Grumpy old man (The things I hate)

[mpm235]

19 hours ago, Haliotis said:

There are quite a few occasions where, although everyone is driving correctly, some reliance has to placed on other drivers in order to safely complete a manoeuvre.  Too many drivers do not think ahead, and only consider themselves in their quest to keep moving - these drivers, of course, are the first let loose with their horns when they themselves get snarled in by another driver.  

What does puzzle me is, how can such drivers be so stupid as not to think about the well being of themselves, their passengers (if any), the value of their vehicle, their NCB, the after-collision costs and inconvenience, and fines/ban if the police are involved and they are deemed guilty of blame?  Should not these things alone prompt a driver to perform at his/her best in order to complete a trouble-free journey?

Problem is, some people, are quite simply stupid.

[Mjolinor]

3 minutes ago, mpm235 said:

Problem is, some people, are quite simply stupid.

Not quite right that.

"Most people are incredibly stupid" is closer to the mark.

[Primus1]

Yes, never argue with a stupid person, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience..

[Haliotis]

1 hour ago, Mjolinor said:

Not quite right that.

"Most people are incredibly stupid" is closer to the mark.

It may sometimes seem that this is the case but, if that were true, we would be seeing considerable mayhem on a daily basis.  Most drivers are reasonably good behind the wheel, but there is definitely room for improvement.

When I passed my test, my instructor told me, “You’ve got your licence, now you have the rest of your life to continually strive to improve. When you stop, and think you know it all, that is when your driving will never improve further.”   I took this on board and now, even after more than 70 years of driving, I still self-criticise myself.   We are all only human, and still capable of making a mistake - the advantage being, if you strive for perfection any mistakes are most likely to be few and minor, and rectification simple without serious risk of a collision or frightening other road users out of their wits.  Perfection itself may not be reached, but the effort is most likely good enough.

[Mjolinor]

55 minutes ago, Haliotis said:

It may sometimes seem that this is the case but, if that were true, we would be seeing considerable mayhem on a daily basis.  Most drivers are reasonably good behind the wheel, but there is definitely room for improvement.

When I passed my test, my instructor told me, “You’ve got your licence, now you have the rest of your life to continually strive to improve. When you stop, and think you know it all, that is when your driving will never improve further.”   I took this on board and now, even after more than 70 years of driving, I still self-criticise myself.   We are all only human, and still capable of making a mistake - the advantage being, if you strive for perfection any mistakes are most likely to be few and minor, and rectification simple without serious risk of a collision or frightening other road users out of their wits.  Perfection itself may not be reached, but the effort is most likely good enough.

Maybe so but if you drive with the belief that most people are incredibly stupid then you tend not to get caught out.

[Rhymes with Paris]

Aye, some are naturally and genuinely stupid, others are wilfully stupid.

I can forgive the naturally stupid a bit, but better if they don't have driving licences.

My pal Denzel for instance, believes that the earth is indeed flat due to branches of the flat earth society being established around the globe 🌎.

[Bper]

When I was younger, I was led to believe that retirement was a great thing—that you would have the time to do many things you couldn't when you were working. I don’t find much time for these activities, as the days go by quicker than a Formula One car. This makes me grumpy 😡

[dannyboy413]

So that's why us 'older generation' say that there is not enough time to do all that we want to do in retirement - the days go quicker than they used to, but activities now take longer, (for various reasons)! 🤔

[Mjolinor]

This is the best grumpiness relief pill ever:

 

 

 

[PeteChat]

At the age of 25 I left my job as an engineering draughtsmen and joined the Fire Brigade. My mates and most of my family thought I was insane - my wife was earning more than a fireman!

But I had a long game plan, the pension contributions would have paid my mortgage but it meant I could retire at 55 with just enough money to survive ( if all else went to plan). My father had worked until he was 70, then died at 72 - this wasn’t happening to me!

Things were very tight at times, but it worked 😃

I traded my mid life crisis sports car for a small motorhome in 2004, and as soon as my 55th birthday was past we booked a ferry and spent 3 months wandering around Europe. We did this for 8 years every spring, then switched to a caravan and spent 2 months each year on the banks of the Dordogne. If it hadn’t been for Covid we might still be doing it 😟

I’ve now been retired (aka working for my wife) for 19 years, never got another job, still ride my motorcycles and have enough income to get by.

