sub standard rant time

[MuddyPete]

...broadband charges...

U-switch .

Leaves more $mackeroonie$ for stout and tea cakes .

[RIP]

...broadband charges...

U-switch .

email address . My redirect one stopped working so switched back to real one a while ago. Arg.

Leaves more $mackeroonie$ for stout and tea cakes .

Good point.

[BigdummySteve]

Next there will be people with valves not aligned with tyre logos

Carefully aligned with valve as per rules, but I’ve inadvertently done this from the non-drive side.

ARRRH! The logos are mis-aligned on the drive side,
Shoddy manufacturing, enough to push a man over the edge

[thenorthwind]

And now we're ranting, let's double down. Just had a letter from Plusnet that they're going to increase our broadband charges by CPI +3.9%!!!!. Same as BT did a while ago for our landline in fact (subsidiary). Never mind that, it then says EVERY YEAR FROM NOW ON by CPI+3.9%!! How the hell does that work then?

Yes I know I've known this for years, but the inflation "figures" are a complete and utter tissue of lies. Broadband up 5% then, phone 5%, council tax 5%, train fares, fruit juice up 20%, etc etc. It's total lunacy. So trivial expenses like "hand sanitiser" and one-off expenses like "dumbells" (!!!!) are in there to pretend it's really 0.5%, but big-ticket items which make up most of our expenses are seemingly downplayed. And don't even mention the gigantic con-trick that fiddles real housing costs out of the figure.

The whole thing is intensely frustrating isn't it. I've been putting off sorting this out for a couple of weeks since I got the contract renewal email from Talk Talk which basically said "You're paying £20 a month, which we think isn't enough, so we'll put it up to £30 if you can't be a***d or if you click this link it'll be £23.50". So I spent 45 minutes on the phone to them (after 5 minutes trying to find an actual phone number) slowly unpicking their pricing strategy and negotiating a new price. They have different prices depending if it's fixed for the length of the contract or subject to rises. You're screwed either way of course because the fixed-price rate is higher.

I got them to give me the same price a new customer would pay without too much hassle - maybe should have pushed for lower - so in the end I'm paying £24 a month but for the faster service (supposedly twice as fast, but only actually about 1.3x, but only a couple of quid more... still you can expect 1.3x as many posts from me for the next 18 months ). At one point, they tried to argue I shouldn't get the same price as a new customer since it's "personal" and "your neighbour might pay a completely different price from you" as if that was entirely logical and reasonable, and I was meant to take my personally increased price as something other than a personal insult

I think the best price they offered me fixed-price was something like £27. Since it's an 18 month contract, and the price won't rise til next April, when it goes up by the CPI + 3.7%, the CPI would have to be 33.8% to cost me more over the remaining six months . That would be some bounceback for the economy, and I'd have to budget for a new wheelbarrow to take my money in when I go to the supermarket.

But all this is, of course, a waste of time and energy... imagine all the good that could have been done by the accumulated time of the people who've spent 45 minutes on the phone to their broadband supplier. Energy is even worse - the product is literally identical regardless of who supplies it, yet we still have to play our part in the circus. And yet nationalising, or even more tightly regulating, these industries is tantamount to treason to a lot of people

[MuddyPete]

... increase our broadband charges..

The whole thing is intensely frustrating isn't it...
But all this is, of course, a waste of time and energy...

U-Switch .

Embrace your inner "utilities whore" : it's liberating .

[Verena]

Next there will be people with valves not aligned with tyre logos

Carefully aligned with valve as per rules, but I’ve inadvertently done this from the non-drive side.

ARRRH! The logos are mis-aligned on the drive side,
Shoddy manufacturing, enough to push a man over the edge

I'm blissfully ignorant of such rules, could someone post some pictures please of dos and don'ts, so I can immediately go check my bikes??

[sean_iow]

There's a full set of rules for bike riding Tyre logos and valves are under #40.

https://www.velominati.com/

[voodoo_simon]

There's a full set of rules for bike riding Tyre logos and valves are under #40.

https://www.velominati.com/

And here’s the off road rules
https://www.pannier.cc/journal/the-grav ... ing-rules/

Rule #33 for the win

[thenorthwind]

U-Switch .

...doesn't ring up and haggle for me, presumably? So I'd be left paying the advertised rate.

For broadband anyway. Energy is different - no variation in the "product" and no costs for switching (unless you're leaving a contract early) so I'll whore away. Though having said that, although I'm aware that it's somewhat notional, I'll always choose a green energy supplier in a vain attempt to try and influence the market. That's another topic though.

[MuddyPete]

... don'ts...

Don't follow the rules .

It's only cycling; nobody cares .

[Verena]

There's a full set of rules for bike riding Tyre logos and valves are under #40.

https://www.velominati.com/

Mind boggles. I've broken so many of these... I'd get my coat...but I fear it would be the wrong colour....

[belugabob]

Thank goodness for Tunnock's, they're still the same price.

If they're the same price, they're probably just a wee bit smaller (as has happened with Wagon Wheels & Curly Wurlies)

[RIP]

Thank goodness for Tunnock's, they're still the same price.

If they're the same price, they're probably just a wee bit smaller (as has happened with Wagon Wheels & Curly Wurlies)

Yep, good point - portion shrinkage is rife too . They all deny it though of course.

[middleagedmadness]

Given that it's going to get even worse, and I've said this before, I'm now pretty much in the state that, no thanks, I don't want my freedom back. You can keep it. I'm going to stay in bed most of the time, and if I want a holiday I'm going to go to Wolverhampton..

No your fecking NOT ,

[middleagedmadness]

Sean does have a point , the site I’m based at has brought in COVID testing once a week for everyone who comes on site , I think they are worried with the easing of restrictions their work force is going to be wiped out , anyhow I’m just going through the gate and another contractor is arguing that he doesn’t need a test as he’s had his jab so obviously can’t have it , there needs to be a lot more messages put out there that the jabs don’t stop it they just make it more of a possibility that your not gonna get seriously ill when you do get it , and they also are not giving in to the I refuse to have a test but you have to let me in or your vehicle ain’t going no where ,

[sean_iow]

There's a full set of rules for bike riding Tyre logos and valves are under #40.

https://www.velominati.com/

Mind boggles. I've broken so many of these... I'd get my coat...but I fear it would be the wrong colour....

Don't take them too seriously... well apart from the one about tyre logos and valves, that's important, and I suppose sock colours

[RIP]

Given that it's going to get even worse, and I've said this before, I'm now pretty much in the state that, no thanks, I don't want my freedom back. You can keep it. I'm going to stay in bed most of the time, and if I want a holiday I'm going to go to Wolverhampton..

No your fecking NOT ,

I'll install myself in that lovely boozer in the Black Country (*) Museum for a week, nobody'll find me there .

(*) I've been reading something that says Dudley isn't even an original part of the Black Country so that should raise a few hackles. Or pikelets.

[middleagedmadness]

Given that it's going to get even worse, and I've said this before, I'm now pretty much in the state that, no thanks, I don't want my freedom back. You can keep it. I'm going to stay in bed most of the time, and if I want a holiday I'm going to go to Wolverhampton..

No your fecking NOT ,

I'll install myself in that lovely boozer in the Black Country (*) Museum for a week, nobody'll find me there .

(*) I've been reading something that says Dudley isn't even an original part of the Black Country so that should raise a few hackles. Or pikelets.

Think you need to go out a bit further for true Black Country mate netherton, Cradley, Tipton but then even I have trouble understanding them

[Verena]

There's a full set of rules for bike riding Tyre logos and valves are under #40.

https://www.velominati.com/

Mind boggles. I've broken so many of these... I'd get my coat...but I fear it would be the wrong colour....

Don't take them too seriously... well apart from the one about tyre logos and valves, that's important, and I suppose sock colours

Don't worry, I wasn't going to...

Funnily enough my socks are all very plain coloured, as were my shorts until the new ones I've just bought... mostly black but with a bit of red... will need to check if that's still allowable as a "side panel"...

Have never even looked at tyre logos and valves....

[ScotRoutes]

Tyres should always be aligned so that the pressure markings are next to the valve*



*from a bike maintenance course

[Lazarus]

makes sense but I always assumed the valve and logo thing was just to make it easy to find the valve - this happens in thehouse but i dont bother to pay attention if doing a trail side repair

[ScotRoutes]

makes sense but I always assumed the valve and logo thing was just to make it easy to find the valve - this happens in thehouse but i dont bother to pay attention if doing a trail side repair

It made more sense in the days of inner tubes. Once you'd found the hole in the tube, it was easier to check the tyre for the offending object if you could relate tube to tyre position (e.g. 90 degrees from valve/logo). Since tubeless it's a lot less relevant.

[Lazarus]

fair point but I bet most of us still do it

[Alpinum]

It made more sense in the days of inner tubes. Once you'd found the hole in the tube, it was easier to check the tyre for the offending object if you could relate tube to tyre position (e.g. 90 degrees from valve/logo). Since tubeless it's a lot less relevant.

Find the valve quicker (like in winter, when snow is hiding it), check rim for impacts.
Still more worth aligning the logo with the valve in my experience, then going with the pressure markings.

They're redundant for all caring riders, since they already know what they want and don't need a tyre telling them to use 1.6 - 3.5 bars. And those that don't give a sh!t don't know of such markings anyways.

[Verena]

May I join the ranting?? At long last managed to finish work early at 4pm on a Friday, like you're supposed to.
It's now 4.50 . Made the mistake of phoning my bank as they requested (well the fraud line actually...). I had some work done to my garage/ home office by a local company, and I had tried to pay the balance off with online banking, as you do. This prompted said payment to be put on hold, and I had to phone up - twenty minutes of being on hold, followed by another twenty minutes or so of a long convoluted conversation about how can I be sure that I am paying who I think I am paying, was the invoice sent by post or just put through the letter box, did I cross reference the BACS details with the details of when I paid the deposit etc etc. End result, the payment is cancelled and I'll just phone the company and give them my card details over the phone like I did before - so much safer - WTF?!?!