Lots of people who are married or living with a partner are being forced off the unemployed list.

If you are one of these, after 6 months you are forced off the unemployment payments and the person you live with, however low paid, is supposed to keep you on their own income. This did not used to be the case as you were assessed as a person, not as an appendage.

This newer rule however, does not stop you being sent on ‘work experience’ where you are forced to work for companies for nothing. I know several people of 40 years plus with loads of work experience (such as admin) who are ashamed and embarrassed to be ‘kept’ or who now feel in a vulnerable position to their partners whims, or as if they are dragging their partner down.

In addition to that, pressure from the job centre to take non paying placements is very high. So people stop signing on as they feel looked down on, powerless and also pursued by the job centre – so they give up on the job centre and go on searching for work on their own, as at least it takes one pressure off them.

Often the job centre ‘help’ is futile. Despite age discrimination being stopped, in the last few months a female friend over 50 was told
by the job centre staff that she was unemployable because of her age. So then she felt even more humiliated as the people who were supposed to be helping her into work had told her she was too old to be worth bothering with.

Singletrack not got any suggestions… think I have gone into shock! 🙂

Even a suggestion where to look for web host adverts or reviews would be helpful. I have never had a web site before so don’t really know where to start trying to locate a host.

Why not ring up the rehoming people and have a chat?

Loads of people round here have the re-homed racing dogs and everyone I have spoken to has been really pleased with their greyhounds. All the people though have said its a short walk, lie down and rest for hours sort of a dog.

If you want someone more energetic, why not try the Dogs Trust or the local dogs home for some other kind – they should be experienced enough to recommend breeds to consider that will enjoy your lifestyle.

Are you totally sure you are talking to him and not just to someone else who has access to his login and password?

Maybe I read too many detective books..!

Thanks for the input everyone.

Soma – my last car was 18 when it retired and just a bog standard car, nothing special 200,000+ on the clock. As said I only do basic service stuff like spark plugs/oil but I loved that car – it was so nice to drive and so much easier to work on than the (slightly) newer one I have now. It only ever broke down once in its whole life. It saw off loads of friends modern cars as computer circuits, engine management and stuff just seemed to fail constantly on thiers.

I really love seeing older cars and vehicles on the road – respect to the people who care for and maintain them.

Somafunk – that looks very nice.

I do speak to him, he is a nice lad who had a big interest in bikes (BMX etc) and I used to lend him tools etc, though I don’t know him very well on a personal level. I did not want to say anything as he is showing real interest in the car and I think will be excellent at fixing it up – I did not want to look critical or knock his confidence as I think he has a difficult life in some ways. Also, as I am no expert in jacking up cars, seems a bit out of line for me to comment on his set up and then find I am wrong! I only do oil changes and suchlike on my own car so have never needed to get it off the ground.

Thanks for ideas.

I cant take the carpet and what its attached to out. I cant wash it with a hose as the back of the car will just fill up like a water tank.

I have been able to put a bit of water on it in the very hot weather but not sure if that helps – it needs the heat to dry it out or I will get damp and mould as well.

The water and suck it up vacuum sounds possible – except I don’t have one. Anyone know if its possible to rent one?

To choose to change is a brave act. It is also an act of love for your child. Good luck. I wish you all the best.

And Don Simon, do you really think people are more pleasant to deal with when drunk if they have spent even more on the bottles?

What difference does it make if its cheap or dear? – he is still drunk and from his recall of his wifes comments, not pleasant to be around.

“she has tired of my drinking, I’m not abusive or violent but I drink too much (at home in the evening) I’m not saying she is wrong in that respect, but IMO it is not intrusive into our lives other than the financial aspect, she says I’m in a bad mood a lot of the time”

In the first post (now quoted above), there is no responsibility taken for his choice of behavior, no acceptance he is part of or a cause of the problem. He might just as well say its all in his wife’s pretty little head “IMO it is not intrusive into our lives other than the financial aspect”.

I know this is harsh, but denial is what has got him here. He needs to get real about his role in the problem – or admit that rather than take responsibility for any of this and change himself, he would actually prefer to loose his child and wife.

Great idea – lets spend a fortune on new road signs etc in a city where we hardly get up to 20mph cos of the traffic jams anyway – much better than spending money on the old peoples homes the local paper is today announcing will be closing (despite protests). Got to get priorities right when there is lack of funds.

I think they will be great – simply because they will be in someone elses country – along with the despicable sponsorship deals, inappropriately brought in laws and corporate/political greed on such blatant display, shaming the UK.

You need to ask for councelling – not just about the booze but about life and communication and obsession over work.

