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

[mrcharly-YHT]

Can't find my fingerless mitts, so I thought I'd treat myself to a new pair.

HOW MUCH!

Not paying that money unless I get to try them on (I have fat hands and most mitts don't fit).

[Mrs Pingu]

Had to put the heating on again today.

Had the fan on in the bedroom last night

You are a git!

[Mrs Pingu]

Just been for a concerted rummage round all the boxes containing screws etc left here by the plumber last Tuesday in the hope that I could find the correct screws to allow me to screw the front panels back on the sockets that are hanging out of the kitchen wall as I am getting fed up of them like that, but unfortunately the correct screws are nowhere to be found and there is nothing useful in my screw stash that will do.
We picked a really good time to get the coronalurgi 

[andrewc]

Grumble 1.  The woman at the campsite asked if I qualified for the over 60 rate.  The chap pitched next to me asked if my ride was a “retirement thing “. 


Am I losing my youthful good looks ?


Grumble 2. The first day’s ride of this trip saw me wrestling a loaded Thorn Nomad through a kissing gate. I’ve now got a large bruise on my abdomen from the stem.

[ElyDave]

Had to put the heating on again today.

Had the fan on in the bedroom last night

You are a git!

I'm thinking of switching from my winter 4-Tog duvet to my summer sheet already.  Sweltering this week so far

[ElyDave]

Just been for a concerted rummage round all the boxes containing screws etc left here by the plumber last Tuesday in the hope that I could find the correct screws to allow me to screw the front panels back on the sockets that are hanging out of the kitchen wall as I am getting fed up of them like that, but unfortunately the correct screws are nowhere to be found and there is nothing useful in my screw stash that will do.
We picked a really good time to get the coronalurgi 

If they are the standard socket face screws I could probably bung a load in the post if that would help?

[Feanor]

Just been for a concerted rummage round all the boxes containing screws etc left here by the plumber last Tuesday in the hope that I could find the correct screws to allow me to screw the front panels back on the sockets that are hanging out of the kitchen wall as I am getting fed up of them like that, but unfortunately the correct screws are nowhere to be found and there is nothing useful in my screw stash that will do.
We picked a really good time to get the coronalurgi 

If they are the standard socket face screws I could probably bung a load in the post if that would help?

Also, check in the back of the faceplate. There are often little clippy places to store the screws to stop them getting lost.

They are M3.5, but come in varying lengths.
Sometimes, the backing box is set quite deep below the surface, esp. if there's additional tile thickness too.
So this calls for extra-long ones, but they are readily available.

[Kim]

I hate faceplate screws.  They're a silly (for metric values of silly) size and would greatly benefit from a better screw head, and that's before they get mashed as you try to line them up with the backbox while trying to cram too many uncooperative wires into a tight space.

[Feanor]

I hate faceplate screws.  They're a silly (for metric values of silly) size and would greatly benefit from a better screw head, and that's before they get mashed as you try to line them up with the backbox while trying to cram too many uncooperative wires into a tight space.

My least-favourite thing is trying to aim the screws into the backing box when it's deeply set, doubly so if you can't see the 'ole you are aiming for.
You might get one just started, but then you just can't get the second one to find it's mark.
And when it does, it goes in cross-threaded because the faceplate is at a wonky angle because too many wires.
And once it's cross-threaded, it's almost impossible to then get it in not cross-threaded.
And then, as you tighten it up, one of the conductors will become nipped or abraded and trip out the RCD.

I just love this stuff.

[Kim]

Come the revolution, backboxes shallower than 40mm will be outlawed.  It won't solve most of the screw problems, but it'll make the wires a bit easier.

I note that you can get security torx head versions.  I wonder if improved aiming accuracy and reduced likelihood of the screwdriver slipping and scratching/stabbing something shiny/fleshy is worth the not-being-able-to-find-the-right-screwdriver effect.

[Mrs Pingu]

I had already checked the back of the faceplates with no joy. That's of the existing ones. The 2 old single faceplates which have been replaced by double boxes are lying in a cabinet, no screws of course and the replacement double boxes have no faceplates. So presumably the sparky snaffled it all away somewhere when he was here while we were on holiday.

@ElyDave thank you for the kind offer but I've lived with it for a week so I'll just have to clench my teeth for another...
Alternatively I could go and scavenge the screws from the new socket in the boiler cupboard <strokes chin smiley>

[hatler]

I hate faceplate screws.  They're a silly (for metric values of silly) size and would greatly benefit from a better screw head, and that's before they get mashed as you try to line them up with the backbox while trying to cram too many uncooperative wires into a tight space.

My least-favourite thing is trying to aim the screws into the backing box when it's deeply set, doubly so if you can't see the 'ole you are aiming for.
You might get one just started, but then you just can't get the second one to find it's mark.
And when it does, it goes in cross-threaded because the faceplate is at a wonky angle because too many wires.
And once it's cross-threaded, it's almost impossible to then get it in not cross-threaded.
And then, as you tighten it up, one of the conductors will become nipped or abraded and trip out the RCD.

