Melody Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 (edited) Regarding the cars, I think it's a bit of both. The emission controls do make a difference, but US cars were getting laughable gas mileage decades ago before emission controls became mandatory. In those days, it really was (as Fonty said) because they were much bigger and heavier than the European and British alternatives. I think also it has to do with the way the engines are tuned - being set for optimal performance can result in less efficiency (so I'm told anyway - engineering is a closed book to me). I didn't think that would make a lot of difference until we stopped taking our cars to the dealer for servicing and found that the mileage dropped by 3 to 5 mpg after the first service by the independent guy. My husband took his to another garage for servicing next time, in case the first one had just been incompetent, and the same thing happened. They told him that only the dealers are given the specifications to set the system for maximum efficiency and everyone else has to use guesswork. Since this has now happened with two independent garages and our local Honda dealer (which apparently has the specifications for Honda cars but not Acura ones), I'm inclined to believe it. Another problem with some of these environmental requirements, as you suspected, Fonty, is that manufacturers get to the lawmakers and have all sorts of things written into the laws that benefit them at the expense of the consumer. I remember when we had to change our central-heating thermostat in California, and the new one was pre-set with all sorts of "energy-saving" settings that were a real devil to override, and the guy who installed it said, "yes everyone is complaining, but this is what the manufacturer wanted..." But that sort of thing is at least partly a function of a system where the election process is so expensive that lawmakers can easily be held hostage by large donors. Which is getting into the realms of politics so probably not a topic for discussion here. Regarding things being different in different states, it's even more weird than you'd think. Not only are things different when they appear to be different, but they're sometimes different even when they don't. When we moved here and tried to change the address on our bank account and get our homeowner and auto insurance from the same insurance companies, we were told, oh you can't do that, I know it's the same name but it's actually different companies, you'll need to start over with a brand-new bank account, and the insurance companies might have the same name on the east coast as the west coast but none of the good-customer discounts from California apply because it's a different company out east. I swear the US states are more different than some of the EU member nations. Edited May 30, 2014 by Melody Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 (edited) I can answer your question about insurance companies not working across state lines - but the answer is political and I don't want to go there. Yes, I grew up with the humidity of many Philadelphia summers. Even when we do get some humidity here -it's nothing like on the East Coast. Philadelphia sits on two rivers which doesn't help. Hence - we moved here as soon as my husband got his degree. I would never live where there is a home owners association - that would drive me nutty. When my wash was hung in the back no one could see it as we have a high fence around the property. I do remember hanging wash in Philly - as the oldest child that was my chore. In the winter we hung it in the basement because if it freezes it cracks the cloth. In the summer - it was a real torment. There were no disposable diapers at that time - only cloth. I especially remember one day when some boy teens decided as a prank to cut the lines full of drying diapers. My mother had boiled them (that's what they did back then), and then wrung them out by hand - and I carried them up and down two flights of stairs (I was 8 yrs old). The two of us just burst into tears at the sight of them lying on the ground - dirty and unuseable. This is beginning to sound like a Charles Dickens novella..... Think of all the disposable diapers that now are part of our trash. No, I don't want to think about that. Edited May 30, 2014 by Anjuli_Bai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thecatsmother Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Can I add inconsiderate neighbours to room 101 before I lose the plot with mine. It is possible when living in flats to shut communal doors rather than slam them and to keep your dog inside your property so it does not run out barking at anyone who opens the front door. It is also polite to fix water pipes which start vibrating at 7am in the morning because there has been something wrong with them for over 7 months. Sorry to rant but some people are so inconsiderate. I don't get it... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orchidblue Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 I'd like to add hairdressers. Ones who take off half the amount you ask them to & then when you ask them to take a little more off, take twice what you originally asked of them whilst leaving straggly bits which are noticeable in the extreme when you have straight hair!!! Currently hiding beneath a hood. Fortunately my usual hairdresser is lovely & will be back from maternity leave in 3 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 Can I add inconsiderate neighbours to room 101 before I lose the plot with mine. It is possible when living in flats to shut communal doors rather than slam them and to keep your dog inside your property so it does not run out barking at anyone who opens the front door. It is also polite to fix water pipes which start vibrating at 7am in the morning because