I am sad things are rough for you – but I suspect they have been even rougher for your wife and child for a very long time.

It seems very improbable that your wife would have left you with no prior warnings, no prior discussions, no indication she was struggling herself. Which makes me wonder if you ever took her seriously or listened to her, if you ignored her or dismissed her views. However well you meant in trying to have a good income it still looks like you put yourself first in choices and in booze, or at least have become a workaholic with no awareness of his self destructiveness or its affect on others.

You say something like ‘there is no impact other than financial’ well clearly that’s not true. No one just ups and leaves on a moments whim with no backstory. Also just how bad is the financial impact you imply is trivial? She seems to say you are moody (which implies unpleasant to deal with) – why would she lie?

You say there has been no holiday for, what was it, 17 years? (not going to trace back to look). So no holiday for her then? Or for your loved child?

You were a lucky man – she really loved you to stick it out for this long.

I hope it sorts. I hope you all feel better. I hope you stop putting yourself first, using the excuse of work is more important than people or love. Sorry to be harsh, but its the only way of helping really. If this relationship is permanently down the pan, at least learn from it so the next one goes better.

All the best. I lost everything a long time ago. I know how shit some stuff can be. Sometimes horrible experiences end up saving you.

I know people who had 2 tickets to attend the Cardiff football today and who had at some point been very keen to go, having bought the tickets ages back.

They decided last week that they would no longer attend.

This decision was brought about by receiving several official emails that they considered to be very unfriendly in tone and also inconsistent in instructional content.

An example,
At some point they were told it was OK to bring bags in which to carry cameras, clothing, bits and bobs. Shorty after they had another email which said that people should NOT bring any bags even though it was ‘permitted’ as if they bought bags, they would be UNLIKELY TO SEE ANY FOOTBALLL AT ALL.

Although they had been told to arrive 2 HOURS before the start of any match, the emails said bag searching queues would be so long that the matches taking place AFTER the already 2 hour long wait, would be over before the bag searching had been completed! This was an official email!

Also there have been the inconsistent photography rules, where people are ‘by instinct’ supposed to know what valuable equipment will be confiscated and never seen again, despite the endlessly changing published info on whats allowed.

To finish it off, the people who cancelled attending today are sick to death of the sponsors being more important than anything else about the event and no longer wish to support how the Olympics are being run or presented, and of the G4s farce/safety issues and of the politicians this week claiming things being this bad is quite normal.

Personally, I fully understand why 2 more empty seats were left in the stadium.

“but those things without some sort of knowledge or skill to back them up are pretty useless.”

Why assume someone has no ability or skills? You are exactly the problem – assuming no paperwork means people are dumb or useless. People coped for hundreds of years doing amazing skilled things without the paperwork we have now.

Self believe is what leads you to make use of or explore skills and abilities you may otherwise be afraid to even try.

Not married but knew if I did I would never wear a ring. I hate them slopping about. I used to work on a farm and it would just have got in the way and DIY and car repairs cause the same issues for me. My dad nearly lost a finger when a ring he wore got caught in something he was working on.

Occasionally I wear a dress ring (we are talking a few times a year) on social occasions but often I have to take it off as it starts getting on my nerves, as like the person above my finger is much smaller than my joint.

Also although I am a very faithful person I don’t like to feel or look owned.

Other women seem find my attitude to wedding rings hard to cope with, I don’t know why its any issue as it does not affect what they choose to do.

“unless they’re a nurse or doctor “

Hell no, they just want the money 😉

That self belief and self confidence are more important than any qualification in the world.

That schools and parents both seek to undermine self confidence and self determination with alarming frequency.

That nearly every qualification can be obtained at a later point in life, so screwing up at school or not doing higher education is not the end of the world people tell you it is.

People who are ‘doing things for your own good’ are usually intent on helping themselves and don’t care about negative impacts on you.

If anyone wants to email about it (which would come to my account) you could mail me at
j.m0id0nigh0t@yma0il.co0m
(remove all the zeros to get the right address)

And I will forward any mails to her as well as this page.

I will get her to look at this post.

As I have not asked permission from her for me to post this, I don’t like to give her name, as I dont know if that would compromise her professionally in any way, I know nothing of illustration or publishing myself. She has won awards for illustrating in the past.

She may be interesting in getting in touch, so thanks to people who are suggesting it or leaving links and contact info. As said, I will pass this page to her. It may be a few days as I think she is away from home a lot of this week.

Try this if you like photos

http://www.blipfoto.com/

Its free to do.

Is she really his girlfriend?

She could be an ex trying to ruin his business and reputation. Or any member of his family or rival business that has it in for him.

