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Beware, not all granite worktops are the same.
My sister had a lovely kitchen put in, sparkling black granite tops. Except everything stains it. God knows what they got, but literally water, coffee etc stains the surface. You can't see the surface as everything is covered in mats. What's the point !
GU-10 light fitting.
#bastards
We had black granite worktops at our last house and they were amazing. I'm sure that they could have stopped an anti tank round if required. The only down side was that it would destroy anything that you dropped on it.
12 speed on an ebike.
We have in the past fitted shorter gas struts to enable her to reach the bootlid when it’s open.
Bit of rope tied to something on the inside of the tailgate would sort that. My last two cars had a handle/strap to help reach the tailgate.
marble/stone workstops - ****ing hateful to fit, really sodding expensive, look shit and really ****ing noisy thereafter. just a ****ing terrible idea.
i love my wood worktop.
oh and boost spacing. **** off SRAM! - what a ****ing pointless load of shit making everything harder to fit together.
and 12 speed! - you can shove that up your arse as well.
don't sit on fence VanHalen, tell us what you really think o0f 12 speed
Admittedly they look nice, but only for about a week. And then they start to look crap
I think that's the point of them? Folk want them to look rustic, lived-in. I have a friend who's really into this stuff: repurposing old futons as a workbench; railway sleeper for a mantlepiece; reclaimed driftwood as a shelf; staircase banister fashioned from old rope that used to be on the side of her boyfriend's dad's old boat or something; etc etc.
Personally I'm with you, I think it looks crap. But she's like "oh, that red stain on the table, that's when Claire knocked over a glass of wine on my 40th birthday! That was a great night, remember when Dave drank half a bottle of tequila and threw up? You can still see..."
Her entire house tells a story, or at least it did until she moved about a month ago. Last we spoke she was building garden furniture out of a couple of pallets or something. Weird woman.
My vote goes to touch screens in cars.
As a lover of technology generally I'm right with you on this one. Invented by Bloody Stupid Johnson. Why have a physical button you can find in the dark from muscle memory when instead you can have a function six levels deep in a menu system that you're already a different six levels deep into and you're doing 70mph in the middle lane of the M6 at rush hour and you know what I think I'll just open the bloody window instead.
Johnson. /PTerry
I swear on my life that I typed the above before reading this.
I sort of get the waving your foot under the back ones
I had this feature on a car once. I read it in the handbook, thought "ooh!" and ran outside waving my foot about under the back bumper for a good five minutes trying to get the bastard thing to open, to no avail. Went back indoors, carried on reading. "... optional extra."
I had this feature on a car once. I read it in the handbook, thought “ooh!” and ran outside waving my foot about under the back bumper for a good five minutes trying to get the bastard thing to open, to no avail. Went back indoors, carried on reading. “… optional extra.”
I think my car has autonomous emergency braking but I'm not game to actually test it to see if it really does. (If it does, it's a good idea though.)
On the sink theme, for my Room 101 offering I give you: over-engineered sink plugs.
I mean, this was already a Solved Problem, right? But no, we have to **** about with something that's worked just fine for centuries. It'll be electronic handbrakes in cars next, mark my words.
You've got the remote control ones beloved of hotel rooms, a little lever or a turny-dial connected to a complex series of Heath Robinson levers which are broken more often than they are functional. I must've rebuilt the one back at my girlfriend's old house a dozen times in as many months. The plug itself has a height adjuster bolt which the entire goddamn world seems incapable of adjusting correctly so even when the stupid mechanism works it either doesn't lift high enough to actually drain the sink or doesn't drop low enough to fill it.
Then you've got the spinny-disc ones. Have we all seen those? The plug is captively mounted on a diametric axle, so you push one side of it down to open / close it. Because, what, sink plugs are highly expensive and often stolen? So you fill the sink, wash your hands / face / armpits / knob / whatever, dry yourself up, then realise you've got to go and fish about in the grubby water again to empty it. And there's no drain-side / sink-side demarcation, the face of the plug sitting in the drain for the last week could now be face-up as you're getting washed.
And then we've got the ones we have in here, arguably the worst of both worlds above. They're clicky-downy clicky-uppy like the button atop a pen. Stupid height adjuster which for added LOLs is in the throat of the drain and near-impossible to access; fish about in the sink after you've dried your hands once, check; the stupid thing seals with a rubber ring which slides inside the throat (ooh, Matron) rather than any sort of taper so it constantly dribbles water out (they write themselves, don't they).
Ridiculous.