there has been something wrong with them for over 7 months. I can unfortunately agree on a personal level with 2 of those Sadly, in our case, I think the piping downstairs has been encased so far that it's virtually impossible to get at it to fix the pipes in the first place. I'd like to add hairdressers. Ones who take off half the amount you ask them to & then when you ask them to take a little more off, take twice what you originally asked of them whilst leaving straggly bits which are noticeable in the extreme when you have straight hair!!! Currently hiding beneath a hood. Fortunately my usual hairdresser is lovely & will be back from maternity leave in 3 months. And, if your hair is of that sort of age, beware of "silver shampoo"! I *thought* my hair had been looking unusually grey in recent months, but assumed that maybe it was just getting to that stage. No. It turns out that my (much younger) replacement hairdresser - my normal one (who's about the same age as me and therefore more sensitive to such things) not being available at present - has used it on me the last few times she's done my hair. I found the stuff in the chemists, and it's actually a colourant and *designed* to leach all the colour from your hair and produce an overall greyness. Yuck. I'm desperately trying to counteract it every time I wash it now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orchidblue Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 (edited) Oh Alison, I think I'd sue anyone who did that to my hair. I hate that we have to rely on other people to deal with one of the most important bits of what makes us "us". Edited June 1, 2014 by orchidblue 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 Actually, adding to the list: the designers of toilet-seat fixings. They are such a horrendous design, especially when you're trying to work in the sort of confined space that most toilets are located in. Those threaded rods that you screw into the receptacles barely screw in at all, and I swear they get unscrewed again when you're putting the wingnuts on (Yes, 3 attempts in the last 24 hours, in case you hadn't guessed) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2dancersmum Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 road closures, endless traffic jams and diversions that take you round in a circle to where you started from - the latter probably being some stupid idiot who decided to mess with the signs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 Large 24-hour supermarkets where you go late evening (2200) only to discover you can't buy some of the items you want because those departments are not 24-hr! Self-service tills in supermarkets. I prefer to be served by human beings! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melody Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 (edited) Being woken up by major weather. We just had something like 5 inches of rain here this morning and it sounded like being stuck under a waterfall. Apparently just north of here people were having to abandon cars and run for high ground when the flash floods started. Heavy thundershowers forecast for this afternoon. Lovely. Edited June 10, 2014 by Melody Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted June 11, 2014 Author Share Posted June 11, 2014 I watched a documentary about Australian bush fires last night . They could have done with some of your rain 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melody Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Well, now we're under a tornado watch. It always amuses me when Americans go on about the awful weather in Britain. It may be dampish, but it usually isn't lethal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Well, now we're under a tornado watch. It always amuses me when Americans go on about the awful weather in Britain. It may be dampish, but it usually isn't lethal. This is the Wild West (which starts on the East Coast) and we tend to do things in a Big Way. Why bother with a little wind storm - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Being woken up by major weather. We just had something like 5 inches of rain here this morning and it sounded like being stuck under a waterfall. My old flat used to have an aluminium roof. You can imagine what *that* sounded like in the middle of heavy rain - heavier than a waterfall, I'd guess . Yet surprisingly I quickly learned to sleep through it, and the noise problem was reduced when I had the insulation in the loft done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 Have just come back to this thread today and realised that Melody wasn't on a "tomato" watch but a "tornado" watch!! I didn't have my "3" glasses on yesterday (misplaced yet again) so was trying to read with "2.5" on. Somehow although I found it a bit strange at first I linked it with the rain and thought it might be something to do with tomato blight!! Had no idea whether you are in a big tomato growing area Melody! On re reading today obviously not .......but it always amazes me how one tries to make sense of things when getting the wrong end of the stick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melody Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 (edited) A tomato watch - now that would be interesting! Sort of like a vegetarian version of Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. Unfortunately around here tomatoes are a bit rare because deer are very common. We used to grow all sorts of fruit and vegetables in California but having an edible garden here is a waste of time without building all sorts of high barricades. Agriculturally this isn't a major centre for growing tomatoes, the main crop tends to be maize and I've also seen fields of what looks like wheat, and soybean seems to be taking hold. Pretty boring really compared with all