Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

A quick look in before going to the model railway club. I am fortunate in that working for a local authority for 37.5 years my pension is safe. Pity the poor devils who worked for BHS whos pension money bought Cur Philip Green another luxury yacht. The state pension scheme is not much more than a glorified Ponzi scheme where current investment is paid as dividend to previous investors, the whole pension scheme in this country needs a good shake-up.

[AndyID]

I just noticed the maximum size of an attached file on RMweb is 32MB. It probably happened some time ago too but sometimes I'm a bit slow on the uptake.

[Horsetan]

.... i had no intention of staying Saudi any longer than necessary....

 

Most people from Western countries generally don't. The last one who did was T.E. Lawrence.

[AndyID]

I mentioned I've been doing some electronicy stuff. (No sign of the DEA yet btw.) This is what I came up with. It's in the non-DCC area, but it would apply equally well to DCC if you use servos and you run into problems.

[bbishop]

Congratulations to Dom and Elise.

 

Bill

[Coombe Barton]

Consultant visit today.

No probs - spent most of the time swapping student stories and telling jokes.

 

Six months - the next one. That'll be four years since the radiotherapy treatment, and now is three years since the TURp op.

Edited March 29, 2017 by Coombe Barton

[Smiffy2]

Congratulations, Dom!

[New Haven Neil]

Don, maybe I should have said I couldn't imagine not having anything to do - not necessarily paid work.

 

Congrats to Dom and Elise!

[pH]

I remember when mortgage interest hit just above 15% in the 1980's, though there was MIRAS tax relief on that.

 

Dave

How about a 19% mortgage interest rate with no tax relief? That's what we faced when we bought our first house in Canada in 1982. Add in a house market that was falling. We came here with the experience of a UK house market which hadn't seen significant price falls since the 1930s, and so bought almost as soon as we arrived. In retrospect, we were in a really strong position - money in the bank, no chain, people desperate to sell houses worth less than the mortgage, but we'd never experienced that before. So - we paid 19% interest on a depreciating asset.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone

 

It's been a miserable day, it's never stopped raining all day. I managed to get 4 of my 8 jobs done today, but I have to swap one from tomorrow's schedule to today, as the road I needed to travel along was closed for resurfacing. A quick chat with the one of the guys doing the work gleaned that it will all be finished today. So that means I'll be able to go back tomorrow and complete the work then, hence the swap.

 

Sheila is still feeling poorly, but is a lot better than of late, but still feels a little dizzy occasionally. Consequently, tonight's Sainsbury's Grand Prix, has been postponed until tomorrow, as we're not completely out of food. If it doesn't happen tomorrow evening, I'll pick a few things up on my way home on Friday.

 

Dom and Elise. Congratulations on your up and coming parenthood, hope all goes well.

 

AndB. Hope the interview went well, also good luck for Friday too, fingers crossed!

[laurenceb]

Congratulations to Elise and Dom

[newbryford]

Congrats to Dom and Elise.

 

I had an ER visitor at work today. The kettle had been pre-heated....... I wonder who that may have been for?

 

Cheers,

Mick

[roundhouse]

Had a visit to the doctors this morning for a blood sample so they can check if the tablets they put me on are not doing any harm.

 

Back to work then told boss that I have a hospital appointment Friday afternoon. Dont think he was too pleased with all the various visits to doctors / hospital that I am currently having. Yet to tell him about next weeks doctors appointment. Wasnt a very productive day today either.

 

Another show this weekend. Should have the layout transport back tomorrow from the garage as they had nearly completed the work this afternoon.

 

A very early start Saturday as its a 2.5 hour drive to Cheltenham for us and being a charity show there is no accommodation so we are just staying away Saturday night. Hopefully we can visit a new brewery for us in Gloucester that evening taking a bus there and back form the hotel.

[AndrewC]

How about a 19% mortgage interest rate with no tax relief? That's what we faced when we bought our first house in Canada in 1982. Add in a house market that was falling. We came here with the experience of a UK house market which hadn't seen significant price falls since the 1930s, and so bought almost as soon as we arrived. In retrospect, we were in a really strong position - money in the bank, no chain, people desperate to sell houses worth less than the mortgage, but we'd never experienced that before. So - we paid 19% interest on a depreciating asset.

I remember that all too well. I was saving up for my own place. The shock my parents got when their mortgage came for renewal basically wiped out their savings, even though Alberta had a mortgage interest relief programme. By the time I bought in 84 the rate I got was down to 9%.

[AndyID]

How about a 19% mortgage interest rate with no tax relief? That's what we faced when we bought our first house in Canada in 1982. Add in a house market that was falling. We came here with the experience of a UK house market which hadn't seen significant price falls since the 1930s, and so bought almost as soon as we arrived. In retrospect, we were in a really strong position - money in the bank, no chain, people desperate to sell houses worth less than the mortgage, but we'd never experienced that before. So - we paid 19% interest on a depreciating asset.

