Author Topic: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.  (Read 1576101 times)

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
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Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11700 on: 13 January, 2020, 05:04:24 pm »
Feck this much needed holipop is going well.

Our van broke down just before = costly. Rental van = cost

Storm one nearly caused us not to get to the destination.

Now we found out why Peli has woken up in the midst of a asthma attack twice (first night we were sure it was just the journey up and a new place since it wasn't bad, second night it was serious), the rental got black mould.

Can't get off the island cause storm two will hang around until Wednesday.

Rental place is trying to find a new place for us.

What next ...

Bugger. Hope they got you a new place, that's not on.
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

woollypigs

  • Mr Peli
    • woollypigs
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11701 on: 13 January, 2020, 06:08:59 pm »
Rental service found a new place but on a busy road, smaller than our own home (also a two up and down) with no views to talk about. Unless you lean and put your face right into the corner of the upstairs bedroom window.

We booked this holiday, last-minute, to get away, to have a brilliant view, in a quiet place ( ok that is hard as our home is the silence, even with windows open on a hot summer day)

So after many tow and froms we are back at the original place but have to spend time in the smaller room (twin bed, no en suite) and they deep cleaned the master bedroom with ensuite

Sadly this moving around I missed with my camera the sunset on the holy island as the clouds opened in the middle of the storm, well you can't win every tiime
Current mood: AARRRGGGGHHHHH !!! #bollockstobrexit

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11702 on: 13 January, 2020, 06:26:51 pm »
Hope Peli is feeling better soon & the rest of the trip goes OK.
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

ian

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11703 on: 14 January, 2020, 06:53:56 pm »
The gusting wind and rain and just made my office window start to leak. UPVC piece of shit. Another task for a grown-up.

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11704 on: 14 January, 2020, 07:03:51 pm »
The gusting wind and rain and just made my office window start to leak. UPVC piece of shit. Another task for a grown-up.
Are you in Slough ?


https://twitter.com/saudi89/status/1217153873883865089?s=21
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

ian

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11705 on: 14 January, 2020, 07:29:22 pm »
No, I live up a hill (thus exposed full-on to the wind and rain) on the side of the North Downs; the sustained gusts the preceded the mystery tink tink tink* sound were pretty extreme. Thought there might be a big bad wolf outside. Mostly annoyed as it's the newest window in the Asbestos Palace, not one of the Everest ones that were already here. Still, it's about five years old now. Will call and nag them tomorrow.

*I thought it was outside until I stood by the blinds and got splashed. Dripping from the join at the top of the frame and tink tink tinking down each slat of the Venetian blind.

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11706 on: 14 January, 2020, 07:46:16 pm »
A tube of mastic will sort that out.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

ian

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11707 on: 14 January, 2020, 08:10:52 pm »
I'd probably end up sealing my own nostrils and falling off the ladder.

We have an actual man. He comes around in his van, shakes his head woefully when he sees me, and dutifully fixes stuff and sends me a bill.

That said, I might nag the window company too, but it's probably the wind just forcing the water through a failed bit of sealant, it's only coming through in one place. Still, a good job I was home, or there'd be a mess.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11708 on: 14 January, 2020, 11:22:11 pm »
The gusting wind and rain and just made my office window start to leak. UPVC piece of shit. Another task for a grown-up.
Are you in Slough ?


https://twitter.com/saudi89/status/1217153873883865089?s=21

OOps you beat me to it!

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11709 on: 15 January, 2020, 07:46:43 am »
Woken up by chainsawing at 1am, now looking out of my window over Union Terrace Gardens to the railway line, there are far fewer trees down there.

Not sure if this is Brendan related, or part of a nefarious plot to remove as many trees from the Gardens as possible under cover of hoardings and darkness
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11710 on: 15 January, 2020, 10:31:12 am »
I'm hungry and it's half an hour till lunch. :(
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11711 on: 15 January, 2020, 11:40:59 am »
Woken up by chainsawing at 1am, now looking out of my window over Union Terrace Gardens to the railway line, there are far fewer trees down there.

