What's made you grumpy today?

[DaveMcT]

I'm trying to understand how this has left me feeling, not angry, but upset I think would best describe it? He/she (I'm deliberately not saying) obviously thought I should have just sat and waited until was finished with their lengthy call?

He probably drove away still on the phone and/or texting, hence his very slow progress.

TBH. I would have pip-pipped on the horn. These sort are so self-absorbed they don't have a clue about other's needs.

 

[portland_bill]

People who can't sit still in a queue at traffic lights. Just stop once, and stay there until the lights change.
Temporary traffic lights at road works on the way out of Swindon. Lights go red, we all stop. Then every few moments, cars shuffle forward a few feet, not yards, just feet. The lights are still red, the front of the queue has not moved, but they all squeeze forward. Eventually the gap ahead grows quite big. If I don't shuffle with the rest, vehicles behind get upset, despite no-one really going anywhere. So instead of sitting patiently until the next green, we all have to play with the clutch every few moments.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Flat bottomed boat!

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

People who can't sit still in a queue at traffic lights. Just stop once, and stay there until the lights change.
Temporary traffic lights at road works on the way out of Swindon. Lights go red, we all stop. Then every few moments, cars shuffle forward a few feet, not yards, just feet. The lights are still red, the front of the queue has not moved, but they all squeeze forward. Eventually the gap ahead grows quite big. If I don't shuffle with the rest, vehicles behind get upset, despite no-one really going anywhere. So instead of sitting patiently until the next green, we all have to play with the clutch every few moments.

Absolutely PB, this one is quite close to the top of my list of "annoyances". Fine on a downward slope. I'll usually "play the game" if on the flat but I point blank refuse to move on upward slopes. It can be extremely annoying on motorways/dual carriageways because if you don't "keep up" someone will invariably nip in in front of you.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Reflecting on yesterdays "entertainment"

My younger boy's downstairs toilet - ever so "posh", now their extension is finished they've got one upstairs and one downstairs! - I have been noticing for a few weeks now, when out there childminding, that the downstairs one has a slow overflow happening (it's got an internal overflow which directs the overflow water into the bowl via the syphon.)

He's very lazy about doing anything when these sort of things happen so I was just waiting for him to mention it and ask me what to do. Anyway I was surprised when he rang me last friday to say "Dad, there's water dripping on the floor from the loo". That surprised me as I couldn't work out how the internal overflow could be causing it so asked him to go and look at it and tell me exactly where the water is coming from. A few minutes later, obviously with his mobile phone in one hand, he was telling me "Dad, it's not leaking now". Very strange? Ok, flush it and see if it leaks? (with me praying it's not the soil pipe leaking) "Oh yes, it's leaking now"! Ok, exactly where is the water coming from? "The pipe coming out the bottom of the water tank" - It's not a close coupled cistern. Ok put some old towels on the floor and I'll bring my tools on Tuesday (a childminding day) and just use the upstairs loo.

When I got there it was indeed the wedge shaped rubber washer on the cistern pipe which had just perished and got hard and I had a new one in my tool box so that took just minutes to fix. However the cistern was still overflowing so I actually decided to sort that first. Unbelievably the tiler had tiled over the edge of the cistern lid - DOH! - so I had to break away the edge of the tiles along the top of the cistern lid before I could remove it. Sure enough, initial observation was that the ballcock valve was leaking. That's Ok, I always keep spare washers. luckily - or should it be unluckily? - there's a gate valve on the supply pipe. I really don't like gate valves used in this way because they often won't completely stop the flow I much prefer those wee ball valves you turn with a screwdriver. So. with the gate valve closed? I started to get a grip on the big plastic nut that holds the ballcock together, but hold on, there's water coming out between the nut and the plastic fitting - and I haven't started to undo it yet! I rechecked the gate valve and it's screwed fully in but obviously not completely stopping the water flow, still, it'll only be a trickle, I'll just live with it. Ah well, better have a look inside it and see what I can see. The rubber "shut off" washer was in poor condition, having gone hard with age, but not totally "goosed" so I dismantled all the component parts to clean them up before fitting the new washer when I noticed a lot of putty around the fitting. Very strange, why? Anyone familiar with these fittings will know there is a swapable nozzle inside depending on whether the supply is gravity (low pressure) fed or mains. The gravity feed nozzle is often white and the mains (high pressure) is red. I fitted this toilet several years ago when the house had a gravity tank and used a white nozzle. But the new boiler, fitted during the extension construction, is a Combi so the whole house is on mains now. What had happened was that the plumber had, quite correctly, removed the white nozzle and fitted a red one in it's place - presumably before the tiler got going? - but he'd put the rubber O ring seal on the wrong side of the nozzle fitting thus guaranteeing that it would leak. Not only that but he must have observed that it was leaking, taken it to pieces and packed it with putty, still with the O ring misplaced, to stop it back leaking. This must have worked at the time he did it but the water pressure must have slowly moved the soft putty until it leaked again which was why he had the overflow discharge. Anyway, all sorted now. Cleaned out all the gungy putty. Installed the O ring in it's correct, and very obvious location. Fitted a new ballcock washer to replace the hardened one and finished up fitting the new soft rubber taper washer to the flush pipe. All good! I'll not mention the swear words uttered when the gland on the gate valve started leaking when I turned the supply back on!

