Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

Is taking the bus to Waitrose illegal yet? or will I be seen as not a proper peasant for buying fromage frais, is it revoloutionary to buy the biggest jar of Marmite? I think if anyone takes note of where I travel too they'll be bored to tears by lunchtime!!!

pineapple

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

the double glazing installer didn't like having to take over £2,000 in cash but I said cash or lose the job and he grudgingly took it

Contractors - more so the smaller ones - usually bite my hand off if I offer cash! No idea why of course ..... :rotfl:

maryb

Smaller contractors are at risk of having their accounts frozen just AFTER they deposit a cheque leaving them unable to pay their plasterer or whoever. So it's not necessarily tax driven if they prefer cash, it may well be they don't trust their bank

pineapple

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

5 kids have been arrested and I have to say the names are being banded about on facebook by the teens/kids who know them. It would appear they were bailed and have been spotted this morning pointing and laughing at the damage-idiots.

I caught part of an interview on the Jeremy Vine show yesterday when some professor was saying that lighting fires was 'an adolescent rite of passage' and arson was a way of venting as there was an 'absence of channels' for young people. It was also possibly due to the growth of central heating and lack of opportunity to light fires.

I'm not sayin nothing....:mad:

pineapple

maryb wrote: »

Smaller contractors are at risk of having their accounts frozen just AFTER they deposit a cheque leaving them unable to pay their plasterer or whoever. So it's not necessarily tax driven if they prefer cash, it may well be they don't trust their bank

Good point though I rather think the 'discount for cash' offers are probably more to do with tax.

pineapple

fuddle wrote: »

Winter tyres. I'm not sure whether to invest seeing as I've just bought normal but are they worth having if I do live on the South Coast? Can you use winter tyres even when it isn't slippery conditions?

Winter tyres are good for when it is cold and wet - not just snow and ice. I generally use mine November - March - depending on the weather. I think it would be impractical to keep swapping your tyres. That said, my insurance company is one of those which classes winter tyres as a 'modification' and they have requested that I change back to regular in the spring and that I don't use them for motorway driving.
It's good to consult your insurance company as you don't want them weaseling out of a claim because you didn't tell them about a 'modification'.
It makes sense to swap back anyway as they generally wear quicker. I have front wheel drive and the local garage said it was OK to just put winter tyres on the front.

PS you can also get a hybrid 'all weather/season' tyre for use year round
http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/safety/winter-tyres-in-the-uk.html

Margaret54

Hi I am a size 16 as well I am only 5 ft 1 I would like to shift some weight a stone would be great, and I have health problems so cannot walk the way I used to which I always loved to do. After 6 children I am never going to have a washboard stomach but I don't fret over my weight. My dh loves me just the way I am he tells me. I have learned to dress for my shape and would never spend money I don't have to get skinny. I was never skinny and my Mother and sister used to love telling me "You are the size of a house" and this was when I was 8 and a half stone. Nasty comments a lot of the time which I used to take from them. They were always dieting and swopped clothes at times as they were both "petite" I don't see them any more for sanity's sake and my life has been happier for it. Think toxic family and you will get a glimpse of what I mean.

[Deleted User]

pineapple wrote: »

Do you use this with companies like Amazon?

Yes.

This way - if my computer got malware or there were some dodgy dealings - the damage would be limited.

This is one of the reasons I use it.

I keep a day to day balance of around £5, and top up immediately before buying something.

The money can be on the card, then committed to the sale, within an hour.

GreyQueen

pineapple wrote: »

As the owner of a similar aging car - so well put... I'm running the current one into the ground and am at the point where each bill is a judgement call as to whether to keep it going.
It would be difficult without a car - where I live - though if I'm honest I would chiefly miss the spontaneity it gives me. But if push comes to shove I've worked out that after factoring in running/maintenance costs it would actually be cheaper to regularly hire a car a couple of days each month and as cheap once a week even (but without the black cloud of unexpected expense hanging over your shoulder).

Yeah, I recall that even back in 1997, I was getting a completely unexpected repair bill for £80 every month. Over and above tax, insurance, servicing, MOT and petrol. And I was working on the periphery of the motor trade and had inside contacts at garages so got a good price for stuff (cash, naturally).

And it drives you spare, trying to work out when to get rid; just after a payout when all is running fine, or once you know something else needs fixing but before it would become apparent to the prospective purchaser?

Agree about the spontananity. Every prospective invite is screened thru the can I get there from here, or can I get back again? Tried to explain to a pal who lives 20 miles away that I can get to her town on public transport in time for that meal out, but if I do, I'll have to crash overnight as the next bus or train is the following morning.

Margaret54, your family don't deserve you. And lovely to see you back in the fold, Mrs LW. 'Twasn't the same without you.

I'm still feeling uneasy about the UK's potential military involvement in Syria. The margin was no bigger than the number of MPs who were off on their holibobs or too busy nattering to hear the division bell. Yeah, right; a likely story. It hung on a knife-edge and could have easily gone the other way. I believe they'll try to get this thru parliament again after the next vile atrocity.

Some fool of an American politician was blethering on the radio that this won't be another Iraq or Afghanistan, and I found myself thinking and you'd better prey its not another Vietnam, but as you're funding the insurgency perhaps you know it won't, until your puppets turn on you like the Taliban did.

Deffo keep the old OPSEC going as much as possible. You never know what might pertain in a crisis and whilst I hope we'd all extend the hand of friendship to a fellow human bean in a crisis, none of us are likely to have enough spare to support everyone who will be un-prepped for a crisis. Our nearest and dearest are the first responsibility.

[Deleted User]

fuddle wrote: »

Can you use winter tyres even when it isn't slippery conditions?

Get a set of (steel) wheels from the breakers, and have the winter tyres fitted to them.

That way, you can swap the wheels yourself, as and when snow and ice is about.

With the price of a cover change nowadays, the wheels will pay for themselves in a couple of years.