the lovely vineyards and citrus groves back in California. Tornadoes are also mercifully rare but they do happen, so when a tornado watch turns into a tornado warning, we obediently troop down to the basement and hope for the best. This is mostly hurricane country, not tornado country, not that that's much consolation. Back in California we lived in earthquake country (the San Andreas fault is very close to the urban centres in the San Francisco Bay Area, plus there's the Hayward fault in the East Bay, which apparently every major hospital in the East Bay is built on top of). Not sure which I dislike the most, having lived through both earthquakes and hurricanes. But - on the plus side - just severe thunderstorms forecast for this afternoon, no tornadoes today. DH is getting very grouchy on account of not being able to play golf. Edited June 12, 2014 by Melody 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 The key phrase in Melody's post is: "Not sure which I dislike the most, having lived through both earthquakes and hurricanes." that you lived through them. YEA! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 Well I do have blight on the mind at the moment as our allotment has just discovered we have "late potato blight" early this year. There is an "early potato blight" but I can't get my head around the nuances of late blight coming early or early blight coming late I can't imagine having lived through an earthquake and a hurricane!! We are pretty lucky here in UK really not having too many weather extremes on the whole.......well so far anyway.....but we're always getting dire warnings about the future! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melody Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 Speaking of weather - just been helpfully told that the forecast high temperature for today is 87 degrees and that the current temperature is 89. Whole new definition of the word "high." In the meantime, my husband just got home and said that the outside-temperature thermometer in the car was registering 98 at one point. Fortunately we live near a golf course, which cools things down a couple of degrees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted June 26, 2014 Author Share Posted June 26, 2014 Another one for the list - sinusitis. First it was just hay fever... then hay fever and a rotten cold. Got rid of the cold - now it's hay fever and sinusitis. Owwwww Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Oh, that sucks, Taxi! I know what you are going through because the same thing happened to me last year. I hope you feel better very soon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Sympathies Taxi. As a Liverpolitanian, I know all about sinusitis! I hope you are feeling better soon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Are Liverpudlians particularly susceptible to sinusitis, Jan? I was never more pleased to get it diagnosed as the alternative was a costly and unpleasant root canal! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Yes, living in the centre of the universe has the slight downside that most of seem to have sinus problems of one sort or another. I think it's because Liverpool is low-lying and the air can be damp. The late, great Victor Spinetti once described the Liverpool accent as Irish with catarrh! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Oh dear, I've been knocking back the sinus tabs today, too. I can stand the inflammation, but the accompanying headache gets too much at times Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 The trials and tribulations of going back to work 30 yrs later.....watch carefully - it's only 6 seconds long.... https://www.youtube.com/embed/qteu4ld_SCE?rel=0 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 i-tunes. I cannot cope with this extremely user-unfriendly software at all!!! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swanprincess Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Amen to that, Janet!!!!! Even worse, is trying to get songs from ITunes onto an Apple IPod via a non-apple computer! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melody Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 We're expecting a category 1 hurricane just offshore from here on 4 July. Nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 i-tunes. I cannot cope with this extremely user-unfriendly software at all!!! Nor can I. Remember when the ROH put lots of their insignt videos online on the iTunes University? It jused to drive me crazy trying to get it to download onto my computer. Some things I've downloaded several times and they've still never "stuck". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted July 1, 2014 Author Share Posted July 1, 2014 (edited) 2 X is driving me mad at the moment. What's wrong with "twice" or "double", that's what I want to know? There seems to be a rash of television and radio adverts at the moment all extolling the virtues of their products, for instance: "2 X bigger/stronger/cheaper" etc. Unfortunately the voiceover will say "Two-times stronger" or "Two-times bigger" Honestly, it's like listening to toddlers - what are the advertising companies thinking of? Edited July 1, 2014 by taxi4ballet 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted July 2, 2014 Share Posted July 2, 2014 I've never thought about that before taxi! In work, as a sort of shorthand, I often used to type x2, x3 etc but only as a shorthand for the word double, triple etc. Sorry for promulgating this horrible habit in my ex-working life! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anon2 Posted July 2, 2014 Share Posted July 2, 2014 Wasps nests - why do they have to build them a few feet from the back door? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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