Author Topic: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant. (Read 1624609 times)

hellymedic · « **Reply #5875 on:** 27 January, 2015, 07:07:39 pm »

Hefting a Helly onto a bus when it's midnight and COLD might be suboptimal but it got us home pretty promptly. It wasn't the time to make a fuss TBH.

I don't think the ramp had failed before with that driver.

I suspect the information about Wembley's lifts would have been available if I'd bothered to look but we had taken impulsive decisions on leaving the pub.
Taxi? No, let's save money.
Bus? Slow, goes round the houses, hated by David but a single bus would have taken us 300 metres from home. The closest was 11 minutes away.
'Underground'? Train just approaching as we did. Involves a change and then bus for final mile but David prefers, so that's what we chose.

I did alert staff to the dreadful state of the crips' loo at Northwick Park.
They still have a pedal bin in the wheelchair loo. It has been unmolished by a user thobut...

Loo was more presentable at time of my second visit today.

Kim · « **Reply #5876 on:** 27 January, 2015, 07:13:01 pm »

Quote from: hellymedic on 27 January, 2015, 07:07:39 pm

They still have a pedal bin in the wheelchair loo. It has been unmolished by a user thobut...

I'd genuinely never thought of that before. Of course, I'm not provisioning accessible toilets. If I were, I'd probably want one of those robotic ones, or something that can reasonably be operated by both pedal and hand, or tbh just large, deep and lidless.

I certainly wouldn't install Dyson Airblades.

perpetual dan · « **Reply #5877 on:** 27 January, 2015, 09:52:46 pm »

Quote from: Tim Hall on 27 January, 2015, 01:41:28 pm

When I Rule The World, I'll make an addition to the Edumication System viz: Telling People What a Thermostat Does.

Get in to the office today and find it's on 24C FFS. At least it's better than yesterday's 25C.

(The "normal" setting is 21C, but "it's a bit cold out".)

Gah.

I had 27C yesterday, having come from the other end of the building where the heating was broken, and so still wearing a jumper.
Frankly, I think thermostats that go that high should require a special licence to buy!

Kim · « **Reply #5878 on:** 27 January, 2015, 10:00:45 pm »

Quote from: perpetual dan on 27 January, 2015, 09:52:46 pm

I had 27C yesterday, having come from the other end of the building where the heating was broken, and so still wearing a jumper.
Frankly, I think thermostats that go that high should require a special licence to buy!

Or at least have "NOT cannabis" written on them.

hellymedic · « **Reply #5879 on:** 27 January, 2015, 10:02:07 pm »

Quote from: Kim on 27 January, 2015, 07:13:01 pm

Quote from: hellymedic on 27 January, 2015, 07:07:39 pm
They still have a pedal bin in the wheelchair loo. It has been unmolished by a user thobut...

I'd genuinely never thought of that before. Of course, I'm not provisioning accessible toilets. If I were, I'd probably want one of those robotic ones, or something that can reasonably be operated by both pedal and hand, or tbh just large, deep and lidless.

I certainly wouldn't install Dyson Airblades.

They have paper towels, which is fine, unlike the pedal bin.

The pedal bin is constructed such that the lid cannot be manually lifted, for Infection Control reasons.
Which is a farce cos a loo full of discarded towels due to bin unsuitability is a greater hygiene risk, as is the likelihood that crips won't bother washing their hands...

Butterfly · « **Reply #5880 on:** 27 January, 2015, 10:05:01 pm »

The thermostat at work is set at 30 today (not by me). Doesn't make any difference, it's always bloody cold. I doubt the hall where the thermostat is gets much over 18 degrees. I set the one at home higher so that the radiators don't go off and stop drying the clothes. And because I feel the cold and usually notice that it's gone off within 10 minutes of the setting change.

Deano · « **Reply #5881 on:** 27 January, 2015, 10:14:25 pm »

Gah, thermostats.

