When I say scrap heap, I mean that it’s either IT or a minimum wage job.

This seems pretty close to the truth for recruitment in London right now. Apart from that, if you’re not an exact match for the role it’s near impossible to get past the recruiters which is totally understandable but very frustrating.

Sant Salvador and Porto Cristo for a car trip to the east of the island. Palma in the evening around the cathedral and generally to the west of it.

As already mentioned the train / tram to Soller.

Lie flat seats can make spending a short time in a long haul destination viable which if you’re living half way round the world from your family means you get to more of their birthdays etc.

Economy is great too if you can afford the time to recover from the trip but if you spend the first week of your dream fortnight in Australia recovering then it’s worth looking to see what else is possible.

Tuna nicoise, (cajun) chicken caesar salad – make my own dressings from scratch (including raw egg for the caesar which you really need to try) which is a lot easier than you’d think once you’ve done it twice. Both are essentially an assembly job that can be interrupted and done in stages so work well if you’re waiting on someone. Fresh tasting and not too heavy on the carbs. I always get the shopping delivered and it’s 2 nights covered.

Nelsons Bay area is worth stopping at around 3 hours north of Sydney. There will be plenty of dolphin watching boat trips but you will be a bit late for whale watching. There are great beaches as well but that box should be well and truly ticked by then.

Katoomba / 3 sisters in the Blue Mountains.

See what’s on at the Opera House, eat Thai food, Sydney Aquarium is good.

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Really good, helped me get a buy to let without owning a house that I actually lived in. Just over 2 years ago.

I would suggest that you might be able to do it without a broker and save yourself some cash. It’s not hard but you need to know which providers offer to contractors. NatWest have been great for me and I never thought I would say anything good about them.

158 seats for a population of 4.7M people! So could we expect to add 50 to that to allow for 1.8M in NI?

SF could easily be the biggest party. Scrap what I said earlier. I really thought they’d be an irrelevance.

I think the border will end up looking like Switzerland assuming there is no free trade deal. So just a means to clear goods and free passage for people.

If I was voting for a Dublin government I’d probably want to vote for a party that could potentially be a majority. Of course it depends if the Irish parties choose to stand in Northern Ireland.

The unionists would likely survive but just be less relevant / more disruptive.

If there was a realistic chance of winning a referendum Sinn Fein would be shouting a lot louder about getting one than they are. The same has been true for quite a few years now. It will change over time in much the same way the Scottish went from being SNP extremists to a reasonably close vote over around 20 years.

Winning a referendum could also remove the reason for Sinn Fein to exist.

Cathay are a bit unpredictable on whether they will offer a stopover.

The fact that you want a stopover opens up some of the bad connection options from the less popular routes.

I’d check expedia and kayak as well as the others mentioned. Also worth setting your dates up in the hopper app.

There could be a lot of batteries included which would have a scrap value. Possibly a MW radio link (or one end of it) which could be reused.

Take the cards out of the cabinet and google the part numbers to see if they have any resale value on ebay / with a broker. My guess is probably very little.

The Boat Race – it would take less than 15 minutes to walk down to the finish line. I ride down there. I still can’t get myself organised and motivated at the same time.

P68C

Can be found much cheaper, will get in and out of very small places and carry a useful amount. It could be a rubbish idea / value but I like them.

Some of our most significant customers are from the tobacco industry.

I’ve helped offshore a few jobs which hasn’t really had a happy ending for those involved. Now the same is happening to me. The only good thing is that it wasn’t my choice to do this.

It’s worth registering and getting them even though they will be almost worthless in terms of redemption on Lufthansa group. It’s also worth looking at which Star Alliance carrier you might want to travel on in the future and collecting for that, e.g. USA trip on United as the terms are probably better.

The reality is that just getting a bit of status and being treated like a human by another one with a bit more useful knowledge is as far as you will get unless you do long haul. If you’re traveling weekly that could be priceless.

so will wait for a call back on the 29th
That’s highly optimistic in the world of telecoms.

Working in telecoms and still chuckling away to myself.

Seriously, don’t assume that because something could and should happen that it actually will happen. If it does happen it will be sheer luck.

I’m interested. In Chiswick. Currently unfit and slow.

I’ve had a TV and a washer from them. Beat AO on price on the one I wanted. When they call to arrange your delivery you’re talking to a person who is able to make decisions (e.g. send a 2 man crew to lift the thing up the stairs in my case) to get your job done without having to check.

You should hear what they say about Friday EDL.

(sparkling water / the hum of the fridge / M&M’s)

I’d like to see the extent of dealings with North Africa and the Middle East.

