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

[arabella]

Bank!
Why, in this day & age of massive automation do you still refuse to transfer £££ around on a Saturday or Sunday or Public Holiday*?
I can't believe you need 48 hours every single weekend for maintenance.
Or at least offer "last thing on a Friday" so $Recipient can't see it until they look at the weekend.

*aka bank holiday. OK, there's a clue in the name but that's an anachronism, or ought to be

[Mrs Pingu]

This flower bed appears to actually be a swimming pool.
2022-04-07_07-37-55 by The Pingus, on Flickr

I can see this plan of improving the clay soil is going to be a bit of a challenge. Not helped by the fact that those neighbouring gardens appear to be a few inches higher than ours.

[robgul]

Bank!
Why, in this day & age of massive automation do you still refuse to transfer £££ around on a Saturday or Sunday or Public Holiday*?
I can't believe you need 48 hours every single weekend for maintenance.
Or at least offer "last thing on a Friday" so $Recipient can't see it until they look at the weekend.

*aka bank holiday. OK, there's a clue in the name but that's an anachronism, or ought to be

Hmm, that's not all banks . . . I have no problem making instant transactions during weekends . . . I think some of the "challenger banks" might be guilty of this (possibly to do with the treasury function holding cash over a few days to earn interest?)

[ElyDave]

This flower bed appears to actually be a swimming pool.
2022-04-07_07-37-55 by The Pingus, on Flickr

I can see this plan of improving the clay soil is going to be a bit of a challenge. Not helped by the fact that those neighbouring gardens appear to be a few inches higher than ours.

Compost
Compost
Compost
Grit
Grit
Grit
and a spade

[Mrs Pingu]

Have you done it?
Does it *really* work?

I have several sacks of soil improver, a rotovator, a pile of bark chips. But reading the internet is making me doubt this will work...

[ElyDave]

Yes it works, I've been here 15 years and have a functioning veg plot, and some decent flowerbeds though there are still areas I've not worked so much where i could put in a spade and make a pot out of what I dig up.

It takes time and effort over years, not a single season, though you would likely see incremental benefits. Plough all of your home-made compost back into the patch.

[rafletcher]

We live on heavy clay. The flower borders have been improved, starting in 1975….  The veg beds I made raised and filled with whatever split bags I could get from the garden centre. It’s taken 20 years and 5 out of 6 are pretty good.

[Mrs Pingu]

Oh well, that is somewhat encouraging.
I could dig a French drain but I don't think there's anywhere to route it to...

[arabella]

Bank!
Why, in this day & age of massive automation do you still refuse to transfer £££ around on a Saturday or Sunday or Public Holiday*?
I can't believe you need 48 hours every single weekend for maintenance.
Or at least offer "last thing on a Friday" so $Recipient can't see it until they look at the weekend.

*aka bank holiday. OK, there's a clue in the name but that's an anachronism, or ought to be

Hmm, that's not all banks . . . I have no problem making instant transactions during weekends . . . I think some of the "challenger banks" might be guilty of this (possibly to do with the treasury function holding cash over a few days to earn interest?)

Nor do I, if I log in on the day (afair).  But I can't plan in advance to make a transfer at a weekend (eg 9th April 2022 ends up as 11th April 2022), any standing orders falling on the weekend are held over until the Monday.  So "last day of the month" can turn out to be "the Monday after the last day of the month".

[rafletcher]

My wife has her hair cut at home. Her hairdresser cancelled tomorrow’s appointment, but happily rearranged it for Friday morning. At 08:45. That’s Good Friday when I’m off work. The joys of living with a retired person for whom Bank Holidays have no bearing.   

[The Family Cyclist]

Looking forward to a busy but fun five day weekend as booked tomorrow off to bolt onto Easter weekend

My colleagues got covid so can't have tomorrow off as would leave no one in department

Arse

[Kim]

I'm getting rather weary of the neighbours' dog, which has - for reasons that aren't entirely clear - taken to prolonged barking/howling sessions in the mornings from about 7:30 to 10-11ish.  This conspires perfectly with my circadian rhythms insisting that I should be AWAKE! at 6am (but also that going to bed before midnight is a complete waste of time).

[Mrs Pingu]

Last time I got a new passport I had to do it early for some reason, so the expiry date was 10y 7m after the valid from date.
Now, despite being over a year before the expiry date I'm going to have to apply for a (shit black) new one because I need to go away in August and it won't have 6m validity while being within 10y of the valid from date.
Brexit, the gift that keeps on giving.

[Kim]

I have a shiny! new! Shit Black Passport™, and TBH, the sooner they expire the better.