I'm just hoping, please dear God, that it was the apprentice who did this and that he had nothing to do with the installation of the new Combi boiler and it's extensive replumb!

 

[DaveMcT]

Take out the crappy gate valve and a polyplumb valve. They work on copper or plastic pipe. Hep2o is another brand.
They work fine even if the water wont fully shut off and with a 50 year life, they'll outlast any brass fittings.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283857903004?epid=26043609316&hash=item42173fdd9c:g:jawAAOSwj9ReowZj

The olive will have damaged the pipe end so cut it back with pipe cutter and push fit the new valve. Close the valve and no more water dribble. Now you can sort out the connection to cistern with copper or plastic.

 

[StevenRB45]

Washing machine has finally given up the ghost properly...tbf it's been on its last legs for years and always managed to bring it back but full sizzle and arcing blue light underneath.

Could get a repair man out etc. but it's ten and has numerous other faults, bearings are shot, it vibrates like a lump hammer occasionally and doesn't take in conditioner from the drawer. I've been expecting it die for about 3 years if I'm honest.

So there's a nice 450 quid bill, could have got a cheapy I suppose but idea is it lasts as least as long as the old one.

At least got 30 quid off from blue light card..and Bosch currently have an offer on of 50 quid cash back on appliances as well so not quite wince inducing as it could have been.

 

[puntofan01]

I was behind a new ford puma earlier: the brake lights are ridiculously tiny! How on earth it got through type approval I'll never know. Such a stupid design!!

 

[varesecrazy]

I was behind a new ford puma earlier: the brake lights are ridiculously tiny! How on earth it got through type approval I'll never know. Such a stupid design!!

No doubt its to counter those operators of vehicles who brake.. then indicate..

The mega bright red light masking the amber

And the following traffic just sit there assuming the 'non.indicator' is in a queue.

 

[StevenRB45]

I was behind a new ford puma earlier: the brake lights are ridiculously tiny! How on earth it got through type approval I'll never know. Such a stupid design!!

Think my Favourite one of these was the Seat Leon from a few years ago before the face-lift.

Front indicator directly in the centre of the of the unit..so at night when the headlamps are set to full eye-scorch you might as well not have front indicators as not only were they quite small but the only way to see them was to look directly into beam of the L.E.D. headlamp which no-one would...

Type approval, allowing manufacturers to get away with daft **** for years. Pretty much 100% of modern cars wouldn't pass construction use regs for various reasons. Although part of that is they've not been updated for years.

 

[StevenRB45]

Been dry for ages...

As a result both cars were covered in a combination of thick pollen off the fields and blown soil from the building site where they are building new houses behind us.

No matter, I washed them both yesterday, then my wife has come back from work and it's rained. So C3 now has mud from the building site up the sides...not entirely sure why I bother.

Suppose at least I got rid of the random sticky patch on the centre console..I have no idea what it was, but it was definitely sticky. :yuck:

 

[PuntoHowTo]

Suppose at least I got rid of the random sticky patch on the centre console..I have no idea what it was, but it was definitely sticky. :yuck:

Child related sticky, they leave sticky everywhere

 

[StevenRB45]

Child related sticky, they leave sticky everywhere

Given it was between the gearknob and handbrake...I think he's innocent.

This is the car I ended up disassembling the handbrake surround after someone left a boiled sweet in the cup holder on a 25 degree and turned to liquid.

Next car needs to be hose out...

 

[DaveMcT]

People who can't sit still in a queue at traffic lights. Just stop once, and stay there until the lights change.
Temporary traffic lights at road works on the way out of Swindon. Lights go red, we all stop. Then every few moments, cars shuffle forward a few feet, not yards, just feet. The lights are still red, the front of the queue has not moved, but they all squeeze forward. Eventually the gap ahead grows quite big. If I don't shuffle with the rest, vehicles behind get upset, despite no-one really going anywhere. So instead of sitting patiently until the next green, we all have to play with the clutch every few moments.

What about those who stop a car length short of the traffic light stop line or the car in front? There's always the same delay before they get rolling, but all that wasted road space means fewer folks at the back of the queue can get going before the lights change. These dopes with 20ft long car bonnets literally add to traffic congestion - an absolute menace in my town which has far too many traffic lights.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Returning from childminding today we joined a queue going uphill from the London road roundabout towards Picardy place. With all the disruption caused by the tram installation works. If you hit a queue here it's a slow crawl up the hill with frequent stops and starts as the lights at the top control traffic flow. Normally this is a straightforward clutch torturing series of starts but today it nearly drove me mad because the car in front was a Tesla! Instead of keeping up with the stop start in a normal way he was letting his car dribble forward at a constant, very slow, rate of progress. Far to slow to allow full engagement of my clutch but just fast enough that, if I didn't move, an appreciable gap developed in front of me so that drivers behind started "tooting" me. I decided to put up with the "tooting" and save my clutch but I felt very uncomfortable doing it. Of course "Mr Tesla driver" with his electric motor, could, I presume, continue to do this sort of maneuver indefinitely at no detriment to his vehicle whatsoever?

