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Post by michael on Apr 24, 2015 13:45:08 GMT 1
Latest news,band from Supermarket shopping trips (yippee) as I insisted bringing my calculator along,great to work out the cost of things,only thing trip took twice as long and store staff started hiding from me,senior management will not let me go any more,so a bit of win win Supermarket staff hated being asked about pricing. Last time I asked them why the nine pack of loo rolls was cheaper per roll than the promotional sixteen pack and twelve sachets of cat food was cheaper per sachet than the promotional 44 pack - the best they come up with is "I will let the manager know". Sainsburys once had some good wine at £9.99 per bottle - two for £10. I was tempted to ask for the 1p bottle! A new cafe opened in the area recently and they have similar stupid pricing - a full english (allow myself one per week) is £7.95 - two for £10. As you can't carry one forward to the next weekend they can go without my custom. Oh well the weeknd beckons and a trip to the supermarket!
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Post by Joe on Apr 24, 2015 18:40:31 GMT 1
One thing that annoys me is real ale in pubs We have three pubs in our village and two of them are near to my house. Both pubs pride themselves on what they call "A fine selection of cask ales" and do you know what? You cannot get a decent pint of bitter in either of them, it is because they "have a selection" each one has three or four different beers and nobody drinks them. Consequently the beer is always stale or warm in the pipes and tastes crap so....... Yep! Nobody drinks them! I mentioned this to the landlord of one of the pubs and his reply was "I don't know why, we have a company come in and clean the pipes every month"
If each pub just sold one type of real ale it may stand a chance
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Post by michael on Apr 29, 2015 13:54:04 GMT 1
One thing that annoys me is real ale in pubs We have three pubs in our village and two of them are near to my house. Both pubs pride themselves on what they call "A fine selection of cask ales" and do you know what? You cannot get a decent pint of bitter in either of them, it is because they "have a selection" each one has three or four different beers and nobody drinks them. Consequently the beer is always stale or warm in the pipes and tastes crap so....... Yep! Nobody drinks them! I mentioned this to the landlord of one of the pubs and his reply was "I don't know why, we have a company come in and clean the pipes every month" If each pub just sold one type of real ale it may stand a chance Much the same here although even though the centre is known as “the village” it grew into a (commuter) town between the wars. Many pubs have closed in the last few years and most that remain suffer from too many beers in iffy condition. Only one is now in the Good Beer Guide – it serves the same two ales for long periods and they are always excellent, and when they occasionally have a guest ale it is one barrel that sells in days. A case of less is more! I only heard this morning that another pub has closed - again it had a large range of ales in a condition that made you feel like drinking the Guinness!
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Post by michael on May 16, 2015 11:15:48 GMT 1
Just found out the library database has a record of everything I have ever borrowed in the last 12 years! Why? What's the point? However a book I requested a week ago is still in transit as they have bizarre logistics where the book has to go through about four libraries despite the library stocking the book being the second nearest to my own. Seems the world gets sillier every day...
BTW if you are actually interested the first book recorded is about fuel injection as my daily driver Catlton was not running its usual smooth self at the time. It was an ignition issue in the end - I had been told the distributor cap had been replaced but it had not and was tracking inside...
Have a good weekend all...
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Post by michael on May 20, 2015 13:27:30 GMT 1
However a book I requested a week ago is still in transit as they have bizarre logistics where the book has to go through about four libraries despite the library stocking the book being the second nearest to my own. The book is finally ready for pickup - it averaged less than a mile/day!!!
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Post by colin on Jun 5, 2015 21:03:35 GMT 1
Today I found out why I so hate modern "euro-crap-fanastic-plastic-bland-characterless" cars,went to work and there was a blind panic on, everyone cleared off to their various destinations in their coaches including the "guvnor" who's final word was lent out of the cab window "take my car and meet me at the Yarmouth ferry terminal, I'll let you know what's going on then, see you there!". So, in I get, (this is a 15 plate eurobox), first there's no key, then I find a knob which says "start" on it, press it and bingo, go out the yard and stop to let traffic by and it stalls! By accident I press the clutch and it starts again! This goes on and on all the way to Yarmouth (20 miles) in stop start traffic, by now I'm pissed right off with the effing thing, probably worn out the starter, clutch and cable and flattened the battery, plus you can't see out of the stupid thing because the pillars are so thick they create masive blind spots, and when I backed it in to park I hit the kerb because I couldn't see the rear end!The "guv" said "how do you like my new car?",I said "let me back in my 25 year old rangie, at least you can see out of it", he laughed and said "you always was an effing dinasour!!, now don't bash that coach!!" Another grump from grumpy ol' COL!!
