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Post by michael on Sept 9, 2016 14:49:11 GMT 1
I often think life is too short to spend it queening for petrol. Over half a life time ago I moved to the area I live now. Originally there were seven petrol stations within striking distance so that if there was a semblance of a queue (bar the odd time there were shortages) at one you went to another. At most of them you could pick up car care products, consumables like oil, a few spares like bulbs and fan belts, and simple eats and drinks like a Kit-Kat and a Coke. None was as fast as with my first few cars when I used to fill up and pay a man with a satchel of cash/change (and only 50p/gallon. These seven have now dwindled down to two. Both also sell coffee and are co-located with small/medium supermarkets. This means you have to plan your visit to avoid waiting for a pump and to pay as people fill their cars and then grab a coffee and do a mid-week shop leaving their car at the pump. As my girlfriend often finishes at 10 p.m. or later (works in social care) I find this is a really convenient time to fill up as there are few people around. Late afternoon/early evening Sunday is the worse as people seem to be filling up for work and buying all the things they forgot to get on their supermarket trip...
Sop why the grumble? A few days I was coming back from Norfolk and realised that I needed to fill up. With all the new bypasses and petrol station closures it can be tricky to find petrol at times so I pulled into the first petrol station I saw. There were about six cars queuing to use the pumps so I thought the wait would not be too long as there were eight pumps. How wrong could I be? It was nearly 15 minutes before I got alongside a pump. By this time the queue was even longer and some people were giving up and leaving. Once I filled up I went inside and immediately understood why there was such a delay. There were two youngsters trying to cope with everything; coffee orders, supermarket sales and petrol sales. Add to this a man who can't decide if they want vanilla or hazelnut flavouring with their chocamochalatte (I only drink straightforward coffee) and a woman who has to empty a monster handbag before finding her card to pay for £40+ of groceries and you see total chaos. Why can't the management see they need more people (the two – probably on minimum wage – were trying their best) and why not ask people to park up after filling up (and paying) before doing a supermarket shop - there were numerous parking spaces. In the end a simple fill up took over 30 minutes! Arghh..
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Post by colin on Sept 13, 2016 21:00:30 GMT 1
Not meaning any malice, I think this post might "piss a few people off",anyway, just got back from a 12 day tour of Ireland,had to refuel the coach for the next day,well no small independent operator (like my boss)carries diesel on their premises any more,so, we buy our fuel on the road, right, so I pulled up alongside our regular garage pump and subsequently blocked both entrance and exit (15m long triaxle) and started to top up, 40 minutes later and 750 litres there's a queue up the road about 200 yards of people waiting to fill and buy their weeks shop and all cussing at me for blocking everything up!!!! (got to use the pump by the road as it won't go under the canopy),the owner says he welcomes us and doesn't want to loose us as we spend a fortune with him but it is a pain, oh well such is life!!!
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Post by Joe on Sept 14, 2016 7:12:02 GMT 1
Not meaning any malice, I think this post might "piss a few people off",anyway, just got back from a 12 day tour of Ireland,had to refuel the coach for the next day,well no small independent operator (like my boss)carries diesel on their premises any more,so, we buy our fuel on the road, right, so I pulled up alongside our regular garage pump and subsequently blocked both entrance and exit (15m long triaxle) and started to top up, 40 minutes later and 750 litres there's a queue up the road about 200 yards of people waiting to fill and buy their weeks shop and all cussing at me for blocking everything up!!!! (got to use the pump by the road as it won't go under the canopy),the owner says he welcomes us and doesn't want to loose us as we spend a fortune with him but it is a pain, oh well such is life!!! That's all very well blocking people coming in but if you were to block the exit to stop people leaving you (and the garage manager) could be in trouble..
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Post by cardaft on Sept 14, 2016 10:34:55 GMT 1
Hi, Commerce must continue and all that I'm sure the garage proprietor is delighted to see you but if you stopped someone leaving and refused a request from them to move the bus then you could find yourself in 'cuffs'. Saw something similar at a garage in Crawley a few years ago, a chap had stopped at the pumps, went into the garage part to talk to somebody, person behind him could not reverse his car due other traffic, so he is stuck, he went to find the driver of the car, words were said, police were called (I was on my bike so I parked up 'rubber necked' and settled in for the show) 'I'll move my car when I'm effin ready' did not impress the Bill one bit, he was on the floor, cuffed and in the back of the cruiser quick as you like, they had his keys off him and moved the car. Just a thought, wonder what the elf and safety side of things would be? and if you are causing a problem with traffic flow on the 'Queens Highway' you could attract unwanted attention from our boys in blue, it will not be your boss in trouble it will be you! Unrelated, was filling up at a garage the other month, went to pay, there was a queue at the till, a chap was trying to pay for his fuel with a £50 note, the guy at the till pointed to a note on the counter saying they did not accept £50 notes due forgeries, (handy that as they were no notices on the pumps), anyway bit of a ding dong, guy at till phoned 999 police arrived, eventually, long story short, they told the garage manager if he could not prove to them that that note was a forgery then he had to honour it, if not, they would arrest him for obstruction, once again something about commerce?, so he had to take the note and give change.
