Author Topic: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.  (Read 1576410 times)

Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
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Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11525 on: 28 October, 2019, 10:26:19 pm »
No pet specific grumble thread, so I'll put this here.
So, I'm walking back through the village with Megan on her evening walk when I noticed a dog wandering around in the middle of the High Street, the occasional car having to weave around it.
What to do?  No one in sight anywhere and the dog was in serious danger of running under a car. So I slipped Meg off her lead and attached it to the stray's harness and took her into the pub nearby to see if anyone their recognised it.  No luck, but they photographed it and posted it on the Llandysul faceache page.
I then took the sort of cross between a Basset Hound and Fox Hound back 200 meters to my house with the intention of taking it to the vet in the morning,. I'd not even taken my coat off when the pub rang me to say the owner had arrived.  (Blimey,  faceache works, doesn't it?  Still not joining though.)
So walk Molly back to the pub for a joyful reunion.  Dog was only 1.5 miles from home and they'd been searching for 4 hours.

The grumble?   The owner profusely thanked the landlord, the barman, the two locals propping up the bar, but just totally blanked me.

Meh
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11526 on: 29 October, 2019, 11:03:19 am »
Aye - no good deed etc.

Bloke up the road used to have a dog that liked to go to sleep in the middle of the road.  Traffic isn't exactly at Place de la Concorde levels here but it isn't zero either. Dog lived to a ripe old age. Really ripe.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11527 on: 29 October, 2019, 04:54:13 pm »

He finally responded, last thursday.

So, Sat I went to see, buy kayak.

Pristine condition, as described (amazing for its age). Incredibly light. Looked a bit narrower on the hull than I expected.

He said he was selling because he didn't race much and found it too hard to paddle (unstable).

I bought it.

Sunday took it for a paddle. Hmm, that's odd, I think, when I put it in the water. Jaguars are not noted for being that unstable. I'm looking at a boat so unstable it won't stay upright by itself. Capsizes just sitting in the water without a paddler sat in the cockpit.

Paddled the boat for about 11km. Handles nicely. No troubles in some powerboat wash. But it isn't a stable boat.

Have a close squint at hull details, some googling. Find a picture of a Jaguar (what I has supposedly bought) next to a Cleaver-x.

This isn't a Jaguar. It is a Cleaver-X. Stability 1, which makes it nearly as unstable a boat as they get. Caveat emptor.
I don't think the seller knew.

Congratulations.  I have never paddled anything like that.  I bought a south african boat about 10 years ago in a similar fashion which turned out very similarly.  I was not as good as you and whilst i spent many happy hours in it there was a steep learning curve of falling in!

Thanks.

It isn't really what I was after. I wanted something a bit more kindly to handle, for long distance races. Also something very light, so that multi-portage races were not exhausting.

What I have is a super-lightweight boat that is quick, but requires concentration. Get something wrong (like paddle into a mound of pennywort and get my paddle stuck), and I'm in. However it is easy to empty and reboard. Only been in the water once and that was in the dark, when tangles up with weed.
Will go for a longish paddle this weekend (prob at least 30km) and see if I get smoother and more confident then.
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11528 on: 29 October, 2019, 05:42:00 pm »
Is the trade-off for the instability that it's more manoeuvrable?

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11529 on: 29 October, 2019, 06:00:24 pm »
Is the trade-off for the instability that it's more manoeuvrable?
Very much faster if you have the skills to paddle it. 

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
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Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11530 on: 29 October, 2019, 08:45:40 pm »
I'm sorry to be ageist, but I think it's time that Jon Snow off C4News gave up live broadcast in favour of recorded pieces.
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

ian

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11531 on: 29 October, 2019, 10:43:17 pm »
Is the trade-off for the instability that it's more manoeuvrable?
Very much faster if you have the skills to paddle it.

The sounds like the boat they gave me the last time I went kayaking.

In the Everglades. Where the alligators live. In the water.

Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
  • Help me!
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11532 on: 30 October, 2019, 12:03:07 pm »
No pet specific grumble thread, so I'll put this here.
So, I'm walking back through the village with Megan on her evening walk when I noticed a dog wandering around in the middle of the High Street, the occasional car having to weave around it.
What to do?  No one in sight anywhere and the dog was in serious danger of running under a car. So I slipped Meg off her lead and attached it to the stray's harness and took her into the pub nearby to see if anyone their recognised it.  No luck, but they photographed it and posted it on the Llandysul faceache page.
I then took the sort of cross between a Basset Hound and Fox Hound back 200 meters to my house with the intention of taking it to the vet in the morning,. I'd not even taken my coat off when the pub rang me to say the owner had arrived.  (Blimey,  faceache works, doesn't it?  Still not joining though.)
So walk Molly back to the pub for a joyful reunion.  Dog was only 1.5 miles from home and they'd been searching for 4 hours.

The grumble?   The owner profusely thanked the landlord, the barman, the two locals propping up the bar, but just totally blanked me.

Meh

I retract this grumble.   The real owner has just turned up at my door bearing Thank You card, box of Milk Tray and a bag of dog treats.
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11533 on: 30 October, 2019, 12:05:26 pm »
The real owner has just turned up at my door bearing Thank You card, box of Milk Tray and a bag of dog treats.

Were they wearing a black poloneck and a balaclava?

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11534 on: 30 October, 2019, 12:19:12 pm »
The real owner has just turned up at my door bearing Thank You card, box of Milk Tray and a bag of dog treats.

Were they wearing a black poloneck and a balaclava?
If he had been, he'd have abseiled through Basil's loft hatch, rather than use the door.

Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
  • Help me!
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11535 on: 30 October, 2019, 01:22:10 pm »
The real owner has just turned up at my door bearing Thank You card, box of Milk Tray and a bag of dog treats.

Were they wearing a black poloneck and a balaclava?

No, but I was.  Scared the life out of her when I answered the door.
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11536 on: 30 October, 2019, 05:53:17 pm »
Just had some trick-or-treaters at the door.  Children, not BloodyStudents.  I  a) haven't got a pumpkin out  and  b) thought it was tomorrow.  ???

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11537 on: 30 October, 2019, 06:13:36 pm »
Just had some trick-or-treaters at the door.  Children, not BloodyStudents.  I  a) haven't got a pumpkin out  and  b) thought it was tomorrow.  ???

This time of year, if it's mild, I tend to hide behind the wheelie bins, waiting for them to come round.
Whereupon,  their ringing of my doorbell has an effect, that I surmise, few of them were expecting.
By the time they've turned around to make good their escape, I will have raised the trip wires they had previously walked over.....

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11538 on: 02 November, 2019, 11:11:11 am »
I had this weekend all planned out. Today is wet and horrible so I will catch up with all the computer based tasks on my list. Tomorrow is supposed to be nicer so I will go for a run, then get out into the garden.

We have a major-ish power cut—450 houses without electricity—which makes using the main computer a bit difficult.
"No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everybody on the couch."

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11539 on: 06 November, 2019, 02:44:07 pm »
Why is it that the passenger side of the windscreen always demists faster than the drivers side?? Even on a car (like my current Toyota) designed in a country that drives on the left, and produced and sold in the UK?  >:(
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11540 on: 06 November, 2019, 06:18:17 pm »
The driver is breathing in its general direction?
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 #11541 on: 06 November, 2019, 06:24:38 pm »
I certainly sit further forward as a driver than as a passenger.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11542 on: 07 November, 2019, 09:55:54 am »
Why is it that the passenger side of the windscreen always demists faster than the drivers side?? Even on a car (like my current Toyota) designed in a country that drives on the left, and produced and sold in the UK?  >:(

Funny - I don't have that problem at all. ;D
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

