What's made you not grumpy but not smile either today?

[StevenRB45]

Thanks Steven. I basically tried to do just that although I didn't do the left indicator. However I think I'd have had to pull over and stop for it to have worked. Completely agree it's best to let them past so they can go off and have their accident with someone else. Also I don't engage with folk like this, don't attempt to speak to them or offer up a gesture of any sort. It can often just end up in tears - your own.

They are occasionally so unaware of their surroundings that indeed letting them go has them stop behind you instead...

Sometimes you can't fix stupid so you just need to try and protect yourself from it.

Others you let them past and then they end up stuck behind a car you were stuck behind..and you get to watch them be entirely enraged from a safe distance.

No point remonstrating they see nothing wrong with how they are behaving and are too stupid to see why it could cause anyone else an issue..

 

[porta]

I’d go with what Steven says…the 20limit round here is restricted to the roads either side of the schools, about a mile for the secondary just the road length for the primary. But, almost everyone ignores it, what’s worse is it’s the yummy mummy’s dropping off tarquin and isadahlia that are usually the guilty party’s and then parking like complete jerks!

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I’d go with what Steven says…the 20limit round here is restricted to the roads either side of the schools, about a mile for the secondary just the road length for the primary. But, almost everyone ignores it, what’s worse is it’s the yummy mummy’s dropping off tarquin and isadahlia that are usually the guilty party’s and then parking like complete jerks!

If only. Must be over half - maybe more? - of all roads in Edinburgh that are 20mph from end to end. Really only main arterial routs are 30 now with some 40 too. Most of your local journeys will be on 20mph limited roads. I found it very frustrating to begin with, I think because these are roads which I've been used to driving at 30mph for all my life. I still get caught out and find myself in a 20 which I thought was a 30. Getting used to it now, allowing for a longer journey time and it really doesn't bother me too much but many take the risk of traveling faster and ignore the new speed limits.

Edit. And don't forget we've now made it illegal to park with even one wheel on the pavement which is causing absolute mayhem in some of the narrower streets where residents have parked half on and half off the pavement all their lives and now are not allowed to. This reduces the room in the road and some are too narrow, when there are lots of parked cars like at weekends and evenings, for emergency vehicles and things like refuse lorries to get through.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Some of the H&S videos were so corny, folk would just laugh and take the urine out of them.
Some of the Aussie ones were graphic, very graphic, unfortunately, we couldn’t show them. Some particular ones were a guy that whose arm and leg had literally been electrocuted off (point of entry and exit) after accidentally touching HV, a bloke crushed by his own tracked excavator (half flat, half ‘popped’), and one unrecognisable individual that got pulled into a chipper

One of the best safety videos I saw was for detecting underground cables. They used a man sized dummy on a road breaker and set it off so the drill caught a 440v cable. The effect was profound. Dummy blown 40 feet into the air and came back to earth copper plated from head to toe.
The one that really set my approach to safety at work showed two x rays of a hand. The second being after it had been crushed in a 100 ton press. It actually took me months to fully recover from the shock that caused and it made me take it very seriously, ultimately spending nearly 20 years dishing out wisdom and sound advice... or bullsh** depending on your standpoint. There were still injuries on my watch and a couple in the contracts I managed, but no fatalities. One year the boss put up a slide at out management conference with 12 names on it. When evntually he had stood silent by it for many minutes, and everyone else finally shut up, he lifted his head and said Ladies and gentlemen we will now have two minutes silence to contemplate these names, The names of the 12 people we killed in the last 12 months. I am so glad I don't carry the responsibility any longer.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

One of the best safety videos I saw was for detecting underground cables. They used a man sized dummy on a road breaker and set it off so the drill caught a 440v cable. The effect was profound. Dummy blown 40 feet into the air and came back to earth copper plated from head to toe.
The one that really set my approach to safety at work showed two x rays of a hand. The second being after it had been crushed in a 100 ton press. It actually took me months to fully recover from the shock that caused and it made me take it very seriously, ultimately spending nearly 20 years dishing out wisdom and sound advice... or bullsh** depending on your standpoint. There were still injuries on my watch and a couple in the contracts I managed, but no fatalities. One year the boss put up a slide at out management conference with 12 names on it. When evntually he had stood silent by it for many minutes, and everyone else finally shut up, he lifted his head and said Ladies and gentlemen we will now have two minutes silence to contemplate these names, The names of the 12 people we killed in the last 12 months. I am so glad I don't carry the responsibility any longer.

