Nice people thread part 4 - sugar and spice and all things

Davesnave

misskool wrote: »

It's definitely electrics. The wipers don't work and neither does the radio. They are on a different relay so not sure. The battery light lights up when I press on the brakes :rotfl:

French?

LydiaJ wrote: »

Yes you have made the right decision. With your lifestyle the way you describe it, you need an estate. If you got a hatch, you'd be frustrated every time you had a load of stuff that wouldn't fit in properly.

At present I'm still spoiled with an 11' load space in the van. (We once carried something 19' long in there! ) but that isn't for much longer. So you're right... I hope!

zagubov

Davesnave wrote: »

I'd forgotten the coffee shortage, but that must've been why I was drinking Camp. I remember that we were told not to hoard tea when it was in short supply, "because it will not keep for an extended period."

Funny, I have a tea mountain in the garage as a result of a recent offer, and some of the dates on those are as late as October 2012.

Of course, nothing was 'best before' in those days.

There wasn't just Camp- the supermarkets were filling their shelves with parallel-branded chicory-coffee mixtures instead of (rather thasn alongside) real coffee.

I remeber buying individual sachets of coffee for the first time in those days. They must have reallly been caught on the hop because if they'd seen the shortage coming I bet they'd have put the prices up through the roof, as well as offering the normally-priced ersatz chicory stuff. Maybe they were worried we'd all switch to tea/nestea or herbal tea.

fc123

LydiaJ wrote: »

There are all sorts of posts I want to reply to but I really ought to get some sleep, so I shall just agree that lir and Sue are amazing about not moaning much, and should take the opportunity to vent on here when they need to, and also tell fc that my panels cost just shy of £13k. They've been operating for 4 rather cloudy days so far, and have earned me just under £16 in those 4 days - that's actual cash due to be paid to me, not including the reduction in electricity bills. I am hoping to average at least £100 a month from them, and am only paying an extra £50 a month on my mortgage to pay for them. But then I do happen to have an ideal roof - facing due S at 30 degrees pitch with no shading from anywhere and enough area to fit a 4kWp system.




Anyone thinking of getting them, please PM me for further info about which companies are good and which to avoid.

Fantastic...thanks for the info LJ. It's going into my file. Another Q? You say the surplus is being sold back to the grid...does this mean that your electric bills are zero now?

zagubov wrote: »

Totally agree - online medical information is a hypochondriac's heaven. Pop to the doc's and let them see it is the best advice! I suspect NHS direct would end up suggesting the same.

If you're not registered ask around your neighbours and see who they recommend- there's often big differences between the services in practises.

Son has already registered with them and they seem to be OK.

silvercar wrote: »

city girl here. You need to explain whether that means cut it and stick it in a vase with some water or do something clever with the seeds.

The latter sounds good, guidance please on how and when.

Harvesting all those little seeds out the centre of the flower. I think you have to wait for it to die first. You should get a couple of dozen from it to plant out next year.


We took out all of OH's family for lunch today as it is MIL's birthday. His brother went 50:50 on the bill.......she will only eat in Harvesters so that's where we went.

I got to chat to my nephew (with aspergers) and he doesn't seem to be getting appropriate advice on some stuff about courses post GCSE. This is the kid that can 'talk to the animals' and has a huge vegetable plot in the back garden that he started from scratch on his own when he was 13.
No-one has mentioned agri/horti courses at all........which is what he wants to do and has a natural skill for. We chatted about that too and he 'got it' as no-one seems to think his flair for growing things is something that could be developed with more knowledge etc.

Seems it has been suggested he do graphics and media :huh:. Chatting with him he can't work it out either as he isn't very artistic or computery.
I said I would do a bit of research for him and send him the links via his FB as he said he had no idea those types of courses existed.

He is also in a 'special' school too so don't know if they advise differently to standard schools. He's a great kid and getting to that age where he has to build up his coping strategies especially as he will be expected to 'get a job/any job' if he doesn't carry on in school /college.


I am too townie to know anything about septic tanks and cess pits ....do any of you lot have a sawdust loo?

Grand designs......new series starts this week (and I can have a closet *swoon* over K Mcloud) would be fab if LIR went on it but I totally understand why you wouldn't esp DH being in the job he does. They can edit you to be however they want.

zagubov

fc123 wrote: »

I got to chat to my nephew (with aspergers) and he doesn't seem to be getting appropriate advice on some stuff about courses post GCSE. This is the kid that can 'talk to the animals' and has a huge vegetable plot in the back garden that he started from scratch on his own when he was 13.
No-one has mentioned agri/horti courses at all........which is what he wants to do and has a natural skill for. We chatted about that too and he 'got it' as no-one seems to think his flair for growing things is something that could be developed with more knowledge etc.

Seems it has been suggested he do graphics and media :huh:. Chatting with him he can't work it out either as he isn't very artistic or computery.
I said I would do a bit of research for him and send him the links via his FB as he said he had no idea those types of courses existed.

He is also in a 'special' school too so don't know if they advise differently to standard schools. He's a great kid and getting to that age where he has to build up his coping strategies especially as he will be expected to 'get a job/any job' if he doesn't carry on in school /college.
.

Dunno what part of the UK your nephew's in but if it's anywhere near the south-east check out Merrist Wood http://www.merristwood.ac.uk/Home.aspx

Which is at the north end of Surrey and does exactly those kinds of courses. Maybe can advise on similar colleges in your part of the country. Good luck!

fc123

zagubov wrote: »

Dunno what part of the UK your nephew's in but if it's anywhere near the south-east check out Merrist Wood http://www.merristwood.ac.uk/Home.aspx

Which is at the north end of Surrey and does exactly those kinds of courses. Maybe can advise on similar colleges in your part of the country. Good luck!

