Karmacat: To Infinity And Beyond!

Karmacat

ZTD wrote: »

It's always worth having a look at the regional train company websites - often they offer discounts if you travel on *their* trains.

If you do a lot of travelling in the SE, getting a network railcard can be worth it - just check carefully their minimum fare (which is a bit of a swiz), but I don't think it applies on weekends.

I used to have a network card for years, Z, and that £10 limit was might irritating .... but at the moment, because of how the London work is, and because I'm not travelling long distances by rail, its not worth it yet. I'll go for it asap that I need to :T

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

KC, I NEVER use the train line any more - I tend to go with east midlands trains instead - also no booking fee Trainline have had monopoly for too long, it obviously went to their heads!

Aha! I do really dislike them - I think I actually stayed with them because they gave quidco money, I think they still do, but the appalling service, andas you say the monopoly going to their heads, they're really not worth it.

gilligansyle

:beer:Love the new sig.

Congrats on being mortgage free, if you can get the money on interest free that must surely be better.

se999

cherisong wrote: »

Oooooo, the french Alps. Not up on the government scheme though. Where is it and do you rent it out?

We are looking at Southern Germany, maybe the German Alps area. Although we would also consider Berlin. We are currently doing lots of research and planning.

We had a week in a flat in Mittenwald, near the Austrian border, it was super there. We went in October, for hiking, we were lucky and had super weather.

hypno06

KC, you are sounding beautifully energised!

Long may it continue

redsquirrel80

hypno06 wrote: »

KC, you are sounding beautifully energised!

Long may it continue

You do indeed!

Re trains, I always use eastcoast.co.uk - generally find them cheaper.

I had an email from one of the sites about 'print your own' tickets which is a great idea - Megabus/train do it so the 'bigger' companies should be able to manage it. Would save annoying situations like when I was rushing for a train the other week and left half the tickets in the self-service machine

Karmacat

Aww, thank you all! I've just had a plumber in to figure out what noise the pipes were making - to me, it sounded like a drill next door (but it was mine, honest) - his metaphor was a jet engine, same diff. He fixed it by putting some of my pipe insulation on the offending pipe from the tank in the loft, we think - just have to wait and see if it starts up again - and didn't charge me, so I asked him to quote for the 2nd loo as well. Its a bit complicated - he's cheap, so I'll need to pay for the other trades direct, but thats fair enough. Nice bloke.

And I was just reading Martin's newsletter, and realised that if I do plan to go to Liverpool next month, I'd better book the dratted tickets :eek: comes down to a return from megatrain on a Virgin train, and thetrainline again :eek::eek::eek: for a single up there - total is £40, tho I'll have to pay between HH and London, which is okay. But my mother's phone is engaged, and I can't get through to check if my dates are okay, grrrrrrrrrrr. I think I might do it anyway _pale_ the only reason she wouldn't be there is if she's going to France with my sister, and I'm not looking at half term weekend (I don't think -
Thursday 14th, anyone, thats not half term, is it?)



EDIT - just googled it to a weird site for UK school dates - nope, its not, I think I'm going to go for it, its well cheap

Pippajo

School hols round here are later than that - if it was school hols I'm sure the prices would be much higher.

Karmacat

Thanks Pippajo - ended up being a bit more, £46, because I got the journey outwards to include the trip up to London - the journey down when I return, I'll pay at the time. I'm glad to get it done, and for a comparatively good price, I haven't been up for a *long* time, because of that winter illness I had, and then my mum was coming down here to be with my sister and help me when I moved here. It will be great going back!

Pippajo

You must be feeling so independant now, rather than tied down to the old house :T.

Karmacat

Almost! There's still a fair way to go to get this house to be completely mine, but even when I moved in, my standard of living was immediately higher than in the old house.

Just been doing some of MG's blog exercises, printing off a few lists. Interestingly, the purse exercise was really easy for my actual purse, I constantly do the things that Mr Big mentions - but what I *do* notice, is that I don't take enough care of money thats paid directly to me - cash and cheques and so on. It ends up in pockets, in my purse, loose in my handbag, in a couple of envelopes, and I don't write it down till I'm about to put it into the bank.... I never used to do that, and if we're talking about respect for money, then there's a disrespectfulness there thats really important. Got to sign off now, but I'm going to set up more or less the system I *used* to have, before my income collapsed - maybe the two are linked?