Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

On an isolated bend (no junction), agreed, but there are a small number of quirky junctions where the "straight through" road is not the "main road", and so under very limited circmstances, indicating a turn can help other roadusers understand your intentions.

I do this myself occasionally as I habitually drive faster through turns than most other drivers - I drive only manual cars, which are RWD or with "sporty" suspension, and so I feel safer indicating a turn in case others interpret my speed as an indication that I am going straight forward.

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

Wow, super... :sneaky:

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

If people who helped shape my younger years could stop dying I'd be less grumpy.:thumbdown:

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

Oooh - You've touched on another one there - People who say/claim "I can only drive automatic cars"


S

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

Why does that make you grumpy? If they've only learnt in an auto then they're correct. Unless you think everyone should learn in a manual,in which case I agree! :D

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

The latter. It's shortsighted and stupid to only learn on an automatic, but it seems to be a growing trend these days. This grumpy is born out of experience - I have this argument with my GF all the time - she can only drive automatic, and is almost proud of the fact, yet it's a complete pain in the arse when it comes to who is doing the driving, and where, and what car we are going to take etc...

Grrrrrr....


S

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

Daughter's learning at the mo and thankfully refuses to even do a few hours in an auto which is a bit of a pain as her car is a bit shit compared to mine ;). A friend of hers did about 10 hours in a manual and gave up, claimed it was too hard and is now going for her auto licence. Madness.

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

Yeah, it's great until the driver gets bitten by a snake and automatic only friend can't drive them to a hospital.

I think a fundamental part of driving is understanding how and what the gears are doing. GF drives hers like it's a go-kart.


S

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

It's got pretty bad in the US. I increasingly think of manual transmission as an anti-theft device! :lol:

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

I can only drive automatic cars.

Mostly because my left knee objects :)

I love a manual though - the boys did all their initial driving in our automatic, then we bought them a little manual Ford Fiesta (quite amusing to see them squeeze into it) for the rest of their driving. I loved driving it before the knee op! Scared to try again now.

That makes me grumpy.

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

But on the other hand, we have to expect the rise of the autonomous self-drive vehicles within the foreseeable - and they all, at a minimum, HAVE to be automatic. So manuals are going to end up being like double-declutching, only strange people will bother to know it.

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

Are you suggesting I am "strange"? :unsure: ..... I have to double declutch my truck to get it into the extra-low gear. :nod:

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

I learned in a manual in Britain. I didn't even know automatics existed. When we arrived in NZ in January 2007 I hopped in an auto and have literally never looked back. Yes I can drive a manual but I don't see the point and for me I know I am a safer driver in an auto because my attention isn't split in the city. However, I know this isn't an issue for my husband. It might be that I learned a bit late or am not well wired for hand-eye coordination tasks but I LOVE driving autos. Also, how the hell else am I supposed to drive whilst eating a magnum?

Having said that we bought an old manual car to teach our daughter in and will likely do the same for dd2 because otherwise you can't ever drive a 4-wd in the bush or whatever. If I had to I could drive a truck (I've done it!) but I hate it. I am a total convert to autos to the extent I insisted on one when we moved back to the uk, much to my husband's shame and horror.

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

The point is that while you prefer not to, you can drive a manual if push came to shove. My irritation is people who see it as a badge of honour that they can't drive a manual car.


S

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

Auto's are the reason there is a high prevelance of oldies driving their cars through shops windows and through Garage walls etc..... wouldn't happen in manuals... in fact I'd make everyone over 60 drive a manual car.


Anyway what makes me Grumpy is people who walk at a snails pace in rows of two or more on High streets, shopping malls, and other crowded walkways thus blocking anyone that wants to transit through the area. Only eclipsed by people who actually stop in the middle of the footpath without moving to one side to chat to friends and acquaintances.

On that note, one of the positives I noticed in the UK was people do walk at a far more decent pace over there compared to people in Aus, here people tend to crawl along. Another interesting thing is foot traffic is a hell of a lot faster in crowded areas in Hobart than Melbourne.... must be something to do with the colder climate.