Retirement is great, the time off is wonderful but the money is rubbish 😂.
It just needs careful planning at an early stage 👍

[Haliotis]

15 hours ago, dannyboy413 said:

So that's why us 'older generation' say that there is not enough time to do all that we want to do in retirement - the days go quicker than they used to, but activities now take longer, (for various reasons)! 🤔

Logical when you think about it.  When I was young, I would do several jobs in the course of a day.  Now, it’s a case of doing one job over several days. 😒

[Bper]

5 hours ago, Mjolinor said:

This is the best grumpiness relief pill ever:

 

 

 

This is what my drive is looking like today with all this bl**dy rain, it hasn't stopped all day.😠

[Eddie G]

On 9/27/2024 at 10:08 PM, Bper said:

Well maybe you are,

Once upon a time, in some forgotten corner of the universe, there was a planet called Starmer. And if there was one thing to know about Starmer, it’s that absolutely nothing worked. You’d realise this the moment you landed. The spaceport’s welcome sign said “Welcome to Starmer,” but the letters flickered on and off, as if even they couldn’t decide whether to greet you or warn you to turn back.

The roads? A complete joke. Some just looped endlessly around themselves, and others stopped halfway through, as though the builders had packed it in for a quick tea break and never came back. There was even a road made entirely out of cheese—but no one really wanted to ask why.

The city wasn’t much better. The traffic lights were always stuck on amber, so everyone just hovered nervously at junctions, waiting for someone else to make the first move. Buildings leaned at such odd angles that it looked like they were about to collapse, but the locals didn’t seem bothered. The tallest tower, once made of glass, was now just a pile of glimmering dust and bewildered contractors.

And don’t even get me started on the technology. Computers crashed on a daily basis, but they liked to make a spectacle of it. First, they’d show every error message imaginable, beep in the most dramatic way possible, then just… die. Making a phone call was no better. You’d dial someone, but instead of connecting, you’d end up eavesdropping on someone else’s conversation. After a while, people just got used to passing messages around like it was some cosmic game of Chinese whispers.

Public transport? Well, if the buses ever turned up, it was a surprise. The locals called it the “eventual” timetable. Sometimes a bus would appear, but it’d be going in the wrong direction or stop halfway for a quick tea break.

And as for the plumbing well, let’s just say the pipes had a mind of their own. One day you’d get water, the next, orange juice, and on a particularly unlucky day, something that smelt like petrol. You learned to be flexible especially when brushing your teeth.

But here’s the weird bit: no one on Starmer seemed to care. They just shrugged it off. “At least it’s consistent in being inconsistent,” they’d say, like it was a badge of honour. In fact, they even had a festival every year called "The Great Breakdown." People celebrated things falling apart with games like “Whose House Falls First?” and “Fix That Toaster Before It Explodes.”

In the end, Starmer somehow became a tourist hotspot not because anything worked, but because nothing did. People came from all over the galaxy for a break from the pressure of things actually working. On Starmer, you didn’t have to worry about things going wrong they already had.😂😂

 

Every now and again usually when gifted new glasses and clothes and in need of sausage! Starmer would vist to bask in all his glory 😆😂

[PeteChat]

I have just done that old fashioned thing and polished my new YC 😎 This usually is a calming and therapeutic affair - but not this time !

I know the car was built on France, but did they have to use left over sheets of tin rejected as too thin for a 2CV? I did watch the video report from the CarWow guy who said the car was made from thin metal, but was not prepared for every metal panel (apart from the roof) to “dunk-dunk” in and out as I polished them 😳 I use Autoglim so only very light pressure is needed.

I shall have to train my grandkids to use the handles to shut the doors, not their behinds as they do now 🙄

Oh, and 2,000 miles and 3 months in and I already have a little stone chip on the windscreen!

Grumpy? You betcha 

[Bper]

Sorry this is a bit long, but please bear with me. A few weeks ago, I bought a pair of well-known slip-on trainers to take on holiday, and I decided to start wearing them around the house a few days ago to get used to them. Initially, they seemed fine, so I thought it would be a good idea to wear them outside. However, as I started walking, my feet began slipping around inside the shoes. I went home and changed my socks for a thicker pair, but that didn’t help.