When the foundations for our new showroom were being dug the ground works team put the JCB back hoe bucket through through the main electric cable for the whole area. The bang was impressive with lots of smoke but not much in the way of sparks - which surprised me? I was in the old showroom at the time. - We all thought the operator would be dead, but no! apparently vehicles like this are protected against this sort of thing - He walked away from the machine himself but was very white in the face so we called an ambulance anyway and he was taken off to the hospital. We were lucky that he walked away from it himself because when the electricity men arrived, and they were on scene very quickly, they isolated the digger and explained to us that it might actually still be "live" which I don't think, in the excitement of the moment, any of us had considered. - Ouch!

 

[Cheest]

The place I retired from didn’t have an H&S department until the corporate nightmare started in 2017. Even that didn’t get off the ground until 2019. Before the nightmare, we’d do the OSHA required trainings through the local fire department or through other organizations.
When they got the H&S up and running, the women they hired was an ex-US Navy officer and hard nosed as all get out. My bosses warned her that I, as the senior guy on staff, could be an asset or a pain in the ass to her. That was up to her. When I went down to the facility in South Carolina, I went to her office and introduced myself. She said that she’d been warned about me and suggested that I close the door and have a seat so we could talk. She opened a drawer and brought out a bottle of Jack Daniels and two glasses. I think I was in that office for 90 minutes and two glasses worth but we knew where each of us stood. Basically agreed to stay out of each others way when necessary. As I was only in South Carolina a couple times a year it was pretty easy. She did send out a monthly safety exam to the field guys. The sales guys always blew them off but I convinced the service guys to just do them at the end of the day on Friday or first thing on Monday while sitting at the airport. That way, she stays off your asses. And it worked out pretty well.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

When the foundations for our new showroom were being dug the ground works team put the JCB back hoe bucket through through the main electric cable for the whole area. The bang was impressive with lots of smoke but not much in the way of sparks - which surprised me? I was in the old showroom at the time. - We all thought the operator would be dead, but no! apparently vehicles like this are protected against this sort of thing - He walked away from the machine himself but was very white in the face so we called an ambulance anyway and he was taken off to the hospital. We were lucky that he walked away from it himself because when the electricity men arrived, and they were on scene very quickly, they isolated the digger and explained to us that it might actually still be "live" which I don't think, in the excitement of the moment, any of us had considered. - Ouch!

I originally trained as an electrical engineer, I’ve seen and been on the receiving end of some impressive shocks you’d not normally get in the domestic setting.

The danger of crashing a vehicle or in this case putting a digger bucket through electrical wires comes not from the bucket breaking the wires, but from getting out of the digger and as you step down with your hand on a metal part, you create a nice root to ground from the power coursing thought the digger.

The other thing that always makes me laugh is the reports of people flying thought the air as a result.

Big electric shocks do not send people flying, there is no “pushing” power in the electricity going thought wires, any movement is usually because of the persons muscles contracting, often the person goes immediately ridgid from head to toe and you hope gravity will mean they fall away from the source.

You see on big installations they work in pairs with one person holding onto the other with a big pole that’s non conductive, then if anything happens to the first person the second person can pull them away from the power, it’s a complete myth that people get sent flying.

