The grumpy thread

[Pete-M]

I think we need to see a major drive into helping people become self employed and offering cheap rent and rates on shops, garages and workshops etc.

 

This is the way forward. I've been saying it for years.

[autofive]

I think we need to see a major drive into helping people become self employed and offering cheap rent and rates on shops, garages and workshops etc.

 

This is the way forward. I've been saying it for years.

 

i totally agree

 

small shops have been priced out of the high street by high business rates and council red tape, about 20 years ago I was going to open a second hand book shop but the business rate was more than the rent.

[Cheggers]

Chuggers?

like Cheggers but infinitely more annoying!

 

Thanks, I think

[vulgalour]

Looks like Bolsover is set to lose its high street in a few years. Although there's been a petition with a lot of signatures, enough to halt the plans to build it, the Council are allowing a large Morrisons to go up just off the high street.

 

Goodbye decent priced bakers, friendly and cheap green grocers, lovely little cafés and useful newsagents. Hello monochrome and expensive shopping. Morrisons have even submitted a plan outlining their 25% off everything start up sale which will mean the local shops are unable to compete with them and people will shop at Morrisons because they want/need to save money in the short term and won't understand the long term impact of their actions. Personally, I'm going to avoid shopping at Morrisons until the local shops close down because I hate the thought of seeing Bolsover go the same way as my home town of Staveley who also lost their high street when a Morrisons opened just off it. Staveley never recovered properly from that and growing up I watched business after business collapse and shops stay empty for years. I don't know what else I can do, and I'm fully aware it's a futile gesture to boycott the Morrisons when it's built, but I really like my local shops and their prices, I don't want to have to shop at a supermarket.

[triumph1300]

It's like that down my way, Tesco express stores popping up everywhere...not good for local small business at all.

[willswitchengage]

small shops have been priced out of the high street by high business rates and council red tape, about 20 years ago I was going to open a second hand book shop but the business rate was more than the rent.

 

My brother's wife runs a small business in central London and has to pay a barmy amount of commitments and taxes - "terrorism insurance" is a legal obligation, oh and despite the council rates they still don't take away their rubbish. She has to pay SITA or somebody else to do that privately.

 

I live in a village and thus for travelling reasons it's easier to shop at the local high street, but when 2ltrs of milk is £1.90 it really does make more sense to just go to Morrisons. And even my latest philanthropic effort to buy at the local picture frame shop left me 50% greater out of pocket than my last visit to B&Q, and I got home to find it was acrylic not glass

 

Now pretty much 100% agreed with NC that the only reason to go to town is for a haircut (and post office), which is a shame as it's so much nicer than these tioxide-whitewashed out of town monstrosities. Oh well, you pay for what you get.

[HillmanImp]

I went past a Sainsburys Local the other day but it was at least 8 miles away from my house. Who are they trying to kid?

[messerschmitt owner]

Chuggers?

like Cheggers but infinitely more annoying!

 

Thanks, I think

Lol. Keith chegwin

[M'coli]

I live in a village and thus for travelling reasons it's easier to shop at the local high street, but when 2ltrs of milk is £1.90 it really does make more sense to just go to Morrisons.

The milk from the wee shop will probably be local milk, will probably be produced at a slight profit by the farmer, rather than a loss to them of 2p a litre, more than likely it will be tastier and have travelled less miles - especially if it's made by your local dairy company, .

 

 

What's made me grumpy today? I thought I'd go out and throw some paint on the Cavalier to take the bad look off of it, but now have a chunk of wheelarch missing along with 15" of inner, middle and outer sill.

[vulgalour]

Next time, try not to throw the paint while it's still in the tin I too have been attempting to do some paint on the car but the rain keeps making it so that before I make any meaningful progress on any particular stage I have to hurriedly pack everything away. I need the weather to stay dry for at least an hour if I'm to put any fresh paint on the car, ideally all day so that it has a chance to not get damaged when I put the cover back on. Beginning to regret removing the windscreen now, but it had to happen so I could treat the rust.

[autofive]

thought i had scored some tasty winter tyres from durham freecycle, advert read like this:

 

OFFER: 4 Bridgestone tires w rims, 235/45R17, blizzark WS-50

Hardly used.

 

i replied and tonight received an answer; Are you in North Carolina?

 

the dozy bint had used the uk site instead of the us one

[scaryoldcortina]

^ Can't you get Norm to collect them?

[chaseracer]

Looks like Bolsover is set to lose its high street in a few years. Although there's been a petition with a lot of signatures, enough to halt the plans to build it, the Council are allowing a large Morrisons to go up just off the high street...

Get Dennis involved. That should scare them off...

[autofive]

^ Can't you get Norm to collect them?

