The Good News / Bad News Thread

[Kim]

BN: The fridge door bashes the wanky program-select rotary encoder knob thingy^[1] on the front of the washing machine if flung open with gay abandon.  The likely consequences would be expensive.

I have taped a random lump of acoustic foam to the edge of the fridge door by way of a temporary shock absorber, while I devise a less nasty means of protecting it.

Wanky Knob Protection Bumper™ now upgraded using materials found in ye shedde.

TTIUWP, as they say 

(Unless you meant the thermostat?)

[Mrs Pingu]

Excellent

[Kim]

As a bonus feature, it hides the split in the worktop where the previous boiler-installers greatly overestimated the tensile strength of mildly damp chipboard.

[andrewc]

GN:  The merino wool mattress topper I ordered has arrived after a missed delivery yesterday.


BN: That means it's time to change the bedding & rotate the mattress, which is a good upper body workout in an awkward corner. 

[Wowbagger]

Our Man has gone, and hopefully so has the leak.

The two rooms adjacent to the leak, one of which is the kitchen, show no sign internally of any damp at all. When we had these rooms decorated we made sure the external walls were lined with a damp-proof plaster board. It has worked very well. The good news about that is that the internal decor is undamaged. The bad news is that we didn't notice the leak for quite some time.

The leak hadn't gone and we called the same guy out again. It turns out there were two leaks that he fixed. In total, we had 4 leaks, all from different pipes/appliances within about a metre of each other over the space of less than 2 months.

1. One of the feeder pipes to the shower pump in the airing cupboard started to drip. I first noticed this when standing at the kitchen sink and water landing on my pate. This was the most trivial but the only one to cause damage to the decor. I still haven't got it fixed and we have been coming downstairs for showers.

2. Something mysterious that I thought was the boiler. Subsequent investigation showed that the heat exchanger was indeed leaking, but intermittently. I had found some small puddles in the boiler cupboard. The heating guy did find a problem with the boiler and cured it, but it was several hours after he left that I sent him photos of the leak. He diagnosed leaking heat exchanger.

3. A crack in an ancient lead pipe under the floorboards of the airing cupboard. Guy from AquaKare (South Ockendon) came out and fixed it. Impressed with his work.

4. After AquaKare Guy had buggered off, I thought "There's still a leak here!" The hot water tank had emptied itself of hot water and the outside wall looked wetter than ever. AquaKare Guy came back and found another leak, which I am convinced was caused by central heating guy drilling through a pipe when he fitted the boiler. Put in a different bit of pipe to bypass the one embedded in the wall.

To cap it all, the immersion heater decided to blow a fuse in the Eve plug with which we control it. Haven't got that fixed either, but we won't be needing it for a few months now that the sun is getting higher in the sky and heating the solar panel.

I've just had the bill from AquaKare. Cheeky buggers had included two callout trace/detect charges at £495. I phoned up a few minutes ago expecting a battle but the Main Man instantly agreed to send out a new invoice.

[mrcharly-YHT]

BN: Dog has started waking me between 4:30 and 5am

GN: I have quiet time to catch up on work.

BN: I'm f*king knackered. A 5am work start doesn't mean I stop early; I have meetings in the evening. Last night I finished work at 10:30pm.

GN: This justifies taking a 2hr break in the middle of the day.

BN: I'm f*king knackered.

[hellymedic]

Our Man has gone, and hopefully so has the leak.

The two rooms adjacent to the leak, one of which is the kitchen, show no sign internally of any damp at all. When we had these rooms decorated we made sure the external walls were lined with a damp-proof plaster board. It has worked very well. The good news about that is that the internal decor is undamaged. The bad news is that we didn't notice the leak for quite some time.

The leak hadn't gone and we called the same guy out again. It turns out there were two leaks that he fixed. In total, we had 4 leaks, all from different pipes/appliances within about a metre of each other over the space of less than 2 months.
<stuff>
To cap it all, the immersion heater decided to blow a fuse in the Eve plug with which we control it. Haven't got that fixed either, but we won't be needing it for a few months now that the sun is getting higher in the sky and heating the solar panel.
I've just had the bill from AquaKare. Cheeky buggers had included two callout trace/detect charges at £495. I phoned up a few minutes ago expecting a battle but the Main Man instantly agreed to send out a new invoice.

'No puncture repair is complete until you have checked the whole tube for another leak.'

Shame plumbers don't learn from yacf...

[Kim]

To cap it all, the immersion heater decided to blow a fuse in the Eve plug with which we control it. Haven't got that fixed either, but we won't be needing it for a few months now that the sun is getting higher in the sky and heating the solar panel.

Smart plugs and fuses seem to be a bad combination - I've posted elsewhere about an otherwise reasonable example which had (presumably when modifying an existing European design to fit BRITISH sockets) included a BS1362 fuse without any consideration for the thermal dissipation.  Try to power a decent load with it, and the ABS case melts.

Most designs seem not to bother^[1], and run much cooler as a result.

For an immersion heater, I'd probably hard-wire it with a Shelly 1 (PM) or similar, which is rated at 16A.  Or better, use a contactor to do the switching, and keep the juicy amps out of the smart bits entirely.