We're in a new building and it was fucking boiling yesterday. Even the people who are usually cold (and attract rants along the lines of "just wear more clothes you harlots" from the facilities bods) were a bit warm.

About half an hour before the shift was due to end, facilities bod came along to have a look. Turns out, it had been set to "heat only". Accidentally, I'm sure. So we could turn it down as much as we wanted, it was never going to get colder. Especially as we couldn't open the windows

Personally, I favour the jogler solution - set the temperature centrally, and have placebo panels at strategic positions where people can change the display without affecting the temperature at all. But they'd feel happier about it.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #5882 on:** 27 January, 2015, 10:34:55 pm »

Quote from: Kim on 27 January, 2015, 07:13:01 pm

I certainly wouldn't install Dyson Airblades.

You know that place out in Arizona where unwanted jet aircraft go to die? When they get there the engines are removed and bought by Dyson to put in their hand-dryers. Trufax.

Northwick Park is a Nasty Place, improved only by the presence of fragrant ex-zek Miss Morris-Minor at the hostipal.

barakta · « **Reply #5883 on:** 27 January, 2015, 10:46:41 pm »

Apparently our new building will have centralised temperature setting... I foresee much like the materials and metallurgy building a situation where no one is happy and the temperatures are screwy "and can't be changed". I might see if I can smuggle my heater over cos I get my own office on crip grounds much to the sulking cos she can't get it of one of the senior managers

...

Kim · « **Reply #5884 on:** 27 January, 2015, 11:25:38 pm »

Quote from: Mr Larrington on 27 January, 2015, 10:34:55 pm

Northwick Park is a Nasty Place, improved only by the presence of fragrant ex-zek Miss Morris-Minor at the hostipal.

I was born, and indeed spent random bits of my childhood in and around Northwick Park hospital. It remains the only place where I've ever been rushed to A&E with pneumonia, ridden on a Paternoster, hotwired a car, hacked into a mainframe and examined a stranger's poo under a microscope. All of which was much less exciting and a fair bit more concretey than it sounds.

The thermostats there were rubbish, too.

David Martin · « **Reply #5885 on:** 27 January, 2015, 11:49:59 pm »

I spent the first two years of my PhD at Northwick park, including hte dismal summer of 1992 when it didn't rain on only 11 days between Easter and the August bank holiday.
Then we moved to Wormwood Scrubs for the latter two years.
I remember being in A&E with a busted ankle (Bad landing off the climbing wall at Brunel) when a chap came in who had been digging in a tranch with a pneumatic hammer when he hit a power cable. Sometimes the cartoon figures are scarily accurate.

hellymedic · « **Reply #5886 on:** 28 January, 2015, 12:14:31 am »

Quote from: Mr Larrington on 27 January, 2015, 10:34:55 pm

Quote from: Kim on 27 January, 2015, 07:13:01 pm
I certainly wouldn't install Dyson Airblades.

You know that place out in Arizona where unwanted jet aircraft go to die? When they get there the engines are removed and bought by Dyson to put in their hand-dryers. Trufax.

Northwick Park is a Nasty Place, improved only by the presence of fragrant ex-zek Miss Morris-Minor at the hostipal.

It has one other redeeming feature, the fruit shop.

It no longer appears to be an Orange (not fruit) dead zone. Lack of phone signal there was a PITA.

Guy · « **Reply #5887 on:** 28 January, 2015, 08:44:57 am »

All this talk of thermostats being turned up too high is making me feel even colder. Our heating broke down last weekend and the dont'twork disservices bums won't do anything about it 'til next week.

