Nice People 12: Nice in Nice

PasturesNew

GDB2222 wrote: »

Hmmm, I don't know about a donation. Good idea, but there's a risk it will rank alongside the new can opener!

It's not very MSE.... it's "not a proper present", so you'd then have to buy a "proper present" - AND - make it a good/big one at a future date.

lemonjelly

vivatifosi wrote: »

We once looked at a house with a plug socket on the outside wall. Problem was, it was just an interior socket with some of that plastic trunking running to it:eek:.

I can beat that with spots on it. Sit down for this one...

So, on first viewing, the summerhouse has electrics. Brilliant! Get a fridge in there, lights, radio etc etc.
On inspection, with an electrician, we find that there is a cable coming out of the garage. It is secure, & travels about 8 metres (up to the pond). End of the cable has a big sent of plugs attached, with switches, & is wrapped in 2 see through bin liners, & lives on the ground, outside.:eek:

Walking up to the shed, there is a very long extension cable, wich reaches the pond.
From the extension lead in the shed, there are 2 seperate 4 way extension leads powering the shed (for light, tools etc etc). Worrying enough.
Then notice another plug & wire also connected, which leads to the summerhouse. Summerhouse sockets are also a series (5 of them!!!!) of 4 way extension leads, off other 4 way extension leads, off the 2 4 way extension leads from the shed, off the extension lead that travels all the way down the garden that plugs into the thing that lives outside in the rain!

Needless to say, the summerhouse & shed now have no electrical supply.

Jesus!

chewmylegoff wrote: »

Looking around for stuff to stick on our walls at the moment. This seems reasonably priced:

http://www.eyestorm.com/Pages/Product.aspx/James_Smith/Support_03__2012/4580677

!!!!!!? That'd be a nightmare to look out on. Why would anyone want it on their wall? I wouldn't pay £16 for it.

That price puts some of my framing costs/issues into perspective.:o

Nikkster wrote: »

Are they the last 2 channels that were successfully selected? Hope you like Big Bang Theory

Additional achievements this weekend: tried using the hammer drill setting. Mixed results, partly as it was a loose brick rather than one in a wall, and secondly as we couldn't work out how tolock the drill brit in place securely enough (want a problem for the towel rail which went up on to plaster board).
Also hopefully repaired a bit of guttering (hadn't been put together properly), and had my first BBQ (well first 2, Fridays started quite late and had to be adjourned into the garage when it started to rain. Yesterdays was great).

Big Bang theory is ace.
I cleaned the summerhouse gutters.
I've put a series of pictures up. only 2 left now (except the couple I have yet to frame).
I'm also planning a rogues gallery of family pictures all on 1 wall.

My tomatoes finally have flowers!:j

lemonjelly

GDB2222 wrote: »

Oh, I did ask her, and she said I mustn't get her anything, but she'll be upset if I don't! If I get her something, she can always put it away until the year is up. Probably best if it's not perishable, then.

I can get something for the house - I know we need a new can opener - but this may not be well received, I fear.

How about something related to MIL?

When my grandad died, it knocked our family. Dad's an only child, mom was very close to him. It was also close to christmas.

I got my parents framed blown up photo's of my grandad, & also nan & grandad on their wedding day. I think they really liked them.
It also meant he was still at the christmas dinner table that year...

lemonjelly

Spent the weekend bowling, then helping a friend move house (gotta repay those favours!)

This week I have my annual appraisal.

I plan to recover from that by going to see James in Oxford thursday evening (nice small venue, & their new album is superb!) followed by friday seeing penguin cafe at lichfield cathedral, as part of lichfield arts festival (different!) as I haven't been out in a while.

I am looking forward to both concerts. A Lot.

Generali

lemonjelly wrote: »

Never had a nando's. Are they really all that?

No. It's a chain selling battery hens cooked in a mildly spiced sauce.

It's ok and it's cheap. Nothing amazing. It's quite nice occasionally but no better than any other fast food really.

lemonjelly wrote: »

In the UK, cancer is a prescribed condition under the equalities act. It was a prescribed condition/characteristic under the disability discrimination act. Do they have similar legislation in Aus?

