What's made you grumpy today?

[portland_bill]

Not to bad here just a wheelie bin blown into the ditch Thankfully it had been emptied. Even more fortunately mrs P Nut rescued it. RESULT

If you lie a wheelie bin down, with its wheels on the ground, and face the open end to the wind, they can move along the road quite well.
A few years ago, my learner turned into a road, and there coming towards us were two such bins, at quite a speed, being followed by two excited small boys. We stopped, the boys looked horrified, as the bins gently thumped into the car. Damage, didn't care. I was cracked up laughing. Wheelie bin racing. Didn't have that option when I was young. Also good to see them outside playing, rather than glued to a screen.

 

[StevenRB45]

Standard conversation of frustration with a family member..

Now having this conversation with anyone else you may think I'll go over and give them hand.

But they are all about the "crisis" and whatever Heath Robinson solutions they are going to have for it.

Sort of person where if the car has a rattle turning left they'll come home via only right turns using an additional 250 quid of fuel rather than replace a drop link. Infuriating...

One wonderful example...the drive belt on his tumble dryer was slipping. He would slowly load it up with more and more starting with a tea towel and add more clothes I dread to think how much additional electric he used as a result of this... probably enough to pay for 3 tumble dryers. The topper on this was it later transpired he had a cover on the tumble dryer which fixed it for free.


Anyway his upstairs lights aren't working and are tripping off at the board. "I've bought new bulbs to put up" "why? If the switches are all off and the bulbs are working when you can get them on then it's not the bulbs tripping them" "I'll give it a go..." So there's a 70 year old man with a dodgy back that apparently goes into spasms balancing on a chair for no flipping reason. He's already had my father in law round to look at them...

Also toilet is apparently nearly blocked but he flushed after a while and it slowly went away... I made the mistake of mentioning I own a set of drain rods here. Apparently this man with a dicky back is going to lift the man hole and will give me a ring.

I understand the more normal reaction to this should be I'll go help...god knows I've got drain rods and "experience" but first of all he likes the drama and second he pays homeserve for exactly this sort of thing but his first response is always to bodge something.

Oh and his car is broken too (as usual the sort of broken that works but can be talked about 4 times a week but not actually investigated)...the car the garage and I told him to get rid of 5 years ago on the basis it's a rust bucket..

I understand this a rant and I may sound somewhat callous but the man has more than enough money to get someone who actually knows what they are doing to sort the electrics and the toilet and buy himself a brand new car and not notice the money gone. He chooses this...so it's very wearing on the patience.

 

[vexorg]

He chooses this...so it's very wearing on the patience.

So, if it's his choice then why should it annoy you?

 

[StevenRB45]

So, if it's his choice then why should it annoy you?

Because if he falls off of his chair or electrocutes himself...or floods the house with sewage..at that point I'll get the phone call.

Oh and if he doesn't he will be telling me about these problems for weeks/months or indeed years...or from my wife who will have heard from my father in law. At one point his house alarm was going off so he attacked the control panel.. literally took the front off cut the wires..this did nothing except ensure the siren which has anti cutting back ups in that make it sound if the wires are cut kept going.

 

[porta]

So, if it's his choice then why should it annoy you?

I reckon it’s for the same reason we all have those ‘certain’ relatives, too proud to ask or too tight to fork out, so you hear an endless diatribe of ‘woe is me’…often times wehn it would have been easier and cheaper to do as soon as the fault/issue arises, rather than waiting for complete disaster!

 

[porta]

As for the alarm issue, ‘we’ had a croma Mk1 come into the dealership with a Gemini alarm that wouldn’t switch off. Luckily, whoever fit it did not wire up the immobiliser circuit. We tried the remote batteries, the key override and unplugged the loom…still chirping away merrily to all and sundry.
I dismounted the thing and sank it into a bucket of water, the bloody thing still kept going so, being bored of the noise, the techy in the bay next to me, Andy, stuck it in the waste oil drain, it was still going but the oil muffled it to a whisper. It was still whispering to itself the next morning!

 

[StevenRB45]

This was his house alarm...

The initial issue was the battery in the control panel failed it's common, so if the electric goes off your alarm goes off as if there's no signal from the panel as a safety precaution it assumes the wiring is cut.

So obviously what you could have done is buy a new battery and replace it and the issue is sorted.

No, but he didn't he left it like that...until one day we had a power cut he'd had a few and got to work. His "fix" meant even when the power came back on the alarm was still going...and could not be switched off as he'd destroyed the control box.