 

Yikes! Although we took a serious hit on the last house we owned in the UK (the best bit is the back garden) we didn't do too badly when we moved to Arizona in 1982. We rented a house for a year then bought it from the owner. It had an assumable VA (Veteran's Association) loan which had a reasonable fixed interest rate. That was just as well as I think we would have had a hard time qualifying for any other home-loan in the US. I had to write a stroppy letter to our bank's president to get a loan to buy a car.

 

EDIT: I'd just like to point out that I had nothing to do with that kitchen.

Edited March 29, 2017 by AndyID

[emt_911]

Finally home at 21:00.

 

Today has been a total flustercuck and I would end up typing for a whole day to describe the cockwomble drivers that I came across today.

 

Dom - Congratulations to you and Elise

 

A quick catch up on specific threads then bed.

 

Night all

[TheQ]

I'm now going to recommend a book.

It's "Behind Enemy Lines" ISBN 9781845967086

the autobiography of

Sir Tommy MacPherson 1920-2014 military medal *3, Croix de Guerre *3, Legion​ d'Honneur, papal knighthood, and British knighthood.

 

An incredibly brave man, who parachuted into France behind Enemy Lines in kilted uniform and earnt a 300,000 Franc reward on his head from the Germans because of the disruption and mayhem he caused.

 

The link below gives a short extract of his exploits....

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Macpherson

 

"The Works" was selling off his book for £3 or you can pick it up secondhand from Abebooks online for just less than that (including postage) no doubt other sources are available.

[AndyID]

Today, for your epicurean pleasure we 'ave le boeuf haché, or, as we would say in Scotland, mince.

 

It's probably well known to all you culinary experts that you have to brown the beef first, but I only discovered recently that to get the best flavor, it really needs to be browned, as in seared like a steak.

 

 

I do it in a cast iron skillet. Takes a bit of work as you have to keep moving it around to prevent it burning. After that it's into the electric pressure cooker with a chopped onion and some beef bouillon for 25 mins. Le yum!

 

A nice thing about the electric pressure cooker is that, because it does not vent steam, you don't need much liquid in it at all.

 

 

[BSW01]

Congrats to Dom and Elise.

 

I had an ER visitor at work today. The kettle had been pre-heated....... I wonder who that may have been for?

 

Cheers,

Mick

Guess who?

 

Cheers for the cup of tea.

Edited March 29, 2017 by BSW01

[Horsetan]

Yikes! Although we took a serious hit on the last house we owned in the UK (the best bit is the back garden) ....

Ooh, just realised that one of my clients lives in Paisley, in Albion Street.

[BSW01]

Goodnight all

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Congratulations to Dom and Elise and best wishes. TheQ, I would think  that plenty would surrender if they looked up and saw a kilted Scotsman decending on a parachute above them. I've been lucky with various properties I have owned, I purchased my parents house for considerably less than its market value, they only required sufficient funds to purchase their retirement property. Then finding that a large three bedroom house was too much for someone living on his own I sold up and bought a cottage in Burnham-on-Crouch, the year before the local branch line (to Southminster) was electrified, the 'sparks effect' virtually doubled the property value overnight. I was then able to purchase my present property closer to work. I did start out with an endowment mortgage but I was able to change it to a repayment mortgage just before property values crashed and I just avoided negative equity.

[AndyID]

Ooh, just realised that one of my clients lives in Paisley, in Albion Street.

 

That house we had was quite an age. When it was built in 1869 the G&SWR had just acquired the canal that ran along the bottom of the garden. It was subsequently converted into a railway line.

[Donw]

The Gloworm boiler does specify a bypass in its installation instructions. This is so that whilst the pump is overunning it is not just  pushing against the closed heating and hot water motorised valves but rather the water in and out of the boiler can circulate via the bypass.

 

Three of our radiators have no thermostatic valve and are always open but without the bypass we had real problems

 

Regards,

 

Dave

 

Interesting I assume your system has fairly high pump pressures and low flow rates hence the bypass valve to allow the flow to be maintained. It is a microbore system? I know the systems with two motorised valves for hot water and heating do need a bypass as both closing could be a problem as the boiler needs to overrun.

Don

[Tony_S]

In answer to various queries. The water softener will have a bypass. It will not be connected to drinking water.

Our existing central heating system has a bypass pipe for situations when both hot water and heating valves are closed.

We are not getting a combi boiler.

Still waiting for quote for boiler work. Checked with bank how to withdraw cash in excess of £1000!

The window man fitted our replacement panel. Very pleased. Recommended him to neighbours with similar panes!

Tony