What's made you grumpy today?

[Slim]

Just accepted an offer on mum's bungalow. Fingers crossed everything goes through to completion. Close to asking price too 😁

I'm fortunate in having an older brother with much more patience and time for this sort of thing than I have. Should get all the inheritance money come through in a few weeks.

[David L]

Just accepted an offer on mum's bungalow. Fingers crossed everything goes through to completion. Close to asking price too 😁

I'm fortunate in having an older brother with much more patience and time for this sort of thing than I have. Should get all the inheritance money come through in a few weeks.

Yes, that is lucky for you. I have an older sibling but she has zero experience in these things. It all falls on my shoulders....much like when mum was alive

[Nickslikk2112]

I just hope we get a quick house sale.

Just put my mum's house on the market a few weeks ago. Had three valuations and all were in the same ballpark. Far in excess of what I thought it was worth. All agents suggested "OIEO.." and talked about 'block viewings'......no interest at all so far 
Having waited over 12 months since mum passed away, we are not in any hurry but can't help believing that it will not achieve anything like the agents suggested. And with the current 'turmoil' it may not sell until well into next year.
Good luck with yours

Just accepted an offer on mum's bungalow. Fingers crossed everything goes through to completion. Close to asking price too 😁

Nice

Our listing went live yesterday, got a viewing at midday today! Cash buyer...

[The Picnic Wasp]

Excellent. Cash buyer, those are the words you want to hear.

Good luck. It's such a stressful process.

[Nickslikk2112]

Excellent. Cash buyer, those are the words you want to hear.

Good luck. It's such a stressful process.

Thank you.

If they make an offer I suspect they'll pitch it low though. As an executor I want to get as close to the asking price as possible. Having seen a new build not far from my dad's house with the same sort of specs - 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms - at £50k more I think what we've got it up at a very reasonable price.

[Slim]

The usual confusion and controversy at the climax of a F1 season. That and the fact that it started at 0600 (I didn't get up).

[The Picnic Wasp]

Got three numbers in last night's Euromillions.

£6.10 prize 🤬

[Matt2112]

The monthly DE&I email has arrived.

It virtually demands observance, in various forms, of the following, as apparently October is "Global Diversity Awareness Month":

LGBTQ History Month
National Disability Employment Awareness Month
National Filipino American History Month
Indigenous Peoples' Day
Canadian Thanksgiving
World Mental Health Day
Diwali
Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur

And finally:

National Coming Out Day - for which there is an instruction to "learn about Stonewall". Oh, I've learnt about them alright.

Presumably someone has a full time job putting all this stuff together, suggesting everyone else fits it all into theirs.
 

[David L]

The monthly DE&I email has arrived.

It virtually demands observance, in various forms, of the following, as apparently October is "Global Diversity Awareness Month":

LGBTQ History Month
National Disability Employment Awareness Month
National Filipino American History Month
Indigenous Peoples' Day
Canada Thanksgiving
World Mental Health Day
Diwali
Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur

And finally:

National Coming Out Day - for which there is an instruction to "learn about Stonewall". Oh, I've learnt about them alright.

Presumably someone has a full time job putting all this stuff together, suggesting everyone else fits it all into theirs.
 

I feel for you, I really do. It seems that providing telecoms infrastructure is no longer our core business 

[Basspedalman]

I consider myself pretty 'woke' but not in the casually pejorative way. I am however utterly flummoxed by how all of this 'diversity' which ALWAYS existed, has become a semi-industry, especially with HR departments. I'm sorry but it reeks of positive discrimination. I am all for EVERYONE being treated equally, fairly and with respect but it's making people scared of their own shadows. Being aware of religious festivals and sensitivities, fine, but things get so conflated sometimes... I am glad I don't work in any kind of hierarchy or corporate environment. I would be tearing my hair out. I don't care whether you are a he/she or a they/them but I do feel for women who have to share staff toilets with Dave from Accounts in a dress!!! it's all so tiring.....

[Matt2112]

Yes, it doesn't just infantilise and patronise those who it seeks to "educate", but those minorities who are depicted as a monolithic bloc, and for whom it has been decided need some kind of help - without it first being established if they actually require it.

It's what is known as "the soft bigotry of low expectations".

And that's what happens when organisations overcompensate, instead of trusting their employees to exercise plain, decent common sense for themselves and amongst themselves.

[David L]

Yes, it doesn't just infantilise and patronise those who it seeks to "educate", but those minorities who are depicted as a monolithic bloc, and for whom it has been decided need some kind of help - without it first being established if they actually require it.

It's what is known as "the soft bigotry of low expectations".

And that's what happens when organisations overcompensate, instead of trusting their employees to exercise plain, decent common sense for themselves and amongst themselves.

IMHO, it's also a result of their absolute fear of being criticised by those 'august' institutions, that insist on pandering to activists, hence harming their image and profitability.

Of course, without social media, that harmful criticism would not have a method of spreading like wildfire. I think this widespread corporate cowardice would not exist without it.

Not adhering to the program or endorsing the message has become far to risky

[Slim]

I wouldn't say this has made me "grumpy" exactly, but there is something melancholy about remembering what you were doing exactly 40 years ago. For me, anyway. Channel 4 started 40 years ago this evening.

The idea of a fourth TV channel was genuinely exciting in 1982. The Channel 4 test card had been showing for weeks, so you could tune in your telly in advance.

I watched a few hours of the first evening of Channel 4 on the portable in my bedroom. I'd watched the very first half hour or so earlier. I definitely watched Brookside and The Comic Strip Presents.

Just for interest I googled what was happening forty years earlier. Rommel was losing the Battle of El Alamein in North Africa and the actress Stefanie Powers was born on this day in 1942. So the Channel 4 opening night took place on her 40th birthday, and she's 80 today. I found that really sobering.

I remember it so well, lounging on my bed and watching Five Go Mad in Dorset. I had so much time in front of me, and now I've used most of it up.

[captainkurtz]

Wow.  I remember watching countdown.
Used to love Fridays - countdown, the munsters, the tube...

[Matt2112]

I remember the games and goals of the 1982 World Cup in Spain more than in any World Cup since.  I remember I very nearly filled the Panini sticker book - I just had Phil Thompson missing from the England squad; couldn't find him anywhere.