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Post by colin on Sept 14, 2016 14:55:47 GMT 1
Just a quick note...we block the entrance till the other two pumps are clear then move in and block off the exit, luckily there's no wall by the road and we're just inside the yellows...the trucks don't quite block the exit as their tanks are up front,our tanks are amidships so no choice, thankfully most of the customers are local and understand the predicament, it usually happens about once a day all told, what it really wants is the HGV pump moved to the side so the big stuff can go up the side, but then they'll all have to reverse out into the road,can't win!!!!Col.
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Post by Joe on Sept 14, 2016 17:02:06 GMT 1
My reference to getting into trouble refers to an incident back in the seventies when I worked for a road transport company. One of our drivers was making a delivery at a hotel and had blocked the side parking area. He had the tailboard down and had started to unload when a motorist asked him to move. He refused and told the bloke that he would have to wait and the guy called the police (remember the days when if you called th police they would come) the police arrived and nicked him for causing an obstruction and driving without due consideration for other road users. He pleaded not guilty but was found guilty and fined about £50.00 (that's the equivalent of about £500 now days!) I would imagine that if you called the police nowdays over such a matter you would be prosecuted yourself !
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Post by michael on Sept 14, 2016 17:59:04 GMT 1
My reference to getting into trouble refers to an incident back in the seventies when I worked for a road transport company. One of our drivers was making a delivery at a hotel and had blocked the side parking area. He had the tailboard down and had started to unload when a motorist asked him to move. He refused and told the bloke that he would have to wait and the guy called the police (remember the days when if you called th police they would come) the police arrived and nicked him for causing an obstruction and driving without due consideration for other road users. He pleaded not guilty but was found guilty and fined about £50.00 (that's the equivalent of about £500 now days!) I would imagine that if you called the police nowdays over such a matter you would be prosecuted yourself ! If they did people for obstruction these days they would do a local Tesco Metro on a daily basis. In the original application there was going to be rear access but this never happened. Now they reduce a two lane street to a single lane and cause chaos with their rush hour deliveries (surely unnecessary but then they {(contractors} seem to empty the bins and sweep the roads in the busiest areas in the rush hours)!
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Post by michael on Sept 28, 2016 23:27:22 GMT 1
It seems quir a while ago since we commented on England's performance in the Euros - I would think Stevenage Borough or Crawley Town woud have done better. Now the England manager saga continues in what seems more like a soap opera that real life. I had high hoped for Big Sam but am totally bemused that someone with an income (£3,000,000 per annum) all, or most, of us can dream about blows it by (allegedly) getting involved in dodgy transfers for a few more quid. And why talk of a pay off? Most jobs start with a three month trial period when either side can say 'thank you but no'. Who next then maybe we should try Stevenage's manager?*!
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Post by michael on Oct 10, 2016 17:24:23 GMT 1
Where have all the 'grumpies' gone? Just watched news. If you are an American how do you chose next president when neither seems a sensible choice. Think I would go for Hilary but only by 0.1%...
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Post by colin on Oct 10, 2016 21:11:12 GMT 1
Yes well, back to groaning on again.... something as serious as the election of the "President" of one of the most powerful nations on earth, or maybe "the" most powerful, certainly gives me the jitters.....two of not the most necessarily apt persons....degenerating the process down to what now amounts to "monty python's flying circus" .......DUHHH!!!!...I wonder what the rest of the world REALLY thinks? ....I'm going to pour out a drink while I can.....!!!!Vote Grumpy...
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Post by cardaft on Oct 13, 2016 16:22:32 GMT 1
You think they would have some sort of fall back procedure, where if you end up with unsuitable candidates you try again. Never really got into American politics, they all seem a bit too keen somehow. I could not vote for Trumph ,don't like the look of the Guy. As for Clinton, looks reasonable to me, she is a woman, so positive there, probably ran the country when her hubby was off doing other things (and other people), so experience there but most of the women in America hate her, why is that? Interesting what is happening with this Brexit thing, I thought we voted to leave? I wonder what sort of Brexit we will get? Hard or Soft,full or half full,full fat or low fat--- so much for democracy . So Tesco has stopped supplying Marmite,what is the world coming too ? dr
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Post by Joe on Oct 13, 2016 19:03:45 GMT 1
So Tesco has stopped supplying Marmite,what is the world coming too ? dr HA!! For once I am fully prepared as Mrs Joe do the shopping the other day and bought Marmite and we already had some, so now we have two jars (and Mrs Joe doesn't eat it)
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Post by michael on Oct 13, 2016 20:04:08 GMT 1
So Tesco has stopped supplying Marmite,what is the world coming too ? dr HA!! For once I am fully prepared as Mrs Joe do the shopping the other day and bought Marmite and we already had some, so now we have two jars (and Mrs Joe doesn't eat it) My Aussie cousin converted me to Vegemite in 2002... I try and avoid Tesco whenever possible as their Metros cause traffic chaos in these parts and caused the closure of nearly all the corner shops...
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Post by colin on Oct 19, 2016 19:14:59 GMT 1
Well, what IS the world coming to??? What?? No Marmite?? Perhaps the new president of the USA can sort this out straight away as a matter of urgency, after all what on earth is going to happen next???!!!Vote GRRRumpy!!
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Post by michael on Oct 20, 2016 20:44:28 GMT 1
Well, what IS the world coming to??? What?? No Marmite?? Perhaps the new president of the USA can sort this out straight away as a matter of urgency, after all what on earth is going to happen next???!!!Vote GRRRumpy!! Carefull either of the pair could cause a Marmitegate scandal... They need a GRRRumpy President...
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