Grump of the day

[Lime]

My grump is that i had to go to work today, and probably will for another 25 - 30 years.

By the time your generation reach retirement it will probably be a lot longer than that.
I'm retired but naturally grumpy so need no such augmentation or incentive.

 

[Feltwell]

I have an ambition to retire at 60, but realistically I can't see it happening unless I want to be very poor in retirement.

 

[Flyfisher]

My grump today... Why do you sometimes get a day when the fire won't light? I'm normally a one-match sort of guy but just occasionally, like tonight, even the newspaper wouldn't burn. Matches were going out as soon as I put them in through the wood burner door. Resorted to using a candle but even had difficulty keeping it lit!

I use firefighters. One, sometimes two, of those small individually wrapped ones (so no residual smell after opening the packet) work so well that I don't even bother with kindling or 'building a fire' at all. Just place one or two firefighters in the stove, light the wrapping, add a few normal sized logs and then close - but not lock - the door(s). The combination of the firefighters and the additional air gap around the door soon gets the logs roaring away. I do find that a coal fire requires kindling, but I still use firefighters.

But the best things about this technique is that I don't need to sully the house with newspapers, which saves a small fortune and eliminates a major source of grumpiness.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

My grump today... Why do you sometimes get a day when the fire won't light? I'm normally a one-match sort of guy but just occasionally, like tonight, even the newspaper wouldn't burn. Matches were going out as soon as I put them in through the wood burner door. Resorted to using a candle but even had difficulty keeping it lit!

I use firefighters. One, sometimes two, of those small individually wrapped ones (so no residual smell after opening the packet) work so well that I don't even bother with kindling or 'building a fire' at all. Just place one or two firefighters in the stove, light the wrapping, add a few normal sized logs and then close - but not lock - the door(s). The combination of the firefighters and the additional air gap around the door soon gets the logs roaring away. I do find that a coal fire requires kindling, but I still use firefighters.

But the best things about this technique is that I don't need to sully the house with newspapers, which saves a small fortune and eliminates a major source of grumpiness.

I've a feeling some of the ladies might appreciate a photo of these "individually wrapped firefighters", preferably partly unwrapped? :roll:

 

[Flyfisher]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Oh the joys of an iPad :evil:

 

[worms]

Well, the good news is that having replaced the Times with an Allison's flour bag I was back to a one-match fire tonight, so Grump over! ...well that particular one...out Christmas shopping this afternoon which is a whole different scale of Grumpfest!

 

[plasticpigeon]

I spent all afternoon removing the bust starter motor from my car, which necessitated removal of most of the water pipes and turbo hoses, and an accidental removal of a power steering hose and loss of one spring clip. Enough to put anyone in a grump. I also left it too late to get another one, so I have to take my last day of holiday on monday and spend it putting the car back together. :x

 

[Feltwell]

Worms, I take it that you haven't managed the sheer unbridled joy of not having to go anywhere near the shops and buying everything online instead then??

PP, you have my sympathy, nothing worse than enforced repairs on a car. AutoZone are open on Sundays, have you tried them? They're down near the Jewellery Quarter.

http://www.autozoneltd.co.uk/home

Google says that a place in Erdington is open as well, I don't know this firm:-

http://erdington.cylex-uk.co.uk/company/car-spares--distribution--ltd--erdington-14264899.html

The absolutely wonderful Fletchers used to be open all hours as well, down behind Aston University, sadly now closed. They really did seem to stock everything, even the most obscure of parts for elderly cars, always loads of odd fittings in bins to rummage through - the kind of place where you never walked out without what you wanted, even if you walked in not quite knowing what that was! Then they had a full revamp which turned them yet another clone of Halfords, all the old stock was gone, and like everyone else they were selling tat to boy racers. Within a few years they'd gone.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/birmingham-firm-fletchers-autostore-shuts-117766

 

[plasticpigeon]

Blimey Feltwell, thanks for the links, I was in such a grump that I couldn't be bothered to look for anywhere open Sunday. There is a Car Spares and it might be the main one, in Hall Green, very close to me. I actually rang them today at 4 o clock and got no answer so I assumed they were a Saturday morning type company. I found what I wanted at Euro car parts which is very close to me, but as they shut at 4 I missed my opportunity by about 5 mins!!!!

I remember Fletcher's, they had bins full of Weber carburettors. My mate was always looking at them wondering if he could graft them onto his beetle! He never did.

 

[worms]

Worms, I take it that you haven't managed the sheer unbridled joy of not having to go anywhere near the shops and buying everything online instead then??

Sadly not, you see that only works if you are not a last minute sort of person and if you have some ideas of what you actually want to buy. My attempts at window shopping on the web never end productively. I did try one evening last week but ended up down a cul-de-sac of interesting stuff on the Phoenecian tin trade in the late Bronze Age... :roll:

 

[Feltwell]

I remember Fletcher's, they had bins full of Weber carburettors. My mate was always looking at them wondering if he could graft them onto his beetle! He never did.

