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

[Mrs Pingu]

Do dogs not also have issues when surfaces have been salted too?

[nicknack]

Dog booties a certainly a common thing in Canada (otherwise their paws can freeze to the ground).

How do wolves, coyotes, arctic foxes, etc. manage? Have domestic pooches lost some measure of cold adaptation?

[Pingu]

...the Arctic fox is the only canid whose foot pads are covered in fur...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_fox#Adaptations

[ian]

Dog booties a certainly a common thing in Canada (otherwise their paws can freeze to the ground).

How do wolves, coyotes, arctic foxes, etc. manage? Have domestic pooches lost some measure of cold adaptation?

I think snow and ice are broadly fine, it's manmade, urban surfaces like tarmac that effectively supercool to several degrees below zero.

Once you get into the minus twenties everything freezes quickly. Blinking tear ice out of your eyes is fun.

[Jasmine]

Speaking of cold paws, when I was out for a run on the rather icy Bennachie a few days ago I came across another runner going in the opposite direction.
They had a dog running with them, and it was wearing four tiny little neoprene-ish looking booties.

I'm not sure if these were just thermal to keep the paws warm, or more mechanical to prevent abrasion of the foot-pads on the ice, or if they had metal studs to provide grip like little canine crampons.

I'd never seen such things before.
But the dog seemed very sure-footed on the slippy stuff.
4-paw-drive helps too, I suppose.

Fairly common in dog sports. The boots are to stop damage to the pads, mostly abrasion related. You might see them not in icy conditions too; some dogs have soft pads and don't like running on tarmac or sharp stones. It also reduces the potential contact with the salt on the roads, which is toxic to dogs when they lick it off their paws and can be a bit of an irritant.

If the dog was attached to the runner, this is much higher impact on the dog than just trotting along. In this case the  potential for abrasion is higher.

[T42]

MrsT realized, looking at the shopping receipts this morning, that she has collected enough points for a free galette des rois.*  "Collect them until 9th Jan", it said on them.  So she hied back down to the shop, only to come back 15 minutes later in a minor strop. Turns out that once you have the tickets you have to order the things between the 16th and 18th and go back to pick them up between the 19th and 23rd.  Great idea in the middle of a pandemic. In previous years you got your tickets and they dealt you a tart off a great stack at the pastry counter.

Galettes des rois are traditionally eaten at Epiphany, to commemorate the rois in question skipping safely off back home before HM's Immigration goons got wind of them.  I sprang to me camel, and Caspar and he...  Dealing them out on the 23rd is a bit... off. Daft.

*a rather nice flaky-pastry apple or frangipani tart with a token in it entitling whoever's tooth it breaks to wear the paper crown than comes with the tart.

[davelodwig]

Speaking of cold paws, when I was out for a run on the rather icy Bennachie a few days ago I came across another runner going in the opposite direction.
They had a dog running with them, and it was wearing four tiny little neoprene-ish looking booties.

I'm not sure if these were just thermal to keep the paws warm, or more mechanical to prevent abrasion of the foot-pads on the ice, or if they had metal studs to provide grip like little canine crampons.

I'd never seen such things before.
But the dog seemed very sure-footed on the slippy stuff.
4-paw-drive helps too, I suppose.

Fairly common in dog sports. The boots are to stop damage to the pads, mostly abrasion related. You might see them not in icy conditions too; some dogs have soft pads and don't like running on tarmac or sharp stones. It also reduces the potential contact with the salt on the roads, which is toxic to dogs when they lick it off their paws and can be a bit of an irritant.

If the dog was attached to the runner, this is much higher impact on the dog than just trotting along. In this case the  potential for abrasion is higher.

My dog has adapted by refusing to go out, except when we turf her out or she really needs to go.

She is 15 in march so I suppose it's allowed, but it's a shame because when she first came to live with us I really enjoyed our winter walks in the woods.

[CAMRAMan]

Three Broadband Customer Services: OK, so I missed your call back - which is why this is only a grumble - but leaving a voicemail message asking me to call you back & then having an auto-message that recognises my number and cuts me off isn't brilliant, is it?

[mrcharly-YHT]

Three Broadband Customer Services: OK, so I missed your call back - which is why this is only a grumble - but leaving a voicemail message asking me to call you back & then having an auto-message that recognises my number and cuts me off isn't brilliant, is it?

Standard call-centre functionality. Once it has the details, it tries to transfer you to a team. If nobody can pick up, the call is terminated.

[CAMRAMan]

In this instance, it recognised that I had called them earlier, they'd tried to call back and were intending to call me later - which they didn't - and cut me off without any further options.


To be fair, they were ok once I managed to call them back that afternoon.

