The Vent and Rant Thread

[nana77]

Just saying but better ask at a professional first, imho: compressed air also can help @Rumpelteazier (meaning that it might depend of the problem, won't it to get worse instead).
Sometimes I'd found the solution within more uses of bicarbonate and vinegar (sorry, I'm weird), that when bend do some chemical effect; specially on hairs it can melt those.

Ps: not to bother on advices, but be careful when mixing chemicals products, that also means to know of what materials the pipes are.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by nana77

Ps: not to bother on advices, but be careful when mixing chemicals products, that also means to know of what materials the pipes are.

Aw, just ask Chat GPT what to mix.
And make sure that you have emergency services on speed dial.

[Rumpelteazer]

Thanks all for your suggestions.

The manufacturer of the shower drain got back to me. And it turns out they changed the design of the siphon to one that's easier to clean. So that alone is worth the €26 in my opinion.

If the new siphon doesn't do the job we'll get a professional. After being traumatized in our old home my sister doesn't want to mess around. The problem is between the drain and the bigger pipe going down. The toilet and sink have no problem. It might be the siphon or it might be in the shower drainpipe.

But how on earth did they ever think of designing a siphon that is also a hair catcher that can't be opened up to properly clean.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

But how on earth did they ever think of designing a siphon that is also a hair catcher that can't be opened up to properly clean.

Engineers who never thought that someone might need to clean the siphon? That sort of thinking is sadly common.

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Engineers who never thought that someone might need to clean the siphon? That sort of thinking is sadly common.

I have enough examples of designers and engineers not thinking about the real world when designing things.

But the shower suddenly drains properly again, I suspect the blockage has been washed to the bigger pipe and has flushed away. Hopefully.

Today's rant is that it just past 9.30 am and I'm already fed up with the day. After a couple of very quiet days in the neighbourhood this morning, since before 8 am there has been an explosion of noise. Around the back there are some neighbours who are having their sheds roofs redone, lost of whining of saws. Next door neighbour is having her roof insulated and the pump they use makes this awful grating sound.

Mind you, we can't say anything, because tomorrow my sister has planned to start with the stairwell. Before the new carpet is laid in September she wants to repaint the woodwork surrounding the stairs. So today I'm cleaning all the woodwork and tomorrow she plans on starting with the sanding. For the next couple of days I'll be wearing either ear protection or my noise cancelling headphones. But I suspect that by Monday I'll be exhausted because of the auditory overstimulation.

[Deskisamess]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

. For the next couple of days I'll be wearing either ear protection or my noise cancelling headphones. But I suspect that by Monday I'll be exhausted because of the auditory overstimulation.

As someone who has zero filters for noise, I feel your pain. What the rest of the world deals with as "normal" can drive me to tears. Just sitting in a restaurant can be too too much for me. I hear everything.

Repetitive noises like tapping, squeaky wheels on shopping carts, high pitched noises cause actual pain. Crowds make me crazy, the combination of noise and visual stimuli mess with my balance. It can be exhausting, and most people just do not understand.

One of my sisters-in-law had a serious brain hemorrhage many years ago, it left her with similar issues. She and I are kindred spirits with this issue. Mine are neurological as well.

[Renate]

I don't have any excuse. I just hate noise.
Especially banal conversation.

In the supermarket someone was giving continuous play-by-play over the phone.
"Yeah, and they have the rice you like for $3.79..."
Or just a pair squabbling over what to buy.
Food shopping should be an individual sport.

My apartment neighbor spends literally 3-4 hours a day on the phone in speaker mode arguing in a loud voice with a loved one.
Our common walls are made of toilet paper.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Renate

Food shopping should be an individual sport.

Hear, hear!

Even without phones, the moving blockade of 4 or 5 adult-ish people wandering though the grocery aisles together is something I'll never understand.

As far as phone shopping goes, I don't know what's worse: 1) an adult who doesn't have the requisite knowledge to shop for food by themselves (why are they the ones doing it, then?) that they need the backup; or 2) the poor person who's frightened enough of what they'd have to deal with at home if they got something wrong that they have to make a phone-call for self-preservation purposes.

I typically have an audio-book on the go (with noise-cancelling earbuds) when I shop. Right up to the checkout.

