Rant of the Day v2.

[PHXPhlyer]

One of my medications costs $47 for a 30 day supply.
However due to the quirks of Medicare, I have fallen into "The Doughnut Hole" as it is called.
For the last four months of the year my copay went up to $140 for the same supply.
To make me feel better about this the pharmacy prints the full retail price on the label. $617!
So paying "only" $4.67 per pill is so much better than the retail price of $20.57.

PP

[Pinky the pilot]

Female announcers who appear fresh out of a few hours in a beauty salon with big smiles, announcing the number of people who have died from covid overnight. There is absolutely no sense of the gravity of a situation they are announcing. Doesn't seem to matter what they are announcing, it's always accompanied with a big smile, and they are made up to the nines, and dressed for a night at the theatre.

And the SBS News is no better! The only time they do appear serious is when they preface a newsclip with...
"..and a warning that some viewers may find the following scenes distressing/confronting.."

What follows is generally pixellated beyond recognition.

[OFSO]

I just spent three hours trying to assemble the plastic adaptors that came with a new wiper blade. Unsuccessful, or it would not be a rant. I could get the tools out and make an adaptor, but why bother....

[1DC]

I buy my new blades at Halfords and pay a fiver for them to fit them, saves all the agro..Job done in ten minutes.

[4mastacker]

Took daughter's car to Halfords for a headlight bulb change. She had one of those cars what required partial dismantling to change the bulbs - worth every penny of the fiver for the 45 minutes it took them do the job.

[ExSp33db1rd]

She had one of those cars what required partial dismantling to change the bulbs

Million years ago I replaced a silencer and exhaust system on a Morris Minor. The effort involved caused me to declare that they must have started with a complete exhaust system and built a car around it ? Not long after I was on a "tour" of the Ford factory in Detroit, in the days when cars had a basic Chassis, upon which the body was erected. Watching the assembly line I saw that when the bare chassis appeared the first thing to be added was ..... a complete exhaust and silence assembly. Point proved.

[llondel]

She had one of those cars what required partial dismantling to change the bulbs

Million years ago I replaced a silencer and exhaust system on a Morris Minor. The effort involved caused me to declare that they must have started with a complete exhaust system and built a car around it ? Not long after I was on a "tour" of the Ford factory in Detroit, in the days when cars had a basic Chassis, upon which the body was erected. Watching the assembly line I saw that when the bare chassis appeared the first thing to be added was ..... a complete exhaust and silence assembly. Point proved.

Yes, initial fit is usually added in one piece before all the other stuff gets in the way. Many years ago I changed the exhaust systems on a couple of Ford Escorts (a Mk1 and a Mk2). Not too difficult but I decided that the cost saving over having one of the exhaust places do it wasn't worth the effort and didn't bother doing it myself again. However, having done it, I was better placed to watch carefully as someone else did it and make sure he didn't skip a step.

[Pontius Navigator]

Last exhaust I had replaced was in 1975. The next cars I insisted on stainless steel exhausts and insisted the garage replaced the OEM with SS. They moaned until I pointed out they could return the 'unused' one to stock.

[4mastacker]

I see all the all the usual suspects are jumping up and down complaining that some Toon fans went to the match against Spurs with tea towels on their heads and claiming it was racist, cultural appropriation, etc, etc. Now some jumped up little diversity and equality 'erbert has waded in saying:

"However, there remains the possibility that dressing this way is culturally inappropriate and risks causing offence to others.

"Newcastle United is kindly asking supporters to refrain from wearing traditional Arabic clothing or Middle East-inspired head coverings at matches if they would not ordinarily wear such attire."

Does that now mean other sports fans mustn't get dressed up in various garbs or even worse, kiddies mustn't dress-up to take part in school nativity plays? How far is this nonsense going to go?

Really is about time this wokery nonsense was knocked very firmly on the head and its proponents got a life (preferably on another planet where they belong)!!

[1DC]

A few days ago Mrs 1DC and I changed our garden over from summer to winter plants. This meant lifting the sunken pots with begonias in and replacing them with sunken pots with heather in.
Went out this morning to find that an effing fox had lifted 17 of them pulling out the heather to see if anything tasty was underneath. Looking back through the security cameras the little bugger started at 1835 and had finished by 1850.

[Wodrick]

That's interesting fox behaviour. SM planted a Lily to replace something that died.
The following day it had gone, lifted out leaving a hole and was nowhere to be found.

Now while within the fenced area foxes can and do get in as we get fox droppings.
The dogs are too big to get out.

I wonder ?

[Pontius Navigator]

4ma, OTOH on a Nike cruise we were expected to buy all the cultural clothing as a means of transferring GBP to EP for the poor fedaheen. The same on a Caribbean cruise.

"Sorry, I cannot buy your turban, fez or grass skirt as that would be cultural misappropriation". Probably all made in China too.

[PHXPhlyer]

With Halloween coming up will Vampires, Ghosts, Monsters, Ghouls, etc. be offended by the appropriation of their likenesses ?

PP

[llondel]

With Halloween coming up will Vampires, Ghosts, Monsters, Ghouls, etc. be offended by the appropriation of their likenesses ?

PP

They are capable of taking matters into their own hands if offended.

[Pontius Navigator]

What is it with new build developers? Looked at some new build, beautifully designed, if you want one room downstairs, underfloor heating, ideal for a heat pump, parking space for one car in the front space, all sockets with USB charging points and even a heat recovery system.

Why did it have a gas boiler and no heat pump? OK that's a relatively new push but our house was designed that way 9 years ago.

Why do they not at least set up for EV? With no pure ICE after 2030 it is a racing certainty that new cars will be more than 50% EV within 5 years.

I asked and just got a blank look.

And the plot of land large enough for a small conservatory if you were lucky.

[jimtherev]

What is it with new build developers? Looked at some new build, beautifully designed, if you want one room downstairs, underfloor heating, ideal for a heat pump, parking space for one car in the front space, all sockets with USB charging points and even a heat recovery system.

Why did it have a gas boiler and no heat pump? OK that's a relatively new push but our house was designed that way 9 years ago.

Why do they not at least set up for EV? With no pure ICE after 2030 it is a racing certainty that new cars will be more than 50% EV within 5 years.

I asked and just got a blank look.

And the plot of land large enough for a small conservatory if you were lucky.

It's the Tesco mentality. "Pile 'em up and sell 'em cheap." (Well, not quite as expensive as they might have been.)

[Pontius Navigator]

My Son in Law said that too, and buyers close their minds to the future disturbance and the higher costs of retro fitting.

How about built-in LAN wiring or is that becoming passé with increased reliance on WiFi for Smart devices? Personally I have just gone hard wire for a security camera, TVs and Laptop which reduces the WiFi load.

[OFSO]

The one day that I had to be out the house early to fill the tank with diesel at the new ludicruous price, and then onto the gym by 09:00, the fiendishly complicated yet horribly fragile flush mechanism (German) on the main wc broke and the plumber is busy all week. I've replaced the mechanism with a piece of waxed string and a pull ring.

[OFSO]

Very professional repair!

[4mastacker]

If that is a pneumatic push button flush, it's a very easy (1 minute job) job to replace the push button - even I can do it!! My local plumber gave me a tutorial recently whilst he was fixing a leaking cistern.