They do have similar here. I can't force them to renew my contract at the end of the year though, even if I strongly suspect that the biggest part of this is because I had/have cancer.

lemonjelly

Good Lord!
Just popped onto the savings board for a gander.
5 year ISA rates are less than 3%. Most ISAs are less than 2%.
Savings rates have properly bombed.

Feel like I made a decently timed choice (for once) by cashing in various savings bits & bobs for buying. Not like me at all.

Think I'll carry on overpaying for a bit. Scrimping & saving can start again when the interest rates go higher methinks.

Sorry for going all mse!

Generali

lemonjelly wrote: »

Good Lord!
Just popped onto the savings board for a gander.
5 year ISA rates are less than 3%. Most ISAs are less than 2%.
Savings rates have properly bombed.

Feel like I made a decently timed choice (for once) by cashing in various savings bits & bobs for buying. Not like me at all.

Think I'll carry on overpaying for a bit. Scrimping & saving can start again when the interest rates go higher methinks.

Sorry for going all mse!

At the risk of getting on topic, I think this is a reflection of the banking system regaining solvency (BNP Paribas notwithstanding). There's cash coming out of their ears but new rules makes it hard for them to lend. As a result, they only have savings accounts to make relationships with customers to sell them other stuff.

Generali

PasturesNew wrote: »

It's not cheap. A Weatherspoons £5 meal is cheap ....

Nandos is expensive in my book. It was the prices that made me panic the day we walked into one I didn't want to pay about £10 for a "random quick lunch" in a crowded and uncomfortable food place that was packed ... with high-chairs that were hard to clamber up onto.

Nandos doesn't charge anything remotely like £10 over here. Grilled chook with fries is under five quid/ten bucks.

http://www.nandos.com.au/menu

The prices must have gone up in the UK too as I don't remember Nandos costing significantly more than any other fast food joint TBH.

lemonjelly

PasturesNew wrote: »

All mine was in "instant access" accounts as I never knew when I'd be buying ... then life got in the way etc etc.

There's no incentive to save is there.

I now see my "return on what could have been my savings" just in the lost low interest, after tax, I'd have received, while paying a high/er rent all the time.

Every month my savings were reducing by £500 or so just to cover the bare basics of life. When I first sold my house and shoved the money into a random high paying regular savings account, it was paying 7%! If it'd been 7% all the time I'd have had loads more savings .... and not had to dip into them at all.

I've stuff in ISAs, & non ISAs. I've acquired the habit of using regular savings & drip feeding things into them. I also developed the multiple current account trick too to try to maintain things being above 3%, so I've bits in loads of places.

I think saving has helped me get on the ladder. Most of my friends aren't & may only get on if they inherit to be honest.

I've usually kept things either easy access (except recently!) or 1, perhaps 2 years. However, as things mature across the next 2 years, I think pretty much everything will be used to overpay on the mortgage. May as well, as rates are rubbish. Plus, when rates rise again, it won't affect me for so long mortgage wise, & I may even be able to start putting some aside for work, extensions, repairs, new car, carpets or whatever.

Generali wrote: »

At the risk of getting on topic, I think this is a reflection of the banking system regaining solvency (BNP Paribas notwithstanding). There's cash coming out of their ears but new rules makes it hard for them to lend. As a result, they only have savings accounts to make relationships with customers to sell them other stuff.

I'm guessing we'll have at least a couple of years with these pi55 poor rates. Ah well, may as well spend it.

Might end up calling doozer & doozergirl for some designing/kitchen developments

mystic_trev

Generali wrote: »

No. It's a chain selling battery hens cooked in a mildly spiced sauce.

It's ok and it's cheap. Nothing amazing. It's quite nice occasionally but no better than any other fast food really.

That's about it. If you want to eat proper Chicken Piri Piri, Guia (just oustide of Albufeira) is the place to eat it. It's a fairly nondescript place, but this is where the dish was invented.


Bit of a trek, particularly if you live in Australia.