Not sure if this is Brendan related, or part of a nefarious plot to remove as many trees from the Gardens as possible under cover of hoardings and darkness

They work at night to lessen the chances of being run over by a train. My garden backs onto a railway and network rail or whatever they're called this week put a leaflet through the door when they are about to spend all night doing something noisy.
“There is no point in using the word 'impossible' to describe something that has clearly happened.”
― Douglas Adams

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11712 on: 15 January, 2020, 11:43:03 am »
Also it disrupts fewer services closing the track at night.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

ian

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11713 on: 15 January, 2020, 12:40:36 pm »
Woken up by chainsawing at 1am, now looking out of my window over Union Terrace Gardens to the railway line, there are far fewer trees down there.

Not sure if this is Brendan related, or part of a nefarious plot to remove as many trees from the Gardens as possible under cover of hoardings and darkness

They work at night to lessen the chances of being run over by a train. My garden backs onto a railway and network rail or whatever they're called this week put a leaflet through the door when they are about to spend all night doing something noisy.

There's no shortage of complaints about NRs overzealous tree clearing around tracks. I understand they have to do it, but they sometimes seems to lack strategy. Clearfelling mature trees is a bad idea for lots of reasons. At best they just get a lot of scrub and fast-growing species so a decade later, there's more than they chopped down. At worst, you'll note the correlation between them manically lumberjacking all the trees and then a slip in the embankment.

Of course, it decimates a lot of city habitat. They did the tracks near Anerley the other year, left it looking like Tunguska.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11714 on: 15 January, 2020, 01:22:38 pm »
Some of them have been untouched since the end of steam. Last year they suddenly seemed to wake up to the fact that a lot of the leaves on the line problem was due to all those lineside trees, not to mention the less common but more serious train-hits-tree problem.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
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Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11715 on: 15 January, 2020, 04:01:19 pm »
Bah humbug to chopping down trees in UTG.
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

ian

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11716 on: 15 January, 2020, 08:51:14 pm »
Some of them have been untouched since the end of steam. Last year they suddenly seemed to wake up to the fact that a lot of the leaves on the line problem was due to all those lineside trees, not to mention the less common but more serious train-hits-tree problem.

The problem was a lack of maintenance, but chopping them wholesale is a bad solution. More cheap short-termism. National Rail is institutionally halfwitted though, so I'm not surprised.

We used to live in a house with a train embankment at the bottom of the garden and our development never got notification of engineering works because apparently 'we weren't on their database' because it was a new development. Can you add us then?

The answer it seemed was 'no.'

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11717 on: 15 January, 2020, 09:50:02 pm »
They've done quite a lot of cutting down rather than back here too. On land that already gets pretty soggy in the rain, with the river beside it. Also some well away from the track in nesting season last year.

Anyway, i had a different grumble...
We have a food waste bin.
When i put it out for collection it has a rock on it.
Partly to keep foxes out when full.
Partly to stop it blowing down the road and getting broken when there's a breeze and it weighs not much.
Bin people: I'd request new bins rather less often if you put it back on top after emptying. Or walk the couple of meters down the drive to the obviously more sheltered spot.
I daresay the effort comes out of a different budget or something.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11718 on: 15 January, 2020, 10:07:13 pm »
Some of them have been untouched since the end of steam. Last year they suddenly seemed to wake up to the fact that a lot of the leaves on the line problem was due to all those lineside trees, not to mention the less common but more serious train-hits-tree problem.

The problem was a lack of maintenance, but chopping them wholesale is a bad solution. More cheap short-termism. National Rail is institutionally halfwitted though, so I'm not surprised.

We used to live in a house with a train embankment at the bottom of the garden and our development never got notification of engineering works because apparently 'we weren't on their database' because it was a new development. Can you add us then?

The answer it seemed was 'no.'
I grew up in such a house. I don't remember any vegetation clearing but I do remember Big Yellow Machines coming along the line and making lots of noise, fastening the rails or something. No one got notice of works even though one of our neighbours worked on the railway (some boring admin job, nothing exciting like driving a train – I had an uncle who did that, but he was in Tasmania) but then, it was the 1970s.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

ian

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11719 on: 15 January, 2020, 10:15:52 pm »
The first unannounced visit by the monster tamping machine was terrifying. It's quite a steep embankment so basically level with our bedroom window (normally not so bad, trains in south London travel far further in time than space).