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Post by michael on Jun 12, 2015 13:39:07 GMT 1
Today I found out why I so hate modern "euro-crap-fanastic-plastic-bland-characterless" cars,went to work and there was a blind panic on, everyone cleared off to their various destinations in their coaches including the "guvnor" who's final word was lent out of the cab window "take my car and meet me at the Yarmouth ferry terminal, I'll let you know what's going on then, see you there!". So, in I get, (this is a 15 plate eurobox), first there's no key, then I find a knob which says "start" on it, press it and bingo, go out the yard and stop to let traffic by and it stalls! By accident I press the clutch and it starts again! This goes on and on all the way to Yarmouth (20 miles) in stop start traffic, by now I'm pissed right off with the effing thing, probably worn out the starter, clutch and cable and flattened the battery, plus you can't see out of the stupid thing because the pillars are so thick they create masive blind spots, and when I backed it in to park I hit the kerb because I couldn't see the rear end!The "guv" said "how do you like my new car?",I said "let me back in my 25 year old rangie, at least you can see out of it", he laughed and said "you always was an effing dinasour!!, now don't bash that coach!!" Another grump from grumpy ol' COL!! I have been driving a modern car for the past week (awaiting the prognosis on my 20 y.o. daily driver). It turned out to be cheaper to hire a Focus 1600 automatic than using public transport and taxis for work (not on any bus route). The warning alarms and dash message that tell you have undone your seatbelt or opened your door are an irritation. Also the fact that the interior light comes on when I turn off the engine - I have to pick up my girlfriend after 10; 00 some evenings and don't need to sit in a bright illuminated car outside! The auto is a bit strange compared to my V6 daily as it either seems in too high a gear or too low a gear (rev'ing hard). Wiki says the Focus is descended from the Escort although it is far larger. The funny thing is that it does not feel that large inside - and why that huge transmission tunnel. My manager's Audi has stop/start technology. The first time I went in it I though it needed a good service as it seemed to stall every time it came to a halt. The service was, in fact, coming up and he tried to book it in early as he was going away. Apparently you cannot do this until the computer decides a service is due - so it was done late. Technology - bah humbug!!! Actually I work in IT in the medical field so I can see benefits when it is used appropriately but usually it is not!
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Post by cardaft on Jun 13, 2015 11:56:20 GMT 1
Getting a bit concerned the way modern cars are disengaging the driver from the driver experience,I'm quite happy making the decision to switch on the cars lights and even select the windscreen wipers. One feature that annoys me intently, is this 'stop/start' malarkey,supposed to be fitted to improve economy and reduce pollution (remember you have to over fuel an engine to start it) that and wear and tear on starter, clutch and associated systems also stress on the engine itself,hot cold cycling,far better to leave the thing idling. Remember reading an article on new car technology,specifically automatic braking,one manufacturer,that shall be nameless,but let us call them Mercedes,where demonstrating this technology fitted to their cars, in front of the motoring press core,so the mercs were whizzing around the track and on the signal the first car conducted an emergency stop, all the other cars promptly collided into the back of it,one very expensive and embarrassing collision,reason? the techs working on the cars had removed the fuses for the auto braking system, and neglected to refit them,ok these things happen,the worrying thing,the drivers just sat there and let it crash,they were all waiting on the system to work,worrying that? All these 'innovations' are leading us, more and more, to driver less cars,when the computer says 'no' there will be no more self driven cars,the last car driver has probably been born? Dr
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Post by a30cruiser on Jun 13, 2015 12:16:09 GMT 1
Engine cut out on stopping is not new technology, remember having a VW Polo FormelE back in the 80's, is was a company pool car and the first time a drove it was the last time I drove it, nobody liked the idea of it cutting out, very disconcerting. My wifes car, Merc A class has it, she uses it all the time, I switch it off, sod the fuel saving, her cars doing something like 50 to the gallon anyway, how much more saving do you want to make, I had an RX8 for about 18 months from new, averaged around 18 to the gallon, now there's a car that could do with fuel saving technology, problem with the Mazda was every time you turned off the ignition you couldn't be sure it would start again, the engine had a habit of flooding, needless to say I traded it in, I could afford the car but not the running cost, fantastic car though, like s**t off a shovel, did a track day in it and I couldn't believe what it was capable of. Now my daily car is a Merc E Class, if they could work out how to manufacture alloys that didn't start to corrode the day it leaves the showroom it would be almost the perfect car, I've had 3 now and every one has had replacement wheels at £1000.00 a set.
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Post by a30cruiser on Jun 13, 2015 12:17:26 GMT 1
Just another thought, does anyone know where I can get a park assist gizmo for my Zephyr please!
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Post by Eddie on Jun 13, 2015 16:13:28 GMT 1
Just another thought, does anyone know where I can get a park assist gizmo for my Zephyr please! That's what the fins are for, so you can see exactly where the back corners of the car are when parking.
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Post by Joe on Jun 13, 2015 20:56:34 GMT 1
im sure that stop start stuff is a con to bring down the emissions,
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Post by Joe on Jun 13, 2015 20:58:52 GMT 1
im sure that stop start stuff is a con to bring down the emissions, Anyway that's nothing new most old Fords with Zenith carbs do that if the idle jet is blocked!
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Post by cardaft on Jun 14, 2015 11:13:41 GMT 1
Come to think of it,I've been driving cars with 'stop, don't know if it will start technology? ' for years,trying to bring the thing to a halt and keep it running as you know the battery is a bit 'iffy'. My proposal,lets bring back the starting handle,just think, everybody jumping out at the lights swinging the engine into life,think of the exercise and health benefits?
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Post by michael on Jun 15, 2015 13:51:53 GMT 1
Why are some parents so bad? Yesterday we took the girlfriend's grandchildren (3 and 5) out for the afternoon. Whilst we were enjoying a picnic we saw a kid of about four pulling up new planting in front of his parents. I wanted to say something but held back - a few years ago I told some children not to stone some ducks and ended up getting abused and physically threatened by their dysfunctional parents. Later in the afternoon we were at a play area where some children of about nine were throwing mud on a slide again in full view of their parents. There is a difference between letting your children have fun and letting them spoil things for others. A friend of mine took early retirement from teaching mainly because of these dysfunctional parents who seemed to think everything is the responsibility of the teacher and cannot set a good example themselves!
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