Rant of the Day v2.

[Boac]

Laptop with a keyboard

So, why not here?

[llondel]

It would be nice if Tesla would also inform the Scottish Government of such road defects on the trunk roads and the local Councils on all the other roads. There are now so many Teslas on the roads of Scotland that pretty much every road, even the most minor ones, has a Tesla go over it at least once in a week. Some clever software should be able to prioritise the required road repair using all that data. Donation of the data could be considered to be a gift to the community. It would make Elon Musk look good while fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos polishes his rocket (Bezos's rocket, that is).

They'd just ban Teslas rather than do anything about it so it wouldn't make them look bad or cause them to spend money.

I used to report defective traffic and street lights to the council, those got fixed within a month, usually.

[OFSO]

Spanish electricity prices are the highest In Europe (July 21, 2021 Spanish news in English.) The recent government decision to modify the electricity tariff structure has left Spanish consumers with the highest prices in Europe and which are likely to stay until at least next year. The price of electricity has skyrocketed since the changeover in June with each day seeing new records being reached due to payments for the carbon trading system.....

Perhaps why one never sees an electric automobile here? OTOH it costs less than £50 to fill my Mondeo estate, which last me over a thousand kilometres at 5 litres per 100kms

[ricardian]

In Aberdeenshire Council's area you have to report potholes in the road long before they appear because it can take well over 3 years for them to be fixed - as in the case below. I am a fervent reporter of potholes, with photographs, and yesterday I had a dozen similar notifications confirming various potholes had been fixed.....
pothole.JPG

A couple of years ago I reported to Orkney Islands Council (based in Kirkwall) that the street lights in Whitehall Village, Stronsay were on in the daytime. I got an email back from OIC next day asking me to take a photograph of the faulty lights and send it to them so that they could then task their contractors. I replied that I didn't have a camera but if they doubted my word they were welcome to take the ferry over here and check for themselves.

[llondel]

A couple of years ago I reported to Orkney Islands Council (based in Kirkwall) that the street lights in Whitehall Village, Stronsay were on in the daytime. I got an email back from OIC next day asking me to take a photograph of the faulty lights and send it to them so that they could then task their contractors. I replied that I didn't have a camera but if they doubted my word they were welcome to take the ferry over here and check for themselves.

Sometimes what they want is the pole ID number so they can write up a specific job sheet to have it fixed. That was what I used to accumulate when I reported them, look at the number on the pole, email the woman at the council with the number and the location and it got fixed.

[ricardian]

A couple of years ago I reported to Orkney Islands Council (based in Kirkwall) that the street lights in Whitehall Village, Stronsay were on in the daytime. I got an email back from OIC next day asking me to take a photograph of the faulty lights and send it to them so that they could then task their contractors. I replied that I didn't have a camera but if they doubted my word they were welcome to take the ferry over here and check for themselves.

Sometimes what they want is the pole ID number so they can write up a specific job sheet to have it fixed. That was what I used to accumulate when I reported them, look at the number on the pole, email the woman at the council with the number and the location and it got fixed.

They didn't want the number of the pole because every single street light in the village (about 30 of them) was on in the day time. This chap wanted a photo of a light that was "on" when it should have been "off"!

[G-CPTN]

In other words he didn't believe you . . .

[Pontius Navigator]

In the other thread Ibbie tells of the wrong shoes from a German company down River.

I ordered a garden ornamental arch from Aldi. Three year guarantee, what could possibly go wrong?

A piece was broken so I rang the freephone number. Although the address is in Wales the phone number is German. I emailed but no response. I found another email address on the Web and got a response. Eventually I got a replacement Part.

Once assembly was underway I discovered one of the last bits was also broken so back for another bit.

"I have spoken to our parts manager but, thanks to Brexit, it is too expensive for us to ship the spare. Will you accept a £10 refund?"

