Author Topic: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.  (Read 1576502 times)

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #13450 on: 17 July, 2021, 03:08:57 pm »
We almost got into problems with passports. Mine expired in February 2022 having been issued in in November. But the EU only accept 10 years from date of issue! Then Foreign office said I needed 6 months unexpired which is not true. EU will accept 3 months.

Upshot is that I got a new passport which lasts 10 years from date of issue.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #13451 on: 17 July, 2021, 04:26:37 pm »
Not a rant, just a bit irritating - and maybe even an FWP…

The car park at a local woods where I sometimes take the dog has become no longer free since my last visit. That’s ok, I don’t object to paying (on the basis that there’s no such thing as “free” parking - free at point of use just means the cost is being transferred elsewhere). 

Nor do I object to being obliged to use the RingGo app to pay - this is 2021 after all.

My grumble? The fact that the remote location means the car park is in a mobile dead spot… :facepalm:
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #13452 on: 17 July, 2021, 04:43:23 pm »
We used to refer to our late neighbour as “the mechanical gardner” as he had the full panoply of power tools, including a garden vacuum. He also used to garden at the daftest times, such as the full heat of a summers afternoon. It seem his widow has inherited this tendency. It’s 27C, and after vacuuming her conservatory she’s now strimming the garden edges.  ::-)
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

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 #13453 on: 18 July, 2021, 07:47:25 am »
email from British Cycling this morning "Your membership expires in 3 days and your benefits will no longer be valid"   This is the FIRST and ONLY notification I've had for renewal - one would think it was in BC's interest to notify and collect the dosh?

The only "benefit" that is of use to me is the insurance which covers the requirements of the two cycling clubs where I'm a member.

. .  . now what if I had been away on a tour and my benefits expired?

They would probably argue that the onus was on me to check the renewal - but things don't work like that . . . I can't think of anything I have that has to be renewed, other than my passport, where there is not a mechanism of reminders/invoices etc.

Just to add to this . . .  I renewed my membeship paying with a card (not DD) yesterday afternoon and received a confirmation email etc saying card would arrive in 10-14 days.   So far so good.

This morning I received another email from BC with the subject line as just the word :    can't     

Nothing else, just that - and the body text extolling the virtues of the so-called benefits.   A rather strange subject line (I assume it wasn't a typo  ;)  ;D )

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #13454 on: 18 July, 2021, 12:00:52 pm »
Not a rant, just a bit irritating - and maybe even an FWP…

The car park at a local woods where I sometimes take the dog has become no longer free since my last visit. That’s ok, I don’t object to paying (on the basis that there’s no such thing as “free” parking - free at point of use just means the cost is being transferred elsewhere). 

Nor do I object to being obliged to use the RingGo app to pay - this is 2021 after all.

My grumble? The fact that the remote location means the car park is in a mobile dead spot… :facepalm:

I’d object to Ringo only. Easy enough (as in our local town car parks) to have contactless as well. And avoids the no signal / no smartphone / no Ringo app issues. Unless (which I’ve just thought of  ::-)) there’s no power at that site and enforcement is by camera car.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #13455 on: 18 July, 2021, 12:03:10 pm »
I’d object to Ringo only. Easy enough (as in our local town car parks) to have contactless as well.

Shirley the contactless machine needs some sort of connection to the outside world, which is likely to be prohibitively expensive if there's no cellular coverage.

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #13456 on: 18 July, 2021, 12:04:28 pm »
I’d object to Ringo only. Easy enough (as in our local town car parks) to have contactless as well.

Shirley the contactless machine needs some sort of connection to the outside world, which is likely to be prohibitively expensive if there's no cellular coverage.

Yep, as my addendum above belatedly recognised.  ;)
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #13457 on: 18 July, 2021, 04:07:14 pm »
Harrumph. I’m getting old, getting fed up with the young people next door ruining a lovely peaceful afternoon with their dratted music on some Bluetooth speaker.  :-\ >:(
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

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 #13458 on: 18 July, 2021, 04:16:06 pm »
Harrumph. I’m getting old, getting fed up with the young people next door ruining a lovely peaceful afternoon with their dratted music on some Bluetooth speaker.  :-\ >:(

Huh - we've got 2 kids screaming about the water temperature in the giant paddling/swimming pool that was set up yesterday.  The "kids" are 17 year old twin girls and should know better.

