The scummy git who snapped the Halfords Advance 1/2 to 3/8 reducing socket then returned it to the shop in its original packaging for a refund no doubt.
The staff member of Halfords who took the return , refunded the cash , but didnt bother to check the product before returning it to the glass cabinet of shineyness in Halfords.
Myself being stupid and acting on faith that the socket adapter i bought at Halfords didnt need checking before leaving the shop car park. #
Having battled the xmas Brussel sprout rush for 20 mins to get to Halfords to purchace said reducer so I could use my torque wrench witha 10mm deep enabling new glow plugs to be installed , to drive 20 mins home. Open box, release some profanities into the ether , back in car for another 20min crawl and play the find a parking space game again. The girl in Halfords was an angel though.
and my car has a new set of glow plugs which all released easily despite having a reputation for snappage ,hence the Torque wrench.
The scummy git part is a bit harsh seeing as whoever it was returned the unusable part for a full refund what did they do wrong ?
Put it back into its original packaging , along with the 3/8 >1/4 adapter then presumably asking for a refund for whatever reason. Rather than showing the staff the busted part and risking ' nah mate , thats been abused , not a warranty job, soz ' from the staff. Despite Halfords Advance kit having a great reputation for replacement parts , maybe he didnt want another one as this one sheared and a 1/2 drive socket was actually required .-or bigger .
Chefs. Just people chucking stuff into saucepans etc.
Gift vouchers
They can get in the sea.
I've finally found a use for gift cards.
I've long held that gift cards are crap. Like, I wanted to get you a gift but didn't know what to get, so I thought I'd just give you the money only make it less useful. Or, it's your auntie giving you a book token so that you don't "waste" the money (I was legit a big reader as a kid, but we had a well-stocked library...)
But. The Girl's bloke is getting a PS5 for Christmas. We wanted to get him a game to go with it as she's bought the bare console rather than a bundle. Aside from the fact that we don't really know what he'd want, it's a digital-only console with no optical drive. Solution, gift card, redeemable for a game or a PS+ subscription or what have you, then he's got something other than an expensive paperweight on Christmas day. Plus a £50 code 'only' cost me £42.😁
We have one of those Karcher WindowVac jobbies, which gets used to clear down the condensation in the bathroom after a shower. It lives in the airing cupboard between uses.
When I stash it away, it's like this
When Mrs Lawman stashes it, it's like this
That gets my goat, that does.
The energy ombudsman for not allowing the dozens of phone calls I've made to be evidence in a dispute
You see you fell into their trap of dealing with them over the phone. There's a reason companies favour this and emails sent via their web site rather than direct from your email address. So they have control over the paper trail or lack thereof!
Once you remember you are dealing with cocky arseholes (this applies across the board IME) and treat them as such it all becomes easier. Only contact them in writing/email so there is a trail and do it via their complaints email. One company I dealt with got caught out not registering complaints as mandated by regulators.
As soon as they delay/**** you about, go straight to the ombudsman, don't discuss it further. Always seek compensation, no matter how small! Because they are all at it and nationalisation has been kicked into the long grass. Leading people a merry dance is treated as a god given right. They often make mistakes, because they are so cocksure, self-righteous and love patting each other on the back about what a wonderful job they are doing dealing with the unreasonable public.
Persons in this household who haven’t understood that cleaning the bog involves application of brush and cleaning cloth, and not just pouring gallons of toilet cleaner into the throne.
just pouring gallons of toilet cleaner into the throne.
Oh yes, here too. We don't possess a bog brush ("I hate toilet brushes", she regularly says) so we get through probably 1.5 litres of bleach a week. The local sewage treatment plant must be delighted about that.
Relaxing?
I hope they bring you some moments of mindful relaxation this holiday season. We’ll publish the answers on Monday December 29 and add a link to them here. Good luck! https://theconversation.com/the-magic-of-maths-festive-puzzles-to-give-your-brain-and-imagination-a-workout-272498
For those of you who do find maths puzzles relaxing, Merry Christmas 😊
We don't possess a bog brush ("I hatetoilet brushes", she regularly says)
im with her on that. i really should post this in the 'things that make you disproportionately happy', but we bought one of those spikey silicone spatula type 'brushes'. just a few quid spent and its a world away from seeing clegnuts on a sh1tty old bog brush. i smile every time i walk into the toilet and see it sat there all clean and sterile. (that may be a lie).
