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Post by michael on Jun 13, 2016 13:53:36 GMT 1
Within striking distance I have four Fish ‘n’ Chip shops. Two used to be a fairly easy 20 – 30 minute round trip on foot before I developed problems with my left leg. However over the past five or so years it has got to the point that none can serve up consistently good Fish ‘n’ Chips. Problems my girlfriend and I have encountered besides poor quality fish fish are chips so soggy they resemble chip mash (mush?) and fish that has been kept warm for so long that it is dry and rubbery. How all of them survive is beyond me! Plenty of coffee shops, cafes and restaurants that failed to deliver have gone – its amazing how many people are willing to try opening a new one when we have a surfeit of them but no hardware or menswear shops! If I drive to a village about three miles away they only have one Fish ‘n’ Chip shop that manages to deliver a consistent product, has a higher Food Standards Agency Rating and understand what I mean when I ask for a ‘large cod with a small chips’. Further afield there is one that delivers – in fact it is the majority of their business.. Whilst there is a minimum order they also do soft drinks, beer, wine and a few other bits so its no hardship (six-pack ) especially as they charge no more than the small supermarket outlets. So why the moan today. We decided to try the local one that claims to be the best in the area over the weekend and got overdone burnt chips and poor quality scampi (my cod was fine this time).
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Post by cardaft on Jun 13, 2016 20:01:29 GMT 1
Best advert for a 'Chippie' is a queue outside. When we lived 'down south' it was a monthly trip to Chipwicks in Worthing, over 30 miles away, but worth the trip.Good excuse to pop into Sussex Model Center to have a look around and top up on my Radio Control stuff, some great coffee shops around the place as well. We have 3 chippies in Girvan, tried them all, the queue test works every time.
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Post by michael on Jun 13, 2016 20:54:24 GMT 1
We sometimes go to Westcliff, nr Southend. There is a row of cafes under a set of arches facing the sea. All do excellent F'n'C seven days a week... Taking of Sussex I took in Rykas Cafe (Box Hill) a few times in my Zodiac. The rockers just loved it...
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Post by michael on Jun 17, 2016 18:17:58 GMT 1
After a rather more peaceful period the annoying phone calls have started again - mainly PPI. This week I have had multiple calls on both land lines and mobiles including ones from CA and MA in the USofA. Apparently this is to get around some UK regulations but to be honest I think Ofcom are failing totally to regulate these idiots. Also unless someone is a half-wit or has been on Mars for the last five years they would have made any valid PPI claim. I have not had a loan, bar the mortgagee, in many years anyway so I cannot be on their (imaginary) database. Off to a Classic Car Show on Sunday...
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Post by colin on Jun 17, 2016 23:38:27 GMT 1
Actually yes, I too get pissed off with bouts of calls offering so called PPI payouts for imaginary whatevers as I too don't go for that sort of rubbish in the first place, and anyway haven't these moorons cottoned on to the fact that any genuine claim would probably have settled years ago... Grrrr!!! P.S. ..Just got back from "Royal Ascot", some dunderhead lady asked me what a "fascinator" was...? I almost said " it's something with batteries in....!!".. what's the matter with people?.. mind you, she was from Isle of Wight.. interbred and mad..!!... Col.
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Post by cardaft on Jun 18, 2016 10:58:08 GMT 1
Hi Guys, Your missing a lot of fun with this. As a Master Grump with a reputation for being a bit unpredictable, I'm forbidden to answer the phone (its never for me anyway) a lot of the kids boyfriends girlfriends fell prey to the 'mad dad' I used to say a lot of terrible things for their request to 'speak to' , from Joining the Foreign Legion to 'at an appointment at the VD clinic' great fun My favorite tool was my old 'Thunderer' whistle, a request for the unwanted caller to listen carefully then a good blast on the whistle usually did the trick. Latest reply is 'The master is in the West Wing, I'll fetch him, hang on' I then leave the phone and go and make a cup of tea or something,best yet is someone hanging on for more than an hour!! Others A request from me,has the unwanted caller found God? (all respect if you have) this usually cuts the call, another good one is to repeat word for word what is being said to you (nothing else),that can really upset them. As said, good fun, I know these people are only doing a job and can't seem to find anything better but if they phone me, they are in my 'jungle', so fair game.
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Post by michael on Jun 20, 2016 14:04:15 GMT 1
The world has gone mad! We have all heard of globalisation but this morning a friend told me of something that just seems a step to far. He brought a new laptop a few weeks ago with a very comprehensive warranty. However it died totally after about ten days and despite long calls with various helpdesks nothing would get it back into life. Under the warranty it is going "back to base" for repair. A courier picked it up this morning and told my friend that they go to Poland for repair. Makes no sense to someone like me! We are told endlessly about saving energy and reducing pollution - I had a couple of people try to may be feel guilty about my polluting (not my opinion) Zodiac when I doing about 1,000 -1,500 miles per annum in it. Yet a laptop is being shipped half way across Europe for repair and all the tat that (you did not know you needed) you see in garden centres and elsewhere is shipped half way around the world. The world has gone mad!
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Post by michael on Jul 15, 2016 13:22:36 GMT 1
Well this is really one for the Grumpy Party's Minister of Transport to get his teeth into. Earlier this week I had an outpatients appointment but because of the limited parking and its vast price I decided to use the bus. OK going there although the seats seem to be designed for those 5' 9" and below. But coming back I was walking to the bus stop to see the bus depart five minutes early. This resulted in three of us having to wait in the rain because of Mr Unprofessional Driver's lack of consideration for his passengers (although I imagine these days we are clients!). Around Christmas a bus did not turn up and after a long cold hour the next one did not either. As there was an alternative I decided to take that bus but because it was a different bus company I had to pay again (it was the return journey)! Twenty plus years ago there was one bus company and it all worked well. Now though to promote competition we have about four bus companies in this area who charge much the same (where the routes overlap) and far too many drivers who lack a professional touch. Please minister sort this out. Thank you...