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
    • Twitter
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #13459 on: 18 July, 2021, 04:30:05 pm »
Harrumph. I’m getting old, getting fed up with the young people next door ruining a lovely peaceful afternoon with their dratted music on some Bluetooth speaker.  :-\ >:(
Outdoor music should be banned. It's always shite as well.
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #13460 on: 18 July, 2021, 04:41:02 pm »
I’m hiding inside trying to find some respite from the excessive temperature outdoors. It’s only working a little because I’m sitting here sweating like I do when I go running. It’s most horrid.
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #13461 on: 18 July, 2021, 05:41:02 pm »
Harrumph. I’m getting old, getting fed up with the young people next door ruining a lovely peaceful afternoon with their dratted music on some Bluetooth speaker.  :-\ >:(

People several houses away are having Noisy Party.

Partner is Not Pleased.

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #13462 on: 18 July, 2021, 05:50:42 pm »
Lots of light aircraft passing overhead in the last 15 minutes.  I just remembered that it is British F1GP weekend.   It always happens.

Guy

  • Retired
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #13463 on: 23 July, 2021, 12:42:19 pm »
Head/desk head/desk head/desk head/desk head/desk head/desk head/desk

I need to order at least 3 new MODNet headsets. One to replace the ones which were taken from my desk, one for a colleague whose headset has stopped working, and one for a new bod who is starting in a couple of weeks and is coming from outside the MOD so won’t have her own headset, and it was decided that this iHub should hold a couple of spares. Having searched the Service Catalogue for headsets I was presented with a list of items, just about any of which could have been the relevant one. I asked Sally (the virtual helldesk agent) the specific question regarding Service Catalogue item number, and the response was a most helpful “Ask your Authorised Demander (i.e. me) to order them through the Catalogue”. I am now going through the items the Catalogue search threw up in the hope I might accidentally hit the right one at some point.


Just on the verge of posting this when the Adjutant stuck her head round the door to announce the headsets 7 Brigade had promised us* had been dispatched and would be here next week. GAAAAAH!

The only thing that stops this being a rant is the fact I was able to leave a long and detailed account of exactly why the virtual helldesk agent is somewhat less useful than a chocolate fireguard :thumbsup:


head/desk head/desk head/desk head/desk &c &c




*The Adjt had asked for some a couple of weeks ago, apparently, but forgot to mention this to anyone until today as she was half-way out the door heading for a sunny weekend at home. ::-)
"The Opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject"  Marcus Aurelius

Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #13464 on: 23 July, 2021, 01:46:18 pm »
There was a brief time where the company I worked for would only issue headsets against a telephone number and only allowed one headset per telephone number. This is fine for various the call centre bods and their managers, but less fine for project managers setting up test facilities. The process was completely inflexible and I had to put a purchase order in to buy off book items from an unregistered supplier. It was a process I was familiar with as the catalogue was primarily set up to stop people ordering more than their allocation or tested and signed off products. (Something we project managers in the development arena tended not to want!)
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #13465 on: 23 July, 2021, 08:09:49 pm »
Dear wood pigeons, please stop tap dancing and copulating on the roof over my head.

I can't be arsed to get the air rifle out and put you in tomorrow's pie, mainly as I haven't looked at the open licence recently since the Chris Packham debacle, and even if you are back on the list I don't currently have crops you are damaging in the veggie patch which would qualify you as a legitimate target.  Secondly if I did research it now, by the time I'm ready you'll be having a post coital smoke in the neighbour's tree, which puts you legally out of range.

Consider this your first warning.


p.s.  if you could wash your faeces off the car I might take this into consideration before your second warning.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #13466 on: 24 July, 2021, 09:43:01 am »
Wanted to jack up our sagging main gate to work on it.  Found out that at some point in the last 20 years some evil bugger has relieved us of the jack and 4-branch wheel spanner out of our old A4. Arse.