I think my car has autonomous emergency braking but I’m not game to actually test it to see if it really does.
I resemble this remark.
I've (allegedly) had it on the last two cars I've had. On my current car it's linked with the adaptive cruise and I know it works because every now and again it'll spy a parked car I'm about to drive around or a car in a right-turn filter lane waiting for a gap in oncoming traffic, then in response promptly shit itself and try to bounce my head off the steering wheel.
Bathroom sinks that have a non-sloping profile behind the taps, preventing any water from naturally falling into the bowl.
I found out that my last car had autonomous brakes when driving up to a very narrow bridge with stone parapets in Northumberland, the road turned sharply left to go over the bridge, but the car clearly thought that I was going to hit the wall. Slammed the brakes on and a big warning sign on the dash. Scared the crap out of me ad the car behind. Luckily as the bridge was so narrow I was only doing about 15mph anyway and the other driver was paying attention so no collision. He probably thought that I was an idiot though
And glass shower screen that "seal" against the flat edge of the bath with a strip of silicon? Why not have the side of the bath sloping or stepped, or the screen mounted inside. Then physics and gravity can do the work instead of that nasty mouldy green/black "sealing" strip.
Things that are a bloody stupid idea?
A lion, in a side car, on a wall of death. I can't decide if it is a bloody stupid idea or one of the best things that has ever happened in the history of the world.
And Brexit.
Nowt wrong with wooden worktops and Belfast sinks. But they belong in artist's studios and workshops. If you've got them in your home because they look good but you get stressed by a few chips and dings, well... I don't know what to say. I bet you can't even reach the washing-up at the bottom can you? Eh? Can you? 😉
See also: people getting stressed about tiny scratches and dents on their cars, which are kept on the street and spend all week jostling in the city traffic. Madness.
Seeing as this is a sink-heavy thread, I'm going to go with those ****y little wash basins that are too small or not deep enough to be of any use for anything, with added bonus of high pressure/large volume tap which immediately rushes over the stupid low-angle slope of the stupid little sink and all over your trousers. Plus non-removable plug which gets blocked round the sides every time you have a shave.
A lion, in a side car, on a wall of death. I can’t decide if it is a bloody stupid idea or one of the best things that has ever happened in the history of the world.
Well, the lion seems to be enjoying itself!
Oh.
Printers. They can get in the sea as well.
I got my first computer in 1983. Back then it was a prick of a job to get a paragraph onto a piece of paper, and almost 40 years later little has changed.
Well, the lion seems to be enjoying itself!
Poor thing must be knackered. I bet it'll sleep tonight!
Electric opening tailgates on cars.
The need to hide boot release from the owner of the car - lets disguise it as a badge or hide it under the ledge above the number plate - but if you have to find it my touch - lets make it indistinguishable from any of the other vague lumps and bumps under there too.
Oh.Printers. They can get in the sea as well.
Printers have clearly been invented by someone who has never actually had to print something or ever seen a piece of A4 paper. How can something that is relatively simple be such a total utter nightmare to use?!
I mean, OK, the idea of a printer itself is not stupid however the design and implementation of said printer has always been very very stupid indeed.
Same with vacuum cleaners. Great idea. Usually a woeful design, like the people who invented the motor and attachments have never met the people who design the bags.
Poor thing must be knackered. I bet it’ll sleep tonight!
Probably thinking
"I'll sleep tonight,
It's only a spin away,
a spin away,
a spin away"
Double rant.
I'm assuming someone has already said Brexit ?
Wooden toilet seats ( see also wooden worktops).
White upvc door cills.
Well, the lion seems to be enjoying itself!
Pretty sure the story goes that the lion was terrified and pissed itself, which in turn, rotted the wall.
I’m assuming someone has already said Brexit ?
I said Brexit but worthy of a second vote.
Electronic/electric hand brakes.....
No fun in snow covered car parks, and completely crap for hill starts when you 'automatic brake hold' decides it's too hot and doesn't want to play.....
A cable handbrake saved me & my car when I was in my early 20's and the master cylinder seals decided they wanted a day off - not helpful on a national speed limit road coming up to an island... Imagine doing that with just an on/off switch!!
Leaving an Ex's phone number as the contact on a crash detection app 😜
Reversing cameras in cars. Yes I’m talking about you lady who reversed in to my house because you were looking at the camera and not using your ****ing mirrors.
I think my car has autonomous emergency braking but I’m not game to actually test it to see if it really does.
I resemble this remark.