 

454 mi, 7 hours 54 mins

In current traffic: 7 hours 54 mins

 

 

don't think he would fancy the drive

[Parky]

I won some steel wheels for my Bini earlier - no tyres but 4 steel wheels which I could use for winter tyres (or even just non run flats).

 

I got 4 wheels for three pound twenty and the seller was about three miles away. Shortly after paying I got a note confirming my payment had been returned as she had sold them last week and relisted them accidentally. Why not remove the ad beforehand? Personally I reckon she wanted a lot more then three quid. If they get relisted I will get onto the bay and neg that bint.

[Negative Creep]

One of my back teeth has been hurting for a while now, but I've only just realised it feels like the thing has chipped in half! Problem is I don't have a dentist, nor do I think I could actually afford one.....

[Cavcraft]

I won some steel wheels for my Bini earlier - no tyres but 4 steel wheels which I could use for winter tyres (or even just non run flats).

 

I got 4 wheels for three pound twenty and the seller was about three miles away. Shortly after paying I got a note confirming my payment had been returned as she had sold them last week and relisted them accidentally. Why not remove the ad beforehand? Personally I reckon she wanted a lot more then three quid. If they get relisted I will get onto the bay and neg that bint.

 

Neg them anyway stating what happened. If you put something like 'Mini steel wheels, seller refused to sell at end price' that should knacker them up if they try and relist them anyhow.

[M'coli]

That sort of thing - breaking teeth - counts as an emergency, and there are provisions within the NHS for emergency dental care including out-of-hours. I didn't know this sort of thing existed in 1995 when one of my back teeth broke up, leaving a very sharp edge that had me cutting my tongue even if I spoke. Cue the use of a small rotary tool used for engraving my folks' postcode onto their possessions to take the sharp edge off.

[Negative Creep]

That sort of thing - breaking teeth - counts as an emergency, and there are provisions within the NHS for emergency dental care including out-of-hours. I didn't know this sort of thing existed in 1995 when one of my back teeth broke up, leaving a very sharp edge that had me cutting my tongue even if I spoke. Cue the use of a small rotary tool used for engraving my folks' postcode onto their possessions to take the sharp edge off.

 

 

Luckily mine doesn't actually hurt unless you touch it directly (unlike your story,which makes you wince even reading it)

[myglaren]

The enamel fell off one of my front teeth a couple of weeks back. £190 to fix at current NHS rates.

I don't like my dentist though, arrogant twat that he is. His wife is much better (she sees to my daughter and grandson) but I never get to see her.

Last time I went, two years ago, I had a back tooth filled and the filling kind of spread out and had sharp edges.

Went back after work the following few days but the place was always closed by half past four so abandoned that and smoothed the edges off with a nail file.

 

MOT approaching and the back brakes are buggered. Typically they are suffering from the usual C5 disease of corrosion behind the calliper that skews the calliper, wears the pads wedge shaped and prevents fitting of the spare wheel.

The callipers are so bad they are contacting the discs now.

The driver's seat is loose and adjustments don't work.

There is a 'chatter' through the steering at around 70mph that may be tyre imbalance but feels 'loose' somehow. TREs/droplinks no doubt.

Would have a go myself but it would be on the street and it only stops raining for five minutes at a time.

And it pulls like it has a 600cc engine, not a 2L turbo. Absolutely crap and rubbish mpg to boot.

 

Took a long weekend so I could have it done, was supposed to drop it in Friday night but got a text not to and he hasn't been back in touch, so it will be next weekend now.

Need it for work, can't take the bus although it stops a hundred yards from my door and a hundred yards from work, too many people with too much perfume/deodorant/aftershave on and/or stinking of fags, any of which would mean a day off work and possibly in hospital. It's bad enough with the guys at work but concentrated in a bus, not a hope in hell.

[willswitchengage]

dental prices

 

I used to live with dentists and they said you can get care, emergency or just treatment, for free at the hospital if you're willing to be treated by students.

[jakebullet]

Went to the chippy and noticed the temp gauge was sat on cold. Last time it was the viscous fan knackered so not best pleased that it's not even lasted 6 months... until I spotted the fuggin spider inside the clocks. Little bastard had glued the temp gauge solid.

 

 

By the time I got home it was having a go at the fuel gauge.

 

Fortunately only took half an hour to take the dash apart and fix it.

[messerschmitt owner]

maybe the little spider got fed up being hit on the head by the needle!

[myglaren]

dental prices

 

I used to live with dentists and they said you can get care, emergency or just treatment, for free at the hospital if you're willing to be treated by students.

 

This is true and our local dental hospital is excellent. The care is limited though. Emergency treatment only.

My original dentist went private a few years ago. I registered with the current one but two things happened.

1, I had a disagreement with a circular saw at work that resulted in the loss of a finger and severe damage to another.

2, The dental practice closed for holidays - unusual but as a man and wife team they went on holiday together.

 

I got a wisdom tooth problem and had to go to the dental hospital for extraction, fortunately a wing of the hospital attending my hand so combined the two.

 

The toothache was far worse than the damage to my hand and the students fixed me up expertly, can't criticise their work at all, there were in fact preferable to the dentist I had to go to when they eventually returned.

[Negative Creep]

Managed to get into the emergency dentist this afternoon, and I'm only £17.50 lighter. Unfortunately, I'm also one tooth lighter. Turns out it had a chuffing great hole in it, and was too far gone for a filling, So it was either expensive, long and risky root canal treatment, or have it yanked out then and there. Being a REAL MAN, it was of course not painful at all, and the dentist was rather fit as well

[cobblers]

All this dentist talk has reminded me it's been about 7 years since I went to see one.

[Angrydicky]

Down my road there is a house with an attached corrugated garage, one of those with windows across the front. Anyway inside is a very obvious 2CV, which has sat there for about 10 years I reckon. About 5 or 6 years ago (it might even be more than that) I knocked on the door and spoke to the old giffer who lives there and asked him what he was doing with the old car in the garage. He told me it belonged to his girlfriend, who was French, and he had been thinking about selling. Anyway we pushed it out (brakes were free due to the handbrake being left off) and I had a look round it, didn't seem too bad apart from the usual rotten front floors and a ripped hood that meant his cats had been using the inside of the car as a toilet.

Anyway he then started umming and ahhing and then said he was going to keep it anyway. We pushed it back in and it's been there ever since.

 

Well, I drove past today and there is a for sale sign outside the house. In addition the Skoda hatchback that used to be parked on the driveway is no longer there, and the local chavs (I assume) have smashed three out of four windows on the front of the garage. One of the bricks or whatever they used to break the windows must have landed on the torn hood and it's now completely ripped open and hanging down inside the car.

 

I suspect the old boy who lived there (who was well into his 80's back then) has popped his clogs and his little Citroen's days will surely be numbered. I might be jumping to conclusions, but I wouldn't forgive myself if I lost this car that I've been after for so many years. I can just imagine it being dragged out of the garage and straight onto a scrapyard low loader...I need another car like a hole in the head, but I do feel sorry for this one! The reg is D227 UAR IIRC, and it's a little green and white Dolly.

 

Cheers lads, and sorry for the moan

 

Rich.

[RedSparrow]

Down my road there is a house with an attached corrugated garage, one of those with windows across the front. Anyway inside is a very obvious 2CV, which has sat there for about 10 years I reckon. About 5 or 6 years ago (it might even be more than that) I knocked on the door and spoke to the old giffer who lives there and asked him what he was doing with the old car in the garage. He told me it belonged to his girlfriend, who was French, and he had been thinking about selling. Anyway we pushed it out (brakes were free due to the handbrake being left off) and I had a look round it, didn't seem too bad apart from the usual rotten front floors and a ripped hood that meant his cats had been using the inside of the car as a toilet.

Anyway he then started umming and ahhing and then said he was going to keep it anyway. We pushed it back in and it's been there ever since.

 

Well, I drove past today and there is a for sale sign outside the house. In addition the Skoda hatchback that used to be parked on the driveway is no longer there, and the local chavs (I assume) have smashed three out of four windows on the front of the garage. One of the bricks or whatever they used to break the windows must have landed on the torn hood and it's now completely ripped open and hanging down inside the car.

 

I suspect the old boy who lived there (who was well into his 80's back then) has popped his clogs and his little Citroen's days will surely be numbered. I might be jumping to conclusions, but I wouldn't forgive myself if I lost this car that I've been after for so many years. I can just imagine it being dragged out of the garage and straight onto a scrapyard low loader...I need another car like a hole in the head, but I do feel sorry for this one! The reg is D227 UAR IIRC, and it's a little green and white Dolly.

 

Cheers lads, and sorry for the moan

 

Rich.

 

Can you bung a note saying you want to buy it through the door of the house? Or on the garage door?

People have been chatting on here recently about the value of 2CVs so worth a try.

[autofive]

my grump today: cutting the grass

 

its rained almost solid for over a week, the grass in my back garden is about 6 inches long, and it's taken about 2 hours to cut it (badly)

 

ooooh i love british summers

[Angrydicky]

Thing is, I'm not sure if the house is currently occupied. But a note is definitely worth a try. If he has died I reckon I'd get a call from some solicitor armed with printouts from inflated Ebay auctions which would mean it would be priced way above my meagre budget. But rather that then see it scrapped, definitely.