[Mr Larrington]

Professor Larrington informs me that the current turnaround time for a new pisspot passport is about 10 weeks.  Just applied online for a new one.  Still need to post the old one to exotic Bootle coz there was an envelope famine at Larrington Towers chiz.  Then I have to find some suitable maroon crayons…

[TheLurker]

*Looks at flock(?) of moths in wallet, looks at passport, sighs, puts passport back in the drawer whence it came.*

[rafletcher]

Professor Larrington informs me that the current turnaround time for a new pisspot passport is about 10 weeks.  Just applied online for a new one.  Still need to post the old one to exotic Bootle coz there was an envelope famine at Larrington Towers chiz.  Then I have to find some suitable maroon crayons…

The she was extremely lucky from what I read in last weeks Graun. Fingers crossed.

[Kim]

Mine came through a fair bit quicker than that, though I applied back in February.  They spent about three weeks pretending that they hadn't received my old one, then got the new one done in under 2 weeks.

[Mrs Pingu]

When Pingu renewed his they were claiming 10 weeks and it only took a couple, but that was during proper lockdown when no one was going anywhere.
I just remembered I'm supposed to be going away in June or July (or possibly both) as well so maybe I need to tell work to pay for the fast track service...

This is claiming about a month...
https://www.passportwaitingtime.co.uk/latest-uk-passport-processing-times-13th-april-2022/

[Mr Larrington]

Professor Larrington informs me that the current turnaround time for a new pisspot passport is about 10 weeks.  Just applied online for a new one.  Still need to post the old one to exotic Bootle coz there was an envelope famine at Larrington Towers chiz.  Then I have to find some suitable maroon crayons…

The she was extremely lucky from what I read in last weeks Graun. Fingers crossed.

Just to clarify, Professor L hasn’t applied for one herself recently and was merely relaying the experience of cow-orkers/chums/Penniless Student Oaves/fellow Grauniad readers.

Edit: don’t need mine for travelling purposes until September but…

[Cudzoziemiec]

My son applied for one a couple of weeks ago. His expires in July. He's not going anywhere, at least not abroad, but he is going to Cornwall (which some define as Not England) to university in September, and they, it seems, need his passport as ID. I think it was the university itself, rather than UCAS or @#~£$! Student Finance. But anyway, first his photo was deemed unsuitable due to "uneven lighting". Then, because he is Erewhonian, they needed to see his FOREIGN passport. Apparently they need to check the names are the same...  Whereas they promptly acknowledged receipt of about-to-expire BRITISH passport, they have not done so for FOREIGN passport. He's now convinced they've impounded it and put him on a list for MI5. And all to go to Cornwall.

All passports mentioned above are burgundy funny shade of red.

[ian]

I did the one-day passport office thing some time back, which was painless, but as detailed elsewhere, they gave me a passport made out of tissue paper that snarls up the readers and helpfully, when I complained, they helpfully advised me to pay for a new one. Annoyingly my wife got hers renewed a few months later and got a far better quality one. Grumble. On the plus side, I had expensed it.

[ElyDave]

He's now convinced they've impounded it and put him on a list for MI5. And all to go to Cornwall.

back in the pre-plague days, I used to travel, a lot, and to some funny places involving proper visas obtained from embassies.  To facilitate this, I have two UK passports allowing one to be in an embassy while travelling with the other.  When coming back through UK passport control (non-auto-face-recognition gates) I always got a second look, and got asked on one or two occasions as I think the system must have flagged this up.

[Kim]

My son applied for one a couple of weeks ago. His expires in July. He's not going anywhere, at least not abroad, but he is going to Cornwall (which some define as Not England) to university in September, and they, it seems, need his passport as ID. I think it was the university itself, rather than UCAS or @#~£$! Student Finance.

I expect it's a requirement of some piece of Priti Fascist legislation to make sure the university aren't educating the wrong FOREIGNS by mistake.  There's all sorts of ridiculous rules they have to comply with.^[1]

Also, a passport is about the only piece of universally-recognised ID a BRITON without a driving licence can use.


_{[1] Cue barakta rant about $university having to teach deaf drama students in an acoustically inappropriate building because the Shiny! New! building couldn't be used because nobody remembered to apply to add it to the home office's list of authorised edumacational establishments.}

[Cudzoziemiec]

My son applied for one a couple of weeks ago. His expires in July. He's not going anywhere, at least not abroad, but he is going to Cornwall (which some define as Not England) to university in September, and they, it seems, need his passport as ID. I think it was the university itself, rather than UCAS or @#~£$! Student Finance.

I expect it's a requirement of some piece of Priti Fascist legislation to make sure the university aren't educating the wrong FOREIGNS by mistake.  There's all sorts of ridiculous rules they have to comply with.^[1]

Also, a passport is about the only piece of universally-recognised ID a BRITON without a driving licence can use.

And to think it was the potential admin problems that put him off his initial plan of studying in Holland. It's probably easier to get to Rotterdam than Falmouth too.

_{[1] Cue barakta rant about $university having to teach deaf drama students in an acoustically inappropriate building because the Shiny! New! building couldn't be used because nobody remembered to apply to add it to the home office's list of authorised edumacational establishments.}

There are times when it is fully justified to ignore, subvert or just break the law.