"Did you find everything you needed?"
*tap* "Yes."
"Have a nice day."
"You too." *tap*

[Deskisamess]

Typically I see older men who look confused when shopping alone. That's probably because their wife did this job for years, and for some reason the men are now on their own. This makes me sad. My husband is much slower at it than I am, but only because he doesn't do it as often as I do. I just can't write the shopping list using my usual shorthand if he is the one going.

What gets me are the groups of people "catching up" with long lost friends, blocking the aisles seemingly unaware of the other shoppers. Or those who still pay via check, but seem to forget, until the groceries are all bagged up, that they need to actually pay for their items. Back when I still wrote checks, decades ago, I made out the check before I went, leaving just the total and my signature to be filled in.

I do try to be extra patient with the elderly, having had to take 2 different relatives for their shopping for many years. The last two times I took my 94 year old mom grocery shopping was not any fun, for me, or for those who were behind us. Hopefully they understood. I'll be old some day, much quicker than expected, and I hope people are patient with me.

[DiapDealer]

I have patience with the elderly, and with single parents who might not have a choice but to take the kids into the store. But I've got no patience for the rest of the "herd" shoppers.

[DNSB]

On one occasion, my wife and I ended up wandering around the grocery store with one elderly woman in a wheelchair. With my wife navigating and me picking stuff off the shelves, it was a lot easier for her. From our chat, normally her son would take her shopping but he is/was having health issues. She did not wish to get into online shopping since she lacked trust in the store shopper's ability to pick produce or much of anything else and on her pension, the delivery costs were an unnecessary expense though compared to the cost of getting to/from the store, I'm a bit iffy if there would be much difference.

OTOH, the last time I hit the store, there was a family with a grandparent, 4 adults and 5 children (early teens to 4 year old to my eyes). They stopped and discussed every purchase with enthusiasm like a slowly moving roadblock. It didn't help that their choice of buggy parking was across the aisle for maximum blockage.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

What gets me are the groups of people "catching up" with long lost friends, blocking the aisles seemingly unaware of the other shoppers. Or those who still pay via check, but seem to forget, until the groceries are all bagged up, that they need to actually pay for their items. Back when I still wrote checks, decades ago, I made out the check before I went, leaving just the total and my signature to be filled in.

Around here, it's been a lot of years since any of the grocery stores I shopped at would accept a cheque. I know some of the eastern Canadian grocery stores continued accepting cheques until much later.

I used to enjoy one game shop where they posted bounced cheques on a bulletin board behind the counter until you redeemed them.

[Renate]

I go to different stores at different times.
I never use a cart or even a basket as I'm only shopping for one.
Since I shop almost daily my total is usually under 10 €.

If I go to the big crowded store during busy hours I go in "mission mode" and shoot right through.
I like to go shopping at 6 AM when it's empty and I can dawdle over the wacky weekly non-food offerings (without buying anything).

[nana77]

Originally Posted by Renate

I go to different stores at different times.
I never use a cart or even a basket as I'm only shopping for one.
Since I shop almost daily my total is usually under 10 €.

If I go to the big crowded store during busy hours I go in "mission mode" and shoot right through.
I like to go shopping at 6 AM when it's empty and I can dawdle over the wacky weekly non-food offerings (without buying anything).

Sorry but what kind of stores might be open at 6AM? I know only bakers that can open that early.
Since some years ago I'd liked that mode, as I always was to go shopping whitout bags, and so the limit was what I can handle within the arms. Then finally choosed to have one sponsored bag for each supermarket I use, and so as for not to go daily in there too.
I use several supermarket because, as you mentioned before on market's choiches, some might have some products very peculiar, and probably each one tries to have some of them as for the competition.

This one I'd asked at the chefs, and also at the patissery, them never seem it, and said it's awesome (I recall having seen a chocolate of that kind only in Mexico, in Oxaca: it's like a raw cocoa basing, not even lucid, also at 1,9$ per 100gr, so 19 per kg it's a deal, really).
Them just made a straight chain whitin the ingredients imho.
Though it's not spam, I don't think it's available outside the Country either..

@Deskisamess: excuse but do you write the shopping list in stenography? Lol, woah .

Sometimes I use to go on big central stores, those ones full of shops, always within a nausea feeling, the good part is that it makes me in the mood to don't buy nothing usually (I like to see the prices, and compare on second hands on ebay).

[DNSB]

For making hot chocolate, I like the Lindt bar in the attached image: