Author Topic: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.  (Read 1599873 times)

robgul

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  • cyclist, Cytech accredited mechanic & woodworker
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Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12200 on: 28 June, 2020, 11:35:31 am »
It’s not often I feel disgruntled with Amazon, but today I do. I ordered an impact wrench, ostensibly from a company in Aberdeen, but “fulfilled by Amazon”. It should be arriving today, but I’ve had no notification. Despite two other items being “out for delivery” it still says “dispatched”. So I look further - oh, “Undeliverable. A problem occurred during delivery and the package has been returned to Amazon. A refund will be issued in 5-7 business days once the return has been processed”. Bah. The seller is still on Amazon, and advertising that there are 10 of these still available, why can’t they just send another??  And it’s not MY fault it can’t be delivered, so why can’t I have my money back now. When I looked at the detail tracking, it actually came from Germany, via East Midlands. Then at 09:55 this morning it was at Amazon Bardon Hill (Coalville)  “loading”. At 11:24 it was “returned to Amazon”.

.... I've been tricked by Amazon a couple of times when they say an item is "fulfilled by Amazon" but mysteriously appears about 6 weeks later from China.   

And don't get me started about ebay sellers with "UK stock" - they seem to be liars to a man - even when there's a UK legit-looking business address the package arrives from China (with a very few exceptions where items are actually in the UK and just posted out from a logistics provider)

On recommendation from a friend I've bought a few bits and pieces from Aliexpress - OK it's sloooooow but so far goods have been OK and good value (the tracking info is interesting ..... I didn't know that there were flights of 3 weeks duration - longest I've done is 17 hours  ;D)

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12201 on: 29 June, 2020, 09:45:05 am »
Another bloody tetragrammaton whacking weeds within ear-splitting earshot.  I swear the bastards take it in turn.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

ian

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12202 on: 29 June, 2020, 09:57:52 am »
And she's talking in that stupid baby-voice that idiots use with their dogs, which makes it even more annoying. I'd like to introduce her to power tools.

Yeah, what is it with that? Out new neighbours 17 year old daughter is forever saying “gooood booooy, goood girrrrl” to their two black labs. Oh, and saying “quite” without training the dogs in the appropriate response is never going to work. Luckily it’s only when they know they’re being taken for a walk that they they bark.

There's an entire family of them, honestly, they're all loud (I figure they must be over 100 m away, I can't see them, just hear them), and every time they're out, it's constantly that. The only purpose seems to be to make their dogs bark back. They're the same ones as the Famous Levitating Tent and the giant decking structure that climbs halfway up their garden (and they spend about six hours a day sweeping or hitting with a hammer).

Honestly, Friday was a nightmare. The house that's building a giant underground evil HQ must have had about fifty deliveries of yet more building materials (cue lorries frantically grinding down through their gears as they pass our house, than the constant beep beep beep as they reverse up the lane behind us), there's another house around the corner that seems to be disposing of their entire back garden, someone else was grinding all the paint off the front of his house, and half the valley seemed to be strimming or lawn mowing.

One of the benefits of going to the office in central London is that it's quieter.

ian

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12203 on: 29 June, 2020, 05:18:10 pm »
And it's time for the weekly bonfire. It can't not be possible for anyone who lives here to have noticed that upon lighting a smoky bonfire, it simply fills the surrounding valley with a pall of acrid smoke, that even on windy days just lingers, fills houses and gives everyone scratchy eyes. It must be awful for anyone with a respiratory complaint.

I suppose they waited until the heat had subsided so it's possible to close windows. But really, people, just stop being dicks. If you've got garden waste or whatever, pay to dispose of it properly.

nicknack

  • Hornblower
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12204 on: 29 June, 2020, 05:45:57 pm »
If your area is anything like ours then I'm not surprised about the proliferation of bonfires. I usually take our garden rubbish to the local tip. At the moment it is only open for emergencies (although I can't imagine what an emergency tipping situation might be) and you have to book a timed slot. I don't think I can justify getting rid of garden waste as an emergency so we have an increasing number of bags piling up in the yard. I guess others just burn it.
There's no vibrations, but wait.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12205 on: 29 June, 2020, 05:49:03 pm »
although I can't imagine what an emergency tipping situation might be

Something that you can't safely store until this is over.  Eg. because it's hazardous waste, will rot, or pose a fire hazard.

We currently have a king-sized mattress propped vertically against the wall in our living room.  (Also, several bags of WEEE, mostly a result of the tidy-up I did towards the beginning of the lockdown).  I can't take it to the tip until Veolia come up with a policy on booking slots for vehicles without a registration number, but even if they did, it's not an emergency.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12206 on: 29 June, 2020, 05:55:43 pm »
Just paint your own number plate... K1MG33K for instance.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12207 on: 29 June, 2020, 05:58:06 pm »
It did occur to me that I could pick one up from a nearby verge...

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12208 on: 29 June, 2020, 06:05:06 pm »
"Our" tip is at Pity Me, and boy, I do pity them.

When they first re-opened they put signs up, made the road one way. The signs said "queue from here is 2 hours" and horrifyingly "queue from here 3 hours"

WTF will wait in their vehicle for THREE HOURS to dispose of non-collection household waste???

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12209 on: 29 June, 2020, 06:19:04 pm »
Our tip is now (apparently) fully open, which is good news as I have quite a lot of hardcore to dispose of.
When it first reopened, they were only taking garden waste and landfill, and they were alternating which days you could go, depending on your car registration number. There was a no pedestrian or cycle access sign up. They had to get a temporary one way system in the streets around the entrance and the queues were still hours long. We waited until the Wednesday of the second week and barely had to queue. By week four the place was nearly empty.
"No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everybody on the couch."

Mr Larrington

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Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12210 on: 29 June, 2020, 06:22:31 pm »
I've got a set of number plates you can use, Kim.  They bear the hallmarks of a garage in Farnborough and are supposed to be attached to a black Peugeot 308, so what they were doing wedged between one of my wheelie bins and the wall of the Sheds is a mystery.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12211 on: 29 June, 2020, 06:28:05 pm »
WTF will wait in their vehicle for THREE HOURS to dispose of non-collection household waste???

Half of Birmingham, it seems.  Apart from the ones who get fed up halfway and do a U-turn into the path of an oncoming cyclist, obviously.

ian

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12212 on: 29 June, 2020, 07:23:40 pm »
If your area is anything like ours then I'm not surprised about the proliferation of bonfires. I usually take our garden rubbish to the local tip. At the moment it is only open for emergencies (although I can't imagine what an emergency tipping situation might be) and you have to book a timed slot. I don't think I can justify getting rid of garden waste as an emergency so we have an increasing number of bags piling up in the yard. I guess others just burn it.

Our green waste collections have continued (when the lorry can get up the street, they never did sort out rear-wheel steering), but it's £52/year, so cheaper to just set fire to stuff. Plus Surrey and district council seem to be in perpetual battle, Surrey close the refuse centres (or restrict hours) and then the district council have to clear up the increase in fly-tipping, which of course, costs more than keeping the refuse centres open.

Davef

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12213 on: 29 June, 2020, 09:44:19 pm »
Our tip is now (apparently) fully open, which is good news as I have quite a lot of hardcore to dispose of.
Can’t you just burn it like my mum did when she found mine when I was a teenager.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12214 on: 29 June, 2020, 10:12:34 pm »
Our tip is now (apparently) fully open, which is good news as I have quite a lot of hardcore to dispose of.
Can’t you just burn it like my mum did when she found mine when I was a teenager.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

And we are back to post 16 in this thread.  ;)

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12215 on: 29 June, 2020, 10:19:45 pm »
The fact that people will queue for 3 hours to dispose of rubbish is both rubbish (haven't these people got lives? wot, not even to the extent of a 2a.m. Fenland audax?) and incredibly encouraging (because soe people are not flytipping).
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12216 on: 29 June, 2020, 10:33:54 pm »
Lewisham have foresight to have unstaffed recycling centres (enclosed, chute accessed - to exclude oversized items - skips) strategically placed around the borough for smaller items.
Other than builders waste, you can re-cycle smaller WEEE items (kettles not fridge-freezers), clothing/footwear, and all the usual glass/paper/cardboard/plastics.
I recently fed my dead kettle to the hungry black Dalek on Sydenham Road.

robgul

  • Cycle:End-to-End webmaster
  • cyclist, Cytech accredited mechanic & woodworker
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Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12217 on: 30 June, 2020, 07:46:23 am »
Around here all but one of the local-ish tips are open - but by appointment ..... you get a ticket on EventBrite, with your vehicle reg, and are issue with a timed slot of 15 minutes.   I've not used it but several neighbours have and say it works perfectly at the large site in Stratford-upon-Avon.

On the other hand my brother-in-law queued for 2 hours at a Brum tip ... why? - he has a very large garden and could have stored the stuff.

Rob

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12218 on: 30 June, 2020, 07:59:07 am »
It is frustrating that local tips are increasing only open to people with vehicles.  Seems unreasonable to me.

diapsaon0

  • Advena ego sum in terra
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12219 on: 30 June, 2020, 09:03:57 am »
I took a load to our local tip on my Carry Freedom a few weeks ago.  The staff were somewhat intrigued that I took a car load of garden rubbish - too big for the car boot - on a bike!
Advena ego sum in Terra

robgul

  • Cycle:End-to-End webmaster
  • cyclist, Cytech accredited mechanic & woodworker
    • Cycle:End-to-End
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12220 on: 30 June, 2020, 10:16:22 am »
It is frustrating that local tips are increasing only open to people with vehicles.  Seems unreasonable to me.

There are parallels* with McDonalds only serving cars/vans at the drive ins . . . .

* that's the process not the product . . . although there are similarities  ;D

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12221 on: 30 June, 2020, 10:29:51 am »
McDonalds, KFC etc are commercial enterprises and can choose their customers.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12222 on: 30 June, 2020, 10:31:17 am »
McD's also provide seating alternatives and I'm not paying directly for them as part of my Council Tax.

Basil

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Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12223 on: 30 June, 2020, 10:49:39 am »
No mackerel on the fish van this morning.   :(
Apparently the sea was too rough last night and boats didn't put out from New Quay.
Bugger. I was looking forward to that.

The closest thing I can think of is macaroni cheese.  ;D  So I'd better get some more milk.
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #12224 on: 30 June, 2020, 11:43:38 am »
No mackerel on the fish van this morning.   :(
Apparently the sea was too rough last night and boats didn't put out from New Quay.
Bugger. I was looking forward to that.

The closest thing I can think of is macaroni cheese.  ;D  So I'd better get some more milk.
Just remember what hapened last time you went out for a pint of milk.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
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