QM's dept did bring over a few (small) plug-in radiators but they are only just keeping the chill off. It's too cold to sit at a desk and vegetate

andrewc · « **Reply #5888 on:** 28 January, 2015, 08:57:08 am »

It's wet & windy in Liverpool, so I'm in the orifice in soaking wet jeans. Bleagh!

rafletcher · « **Reply #5889 on:** 28 January, 2015, 09:34:33 am »

Quote from: Guy on 28 January, 2015, 08:44:57 am

All this talk of thermostats being turned up too high is making me feel even colder. Our heating broke down last weekend and the dont'twork disservices bums won't do anything about it 'til next week. QM's dept did bring over a few (small) plug-in radiators but they are only just keeping the chill off. It's too cold to sit at a desk and vegetate

And being Crown property it'll be exempt from the laws governing minimum temperatures too I guess.

Guy · « **Reply #5890 on:** 28 January, 2015, 11:58:32 am »

Quote from: rafletcher on 28 January, 2015, 09:34:33 am

And being Crown property it'll be exempt from the laws governing minimum temperatures too I guess.

Not supposed to be, but unless the temperature drops below around 12C it's up to the boss, and as the temp is currently sitting at 14 we've just got to sit here andly slowly turn gelid.

matthew · « **Reply #5891 on:** 28 January, 2015, 12:02:50 pm »

Quote from: Guy on 28 January, 2015, 11:58:32 am

Quote from: rafletcher on 28 January, 2015, 09:34:33 am
And being Crown property it'll be exempt from the laws governing minimum temperatures too I guess.
Not supposed to be, but unless the temperature drops below around 12C it's up to the boss, and as the temp is currently sitting at 14 we've just got to sit here andly slowly turn gelid.

Surely you just need to ask the QM to break out the Arctic gear

hellymedic · « **Reply #5892 on:** 28 January, 2015, 03:37:44 pm »

I have been called for Jury Service.
I can't hold a pen and won't fill out the form. It appears there is no online option available.
I have emailed them.

I tried phoning but lost the will to live/hang on after I'd heard their recorded, somewhat uneducated, messages 4 times.

'A Jury Summonin' Officer'. FFS! Couldn't they use a voice that can pronounce the g in 'Summoning'? Honestly!!!

T42 · « **Reply #5893 on:** 28 January, 2015, 04:02:43 pm »

At least he/she/it didn't say "summonsing". I even saw that in a novel the other day: "...he summonsed a taxi."

Wombat · « **Reply #5894 on:** 28 January, 2015, 04:20:29 pm »

Well maybe it was an Addison Lee one, and needed summonsing

hellymedic · « **Reply #5895 on:** 28 January, 2015, 04:29:27 pm »

Aged Parents (78.9, 84.4) are offline.

BT have disconnected Old String and sent them a New Hub with Lots of New String.

Aged Parents are unwilling/unable to crawl on floor connecting New Hub and New String.

Teenage Grandsons are unavailable due to Exams.

Biggsy · « **Reply #5896 on:** 28 January, 2015, 04:30:07 pm »

The remote control of my new Sony TV has a football button!* What a waste of precious space!

* Not a euphemism, it's for a mode for watching football.

tiermat · « **Reply #5897 on:** 28 January, 2015, 04:37:14 pm »

Quote from: Biggsy on 28 January, 2015, 04:30:07 pm

The remote control of my new Sony TV has a football button!* What a waste of precious space!

* Not a euphemism, it's for a mode for watching football.

Ours has one, too, everyone else calls it the off switch...

Kim · « **Reply #5898 on:** 28 January, 2015, 04:38:08 pm »

Quote from: Biggsy on 28 January, 2015, 04:30:07 pm

The remote control of my new Sony TV has a football button!

Is that the red one with a circle with a line through the top?

ETA: Crosspost with tiermat

Andrij · « **Reply #5899 on:** 28 January, 2015, 06:43:07 pm »

Radio3 web bods, is it really so hard to get with the times? I'm pretty sure nearly all of the devices used to access your web site have no problem displaying characters with diacritics, so why do you give us Bela Bartok instead of Béla Bartók? No surpise, Jiří Bělohlávek is simplified too. (At least they don't translate his name - 'George Whitehead' doesn't have quite the same ring to it.)