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

[Ham]

Yeah this is the grumble thread, not the rant, I don't drive in Waltham forest if I can help it, and when I do I try to keep my wits about me. Well, clearly that's not good enough, I need someone else's wits, whose would be best?

[Tim Hall]

Yeah this is the grumble thread, not the rant, I don't drive in Waltham forest if I can help it, and when I do I try to keep my wits about me. Well, clearly that's not good enough, I need someone else's wits, whose would be best?

One person's grumble is another's aide memoire: I read your grumble Ham and thought of the last time I drove in that neck of the woods. Ooh, I was in the work van. Ooh, I drove the work van today, over the Dartford Crossing. Ooh, I'd better pay the Dart Charge.  Thanks.

[David Martin]

Is it just me or has the standard of British students' written English taken a turn for the worse? Do we actually encourage precision and accuracy in writing any more, or is it not done to tell students when they have made simple errors?

[hellymedic]

Is it just me or has the standard of British students' written English taken a turn for the worse? Do we actually encourage precision and accuracy in writing any more, or is it not done to tell students when they have made simple errors?

<Grumble>

Not just students. Beeb Beds, Bucks & Herts had 'Scheme for dying patients to expand' headline on its website tonight.
I don't think the idea is for patients with terminal illness to grow...

[Pickled Onion]

Washing machine has packed up.  It's only ten years old.

Getting a little man in is probably not cost-effective. After spending a few 'happy' hours trying to work out the difference between eco+ and eco comfort, I found someone on youtube who's convinced me I can fix it with a handful of bike tools. And a £12 part. Happy days.

[T42]

Hunters. Not the stirrup-cup tally-ho latter-day Light Brigade but the kind who beat the woods to drive game down onto a firing line.  In France they act as if they own the forests, and do their damnedest to wreck any other organized activities queering their pitch.  I was at a meeting of five local clubs' committees last week, and two of them were mightily pissed off that their MTB events, for which they had full permission from the Préfecture and the Office National des Forêts, had been sabotaged, one organizer discovering on the morning of the ride that over 30 route-markers had been removed overnight.  If you complain to the mairies responsible for the areas in question, all you get is "oui, mais c'est la Chasse" (N.B. capital C) and a resigned sigh - and probably a snigger from anyone else in earshot, since most of the farmers are members.

Bloody mafia.

[TheLurker]

Washing machine has packed up.  It's only ten years old.

Ours died yesterday.  Magic smoke job.  It was less than 5 years old, not sure if it even made it to its 3rd "birthday".  Modern white goods are fragile pieces of shite.

[ElyDave]

If you can, worth going upmarket and paying for a Miele

[hellymedic]

If you can, worth going upmarket and paying for a Miele

+1
See washing machine threads in OT Knowledge.

[T42]

I think our last Miele lasted around 20 years.  At the time, a neighbour thought the price was scandalous, though - "washing machines never last more than two years so I always get the cheapest".  Er, yes...

[andrewc]

I've just received 10 text messages from FedEx telling me my parcel is out for delivery.......   Does that mean I can expect 10 parcels 

[Kim]

Each in a separate van...

[Feanor]

Must be the season for it.
My dishwasher has just died; the drain pump pumpeth not.

After bailing it out by hand, the Internet provided directions on how to get at the pump. This involved removing the outer door skin and then removing an access plate at the bottom front.  All the gubbins are underneath the floor of the machine.  The pump is then surprisingly easy to remove.   So the machine is currently sitting in a partly-dismantled state waiting for the replacement pump, which cost about £30.

[Bledlow]

If you can, worth going upmarket and paying for a Miele

+1
See washing machine threads in OT Knowledge.

Yeah, but that would need building work in this house. Some other manufacturers make machines which we can fit in.

[Pickled Onion]

Must be the season for it.
My dishwasher has just died; the drain pump pumpeth not.

After bailing it out by hand, the Internet provided directions on how to get at the pump. This involved removing the outer door skin and then removing an access plate at the bottom front.  All the gubbins are underneath the floor of the machine.  The pump is then surprisingly easy to remove.   So the machine is currently sitting in a partly-dismantled state waiting for the replacement pump, which cost about £30.

My problem is the pump too. Very easy to extract: turn machine over, twist the pump, and out it pops. Impeller is broken. Finding the correct replacement was neither easy nor as cheap as the model number either side of mine, for no fathomable reason. Near enough £50 instead of £12 and it's not even OEM!

[clarion]

Look, I know our office is in the middle of a busy industrial estate, and I am glad that there are so many SMEs providing employment to the area, I really am.

And I have no objections to Health & Safety.  I'm a strong advocate.  There are still far too many industrial injuries in this country.

And I know you have some big trucks to unload.