I’ve (allegedly) had it on the last two cars I’ve had. On my current car it’s linked with the adaptive cruise and I know it works because every now and again it’ll spy a parked car I’m about to drive around or a car in a right-turn filter lane waiting for a gap in oncoming traffic, then in response promptly shit itself and try to bounce my head off the steering wheel.
I've got it, it's triggered twice, at exactly the same spot in Builth Wells (I think) 12 months apart. My Wife's triggers when someone decided to pull out on her on a narrow road.
As for bloody stupid ideas, lane assist. It works well on a simple road like a motorway and will gently stop you straying out of lane, but on rural roads, or worse roads that have been redrawn and there are old markings about, it's not much fun when you're driving and suddenly it's tugging the wheel because you've driven over a bit of white paint or something.
Not fit for purpose.
I agree with lane assist - if you can't drive between the lines you shouldn't be driving!
Reversing cameras in cars.
Not quite the same, but MrsTH has had a number of bumps from hitting stuff because she didn’t trust the (screaming) parking assist beeps…
hand dryers in toilets that don't dry your hands, they move the water around a bit, then you wipe your hands on trouser legs...
my Apple Smart watch that tells me having ridden 100 miles that day, that i have done enough exercise but i have failed my targets as i haven't stood up enough..and then nags me to breathe correctly.
Wooden toilet seats
I quite like a wooden toilet seat. They don't get cold. Terrible idea in places like pubs where, well, y'know, wood is a bit on the absorbent side. But at a home not filled with animals...
Pretty sure the story goes that the lion was terrified and pissed itself, which in turn, rotted the wall.
"I'll wee my way, I'll wee my way..."
I think my car has autonomous emergency braking but I’m not game to actually test it to see if it really does.
I have experienced this feature 'working' once in a Volvo XC60 (I think it was some kind of pedestrian safety device). I was on a roundabout and a coach started to pull on to the roundabout as I was going around it. The car 'sensed' a pedestrian and slammed the brakes on which almost resulted in the bloody coach driving into the side of my car - the driver was furious and I simply had no idea WTF had just happened!
A lion, in a side car, on a wall of death. I can’t decide if it is a bloody stupid idea or one of the best things that has ever happened in the history of the world.
I'd heard a story that the wall of death eventually got condemned, as it scared the lion so much it kept peeing itself, and the lion pee rotted the wood..............
And they look manky with greasy fingerprints.
Get an anti-glare screen protector. Not only does it mean that I never have to stare at my own horrific reflection but it doesn't pick up fingerprints.
I think my car has autonomous emergency braking but I’m not game to actually test it to see if it really does.
The sales tactic for my first V60 involved the salesman daring me to run him over with it. While I relished the opportunity the car did indeed stop me. Next time I spoke to him he told me that Volvo UK had forbidden this particular sales tactic following a couple of accidents where someone had turned the system off.
Next time I spoke to him he told me that Volvo UK had forbidden this particular sales tactic following a couple of accidents where someone had turned the system off.
Gravel bikes – like road bikes but slower, like mountain bikes but less capable. We live in the UK, we do not have endless miles of graded gravel like they do in the US.
Out I dunno, did the Saxon Way the week before last, 100 miles of mostly byways and tame bridleways that they were perfect tool for.
Then went up to the Yorskhire Dales, even more actual "gravel". Raydale where I was staying has 6 routes out of it. 2 are roads into Wensleydale, the other 4* are pretty much exactly what you'd imagine when someone says "gravel road". Infact most of the valleys round there the gravel roads outnumbered the paved ones it was great fun.
*half of which are the only routes out of the valley in those directions, so your road bike wouldn't be any use.
67.37% of roads in the US are paved. So nearly 33% are roads not paved.
(Roads, paved (% of total roads) in United States was reported at 67.37 % in 2008, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources)
In the UK I would be surprised if the % was even double figures. Sure, there are some farm tracks and old routes like the Ridgeway etc, but those are a rutty, muddy mess for a lot of the year. Not quite the gravel roads you see in the marketing when looking at gravel bikes.
80...no 90% of the human race!
Kettles in hotel rooms that are too big to get under the wash basin tap. Am I supposed to fill them using the shower head?
In the UK I would be surprised if the % was even double figures. Sure, there are some farm tracks and old routes like the Ridgeway etc, but those are a rutty, muddy mess for a lot of the year. Not quite the gravel roads you see in the marketing when looking at gravel bikes.
Yorkshire begs to differ, miles, and miles, and miles (and thousands of feet of climbing to go with it) of the stuff.
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