They always seemed to have the oddest items that no else had. I guess they must have bought up "new old stock" from other places. I went in there one time in what must have been the early 1990's, and they'd just taken delivery of loads of aftermarket add-on consoles for cars like Hillman Imps and Mk1 Ford Cortinas, cars that must have been out of production for 20 years or more! They had crates of hubcaps, brand new, for various 70's BL cars.

The main thing with them was that you'd go in there with some odd fixing that you needed, and they'd invariably point you in the direction of a big parts bin and say "have a look through that mate" - and you'd usually find something that would do the job.

I miss places like that, they're a dying breed. Rather like "proper" scrapyards, where you could strip bits off the car yourself, which the elf'n'safety brigade are killing off rapidly.

 

[LadyArowana]

My grump today... Why do you sometimes get a day when the fire won't light? I'm normally a one-match sort of guy but just occasionally, like tonight, even the newspaper wouldn't burn. Matches were going out as soon as I put them in through the wood burner door. Resorted to using a candle but even had difficulty keeping it lit!

I use firefighters. One, sometimes two, of those small individually wrapped ones (so no residual smell after opening the packet) work so well that I don't even bother with kindling or 'building a fire' at all. Just place one or two firefighters in the stove, light the wrapping, add a few normal sized logs and then close - but not lock - the door(s). The combination of the firefighters and the additional air gap around the door soon gets the logs roaring away. I do find that a coal fire requires kindling, but I still use firefighters.

But the best things about this technique is that I don't need to sully the house with newspapers, which saves a small fortune and eliminates a major source of grumpiness.

I've a feeling some of the ladies might appreciate a photo of these "individually wrapped firefighters", preferably partly unwrapped? :roll:

Yes please. I have just come back from being on holiday and in one place we stayed there was a working fireplace, but there was a warning that if you let it make lots of smoke and the detectors went off the fire brigade would be summoned automatically and you would be fined 800Euros. His Lordship wasn't very impressed that when he read out the notice my reply was "how many firemen do you get for the 800Euro? because if it's 8 that seems quite good value" Needless to say I was not allowed to find out.

Oh and today's grumpiness, BA, Heathrow...... couldn't deplane because they had "run out of buses"

 

[Me!]

Being under insured! How can this be legal?
If I pay an agreed premium for a £500,000 rebuilding cost, I expect to get £500,000 back if my house is totally destroyed.
If, after the disaster I discover that it will take £1,000,000 to rebuild the house, then fair enough, I'm £500,000 out of pocket but that is my fault.
So how can it possibly be anything other than theft by the insurance company to take my premium for years and then refuse to pay out the full amount that they agreed to cover for that premium :evil:

 

[Feltwell]

Erm - I do hope that you're not needing to make that total loss claim Me!

 

[angrybird]

Christmas lights !!! I put them away tidy last year and today they came out of the box like a tangled plate of spagetti Mr mouse has had a helping hand too, he's eaten most of my decorations and chewed through the christmas candles!
Bah humbug

 

[worms]

Christmas lights !!! I put them away tidy last year and today they came out of the box like a tangled plate of spagetti Mr mouse has had a helping hand too, he's eaten most of my decorations and chewed through the christmas candles!
Bah humbug

Mr Mouse has had a good time with our decorations, too! One wreath that was originally hazelnuts and dried berries is now just a loop of wire! Somehow I don't grudge him it, though - if we bring the hedgerow into the house, what can we expect? And he probably got more enjoyment out of it than we ever did!

 

[Me!]

Erm - I do hope that you're not needing to make that total loss claim Me!

No, fortunately nothing like that. Actually, I've never made a claim on my house insurance at all!
It is my insurance policy renewal time again soon, and that was what triggered the grump.
As usual, the insurance company asks me what the rebuild cost would be and I reply that I haven't a clue.

 

[Flyfisher]

I also detest this sort of situation - insurance professionals expecting homeowners to be experts in assessing rebuilding costs and then punishing them with penalties for being under-insured! :evil:

I entirely agree with your previous point that if you pay for (say) £500k of insurance then you should be able to claim for up to £500k of damage and not have your claim reduced in case of being 'under-insured'.
In fact, my argument is that you are not 'under-insured' at all - you are insured for £500k regardless of the value of the property. If the damage turns out to cost more than £500k to rectify then, as you rightly say, that's your problem.

We've had this grump on PPUK before now, though my grumpiness about it has not diminished!

Having said all that, here is some useful info about this subject, with a link to a free calculator:http://www.confused.com/home-insurance/guides/how-to-calculate-the-rebuild-cost-of-your-home

I suppose the safest method is to pay for a professional valuation, but of course that might cost more than just increasing your own estimate. It's all very frustrating!

 

[Zebra]

I don't understand. Under what way are you penalised for being under-insured, other than the risk outlined above, of your payout turning out to be insufficient for your rebuild costs?

 

[LadyArowana]

I don't understand. Under what way are you penalised for being under-insured, other than the risk outlined above, of your payout turning out to be insufficient for your rebuild costs?

I believe that they won't pay out the total amount insured in some circumstances, just a %, so if you are 1/2 under then they give you 1/2 ? Not totally sure