Fab thanks for that...I just found a place called Bicton in Devon which looked interesting too esp the apprenticeships.
I will forward him the above link too.


It's all a bit tricky and there's stuff I can't post but he doesn't have any information at all and none of his siblings went beyond gcse's. Kind of not done though his twin is determined to do uni (and she will too as she is clued up and hanging out with a different set of kids outside school).

lostinrates

fc123 wrote: »

Fab thanks for that...I just found a place called Bicton in Devon which looked interesting too esp the apprenticeships.
I will forward him the above link too.


It's all a bit tricky and there's stuff I can't post but he doesn't have any information at all and none of his siblings went beyond gcse's. Kind of not done though his twin is determined to do uni (and she will too as she is clued up and hanging out with a different set of kids outside school).

Most of the ag colleges have such courses....I think writtle wouldn't be too hard to get to from ''your way''...might be worth look to see what they have, Sparsholt isn't oo far...Hampshire, Lackham, wiltshire : in fact, tell you what I'll send you a list this week of the places i know personally as opposed to
ones that just exist..if that would help?

zagubov

fc123 wrote: »

Fab thanks for that...I just found a place called Bicton in Devon which looked interesting too esp the apprenticeships.
I will forward him the above link too.


It's all a bit tricky and there's stuff I can't post but he doesn't have any information at all and none of his siblings went beyond gcse's. Kind of not done though his twin is determined to do uni (and she will too as she is clued up and hanging out with a different set of kids outside school).

Many general FE and sixth form colleges are familiar with, and can support students with aspergers. It's well worth asking around, as well as speaking to thier Learning Support Departments. Tell them not to give up!:)

silvercar

michaels wrote:

DSS has just signed up for another year of college - his 6th I reckon after leaving school at 16- LJ is the only one who may understand how he still gets funding.

If we could learn from this please, spill the beans. My DS has no funding for this year.

silvercar

College near me may give you some idea of what is on offer.

Capel Manor

LydiaJ

lostinrates wrote: »

do you have a good relationship with him ? I always think it must be a bit difficult at times for lone bigger ''first family'' kids. I think my sister would say that certainly.

It depends on the alternative. My mum's much older half sister said all her life that getting a step-mother was the best thing that ever happened to her. But that was a very long time ago. Dads weren't supposed to care for children then, so while her mum was ill, and after she died, she was brought up by some really very strange and unsuitable maiden aunts. I'm not surprised she preferred being with my grandmother, even if my mum and her brothers came along to complicate things while she was in her mid to late teens.

michaels wrote: »

Lydia somewhere I have a download of the stats from my parents 4kw install, I will try and dig them out to compare. Just found one for 8th June when they did 27kwh, max 3.684.

Yes please! In some ways, I wish I had got my act in gear and got them installed in time for the summer. I'm sure next summer there will be plenty of days when I beat today's figures. However, I remember how stressed I was in the first half of this year, and don't really regret being a bit laid back about the timing of the panels, and just doing what I had time for, even if it meant I took ages to get to a point where I felt I'd researched them enough to make the right decision about what to get and from which company.

fc123 wrote: »

Fantastic...thanks for the info LJ. It's going into my file. Another Q? You say the surplus is being sold back to the grid...does this mean that your electric bills are zero now?

No. I still pay for anything I use from the grid in the same way as everyone else (eg in the evenings, or when running something big like a washing machine on a cloudy day when the panels aren't generating enough to run it and the grid is needed as a top-up). However, when the panels are generating (ie during daylight) I can use their energy for free, which should take my bills down. I have reported to the electricity company that I have an old analogue meter that runs backwards when I'm exporting, and I expect them to replace it soon with a digital one that just stops when I'm exporting and so correctly records how much I've imported and need to pay for.

The decrease in bills is only the beginning of the benefit of having them, though. On top of that, I get paid 43.3p per kWh "generation tariff" just for generating electricity, regardless of whether I use it myself or export it to the grid. This is measured by my generation meter. Anything I don't use myself, I export to the grid, and it should earn me an additional 3.1p per kWh "export tariff". However, in practice this is so much smaller than the generation tariff that most electricity companies don't bother providing you with a separate export meter, and just estimate that you will export approximately half of what you generate. Thus the effective rate is 43.3p plus half of 3.1p, which makes 44.85p per kWh generated. (You can pay extra for an export meter if you think it will give you a better deal.)

These payments are called feed-in tariffs or FiTs. Whatever FiT rate you go in at, you get that rate index-linked for 25 years. At the moment the FiTs are very generous. This is supposed to reward early-adopters for buying the panels while they are still comparatively expensive. The theory is that the FiT rates will drop as the years go by, but so will the costs of the panels, as further R&D takes place, funded by the purchases of the early adopters.

The original plan was for the FiTs to be decreased by 8% at the end of this financial year. However, there are rumours that the government could change that to a 30% decrease. Anyone thinking of getting them would be well advised to get in before 5th April.

The alternative is to lease your roof to a panel company. They fit the panels for free, and collect the FiTs. You get the free electricity. This is a much smaller benefit, but of course that way there is absolutely no upfront cost at all, and the reduced bills are pure bonus - apart from the fact that the company have a binding lease on your roof to complicate matters if and when you want to sell the house. Some companies will let you lease them your roof to start with, and buy the panels from them later, when you can afford it.

On a different subject, may I add to the list of people with slightly worrying symptoms? I have some annoying pain half way up my back on one side. It's in the right place to be kidney, but I'm hoping it's muscular. I did pick DD up a couple of times this morning when she was being clingy. Let's hope it's just that. Will drink lots of water just in case it's kidney-related, though.