Two lanes out of Eight for water walking at my local pool. I just don’t get it.
Water walking is a disgrace as it is let alone allocating so much space for it. Winds me up every time I’m there for a swim.
Does my nut in
Make em walk to the deep end.
Currently Christmas. Mrs 100th won't sit down. When I do something she micromanages. Hoovering earlier "don't forget the hall", really the space I was standing in vacuum in hand and I need reminding.
We have 3kg of beef (the price of which was our weekly food shop +) and loads of trimmings, including 2kg of pigs in blankets. There's going to be 6 of us. 3 of whom could share a pub lunch main course and still have leftovers. But everything is to be cooked.
It's 2128 and she's got the bloody vacuum out again in a room I did and no one will go into, although she also changed the bed clothes so maybe I'm in there.
I'm considering starting drinking again.
Have a good day tomorrow everyone.
Stuff being left, completely unecessarily, In The Way. In the way of your own place at the table, in fact. I give you Exhibit 1:
Call The Midwife. Everything about it makes me disproportionately cross.
I haves new reason to be disproportionately cross. The Russian doll approach to storage. My wife has a new MacBook. She got a shell case to protect it, fair enough. She also bought a fancy pouch thing to put the shell case protected MacBook in for safety. She also got a new laptop bag to put the pouch in that has the case that protects the MacBook.
STW’s bloody swear filter! Replacing legitimate words with asterisks because its fluffy little mind can’t understand that the name of an English king is actually spelled C n u t! It’s not the first time that an ordinary English word has been censored for no obvious reason, other than, if you squinted at it, it might say something rude.
It’s 2026, are there actually any people on here under the age of consent? 🤐
British/Scottish Gas. They've hassled my parents for 20months over a supply that they themselves removed. All that time I've made complaints and got nowhere. They just send bills.
Got our Tory boy MP involved and 5 days later a letter of apology and a token goodwill payment. (Third such goodwill payment).
Printers, dread the odd occasion when I have to use one as my new laptop seems to hate talking to the thing.
My right knee. That's the good one. After signing up for a running event end March, I've managed to mildly bork it a month into regular running. Obviously it hurt a bit so I carried on and now it hurts a lot.
All adding to the 31 day period of joy known as Dry January.
Happy New Year everyone.
Things that bother me today.
1. Niggling back ache.
2. The new Lucy Worsley thing on TV which is rubbish.
3. Suppliers not sending out free desk calendars this year. Deublin I'm looking at you!
4. The oranges that have started to shrivel in the kitchen, which we are refusing to eat or throw away.
5. Fascists.
Trying to be clever and it backfiring. I ordered a tent and Royal Mail emailed to say it would be delivered on Sat 20th Dec. As it's going to my work address I rescheduled for Monday 22nd when the building would be open. There's no sign of it, RM have somehow lost it. If I'd let them try to deliver on the Sat I have a feeling it would have been out for redelivery on Monday and I'd have received it.
The Americanisation of the UK and importation of culture wars and us/them mentality, the inability to realise you can agree to disagree and the adoption of political stances becoming an extension of personal identity, pathetic
These plate/bowl things have appeared in our house over the past year or two. They make me cross because the edges are too angled and the bloody things don't stack in the dishwasher and take over the draining board as they won't stack their either!
.....
RE: Stuff that makes you disproportionately cross
This bloody forum too!!!
I feel your pain with those plate things.
We have some that, if not stacked IN EXACTLY THE RIGHT POSITION, foul the spinny arm things so nothing on the top deck gets properly cleaned.
Over complicated plates are ****s.
I keep ground coffee in the fridge at work, in an old Lavazza tin. An overzealous cleaner must have thrown it out over Christmas as I guess the tin was showing out of date.
I discovered this at 10am when I was desperate for a decent coffee.
This bloody forum too!!!
Did you try to edit your post too late? I think that's what happens - you edit and instead of editing the original post it creates a whole new one quoting the original. Stupid behaviour! (and behaviour has got a U in it you stupid yank spell checker)
Anyway, came here to say icy roads! Making me fall off my bike and having to go home cos I don't know what the rubbing is - then driving to work and getting stuck in all the shitty traffic that is my whole reason for riding. And having to follow a big filthy lorry constantly spraying filth over my car and windscreen. Sod off cold weather!
