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

[Mr Larrington]

And, as if by magic, the shopkeeper Little Hattie Mancock appeared…

[Beardy]

And, as if by magic, the shopkeeper Little Hattie Mancock appeared…

Hasn’t he been scapegoated sacked resigned to spend more time with his children yet?

[Mr Larrington]

And, as if by magic, the shopkeeper Little Hattie Mancock appeared…

Hasn’t he been scapegoated sacked resigned to spend more time with his children yet?

No such luck…

[andrewc]

I'm down in That London for the first weekend of July.  I've just tried to book for "Epic Iran" at the V&A , but it's sold out for the whole 3 days.  Arse!   It may have to be Rodin at Tate Modern then.


Taking advantage of my Shiny New English Heritage card I've got tickets booked for Apsley House & Eltham Palace.   

[Mr Larrington]

While a lot of people may have left the employ of the theaTAH in the West End, hairy Sir, I very much doubt that the quantity is “innumerate”

[rafletcher]

Dear God, the Wimbledon ticketing system is an absolute shambles this year.  I've "chosen" digital ticketing. No, I was forced to accept it. As you have to provide proof of vaccination from the NHS app, AND provide phot ID, I can't see whay physical tickets are such a problem. And why do I only get them 2 days before (and not the 5 that Ticketmaster said)? I got a pair of tickets. Will they be "sent" to me - yes. Can I use them to get us both into the ground-no.  Oh no, I have to "share your benefits" using the wimbledon.com app and mYwimbledon. So my companion (in this case my wife) needs to register for a mYwimbledon account. Oh look, the latest version - which is the one that allows "benefit sharing" won't load 'cos her (i)phone is too old to run the latest OS. Cue a new (i)phone  .  As to the app itself - what a crock of shit.  We'll definitely be printing out our Covid vaccine status rather than accessing that on the phones too - goodness knows how long it'll take to get into the ground! 

[Mrs Pingu]

The problem with a really nice property coming on the market on a Friday afternoon is that you have to* stew on it all weekend before you can do anything about it.


*yes, I know I don't have to. But me being me, I will.

[Kim]

Silly Oak has been experiencing problems with the supply of electrosity.  We're now just experiencing problems with the supply of quiet.

It's not bedtime until the power's back on *and* all the burglar alarms have shut up.

[andrewc]

Recently my parents had a plumber in, to deal with a toilet that wasn't flushing.   They also asked him to fix a leaking mixer tap in the kitchen that must have been over 60 years old.   He did this by replacing it with a new mixer tap. 


It now transpires that the screw on adapter for the jetwash they use to hose dog pee & poo of their patio area won't fit this tap,  and neither will any replacement I can find. 


I can see Mr Plumber being invited back to install an external tap ,  which is probably a better solution than the current one of feeding the hose & power cable of the Karcher through the kitchen window. 

[Mrs Pingu]

Urg, please tell me they're not hosing the dog poo down the drain?

[andrewc]

Depends how solid it is.   A gluten intolerant rottweiler.....

[Polar Bear]

And, as if by magic, the shopkeeper Little Hattie Mancock appeared…

Hasn’t he been scapegoated sacked resigned to spend more time with his children yet?

No such luck…

Who'd have thought that a tory MP and cabinet minister might do "the right thing" and resign?  He's clung on like "sticks like shit" through nearly 18 months of covid calamities, cronyism* and corruption* but suddenly he finds some backbone about grabbing Gina's backside whilst searching for her tonsils.  Seems strange given what has passed but perhaps such behaviour is only permissable by the bumbler-in-chief?

* his and his sister's nice little PPE earner as well as Ginagate and of course Dodo Hardof-Thinking and her traumatic test and trace tomfoolery.

[Beardy]

Dr Beardy (Mrs) expects me to do tasks towards the general running of the household such as loading the dishwasher and hanging the laundry. These I will do (relatively) happy on account of her earning money through her activities while I don’t, so this is not the grumble. Neither will I grumble about her correcting my dishwasher loading because I can thwart this by putting the dishwasher on regardless of completion status of dishwasher load. But don’t tell her I said that.   

No, my grumble is to do with the clothes airier we have in the garden, or more accurately her attachment of clothes to the same. Due to our slightly out of step sleeping patterns she has often hung a laundry load before she abandons the household chores to my inept care. Therefore, given that she is more often than not the first person to hang wet laundry on the whirly gig why, WHY, does she keep hanging the first items on the outer ropes of said whirligig. Why??!! And moreover. Why? It just does not make sense to start at the outside and then have to duck under the already hung clothes and work your way in. It doesn’t.   

Hrummph.

And for the curious, no, I’m not brave enough to challenge her about this abhorrent behaviour. Do I look suicidal to you?

[Mrs Pingu]

Maybe if a load doesn't fill the whirly she's trying to get as much of it as she can on the out ones which will presumably dry first?
I dunno, I hate those whirly things. No doubt I will get one at our next house.

[Polar Bear]

Dr Beardy (Mrs) expects me to do tasks towards the general running of the household such as loading the dishwasher and hanging the laundry. These I will do (relatively) happy on account of her earning money through her activities while I don’t, so this is not the grumble. Neither will I grumble about her correcting my dishwasher loading because I can thwart this by putting the dishwasher on regardless of completion status of dishwasher load. But don’t tell her I said that.   

No, my grumble is to do with the clothes airier we have in the garden, or more accurately her attachment of clothes to the same. Due to our slightly out of step sleeping patterns she has often hung a laundry load before she abandons the household chores to my inept care. Therefore, given that she is more often than not the first person to hang wet laundry on the whirly gig why, WHY, does she keep hanging the first items on the outer ropes of said whirligig. Why??!! And moreover. Why? It just does not make sense to start at the outside and then have to duck under the already hung clothes and work your way in. It doesn’t.   

Hrummph.

And for the curious, no, I’m not brave enough to challenge her about this abhorrent behaviour. Do I look suicidal to you?

Does the whirlygig loading include putting the longer, dangly items on the inner lines too?  I admit to being completely anal about whirlygig loading putting socks and smalls on the innermost lines, shorts tee shirts etc. in the mid zone and finishing with what I call "arms and egs" but also of course includes other longer items on the outer wires.  I tend to pair socks as I am pegging out too which makes for much easier putting away of laundry.

I also don't like the pegs mixed up as we have two types of peg. 

My position on this and the washing up which is a non-mechanised event in the Bear-o-drome is that I happily undertake these tasks until some interference happens and then I hand over to the interferer-in-chief.   

[Basil]

Bugger.   Power cut.

[ian]

My wife undertakes all washing related activities because I'm a sexist pigdog* but that involves a drying rack in the spare room. I did finally noticed we have a whirly dryer at the top of the garden, though it seems to be at about 30 degrees from vertical, and I'm not sure why it's at the top of garden, since that would involve scrambling up lots of narrow steps. Anyway, I suspect that its current state, even hanging the briefest pair lacy briefs on it would precipitate collapse. Much of my childhood seems to have been spent putting the washing in or out depending on whether it looked like rain, which in Britain, is about every five minutes, so I'm not doing that as a grown-up.

*I'm probably not, but for some reason lost to history, I'm not allowed to do the washing. I am allowed to operate the dishwasher though, surprisingly since I once washed a pair of trainers in there.

[Paul]

Dr Beardy (Mrs) expects me to do tasks towards the general running of the household such as loading the dishwasher and hanging the laundry. These I will do (relatively) happy on account of her earning money through her activities while I don’t, so this is not the grumble. Neither will I grumble about her correcting my dishwasher loading because I can thwart this by putting the dishwasher on regardless of completion status of dishwasher load. But don’t tell her I said that.   

No, my grumble is to do with the clothes airier we have in the garden, or more accurately her attachment of clothes to the same. Due to our slightly out of step sleeping patterns she has often hung a laundry load before she abandons the household chores to my inept care. Therefore, given that she is more often than not the first person to hang wet laundry on the whirly gig why, WHY, does she keep hanging the first items on the outer ropes of said whirligig. Why??!! And moreover. Why? It just does not make sense to start at the outside and then have to duck under the already hung clothes and work your way in. It doesn’t.   