Made in China but they can't afford to ship a bit from Germany. Anyway, it was discounted to £16.99 and I can probably fix it with glue and wire.

[Pontius Navigator]

G CPTN, probably too many false calls.

My best was a phone call to our council of a hole in the road, about 5 inches by 6. "oh that's much to small to bother with Sir."

I said "well it's over 6 feet deep"

It was fenced off the same day.

[Hydromet]

PN, I had an Aldi wet & dry shop vacuum cleaner that died after a couple of months. Rang the number and it rang out, so I emailed the address in the warranty. No reply after two weeks, so I took it to the shop, where they tried to tell me to do what I'd already done. I explained that I'd already done that, and wasn't minded to leave the shop until they refunded my money. Reluctantly, they did, perhaps because there were a few people waiting at the checkout.
A week or so later, I had a phone call in response to my email. When I explained what had happened the woman told me I shouldn't have done that, I shouldn't be so impatient. This did not elicit a polite response.

[G-CPTN]

I had a torch from Aldi with 3-year guarantee that died.
Returned to shop but without receipt they refused refund.
Contacted the address on the packaging - they said that the product wasn't theirs!

Just a fiver, but bitter taste.

[Pontius Navigator]

Re return to store, did that with something and no problem with an immediate refund.

[EA01]

Scotty from Marketing's best buddy seems in a spot of hot water, actually the LNP are all really fond of this guy I think....

https://www.news.com.au/national/breaki ... dd56cc7bb1

'Beware of False Prophets' comes to mind...Now I would consider myself to be 'Christian', essentially Christian. Scotty, well he is caught up in a cult, Look at him FFS!.....A real give away with Scotty is he is anything but Christian whilst carrying on like a right God botherer .... I think a number of he LNP are enamoured of this Brian Houston Character.....will be interesting to watch...Oh, and didn't Brian get a special exemption travelling to the States?

[OFSO]

A man, by appearance German or Dutch, just walked past our house, stripped to the waist, the colour of a boiled lobster with sunburn. Proving that there is at least one other category of idiot as well as anti-vaxers. So long as I don't have to contribute to his treatment for melanoma (at worst)......

[Rwy in Sight]

Ex-A and myself have a clear understanding on what to do with men walking stripped to the waist away from a body of water where swimming is possible. It might not reach a phase to need treatment for melanoma

[Pontius Navigator]

RiS, and anything off the shoulder too.

Though a certain amount of outrage about off the shoulder and everything else in Sherwood Forest. There is a large, off the beaten track, area where this is permitted . Sadly it is abused by mainly abusing men though the report did mention some women.

[Rwy in Sight]

Obviously I have no issues with women walking stripped to the waist. PN when you mention "off the shoulder" are you referring to what Americans call "wife beater"?

[Pontius Navigator]

RiS, I believe that is correct. I first came across the term when used by a mediocre British author trying for authenticity.

Hairy arm pits spring to mind. Once had to suggest to a fellow Mess member that a singlet was fine in the gym but not otherwise.

Regarding the fairer sex, you should qualify that. 'to the waist' should only apply to clothing

[Pontius Navigator]

4ma mentioned parking at Belvoir Castle. Telegraph today has the following item:

Castle visitors’ fury at parking ticket gaffes
Visitors to a castle have complained about a “misleading” parking ticket machine that has led to them being penalised £100 after paying the wrong amount.

TripAdvisor recorded more than 60 complaints by visitors to Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire, having been misled by the machine’s default setting of one hour that led to them underpaying the charge, leading to a £100 fine.

Jane Handsley, 61, from Grantham, said: “This system is very, very confusing. The date and time that comes on to that screen isn’t actually calculating how much your charge will be.” The Belvoir Estate says it is looking into solving the problem.

[Rwy in Sight]

I had a chat with two youngish ladies who firmly believed the recent fires in around Athens were set by companies wishing to destroy the forest to place more easily the wind turbines. They work for an electricity company.