BJM

Speaking as one who is attempting to retrain a neglected puppy it is clearly separation anxiety. The small puppy on the right is frightened of open spaces and is seeking consolation and protection from the older larger one on the left. Simples

To be fair 2 things suggest that HE may be living in Victorian times 1. He lives in Nuneaton 2. He admits that he still uses Teletext.

Tomorrow is Black Friday (unlike in Germany where yesterday was schwarzer mittwoch) AND I CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING I WANT.

LPA is for the near future administration of his widow’s (my sister’s) financial and medical affairs. ATM whilst frail (she’s 85) she has been assessed as still having capacity, but is showing classic early signs of dementia, short term memory loss being the main one. Our fear is that with the obscene length of time that obtaining Probate and LPA is taking if she deteriorates she / we will end up in limbo and unable to sort anything out.

We sent them off in August. Still no response other than to cash the £164 cheque. Fortunately our solicitor who is dealing with the Probate has managed to persuade the BAnk to release some of the BIL’s funds to them to transfer it to his widow, and his works pension transferred to her. Private organisations 2 - Public Nil

I’ve spent the last few months sorting out my late BIL’s estate, and arranging long term care for my sister who has dementia. Since July I have been dealing with a whole range of organisations both public (NHS, Local Authorities, Goverment departments and agencies etc.) and private (pension providers, utility companies, banks, building societies care providers etc.) In this time I can categorically state that the “official” organisations are those that are the least efficient and helpful and who are still using Covid, increased demand and WFH as an excuse for interminable delays. (e.g. quoted as taking 9 - 12 MONTHS to obtain probate) Phrases like “unprecedented demand” “switchboard very busy” and of course the classic “your call is important to us” abound throughout public (lack of) service organisations. The pandemic has served to magnify the total uselessness of many of these organisations, and at the same time continues to be used as an excuse. In a previous life I had to deal with numerous LA’s mainly at County and Regional level an we decided long ago that they were largely staffed by idle, incompetents who wouldn’t or couldn’t be employed elsewhere. Covid was and is a golden opportunity for these individuals. There was a news report yesterday that pay rises in the public sector are running at less than half of those in the private. seems fair to me. Most of them are half as effective and industrious.

Coincidence We had the same, and I also forgot to photo it. SWMBO (who used to be a professional cook) has her own version using tinned and fresh chopped tomatoes, onions, carrots, baked beans, potatoes. God knows what else and something secret called "erbs" Seconds are compulsory, thirds optional. There's never enough left for 4ths

Agree completely. Locally our council has for many years not switched on the Xmas lights until at least a week after Remembrance Day (or Remembrance Sunday if that is later as it is this year.) Switch on this year is 19th November.

Negative equity only matters if you bought a house with the dream of making money out of it, either by trading up or down in the short term. In this country we have an obsession with pretending to be property developers and investors. Hence the constant driving up of value and problems of affordability faced by first time buyers. If you buy a house to live in the theoretical value of the “asset” is irrelevant. As long as you can pay the mortgage history (as described above in the 1990s scenario) shows that property fairly rapidly regains its notional value. Housing is a long term investment, not a get rich quick scheme. Th old adage “the value of investments can go down as well as up” applies to housing as anything else.

That doesn’t answer the question though. Fundamentally these are presumably just battery chargers with digital timers and an internet connection all monitored / controlled by an ATM (without the mechanical cash handling equipment) All of this is long established, solid state technology. No moving parts, no lubrication, wear etc. Although the “pumps” are the size of a petrol pump this presumably is purely for familiarity, as witnessed by the ability to fit a working charger into a pipe the size of a lamppost. So, why are you regulars constantly reporting broken equipment.

Last week I added a second car /new policy via Swintons. Cover was with Ageas and they mirrored full 60% NCD. ( Both with B1 business use, Insd only driving and 9+ years NCD)

You did a traditional hunter gatherer meal then? You hunted in the back of the fridge, gathered what you found and improvised?

In 50 odd years of driving the Motorways, highways and by-ways of this fair land one thing has always been conspicuous by its rarity, and that was the sight of a Fiesta outside of its natural home in a built up area. And that explains why Ford are dropping it. Without it being described as one, it was in reality a town use car, frequently a second car used for the school run, shopping etc. (yes I know that the one you had when you were 18 did 100,000 miles driving you all around the UK at an average of 68 mph.) That niche (small size, short journeys, town use etc.) is now being filled by by the new generation of small electric cars.

Hot off the press. At 0900 and 0906 this am SWMBO & I had a) Moderna COVID booster vaccine (No. 4 Covid injection) b) Flu Vaccination (make & model unknown) Administered separately, in my case in the same arm, as I'd rather have 1 sore arm than 2

Correct me if I’m wrong but you appear to be saying that the trip in the diesel was only approx. £5 more than it would be in your EV However you had to waste 90 minutes charging up. As someone who regularly drives 200 - 250 miles on multi drop deliveries I’ll happily pay £5 a trip to get home early.