Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

3 hours ago, TheQ said:

Funs going to be getting SWMBO'S state pension checked and if necessary topped up. She's not worked for many years, has no credit / bill history, she only has her driving license issued 20+ years ago.

Surely she just has to give her NI number?

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Bright and sunny this morning if a bit chilly. Not much to do today except sorting out the rest of yesterdays shopping, I only had time to put the food away yesterday so this morning its the soap powders and cleaning materials and a few other items.

[jjb1970]

What's the going rate for a Suzuki Swift in blighty?

 

[Grizz]

5 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

What's the going rate for a Suzuki Swift in blighty?

 

Looks like 15-16k ish….depends on model though…

[Barry O]

28 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

What's the going rate for a Suzuki Swift in blighty?

 

OW MUCH???

[Gwiwer]

46 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

What's the going rate for a Suzuki Swift in blighty?

You can’t even give one away. Not a popular model here, it seems. 
 

In other news all of this talk about ID cards and such like reminded me of the sticker prominently displayed in a shop I once used regularly. 
 

“If you are lucky enough to look 25 please don’t be offended if we ask for ID”. 
 

Why only 25-apparent year-olds?  

[Two_sugars]

Morning all . . . I had to carry 2 difernt Id's. . . Both 'photo  . . .one for Hackney carriage, and one for Private Hire because I had both types of vehicle . . .

 

Sunny/haze type of day . . about 16c at the moment with a light breeze from the sea . . .very pleasant.

 

have a guddun . .  .

 

John

 

[Hroth]

5 hours ago, TheQ said:

To late, the sheep rustlers have reached Sandringham.

 

Mooring Awl,

Not a good night couldn't get to sleep, eventually dropped off 3 hours late , so I've only had 4.5 hours total.

 

I carried an ID  card for my RAF career, it wouldn't be recognised by many groups including by most HMG departments, one of which issued it. Though a Cromer chip shop recognises them for a discount!!

 

I then carried a company photo ID for more years and that card could not have been issued without HMG clearance, it too would have been useless other than getting onto military bases.

Now all I have is my driving licence, which has 4.5 years till it needs renewing.

 

Funs going to be getting SWMBO'S state pension checked and if necessary topped up. She's not worked for many years, has no credit / bill history, she only has her driving license issued 20+ years ago.

 

Today is museum day, so that's most of it taken care of, at the MRC later, I've a picture frame to cut plastic for before the panic sets in for this weekends show.

 

Time to...  Do nothing for another half hour.

 

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

Surely she just has to give her NI number?

 

You've got to set up a Government Gateway account to check state pension entitlement. I did it last year and I can't remember the convolutions!

 

Starting from here...

https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record

 

[polybear]

1 hour ago, The White Rabbit said:

I have mixed feelings about ID cards. I could see them being useful if it was tied in with a wholesale think and overhaul of ID documentation as a whole. Though I won't hold my breath. I confess I use my passport solely for proving my ID. I have an old style driving licence and though I have (successfully) used a 'firesticks' certificate for ID, there are some places I would not want to use that. The same with a work ID - while it can legally prove ID, there are some things you'd rather not advertise in certain places. So the passport gets used as a de facto ID card and has lots of blank pages. 

 

Bear recalls a Buddy at the old (and best) House of Fun Site - he wanted two car passes as he had a choice (we parked on-site, and inside the security fence there).  All too difficult, apparently - he had to swap the (windscreen sticker) pass every time he wanted to use the other car.

He made his own using the back of a Barclays Bank cheque book instead, as it was the same shade of blue.  Worked a treat.

At the newer House of Fun one of the guys changed the name on his security pass to Winston Churchill - worked fine for several years, until an MoD site spotted it.  Then the sh1t hit the fan.

 

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

What's the going rate for a Suzuki Swift in blighty?

 

 

Bluddy Hell - that's £87K.  Jeez.

 

13 minutes ago, Hroth said:

You've got to set up a Government Gateway account to check state pension entitlement. I did it last year and I can't remember the convolutions!

 

Starting from here...

https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record

 

 

Or just phone them up and ask for one thru' the post apparently.

 

Bear here...

Danglin' done.  Tick

Right, din dins time.....

