Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

1

General Car Chat / Re: Bavarian brawn

« on: Yesterday at 21:44:59 »

Ive always loved the idea of the fun that could be had from a sleeper car.
Probably my ultimate one would have been the poverty spec prefacelift Omega, with Lotus Carlton running gear built by Omegatoy.
10 or more years ago I was told it had sat neglected on a driveway in Cambridge for several years, which set off dreams of buying it.
I heard not long after that the owner had sold the running gear when he got an offer he couldnt refuse.

I reckon Robsey's V8 "Omega 2.5 estate" was pretty much perfect. Before he gave the game away by poking a blower through the bonnet!

2

General Discussion Area / Re: Chemist prescription deliveries

« on: 10 April 2024, 23:15:15 »

What I don't get is...The pharmacists' job appears to be counting. Not sure when it became a requirement to have a university degree to count up to 14 (or multiples thereof)


So it takes at least 2 people 15 minutes to move a pre-sealed box of pills about 3 feet from the shelf where they were stacked to the "customer". You get home, take that day's pills and wash them down with a nice single malt.

The pharmacist's job is checking, not counting.

You missed out "Explaining for the umpteenth time how to take the medicine you've been taking since before (s)he was born".

3

General Discussion Area / Re: Why do some people behave so stupidly.

« on: 09 April 2024, 18:34:06 »

Without making any excuse for the moron in question...

In day-to-day life the no smoking rules in the UK tend not to be taken in any way seriously. For example, I think every NHS hospital has been no smoking for around a decade now, including the carparks, grounds etc. Visit any one and you will surely see a cluster of smokers outside every door, both staff and patients and nothing is done to stop them. 

Your common-or-garden moron therefore becomes used to smoking where they want and simply being rude to or shrugging off anyone who suggests they shouldn't be doing it. So put them in an environment where there are real consequences to their actions and they just aren't smart enough to see them coming.

That bit can be applied to a rapidly growing number of people in pretty much any scenario in life these days, it seems.

4

General Discussion Area / Re: What has P*ssed you off today?

« on: 05 April 2024, 18:40:11 »

Looks like yesterday I hit the wrong button on a well known online retailer.  I thought I was getting a pair of DJI Mini 2 batteries, but a paddling pool turned up.  Upon checking my orders, that's what I clicked.

Bugger.

It's your subconscious rejoicing in the fact that summer is coming - sit down, dangle your feet in the nice cool water, enjoy a beer, try not to break anything, the usual routine

I actually think his admission is an indicator of restored trust in this community, or perhaps a reflection of Royal Mail's prices these days. After all, not so long ago, it might have resulted in an influx of Speedos in the post.

5

General Discussion Area / Re: Why do some people behave so stupidly.

« on: 05 April 2024, 18:36:58 »

On our most recent cruise, we heard that some old chap had been taken seriously ill so when we saw the Ambulance in port from our balcony we thought it was him being taken away. There was also an old lady sat crying in her wheelchair on the dock so we assumed it was her husband being taken away. We then heard that the old lady was nothing to do with the old chap, and that she’d been thrown off the cruise ship for being violent towards her own family and other passengers. 

If ever I went on a cruise, knowing my luck, I would be couped up on a floating hotel with people like that.

I contemplated a cruise, but the more I think about it, the more I know its not for me.  I mean, I hate hotels with a passion.  A hotel you can't really escape from all day, every day, is just a prison

Man overboard? 

I'm pretty sure that's how it would end if I ever had the misfortune to find myself on one...

6

General Discussion Area / Re: What has P*ssed you off today?

« on: 04 April 2024, 23:07:17 »

Looks like yesterday I hit the wrong button on a well known online retailer.  I thought I was getting a pair of DJI Mini 2 batteries, but a paddling pool turned up.  Upon checking my orders, that's what I clicked.

Bugger.

Doh!

7

General Car Chat / Re: Costs of running a car

« on: 03 April 2024, 20:20:10 »

My first car, a 1980 Renault 5 GTL produced about 500bhp and went like stink!                                                 

A long, long time ago, back when the pubs still closed on Sunday afternoons a friend picked up his new car carefully selected to be faster than his brother's 1.4l Renault 5. Out of all the options to achieve this in the early 90s, Alan opted for a 1.7l R5. It's guaranteed to be faster


When the pub closed, we discovered that if all three rear passengers throw themselves against the outside when the car is at full lean on a 90° bend at the bottom of two hills, the whole car skips across the road in a hilariously dangerous way.


About 15 years later, the same bend at the bottom of Water Works Hill was the scene of the Trabant Incident which was even more dangerous, but nowhere near as funny when sheer luck prevented it from being a fatal crash...

I might have ended up being grounded for a while as a result, but I can't help thinking 17 year old me did the world a favour by punting a Renault 5 into the scrapyard in my Mum's Volvo.

8

General Discussion Area / Re: Gas & Leccy Bills

« on: 01 April 2024, 23:33:47 »

That sounds above the new price cap rates....

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/changes-energy-price-cap-between-1-april-30-june-2024#:~:text=Electricity%20rates,and%20Wales%20and%20includes%20VAT.

