Author Topic: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant. (Read 1605528 times)

hellymedic · « **Reply #9975 on:** 20 April, 2018, 10:54:45 pm »

Quote from: Kim on 20 April, 2018, 06:38:54 pm

YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE. THIS VEHICLE IS ANNOYING.

I make various sounds when being pushed.
'Excuse me please.'
'WARNING, HIS VEHICLE IS ADVANCING.'
'BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP'

Takes a lot to shift some folk!

ElyDave · « **Reply #9976 on:** 20 April, 2018, 11:33:45 pm »

my daughter and I make beeping noises when reversing my landrover on the drive.

I normally do the beeps
She does the "this vehicle is reversing"
Small things

Kim · « **Reply #9977 on:** 20 April, 2018, 11:34:30 pm »

Yeah, it's a recumbent trike staple, too.

rafletcher · « **Reply #9978 on:** 21 April, 2018, 05:05:32 pm »

Another annoying neighbourly noise - the hours of “sproing, sproing, sproing” from the garden trampoline, oft accompanied by barbecue smoke. Ah the joys of summer

andrewc · « **Reply #9979 on:** 22 April, 2018, 08:51:30 pm »

Quote from: andrewc on 17 April, 2018, 08:41:07 pm

Bloody Eurostar I booked 3 return tickets from London to Paris return , intending to phone up for their discounted connecting tickets at a later date. Called today & can't do this anymore. Can't book them by the website either. Maninseat61 advises you can get tickets to a mysterious place called London International CIV to connect to Eurostar but none of the ticket sites recognise it. I'll have to go to the local office & see if they can help.

Why are things so difficult ?

I went down to the ticket office at Liverpool Lime St who helped me organise tickets to Portsmouth for my French trip in May. They couldn't help with the connecting tickets for Eurostar. For some reason they can't book any tickets out of Liverpool on Friday 22nd June, the chap said this could be because Lime St is closed then for engineering work & trains are going via South Parkway , but I've just checked & can book tickets from South Parkway to Oxford for Rich Forrest's birthday weekend on 7th June.

ian · « **Reply #9980 on:** 23 April, 2018, 10:58:46 am »

Quote from: ian on 18 April, 2018, 01:12:52 pm

Nah, they don't just want Powerpoint, they want 4:3. It's like 1995 all over again.

Anyway, it's a presentation with animation and cool stuff, so no. It's 2018 and it really shouldn't take a moment to swap an HDMI cable. Of course, good luck when you plug a Windows laptop back in, they still can't manage switching display outputs. This means despite not owning a Windows machine, I am still ninja with the display settings on any and every version of Windows.

Mind you, most conference centre IT is 1995.

They're doing my head in now. No, dear organizer (evidently some intern who's taking the slide deck organization to heart), I don't want you to convert it to Powerpoint for me. I'm quite capable of selecting the 'Export to Powerpoint' option myself. The problem is the results are shit because the presentation features pan-and-zoom (so people at the back can see the fiddly stuff that would otherwise be a 'sorry, I know you can't see this...' moment, and that drives me crazy, if the audience can't see it, don't put it on a bloody slide). Powerpoint doesn't support vectors, so everything ends up a downsampled blur that looks like it was fingerpainted by a monkey.

Seriously, just swap the fucking HDMI cable, it takes seconds. Or worse case, use the PDF, it'll lose the animation but at least avoid the loss of resolution.

At least half the Tidy-Haired Thought Leaders™ use Macs these days. And we laugh at the ones who use Powerpoint. Sometimes we take their dinner money too.

hellymedic · « **Reply #9981 on:** 23 April, 2018, 08:31:11 pm »

I have received an email from Amazon:

Quote

Dear ****

Shipping information has been updated for your order, placed with **** on April 21, 2018.

==================================================
SHIPPING DETAILS
==================================================

**** included the following items in package 1 of this shipment:

1 of [item]

Shipping Carrier: Other
Ship Date: April 23, 2018
Shipping Speed: Standard
Carrier Tracking ID: None

Your shipping address:
****

If you have additional items in your order, you will receive an e-mail when those items have shipped.

QUESTIONS?