The fix involved going up a ladder and removing the sounder before the neighbours lynched him.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Went for my daily walk a couple of hours ago and the Ferry Road is absolutely rammed with traffic. I was making better progress on foot than those in the traffic queue. So what's going on? well the parallel lower road, which goes past the harbour and carries a lot of traffic, is closed. Why? because a tenement (older block of flats) has suddenly started developing multiple cracks. All the residents have been evacuated and the road closed because they think it may collapse. This building has stood there for a lot longer than I've been on this earth without ever a hint of any problem. indeed, apparently it had a structural report on it just a few years ago and it came up smelling of roses. The current theory is that the extensive foundation work, which was carried out to build the tram tracks for the recent extension in service to Newhaven, has caused settlement. Now we all have to wait for a full structural report to be carried out and in the meantime the traffic is going to be unbelievably hellish around here!

 

[porta]

Went for my daily walk a couple of hours ago and the Ferry Road is absolutely rammed with traffic. I was making better progress on foot than those in the traffic queue. So what's going on? well the parallel lower road, which goes past the harbour and carries a lot of traffic, is closed. Why? because a tenement (older block of flats) has suddenly started developing multiple cracks. All the residents have been evacuated and the road closed because they think it may collapse. This building has stood there for a lot longer than I've been on this earth without ever a hint of any problem. indeed, apparently it had a structural report on it just a few years ago and it came up smelling of roses. The current theory is that the extensive foundation work, which was carried out to build the tram tracks for the recent extension in service to Newhaven, has caused settlement. Now we all have to wait for a full structural report to be carried out and in the meantime the traffic is going to be unbelievably hellish around here!

Probably built out of that aeriated concrete that was used extensively after the war and folk ‘forgot’ that it was supposed to be 25yr max…it was only 10-15yr ago that they finally pulled Dow an estate of pre-fab aeriated concrete homes here…especially as they’ve gentrified the place so no locals cant afford to buy the replacements, the cheapest ones are north of £300K

 

[Mama Llama]

I have to rehome my Betsie-Blue (Multipla). Now my older crotch-goblins no longer need me to taxi them, apparently 6 miles x2 a day for the school run is no longer viable.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Probably built out of that aeriated concrete that was used extensively after the war and folk ‘forgot’ that it was supposed to be 25yr max…it was only 10-15yr ago that they finally pulled Dow an estate of pre-fab aeriated concrete homes here…especially as they’ve gentrified the place so no locals cant afford to buy the replacements, the cheapest ones are north of £300K

No Porta, all solid sandstone, positively monolithic. This is a really old building.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

I have a funeral tomorrow for someone I went to school with for years after school we used to meet up and go out for drinks but as life tends to do, we lost touch. Turns out he developed quite a severe problem with alcohol and died just after Christmas…. He was 41 !!

 

[PuntoHowTo]

Tuned out the funeral was today, thankfully I realised in time. Weirdest funeral ever

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I was moved to post one of my lengthy ramblings about the most recent walk I'd been on in the "Leisure/outdoor walks" thread and notice no one seems to have been near it! probably because this is an old thread which I attempted to reawaken? Anyway, just thought I'd mention it because it's got stuff in it about a tenement block which is in danger of collapsing and has cause enormous traffic disruption because it's on one of the major East/west routes in Northern Edinburgh - and is causing us considerable inconvenience due to all the traffic diverting almost past our door step! Also some glimpses inside the big mall near us which has suffered from reduced footfall and some observations on our local park.

However, I do appreciate this is all stuff local to me and so may not be of the slightest interest to anyone else - that'd teach me to spend so much time typing out lengthy drivel on my keyboard wouldn't it!

 

[StevenRB45]

I was moved to post one of my lengthy ramblings about the most recent walk I'd been on in the "Leisure/outdoor walks" thread and notice no one seems to have been near it! probably because this is an old thread which I attempted to reawaken? Anyway, just thought I'd mention it because it's got stuff in it about a tenement block which is in danger of collapsing and has cause enormous traffic disruption because it's on one of the major East/west routes in Northern Edinburgh - and is causing us considerable inconvenience due to all the traffic diverting almost past our door step! Also some glimpses inside the big mall near us which has suffered from reduced footfall and some observations on our local park.

However, I do appreciate this is all stuff local to me and so may not be of the slightest interest to anyone else - that'd teach me to spend so much time typing out lengthy drivel on my keyboard wouldn't it!

I will say I've read it and recognise the building (I think) having been to/through Edinburgh many times although every time I do it seems the council would rather I went elsewhere. Think it appears in Forza Horizon 4...

Although you may have lost me when it got to shopping centre architecture Must go to the Royal Yacht next time I'm in the neighborhood though...