Hrummph.

And for the curious, no, I’m not brave enough to challenge her about this abhorrent behaviour. Do I look suicidal to you?

Does the whirlygig loading include putting the longer, dangly items on the inner lines too?  I admit to being completely anal about whirlygig loading putting socks and smalls on the innermost lines, shorts tee shirts etc. in the mid zone and finishing with what I call "arms and egs" but also of course includes other longer items on the outer wires.  I tend to pair socks as I am pegging out too which makes for much easier putting away of laundry.

I also don't like the pegs mixed up as we have two types of peg. 

Is there room for a third person in this support group?

I have a collapsible airer (it stands on 4 legs and concertinas away after use. Smalls inside, bigs outside. 

I have a line for the 8 fine drying days per year.

I have 3 types of peg: good, better and best. Not by design, it just happened. The ranking can fluctuate, depending on what’s being hung, so that a normally ‘good’ peg can become ‘best’ in certain circumstances.

I see tea and coffee. Any biscuits?

[Polar Bear]

Dr Beardy (Mrs) expects me to do tasks towards the general running of the household such as loading the dishwasher and hanging the laundry. These I will do (relatively) happy on account of her earning money through her activities while I don’t, so this is not the grumble. Neither will I grumble about her correcting my dishwasher loading because I can thwart this by putting the dishwasher on regardless of completion status of dishwasher load. But don’t tell her I said that.   

No, my grumble is to do with the clothes airier we have in the garden, or more accurately her attachment of clothes to the same. Due to our slightly out of step sleeping patterns she has often hung a laundry load before she abandons the household chores to my inept care. Therefore, given that she is more often than not the first person to hang wet laundry on the whirly gig why, WHY, does she keep hanging the first items on the outer ropes of said whirligig. Why??!! And moreover. Why? It just does not make sense to start at the outside and then have to duck under the already hung clothes and work your way in. It doesn’t.   

Hrummph.

And for the curious, no, I’m not brave enough to challenge her about this abhorrent behaviour. Do I look suicidal to you?

Does the whirlygig loading include putting the longer, dangly items on the inner lines too?  I admit to being completely anal about whirlygig loading putting socks and smalls on the innermost lines, shorts tee shirts etc. in the mid zone and finishing with what I call "arms and egs" but also of course includes other longer items on the outer wires.  I tend to pair socks as I am pegging out too which makes for much easier putting away of laundry.

I also don't like the pegs mixed up as we have two types of peg. 

Is there room for a third person in this support group?

I have a collapsible airer (it stands on 4 legs and concertinas away after use. Smalls inside, bigs outside. 

I have a line for the 8 fine drying days per year.

I have 3 types of peg: good, better and best. Not by design, it just happened. The ranking can fluctuate, depending on what’s being hung, so that a normally ‘good’ peg can become ‘best’ in certain circumstances.

I see tea and coffee. Any biscuits?

Homemade raspberry and chocolate flapjack?

I (we) still insist upon wooden pegs.  The lovely newer, never been wet ones are used for clothing.  The scruffier, neglected ones which were here when I arrive twenty years ago ( probably not but who is counting? ) for towels, bedding, etc.  I keep them properly separated ...

< sips coffee and bites flapjack >

[nuttycyclist]

Dr Beardy (Mrs) expects me to do tasks towards the general running of the household such as loading the dishwasher and hanging the laundry. These I will do (relatively) happy on account of her earning money through her activities while I don’t, so this is not the grumble. Neither will I grumble about her correcting my dishwasher loading because I can thwart this by putting the dishwasher on regardless of completion status of dishwasher load. But don’t tell her I said that.   

No, my grumble is to do with the clothes airier we have in the garden, or more accurately her attachment of clothes to the same. Due to our slightly out of step sleeping patterns she has often hung a laundry load before she abandons the household chores to my inept care. Therefore, given that she is more often than not the first person to hang wet laundry on the whirly gig why, WHY, does she keep hanging the first items on the outer ropes of said whirligig. Why??!! And moreover. Why? It just does not make sense to start at the outside and then have to duck under the already hung clothes and work your way in. It doesn’t.   