The old Mediterranean types around here, which are probably the majority on the shopping strip, are woeful at walking in a straight line. I end up having to walk on the actual road to get past them just about every time I go up to the Sydney Road shopping strip.

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

.
QANTAS.

(I repeat - QANTAS!!)

I have spent - honestly - most of the afternoon trying to find out the close-out time for my flight SYD - SCL (Santiago).

It's been booked with QF, QF flight no. and operated by LAN. The QF website says that I need to check with LAN: The LAN website says it has no record of my booking.

Back to QF: the site says the latest checkin time is on the boarding card - which of course you get after you have checked in.....

Phone LAN - the agent is virtually incomprehensible but I manage to get "Tree hores" from him - THREE HOURS??

Phone QF: wait time "more than one hour" - give up after 20 minutes. About 5pm try again, and this time put in my QF frequent flyer no. (This will of course give me some advantage :fingerscrossed:.

97 minutes later, as I cross the room to disconnect, QF answers: I put the question to her. Lots of keyboard noises for about ten minutes, she comes up with "I don't really know, could be 60 minutes or perhaps ninety: hang on and I will check."

After ten minutes she comes back " better to check with LAN - but they have gone home now...." Then "Hold and I will see what my colleagues say"

Ten minutes. " Probably best to allow 90 minutes".

For Pete's sake - asking the airline that I have booked with, and paid, for the check-in time! How difficult can that be (Clarkson). Four hours of my insignificant life.

And on that bombshell..................

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

Women who think acting childish is sexy


Bullies who think they are tough, and then having to spend hours listening to them whining and crying when they find your nuts are granite to their egg shells.


Teachers bored with their profession


Parents (at school) more concerned with social status than their children's future.


Middle class slagging off the poor/misfortunate while spouting envious venom at the well off.

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

Pulaski is unusual (not strange, no) in having to double-declutch. I can do it because when much younger I bought a 1960 (?) VW Beetle in Germany that had a crash-gearbox. I taught myself to do the necessary, and I was damn lucky I didn't send the box through the floor while learning! Garry is right in predicting that manuals will become obsolete. I must say I'm surprised they aren't already - except for motor-racing, where managing the gears is a highly skilled function. I would never rent a shift-car, now.

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

Working for broke clients makes me grumpy. I'm forced to chase them for 2nd half payments so I can pay other people. :(

I don't understand why people ask for work to be done when they can't pay. You don't go to a restaurant and order a meal with drinks, then pay for the entree but not the drinks, appetizer and avoid tipping. Why do people think it's okay to do this to freelancers?

As I said, avoid working for broke people.

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

What's been making me grumpy for several years now, but has in the last twelve months made me really really mad, is the constant emails from hotels, airlines, shops, government agencies and the like requesting me to "fill in a short survey". They arrive now about twice a day.

It will only take 10 - 15 minutes of your valuable time, they say.

Most are about things you did six months ago - I can't remember where I was yesterday, let alone six months ago.

But, in a spirit of co-operation and feedback, you start. Page after page is filled in - and then you get to the personal questions: "What's your post code?", "How old are you?", "When did you last do rumpy-pumpy?" and so on.

Ignore any one - and you are admonished. So you leave the survey, having wasted half your waking life.

A week later in comes another: " Mr Wol, you have not returned the survey we asked of you. Please do it - it will only take ...................................."

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

They are a pain

I now only do surveys if they pay me with something - Flybuys, frequent flyer points, credit etc

Oh, and I lie on all of them and make shit up

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

I had one the other day that had a trick question where you had to give a particular answer that was specified in the question...the idea being to catch people out who were just selecting random answers and disregarding their responses! First time I've seen that.

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

I just delete them without opening them. They can all **** off. I keep getting phone calls from a company called Apple Marketing who just want to 'ask a few questions'. I tell them roughly the same thing.

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

Telephone calls from boiler-room share-marketers make me grumpy, but they usually hang up as soon as I tell them I'm an accountant. It's like telling a religious door-knocker that you're a Baptist. (It used to be a Catholic, for door-knockers, but Baptists have become even tougher to convert, apparently.)

