Rant of the Day v2.

[Hydromet]

I see police cars of the BMW flavour have been blowing up on a regular basis. BMW say it's the way British police drive them. (BBC).

Perhaps they are properly trained police drivers who operate the indicator switch.

Llondel, you're a very naughty boy - probably got it right though. D1 has just bought a BMW X5. I must check whether her driving habits have changed next time I visit.

[4mastacker]

There's a school run mum who delivers her off-spring to the local school in an X5 - she can't park the bloody thing so she parks abandons it on the school safety zone markings whilst she takes her sprogs into school. She's so tiny she can barely see over the dash board. Doesn't stop her driving like an idiot.

[jimtherev]

Time was, when the world was young, my company provided me with a Triumph 2000 car, experimentally fitted with the terrible V8 Daimler engine from the then-contemporary Daimler Dart. (BLMC tried all sorts of crazy things before they went bankrupt) Went like stuff off a shovel.
Mentioned it to my mechanic friend.
"How do you like it, Jim? Hampshire police have bought half a dozen of those, and five of 'em are off the road with a blown engine."
"Funny you should say that, Mick..."

Ate more head-gaskets that I ate porridge, that blasted thing did.

[CharlieOneSix]

I sometimes wonder about the intelligence of those in Aberdeenshire Council who determine where Road Closed signs are installed. For example, the length of our narrow road from town to the road works closing the road is 9 miles. Yet today at the town end the sign just states Road Closed. Surely with a bit of forethought and minimal expense they could have added "9 miles ahead".

[jimtherev]

I sometimes wonder about the intelligence of those in Aberdeenshire Council who determine where Road Closed signs are installed. For example, the length of our narrow road from town to the road works closing the road is 9 miles. Yet today at the town end the sign just states Road Closed. Surely with a bit of forethought and minimal expense they could have added "9 miles ahead".

What, and spoil all the fun?

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I sometimes wonder about the intelligence of those in Aberdeenshire Council

Council members have intelligence??

You should check the job ads. Councils only require qualifications, not intelligence. I've just checked my local one - intelligence not mentioned once, even for public safety and senior management posts, although there is literally a sh!tload about diversity.

[G-CPTN]

A dozen years ago, excavations of the road into the village were signed several miles back where the road left the bypass.
Access through the excavation was impossible as the works were several feet deep across the entire width of the carriageway.
The railway station is on the village side of the roadworks so were not accessible from the bypass due to the roadworks.
A detour of several miles was necessary (signposted from the bypass).
Numerous motorists ignored the 'Road closed' sign and thus had to double back and were in danger of missing their connection.
They were nevertheless annoyed even though the signs were accurate and correct.

[Pontius Navigator]

One day I had to double back a few miles as a tree had blocked the road.
I tried to signal to a driver approaching and waved and flashed my lights. In return I got headlights on, an increase in speed, and a finger.
I hope he was still looking in his rear view mirror as he rounded the bed

[Hydromet]

^ Similar situation - saw an accident occur where a truck carrying carcasses to a rendering works overturned on a tight bend, scattering them across the road. Driver was OK, so I went on the approach to the bend with a torch trying to slow people down. Many just blasted their horns and sped up, until a local resident came out and started hitting cars that were going too fast with a broom.

[CharlieOneSix]

Mrs C16's Direct Line car insurance renewal quote arrived....45% more expensive than last year. She did some research and got a like for like quote from RAC Insurance for just 3.35% more than last year's Direct Line price. Lots of cheaper quotes were available on comparison websites but most from insurers we had never heard of. She called Direct Line, quoted the evidence and was soon offered a renewal quote £3.22 cheaper than RAC Insurance....so instead of a 45% increase it was only just over 3%, saving £142. Never accept, always challenge and negotiate.

[PHXPhlyer]

Mrs C16's Direct Line car insurance renewal quote arrived....45% more expensive than last year. She did some research and got a like for like quote from RAC Insurance for just 3.35% more than last year's Direct Line price. Lots of cheaper quotes were available on comparison websites but most from insurers we had never heard of. She called Direct Line, quoted the evidence and was soon offered a renewal quote £3.22 cheaper than RAC Insurance....so instead of a 45% increase it was only just over 3%, saving £142. Never accept, always challenge and negotiate.

Had to add D#2 and her car to my policy.
Did comparison via website and found another major insurer with more coverage (comp and collision) for less even factoring in an accident which hadn't dropped off my record (3 months shy )


PP

[PHXPhlyer]

Costco email ad with Christmas decorations featured!

PP

[ExSp33db1rd]

ChatBots. e.g. " Ask XXXX " Despite answering all their presented options after each answer of mine, some valid, some plain stupid, they never get down to answering one's specific problem if it isn't on their "Menu". Finally being put through to a "Human" ( but are they really ? ) they waste time reading all the previoius exchanges with the Bot, then go through all the previous nonsense again. Recently spent an hour with NatWests "Ask Cora " and got nowhere. My simple question was having closed my UK branch on 1st August, where have they transferred me to ? Don't they know ?

Wasn't "The Digital Age " supposed to make life easier ? Yeah! Right !

[ricardian]

A message to all the organisations with an online presence - I'm sorry but you can't always be experiencing a higher volume of calls than average, that's not how it works!

[llondel]

A message to all the organisations with an online presence - I'm sorry but you can't always be experiencing a higher volume of calls than average, that's not how it works!

By "average" they mean "exceeding the capacity we're prepared to pay for".

[Pinky the pilot]

Or the capacity that they could be bothered with.

[Pontius Navigator]

C16, used the same broker 2 years on the go. Reinsured with L&G again but the broker about half the L&G price.

I have had Sainsbury home insurance for a good number of years now. Each year they advise I might get a cheaper deal elsewhere. I might save a few coppers but in this case not worth the bother.

[G-CPTN]

4am turned out to be 1am.

[Pontius Navigator]

Ah, at least 6 was only 4.45.

[Karearea]

YT has altered itself so it no longer reflects my viewing/listening interests.

Correction, it will, I think, if I sign in and select "watch history" or something. But I don't have a YT or g**gle account.

At the moment it's quite awkward.
If I play e.g. On the Run by the SKPs, it will then suggest everything the SKPs have ever sung, or every version of On the Run ever sung by anyone.

I spent years training its algorithm and it used to lead me into some serendipitous discoveries.

Drat them.