Used the jack out of the A5, discovered that my plan to bolt a steel fence-post across gate as diagonal won't work.  Need to dismantle half of it and immobilize gates for a day or two while I fit a diagonal into the frame.

Double-arse.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
    • Twitter
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #13467 on: 24 July, 2021, 05:02:39 pm »
People who take their guitars out into the garden and start singing.
1. They're never as good as they think they are.
2. Why is it always fucking Oasis?
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #13468 on: 24 July, 2021, 05:45:49 pm »
People who take their guitars out into the garden and start singing.
1. They're never as good as they think they are.
2. Why is it always fucking Oasis?
I find that remark rather offensive, I’m every bit as good at singing as I think I am.  >:( Mind ewe, I stopped singing when my voice broke because I am utterly unable to hit the right notes, let alone hold them. This is one of the biggest disappointments in my life because I really enjoyed singing when I could. Oh, and I don’t play the guitar outside, or for that matter inside.
And other than thinking that Oasis might have done a song called wonder wall, and I think that they were a band with the Gallagher brothers I know nothing of them or their songs.
You obviously need to move next door to me.  ;D
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #13469 on: 24 July, 2021, 05:48:53 pm »
Kids of today. In my day, people who picked up a guitar played stairway. And we were grateful for it.

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #13470 on: 24 July, 2021, 06:39:26 pm »
For well over a decade, I've had a couple of grab bags to take out on the bike with one - one of tools and one with tubes/patches/small spares (chain links, brake pads etc.). Those two, swapping over tube types as necessary, mean I've got everything I need and can be easily transferred between bikes and luggage options.
A few weeks ago I lost track of my tool bag, nowhere to be found. Spent ages looking for it, over several days, and have been riding with a suboptimal set of tools.

Bit the bullet and ordered a new multitool to start building up a set again. That popped through the door earlier today. Can you guess what I found within 15 minutes of breaking open the new tool? Can you?

On the positive side, new tools are always nice things.

nicknack

  • Hornblower
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #13471 on: 24 July, 2021, 08:05:30 pm »
People who take their guitars out into the garden and start singing.
1. They're never as good as they think they are.
2. Why is it always fucking Oasis?
I find that remark rather offensive, I’m every bit as good at singing as I think I am.  >:( Mind ewe, I stopped singing when my voice broke because I am utterly unable to hit the right notes, let alone hold them. This is one of the biggest disappointments in my life because I really enjoyed singing when I could. Oh, and I don’t play the guitar outside, or for that matter inside.
And other than thinking that Oasis might have done a song called wonder wall, and I think that they were a band with the Gallagher brothers I know nothing of them or their songs.
You obviously need to move next door to me.  ;D
You'd be fine with Oasis then.
There's no vibrations, but wait.

Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
  • Help me!
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #13472 on: 24 July, 2021, 10:44:26 pm »
People who take their guitars out into the garden and start singing.
1. They're never as good as they think they are.
2. Why is it always fucking Oasis?

Oh. Sorry.
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #13473 on: 25 July, 2021, 10:04:00 am »
For well over a decade, I've had a couple of grab bags to take out on the bike with one - one of tools and one with tubes/patches/small spares (chain links, brake pads etc.). Those two, swapping over tube types as necessary, mean I've got everything I need and can be easily transferred between bikes and luggage options.
A few weeks ago I lost track of my tool bag, nowhere to be found. Spent ages looking for it, over several days, and have been riding with a suboptimal set of tools.

Bit the bullet and ordered a new multitool to start building up a set again. That popped through the door earlier today. Can you guess what I found within 15 minutes of breaking open the new tool? Can you?

On the positive side, new tools are always nice things.

That's the spirit.  Guess what I found this morning after ordering a replacement jack for our A4 yesterday? OTOH the anti-theft socket for the wheel spanner is missing so I'm no forrader.
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 #13474 on: 26 July, 2021, 10:13:36 am »
Our local Argos has gotten rid of its deli counter Job Centre screen and everyone's order number is zero.

It seems like the system is you had your receipt to a poxy human and then go and stand about receiptless with the other marks until your thing arrives and hope they remember your face. No idea what it's like when it's busy.