_{[1] They'll still have something protecting the internal electronics, but the plug fuse should suffice to protect the relay against overload.}

[Ham]

BN: Mrs Ham now requires a Blue Badge, Booo!
GN: Applying for it was a straightforward process, Yay!
BN: The first time we use it, we go through the "I'm scared of the yellow line, why don't you park in that bay?" With hindsight and with a yellow bag and penalty notice in my hand the answer was Southwark do not allow parking in resident bays, Booo!
GN: My appeal, saying "soz, but it was the first time we used it and got it rong, we could have parked legally on either side of the residents bay - a double yellow or a pay for parking bay." succeeded, Yay!
EMGN: They only took two days to respond.

[CrinklyLion]

I hope the badge proves helpful as you get the hang of it, and that the reason for it being needed is moderately tolerable and remains so or, even better, may improve.

[CAMRAMan]

BN: I have always been unable to access the Barclays app for unknown reasons.
GN: I got a number to call to fix things.
BN: I got passed from pillar to post, ending up by talking to an offshore operative who was talking in a boomy, empty room. She just ended the call.
GN: I was polite throughout
MGN: I got through to affable Sean. Although he couldn't sort out the app issue, he got me onto online banking, so I could arrange my mortgage overpayments.

[Mr Larrington]

Went to pick up a hire van yesterday.  “Just need to see your driving licence” said Fred the Van Man.

Bah: blank space in wallet where driving licence normally lives

Hurrah: pink plastic finally spotted lurking behind my Lobster Card

[CAMRAMan]

BN: The Bastard Cedars Hotel in Stowmarket cancelled my booking on the night of the Half Man Half Biscuit gig I'm going to next month. The feckers.
GN: The nearest Travelodge has a room and it was duly booked.
BN: It's 2.5 miles away from the venue along a busy A road.

[L CC]

The Travelodge at Stowmarket is on the old A14, there's a bike path all the way.

[L CC]

Also, the Cedars is not great (worse than a Travelodge) so you've dodged not just a bullet but relentless phone calls after your visit.

[CAMRAMan]

The recent reviews weren't exactly glowing, so my Trip Advisor review mentioned dodging a bullet.

[Canardly]

Just renewed the D. Parking permit for the Mrs. Still annoys me that the same information (including a 30 year old certificate) has to be provided time and time again when they already possess it and maintain an electoral roll. They also have document imaging. And who do you register with when registered blind.........mmmm?

[Kim]

Just renewed the D. Parking permit for the Mrs. Still annoys me that the same information (including a 30 year old certificate) has to be provided time and time again when they already possess it and maintain an electoral roll. They also have document imaging. And who do you register with when registered blind.........mmmm?

Barakta has had some success with [I forget which agency, probably AtW or something] using a data protection subject access request to combat repeated requests for the same information as a bureaucratic delaying tactic.  Funny how they're suddenly able to find that they actually do have the documents on record when you do that...

[barakta]

I actually lost that specific argument with AtW "recomplete all our shit inaccessible forms from scratch every year" cos they argued they had the right to "check the information was accurate".

The arguments I've won were the:
DWP: "Oh we can't do X cos you never sent us Y"
Me: "I sent it on Z date"
DWP: "We have no record"
Me: "Hi. Plz to be reporting yourself to the Information Commissioner's Office for loss of data and show me you did it, or I'll do it for you (and you didn't do it in the 72hrs so you'll be in the shit).
DWP: "X is approved"

(never any apology, or admission they actually found your data by BOTHERING to loo)

I can kinda understand why blue badges need renewing (lots of fraud including people dying and their relative keeping the badge to abuse) but that could be done with a v quick form of "can we confirm you are still alive and in need".

But it isn't about giving disabled people fewer barriers and mitigations to the disabling world. It's about control and gatekeeping.

[mrcharly-YHT]

DVLA lost my daughter and SiL's documents when they submitted them to get driving licenses.

Both of them had changed their names, DVLA require 'original or certified' documents. So that mean daughter and SiL didn't have their proof of change of names, couldn't do bank account changes etc etc.

Massive amount of stress, time lost getting new documents and cost.

F8k the DVLA.

[barakta]

DVLA seem to be particularly incompetent at many levels.

I hope a massive complaint, data protection report and demand for serious compo has gone their way. Also count costs of consequences.

[andrewc]

GN: a driving instructor just phoned me so I’ve now got a double refresher lesson booked for April 3rd.
BN: it’s over the water, in Birkenhead. That’s forrin!
More BN: I’ve not driven for over 20 years. Slightly nervous 😬

[andrewc]

GN: a driving instructor just phoned me so I’ve now got a double refresher lesson booked for April 3rd.
BN: it’s over the water, in Birkenhead. That’s forrin!
More BN: I’ve not driven for over 20 years. Slightly nervous 😬

Well I didn't kill anyone or break anything , and he didn't shout at me, but I didn't really enjoy that.  Road positioning & speed control need a lot of work and what's with a 6 speed gear box.  5 was posh when I were a lad... 


The instructor was ex BT as well.  He left in 92 but I remembered his name when he told me.


I had to have a drink afterwards to calm my nerves...... Is that the right order of things ?

[Canardly]

Thats a normal driving day these days. Don't forget to learn how to mime Wan......er with fearsome face grimace and associated hand movements.

[Polar Bear]

Best thing ever when behind the wheel imo is to let everything wash over you.  There are enough angry wankers on the road already. 

Gears: how quaint.  🙂