[Mrs Pingu]

Our bedroom needs wallpapering. After a brief dalliance with thoughts of DIY, I saw sense and decided it would be better to GAMI. (Yes, I know it's not difficult in principle but we have the double whammy of coombed ceilings and wooden beading corners to contend with).
Covid rates are now looking like that would be a feckin stupid idea. 

[Mr Larrington]

My black wheelie bin is full to overflowing.  With not-mine Rubbishes.  I do not care whether the bin contains Rubbishes that are not supposed to be in it, because they are not my Rubbishes.  So, dere bin-mens, please empty the bin of the not my Rubbishes so's I can put this 'ere bag full of MY Rubbishes in it.  Are you allowed to connect wheelie bins to mains electricity?

[Cudzoziemiec]

There's a small shop with a socially-distanced capacity of three customers. There is a queue of four outside. It is cold. Now is not the time to chat to the staff. Now is also not the time to shop in couples. 

[T42]

My black wheelie bin is full to overflowing.  With not-mine Rubbishes.  I do not care whether the bin contains Rubbishes that are not supposed to be in it, because they are not my Rubbishes.  So, dere bin-mens, please empty the bin of the not my Rubbishes so's I can put this 'ere bag full of MY Rubbishes in it.  Are you allowed to connect wheelie bins to mains electricity?

Common phenomenon here since the councils started charging by weight. Ditto the bastards who drive out into the country and heave their bags into the ditch.

[Mr Larrington]

If the binmen didn’t empty mine yesterday (I ent looked) then I might have to follow suit.  Sorry, Epping Forest…

[TheLurker]

Now is not the time to chat to the staff.

Had something similar happen to me today, but it did cross my mind that the customer nattering might live alone and not have anyone to talk to other than the budgie/cat/dog.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Now is not the time to chat to the staff.

Had something similar happen to me today, but it did cross my mind that the customer nattering might live alone and not have anyone to talk to other than the budgie/cat/dog.

That's a good point, and if they looked as if that might be case, I'd cut them some slack (a lot of slack in normal times when you can queue inside), but as it was it really looked like a friendly chat. But TBH the people going in as a couple are more annoying, taking up two-thirds of the shop capacity for one lot of shopping.

[rafletcher]

A grumble rather than a rant, as I should have known better. I’m presbyopic. I switched from single vision contacts to varifocals 15 years ago. Around 10 years ago I went to a contact lens specialist in Brum (a decent train journey from Aylesbury) to try mono vision contacts. They didn’t work for me, dominant eye too dominant. Now there are bifocal contacts, so I asked the last time I was in the local Specsavers. She showed me what my vision would be like with them (not much better than without, I only need around a +2) and said it was because of my astigmatism, and that bi (or multi) focal contacts don’t correct for it.

What she meant, of course, was that Specsavers don’t bother offering toric multifocal contacts as they are more expensive and a small market.

I’ll be calling local independent opticians (if I can find any) to enquire.

[SteveC]

I use Boots (used to be Dolland and Aitchinson) for contacts. I have been offered various different types over the years and was due for a trial of something different which would help with my astigmatism just before the first lockdown. I can't remember the details, but it might be worth asking there.
(These days, I only wear the contacts while re-enacting and that's all stopped due to the pandemic as well, so I've not bothered going back to rebook the appointment)

[rafletcher]

Interestingly my first lenses (hard gas permeable, not very user friendly!) were from D&H. I subsequently learnt (this was in the mid 80’s) that they refused to offer soft lenses as they felt it would undercut their glasses business. But thanks for the tip, I’ll do some ringing around.

[fimm]

I have astigmatism, one eye much worse than the other, and wear toric gas-permeable contact lenses. I've been very happy with the service I've had from Boots opticians.
(My problem at the minute is that I usually go to the Boots near work at lunchtime... I'm trying to decide whether to go to the Boots near home, or just hold on till I get back to the office sometime.)

[rafletcher]

I was ok with toric soft lenses until about 5 years ago, but advancing years meant my close vision could no longer be readily corrected by single vision lenses.

[Paul]

I'm a bit sick of choice. My latest one is tv. Contract coming to an end so I have to choose what tv to have hereafter. It's just a faff. All these so-called choices are just capitalism distracting me from the important stuff.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I guess if I'd thought about TV in the 2020s, I ought to have guessed that it would be contracts and subscriptions and stuff. But not having had one since 2004, I've never had to think about it.

[Mr Larrington]

The scaffolding is thump finally coming clang down next crash door   Though if the scaffolders are as prodigiously useless workshy twats as the rufty-tufty hairy-arsed builders it could still drag on until Easter.