The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.

[perpetual dan]

I stayed in a hotel last night that wanted to charge per device per night for WiFi. Which I’ve not seen in a long time. They also had a little radiator in the cupboard, which was needed (though to be fair it meant the ineffectual AC noise could be switched off).

I don’t think I've stayed anywhere that charged for wifi since 2012.  Obv some places* have had such terrible Internets that it was much simpler not to bother, mind.  Name and shame!

* Usually in far-flung parts of Canuckistan.

Britannia International in Canary Wharf. Convenient for O2, and an acceptable bed for the night, but not a hotel I’d seek out for a return visit.


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[hellymedic]

I stayed in a hotel last night that wanted to charge per device per night for WiFi. Which I’ve not seen in a long time. They also had a little radiator in the cupboard, which was needed (though to be fair it meant the ineffectual AC noise could be switched off).

I don’t think I've stayed anywhere that charged for wifi since 2012.  Obv some places* have had such terrible Internets that it was much simpler not to bother, mind.  Name and shame!
* Usually in far-flung parts of Canuckistan.

Premier Inn ‘free’ Wifi is pretty shite.
They also sell something faster which is pricy shite.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Iust be one of the few people in the world who really like git (not GitHub).


GitHub is like git in the same way Word 365 is like Word 6.

[Pingu]

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2024/jan/28/10-best-uk-country-pubs-for-a-winter-weekend

...on the shores of Loch Fyne, with many of the bedrooms having views out over the tranquil waters of the lake...

 

[Mr Larrington]

I stayed in a hotel last night that wanted to charge per device per night for WiFi. Which I’ve not seen in a long time. They also had a little radiator in the cupboard, which was needed (though to be fair it meant the ineffectual AC noise could be switched off).

I don’t think I've stayed anywhere that charged for wifi since 2012.  Obv some places* have had such terrible Internets that it was much simpler not to bother, mind.  Name and shame!
* Usually in far-flung parts of Canuckistan.

Premier Inn ‘free’ Wifi is pretty shite.
They also sell something faster which is pricy shite.

Connecting to Premier's free wifi caused Bad Swears in Hessle during LEL but once I'd persuaded it to play with my fondleslab it was OK.  Certainly much better than the old system in the Battle Mountain Super 8, especially when the latter was clogged by myriad Penniless Student Oaves all doing Whatsgram and Instaface.

[ElyDave]

Does anyone know what Sharepoint is actually supposed to do or how it works? It's sort of like a shared drive, but then in different views, it's like some kind of intranet, and in other views, some weird kind of document management system. What the fuck is it?

Version control for people who willingly wear ties, innit.  Will fuck up your data every bit as well as git, but leaves you with the warm fuzzy feeling that it probably isn't your fault.

Oi!

I ain't worn a tie in the workplace for over 20 years, but I still have to use sharepoint. And its definitely not my fault

Bet someone with a tie made you use it, thobut.

Our IT team, your lucky if they wear shoes

[T42]

Does anyone know what Sharepoint is actually supposed to do or how it works? It's sort of like a shared drive, but then in different views, it's like some kind of intranet, and in other views, some weird kind of document management system. What the fuck is it?

Version control for people who willingly wear ties, innit.  Will fuck up your data every bit as well as git, but leaves you with the warm fuzzy feeling that it probably isn't your fault.

Oi!

I ain't worn a tie in the workplace for over 20 years, but I still have to use sharepoint. And its definitely not my fault

Bet someone with a tie made you use it, thobut.

Our IT team, your lucky if they wear shoes

Humph. The rates my clients wanted I was lucky if I could wear shoes.

[Mr Larrington]

“Why won’t my right pannier go on the rack?” asked Mr Larrington, between Bad Swears.

Answer: because the screw thingy that secures the wossname that hooks around the rack strut has worked loose.  Cheap German rubbish 

[barakta]

Bloody Teams, it isn't picking up or sending sound to my hearing aid gadget so I just had to do a short notice video call with colleague out of the speakers. Teams has also moved the audio settings AGAIN.

I do NOT have the executive function/memory to fight Teams right now as I'm massively overloaded with work and if I fight Teams I lose the work shit out of my brain

[mrcharly-YHT]

Bloody Teams, it isn't picking up or sending sound to my hearing aid gadget so I just had to do a short notice video call with colleague out of the speakers. Teams has also moved the audio settings AGAIN.

I do NOT have the executive function/memory to fight Teams right now as I'm massively overloaded with work and if I fight Teams I lose the work shit out of my brain

There has been a global outage on Teams. Since that was resolved, quite a few people are complaining that their audio device settings have been changed.

[Tim Hall]

My life has more motorway service stations than is good for me. The latest fad seems to be using a labyrinth style layout which is Not Good when all I want is a wee and a cup of mediocre coffee. I don't want to weave through the various ways of spending vast amounts of money on All The Other Things on offer. Just stop it. And while you're about it, how about clear signs to the car park exit? Thanks ever so.

[hellymedic]

Akin to the supermarket strategy to place milk at maximum distance from both entrance and exit, thwarting any midnight mission for Quick Cow to make imminent breakfast...

[Kim]

Shirley that's not a new thing?  Service stations have been leading you past eateries, fruit machines and displays of overpriced lqt since I was small enough to be briefly distracted from my urgent need for a wee by displays of overpriced lqt.

Ikea, of course, turned it into an art form.

