How is that my problem?

 

I really don't want to weigh it in as it's too good for that but if I took the wheels, lamps, hid kit, tax and front bumper off then weighed the rest in I'd get my 400 pretty easy.

[sporty-shite]

Maternal Bonding.

 

Mutha_Claim isn't getting on with the 106 as well as I hoped she would. The sad thing is that I have no idea what to look for as a replacement for her as she never knows what she likes until she's had it a while. Sometimes it's the most obvious stuff she doesn't like driving, she's hated driving every XUD powered 306 I've had but liked the HDi ones! She was happy driving a 3.0 Omega but refuses to drive the W124, even though they're similar sizes and both autos. She really liked the CAVCRAFT Escort estate for some reason but won't entertain the thought of a cheap Escort Cabriolet.

 

I WISH I WUZ ADOPTEDZ.

 

Volvo 480?

 

Alfa 156 Sportwagon?

 

Thought not. Oh, well.

[Cavcraft]

Mrs_Claim obviously has SRSLY good taste. So SRSLY good I could well imagine her wafting rounds Claimsville in a nice, inoffensive little Honda. I'm told silver is the 'in' colour at the moment

[warren t claim]

Mrs_Claim obviously has SRSLY good taste. So SRSLY good I could well imagine her wafting rounds Claimsville in a nice, inoffensive little Honda. I'm told silver is the 'in' colour at the moment

Mutha_Claim had an estate version of that type of Civic and didn't like it at all. Nice try though!

[Cavcraft]

Yeah but the estate's are a completely different...whooooooop-weeeeeeeeeeeeeeep'dweeeeeeeeeeeek..//09\\\crackle////

 

*Sorry, but Cavcraft's excuse-ometer is currently unavailable. Please try again later.

 

*When we may try and force a Corsa 1.0 on you.

[cms206]

My summer Shitefest holiday roadtrip may have to be missed. On an entirely related note, does anyone happen to have a pair of inner and outer sills for a Senator B floating about that I can steal... ?

[Pete-M]

My summer Shitefest holiday roadtrip may have to be missed. On an entirely related note, does anyone happen to have a pair of inner and outer sills for a Senator B floating about that I can steal... ?

 

SILLS?????? WTF?