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11720 on: 20 January, 2020, 10:32:19 am »
My (ex)energy supplier, SSE, have just advised me that their records show that my electricity meter has expired.
(They've been haranguing me to allow them to fit a smart meter for some time, now).
Furthermore, they advise me that all meters have an expiry date, and as my meter passes this date, it may become unreliable and provide inaccurate bills.

It matters not a jot as, some time ago, I'd arranged to obtain my energy supplies from a supplier who's sources are 100% renewable, and that supplier isn't SSE. Having said that, there's a temptation to ask SSE what the actual expiry date is, and where that information is displayed.

There's, I guess, an element of irony that this letter should arrive on the same day as my new energy supplier have asked me to furnish them with a final meter reading.

Oh, and another thing.
Expiry date on an electricity meter.
Really?

ETA - Also, they've addressed me as 'Jury'. But I kinda like that  ;D

woollypigs

  • Mr Peli
    • woollypigs
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11721 on: 20 January, 2020, 11:11:13 am »
Well, Members of the Jury, don't hang me on this, but there was an update to the smart meters some time back I wonder if the expiry date is linked to that
Current mood: AARRRGGGGHHHHH !!! #bollockstobrexit

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11722 on: 20 January, 2020, 11:56:38 am »
It's not so much expiry of the meter as its certification. Utility meters aren't like factory tools or test instruments which you can check each shift and then ship off to a lab for re-calibration once a year.

Quote
When a design has been approved under GB national legislation, a manufacturer can submit meters, manufactured in accordance with the type approval, for certification. It is a requirement of the Electricity Act 1989 that all domestic meters used for billing purposes by a licensed electricity supplier are certified to show that, when tested following manufacture/refurbishment, they conform to the original type approval and operate within the prescribed levels of accuracy.

Certification is performed by meter examiners appointed by the Office for Product Safety and Standards (Safety & Standards) or by authorised examiners employed by manufacturers/repairers of electricity meters that have been authorised to self-certify. This process is described in detail in the Meters (Certification) Regulations (SI 1998/1566). This prescribes that all meters, following approval, be allocated a certification life (i.e. the time a meter is allowed to remain on the wall from initial certification).

Meters for industrial and commercial customers are either certified or the supplier reaches agreement with the customer for a meter with a similar level of accuracy to be installed. Certification periods are allocated by Safety & Standards and are restricted to 10 years for newly approved induction meters and for periods of between 10 and 20 years for static meters. Certification periods greater than 10 years (for static meters) are subject to the submission and validation of a component reliability model based on the Siemens Norm SN29500.

Subsequent in-service surveillance monitoring through the national sample survey or In-service testing can result in the certification life of a meter type being either extended or reduced. When certification is required meters must be removed from service when the certification period expires.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/electricity-meter-certification

HTH
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11723 on: 20 January, 2020, 12:42:38 pm »
Seems reasonable to me.  If somebody's selling you a thing by quantity, you expect whatever they're using to measure that quantity to be appropriately calibrated and certified.  Different regulations, but same principle as pint glasses and petrol pumps.

When the gas meters reach end of life, they get new batteries and calibration certificates (though, apparently, not lubrication) before being sent back out again.  Presumably the mechanical electricity ones don't on account of being replaced with newer technology.

Obviously this process is unconnected to the migration to smart meters, because that would involve joined-up thinking and common sense.  This is how we got through three gas meters in a couple of months...

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #11724 on: 20 January, 2020, 01:46:27 pm »
NLMC applies - National Legal Metrological Control.

They are calibrated at the factory to a pemitted uncertainty, which tends to get larger as they age.  WHen veryifying emissions, we have a check box that effectively says "NLMC? OK, don't dig any more"

My understadning from doing work with gas and electricity suppliers is that they should, if anything underread as they age, so the suppliers are keen to keep them up to date for revenue reasons.  In good clean gas service, with no real risk of pver pressurisation, 7-10 years between calibrations should really not be a problem.  I can't comment on dirty electrickery though
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens