Insignificant/ Significant things that BYP or just wind you up a little

[Count Steer]

Brown rice!
And it's just for the hound!
45 mins to cook, if it's hot, she'll eat it, barely touches the sides anyway!

Just cooked some M&S brown basmati. 25 mins.

(But, yup, the old student days brown rice...45mins).

[Cousin Jack]

Researching and buying travel insurance on line.

Why do so many sites

• A) Just don't work! One I could get no further than adding my name, it kept telling me I had to "Choose a quote" but I didn't have one, and there was nowhere to choose anyway!
  B) Have medical screening pages that run around in loops, asking the same question in a different way. I have had a balloon angioplasty, I have told you it was on my heart, why are you wittering about coronary artery angioplasty, it is the same effing thing!
  C) Exclude stuff in the small print. Just avoided buying one that excludes motorcycles over 125cc, but I only found out about it by checking VERY carefully. Apparently it is more dangerous than winter sports.

EDIT
And finally, when you think you are done, the CC payment goes tits up!
Multi messages from bank, confirm that it is me, seem to have paid but zero feedback, so I may have paid for nothing!

[Noggin]

WTF is he messaging me

I hope you told HIM that!

Whenever someone used to give me grief re: shit that had nothing to do with me, I'd get my wallet out, or look in my jacket pocket for a fuck to give, and quite often tell them so. Fairly soon, people stopped doing it.

TBF I didn't. Couldn't be arsed to do that by text, just told him I was about to go to sleep after just finishing!! But if he brings it up when I next see him, I will suggest that he goes direct to the boss!!

Becuase you're his friend and he wanted a little rant...

TBF, if he'd wanted a rant or even sent a ranty text message, I'd have understood. It was a very specific text telling something went wrong and would I pass it on to my boss. Just send the text to the boss, not to your friend that has just finished a very long transfer day and isn't working in the office, and wouldn't have been working in the office at 9.40pm on any day!!

[weeksy]

Bristol..... (Sorry Greenman) but it's a fucking shit-hole. With shit parking, shit roundabouts, shit traffic, shit everything, shit clean air zone... Just a god damn awful place.

Although if Instagram is to be believed there's an awesome sandwich/BBQ shop in Bristol but i wasn't looking for that.

[Cousin Jack]

Bristol..... (Sorry Greenman) but it's a fucking shit-hole. With shit parking, shit roundabouts, shit traffic, shit everything, shit clean air zone... Just a god damn awful place.

Although if Instagram is to be believed there's an awesome sandwich/BBQ shop in Bristol but i wasn't looking for that.

In fairness to Brizzle, it does have some nice restaurants. However the whole road system needs a MAJOR overhaul, whoever is in charge of the current debacle should be condemned to drive around the city centre for 12 hours a day, every day, with a kick in the balls for every time he found himself in the wrong lane.

[DefTrap]

I found Bristol city center very confusing - but then I find that with most cities unless I religiously follow the sat nav. Bristol was worse than a lot because parking is a bastard and all the roads seem to be on a 45 degree incline (and my handbrake effing broke years ago and I cba to fix it)

[Saga Lout]

Researching and buying travel insurance on line...

You might want to investigate packaged bank accounts.

I had trouble finding travel insurance after suffering vasculitis. I transferred my current account to Nationwide Flex Plus. It comes with (and I quote) "Worldwide travel and mobile insurance for you and your family and UK and European breakdown cover". I have to pay extra for travel insurance because I'm over 70 and have pre-existing medical conditions but I it costs about half the quotes I was getting just for travel insurance.

[Sadlonelygit]

Bristol..... (Sorry Greenman) but it's a fucking shit-hole. With shit parking, shit roundabouts, shit traffic, shit everything, shit clean air zone... Just a god damn awful place.

Although if Instagram is to be believed there's an awesome sandwich/BBQ shop in Bristol but i wasn't looking for that.

Whenever I used to drive to Brizzle, I had a route in, and several out. To be fair I was always going to either SS GB, Cabot Circus, Science park or theatre, so not exactly taxing in terms of navigation, but I did usually have 50 people on board who knew a better route

[Rockburner]

Researching and buying travel insurance on line.

Why do so many sites

• A) Just don't work! One I could get no further than adding my name, it kept telling me I had to "Choose a quote" but I didn't have one, and there was nowhere to choose anyway!
  B) Have medical screening pages that run around in loops, asking the same question in a different way. I have had a balloon angioplasty, I have told you it was on my heart, why are you wittering about coronary artery angioplasty, it is the same effing thing!
  C) Exclude stuff in the small print. Just avoided buying one that excludes motorcycles over 125cc, but I only found out about it by checking VERY carefully. Apparently it is more dangerous than winter sports.

EDIT
And finally, when you think you are done, the CC payment goes tits up!
Multi messages from bank, confirm that it is me, seem to have paid but zero feedback, so I may have paid for nothing!

Pretty much all travel insurance excludes bikes now. You need to find a specialist that covers it specifically.

Who did you go with in the end?

iirc I went with these guys for the lst FLASH trip : https://www.navigatortravelinsurance.co.uk/

(but it seems they're just reselling the product from here : https://www.voyagertravelinsurance.co.uk/ or something....)

[Cousin Jack]

Pretty much all travel insurance excludes bikes now. You need to find a specialist that covers it specifically.

Who did you go with in the end?

iirc I went with these guys for the lst FLASH trip : https://www.navigatortravelinsurance.co.uk/

(but it seems they're just reselling the product from here : https://www.voyagertravelinsurance.co.uk/ or something....)

Thanks for that, I don't think I have actually bought anything yet, I gave up in disgust.

I tried the voyager one, but it didn't work for me. May give them a bell. My problem is compounded by bing old and having a history of coronary issues, so cheap it will not be.

[Taipan]

Bristol..... (Sorry Greenman) but it's a fucking shit-hole. With shit parking, shit roundabouts, shit traffic, shit everything, shit clean air zone... Just a god damn awful place.

Although if Instagram is to be believed there's an awesome sandwich/BBQ shop in Bristol but i wasn't looking for that.

I went to Bristol for a couple of courses%. I stayed at the Berkeley square boutique hotel which is in the Clifton area. It was really nice area and I liked the nearby pub. I walked down to the waterfront area I think it was called a harbourside and it was absolutely buzzing! Really nice museum near by too which I liked. Also we’d take sandwiches to Brandon hill gardens and have lunch in the shadow of the Cabot tower. As you can gather, I liked Bristol!

[Jody]

When I was working I had a work mobile that I used when I was oncall. At all other times it was switched off. I also resisted all requests to give work my personal mobile number. That system worked for me. Basically you have to set the ground rules about how, when and if you are contactable. Give the fuckers an inch and they'll take a mile...

When I was a manager in the ski resort, some staff refused to give me their private mobile numbers. I hated and respected them equally !

The ability of the Spanish to take a process and cover it in so many layers of bureaucracy that people make a living from navigating it. In this case it's changing owners of a vehicle. It's easier to pay someone 250 euros to get the job done than it is to do it yourself.

Which is exactly the reason they make it so hard!

No Greenie not this time. It's not 'the man' charging you €250, its an independent who's worked out the best way to do it!

Bike adverts...

"Bike runs grate has mot power band in every gear u would not be disappointed..."

TBH, if 'they' can't string a sentence together, it's unlikely they know how to look after a bike properly. Walk away !

[Jody]

Yet another few 'dates' that end with

" Actually, I'm not looking for ANY sort of relationship "


Ohh do fuck off, WTF where you doing on a dating app then! If I was Ryan Reynolds you'd be looking.

I spent over €100 today in order to meet up with this particular one for the 3rd time. She could have easily told me that last night when we ere making plans to meet.

[Rockburner]

Pretty much all travel insurance excludes bikes now. You need to find a specialist that covers it specifically.

Who did you go with in the end?

iirc I went with these guys for the lst FLASH trip : https://www.navigatortravelinsurance.co.uk/

(but it seems they're just reselling the product from here : https://www.voyagertravelinsurance.co.uk/ or something....)

Thanks for that, I don't think I have actually bought anything yet, I gave up in disgust.

I tried the voyager one, but it didn't work for me. May give them a bell. My problem is compounded by bing old and having a history of coronary issues, so cheap it will not be.

Yeah, ringing will always get your questions answered better.

[Noggin]

When I was working I had a work mobile that I used when I was oncall. At all other times it was switched off. I also resisted all requests to give work my personal mobile number. That system worked for me. Basically you have to set the ground rules about how, when and if you are contactable. Give the fuckers an inch and they'll take a mile...

Work are brilliant. Very very rarely contact me when I'm not actually working. And even if they do it's for a good reason. This was a friend that should know better - but I'm the easier option than to go direct to the boss.

[mangocrazy]

When I was working I had a work mobile that I used when I was oncall. At all other times it was switched off. I also resisted all requests to give work my personal mobile number. That system worked for me. Basically you have to set the ground rules about how, when and if you are contactable. Give the fuckers an inch and they'll take a mile...

Work are brilliant. Very very rarely contact me when I'm not actually working. And even if they do it's for a good reason. This was a friend that should know better - but I'm the easier option than to go direct to the boss.

I think the French respect 'me time' (i.e.when you're not working) better than in Blighty. My boss used to take his work laptop and phone with him on holiday, FFS. Fuck that for a game of soldiers...

But a friend that used me as a conduit to avoid talking to my boss when I wasn't in work would get very short shrift...

[Yorick]

Many moons ago I booked a day off to go up to a funeral up in Bradford.
At the wake I got a call from my wanker boss. He was unsympathetic and needy.
So gave him the wrong advice. It went tits up.

2 days later I was dragged into the office and he started to bollock me in front of colleagues.

I told him to stop right there.

"You called me knowing I was at a funeral. You knew I was stressed. You could tell I was pissed.
You made the wrong move, not me"

I took them to the cleaners when I left 2 month later.

[Saga Lout]

Pretty much all travel insurance excludes bikes now. You need to find a specialist that covers it specifically.

Who did you go with in the end?

iirc I went with these guys for the lst FLASH trip : https://www.navigatortravelinsurance.co.uk/

(but it seems they're just reselling the product from here : https://www.voyagertravelinsurance.co.uk/ or something....)

Thanks for that, I don't think I have actually bought anything yet, I gave up in disgust.

I tried the voyager one, but it didn't work for me. May give them a bell. My problem is compounded by bing old and having a history of coronary issues, so cheap it will not be.

I got several online quotes in 2017 when I was 68, a few months after my vasculitis episode. I was going to China for about three months and all of the quotes were over £1000. I checked with my bank, Santander, who offered travel insurance but wouldn't cover me. Martin Lewis's https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ mentioned packaged bank accounts so I checked out a few and Nationwide got my vote. I checked with Nationwide's insurance provider before I switched, you can find the number on Nationwide's website to make sure they'd cover me, and how much it would cost. I can't remember exactly but it was about £400 to £500, i.e. less than half the quotes I'd been getting. I'm 74 now and currently in China, travel insurance for me and Mrs S L for 81 days cost me £403. Factor in the £13/month (£156/year) account fee and it still feels like a bargain. And I get breakdown cover as well.

[Yorick]

Doing a good deed which backfires

Neighbour's son is over for a few weeks and hinted that he'd love to have an enduro ride. So I arranged to borrow my pal's GasGas and we always charge 70€ for a day's hire. But I had to ride Mark's bike and J ride mine.

After about 10 miles my own bike got front puncture. He couldn't ride it like that, so we swapped bikes and I rode home with flat tyre.

When we got home it was obvious the front tyre was now knackered. So I've just taken it to local shop for tyre and tube,

Now I feel awkward about the money. Mark will still want his 70€ and I think J should pay for the tyre and tube. If I borrowed a car and it got a puncture, it would be up to me to sort it.

And I put 10€ in each bike, and maybe J should pay half ?

It may all get sorted, but he just went home after the aborted ride. Not even offered a lift to help me return the bike 10 miles away. Penny had to come to bring me home.

He wants to go out again next week, but it depends on the outcome.

Feeling a bit peplexed.

[weeksy]

Unless you told him of these things in advance of the ride, i'm afraid it falls on you.

Although, some of this may depend on the age of the son