BG

[Talltim]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

What's the going rate for a Suzuki Swift in blighty?

 

I'd have the one in front, its only $1

[PupCam]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

Surely she just has to give her NI number?

 

28 minutes ago, Hroth said:

You've got to set up a Government Gateway account to check state pension entitlement. I did it last year and I can't remember the convolutions!

 

Starting from here...

https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record

 

 

 

"Don't think you can simply come on here and register for a Gateway account pretending to be Mrs Miggins young fella-me-lad!     I'll be needing some proof of ID.   Now, where's your driving licence photo?"

 

7 minutes ago, polybear said:

Or just phone them up and ask for one thru' the post apparently.

 

"Your call is important to us, you are number 562 in the queue.   Do you know you can find answers to many of your questions on our webshite www.youdon'tthinkwecanbearesedtotalktoyoudoyou.co.uk ....... "

 

Welcome to my  (and many other peoples) world ......

[Tony_S]

19 minutes ago, PupCam said:

Your call is important to us, you are number 562 in the queue

I thought of you this morning. I was expecting a telephone consultation from the doctors surgery they had booked to discuss some non urgent /routine blood test results at 8.15. Anyway it didn’t happen so I just checked online and it said it was a face to face appointment. So at 8.35 I rang up to say I was at home. The first message about which button to press when on as usual. I pressed button three as instructed, expected a wait but got “you are number 3 in the queue” , and after about 30seconds was speaking to reception who confirmed that I was on the to be phoned list, whatever the online system stated and I would be called soon. I was.

 

[petethemole]

10 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

For example employers in England and Wales (I can't speak for other parts of the UK) are legally required to confirm that new employees have the right to work there. So a standard routine on day one of a new job (or during the application process) is for HR or a manager to take a copy of your passport, any visas, work permits etc. If companies ignore that then they'd also ignore ID card requirements.

 Martyn fell foul of this.  He'd been accepted for a job but could only provide Birth Cert., bank statements and a letter from the NHS (as he doesn't get utility bills) but no, he had to provide photo ID and his child passport had expired.  So he had no job, while a foreign national with a work permit could have.* He was very upset, being autistic.  He has no intention of driving (yet, and probably never) but got himself a provisional licence just for ID.

As regards voting, my bus pass sufficed, but if in the future they require the address to be included I will lose the vote.

 

* I have no problem with anybody legally here working, but it seems unfair that a British citizen born here couldn't.

[The White Rabbit]

10 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

... For example employers in England and Wales (I can't speak for other parts of the UK) are legally required to confirm that new employees have the right to work there. So a standard routine on day one of a new job is for HR or a manager to take a copy of your passport, any visas, work permits etc. ...

 

15 minutes ago, petethemole said:

 Martyn fell foul of this. ...

 

Me too. In my case it was with the Ministry of [In]justice. It was before I acquired a passport and because I had a 'short' birth certificate rather than a 'full' one - which was the rule at the time I was born! Short version, I lost the job because the Ministry followed its own rule rather than the legislation about right to work. I wanted to bring a case against them, including for age discrimination but sadly Fate hit me with another problem (serious illness of my partner) and I didn't have time. They say the Devil looks after his own. Many thousand turdycurses... 

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

What's the going rate for a Suzuki Swift in blighty?

 

A top of the line model with knobs on will cost £22,000 or so - according to the Suzuki UK website. At current bank exchange rate that’s about S$ 33,439.00

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

OW MUCH???

About £86,000 at current rate of exchange.

 

Oddly enough, the price of a Bentley Continental in Singapore, at least from what I’ve been able to find on the Internet, is only about triple the cost of a Bentley Continental in the UK. The Singapore price starts at S$890,000 (£532,000), the UK price starts at £198,600 (S$332,056).

So whilst a rich Singaporean will be paying only about 3 times more than his British equivalent, the Singaporean Suzuki Swift buyer will have to fork out almost four times the price someone in Britain would.

 

So rich enough to buy a Bentley? that’s “only” 3x UK price

Can only afford a small Suzuki? then that’s 4x UK price, thank you very much!
 

I reckon that’s why the rich stay rich: even spending pots of money they are still spending less on an item than the poorer person going for the cheaper vehicle (comparatively speaking).