One of my lecturers used to tell a story about when he worked in the 1960s and 70s, he did electrical work in nuclear power stations, they were building a new power plant installing the various electrical panels, all very high voltage stuff and someone did something wrong, much like in your own home the lights all went out but the buzzing didn’t stop. As they stood there in the dark the only light was a “lava” of molten copper that started to flow out of the bottom of the panels.

 

[StevenRB45]

Citroën is booked in at my indy for Thursday so today is last commute with sports exhaust as I'll be commuting in Toyota on Thursday.

Just as well it sounds very bad now as it seems pipe has dropped into the vicinity of the rear beam. Cue some interesting scraping noises on speed bumps (it's not catching on the ground) as it moves on the suspension and rattles on pot holes.

250 quid less than first quote but still 400 however that's full system from the Cat back so doesn't sting that badly. Although first exhaust I ever bought was for an Uno and the same was 75 quid...

 

[SB1500]

Citroën is booked in at my indy for Thursday so today is last commute with sports exhaust as I'll be commuting in Toyota on Thursday.

Just as well it sounds very bad now as it seems pipe has dropped into the vicinity of the rear beam. Queue some interesting scraping noises on speed bumps (it's not catching on the ground) as it moves on the suspension and rattles on pot holes.

250 quid less than first quote but still 400 however that's full system from the Cat back so doesn't sting that badly. Although first exhaust I ever bought was for an Uno and the same was 75 quid...

About every small engine petrol Peugeot / Citroen on the road has a bad exhaust after the first few years. I replaced the back box on my mums 208 and my cousins DS3 for the same issue. Thought it was akin to the Panda's rusty sump problem where it's not an if, but a when it deteriorates enough to need changing.

 

[StevenRB45]

7.5 years out of an exhaust ain't that bad to be fair..

My dad had a 307 that exhaust didn't last 3 years.

I'm aware other cars have exhausts that last longer but in PSA terms they've actually improved their quality by several hundred percentage points.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Citroën is booked in at my indy for Thursday so today is last commute with sports exhaust as I'll be commuting in Toyota on Thursday.

Just as well it sounds very bad now as it seems pipe has dropped into the vicinity of the rear beam. Cue some interesting scraping noises on speed bumps (it's not catching on the ground) as it moves on the suspension and rattles on pot holes.

250 quid less than first quote but still 400 however that's full system from the Cat back so doesn't sting that badly. Although first exhaust I ever bought was for an Uno and the same was 75 quid...

This post brought back a thought like a flash of lightening - First shop I was working foreman/manager of I was buying complete Anglia exhaust systems in for 9 pounds 10 shillings!

 

[PuntoHowTo]

7.5 years out of an exhaust ain't that bad to be fair..

My dad had a 307 that exhaust didn't last 3 years.

I'm aware other cars have exhausts that last longer but in PSA terms they've actually improved their quality by several hundred percentage points.

My golf is approaching 10, the mini is the same age as your Citroen.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

My golf is approaching 10, the mini is the same age as your Citroen.

My experience of the VAG original fitment exhaust systems is that they're quite good. The Cordoba - 1.9 TDI - which I had for 16 years only had one system fitted. The Ibiza, at 8 years old was still on the original and it looked fit for a lot of running still. I don't remember exhausts featuring large with my boy's several Ibizas either.

 

[StevenRB45]

My golf is approaching 10, the mini is the same age as your Citroen.

Given both cost at least twice as much as the Citroën I'd expect the factory exhaust to last at least 15 years.

Cheap car, cheap components...this is the way in general.

Although in recent years the gap between cheap and expensive components has got somewhat blurred.

As failures goes it's preferable to a gearbox though..

Should say I would happily have binned this car when we got the Toyota but apparently no. Once wife's on maternity the mileage and how hard it's being driven will change and I'm hopeful that all the money into it last few years will mean it's less of a constant pain in the arse. As far as I can see all consumables have been touched since 2022 now..

But yes the reason I got a Toyota is the Citroën has a nasty habit of taking up 2 cars worth of maintenance budget...so I'm entirely aware it's a little ****.

 

[bugsymike]

This post brought back a thought like a flash of lightening - First shop I was working foreman/manager of I was buying complete Anglia exhaust systems in for 9 pounds 10 shillings!

But they needed one every year like Peugeot rear boxes.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

But they needed one every year like Peugeot rear boxes.

Oh yes. These very cheap systems were just mild steel, often without even a coat of paint - or a finish that burnt off within the first few miles of use, d'you remember that smell? Doesn't seem to happen now a days? A waste of time in my opinion, but the competition were all selling them and the customers were often reluctant to pay for quality.

 

[bugsymike]

A waste of time in my opinion, but the competition were all selling them and the customers were often reluctant to pay for quality.

I think since the recession in the late 80s most customers buy on price sadly. It is why China is doing so well, but no one could accuse them of selling quality products!
What is it they say? "People know the price of everything, but the value of nothing!"
Around that time I recall pricing a clutch job for a new customer, he told me the price he had been quoted and I told him I wouldn't even open my tool box for that! Then pointed out to him that a good quality Borg and Beck clutch alone cost more that his quote so that they only way they could be doing it for that price was by fitting a remanufactured clutch and cutting corners.
He later came back and asked me to do the job at my price.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I think since the recession in the late 80s most customers buy on price sadly. It is why China is doing so well, but no one could accuse them of selling quality products!
What is it they say? "People no the price of everything, but the value of nothing!"
Around that time I recall pricing a clutch job for a new customer, he told me the price he had been quoted and I told him I wouldn't even open my tool box for that! Then pointed out to him that a good quality Borg and Beck clutch along cost more that his quote so that they only way they could be doing it for that price was by fitting a remanufactured clutch and cutting corners.
He later came back and asked me to do the job at my price.

Oh deary me, yes, remanufactured clutches? They were a big thing for a while, not seen any ads for them for some time? We caught a cold more than once with a well known brand of them. After that the boss would have nothing to do with them. We would occasionally loose a job because of it but the cost of honouring the warranty when they went wrong ruled them out - We were quite busy enough without having to chase business like that anyway. As you say, Borg and Beck were the big name back then. I see they're still around but I think a "brand" name now?

Actually, I just googled it and it came up with a Wikipedia which makes interesting reading - seems they're owned by First Line now?

 

[porta]

Oh deary me, yes, remanufactured clutches? They were a big thing for a while, not seen any ads for them for some time? We caught a cold more than once with a well known brand of them. After that the boss would have nothing to do with them. We would occasionally loose a job because of it but the cost of honouring the warranty when they went wrong ruled them out - We were quite busy enough without having to chase business like that anyway. As you say, Borg and Beck were the big name back then. I see they're still around but I think a "brand" name now?

Actually, I just googled it and it came up with a Wikipedia which makes interesting reading - seems they're owned by First Line now?

Still doing remanufactured clutches, pads and shoes…you often see them being utilised on Car SoS, Wheeler Dealers etc etc. yes, they’re more specialised now, cars/vans well out of production and no spurious bits available, but still very common for HGV, PSV and military

 

[chr1s]

Oh yes. These very cheap systems were just mild steel, often without even a coat of paint - or a finish that burnt off within the first few miles of use, d'you remember that smell? Doesn't seem to happen now a days? A waste of time in my opinion, but the competition were all selling them and the customers were often reluctant to pay for quality.

I remember in the '90's, when I was working in vehicle electronics, we had a new Jaguar XJ40 which needed to be returned from Cardiff to Coventry and I was asked to drive it up there. My departure was delayed whilst the body controller electronics were reconnected, so time was short and I had to really put my foot down to get there. I arrived at Jaguar Whitley at the end of the day, just as staff were streaming out past the car. I got a few strange looks due to that strong exhaust burning smell and little wafts of smoke from underneath.
Whether it was due to the leather seats or being a North American spec, I was sliding sideways across the seat as I took the corners