What have you been doing today?

[Highway Man]

Thanks mate lol

No problem, hope this helps you out and makes it easier for you to live with those lights as now you have a reason to keep them. Good luck with it.

 

[Mottie]

Got up this morning, opened the blinds and the Audi is on the drive with a parking ticket on the screen! Checked it and it was timed at 8.15 last night in the car park we parked in when we went out for a meal. Could’ve sworn that the times were only up to 7.00pm and we were there at 6.40. You get 30 minutes free so I got a free ticket to take us past 7.00. I still have that on my phone. I’m going to have to go up there and check the bloody sign again and appeal it if they are wrong. The bastards.

Bah! Just been back up there. Our fault. We must have both read it wrong but in our defence it was dark and it used to be free after 6.30 in the past - we’ve always parked there whenever we've gone into Hornchurch in the evening. Plenty of people on the local Facebook page have been caught out too. Annoying thing, the street that you have to cross when leaving the car park is still free after 6.30. Parking attendants at 8.15 at night. Must be a real money spinner for our poor cash-strapped council.

 

[Stivino]

I can't see the part where it tells the times during which you have to pay.
Is it saying that one has to pay 24/7?

 

[Brigadier]

Bah! Just been back up there. Our fault. We must have both read it wrong but in our defence it was dark and it used to be free after 6.30 in the past - we’ve always parked there whenever we've gone into Hornchurch in the evening. Plenty of people on the local Facebook page have been caught out too. Annoying thing, the street that you have to cross when leaving the car park is still free after 6.30. Parking attendants at 8.15 at night. Must be a real money spinner for our poor cash-strapped council.

View attachment 375529 View attachment 375533

I went out in Lichfield on Thursday.
It used to be free after 1830, but that all changed about 2 yrs ago.
TBF, it is only £1.50 or so, until sparrow's fart.

But I did remark to my second-born that, for the measly £2k or so the council get per evening from it, the city surely can't actually make any profit from it?
Let alone cover what the restaurants and bars lose, as you only have to have a dozen groups (at £150 each likely spend, even for just a cheap meal and a pint or two) not bother, to be at a net loss.

And while I wouldn't miss a £200 meal out for the want of £1.50 parking, I would bet good money that it would be easy to find just a dozen people a night who think differently.

 

[Mottie]

I can't see the part where it tells the times during which you have to pay.
Is it saying that one has to pay 24/7?

It says pay at all times. I got confused. I looked down the Mon-Sat column, saw the 'free' parking from 7am to midnight, read it as 7pm to midnight so just booked for free parking until the 7.00 'pm'. Reading it again, 'free' parking only applies to Sunday. So why put the 'free' wording in the Mon-Sat column?

If I had intended not to pay, I (a) wouldn’t have booked on the app to get me past the 7.00 deadline or (b) would have parked in the road you have to cross when leaving the car park! As you can see in the photo, it would have been free at 6.40pm. You can see the other sign in the photo too - that’s how close it was. I might even chance appealing in the grounds of it wasn’t intentional as well as confusing signs.

 

[securespark]

I bet the driver didn't stop either. Swine.
His energy will linger around the house for a long time to come.

No. Bless her, she did stop. She was really really upset. She put him in the car and took him to the vet, which happened to be our vet. He had a chip, so the vet scanned it.

When the vet rang, I thought they wanted to book him in for a check-up.

Of course, it floored me.

I couldn't understand how. It seemed so quick. He was in the kitchen with me at 17:33. I happened to look at my watch as we were due to go out later. Then I heard the cat flap go.

The vet rang at 17:56. So she got him to the vet 3.5 miles away in rush hour traffic, the vet scanned him and looked up our number and rang us all in the space of 23 minutes.

There was a commotion outside in the road, but we were totally unaware of it. Later, two of our neighbours told us what happened.

I didn't meet the lady, but I put a post on NextDoor explaining how I didn't blame her for it and that I had been trying to teach the cat the Green Cross Code but he wouldn't listen and thanking her for taking him to the vet. I hoped that, even if she didn't see it, someone she knew might, and they would pass it on.

 

[Jurassicspark]

My advice to you is to leave those hideous wall lights of yours next to your Tv then when one day you finally get evicted, it wont be too sad for you as you have got away from those ridiculous looking things.

C! nt

 

[securespark]

I didn't meet the lady, but I put a post on NextDoor

Our cat was run over and killed on xxxxxxxx Road yesterday. Sincere and genuine thanks to the driver who ran him over for taking him to Woodcroft Vets on Birdhall Lane, which was coincidentally our vet.

We had a call less than 30 minutes from me last seeing him to let us know he had died.

Cats are cats and try as we did to teach him, he didn't always follow the Green Cross Code. It was better that we discovered his fate, rather than forever wondering what had happened to him.

Thanks for some great memories,
Albus.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Interesting!