Since these shoes have no laces, I couldn't tighten them. With our holiday coming up on Monday, I rushed back to the store, knowing that I was outside the returns policy and would likely have to buy another pair. These trainers weren’t cheap—£105—so I was absolutely gutted and as grumpy as you can imagine.

I picked another pair, this time with laces, and coincidentally, they were the same color blue as my wife’s trainers, which she purchased from the same store a few weeks ago as well. I spoke to a manager and explained the issue with the slip-ons. He mentioned that they come up slightly bigger. He asked if I had worn them, and I told him I had only worn them once outside. Despite being outside the returns date, he suggested that if I could return them today (Saturday) with the receipt, he would see what he could do. Luckily, we kept the box, and the receipt was inside.

However, I found that trying shoes on in the shop is different from walking around in them in the street, as I had learned the hard way. After returning home, I suggested that both my wife and I wear our new trainers to ensure they were comfortable. We decided to pop down to the pub to see how they felt.

On the way, we stopped by a neighbor’s house to give them some tomatoes from our bumper crop. As I approached the door, I tripped over a raised stone I didn’t see and stubbed my big toe. Fortunately, I didn’t damage the new trainers, but it hurt. After returning from the pub, both of us were happy with how our trainers fit.

We decided to take the train since it would save us time on traffic and parking. I set my trainers by the door, but my wife opted for another type of shoe. When I put mine on, I felt some discomfort in my big toe, but I hoped I could walk it off. However, as we walked to the station, the pain became more pronounced. After getting off the train and a 10-minute walk to the shop, I was in discomfort and pain. The manager was very helpful and brought out various pairs for me to try. As he was undoing the laces of the shoes, he looked at the ones I was wearing and asked if those were the ones I bought yesterday. I confirmed they were, but then he looked at me strangely and said they were a different shoe.

Confused, I looked down and realised that I had mistakenly put on my wife’s right trainer—the foot I had stubbed my toe on the night before. If a hole could have opened up, I would have jumped in it! We shared a laugh, though embarrassment was an understatement.Her trainers are a size and a half smaller them mine so you would think i would have noticed.

I picked a new pair, and after trying them on, the pain in my toe went away. The manager exchanged the old ones for the new pair and refunded me £35, the difference in price. I asked him to put the mismatched shoes in the new box, as there was no way I could wear them home.

On the way back, as we walked under a tree with overhanging branches, a huge dollop of birds s**t hit me directly on the shoulder of my light coat and splashed onto my head and new trainers. I was absolutely fuming! I had to take the coat off, which was now caked in mess, and carry it at arm's length while only having a small tissue to wipe my head.

Once I got home, I immediately washed my hair while my wife put my coat in the washing machine. I soaked my sore feet in a bowl of hot water.

So, this is probably the biggest grump I’ve had in years! and am I looking forward to our holiday more then ever.😡

[Haliotis]

Bob, if you are going on a walking holiday, and visiting n area where there are lots of birds, all I can say is GOOD LUCK! 🤨

[Bper]

5 hours ago, Haliotis said:

Bob, if you are going on a walking holiday, and visiting n area where there are lots of birds, all I can say is GOOD LUCK! 🤨

Hi Paul,I'm only going to Spain for a week, so I'll keep an eye out for any trees or low-flying birds. My middle name definitely isn't lucky, that's for sure. If this is a consequence of getting old, I guess I'll soon be writing reminder notes to remind me to check my other reminder notes! At this rate, I'll be dodging trees and forgetting why I went outside in the first place. Getting old really is nature's practical joke.😂

[Primus1]

On 10/5/2024 at 7:01 PM, Bper said:

Sorry this is a bit long, but please bear with me. A few weeks ago, I bought a pair of well-known slip-on trainers to take on holiday, and I decided to start wearing them around the house a few days ago to get used to them. Initially, they seemed fine, so I thought it would be a good idea to wear them outside. However, as I started walking, my feet began slipping around inside the shoes. I went home and changed my socks for a thicker pair, but that didn’t help.

Since these shoes have no laces, I couldn't tighten them. With our holiday coming up on Monday, I rushed back to the store, knowing that I was outside the returns policy and would likely have to buy another pair. These trainers weren’t cheap—£105—so I was absolutely gutted and as grumpy as you can imagine.