Obviously it hurt a bit so I carried on and now it hurts a lot.
Tell me you're a middle aged man without telling me you're a middle aged man.
My doorstep is NOT my 'Safe place'.
I have never said it is. It never will be.
Deliver there at your own risk, not mine bruv. 🙄
1) Having mislaid an Apple Pencil Pro over Christmas and finally giving in and ordering a new one, within 20 mins of the new one being delivered you flip over your keyboard (see 2) and find the lost pencil has magnetically attached itself to the bottom of the keyboard.
3) Finding your expensive keyboard covered in crumbs from your wife's snacking, requiring regular keyboard inversion to clear of food debris.
Any minute now I'm going to start properly running again...Any minute now.
I feel this meme is appropriate here 😉
My total inability to turn off #racemode on Zwift. I'm happy to plod up climbs with my riding buds taking my position in mid pack. Put me on the turbo tho and I MUST BEAT AT LEAST 25% of 800 riders, not of which I will ever meet. All the time thinking, I bet that bloke RIGHT THERE must be weight doping.
And don't get me started on the absolute units who go into Coffee-mode at the start of the steep climb.
Cycling normally gives me a fantastic feeling of calm fulfilment. This is not the case with Zwift.
My doorstep is NOT my 'Safe place'.
I have never said it is. It never will be.
Deliver there at your own risk, not mine bruv. 🙄
I got a camera doorbell because of this, despite having three places that could be described as safe all on the apps safe places.
My doorstep is NOT my 'Safe place'.
I have never said it is. It never will be.
Deliver there at your own risk, not mine bruv.
I'm out of patience with this shit now and increasingly of the mind that if it's not delivered properly then the supplier can resend it.
I had one the other day, reported as delivered but no sign of it. I reported it and got told to check the area and ask around with neighbours. Well, no, sod off, I'm not doing that, I don't see why I should spend an afternoon like Aneka ****ing Rice when it's your responsibility BY LAW to ensure safe delivery. If you don't know where it is then it's hardly "delivered" now is it. (This one did actually turn up a few days later, a neighbour brought it round. It'd been delivered to the correct door number but on a different street... 🤷♂️)
Peeve #1 - businesses that say "order within the next <whatever time> for next day delivery", and then hand over the parcel to Evri around midnight, with 48 hour delivery service, so there's no freakin' chance of it being delivered next day.
Peeve #2 - returning something and then having to wait 2 weeks for the refund to show up on your credit card. You were quick enough to charge it, as I recall
Common factor - Runners Need
Repeatedly typing 2025 and having to correct to 2026.
My doorstep is NOT my 'Safe place'.
Tell you where isn't my next-door neighbours' Safe Place - the plants in our front garden. I was doing some winter clearing up of dead stuff last weekend and found a parcel for next door that had been chucked in there sometimes in the summer.
Anyway, mine.. digital 'Support' assistants, who reply to queries telling me stuff that either a) I already know, cos that's why I asked the question or b) is incorrect.
Anyway, mine.. digital 'Support' assistants, who reply to queries telling me stuff that either a) I already know, cos that's why I asked the question or b) is incorrect.
The sad truth though is that this probably resolves 90% of queries. It is beyond infuriating, like calling a helpline that goes "have you looked at our website?", but I can understand why they do it.
My doorstep is NOT my 'Safe place'.
Yep - came home yesterday to find my wife's apple watch charger had been left on my doorstep, despite it being in packaging about a third the size of our letterbox opening..would have been ok except that it was in the middle of storm goretti and my doorstep was under water.
Repeatedly typing 2025 and having to correct to 2026.
When the file naming protocol at work includes the date....
North Yorkshire council has narrowed the road to create extra protected on-street parking for a car dealer to dump their stock. They've done it by widening the pavement and sticking a bollard in the road to protect the cars parked there, while everyone on a bike gets forced to move to the right, exactly where people are passing you against oncoming traffic.
They're so spectacularly corrupt it's unbelievable. I've asked for a copy of the risk assessment but they're ignoring me.
Electric mini pumps 😀
Apparently it's ok to fire shotguns across a B road as you'll probably have the paperwork in place to deal with vermin.
The fact that those vermin are the pheasants you've just raised and released and the vermin exterminators are paying to drink and blast.