 

[portland_bill]

What about those who stop a car length short of the traffic light stop line or the car in front? There's always the same delay before they get rolling, but all that wasted road space means fewer folks at the back of the queue can get going before the lights change. These dopes with 20ft long car bonnets literally add to traffic congestion - an absolute menace in my town which has far too many traffic lights.

When teaching we recommend keeping some distance from the car ahead. There's a phrase, 'tyres & tarmac'. When you stop, you should be able to see the tyres of the car ahead touching the road. This allows enough gap for several options. Room and time to squeak if they roll back, or engage reverse in error. Space to go around if they fail to move. Space to flex to allow emergency vehicles past. Space to allow pedestrians to cross, and just stand there in front of you when the lights turn green. (May not be an advantage) Also allows those looking ahead to move with the vehicle in front, removing the delay. If done well, this actually makes progress better. Sadly, few do it well.

Those who leave more space than that, I think do it because they have poor clutch control, and have to allow the car ahead to move a good distance before leaping at them. Then there are those on the phone every time they stop, holding the car on the clutch, creeping forward without knowing. A bit of space ahead allows you to avoid the bump. (I've been thinking I need a horn behind the back bumper for these.)

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

When teaching we recommend keeping some distance from the car ahead. There's a phrase, 'tyres & tarmac'. When you stop, you should be able to see the tyres of the car ahead touching the road. This allows enough gap for several options.

Then there are those on the phone every time they stop, holding the car on the clutch, creeping forward without knowing. A bit of space ahead allows you to avoid the bump. (I've been thinking I need a horn behind the back bumper for these.)

'Morning PB, I hope this finds you well?

"Old Mr Scott" who taught me to drive back in the very early '60s and who I've mentioned before on this forum, was very keen on several things which he frequently reinforced during his lessons. Amongst these were the "famous" 2 second rule (repeated twice if road conditions are less than good - ie raining etc. I've also heard of it then referred to as the "one thousand and four" rule) and frequent use of rear view mirrors (his favorite "trick" was to put a hand over the interior mirror and ask "what's behind us right now"?). He was also very keen on leaving enough room in front, when you came to a halt in traffic, that you could turn the wheel and pull around the vehicle in front - should it become immobile for whatever reason - without needing to shuttle back and forward. I hadn't heard your phrase "Tyres and Tarmac" until I saw it a couple of years ago on this forum, almost certainly mentioned by you, and I've adopted it rather than trying to judge a suitable distance every time. It works extremely well, so thank you.

Talking about those on phones, the incidence of which I think is definitely creeping up again, we have been amused/alarmed by a new arrival in our street. Although there are several flats in the block opposite us which are rented there is only one house in the street which is. It's a single bedroom near the end of the street nearest the main road and seems to attract single unmarried chaps. It has a high turnover, new resident almost yearly or more often, who tend not to cut the, very small, front lawn or do any weeding. The latest incumbent is a "trendy" and aggressive young man who rushes about far too fast in a relatively new Range Rover - which he has to park with 2 wheels on the pavement otherwise he stops the refuse lorries etc from getting through. He always just turns into the road and parks in the first place he can find so the car is facing into the estate. (thus denying the use of the pavement on that side to Mums with prams) Consequently, when departing, he drives further into the estate until he can turn at the dead end "T" junction at the end of our street and come back out. He never puts his seat belt on and is on his mobile 'phone, either tucked under his chin or held out at arms length on the top of the steering wheel as he whizzes past. In fact I suspect that mobile is an integral part of his physique as he seems to be permanently on it even on the infrequent occasions you see him out on foot. I'm quite keen to engage with him just to see if he's a member of the human race but so far he's ignored my couple of "cheery" greetings.

 

[portland_bill]

Had to do a 40 mile trip today. Preferred to take the country roads rather than M4. Didn't work out too well. What would normally be 1hr15 became 1hr45, with three road closures with diversions.

The second diversion dropped me directly at the third, the diversion from which sent everyone back from whence they'd come. Two separate closures, two diversions, no co-ordination, so a circular touor going nowhere. Pure genius. For what is normally a quiet route, lots of confused and angry drivers, most with no idea where to go next. Armed with an atlas, found another route, and got followed by a crowd. Can't do that with a satnav, they just keep insisting on the original route.

 

[Didge3]

Accidentally put 9 years instead of 7 on my NCD for new insurance, license held 9 years but 7 years of discount due to not having a car for 18 months.
Premium went up £170 + £30 admin fee, not thrilled about shelling out another 200 quid.

 

[portland_bill]

Accidentally put 9 years instead of 7 on my NCD for new insurance, license held 9 years but 7 years of discount due to not having a car for 18 months.
Premium went up £170 + £30 admin fee, not thrilled about shelling out another 200 quid.

You just have to stay out of trouble as you get older, then the premium reduces. Bear with it.
Good for being honest and advising of the error, if found out at claim time, insurance could be voided.