If you have questions about this order, including the status of your shipment, you can either visit https://www.amazon.co.uk/wheres-my-stuff or use this link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/contact/contact.html?ie=UTF8&marketplaceID=3&orderID=203-2069674-8877166&sellerID=870941412 - to get in touch directly with Absolute Music Solutions.

**************************************************
Safe Shopping Tips
Amazon.co.uk works hard to protect our customers. For your safety, when ordering items advertised by sellers other than Amazon.co.uk:

[blah blah blah]

For more safe-shopping tips, read about Safe Online Transactions at https://www.amazon.co.uk/safe-secure

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=11081621

**************************************************

I have already had a dispatch notification.

What do I gain from this email?

Beardy · « **Reply #9982 on:** 26 April, 2018, 03:23:40 pm »

A system upgrade a couple of weeks ago. The business partner involved has been testing it on the live platform since with some errors coming to light. Ok, we'll fix that and roll it out to all users.. Nope, says she, not until I've seen it go end to end error free. I have to test it in life she adds, because the test model does things different to the live platform.

<fx:sounds of Bearded head being repeatedly hit against the wall>

I despair.

ian · « **Reply #9983 on:** 27 April, 2018, 07:17:06 pm »

My wife is delayed at the airport in Rome. Which means she's sending me a text every 5 seconds updating me on her activities in the terminal. Every five seconds. Bing.

I, on the other hand, am trying to finish off some work. I know you're bored dear, but I have to finish this. No, I'm not going to take a picture of the cat. I don't know what's in the fridge. Yes, thanks for the picture of your ravioli. No I don't know what I'm doing in three weekends time. I don't know if you need to ring the taxi company. No I won't drink that beer. I am not lying, I won't drink it.

David Martin · « **Reply #9984 on:** 28 April, 2018, 09:50:35 pm »

Is that because drink is future tense and drank is past tense?

Feanor · « **Reply #9985 on:** 28 April, 2018, 10:03:42 pm »

Quote from: ian on 27 April, 2018, 07:17:06 pm

My wife is delayed at the airport in Rome. Which means she's sending me a text every 5 seconds updating me on her activities in the terminal. Every five seconds. Bing.

I, on the other hand, am trying to finish off some work. I know you're bored dear, but I have to finish this. No, I'm not going to take a picture of the cat. I don't know what's in the fridge. Yes, thanks for the picture of your ravioli. No I don't know what I'm doing in three weekends time. I don't know if you need to ring the taxi company. No I won't drink that beer. I am not lying, I won't drink it.

Hah.

Last week, Mrs F and I were on separate business trips:
I had been to Germany, she had been to London.

Turned out we both had the same flight back from LHR to ABZ.
So we met up in the departures area of LHR teminal 5 and had a hasty dinner in the Gordon Ramsay place, and then ran for the gate.

It was almost furtive.

andrewc · « **Reply #9986 on:** 29 April, 2018, 03:16:34 pm »

I’m going over to Manchester On Tuesday evening. To save a bit of time I ordered tickets online & popped into the station to pick them up today. The machine gave me a ticket for 1 journey & a seat reservation for the return

All queries to the hell desk please.
Why are trains so difficult....

Canardly · « **Reply #9987 on:** 29 April, 2018, 05:34:44 pm »

'Cos we dont have an integrated transport strategy and the train set is broken.

Polar Bear · « **Reply #9988 on:** 29 April, 2018, 06:51:30 pm »

Quote from: andrewc on 29 April, 2018, 03:16:34 pm

I’m going over to Manchester On Tuesday evening. To save a bit of time I ordered tickets online & popped into the station to pick them up today. The machine gave me a ticket for 1 journey & a seat reservation for the return All queries to the hell desk please.
Why are trains so difficult....

The profit motive. Take the money and shrug.

ian · « **Reply #9989 on:** 30 April, 2018, 09:52:19 am »

So I fly off tomorrow to give a presentation and host two workshops, then go to a conference. Super. Or it would be, if I hadn't just developed a nasty sore, swollen, phlegmy throat. Attempts to speak make it sound like I'm gargling toads.

Ah, well, it has until Wednesday to absent itself otherwise I'll be presenting, not for the first time, as mime.

nicknack · « **Reply #9990 on:** 30 April, 2018, 11:37:52 am »

You could try interpretative dance.

ian · « **Reply #9991 on:** 30 April, 2018, 11:59:52 am »

It's an option.

That said, I feel crap too, so I may just lie down and hold up a series poster boards like that REM video.

Occupational hazard. Travel around the world. Meet people. Catch their diseases.

Beardy · « **Reply #9992 on:** 30 April, 2018, 12:07:57 pm »

Quote from: ian on 30 April, 2018, 11:59:52 am

It's an option.

That said, I feel crap too, so I may just lie down and hold up a series poster boards like that REM video.

Occupational hazard. Travel around the world. Meet people. Catch their diseases.

It's all that travel on sealed metal tubes that cause the issues. The air conditioning on this tubes is very efficient in sharing all airborne contagions liberally amongst the passangers.

ian · « **Reply #9993 on:** 30 April, 2018, 12:54:58 pm »

I think they studied that phenomenon and it turned out not to be the case, the air recirculation doesn't have an effect. It's just a function of proximity to sick people and their contagions. Like any public place really. Anyway, I presume I picked this on up in Brussels, and I took the train. Some kind of euro-plague.

Oh well, I suppose I'll do my bit by passing it along to our cousins in the America colonies.

ian · « **Reply #9994 on:** 30 April, 2018, 01:54:57 pm »

Quote from: Feanor on 28 April, 2018, 10:03:42 pm

Quote from: ian on 27 April, 2018, 07:17:06 pm
My wife is delayed at the airport in Rome. Which means she's sending me a text every 5 seconds updating me on her activities in the terminal. Every five seconds. Bing.

I, on the other hand, am trying to finish off some work. I know you're bored dear, but I have to finish this. No, I'm not going to take a picture of the cat. I don't know what's in the fridge. Yes, thanks for the picture of your ravioli. No I don't know what I'm doing in three weekends time. I don't know if you need to ring the taxi company. No I won't drink that beer. I am not lying, I won't drink it.

Hah.

Last week, Mrs F and I were on separate business trips:
I had been to Germany, she had been to London.

Turned out we both had the same flight back from LHR to ABZ.
So we met up in the departures area of LHR teminal 5 and had a hasty dinner in the Gordon Ramsay place, and then ran for the gate.

It was almost furtive.

Reminds me, but I was flying out to Philadelphia back in January and walking down the travelator to the Virgin gates at Heathrow I looked up and thought I really recognise that woman passing on the other side of the glass. It honestly took a few moments to realise that it was a my wife, arriving back from San Francisco. I knew she was coming back, but wasn't expecting to pass her in the terminal.

It seems we're both in Chicago on different trips at the end of May. I shall attempt to drag her away from the many delights of clinical oncology for a surreptitious meal.

woollypigs · « **Reply #9995 on:** 30 April, 2018, 02:28:25 pm »

hmm seems to me that Ian sees his beloved more while abroad than at home

ian · « **Reply #9996 on:** 30 April, 2018, 02:49:01 pm »

Once, several years ago, she was working out in New Jersey. I decided to visit and not tell her. Instead, spotting the opportunity to really put the surprise in my surprise visit as I approached her hotel, I merely emerged from the foliage beside her as she waited outside. She wasn't, I guess, expecting me to be disgorged by a bush, which explained how hard she kicked me.

Torslanda · « **Reply #9997 on:** 30 April, 2018, 02:57:26 pm »

Ian. You're a dick - but a nice one . . .

TheLurker · « **Reply #9998 on:** 30 April, 2018, 07:49:44 pm »

Quote from: ian on 30 April, 2018, 12:54:58 pm

{snip}
Anyway, I presume I picked this on up in Brussels, and I took the train. Some kind of euro-plague.
Oh well, I suppose I'll do my bit by passing it along to our cousins in the America colonies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzKQJXhTUC0

ian · « **Reply #9999 on:** 09 May, 2018, 09:59:50 pm »

Dear airline, if you’re going to cancel my flight and put me on the earlier one it’s probably useful to tell me this using one of the many contact methods I’ve provided. I got the news friom the taxi company picking me up in the morning. Otherwise I’d be in the bar blissfully unaware I’m holding a boarding pass for a flight that has ceased to exist.