“Prescribed”
It’s not from a pharmacy, it’s from a feeble government. “Proscribed”.
'Track your order with Shop'
Firstly, 'Shop' is a stupid brand name. Secondly, in order to track my order, they require me to install their app. Get lost. Actual delivery companies don't try such nonsense, they just have a tracking website. Why on Earth would I want an app from the stupid payment facilitator thingy?
"We'll only show you tracking info if you install our app."
Well get stuffed then.
Coming into work and the early guy has got his 'music' playing which seems to be entirely made up of absolutely shockingly awful emo style nu-metal covers of what you might (or might not) deem to be actual artists.
Currently we have a cover of Mad World by Tears for Fears going into Running up that there Hill by Kate Bush. Before, a Metallica track. Before that, an Oasis track.
What makes it even more grating is that he appears to get a notification (it's playing on phone Bluetooth) approximately every two minutes.
Spending hours uninstalling, searching for and re-installing drivers, only to find that it's a hardware issue.
People not bothering to take corners properly.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/GbupjAFG52TFWwJc9
This is the entrance to our road, note that the road is flush with the pavement.
the number of people who just cant be arsed to slow down and turn the wheel when turning is infuriating. more than once ive had to pull the pram sharply back behind the wall to not get smacked by people cutting the corner at speed. dicks.
the number of people who just cant be arsed to slow down and turn the wheel when turning is infuriating.
I'd try writing to the Council - seems like they've dropped the kerbs all round which makes corner cutting very easy.
There's a new one around here, and it's always old people at the supermarket, who watch the beep boy scanning all their shopping, then they pay for their shopping, and only then do they start loading their trolley or bag. Now I'm buggered if I'm going to do the same, so I have to walk around them to pick up my shopping, then walk back to the beep boy to pay for it. In the intervening time, it's almost inevitable that the person behind me in the queue is now standing right in front of the card machine. Maddening!
Apps on bastard everything.
I am not against tech,l in anyway, but this past week:
1 - opening a new Lloyd's account. App failed to recognise me, App fails to recognise passwords, means I have to go a branch. Branch closes in 10 days.
2 - new Bluetooth speaker requires a terrible app to work. It ignores all commands after about 10 minutes. It's going back.
Aghhh
Apps on bastard everything
Seconded. We've got an electric 'fire' with lights representing flames and which pushes out heat if you request it to. But before that can happen, you have to kneel down in front of the 'fire' and tilt a glass screen backwards, which seemingly opens a microswitch somewhere that allows the element to get heated.
There are 2 specific irritations about said 'fire'
- You can't use the app to tilt the glass screen - i.e. it's manual only
- But youre effectively forced to use the app for everything else (temp, flame effect, fan speed etc) as the manual controls are basically inaccessible behind a difficult-to-open plate steel trim piece
Someone wasn't thinking about usability when they signed it all off. We paid several hundred quid for it, and basically only ever have the flame effect running (mainly because SWMBO says "Don't leave the tilted glass screen open, it'll get all dusty inside")
Taxi drivers being the worst drivers in town. It's your job so why do you suck at it?
Pissing around with KitKat varieties. Every now and again they manage to come up with something that tastes of more than just sugar, like Dark Mint, so you just know that once you've become accustomed to the tasty snack, it will be discontinued.
I'm clearly having a disproportionately annoying day.
Sometime before Christmas, the metadata servers (used by Windows Media, both current and Legacy, to name tracks and retrieve cover art) stopped working and on Windows 10 or 11, the result is the same: album not found.
https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/09/microsoft_windows_media_player_forgets/
Spaghetti. Separates the bolognese too much to really enjoy it.
Also people that say Spag Bol.
Also people that say Spag Bol.
Add to that people that say “Mac ‘n’ Cheese”.
It’s Macaroni Cheese!
People, including my kids, who think "mac'n'cheese" is a new thing.
There's others in that list as well, 'croud surfing' and 'mosh pits' to name two, except we didn't have a name for that, we just went to the front and got very sweaty.
Waking up on a Sunday morning looking forward to a rare day of doing absolutely sweet f all, going for a tom tit and thinking "hmm, bacon sandwhich and coffee or should I go back to bed for a bit wait.. hang on... why are my feet like ice all of a sudden?" then looking down to find a creeping pool of shitty water forming around your feet and the loo.