[Tim Hall]

Shirley that's not a new thing?  Service stations have been leading you past eateries, fruit machines and displays of overpriced lqt since I was small enough to be briefly distracted from my urgent need for a wee by displays of overpriced lqt.

Ikea, of course, turned it into an art form.

This afternoon's example (M5, Exeter Services) brought the art form to a new high (or low).

[robgul]

Shirley that's not a new thing?  Service stations have been leading you past eateries, fruit machines and displays of overpriced lqt since I was small enough to be briefly distracted from my urgent need for a wee by displays of overpriced lqt.

Ikea, of course, turned it into an art form.

This afternoon's example (M5, Exeter Services) brought the art form to a new high (or low).

.... agreed, and Exeter has numerous other features of awfulness.

The spangly, relatively new, services at Rugby involve an incredibly long-distance hike from door to urinal

[Mr Larrington]

I nominate South Mimms.  Also you have to come off the M25 and negotiate a roundabout and when I was there at New Year the entry/exit road was flooded right by the petril station.

[MattH]

Donington Park, but for a different reason. Coming south on the M1, you see the signs for the services. It then takes you off the motorway onto an A road, which you drive down for a couple of miles to get to the actual services, so far (google claims 6 minutes from the M1) that you wonder if you're on the right road. Calling it a motorway services is somewhat of a stretch. And they  are then shit. The one time I went it was about 8pm. I was there with my youngest, and we needed food. The Burger King (best option there for hot calories) had no fries and their fizzy drink machine wasn't working. And they took forever to cook what little food they had as they had no staff - which probably also explained how filthy it was. Horrible place.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Shirley that's not a new thing?  Service stations have been leading you past eateries, fruit machines and displays of overpriced lqt since I was small enough to be briefly distracted from my urgent need for a wee by displays of overpriced lqt.

Ikea, of course, turned it into an art form.

I've seen this in some stations now. It isn't just placing the loos at the back so you have to walk past everything else, it is arranging everything in something more like a spiral maze.

Can't be space efficient, but forces you to walk almost through shops.

[robgul]

Shirley that's not a new thing?  Service stations have been leading you past eateries, fruit machines and displays of overpriced lqt since I was small enough to be briefly distracted from my urgent need for a wee by displays of overpriced lqt.

Ikea, of course, turned it into an art form.

I've seen this in some stations now. It isn't just placing the loos at the back so you have to walk past everything else, it is arranging everything in something more like a spiral maze.

Can't be space efficient, but forces you to walk almost through shops.

In similar vein, at the Louvre in Paris if they put the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo near the door it would save awful lot of time for the hordes of visitors.

[T42]

Shirley that's not a new thing?  Service stations have been leading you past eateries, fruit machines and displays of overpriced lqt since I was small enough to be briefly distracted from my urgent need for a wee by displays of overpriced lqt.

Ikea, of course, turned it into an art form.

I've seen this in some stations now. It isn't just placing the loos at the back so you have to walk past everything else, it is arranging everything in something more like a spiral maze.

Can't be space efficient, but forces you to walk almost through shops.

In similar vein, at the Louvre in Paris if they put the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo near the door it would save awful lot of time for the hordes of visitors.

Haven't been to the Louvre for ~50 years, and even then it was heaving.  The Metro station underneath was worth the visit, though.

[Kim]

Donington Park, but for a different reason. Coming south on the M1, you see the signs for the services. It then takes you off the motorway onto an A road, which you drive down for a couple of miles to get to the actual services, so far (google claims 6 minutes from the M1) that you wonder if you're on the right road. Calling it a motorway services is somewhat of a stretch. And they  are then shit. The one time I went it was about 8pm. I was there with my youngest, and we needed food. The Burger King (best option there for hot calories) had no fries and their fizzy drink machine wasn't working. And they took forever to cook what little food they had as they had no staff - which probably also explained how filthy it was. Horrible place.

That bit of the A453 is quite useful for avoiding the congested M1 if you're coming up the A42 and heading for Nottingham, thobut.  Best give the services a miss, of course.

(I think the issue is that the southbound exit from the M1 feeds you straight onto the A42 downstream of the services, hence coming off a junction early.  It's fine in the other direction.)

[TheLurker]

Shirley that's not a new thing?  Service stations have been leading you past ....

It is a fairly new thing.  In past times (say about 10 years ago) the path from the door to the bogs was more or less a straight line albeit past all the shops, nowadays, "You are in a twisty maze of passages, all alike." 

The one that sticks in my mind is Clackett Lane on the Outer London Car Park  'cos now you can't even skip through the areas given over to "food" franchises because of the stupid {insert your favourite obscenity here} barriers and the miserable bastards have taken out the pleasant little fountain that it used to have.

[hellymedic]

I nominate South Mimms.  Also you have to come off the M25 and negotiate a roundabout and when I was there at New Year the entry/exit road was flooded right by the petril station.

I think this was the ‘turning’ control when I did the Great Eastern, in 1995.
South Mimms was a fairly popular coffee stop for Barnet Cyclists then too.

[grams]

You can just go to the truck stop at South Mimms if you just want a wazz.

It still had a grumble* vending machine last time I was there.

The national cycle network goes around the back of the main services and there's even a gate directly between it and the dog emptying area. Not sure how unique that is.

(* the DVD kind)

[Cudzoziemiec]

IIRC from last time I was at Leigh Delamere (a group DIY a few years ago) you could just walk in and had a line of food places on the right and bogs on the left, off a straight, easy to navigate corridor. But however good the design, a motorway service station is never a pleasant place.