I picked another pair, this time with laces, and coincidentally, they were the same color blue as my wife’s trainers, which she purchased from the same store a few weeks ago as well. I spoke to a manager and explained the issue with the slip-ons. He mentioned that they come up slightly bigger. He asked if I had worn them, and I told him I had only worn them once outside. Despite being outside the returns date, he suggested that if I could return them today (Saturday) with the receipt, he would see what he could do. Luckily, we kept the box, and the receipt was inside.

However, I found that trying shoes on in the shop is different from walking around in them in the street, as I had learned the hard way. After returning home, I suggested that both my wife and I wear our new trainers to ensure they were comfortable. We decided to pop down to the pub to see how they felt.

On the way, we stopped by a neighbor’s house to give them some tomatoes from our bumper crop. As I approached the door, I tripped over a raised stone I didn’t see and stubbed my big toe. Fortunately, I didn’t damage the new trainers, but it hurt. After returning from the pub, both of us were happy with how our trainers fit.

We decided to take the train since it would save us time on traffic and parking. I set my trainers by the door, but my wife opted for another type of shoe. When I put mine on, I felt some discomfort in my big toe, but I hoped I could walk it off. However, as we walked to the station, the pain became more pronounced. After getting off the train and a 10-minute walk to the shop, I was in discomfort and pain. The manager was very helpful and brought out various pairs for me to try. As he was undoing the laces of the shoes, he looked at the ones I was wearing and asked if those were the ones I bought yesterday. I confirmed they were, but then he looked at me strangely and said they were a different shoe.

Confused, I looked down and realised that I had mistakenly put on my wife’s right trainer—the foot I had stubbed my toe on the night before. If a hole could have opened up, I would have jumped in it! We shared a laugh, though embarrassment was an understatement.Her trainers are a size and a half smaller them mine so you would think i would have noticed.

I picked a new pair, and after trying them on, the pain in my toe went away. The manager exchanged the old ones for the new pair and refunded me £35, the difference in price. I asked him to put the mismatched shoes in the new box, as there was no way I could wear them home.

On the way back, as we walked under a tree with overhanging branches, a huge dollop of birds s**t hit me directly on the shoulder of my light coat and splashed onto my head and new trainers. I was absolutely fuming! I had to take the coat off, which was now caked in mess, and carry it at arm's length while only having a small tissue to wipe my head.

Once I got home, I immediately washed my hair while my wife put my coat in the washing machine. I soaked my sore feet in a bowl of hot water.

So, this is probably the biggest grump I’ve had in years! and am I looking forward to our holiday more then ever.😡

You should buy a lottery ticket, they say if a bird poops on you it’s lucky 🍀 

[Bper]

26 minutes ago, Primus1 said:

You should buy a lottery ticket, they say if a bird poops on you it’s lucky 🍀 

Well I buy one every week, and I've lost count of the times birds have s**t on the car and we still haven't won bu***r all.😂

[PeteChat]

1 minute ago, Bper said:

Well I buy one every week, and I've lost count of the times birds have s**t on the car and we still haven't won bu***r all.😂

We, too, but 2 every week (the numbers we have always used) and all we get is the occasional “free go”. This is valued at £2, so counts towards the amount paid out each week. Of course they never win either, robbing bar stewards 😡

[Mjolinor]

3 minutes ago, Bper said:

Well I buy one every week, and I've lost count of the times birds have s**t on the car and we still haven't won bu***r all.😂

You're still waking up breathing, how much more luck do you want?

[Bper]

5 minutes ago, Mjolinor said:

You're still waking up breathing, how much more luck do you want?

Well that's providing I can remember to breath😂

[Primus1]

Updates….why?, your device is perfectly fine then they do an update which %$(s everything up, my watch has an app which has just been updated, now I have to figure out how to use it again, …note to manufacturers, leave it!!

[AndyN01]

Because with the current population of "sheep" they'll all be after the latest thing and when your current thing stops working because of the update they they can sell you the new thing at lots of ££££'s. 😉

[PeteChat]

Agreed Andy. I have an iPad that I bought a new Battery for a couple of years ago, as the tablet was working fine. Now most of the apps have updated and won’t work as Apple has stopped updating the operating system 😡 The same happened with my iPhone when I bought the YC and it couldn’t connect to the phone - the operating system was too old!

 Then I updated my Garmin and it dumped all the maps🙄 So much for “lifetime map updates”.