But does that forklift's horn have to be beeped every few seconds, sounding like a bored kid left in the car park?

Really?

[TheLurker]

If you can, worth going upmarket and paying for a Miele

Vimes' Boots applies.

[hellymedic]

If you can, worth going upmarket and paying for a Miele

+1
See washing machine threads in OT Knowledge.

Yeah, but that would need building work in this house. Some other manufacturers make machines which we can fit in.

My Miele went in the space vacated by the defunct Hygena that had been part of the fitted kitchen when I moved into this house. It projects forward about 10cm more than the Hygena but is no wider. Giraffe made a nice wooden stand for it.

[Andrij]

Looking forward to a long day on the bike come Saturday.

[ checks forecast ]

Bugger. 

[TheLurker]

Washing machine has packed up.  It's only ten years old.

Ours died yesterday.  Magic smoke job.  It was less than 5 years old, not sure if it even made it to its 3rd "birthday".  Modern white goods are fragile pieces of shite.

What kind of _idiot_ writes, "...the angle of inclination, measured according to the worktop, must not exceed 2^o." in the installation guide for a washing machine? 2^o!?  Sorry, but a protractor from a school geom. kit isn't going to be much good here is it?   If the damn thing needs to be that close to absolutely level then what was wrong with, "...use a spirit level to ensure the washing machine is level."?  And,"...according to the worktop..."?  Do you mean the top of the washing machine or the worktop that it sits under?  I do hope you mean the top of the washing machine because if some poor bugger reads that as the worktop it sits under and that's not level...

[Giraffe]

Then there's getting the spirit level under the worktop and seeing it.
Also, the rear feet can't be adjusted with the machine in place and, with some machines, the feet don't lock so they rotate as the machine is pushed in.

[T42]

In the 1970s, 80s and 90s I had perfectly clear phone conversations with folk in Australia and the US, and all over W. Europe.  I just got off the blower to a tax office somewhere in France, and the biddy on the other end sounded as if she was talking through 3 layers of felt and a kazoo - pretty well the norm these days.  It reminds me of that 18th century steward who, when his master observed of his building and landscaping projects "great improvements, don't you think?" replied "great alterations, my lord" and got fired.

[essexian]

Bottom brackets....are they made of cheese?

The only reason I ask is that my LBS have just been on the phone (they are currently giving my winter bike a service) to say that the bottom bracket has excessive play in it, thus needs replacing.

Thing is, this BB is less than 18 months old and will have done no more than 3 000km of mostly winter riding. Surely they should last longer than this?

I must be doing something wrong but across my five bikes, this is the 4th BB I have had to have replaced in the last 5 years. I would love to say that it's my excessive power output but that would be a lie!

This is getting costly as whatever I spend on the bike, I have to spend the same amount on CBH! 

[nicknack]

In the 1970s, 80s and 90s I had perfectly clear phone conversations with folk in Australia and the US, and all over W. Europe.  I just got off the blower to a tax office somewhere in France, and the biddy on the other end sounded as if she was talking through 3 layers of felt and a kazoo - pretty well the norm these days.  It reminds me of that 18th century steward who, when his master observed of his building and landscaping projects "great improvements, don't you think?" replied "great alterations, my lord" and got fired.

Our daughter's just got back from 2 months working in Manila. While she was there we spoke to her via a video link in Facebook. But for a slight delay between picture and sound everything was perfectly clear and cost precisely nothing.

[Kim]

In the 1970s, 80s and 90s I had perfectly clear phone conversations with folk in Australia and the US, and all over W. Europe.  I just got off the blower to a tax office somewhere in France, and the biddy on the other end sounded as if she was talking through 3 layers of felt and a kazoo - pretty well the norm these days.  It reminds me of that 18th century steward who, when his master observed of his building and landscaping projects "great improvements, don't you think?" replied "great alterations, my lord" and got fired.

The race to the bottom for telephone audio kicked off around the time that GSM happened and people stopped expecting to be able to hear properly on telephones.  Sidetone, what's that?

It's particularly frustrating given that the technology to ensure a high-bandwidth digital path from handset to handset is now ubiquitous.

We use SIP with enforced g.711 codecs for our 'landline', which gives a much better signal to noise ratio than the BT analogue line.  But the bandwidth is still rubbish, and you're still at the mercy of the piece of crap at the other end, which is usually either  a) a lossily-compressed mobile, operated by someone who isn't paying attention in noisy environment  b) some DECT piece of crap from Argos in a noisy environment  or  c) a headset in a noisy callcentre with optional bandwidth-conserving lossy compression from the lowest-bidder telco and a stranger with a confusing accent.

Telephones have gone to shit, but so has people's attitude towards them; it used to be that people would go to the quiet room with the telephone in it in order to make phone calls.  The real mystery is why people insist on using the bloody things.