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

[Kim]

Surrey filled in some of the many potholes at the top of our hill. But not all of them, just random ones which didn't include the one by kerb where they're supposed to be painting double yellow lines (one day, that's really grumble). I'm not entirely clear why they filled one, but not the identical one next door to it. They had all the equipment to hand right there.

My guess is that nobody had reported that one.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Or it didn't quite meet the minimum depth deemed necessary to fill.

[Kim]

Or they want to put a dead badger in it before painting the double yellows.

[Canardly]

Perhaps their new semi automated pot hole repair gizmos don't work with half a hole. IYSWIM. We passed Bedford council repairing some holes the other day with new technology, but similarly not at the margins. Our most recent ride casualties a year or two back involved two of our number having broken wrists and arms as a result of this.

[ian]

To be honest, that bit of road is a bit like the far side of the moon (our hill is actually unholed, it's just the much-patched border between the adopted hill and the private road beyond – for some reason there's two metres of connecting road that appears to have been made out of cheese). It just seemed a bit random as to the holes they'd filled in. It would have been easier to do them all. The usual cold-tar patches, I doubt they'll survive the winter. A few less judders as we bring our pram-wheeled Ford Ka in for landing (our awkward driveway and narrow road means you have to go up the hill and turn around to get in).

[rafletcher]

Surrey filled in some of the many potholes at the top of our hill. But not all of them, just random ones which didn't include the one by kerb where they're supposed to be painting double yellow lines (one day, that's really grumble). I'm not entirely clear why they filled one, but not the identical one next door to it. They had all the equipment to hand right there.

My guess is that nobody had reported that one.

This. And it was third party contractors with X holes to fill, not council workmen with independent power of thought.

[andrewc]

I bought an absolutely beautiful Liberty silk waistcoat on Ebay, XL size.   It _just_ fits, but if I was to breathe too deeply I might pop a button.   Oh well, another incentive to lose some weight. 

[T42]

Others have felt your pain...

[matthew]

So I left home at Audax O'clock this morning to catch the 5:59 into london to then get to kingsX for the 8:03 to Leeds.

Only on arrival at the station SWR report that there is a track circuit fault and no trains till 7:30. I was advised to get the bus to Reading and train to Paddington. Bus ran to time! Train into Paddington was 5 mins late at Reading so I caught it but 12 late by london. Then the underground played up. Faulty doors on the train ahead of mine so wait 15 minutes at baker street. Arrive at kingsX at 8:20 doh!

LNER kindly validated my ticket for the 8:33 so i was only 30 minutes behind schedule. Add the delay on that train and I got to Leeds 35 minutes late.


Then coming home this evening we lost 20 mins between Leeds and London. Fortunately SWR had sorted themselves out and ran fine out of waterloo.

All in it was a 15 hour day for a less than 4 hour meeting where we had to agree that the contractors design isn't up to spec based on the 1/3rd model i saw today but that due to time and the model fabrication we will not be able to investigate further design improvements.

[Beardy]

The problem with not having to pay for any beer you consume is knowing when to stop. Thankfully, I think, that experience enabled me to be at least towards the sensible end of the spectrum. 

[essexian]

As I had a doctor’s appointment early this morning I actually had to get up and go out in public first thing, rather than simply heading to my luxury, executive garden shed. Blimey, it had been cold overnight so the roads etc were covered with ice.

So, yet another grumble about cars incoming. Firstly…yes, I know it’s icy but you do not have to run your car for about half an hour as one of my neighbours did to “warm it up.” I am sure setting off from “cold” when “cold” is zero degrees is hardly likely to hurt your car after all, this is the 21st Century so vehicles should be built to higher standards than they used to be (and I have proof it the 21st C in Stafford before anyone asks me to confirm that!)  All that running your car does is put loads of poisons into the atmosphere. So much so, there was a low fog of pollutants the whole of my 2 mile walk given that there was no breeze.

