Random Irritations

[Neilds]

If you ‘need’ a massive 4x4 because you have a child at least learn to park it so you don’t spend ages in the supermarket car park edging backwards and forwards trying to get somewhere near the lines.
And while I’m at it, you don’t need your kid to use the self scan whilst blocking everyone else getting their shopping

 

[Slime]

When someone could be out after just 8½ years for murdering an innocent lad with a zombie knife.
Just utterly unfathomable.
They could be out before they're 21!

 

[Arthur Wedge]

I'm in shorts today and still hope to be wearing my skort for golf tomorrow and Sunday.

I’ll be in shorts this weekend as well , prob wear shorts until about mid November

 

[Hobbit]

I’ll be in shorts this weekend as well , prob wear shorts until about mid November

Apart from the odd winter evening and cold rainy days, it’s year round shorts for me.

 

[Arthur Wedge]

Apart from the odd winter evening and cold rainy days, it’s year round shorts for me.

showing off

 

[Wilson]

People who try and join a motorway at 45mph, and then having to deal with the middle lane morons once you're on the motorway.

 

[Billysboots]

People who try and join a motorway at 45mph, and then having to deal with the middle lane morons once you're on the motorway.

A friend of mine tells me her son has just been booked in for his theory test having so far failed THIRTEEN times. That just illustrates a staggering level of stupidity in relation to a test which, to a large extent, amounts to common sense.

And having listened to some of the beliefs of my daughter’s friends who have recently passed their driving tests regarding the rules of the road, it doesn’t surprise me when I see some of the abysmal driving of youngsters these days.

Sadly, however, poor driving is not confined to one age group or demographic. I’ve said it times, but kids these days aren’t taught to drive. They are taught to pass a driving test.

 

[Orikoru]

Further to my earlier irritation about the conservatory flooding - caused by an unfortunate combination of the gutter overflowing, which forced the water directly into the slight gap at the top of the door.

So this afternoon I'm up the ladder outside clearing dirt out of the gutters but it still has standing water in it when I'm nearly done - doesn't seem to be draining away. Then, my wife opens the far left window from inside the conservatory to ask me something, and as she does it shunts the guttering upwards on the end where it joins the drainpipe! No wonder the sodding water won't run out of it properly, it's higher at the drainpipe end because of shoddy design with the window bumping it! Who the hell put this together? Rubbish!

 

[jim8flog]

'keep me signed in , remember this device' tabs/tick boxes on websites that do not work.

 

[D-S]

Apart from the odd winter evening and cold rainy days, it’s year round shorts for me.

Have you been receiving the Winter Heating Allowance?

 

[Hobbit]

Have you been receiving the Winter Heating Allowance?

No. Southern European countries don’t receive the WHA. It was stopped years ago. However, I think expat(immigrant) pensioners in Northern Europe will continue to receive it even though pensioners in the U.K. won’t.

 

[Slime]

This starts off in this thread but could end up in the Things that Gladden the Heart thread, or even the Laughter thread.
One of my lawn mowers died today, half way through a customer's lawn.
I shot home to pick up my spare mower and left the dead one by my garage so that I could put it back in my car at the end of my day. Tomorrow I would take it to the tip.
(Random Irritations thread).
However, I eventually finished the lawn I was doing and, on returning home, I found that my dead mower has been stolen.
Oh, how I'd love to see the look on the thief's face when they realise that they've stolen a dead lawnmower.
(Laughter thread).
I've also been saved a trip to the local tip!
(Things that Gladden the Heart thread).

Three threads, all in on go!

Now this is a real irritation of the highest order, and I mean of the highest order!
The bloody thief has brought it back!
There it is, exactly where the bugger took it from!

 

[Hobbit]

Now this is a real irritation of the highest order, and I mean of the highest order!
The bloody thief has brought it back!
There it is, exactly where the bugger took it from!

But has he fixed it or is he waiting for you to fix before he nicks it again?

 

[Imurg]

A friend of mine tells me her son has just been booked in for his theory test having so far failed THIRTEEN times. That just illustrates a staggering level of stupidity in relation to a test which, to a large extent, amounts to common sense.

And having listened to some of the beliefs of my daughter’s friends who have recently passed their driving tests regarding the rules of the road, it doesn’t surprise me when I see some of the abysmal driving of youngsters these days.

Sadly, however, poor driving is not confined to one age group or demographic. I’ve said it times, but kids these days aren’t taught to drive. They are taught to pass a driving test.

The Theory test is a pile of dog poo. The questions can be worded very strangely and there are also questions that have answers that are, at best, vague and, at worst, simply incorrect.
The one that sticks in my mind is " what must a newly qualified driver have?"
The answer is....Valid motor insurance......but only if you have a car..? No car, no insurance needed....
Originally, the bank of questions was published and people could learn the answers. Then they introduced questions based on a kind of short story.
Again, the wording , at times, was vague.
The video game - The Hazard Perception test is the worst bit
When it was first introduced all current Instructors had to take and pass the test - their pass mark was much higher than the learners.
They had 3 attempts to pass and if they failed 3 times their teaching badge was taken away.
Many very, very good instructors took 3 times too pass..
It's a very flawed test and it has never really explained what it wants from the candidate.
Being called Hazard Perception it implies that it wants you to spot all hazards when all it wants is " developing " hazards - something that will make you change speed for direction.
So an old woman walking down the pavement is a potential hazard ( instructors were clicking the mouse for that) but she won't make you change anything - until she veers towards the road..then she becomes a developing Hazard and that warrants a click
Click too many times and you get "cheated" out of that clip - there are 14 individual clips with 1 clip having 2 hazards.
I did a practice one about 5 years ago...me driving down a country lane with a hedge to my left.
Over the hedge you can see a tractor. As you proceed that tractor gets closer but is still on the other side of the hedge.
50 yards further on the hedge ends and the track the tractor is on joins the road
That is where the tractor becomes a developing hazard but, when I looked back at the scoring window ( 5 points for a quick reaction, 0 points if you missed it) I scored 1 point.
The 5 point mark was about 3 seconds after I fist saw the tractor...when it's on the other side of a hedge....
The whole Theory test is badly flawed, does little to improve knowledge or experience and should be binned and replaced with a longer practical test.
And I wonder why I jacked it in 2 years ago