A is everything powered up, including the washer, whilst washer is heating the water, for around 12minutes. B is the ripple, from the washer cycling during the wash. C doing a second wash, which is a larger wash of heavy curtains, plus the immersion heater in the cylinder cycling on and off. D is the immersion heater finally switching off, and the washer up to temperature, doing it's wash cycle.

That seems to suggest the immersion heater takes around 40 minutes, to bring the cylinder back up to temperature, from it's luke warm start temperature. Washing machine takes around 12 minutes to heat it's water to begin it's main wash cycle.

View attachment 373558

Turn it all off, H!!!!! Our lights are flickering down here in Bristol!!!!

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Not for family it isn’t.
What a f*cking day I’ve had! Everything went fine until I went to put the sump plug in and noticed something hanging out of the sump. It was a helicoil inset that someone previously fitted. I couldn’t get it back in and I then noticed that the sump plug was chewed up.

View attachment 374343

I had nothing to get me out of trouble so I had to get a bus and a train home, Mrs Mottie picked me up from the station, I jumped on my bike and went up to my mates garage and borrowed an 18mm tap and a selection of plugs, biked back up to my workshop, tapped a new larger thread in the sump and fitted the new plug. Job done. Came home. Still got to go back now to pick my bike up.

Even that trip home was eventful. I missed the bus but I noticed it had stopped for some time further along the road at a stop with another bus behind it. When I got to it, some woman was arguing with the driver. Basically, the gist was: she wasn't paying, the bus was going to where she wanted to go anyway and the fare wasn’t going into the drivers pocket so why was he worrying about it. The driver of the bus behind got out and came up and asked her why she thought she didn’t have to pay - he asked her if she was special to which she replied, yeah, I’m special, I’m special, I’m special , you get me blud, I’m special. She then said "I'll knock you out, I’ll knock you out, I’ll knock you out, I’ll knock you out… The driver said the bus wasn’t going anywhere until she paid or got off. She just said "I don’t care, I’m not leaving, I’ll stand here all day if I have to, you WILL let me on". The driver of the bus behind told him to call the police. I asked if he could get his bus past and he said he could if I would direct him back (as he was almost touching the other bus) so I saw him back, jumped on board and along with half the passengers from the first bus, left that bus waiting for the police. The absolute cheek of some people in this country.

Anyway, to sum up, I had nearly a 10 hour day, spent over £130 of my own money (Mrs Mottie said to treat her to the parts) and worked for nothing. It was definitely a Carmen day!

Not exactly a Carmen day. He would have paid the bus fare for the member of our lovely diverse ethnic communities.

 

[Highway Man]

C! nt

I know

 

[securespark]

Mottie

I would appeal.

The way that sign is laid out is atrocious.

There is a big column stating MON-SAT, then in smaller letters higher up, it says there tariffs apply Monday to Sunday.

A line should be drawn under the Mon to Sat prices, then on the right in blue in Caps underneath it should say SUN and then the "7am- Midnight" and "free" can stay where it is, but take out the "Sunday from" on the LHS. And then the other stuff (overnight, solo bikes) should be separated with a line underneath that. But it's still unclear if the other stuff is Mon to Sat or Sunday or any day of the week.

The whole thing so badly laid out as to be unclear. The cynical me would say it is done deliberately to catch people out and fine them, to make money for the council, and that is why I, personally, would chase it. But it's up to you, of course!

 

[securespark]

I appealed a parking fine (and won) on the basis that the sign was so high up, and the writing so small, that someone in a wheelchair would have difficulty in reading it.

Plus, talking of disabled drivers, there is no mention on that sign of them. Does that mean there are no concessions for them?

 

[Mottie]

Mottie

I would appeal.

The way that sign is laid out is atrocious.

There is a big column stating MON-SAT, then in smaller letters higher up, it says there tariffs apply Monday to Sunday.

A line should be drawn under the Mon to Sat prices, then on the right in blue in Caps underneath it should say SUN and then the "7am- Midnight" and "free" can stay where it is, but take out the "Sunday from" on the LHS. And then the other stuff (overnight, solo bikes) should be separated with a line underneath that. But it's still unclear if the other stuff is Mon to Sat or Sunday or any day of the week.

The whole thing so badly laid out as to be unclear. The cynical me would say it is done deliberately to catch people out and fine them, to make money for the council, and that is why I, personally, would chase it. But it's up to you, of course!

Yes, I thought exactly the same about drawing a line under the Mon-Sat prices. I have appealed on the grounds of a badly lit and confusing sign. Hopefully the screenshot of my app getting me past the (what I thought) 7pm deadline will count. I’ll update this when I get a decision.

Not many concessions for the disabled in the still confusing main sign.

This is how it is:

This is how it should be:

 

[Stivino]

I read that sign as saying that, it's free all day Sunday (7AM to midnight) And, the time between midnight and 7AM you have to pay.
It does seem to be misleading.