Statement of intent

RosieTiger

Stuart, sounds like you could easily do all the house things within a year in any case ! The Jag may take you another after that but would be worth the wait.
I drove an XK convertible on a Jaguar test day just after it came out and swore blind that I would have one at some point - it was fantastic ! Since drove an XKR convertible and I have to get one at some point so understand your wanting an XF.

StuartGMC

RT, the XK is a lovely car, just not "practical" for a family, the S-Type is bad enough on boot space for three of us away... (I'm hoping the problems I've had with electrics are now over as this has undermined my confidence in the marque, and I really don't want to drop back to a Mondeo because costs force it now).

I haven't posted anything on energy consumption for some time. You may recall I had a lot of issues with replacement meters (both gas and electricity) and then establishing which register was set for day rate and night rate on the electricity. Thankfully was resolved with British Gas so I can look at consumption figures. I do still submit every two weeks online, which is aimed at keeping billing close to usage, but also reminds me to enter it into my energy spreadsheet (you knew there would be one didn't you!) which gives average daily consumption and graphs for this too.

We only moved supplier in very late September so it is too early to give our true annual figures (distorted by winter) but for interest the situation is:

Gas daily
15 Mar-31 Mar 42kWh/day
1 Ap-13 Apr 24kWh/day

Electricity Day rate
15 Mar-31 Mar 12.24kWh/day
1 Ap-13 Apr 11.58kWh/day

Electricity Night rate
15 Mar-31 Mar 3.12kWh/day
1 Ap-13 Apr 2.58kWh/day

Annual Figures would be as follows (last true data in brackets)
Gas 18532.46kWh (14229)
Electricity Day 5256.39kWh (3871)
Electricity Night 1042.3kWh (1315)
But these are hopefully on the conservative side as they run from End Sept 08. Note also the new meter is electronic so night rate runs 0000-0700hrs rather than the better time we had on the mechanical switched meter of 0230-0930...

At last we have some sun here the first since a week ago, so I'm off outside now.

lil.mouse

Just a quick note to say thank you for a copy of your spead sheet, I was right to be a little nervous of it! It's so indepth - thank you. Will have a play x

setmefree2

Hi Stuart,

Thought I'd let you know that the Dictionary of Bristle was a big hit and had everybody laughing tons. Thanks

Kind Regards

SMF2

StuartGMC

setmefree2 wrote: »

Thought I'd let you know that the Dictionary of Bristle was a hig hit and had everybody laughing tons.

That's great to hear and no doubt you've picked up a touch or two as well?

It's sad to some degree that we are losing regional accents as we move more often and "harmonize" to a common sound within UK but then language should be a live facet of life not fixed. I'm sure our ancestors thought the same with the arrival of the railways and more travel.

StuartGMC

StuartGMC wrote: »

Starwood Preferred Guest got back to me very quickly, simply asking that I send them a copy of the hotel bill (luckily took copy before submitting expense claim at work) and that I should receive the points... 2470 which is just under the 2500 minimum necessary to transfer to my frequent flyer card for miles. Not many Sheraton hotels in UK or Europe so switching to miles is probably the best thing to do.

Well sometimes luck is on your side. Starwoood got back to me and it seems I may have "beaten" the system because I registered on a promotion for extra points at the weekend (after the stay of course) and they appear to be honouring this giving me 2722 points, so I can transfer those to miles if I want :j

I need to get an idea of how many points I'll get in Houston and Denver as this may give us a break for the family at a Marriott too :j

frazzmunch

long time no natter....sorry to have missed everything, am currently catching up with threads so will keep it short...hope dw is feeling better and good luck with it all!!:D

setmefree2

StuartGMC wrote: »

Well sometimes luck is on your side. Starwoood got back to me and it seems I may have "beaten" the system because I registered on a promotion for extra points at the weekend (after the stay of course) and they appear to be honouring this giving me 2722 points, so I can transfer those to miles if I want :j

I need to get an idea of how many points I'll get in Houston and Denver as this may give us a break for the family at a Marriott too :j

Good News :T

SmlSave

Just popping in to say hi and keep up the good work. I'm sure you'll get your dream car one day

StuartGMC

I'll not be here very often over the next two weeks as I'll be in the US on business. Houston looks ok at 27/12C although possible very heavy thunderstorms (they're big in Texas!), but Denver is being hit with very heavy snow 1-2ft today, but should be up to 21C later in the week - that makes packing easy as weather could deteriorate again in the second week; is it T-shirt or fleece?

Meanwhile back on financial matters, and things are looking ok presently in terms of actual positive position at the bank for the offset by a few hundred pounds and a healthy net positive position overall assisted by the markets remaining good for the Funds in the ISAs. A further improvement should happen once I'm paid which should be Friday next week, until the credit card bill has to be covered and it will be significant as it has a fair amount of previous business trip on it too.

Hope you all have a prosperous couple of weeks.