Nice People Thread No. 15, a Cyber Summer

Pyxis

zagubov wrote: »

When I was a smoker there used to be hundreds of brands of cigarettes I'm not sure exist any more (in the sense of in the UK). Numbies (No 6 or No 10), Woodbine, plus imports like Sobranie Black. You could get menthol cigarettes and charcoal filtered ones.

Glad I quit, got to say.

Tonight's looking unpleasant; the heavens have opened and thunder and lightning are in full display. Now got to figure out how top take the dog for his evening necessities when he's terrified of the storm. :(

A chicken leg on the end of a stick?

chris_m

michaels wrote: »

Must be all the spice they have in the prison

I was tempted to mention that but originally decided not to

Yes, HMP Haverigg is the one that was in the news a few days ago, where the Independent Monitoring Board has warned that a fatality caused by legal highs such as Spice is "almost inevitable". Of course, they were concerned about an inmate fatality.

Of greater concern to the local community is the risk that the sole ambulance in the area gets so monopolised by druggie inmates that it may not be available if/when needed for others in the area, which does include a fairly high proportion of more elderly people. The next nearest ambulances are at least 30 minutes away.

My own view is that if someone manages to kill themselves by taking an illicit cocktail of fancy-named chemicals, tough. At least they won't do it again.

michaels

Pop quiz, 3 kids, 11, 10 and 7 - what is our monthly spend on extra-curricular activities? :eek:

chris_m

Too much

Seriously, though, would £200 be in the right ball park?

oldandhappy

Generali wrote: »

Yeah, I don't think England is on the short list of places to live after Aus. I'm thinking SW France ATM or maybe North Africa if they get their poo together. Stone me, 19C and raining in London today. 23C and sunny today with a forecast of 24C and sunny tomorrow here.

Looking at the updated pension rules I suspect that I'll have to do another year's work or something in the UK in 20 years to update my pension payments from the UK Government to cancel out 20 years inflation. However, the way things are going ATM I think I might be better off getting 20 years of uplift from deflation!

we have been here now 1 and half years...love the whole life here...but the weather is very different from Australia or Spain but
at least close if you yearn some constant summer hot weather. We actually wanted to move further south but prices where higher so with our daughter mainly having a place in this area made it a good choice for us as further south we would not likely get to see her regularly at all...so a no no....the climate is similar to the south of uk but normally much better.the main reason we moved here after having a place near Alicante Spain for 20 years was really the old old ways of life...old buildings churches everything is still here very slow pace....wonderful....tractors pass more than cars here ...you would be a similar age to my children:eek: so not sure if you ready for such a quiet lifestyle just yet..Canberra will be good for you I think...regards Dianne

michaels

chris_m wrote: »

Too much

Seriously, though, would £200 be in the right ball park?

Correct

And right order of magnitude.

It is about the same as groceries, more than half the mortgage, more than all our motoring costs, more than double the utilities etc etc.

Pyxis

michaels wrote: »

Correct

And right order of magnitude.

It is about the same as groceries, more than half the mortgage, more than all our motoring costs, more than double the utilities etc etc.

:eek:



.

chris_m

michaels wrote: »

Correct
And right order of magnitude.
It is about the same as groceries, more than half the mortgage, more than all our motoring costs, more than double the utilities etc etc.

Ouch - and that was only a slightly "reasoned" guess of £10/week per activity, times 3 kids, plus petrol to deliver/collect them, coming out somewhere around £50/week.

Couldn't you recoup some of that though? They should still be able to fit up chimneys, especially the youngest :rotfl:

Pyxis

chris_m wrote: »

Ouch - and that was only a slightly "reasoned" guess of £10/week per activity, times 3 kids, plus petrol to deliver/collect them, coming out somewhere around £50/week.

Couldn't you recoup some of that though? They should still be able to fit up chimneys, especially the youngest :rotfl:

Is there a handy mine nearby you could send them down?

chris_m

oldandhappy wrote: »

we have been here now 1 and half years...love the whole life here

My parents spent about ten years in France, about 40 miles south of Poitiers. Initially it was on and off while they got the house roughly habitable, then they stayed full time. After getting their part of the building up together, they then did up the smaller attached cottage and let it out as a gite.
Eventually, though, they did give up and come back to the UK, for a combination of reasons;
1) Mum's health wasn't good and it was a pain having to keep going up to Poitiers each time she had to go to the hospital.
2) The climate didn't really suit them. Because it was fairly inland and flat landscape it tended to get too hot for them in the summer and too cold in the winter.
3) They'd done all they wanted to with the house and garden and didn't want to get into the rut that many ex-pats they knew had done - Monday, all meet at the bar in Civray, Tuesday, all meet at the bar in Charroux, Wednesday, all meet at the bar.... get the picture?
4) They never admitted this but my sister had had two kids and I think they missed seeing the grandchildren growing up.

Still, they decided to have their adventure, they actually did it instead of just considering it, they enjoyed doing it and they had no regrets. Can't ask more than that.