Nice people thread part 5 - nicely does it

LydiaJ

CKhalvashi wrote: »

I live comfortably, I think that’s the way of wording it. I’m MF now, still don’t own a car and still don’t have as much as I’d like as far as investments (want about 3 years av. profit).

I don’t do it very often, however I had a dinner meeting with a Company Director, and coincidently took the girls with me, which actually helped matters.

This guy wants to start a record label aimed at kids, and was happy I’m so family oriented.

CK

Have you taken your girls to eat out often? You obviously trust them to behave appropriately at a dinner meeting. My kids are a similar age to yours (boy of 11, girl of 8). He'd be fine - actually she'd probably be fine if I took her on her own - but she'd get bored if I took them both to a dinner meeting, and would then want to do more than her fair share of the talking, which might obstruct the business aspect rather.

ETA I have never spent anything remotely approaching £260 on a dinner for four.

vivatifosi

Good news. My Kiva loan paid back in full this week, so have reinvested again in the Philippines. Have also invested in a new loan, this time in Ecuador. My plan was that every time one pays back in full, to reinvest and to take on another one as well. I like to invest in women who have a hard time in life, for example the woman in Ecuador is a single parent trying to run a business. I bought DH one as a present, he really likes bananas so has invested in a banana farmer. It's only a little bit of money and seems a really good idea.

SingleSue

I can do a posh alert...but it is from quite some years ago.

Our wedding anniversary, we were on holiday at Disneyland Paris (staying in the poshest hotel) and me and hubby organise a babysitter and go out for a meal....it cost nearly £200 for the pair of us.

We really pushed the boat out that year, first class hotel, first class travel and first class spending money (approx £1.5k for 4 days), but back then, we could afford it and we decided we were worth it as we worked hard for our money and went without the usual treats people were buying. It was our second honeymoon to make up for the debacle of our first one 14 years before.

And none of it on credit, it was cash all the way (we saved for a year in advance)

PasturesNew

Most expensive meal I've stumped up for was £22 for two of us. And [a] that was about 10 years ago he was super fit so worth it. One course in a mexican and he had a beer.

I've never had first class anything ... unless you count the time I went to London on the train sans ticket and decided if I was going to blag it I'd stand a better chance in First. Thing was, I was dying for a drink - trolley came along a couple of times but I had NO idea drinks were free!! (Well, I'm still not 100% sure, but somebody said they are).

Most expensive hotel spend has to be £30/night, when I moved and lived in one while I looked for somewhere to rent..... it was dated/shabby, but I DID get the family room at that price rather than a pokey single. I might be choosing this method of relocation in a couple of months, but hope to not spend that much this time.

zagubov

PasturesNew wrote: »

Most expensive meal I've stumped up for was £22 for two of us. And [a] that was about 10 years ago he was super fit so worth it. One course in a mexican and he had a beer.

Absolutely not up for expensive grub. Lived on a £3 per week budget for food as a student and don't believe there is such a thing as a meal that's actually worth more than £30 per head. Most enjoyable meals I've had have been set meals in ethnic restaurants in the big city. And no, I've never even met anyone who's seen a deep-fried mars bar!

Spent the start of a holiday in a fairly flash hotel but was happy to stay in pleasant BnBs elsewhere afterwards. When you're staying somewhere so posh they get to decide what you wear to dinner, that leaves me competely underwhelmed.

PN I was discussing a journey with someone and remembered what you said about living twice as far west of Bristol as Bristol was from London. Made me wonder how weird the geography of Britian is so we can't see distances and positions clearly (was shocked at one point to realise that Edinburgh's west of Bristol too).:D

PasturesNew

zagubov wrote: »

PN I was discussing a journey with someone and remembered what you said about living twice as far west of Bristol as Bristol was from London. Made me wonder how weird the geography of Britian is so we can't see distances and positions clearly (was shocked at one point to realise that Edinburgh's west of Bristol too).:D

Well, I said twice the distance ... to be twice as far west I think I might be a bit wet or maybe in Ireland.

Most people don't know the geography of Britain. I had a London friend ask me of the New Forest was near to me. I didn't know where that was so looked it up - then announced I was nowhere near that and he was closer to it than I am. He thought England ended at the New Forest/Dorset.

Therefore, for ease of explanation, I just say I am at Lands End.

zagubov

PasturesNew wrote: »

Well, I said twice the distance ... to be twice as far west I think I might be a bit wet or maybe in Ireland.

Most people don't know the geography of Britain. I had a London friend ask me of the New Forest was near to me. I didn't know where that was so looked it up - then announced I was nowhere near that and he was closer to it than I am. He thought England ended at the New Forest/Dorset.

Therefore, for ease of explanation, I just say I am at Lands End.

the puzzling thing to me is how the west of england starts ( I presume) between Reading and Swindon and covers everything beyond that.

I once studied at a university that had two campuses; one was in Beds which is sometimes regarded as East Anglia instead of South Midlands, and the other was just outside Swindon which for all intents and purposes thinks of itself as the West of England ( and has accents that back that idea up.)

Whatever happened to the South of England?

PasturesNew

zagubov wrote: »

the puzzling thing to me is how the west of england starts ( I presume) between Reading and Swindon and covers everything beyond that.

I once studied at a university that had two campuses; one was in Beds which is sometimes regarded as East Anglia instead of South Midlands, and the other was just outside Swindon which for all intents and purposes thinks of itself as the West of England ( and has accents that back that idea up.)

Whatever happened to the South of England?

The South tends to really just mean London and the coast directly below it/close by. So probably everything to the right of Portsmouth.

When you're in the far, far, far West though, it's annoying that it's lumped together with the likes of Gloucester and Swindon/Reading as those are entirely different countries almost.

Having Bristol deemed to be the main city for the South West is super annoying too because it means your main city, with Head Offices, is about 165 miles away.

One anomaly that I always found bizarre and annoying was the OU regional offices: one in Bristol for the South West .... and another over the bridge in Cardiff for Wales. That is virtually side by side!!

PasturesNew

Bl00dy foot... I'm virtually a cripple. Just walked (well, limped painfully) 10 yards and toe area's hot and throbbing and hurts... a LOT. Checked the ice, nowhere near set, a piece about the size of two 50p coins stacked has frozen, but not solid.... that'll be an all night job then.

Bit worried about how it'll turn out. I have so much to do and not sure how feasible driving will be... even getting into the car will be a challenge due to the "up the side, past the obstacles" route, then the car's on a serious slope.

And tomorrow I'd got a lot of jobs on that involve walking about a mile. Might have to suck it and see.

yertiz_2

zagubov wrote: »

sss55ss, that's a good tip re: the Canon printer. I must check up some more info on that.

CK, I know you're worried about trolls but this is our sanctuary, we'd probably cold-shoulder any trolls that turned up. I welcomed a recent newcomer with this post a week or so ago. Maybe it sums up the thread's ethos.

You're very welcome here but some other posters (that you and I might both know) would fit in as badly as a clown at a funeral.

There's nice people here, but the rest of the forum's awash with all sorts of time wasters (I'm naming no names). :mad::eek:

That post was to me and was very welcoming, thank you again Zag and other NP's. I still dip my toe into a debate now and then and mooch (I read that on someone else's post, such a great word) about the forums usually late eve/early morn. I mostly finish with NP's as I find it calming before bed! When I first joined MSE I got sucked into some of the 'trolls' debate without realising what was going on ( very naive of me). I don't reply to them now, although I hav'nt clicked the ignore button, I do it myself.
I find some of the banter amusing and some a bit sad but it's lovely to read how you support each other even though you may have opposite views elsewhere on the forum. :A