I just love this stuff.

Apologies, but this is fantastic to hear.
I thought it was only me and my incompetence that ever experienced that.

[Mrs Pingu]

Alternatively I could go and scavenge the screws from the new socket in the boiler cupboard <strokes chin smiley>

Of course that didnae work because, as Feanor rightly pointed out, they're deep boxes which I don't have elsewhere.

I shall try texting the plumber to see if he can get the sparky to shove some thru our letterbox.

[ian]

Ah dear wife, much as I appreciate you badgering the gardeners to come and tame the jungle, be nice if you checked I didn't have several important meetings in the morning, ones that might not benefit from a soundtrack of petrol-powered mowers and strimmers. Oh, I'll be at the office is not an optimal response.

[The Family Cyclist]

The people who manage our industrial estate where I work clearly aren't doing no mow may, the still relatively short grass which was however looking nice with daisies and dandelions is now a scalped greeny brown mess

The guy strimming was in trainers, shorts and no eye or ear protection.

Similar for our across-the-road neighbour, scalps his lawn twice a week.

And on another note, whilst out on my rides this weekend, I can across 2 people in different locations strimming down the hedge parsley on the verges -  outside their property lines, in a location invisible from their homes. Why?

Cos some people including my collegue at work think things must be kept tidy including nature

[cygnet]

The people who manage our industrial estate where I work clearly aren't doing no mow may, the still relatively short grass which was however looking nice with daisies and dandelions is now a scalped greeny brown mess

The guy strimming was in trainers, shorts and no eye or ear protection.

Similar for our across-the-road neighbour, scalps his lawn twice a week.

And on another note, whilst out on my rides this weekend, I can across 2 people in different locations strimming down the hedge parsley on the verges -  outside their property lines, in a location invisible from their homes. Why?

Cos some people including my collegue at work think things must be kept tidy including nature

Cos parking?

[T42]

Just found out that another name for hedge parsley is tall sock-destroyer. 

[rafletcher]

The people who manage our industrial estate where I work clearly aren't doing no mow may, the still relatively short grass which was however looking nice with daisies and dandelions is now a scalped greeny brown mess

The guy strimming was in trainers, shorts and no eye or ear protection.

Similar for our across-the-road neighbour, scalps his lawn twice a week.

And on another note, whilst out on my rides this weekend, I can across 2 people in different locations strimming down the hedge parsley on the verges -  outside their property lines, in a location invisible from their homes. Why?

Cos some people including my collegue at work think things must be kept tidy including nature

Cos parking?

Nope, at least not in the cases I mentioned, as the verges are outside large detached houses / bar conversions and there's never been ant street parking on that lane. Just ignorance.

[Mrs Pingu]

Helllp!

So this happened
2022-05-12_07-09-29 by The Pingus, on Flickr

I wasn't pushing hard, in fact the face plate wasn't on , I was just trying to see if I could get a sticky screw in there without cross threading it and it suddenly all moved backwards and is stuck.
Any great ideas? (Besides give up and walk away).
The other face plate is sorted now, at least.

[robgul]

Helllp!

So this happened
2022-05-12_07-09-29 by The Pingus, on Flickr

I wasn't pushing hard, in fact the face plate wasn't on , I was just trying to see if I could get a sticky screw in there without cross threading it and it suddenly all moved backwards and is stuck.
Any great ideas? (Besides give up and walk away).
The other face plate is sorted now, at least.

WITH CARE - attack the plastic box with tin-snips to cut it into bits that can be pulled back over the wire - fit replacement new box.  (Make sure the juice is off !)

. . .  are you sure you're fitting this correctly? - the aperture looks like it might be too large for the front flange to sit against the surface and for the spring loaded bit to meet the inner face of the aperture when you screw on the faceplate.

[Mrs Pingu]

I did not fit it. It was either the one already there or the sparky fitted a new box. I was merely trying to get the faceplate screwed in instead of having another week of using it while hanging out of the wall.
Also, the aperture isn't too large, that's just the splashback you're looking at there. There is still plasterboard behind the box flange.
I have sussed out what it's supposed to look like via Google. I think I will just leave it for the sparky to sort whenever he comes back.
Clearly it was a problem getting it to stay put because the clip on the other side of the box has a wood screw securing it ..

[ian]

Fill it with polyurethane foam then move house. It's the only way to be sure.

[Kim]

That's one of those newfangled boxes with wings^[1] for cardboard walls, isn't it?  In which case, I agree with ian.


_{[1] Cue rollerskates and conspicuously non-black lycra}

[Mrs Pingu]

I got the yellow 'wing' back inside the box.

Currently trying to find a picture on Google of how it actually works.

[Mrs Pingu]

Oh I think I see the problem. The tiny thin white bits that are supposed to stop the yellow wing from moving back while you try and stick a screw in it are all snapped. Fecking stupid design.