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

StevieJ

Just checking the weather forecast and it has my area (in the grim north) at 26 degrees next Wednesday surely an error it is nearly Oct

zagubov

LydiaJ wrote: »

Actually one of the big predictors of longevity is having a full and active social life with plenty of close friends. Loneliness is more of a killer than poor diet or lack of exercise. As somebody has said, it's better to eat twinkies with friends than broccoli alone. The research is covered in a book called "Bowling Alone" by Robert Putnam, and the twinkies quote either comes from that book too, or is quoted in it.

I can believe that. I recently went to the funeral of an old friend I'd fallen out of touch with. His mobility declined due to a degenerative condition and he died in his 50s.

I'm glad I went there as I turned out to be pretty much the whole friend department. Big guilt trip as I wondered if the isolation had contributed to his early death. We'd been great friends but drifted apart once kids arrived and family life takes over. Have since spoken to other mutual friends who feel even more guilty (had good reasons they couldn't come, though)

Actually when I was reminiscing about us being at a gig "recently" I was horrified to realise that was in 2003! Had thought it was only a couple of years ago.

Friendships need a good bit of attention -if only we had more time!

silvercar

On solar panels (I would quote Lydia's post, but I'm on OHs iPad and haven't got the hang of all it's nuances.)

I thought they made financial sense, OH disagreed. Accepting that the FiTs are high and here to stay, the question is whether having solar panels will add value to the property. He reckoned they wouldn't in our case. So the return on investment calculations have to solely rely on the FiTs paying for the capital outlay.:(

silvercar

I'm using the iPad, in the vain hope that I will be convinced that the toy is worth the money.

First impressions are that it is very slick. Amazing quality screen, good graphics etc. Nice apps, Angry Birds works well :ROTFL:

The keypad takes a bit of getting used to. You can delete backwards but not forwards. Copying and pasting is a nightmare. Watching videos is fine, but some YouTube links won't play. Can't work out how to copy a URL, so linking is impossible. Quality of maps is excellent, sound is good.

Still a waste of money.

Q: for the technical peeps. The iPad knows where I am unto on MSE threads, even though I've never been on MSE on it before. I always assumed MSE put some kind of cookie on my computer, to show where in each thread I've reached. Clearly not. So how does it work?

StevieJ

zagubov wrote: »

Actually when I was reminiscing about us being at a gig "recently" I was horrified to realise that was in 2003! Had thought it was only a couple of years ago.

Friendships need a good bit of attention -if only we had more time!

I was only thinking the other day about a Blondie concert I went to recently, it was when they released that new single Maria, I couldn't believe it that concert was around 1999/2000 :eek:

LydiaJ

silvercar wrote: »

On solar panels (I would quote Lydia's post, but I'm on OHs iPad and haven't got the hang of all it's nuances.)

I thought they made financial sense, OH disagreed. Accepting that the FiTs are high and here to stay, the question is whether having solar panels will add value to the property. He reckoned they wouldn't in our case. So the return on investment calculations have to solely rely on the FiTs paying for the capital outlay.:(

Whether or not the panels add value to the house is a bit of an unknown quantity. We have to see how the market reacts once houses with panels start coming up for sale in a few years' time. Personally, if I had been to view a house and seen panels, and been told that they would give me free electricity during daylight and pay me an income of £1500-2000 a year, I would have been willing to pay more than for an equivalent house without panels, especially if the vendors had been able to show me some data for how much money the FiTs had paid them over the last year or two.

But the effect on the house's value is academic for me. This is my forever home, and I'll be here for the foreseeable future. I love the house, I'm settled, my kids are settled, I'm more or less close enough to my parents to look after them as they get older and need me more, I love my job, we're in the catchment for an excellent school, I have a great church and fantastic friends here... why would I ever want to move? (Unless I meet a new bloke and get married again, of course, but for now I have to get on with my own life.)

lostinrates

My buddleias arrived from Thomson and Morgan so they just went in. Meantime the postman turned up and told me a cow from next door was making a break for it up towards the village, so I leapt to it and brought it home.

LydiaJ

lostinrates wrote: »

My buddleias arrived from Thomson and Morgan so they just went in. Meantime the postman turned up and told me a cow from next door was making a break for it up towards the village, so I leapt to it and brought it home.

I've been catching an escaped animal too, but on a rather smaller scale - I've been persuading the hamster out from behind the piano.

silvercar

lostinrates wrote: »

My buddleias arrived from Thomson and Morgan so they just went in. Meantime the postman turned up and told me a cow from next door was making a break for it up towards the village, so I leapt to it and brought it home.

Had to read that twice before realising the postman was talking about the 4 legged variety.

PasturesNew

Today the old's decided that they're in a fabulous place.... and all the food is free
Looks like it might turn out OK.....