 

[Billysboots]

The Theory test is a pile of dog poo. The questions can be worded very strangely and there are also questions that have answers that are, at best, vague and, at worst, simply incorrect.
The one that sticks in my mind is " what must a newly qualified driver have?"
The answer is....Valid motor insurance......but only if you have a car..? No car, no insurance needed....
Originally, the bank of questions was published and people could learn the answers. Then they introduced questions based on a kind of short story.
Again, the wording , at times, was vague.
The video game - The Hazard Perception test is the worst bit
When it was first introduced all current Instructors had to take and pass the test - their pass mark was much higher than the learners.
They had 3 attempts to pass and if they failed 3 times their teaching badge was taken away.
Many very, very good instructors took 3 times too pass..
It's a very flawed test and it has never really explained what it wants from the candidate.
Being called Hazard Perception it implies that it wants you to spot all hazards when all it wants is " developing " hazards - something that will make you change speed for direction.
So an old woman walking down the pavement is a potential hazard ( instructors were clicking the mouse for that) but she won't make you change anything - until she veers towards the road..then she becomes a developing Hazard and that warrants a click
Click too many times and you get "cheated" out of that clip - there are 14 individual clips with 1 clip having 2 hazards.
I did a practice one about 5 years ago...me driving down a country lane with a hedge to my left.
Over the hedge you can see a tractor. As you proceed that tractor gets closer but is still on the other side of the hedge.
50 yards further on the hedge ends and the track the tractor is on joins the road
That is where the tractor becomes a developing hazard but, when I looked back at the scoring window ( 5 points for a quick reaction, 0 points if you missed it) I scored 1 point.
The 5 point mark was about 3 seconds after I fist saw the tractor...when it's on the other side of a hedge....
The whole Theory test is badly flawed, does little to improve knowledge or experience and should be binned and replaced with a longer practical test.
And I wonder why I jacked it in 2 years ago

All that reminded me of the first time I had to read Roadcraft!

 

[Imurg]

All that reminded me of the first time I had to read Roadcraft!

And, yes, many kids are taught to pass the test.
The test is flawed too.
They removed 2 of the "control" manoeuvres ( turn in the road and reverse left around a corner) and replaced them a front first bay park and park on the right, reverse2 car lengths and pull off......massively easier.
Out of a 34/35 minute drive 20 minutes involves following a sat-nav route...this is because " everyone" uses sat-nav these days......apparently.
The sat-nav tells them where to go - in exactly the same way an examiner does. When the independent drive first came in you had tk follow signs to somewhere..so you had to look for the sign, work out which direction you needed, work out which lane and then do it...again, dumbing down the test.
Some of the things the kids got away with on test I found staggering.
Glad I'm out of it but driving standards will. I feel, continue to fall

 

[Billysboots]

And, yes, many kids are taught to pass the test.
The test is flawed too.
They removed 2 of the "control" manoeuvres ( turn in the road and reverse left around a corner) and replaced them a front first bay park and park on the right, reverse2 car lengths and pull off......massively easier.
Out of a 34/35 minute drive 20 minutes involves following a sat-nav route...this is because " everyone" uses sat-nav these days......apparently.
The sat-nav tells them where to go - in exactly the same way an examiner does. When the independent drive first came in you had tk follow signs to somewhere..so you had to look for the sign, work out which direction you needed, work out which lane and then do it...again, dumbing down the test.
Some of the things the kids got away with on test I found staggering.
Glad I'm out of it but driving standards will. I feel, continue to fall

When I retired from the cops I considered various work options, and got offered an interview to join the DVSA as an examiner. It was immediately post covid when there was a huge test backlog, and it seems the DVSA simply couldn’t recruit quickly enough.

For a variety of reasons, primarily health related, I withdrew from the process. The more I read comments such as these, the happier I am with the decision. My conscience would not allow me to be part of a process where I was actively contributing to drivers being allowed on the road when they patently don’t have the skills.

 

[Slime]

But has he fixed it or is he waiting for you to fix before he nicks it again?

It's currently spending the night outside, I'll check it in the morning.

 

[RichA]

When I retired from the cops I considered various work options, and got offered an interview to join the DVSA as an examiner. It was immediately post covid when there was a huge test backlog, and it seems the DVSA simply couldn’t recruit quickly enough.

For a variety of reasons, primarily health related, I withdrew from the process. The more I read comments such as these, the happier I am with the decision. My conscience would not allow me to be part of a process where I was actively contributing to drivers being allowed on the road when they patently don’t have the skills.

Most of the driving I witness is by people in middle-age, like myself. Most young people aren't being set particularly good examples.

 

[Pin-seeker]

Now this is a real irritation of the highest order, and I mean of the highest order!
The bloody thief has brought it back!
There it is, exactly where the bugger took it from!

Set the squirrels on him