Seal had went on the toilets pan connector, so my quiet Sunday has disappeared. On top of that I slipped down the stairs on the way out to screw fix so now my arse is killing me and the tumble driers developed a leak thst I'm currently trying to sort out after sorting the bog out. Sods law eh, atleast that's all 3.
ive had to pull the pram sharply back behind the wall
I used to drop junior off at the nanny and push the empty pushchair back home. The fun that could be had pushing the pushchair out onto the pedestrian crossing whilst looking the other way if a driver clearly wasn't going to stop as required. 🙂
Waking up on a Sunday morning looking forward to a rare day of doing absolutely sweet f all, going for a tom tit and thinking "hmm, bacon sandwhich and coffee or should I go back to bed for a bit wait.. hang on... why are my feet like ice all of a sudden?" then looking down to find a creeping pool of shitty water forming around your feet and the loo.
Seal had went on the toilets pan connector, so my quiet Sunday has disappeared. On top of that I slipped down the stairs on the way out to screw fix so now my arse is killing me and the tumble driers developed a leak thst I'm currently trying to sort out after sorting the bog out. Sods law eh, atleast that's all 3.
Bugger! Is your name Alf?
Folk who don't understand simple things, like time. Case in point being a recruiter trying to contact me recently. Had to dingy her phonecall late on on Friday. Messaged her this morning and apologised for the delay, and that I'd be free to speak this afternoon. She emails back immediately saying 'great, speak soon!'
Guess whose phonecall I've just had to dingy again, because I'm (still, nothing's changed in the intervening ninety minutes) not free to speak until this afternoon?
Well I've learnt something today!
According to Google AI; "Dingy a call" is likely a misunderstanding or slang for "dingie a call," which in Scottish slang means to rebuff, ignore, or stand someone up for a date or appointment, related to the idea of being snubbed or left out (like a dinghy boat being left behind)."
Sure this has been mentioned seversl times before but this time it's affected me so it's important.
Settled down with MrsMC Sunday night to catch up with the latest series of generic brain out RV detective show. Watched two episodes Sunday evening, quite rare that we settle down and watch something together, was quite nice.
Got in last night and she'd watched the next two episodes without me. I've been stewing about it all morning, absolutely disproportionately cross. Selfish, rude, insensitive, disrespectful.
According to Google AI; "Dingy a call" is likely a misunderstanding or slang for "dingie a call," which in Scottish slang means to rebuff, ignore, or stand someone up
Interesting. I used to work with a guy ('gadge') whose roots were in the area just south of Edinburgh - Penicuik and around there. He'd often use the term 'rubber' someone if he was ignoring them, or not answering a phone. Maybe a connection with rubber dinghy?
Reading copy paste AI generated guff on a forum. Ugh. May the raw chilli on your hands not have fully dissipated by your next toilet break.
The Beckhams.
Just **** off out of my field of vision the lot of you.
The Beckhams.
Just **** off out of my field of vision the lot of you.
Definitely this. WhyTF was it on national news?
Reading copy paste AI generated guff on a forum. Ugh. May the raw chilli on your hands not have fully dissipated by your next toilet break.
Ha - if that's in response to me - sorry, I just genuinely had no idea what dingys had to do with phone calls!
I truly despise when someone asks a question on a forum and someone response with C&P AI guff - like the person couldn't have done that themselves.
Ha! Not yours at all dude! Yours was an interpretation of response! Never heard the word either.
I have been chatting to a new lady for a few days but yesterday she outed herself as a flat earther. That's her done. I don't have time for that nonsense in my life.
I have been chatting to a new lady for a few days but yesterday she outed herself as a flat earther. That's her done. I don't have time for that nonsense in my life.
But the evidence is out there. Do your own research.
I saw a bus this morning with it's rear fog light on. A BUS! Every part of it lit up! Completely visible! And.. and... It's hard to say this, but it was just raining! No fog anywhere. My stomach is still in knots.
I have been chatting to a new lady for a few days but yesterday she outed herself as a flat earther. That's her done. I don't have time for that nonsense in my life.
I'm not entirely confident that I would have been able to resist the opportunity to **** with her. "Oh, you don't believe 'flat earth' do you? That's what They want you to think."
What an amateur, hollow earth is where it’s at.