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Post by colin on Jul 16, 2016 17:33:09 GMT 1
As "Minister for Transport" elect at the "Grumpy Party", I'll try and answer this in one of two ways....1st.. as a normal politician....in which I shall drag the whole thing around the houses for an hour or two and eventually avoid the issue!!....2nd....properly...the grumpy way!!.... Should this happen again in future, please send me details of bus company, route, number of service, reg no., and time of running and on what day,... and I shall write a stiff letter to the offending company suggesting that the driver be summarily sacked and that it reimburses your taxi fare...!!!.. vote "grumpy!!" I do hope that this has been a little helpful at this very sad time!!!"vote grumpy!!"...p.p. Col.(Grumpy Party H.Q.) P.S. I now need nominations for the following.."grumpy chancellor", "grumpy foreign secretary", "grumpy P.M.", "grumpy hospital minister", "grumpy education minister".. for the time being....
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Post by michael on Jul 16, 2016 22:15:40 GMT 1
Thank you for taking the time to reply in detail Minister. I think a lot has to be done to improve both the behaviour and driving of those unprofessional PSV, HGV and taxi drivers that let the profession down...
With regards to other posts my first reaction was health after this week's unjoined up clinics. However I feel I am better suited to Industry. I think this country has to start making things again rather than relying on imports that are frequently of low quality. Also I think it would give more job satisfaction to many younger people than serving cost-a-lotta coffee or filling pound shop shelves with what is often rubbish...
Vote 'Grumpy...
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Post by colin on Jul 17, 2016 18:11:11 GMT 1
Right... yes Michael, I'll put your name down as "Minister for Industry and Health"...keep taking the tablets..!!! vote "Grumpy!!"...
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Post by michael on Aug 21, 2016 20:21:32 GMT 1
Well the Olympics are all but over. I couldn't really get into them - maybe because of the very negative reporting in the run up. Whilst we had the best Olympics ever it was at a cost of £5,000,000 per medal (mainly lottery funding). Was this the best way to spend the money. And what would the founders of the modern (for amateurs) Olympics have thought...
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Post by Joe on Aug 21, 2016 21:26:25 GMT 1
Well the Olympics are all but over. I couldn't really get into them - maybe because of the very negative reporting in the run up. Whilst we had the best Olympics ever it was at a cost of £5,000,000 per medal (mainly lottery funding). Was this the best way to spend the money. And what would the founders of the modern (for amateurs) Olympics have thought... Good point but!: very few amateur sports men (or women) could afford to even enter the olympic let alone train for years to get to the top level. As far as "was this the best way to spend the money? I have to say yes (well they could have funded my car and boat projects) I have a freind in the olympic team (Saskia in the women's 470 sailing) she has been training virtually non stop for ten years or more to get her medals (gold this year, silver in 2012) She and her team mates have been an incredible inspiration to thousands of young people to get off their iPads and get one the water. The same can probabley be said for all the other members of the Olympic team. So when I buy my lottery ticket I actualy see the results .
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Post by michael on Aug 26, 2016 13:56:40 GMT 1
Well I am bl**dy fuming. Years ago I gave up on online banking as I had issues that my local branch and their IT people bounced between each other. Recently they persuaded me to try again. I tried it a few days ago and it was a great success. Today I wanted to access my account again and could not get in (shades of what happened before). I then rang their help desk but I failed security after waiting ages for an answer. Apparently I got one of these three questions wrong; date of birth, mother's maiden name and details of a direct debit. As I read the details off a letter from the company they can't have been wrong so I can only conclude my DOB has morphed into something else for the third time. Last time I had to go in with a birth certificate and driving licence to change it back (my passport was unacceptable has it had expired shortly before). So still don't know what I need to know. The person then suggested I go to an ATM. I pointed out that I was at a friend's place miles from anywhere which was why the mobile signal was so poor.
My girlfriend changed to Metro Bank eighteen months ago and has had no problems at all with them. She had changed from one high street branch to another previously but still had problems. I am tempted to move to Metro as they seem ever helpful, are open Sunday mornings and have free treats for Harry the hound!
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Post by cardaft on Aug 27, 2016 16:47:15 GMT 1
I never use 'hole in the wall, machines now used to until I met the present Mrs Reid,she worked in IT security and basically if you have not been scammed ,you will be,I follow her lead,face to face contact transaction in your bank,draw enough cash to the you over,cash back from a shop you are familiar with and never pay with a card at a petrol station you do not know,pay with cash!!!!! Bought a new laptop from the usual place!!,hate renewing IT stuff so did my research and settled on a HP thing with an I7 processor,cost a bit ,anyway had it since Feb all OK till a couple of weeks ago,it's started shutting down and had to go through 'Repair Procedures ', so beginning of this week got fed up with the thing,it's 6 months old,it's under warrantee,so back to the local PC World it goes. So I stand in the queue and eventually this over gelled Irk gives me some attention,I Tell him what is wrong with the the thing,it's a 'disc drive' issue,not it's not it's a soft were issue he says,from under all that hair product,and that will cost you £60 for us to look at ,but it's warrantee,no matter still £60,OK then I reject your goods as they are not fit for purpose and you young are going to look really silly with the charging lead hanging out of your arse,he went ,well ran and got the store manager,he explained,as the hardware was under warrantee and the software was not this generated the £60 cost of diagnosis ,anyway fee waved and I have just been informed the laptop is go off,somewhere, for it's hard drive to be replaced,as according to the local Techs,it was acting weird! I look fwd to going back to collect it, I hope Mr Gel is on duty!
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