Secondly…. The pollutants come from one of three type of vehicles in this rather middle class (for Stafford) area. Vehicles are either: “we need a big car to take a sick sheep to the vets.” “We need a car which is bigger than our neighbours because….” And finally: “We need a huge car to take our children the 250 yards to school as its not safe for them to walk given all the traffic around here.” When I am King, I am going to ban any cars larger than a Fiat 126.

Thirdly….if you are going to run your car for ages, spend at least a few minutes cleaning the ice off of it…. I saw countless “letter box” cars this morning!

Finally, and I have grumbled about this before….parking on pavements: STOP IT!!! Pavements are for people and not cars. It really irritates me as around here EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE has a drive which can fit at least a couple of cars.

[ian]

Yes, yes, but there's nowhere to park. You have to do the aspirated entitled whine at the gross unfairness of this predicament.

All the cars outside the school are back to full engine mode while they wait. I dunno, perhaps they just don't know about the negative effects of pollution on their children, perhaps they don't believe in them, perhaps they think it only affects the children of other parents, perhaps they simply don't care. There's one who parks around the back entrance that I take onto the school grounds who must pick up one kid earlier, so for bonus points she's not just sitting there waiting with the engine running but puffing away on a cigarette in the car with child number 1. She does open the window though, so probably needs the heater full on.

[Aidan]

Is anyone else fed up with Black Friday?    I've had loads of emails trying to sell me stuff I don't want or need in the name of a tradition which isn't even applicable in this country!   

And... how does " 3 weeks of Black Friday sales"   even work? 

[essexian]

I had an email this morning from Marc at Carter USM....the best little rock and roll band in the world: EVER.... flogging a new tee shirt (After the Watershed.... viewable here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-lvCkVQQ5w Worth doing...it's brilliant).

Anyway, Marc wrote the following which made me smile and buy the tee shirt: "And in a Black Friday special we are happy to announce we won't be offering a discount. We wouldn't want to patronise you in this way!"

Marc is a frood who really knows his market segment (and no doubt where his towel is!) 

[T42]

Funny how a mail shot from a national chain that touts a "Black Friday Private Sale!" isn't exactly convincing.

[SoreTween]

Is there an international tissue shortage on at the moment?  Or do I just work in an office full of filthy bastards?

[Cudzoziemiec]

Is anyone else fed up with Black Friday?    I've had loads of emails trying to sell me stuff I don't want or need in the name of a tradition which isn't even applicable in this country!   

And... how does " 3 weeks of Black Friday sales"   even work?

Black Friday is not a Friday, it's a season between Halloween and Christmas.

[Kim]

Is anyone else fed up with Black Friday?    I've had loads of emails trying to sell me stuff I don't want or need in the name of a tradition which isn't even applicable in this country!   

And... how does " 3 weeks of Black Friday sales"   even work?

Yes, but not as much as my friends who wrangle e-commerce websites for a living.

[ian]

Is there an international tissue shortage on at the moment?  Or do I just work in an office full of filthy bastards?

That's probably an issue with your content blocking software.

[Mrs Pingu]

It's not about warming the car up is it?
It's about warming the passenger compartment up.

[Kim]

It's almost worth plugging your PHEV wankpanzer in for...

[ElyDave]

It's not about warming the car up is it?
It's about warming the passenger compartment up.

Gloves and scarves, also concrete pills to HTFU

[Mrs Pingu]

It's not about warming the car up is it?
It's about warming the passenger compartment up.

Gloves and scarves, also concrete pills to HTFU

It's these people who don't want to wear a coat...

[ElyDave]

It's not about warming the car up is it?
It's about warming the passenger compartment up.

Gloves and scarves, also concrete pills to HTFU

It's these people who don't want to wear a coat...

Soft southern shites

[ian]

The problem is that they don't go outside other than briefly to scurry to the car, then repeat at the destination, so no, they don't want to bother with all the effort of a coat. This also means they need to park precisely at their destination. That's what happened to Scott of the Antarctic after all. Had he only parked closer to the South Pole.