SoreTween

  • Most of me survived the Pennine Bridleway.
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11543 on: 08 November, 2019, 10:29:11 am »
I am a God.  No really, it's the only explanation.  I have come to realise this through watching those most informative televisual broadcast by renowned documentary makers Marvel.  I have learned I have a real, genuine superpower and I'm hoping there are more to be discovered.  Control of lightning would be cool this time of year.  I don't have super strength, that's obvious and various scars attest to my not having magical healing.  The ability to fly would be useful but I'm not risking a jump from the roof to find out.  Immortality - that'd be handy for the mortgage.
Fear not puny mortals I shall not abuse my one godly superpower.  To be honest I haven't figured figured out any way to abuse my superpower.  Proof of my god status comes in the form of an object in one of the smaller rooms in our office building that only I can lift.  Just as Thor is the only creature in Asgard and the Nine Realms that can wield Mjölnir I am the only warrior sufficiently bold, just and mighty to lift this object.  Well there is one other, she arrives in the office twice a day and wields the object most effectively. 
Throughout the day I see colleagues enter and leave this smaller room in order to attempt lifting the object, and other reasons.  They hide their disappointment well,  I know they must try to wield the object on each visit due to the signs imploring them to do so.  They fail.  They all fail every damn time they use this room.  The evidence of their failure is clear to see by whomever next enters the room.  The evidence is plastered all over the bowl time and time again.
I hope I find my other superpowers soon, I really do.  Otherwise I'm going down in history as the God of toilet brushes.
2023 targets: Survive. Maybe.
There is only one infinite resource in this universe; human stupidity.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11544 on: 09 November, 2019, 01:33:31 pm »
Dear Bicycle owner in Camden,

I am sorry you missed our monthly bike maintenance workshop. You say you'd like someone to show you how to change your brake blocks. Oh look, here are some instructions from British Cycling I found after 2 seconds on Google.

Now you want to know if random blocks bought online will be OK on your bike? They might be, but look a bit long.

Have you asked at a bike shop?

Get real! A bunch of scattered volunteers can't spoon-feed you through this!

fuzzy

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11545 on: 09 November, 2019, 01:54:58 pm »
Dear Bicycle owner in Camden,

I am sorry you missed our monthly bike maintenance workshop. You say you'd like someone to show you how to change your brake blocks. Oh look, here are some instructions from British Cycling I found after 2 seconds on Google.

Now you want to know if random blocks bought online will be OK on your bike? They might be, but look a bit long.

Have you asked at a bike shop?

Get real! A bunch of scattered volunteers can't spoon-feed you through this!

Why not? Some cyclists need spoon feeding. Trust me. We get riders with thousands of annual miles come into the shop to have the simplist of things done. All money through the till but......

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11546 on: 09 November, 2019, 02:06:13 pm »
Yebbut I had to suggest she went to a shop!

My gripe is she didn't go to the workshop and didn't Google either...

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11547 on: 11 November, 2019, 12:29:36 pm »
Inspired by Cudzo elsethread:

(The obvious flaw being that music is not a possession. The joy in music is listening to it and making it, not in possessing CDs and so on. Except, of course, where joy in music is actually joy in CDs/vinyl/etc, which brings us back to the start, more or less.)

Apropos which, them idle buggers at Ampcorp Industries promised us the vinyl release of "The Octopus" for "late September" and it's not here yet.  I know where you live, Mr Balamir...
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
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Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11548 on: 11 November, 2019, 10:26:49 pm »
Being on a bus, at night, in surroundings you're not that familiar with. The lights are on and you can see: sod all.
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Kim

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    • Fediverse
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11549 on: 11 November, 2019, 10:42:27 pm »
Being on a bus, at night, in surroundings you're not that familiar with. The lights are on and you can see: sod all.

I once did a several of laps of Southampton in similar circumstances before the bus driver thought to ask whether I was planning to get off at any point.  I'd naively assumed that I'd see the distinctive and well-lit railway station forecourt through the misted, rain-soaked windows, unaware that on the return journey the bus dropped off at some nondescript place on the other side of the building.

Buses became a lot more usable when we all started carrying high-sensitivity GPS receivers around with us...