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

[T42]

The local horsepersons left us their usual greeting on the cycle track:

[Torslanda]

I'm sure if you were Tracy Emin you'd get a grant for that...!

[Andrij]

Common sight on CS3 here in London.  I've seen the offending riders often enough, but I can't seem to motivate myself to 'have words' with a mounted constable.

[orienteer]

Particle emissions have always been a problem.

[T42]

When you think about it, it's a reflection on society. Equestrians and their minions never thought anything of leaving their shit for others to clear up, but if we peasants let our dogs foul the footpath we get done for it.

[Legs]

Actually, there's a whole galaxy of difference between horse and dog excreta...  The former is pretty inoffensive,, odourless, etc , which cannot be said of the latter.  And what do you expect a horse rider to do, dismount, pick up and remount (often in the middle of a road, with no convenient place to tether)?

I Am Not A Horsey Person.

[T42]

Actually, there's a whole galaxy of difference between horse and dog excreta...  The former is pretty inoffensive,, odourless, etc , which cannot be said of the latter.  And what do you expect a horse rider to do, dismount, pick up and remount (often in the middle of a road, with no convenient place to tether)?

Yes, on shared cycle/footpaths in particular - which are off-limits to horses anyway. A single heap of shit blocks half the thoroughfare, and last autumn one of them took over a month to disappear.

[clarion]

And when they are frozen...!

[Giraffe]

Dung is Ok; shit ain't.
On occasions I've considered getting a decent, small, plastic shovel so that I could put dung in a plastic bag in a pannier and take it home for the garden.
I'd rather have dung on the ground than the disgusting filth from exhausts in and on me!

[ian]

Actually, there's a whole galaxy of difference between horse and dog excreta...  The former is pretty inoffensive,, odourless, etc , which cannot be said of the latter.  And what do you expect a horse rider to do, dismount, pick up and remount (often in the middle of a road, with no convenient place to tether)?

I Am Not A Horsey Person.

In foreign lands, horses have diapers. It's true. The NYPD's finest (horses) shit in sacks. Possible the humans too, I couldn't and wouldn't comment as they have guns (the humans, possibly not the horses). Canada too is nappy state, if I recall, though I think they should ride bears and not horses. A benefit of bears, of course, is that they only shit in the woods.

To be honest, and this may mark me out as weird, but I don't like stepping in any kind of shit. It's a thing.

[ian]

Dear swimming pool. If you bothered to put your 2018 times on your fabby web page, then i wouldn't be hanging on the phone while you undoubtedly answer a bazillion similar queries. I checked, and it's definitely already 2018.

[T42]

To be honest, and this may mark me out as weird, but I don't like stepping in any kind of shit. It's a thing.

Especially in SPDs.

[Kim]

Actually, there's a whole galaxy of difference between horse and dog excreta...  The former is pretty inoffensive,, odourless, etc , which cannot be said of the latter.

They're both offensive, smelly and unpleasant to pick out of your shoes/tyres.

Herbivore faeces are much less of a health hazard to humans, and tend to break down quickly into a Mostly Harmless pile of undigested cellulosey stuff when rained on.

Personally, at modern levels of horseism, I only object to the poo if left in places where people would reasonably expect to walk without getting their feet muddy.  So the occasional pile on unsurfaced bridleways and country roads is fine, but not on surfaced paths in more populated areas.

[Ben T]

Dear swimming pool. If you bothered to put your 2018 times on your fabby web page, then i wouldn't be hanging on the phone while you undoubtedly answer a bazillion similar queries. I checked, and it's definitely already 2018.

Just go anyway and if it's one of those kids sessions with floats just bludgeon your way through, make sure you wear goggles and a cap to look as professional as possible and earplugs so you can pretend you can't hear.

[matthew]

Grrr, my gas and electricity supplier wants to change the meters for smart meters, but to do this I have to be home. So they called just before christmas and we agreed a date and time slot when I could be home from work.

Then today I get another call asking to set up an appointment... "Well what about the one I have already made?" says I.

The man on the other end of the phone goes digging into the system to find an appointment that wasn't confirmed and all the records associated. Then he has to go off to his manager as there are now no engineers available for that time.

So I now have a different appointment for 2 weeks later to nicely clash with a deadline at work but at least it enforces my half day friday.

[Mr Larrington]

I've been successfully putting EDF off the smart meter business for about six months now, not because I object to smart meters but more because it'll mean tidying the kitchen.  Which in turn means tidying other bits of Larrington Towers to make space for the TPsOC currently in the kitchen.

And so on.

[ian]

I wouldn't mind a smart meter, but our meters are boxed in under the stairs. They're sort of accessible but it depends how much space they need to work in, it's a squeeze unless you have orangutan arms. You're not going to fit a big fella in there. Admittedly, I've not tried to fit a big fella in there because that kind of thing requires ethical committee approval. And shoving a woman in there is likely the plot of one of those interminable thrillers. The Woman with the Gas Meter, or somesuch.

Now is it possible to find out whether or not there's enough space? You know, by sending someone the measurements, or a photo.

Not with BG it isn't. Their solution is to book and wait around for the engineer at which point they'll either do the deed and shake their heads and bugger off. Do I want to hang around for a half day waiting for an engineer to turn up and prompty leave. Not especially, no.

[Kim]

We've had two rounds of smart meters (two and a half if you count the new gas meter I made them immediately uninstall because it sounded like a BSO chain).  Access merely involves a feat of bicycle Sokoban last seen in coach D of a Crosscountry Voyager.

I'm actually quite underwhelmed by the newer ones.  The previous lot had a nice energy display thing that told you interesting things about how much anbarism you were sucking up.  The new ones have a crap energy display thing that insists on using daft units and doesn't display instantaneous power properly.  Fortunately the new leccy meter has a Mk 1 blinkenlight, and I have RRDtool. 

[Cudzoziemiec]

We were going to have one a few years ago but couldn't due to dodgy wiring.

[Kim]

We were going to have one a few years ago but couldn't due to dodgy wiring.

During the installation of the first set, the electrician discovered that one of the meter tails was loose enough that it could be disconnected without the aid of a screwdriver.  That's a fire waiting to happen.  Scary.

[Basil]

We were going to have one a few years ago but couldn't due to dodgy wiring.

During the installation of the first set, the electrician discovered that one of the meter tails was loose enough that it could be disconnected without the aid of a screwdriver.  That's a fire waiting to happen.  Scary.

Sounds like a good reason to agree to let them fit a smart meter.  Free safety check.

[Ham]

I have a smart meter installed a couple of years ago, which is now useless as I have just moved suppliers.

[Kim]

I have a smart meter installed a couple of years ago, which is now useless as I have just moved suppliers.

That's why we had a second set installed.

[Polar Bear]

I have a smart meter installed a couple of years ago, which is now useless as I have just moved suppliers.

I was vaguely aware of this issue.  How can the govt and industry be so stupid as to have supplier specific smart meters?   How stupid is that?   Perhaps they should be called Stupid Meters instead.

[Kim]

I have a smart meter installed a couple of years ago, which is now useless as I have just moved suppliers.

I was vaguely aware of this issue.  How can the govt and industry be so stupid as to have supplier specific smart meters?   How stupid is that?   Perhaps they should be called Stupid Meters instead.

The great thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from.