I'm with the ever useless British Gas since my energy company went tits up 2 or 3 years back, and they charge me the OFGEM rates for energy and standing charge.

That's probably because I pay monthly for my usage rather than having a direct debit.  I know I pay slightly more, but I have control and they can't swipe huge amounts from my bank account.

I pay a month in arrears as well, so it's like having a free overdraft! 

I have a massive overdraft from Octopus because they didn't increase my direct debit during the silly prices, but reduced it by the amount of the government top-up, then only hiked it a couple of months ago.

I'm not complaining that they decided to give me a couple of grand of interest free loan.

9

General Car Chat / Re: So what have you done to your car today?

« on: 30 March 2024, 08:43:25 »

Put in a puddle that was a lot longer and a lot deeper than I anticipated , no harm done :0

Then followed some tosser on the M40 for 15 miles who wouldn't move from the inside lane.  Out of principle I refused undertake, though many others did.  Knobjockey.  Merc ragtop, so to be expected in these parts.

Did you check he hadn't just gently passed away while on cruise control?

10

General Discussion Area / Re: Starlink.

« on: 30 March 2024, 08:31:02 »

Zen replaced my copper landline with VOIP recently.

They are buttering me up for when they do mine...

I didn't put up much resistance, in fairness. Good excuse to disconnect all the garbage extension wiring.

11

General Discussion Area / Re: Starlink.

« on: 29 March 2024, 16:41:35 »

Yes, the current copper arrives in a duct, and Gigaclear and Swish have been in the area.

I think I got a leaflet through the door from one of them, saw no ISPs I recognised on the list of those available, so binned it.

I have a Zen fixed price for life contract currently so would need to be convinced I needed the extra speed to switch anyway, although ditching the shitty VDSL noise would be nice. That's more a problem of my neighbours not switching than me, however. 

You HAM boyz.  ADSL/VDSL is like high voltage power lines to you


Pre register interest in Gigaclear does tend to get a very good price offer when they finally allow ordering.  Hence I'm getting £30 a month off.

My Zen is also fixed for life, although I suspect they have a convenient get out clause in that copper phones lines are going, and my contract includes a copper phne line with Zen.  I will probably recontract the internet part when Openreach pull their finger out and provide FTTP here, possibly later this year.

Not sure what to do when OPenreach do do it, just go for the highest speed available (currently 900d/100u due Openreach's short sighted decision to use GPON, but new networks should be about to get 1800d/200u*, still based on GPON).  Or just get a cheap FTTP through Zen and also keep one of the altnets - once you've had a fast upload, its hard to give it up if you use any upload bandwidth...

...when I had the 900Mb service, it was quicker to use OneDrive to copy filies between PCs, rather than USB sticks.  It was the same speed to use OneDrive as it was to copy files across my LAN .  And Youtube uploads dropped from about 3hrs to under 3m


(Though that might get reduced to 120u, again due to stupid decisions around the utterly out of date GPON - GPON allows 2.5Gb download, 1.25Gb upload, shared by all users on that node, usually around 64 - 128 homes.  Altnets tend to use XGS-PON)

Zen replaced my copper landline with VOIP recently.

12

General Discussion Area / Re: Starlink.

« on: 29 March 2024, 11:02:06 »

Yes, the current copper arrives in a duct, and Gigaclear and Swish have been in the area.

I think I got a leaflet through the door from one of them, saw no ISPs I recognised on the list of those available, so binned it.

I have a Zen fixed price for life contract currently so would need to be convinced I needed the extra speed to switch anyway, although ditching the shitty VDSL noise would be nice. That's more a problem of my neighbours not switching than me, however. 

13

General Discussion Area / Re: Starlink.

« on: 29 March 2024, 08:10:18 »

Some company came and installed some in our road.. Put a point outside our neighbours' house and ours (we're number 3) then went off and never finished the rest of the road.

14

General Car Chat / Re: Arrival of new Vehicle.

« on: 29 March 2024, 08:08:28 »

Come on, common as now. Even my Yeti has Zenon's that turn when you steer and at slow speed puts the spot light on to light kerb at a junction.

Yeah, but thats VAG, and the stupid foglight turn lights are built to burn retinas of oncoming drivers...   ...be it a Pisshat or a Yeti.  How dare other road users try to use the road

Better them being "oncoming" than being stuck behind one.

15

General Car Chat / Re: C1 (The skate) serious misfire.

« on: 27 March 2024, 23:14:38 »

Have swapped plug, stick coil and injector between 1 and 3,  but code stayed at pot 3. The most recent incident though only threw up cat efficiency code .
Maybe because I stopped and put petrol in to bring the fuel level back up, rather than keep driving until I got home.
A mechanic on another forum claims that cylinder specific codes on these arent always accurate and can be taken with a pinch of salt ?
Will have a check of injector wiring, but if that doesnt provide any answers Im going to run the fuel level low again, and then see if I can make some progress with it.
Maybe completely empty and clean out the tank and then start fresh from there.
It isnt a huge problem so far, but pretty irritating, and may get worse until I diagnose it properly.

Which might be why we ended up replacing 2 of them on my colleague's car. And I think he'd already had the third replaced by an AA man...