Once, though, when I had nothing better to do, I decided to hear the tele-man out and test his irritation level. He kept pleading with me to invest money with his company, and I kept saying how fearful I was that I might lose my money. After we'd batted back and forth for a while, he begged me to do myself a favour and send him even a hundred dollars, ending with the clincher, "Gordon, this could change your life!" That was the opening I needed. I sighed heavily and with exaggerated patience said, "Now let's just think about that, Charlie. You're phoning me from a small office in New York. It's winter so it's bitterly cold outside, and you'll have to wear your heavy coat to get home. I'm in the Caribbean wearing shorts and flip-flops, and I'm headed for the beach as soon as we finish here... And you want to change my life?" He had the grace to laugh ruefully and say, "yeah, fair enough. Have a nice day."

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

Unfairness

Snobs

'Celebrities' who think that because they're actors/elite sportspeople/TV cooks, their opinions on anything and everything are profound and valuable

Greed

'Reality' TV

People who try to ram their own opinions down my throat, while simultaneously refusing to even consider mine

People who deliberately hurt others simply because it gives them some sort of pleasure

Kicking my toe

Scammers

Keyboard warriors (aka gutless wonders)

People who don't say please and thank you

Some days, just about everything :o :lol:

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

Husband not picking up after himself.

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

Cleaning the kitchen, walk away, go back 20 minutes later to find it looks like a bomb had dropped. Ffs how hard is it to put stuff in the bin/dishwasher/fridge as you go?

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

🙋 I'm guilty of that.

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

Bad move Dorothy. Now you'll never get an invitation to Moneypenny's house.

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

Nah, there's a continuous open invite for Dorothy at Chez Moneypenny. :wub:

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

what makes me grumpy?

my stupid officemate.

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

Receiving confirmation from HMRC dated 13 June that I have a late filing penalty cancelled. Then receiving another letter in the same mail delivery dated 14 June saying I owed £100 as a late filing penalty

TD

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

Now that would make me 'pissed off'

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

People who drive 15kph below the posted speed limit on a clear sunny day
People who drive slow in the fast lane
When people make plans that include me without asking if I would happen to be at work that day
When work forgets to pay me for 6 hours worked

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

This time of year: being stuck in this sporting limbo between Wimbledon+Euro Champs/World Cup and the start of the EPL. Can't wait till August 13th...

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

Yup, me too. Can I add gutter press and bloody pokemon go players to that list please?

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

What pisses me off is people who think that the speed limit is a lower limit, or target to be exceeded. Yes, driving slowly in the outside lane is a no-no, but if you are doing 95 in a 110 kph limit you are not doing anything wrong. If it is 25 in a 40 kph limit then I might agree. I don't like people who drive over the speed limit and tailgate you when you are driving at or near the limit. I have a 50 kph limit in my area and I stick to it. There are a lot of kids and elderly about and the roads are hilly and have sharp corners. It is amazing the number of hoons who overtake on a blind bend/hill.

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

Why is it ok to do 95 in a 110 but not 25 in a 40?:confused: If pushed I'd prefer the latter being as you'd be going through a school zone so you're expecting to go slow around kids. 95 in a 110 is just dangerous because you automatically irritate everyone behind you and they want to get passed you.

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

Well, that's bad luck, Astera. Here, I have a choice between cricket (WI v India) and Rugby League from England and Australia. Thanks to Sky Sports and Fox. Nice!

Re: What makes you grumpy?
 

It's not OK to do either. Here school zones are set at a lower speed limit (40kph) than anywhere else so there is no need to go any slower.

Going slower than 100 in a 100 zone is very dangerous... I have been in the slow lane (because our pickup truck can't handle going 130 around this bend and I knew i'd have people up my arse if I was in the fast lane) behind someone going 60kph on the motorway :eek:

Passing her was very dangerous as the traffic in the lane beside me was at 125 kph, so I had to get a very generous gap and accelerate very quickly to get around the moron.