Hrummph.

And for the curious, no, I’m not brave enough to challenge her about this abhorrent behaviour. Do I look suicidal to you?

Does the whirlygig loading include putting the longer, dangly items on the inner lines too?  I admit to being completely anal about whirlygig loading putting socks and smalls on the innermost lines, shorts tee shirts etc. in the mid zone and finishing with what I call "arms and egs" but also of course includes other longer items on the outer wires.  I tend to pair socks as I am pegging out too which makes for much easier putting away of laundry.

I also don't like the pegs mixed up as we have two types of peg. 

Is there room for a third person in this support group?

I have a collapsible airer (it stands on 4 legs and concertinas away after use. Smalls inside, bigs outside. 

I have a line for the 8 fine drying days per year.

I have 3 types of peg: good, better and best. Not by design, it just happened. The ranking can fluctuate, depending on what’s being hung, so that a normally ‘good’ peg can become ‘best’ in certain circumstances.

I see tea and coffee. Any biscuits?

Homemade raspberry and chocolate flapjack?

I (we) still insist upon wooden pegs.  The lovely newer, never been wet ones are used for clothing.  The scruffier, neglected ones which were here when I arrive twenty years ago ( probably not but who is counting? ) for towels, bedding, etc.  I keep them properly separated ...

< sips coffee and bites flapjack >

Loading a whirlygig is easy.  Stand next to wash basket, load small items on the inside ropes, spin whirlygig as you work your way outwards to outer lines and larger item.  Don't forget to only load alternate strings to aid ventialation and drying.

When my mother stays, she insists on helping load the line if I am doing it.  She starts with the bedsheets/towels on the outside lines, and walks around the whirlygig line in order to find a space.   When I commented, and moaned at having to duck through wet towels, I got told that she does it this way as she likes the washing to dry.     

WTF?   Really?    Why?


<somebody pass me a biscuit>

[Cudzoziemiec]

There seem to be some serious clothes-drying psychological trauma issues here. Hmm, perhaps as a small child you were forced by your overbearing, hypercompetitive father to learn to swim by being thrown in the river fully clothed, then spend the rest of the day in wet things? Or was it your mother who suffocated you with her maternal instincts, forcing you to change your clothes after each spot of rain? Hmmm, (strokes beard, adjusts small round glasses), you should lie on zees couch and tell us all about zees earliest memories. Later I will prescribe the most advanced form of tumble dryer.

[Polar Bear]

Tumble dryer?  Get out of here!!!   

[rafletcher]

Tumble dryer?  Get out of here!!!   

Indeed. Yesterday we opened our garden. Ere long, I was being asked “what’s that scent”. I answered honestly that it was most likely the aroma of whatever chemical flannel our neighbours use - for about 4 hours, every Sunday afternoon - in their tumble dryer 

We had hoped for better, the day they moved in they were looking for the hole in the lawn where a rotary line might go, but that was as good as it got.

[Paul]

There seem to be some serious clothes-drying psychological trauma issues here. Hmm, perhaps as a small child you were forced by your overbearing, hypercompetitive father to learn to swim by being thrown in the river fully clothed, then spend the rest of the day in wet things? Or was it your mother who suffocated you with her maternal instincts, forcing you to change your clothes after each spot of rain? Hmmm, (strokes beard, adjusts small round glasses), you should lie on zees couch and tell us all about zees earliest memories. Later I will prescribe the most advanced form of tumble dryer.

My mum was one of eight kids and my dad was one of nine! They were too poor for towels so, after a bath, they were all hung on the line to dry, so developed an appreciation of the intricacies of drying, which they passed on.

We were still washing by hand when I left home in 1983, although we did, by then, have a mangle.

So, yes, I have laundry issues.

[nuttycyclist]

Ahhhhhh, mangles.     I still remember using one every time I visited me nan on washing day.  And the pocket on the front of her floral apron where she kept her pegs and fags.