 

[irc]

I was moved to post one of my lengthy ramblings about the most recent walk I'd been on in the "Leisure/outdoor walks" thread and notice no one seems to have been near it! probably because this is an old thread which I attempted to reawaken? Anyway, just thought I'd mention it because it's got stuff in it about a tenement block which is in danger of collapsing and has cause enormous traffic disruption because it's on one of the major East/west routes in Northern Edinburgh - and is causing us considerable inconvenience due to all the traffic diverting almost past our door step! Also some glimpses inside the big mall near us which has suffered from reduced footfall and some observations on our local park.

However, I do appreciate this is all stuff local to me and so may not be of the slightest interest to anyone else - that'd teach me to spend so much time typing out lengthy drivel on my keyboard wouldn't it!

Hi Jock
I read it... the depth of the tram cutting at the end almost certainly explains the cracking tenement.
Someone's calculations were off.
Anyway, if you keep writing them, I'll keep reading them.
I find it therapeutic!

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I will say I've read it and recognise the building (I think) having been to/through Edinburgh many times although every time I do it seems the council would rather I went elsewhere. Think it appears in Forza Horizon 4...

Although you may have lost me when it got to shopping centre architecture Must go to the Royal Yacht next time I'm in the neighborhood though...

The road closure/collapsing tenement is about half a mile past the terminal centre if you're coming in from the east on the A1, but the backup of traffic at busy times will still slow you.

Aye, Royal Yacht is an interesting experience. You access it from the second floor of the Ocean Terminal shopping centre and parking is free in the multistorey car park (2 off, one at each end of the building and never busy). Check for visitor deals, I think it might be quite expensive if you just roll up and pay full fare, however I'd be surprised if they start charging for parking until the centre redevelopement is done and dusted - and that's not going to be anytime soon

 

[StevenRB45]

Last few times I've parked up at the Airport and trammed it..used to park in the multistorey behind princes street near Rock star north but in more recent times it seems similar to Oxford/York where it seems they would prefer you to go somewhere else entirely rather than drive in. We did do a flying visit to the Zoo..but that can be got to avoiding the City centre entirely...

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Last few times I've parked up at the Airport and trammed it..used to park in the multistorey behind princes street near Rock star north but in more recent times it seems similar to Oxford/York where it seems they would prefer you to go somewhere else entirely rather than drive in. We did do a flying visit to the Zoo..but that can be got to avoiding the City centre entirely...

That's probably a good way to do it actually. Busses are excellent in Edinburgh too but you really need a service timetable/route map to make sense of it all. Trams only go the one route so far so you can't get lost really and it's a good service. Mrs J jumps on the tram either down at Newhaven or takes a bus up town and then jumps on the tram on Princes Street. She finds it faster and more convenient than taking the car when she goes out to the shopping centre/mall at Hermiston Gate.

Edinburgh just doesn't want cars going into the town any more. There's been a recent spate of closing off streets with large planters to create low traffic flow areas. This is much more obstructive than simple traffic calming speed bumps and closing off one carriageway so traffic has to wait to get through. There was a right rammy in Corstorphine recently when they closed off and redirected a number of roads. We haven't escaped it in Leith either. They've closed off the road we used to go down to get to Aldi - It's a small cobbled back street with never all that much traffic on it. Now we have to do two sides of a triangle to get there and all on much busier roads with one right turn across a busy junction, absolute madness! then throw in all the, mostly empty and unused, bike lanes and, oh dear, I despair!

I ride my bike locally but dedicated bike lanes which greatly reduce usable road width and endanger pedestrians? - just look at the chaos which is Leith Walk now - I just don't get it. Anyway, with our wet drizzly weather, how many "city types" are really going to risk arriving at work soaking wet and sweaty - don't forget Edinburgh is built on a series of hills, and quite steep ones at that, so you're likely going to get hot and sticky if you want to make journeys within a reasonable timescale.

 

[StevenRB45]

Joys of the modern era and a smart phone..turn up somewhere and it'll tell you the buses/trams you need to get, and where from and to also where you can get lunch and where things are.

Compared to going out in the 80s everything is significantly easier...

Speaking of things that absolutely would have been easier in the 80s. My son has been on about going in the front of the car for a while, it not being the 80s he still has a sizeable isofix seat and will do until he's a minimum of 135cm tall by law. Whereas I survived being in the front from about his age with no extra seat.

He's had a face on all day various reasons and my thoughts went to sod it let's make him happy...the car has isofix on the front passenger seat we'll do this. Slammed the seat in belted him up pushed it all the way back on it's runners so his head with seat is about where a normal adult head would be and jobs a good-un. It's a forward facing seat and he's miles from the airbag and belted in so all good.

Quite happy sitting there watching the world go by...on the way home and we pull in and I set about putting his seat in the back...furious is not the word. Apparently mammy needs to sit in the back from now on.