 

THINK ON THIS FOLKS:
Money may not buy you happiness, but it can certainly buy you a better quality misery!

 

[45156]

6 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

 

You've got to set up a Government Gateway account to check state pension entitlement. I did it last year and I can't remember the convolutions!

 

Starting from here...

https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record

 

Do it @TheQ, 30747 had huge gaps in her NI record and we bought back as much as the Pension Service would allow - and I believe that there are now limits as to how much can be topped up - but it cost us about £2.5k and virtually doubled her pension entitlement from a pittance to a reasonable sum (not comfortable, but reasonable) - we would have bought back more, as she had gaps which the DWP would not allow us to fill - my suggestion is that you do this as quickly as possible

Edited May 26, 2023 by 45156

[Tony_S]

22 minutes ago, petethemole said:

have no problem with anybody legally here working, but it seems unfair that a British citizen born here couldn't.

The degree of proof you require to show you are entitled to work here or register at a GP seems more than it is necessary for someone to legally have.  Someone from abroad is more likely to have all these documents to hand. Matthew got a provisional licence without any likelihood of learning to drive. Used it for photo ID all over the world. 
When the requirement for employers to prove that all their employees were entitled to work in Britain came out, the Principal’s secretary at my sixth form college just went round asking all the non-white or people with “foreign” surnames for proof “to save time”. 
The voting ID thing has deprived far more people entitled to vote than the number of voter fraud convictions. 

[iL Dottore]

57 minutes ago, PupCam said:

Welcome to my  (and many other peoples) world ......

That’s one of the great advantages of living in Switzerland: everything works and does so pretty well.

It’s not that the Swiss, on average, are that much different to the British, on average. But the advantage of the Swiss have over the British is that Switzerland has a very efficient referendum process. Something the Swiss government and Swiss government agencies are very very much aware of..
 

You p1ss off enough Swiss, the next thing you know the necessary number of signatures will be collected, and then you’ll be looking at the wrong end (or the sharp end) of a legally binding referendum.

 

I wonder how the DVLA or other branches of HMG (or private companies, for that matter) would behave towards their customers if they knew that, with sufficient customer dissatisfaction, they could be faced with (for them) a rather unpleasant legally binding change imposed on them by the public via a referendum (which, given the whole “Boaty McBoatface” saga should give any civil servant or company executive pause for thought)

 

[polybear]

15 minutes ago, 45156 said:

Do it Q, 30747 had huge gaps in her NI record and we bought back as much as the Pension Service would allow - and I believe that there are now limits as to how much can be topped up - but it cost us about £2.5k and virtually doubled her pension entitlement from a pittance to a reasonable sum (not comfortable, but reasonable) - we would have bought back more, as she had gaps which the DWP would not allow us to fill - my suggestion is that you do this as quickly as possible

 

Bear recently did this - it cost me quitealottadeltics (£1200 IIRC) but I'll get that back in about 2.5 years once my OAP kicks in.  Assuming I don't drop dead first, of course.

The Gov. has actually shifted the top-up deadline until 31st July 2023 - Martin Lewis did a feature about Top-Ups a few months ago and the resulting bundle meant the system just couldn't cope, so they moved the deadline by something like 4 months to give everyone a chance.

 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/

[iL Dottore]

Do NOT speak to me about the DWP and pensions.

 

Despite being automatically relieved of a wodge of dosh every month by HM Revenue & Customs (thanks to PAYE) for the best part of 6 years, I’m not entitled a UK pension no matter how small (in my case in the region of 2 groats and a couple of farthings)

Obviously the loss of 4 ¾d per month is gonna hurt…. 🤣

 

[Erichill16]

Just had a heavy rumble directly over our house.

Wish  I’d had my proper camera with me!

[PupCam]

23 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

Just had a heavy rumble directly over our house.

Wish  I’d had my proper camera with me!

 

Lovely!

 

What is better than the sound of a Rolls Royce Merlin* ?      Four Rolls Royce Merlins .....

 

* Other gorgeous lumps of mechanical masterpiece can be substituted  in a similar style of course

   e.g. What is better than the sound of a pair of Napier Deltics .....