What do you mean history repeating itself? these days?

From 98-01, I didn’t see that anybody had full control of the arms that still existed. I saw a possibility of another splintering of the IRA like the PIRA before. I think 9/11 + decommissioning + the beginnings of politics + the passage of time has made that quite unlikely today. I hope it has. I think it needs another generation minimum – one that hasn’t had their families murdered by the other side. At least the politics discussed at Stormont is more about economics, health, education and prosperity than it used to be. it’s not something I thought I’d see in the timescale that it has happened in and I absolutely believe that’s for financial reasons as much as the other reasons.

The best thing you can say about him was that he stopped in the end.

He did more than stop. He pretty much did a 180. He just didn’t come clean about his past.

I do not like him one bit but what he did was quite remarkable imo.

Wasn’t PIRA a splinter of the original IRA at some point who wished to continue with arms? Genuine question. That’s what i believed and I could see a possibility of history repeating. I agree that the majority were looking to a political solution but a motivated and financed minority could disrupt it.

seosamh

I did edit, probably while you were writing, to say that it was 9/11 that closed the door rather than paved the way. I certainly didn’t have the feeling until 9/11 happened that IRA decom was worth their declarations until after the cash was stopped. Also, if it hadn’t happened there would likely have been more incidents from 2001 to present day. Remember that Omagh was in August 1998 (after Good Friday) and it seemed clear to me that there was no consensus for arms decommissioning on either side but the results of 9/11 ensured that what was said actually happened.

As I have posted before IMO 9-11 was fhe key event in ending the Northern Ireland Troubles

Jamba has this right. Once this happened and the money couldn’t flow around they had to get around the table.

Editing to add it was not so much get around the table but the option to leave and return to arms wasn’t properly viable any more. There are many issues involved but the various flows of money and the associated power kept things going.

I think he did genuinely try to move away from terrorism in recent years. I think most people (myself included) don’t believe his claim that he had nothing to do with the IRA from the mid 70’s onwards and taking that into account he had very little credibility.

I’m not celebrating his death but I’m not mourning him at all.

English Market for breakfast both days. (Not sure it’s open on Sundays). There’s a place at one end of it up some stairs that is really good. Go there first and get your name down for a table. Try the smoked salmon from Frank Hederman as well. Apart from that the market is only really good if you can take food with you.

Check car hire prices as it might be similar price to a taxi and would make it easy to visit It kind of messes up drinking plans though.

Ireland v England 6 nations game starts at 5 so you should be in the pub from around lunchtime.

I am. I manage budgets in the millions. I can’t have my picture in our online phone directory though.

Citymapper app is my choice for finding various different options of how to get around London

It depends where you want to end up in Shepherds Bush but I’d definitely follow the last section of the cyclestreets route from near the western end of Hyde Park. I have never enjoyed the section from Holland Park to Shepherds Bush roundabout in car or on bike.

You could catch the tube to Hammersmith, pick up a bike there and head across the bridge and do the south bank out west towards Kew or maybe to Richmond Park if you were wanting a daft idea.

If you happen to be around on the last Friday of the month then friday lates at the V&A can be very good. They can be terrible but if that’s the case just wander through the the shop to get to the courtyard which is a nice little spot.

My girlfriend is still somewhat bemused that I bought her a second hand Prince Albert in a car park in Slough from a stranger off the internet. She only ever refers to it as The Prince.

I did it with flights, hire car and camping at Lauterbrunnen. It’s really not that much hassle…airport trolleys till you get the hire car then you’re away unless you’re one of those campers that needs to bring most of the stuff you’re escaping from with you. Popping your head out of the tent to a view of the Eiger is pretty amazing.

Geneva – Chamonix – Lauterbrunnen – Zurich was my itinerary.

I preferred Lauterbrunnen to Grindelwald and it seemed a good idea to be in the bottom of the valley with easy access from there.

If camping really isn’t going to work for you then I’d be searching for independent ski apartments which should be only too happy to offer a good deal in May / June.

eBay is worth checking

If you’re getting the port in make sure you have enough for a few cheeky vimtos.

Cheeky

I wouldn’t rate Oludeniz beach. Very photogenic from above due to the lagoon but the sand isn’t great.

Lucca is touristy but I wouldn’t let that put me off. Overall Italy works but so much depends on what you expect to do, eat and pay.

I watched a German guy get very angry when the hire company wouldn’t hand over the keys earlier this year in Mallorca. Eventually he called the broker he booked it through and they agreed to be responsible for the excess.

Camel Valley sparkling Pinot Noir Rosé is very very good.