 

 

Edited May 26, 2023 by PupCam

[woodenhead]

21 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Probably why garages often provide a weeks free insurance for a vehicle you purchase. It does make it easier though I usually have had my proper insurance sorted by pick up date. 

 

20 hours ago, woodenhead said:

Don’t think it’s free this time.

Well we were wrong, it was free the dealer just didn't say, pity would have saved lot of issues.  However, he is actually a very good salesman overall and the mess made by Esure is of their own making not ours nor the dealer.

 

Even better, I got an email from the Esure complaints department in South Africa this morning referring to a conversation with me and accepting the outcome of my complaint!

 

What complaint was that then, I haven't made one.  I rang them up to enquire what this complaint was and after reading the notes said it was related to the £20 goodwill gesture for my complaint at renewal that they are sending to me.  I responded with that was not a complaint, I was negotiating a renewal price and was given a £20 valued customer discount, there was nothing for them to pay me as it was immediately deducted from the new premium and I paid the balance there an then.

 

Said there is a complaint in progress but that is Mrs W and they should not be responding to me, they are seperate policies and they need to contact her not me - which they have still not done.  I did point out that not only is responding to the wrong person potentially a GDPR issue, it was also sexist to contact the husband - yep I am that fed up with them.

 

Anyways I discovered on their sites page that the head office is in Reigate, deals with customer relations and has a phone number.  I guess Mrs W will be contacting them next week.

 

On the positive side, the car is beautiful and if Mrs W ever tires of it, I will gladly have it.

[Hroth]

4 hours ago, polybear said:

Or just phone them up and ask for one thru' the post apparently.

 

As I said, I set up my gateway account last year. So far so good.

 

At the beginning of this year, I was sorting out my pension entitlement and had to complete three years to max it out.  One of the years required 1 weeks credit to complete, a payment of about £16 quid for an appreciable increase in entitlement!  The other two years were more like 26 weeks each, fairly expensive but the benefit would be realised in a couple of years, so completely worth it.

 

At one point I had to make a phone call to HMRC* (?) to get a magic number to make the payment.  Getting through took three days.  Eventually I got the number and made the payment.  The new pension forecast took 6 weeks to get onto the system, but at least it was A. Correct and B. my state pension was maxed out.

 

I believe the rule is that you can only make up the last six years until the July deadline.  Its important to start as soon as possible to either help future planning or to make sure that the pension entitlement is as full as possible.

 

* I think it was them....

[polybear]

Bear here.....

Din dins today actually involved "cooking" (no air fryer or oven was involved either) - Penne all' Amatraciana 😀.

 

Then it was time to re-hang the upstairs doors and adjust the lock striker plate on one one them, followed by removal of the tape masking the window above one of the doors.  That's a Tick.

 

In other news....

A little something to generate a tear in CC's @iL Dottore's eye :

 

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/dog-living-in-cage-has-incredible-response-when-she-steps-on-grass/vi-AA1bHzh0?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=69eb051ea8254cbe9a580a0774ee0ad9&ei=45

 

Brace yourself, @baz:

 

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/armed-forces-race-to-buy-electric-tanks-in-boost-for-british-weapons-maker/ar-AA1bGFTD?ocid=mailsignout&li=BBoPWjQ

 

They've missed out the category for "WTF is this cr@p?":

 

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/familyhealth/darlington-woman-in-her-70s-asked-which-of-18-genders-she-is-including-two-spirit/ar-AA1bqbRG?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=69eb051ea8254cbe9a580a0774ee0ad9&ei=67

 

"These include passing, two-spirit, third gender, transgender, agender, bigender, cisgender, gender expression, gender fluid, gender queer and gender variant."

 

"The outpatient survey was given to a woman in her 70s at Darlington Memorial Hospital in County Durham.

“I’ve no idea what some of these are.......it seems like a box-filling exercise, probably from some administrator who should focus on getting waiting lists down," 

 

Spot on.

 

And finally.....

Bear's Pooh Stick test came back as NFF.  That's a Tick

 

And finally finally......

I chased the Insurance Company yet again to find out what was happening with regard to getting Mickey repaired - it seems they gave the Dealer the OK to proceed on the 18th May.  Pity they didn't bother to tell Bear at the same time though 🤬.  T0ssers.

That's a Rant.

 

Bear gone.