If there was no sign or mention of her before the final work payment was made, I would contact the handyman and ask if he knows and supports what is going on.

I feel sorry for the guy if it turns out someone is trying to trash his business out of some kind of revenge kick.

“My Father in-law had bowel cancer a few years ago. They managed to remove the mass without the need for chemo. He did have a stoma bag for 6 months after the operation and had to change his diet whilst he had it though.”

This. The diet change is only to food that will not clog the drainage into the bag. My friend in her early 60’s got diagnosed last year. Just had the op, did not need anything else at all as treatment. The 2 ends of her bowel were rejoined in the autumn after 6 months. She had a bag in the mean time but not everyone gets bagged – she had an additional problem nothing to do with the cancer so they sorted both at the same time. If there had been no additional problem she would have come out of the op with no bag either, just be back to normal. She said the bag was tedious.

She had her 1 year after diagnosis scan last week and is clear. They are now so confident of cures for this and high success rate that she will not be checked again for another 5 years and is back to doing yoga! She was very laid back and relaxed about the whole thing and did not go down the ‘I must fight this’ route as she said she never felt ill, only inconvenienced. Worked for her!

A friends mother had the same procedure in her late 70’s and that was 10 years ago and she is fine. Cliff Richard I believe was ‘bagged’ decades ago.

On the general cancer front, my dad and my sister have both had cancer and they are fine too 10 years later. For lots of people the illness and treatment can prove relatively minor compared to the drama and fear built up around it and the panicked distressed reactions of friends and relatives.

Hope your life goes well, this is just a moment in it. You will be fine, but might find the treatment a bit of a drag at times if you get a temp bag.

Nicko, yes its not always helpful, but just occasionally you get a surprise and find it was worth getting to the end, rare but does happen. Like winning the lottery 🙂

One book I struggled with I threw straight in the bin rather than charity shop it or pass it to a friend. I did not want people reading it – not badly written but a deeply nasty fiction book. Sometimes the cover adverts show very little resemblance to what you end up with. That was one of the few I never got to the end of.

I read cereal packets too, menus when I dont want food etc. Often its a need for something to do as I am not entertained at that moment or to escape from some bit of reality I need a break from.

MSP – perhaps rather sadly, you have accurately summed up the view of her publisher or their view of book readers anyway 🙁

Must have been fun for the script writer to get a half decent show from this material, poor person.

Jam – yes, do tend to finish books on the whole. I think its the sense of disbelief driving me to finish this one – as in ‘can it really be this bad/how much worse can it get?’ That an amazement at what some people manage to earn money for. I am not usually a fussy reader, its just this book seems SO bad… Still, its the last of hers I will ever read so at least an end is in sight 🙂

At Litespeed sky high prices you need to offer superior quality and service.

Quality – A frame they expect to last only 5 years offers nothing in quality or use that cheaper steel and carbon frames cant offer better. Most people view titanium as long lived, not as a cheap throwaway – clearly they are mistaken according to Litespeed.

Service – well thats wiped out for Litespeed as they clearly intend to mislead customers with a statement of lifetime cover that can at best be described as wilfully misleading peoples understanding and trust.

I have in the past come close to buying a ti frame but now having discovered its only going to last 5 years I see no advantage. I may as well get steel and replace to a more modern frame after a few years and I will still be better off and more up to date.

Ti just seems a waste of time now – 5 years lifespan? – just snob value, not a good product at all.

I dont think I am King Kenny whoever that is. Had an account on here years, but not posted very much for the last one. Other things on plate.

Photoshop and Lightroom would both be considered an industry standard by large numbers of people I believe. Admittedly Photoshop more so, but Lightroom is a newer program, though well established and designed to work in co-operation with Photoshop when desirable for passing files between them during editing.

I guess people may instead use the RAW developer based in Photoshop itself which has a slightly different interface to Lightroom, no cataloguing facility but basically the same options for image developing – so you could well be right, many pros may just use Photoshop itself (or other alternatives) esp if they find Lightrooms catalogue functions etc inappropriate for their own style of workflow/record keeping.

I understood from numerous comments on wedding related photography forums that Lightroom is used by significant numbers of pro wedding photographers for its mass image post-processing abilities and its workflow speed at doing this – of value I guess when many of them are now assessing and processing several thousand images from a single wedding (rather them than me!).

I am not a pro myself, so happily accept I may be incorrect or that actually there are less pro photo forum users developing via Lightroom than it frequently appears. It may also be that other sectors find it less use than serious amateurs and wedding photographers.

Adobe seem to be aggressively seeking a wider general market for Lightroom 4 as they have dropped the market price – version 4 I think being about £50 cheaper as a new improved release now at around £100 (issued earlier this year) than version 3 which (may be misremembering here) sold at approx £150 through its lifetime. So Lightroom will probably become more commonly purchased I would think, even if in the non-pro field.

I’m sorry, will stop posting after this!

– budget for Adobe Lightroom 4 (just out) approx £100. Its industry standard and you will be shooting in RAW file format most likely, if you are fussy. Amazing what you can do with a ‘software darkroom’. Canon do supply their own conversion software (DPP) free with camera but most Canon users appear to find Lightroom easier to use. You can download a test program for 30 days of use at Adobe homepage.

Ah, finished at last 🙂

If you go for a 7d, try these spare batteries. The 7d is fussy, the canon orig battery is an absurd price. I have 3 of these, they have been fine both in camera and in charger.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/PowerPlanet-3347B001AA-Camera-Battery-Digital/dp/B003P58MHA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336945316&sr=8-1

Have used the same company for their 5d batteries as well and they too have been good replacements.

Iodious – thanks most kind. I kind of feel I have run off with this thread though, sorry folks. Feel I have to justify choices to a beginner (which is long winded) as they need to know reasons for decisions, not just be told what to do. 🙂

Cornwall photos
http://www.blipfoto.com/baldycarrie/about
Click on her first entry date, then you will get a calendar on the bottom right to choose from.
Her pics in this journal are scary good if you like landscapes 🙂

If you know lots of people with Canon and they have interesting/quality lenses they are willing to lend you (make sure there is insurance, some of them are expensive to drop or repair) then you may find that facility causes you to go for Canon.

I chose canon as the range of lenses they made for my purposes was cheaper, broader, there was plenty of 2nd hand choice (Nikon lens mounts are more of a complexity on older lenses) and the 2 tier price system for consumer and pro lenses gave me a lot of upgrading options. Some of their consumer lenses are of high standard. My favorites in this range are

28mm 2.8, 50mm 1.4 (1.4 is a fragile lens, the focus track distorts easily, killing the motor), 50mm 2.3 macro, 85mm 1.8 and the 100mm macro 2.8. These are all EF mount so can be used on anything Canon.

I mostly carry the 28, 50 macro (slightly noisy but a very nice lens) and the 100-400 at the moment. I have 2 mid range zooms as well but use them much less.

You might also want to check out lenses from Tamron, Tokina and Sigma as much of their stuff is now excellent, comparable to and sometimes better than Nikon and Canon glass and much cheaper. This was not the case some years back or I would probably have more of their product.

If you have any other stuff I can help with I am MidnightUK on
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/index.php?s=70254290452777cb93762ead638e9e99
its free to join and you can message me there as I am on Singletrack less often.

Hope you have lots of fun on your hols.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/05/08/Nikon-D800-D800E-review-published

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/04/24/Nikon-D3200-preview-samples-gallery

These will give you a starting point for checking Nikon. They will be mentioned on the sites already given to you as well. Try the news section of DPReview as they may list more released cameras of interest.

“Currently looking at 70-200mm lenses. As a novice and amateur would I see any benefit from going for the higher end ones with the ‘IS’ or ‘IS II’?”

Canon do 4 of these lenses.
f4.0 70-200 – approx £500
f4.0 70-200 IS – approx £1000
f2.8 70-200 – approx £1000
f2.8 70-200L IS – approx (trying to recall..) £1800 (?) I think this last one is the one with version I and II.

I don’t have one of these myself but have read around a bit as it was either one of these, a 100-400L IS or a 70-300L IS. My most recent purchase just before Christmas and a big extravagance from my redundancy money. I am hoping to make some money back with it at some point.

First off the f2.8 are both very big and very heavy. Even bigger than my 100-400. The IS version is very very popular with natural light wedding photographers and for use in churches where flash is not allowed. They are also, being fast lenses good for indoor sports and concerts etc. If neither applies to you, maybe look at the f4.0.

If you want low light fast action but cant afford the f2.8 IS then the non IS version would be better than the f4.0 – as it will stop action/moment in the way the f4.0 is not able to.

I would strongly suggest if you have the money, to for for an IS especially if you are going to buy a crop camera. On a crop my 100-400 is the equivalent of 600mm long. Such increase give a LOT of potential for camera shake on a 70-200 as well. These things are hard to hold steady. Look up tips for snipers and suchlike for tips on being steady. No thats not a joke, it really will help you get a perfect sharp image. At these prices, sharp is what we are definitely aiming for. Blur from tremor or movement is out 🙂

Lots of people see the 70-200 as a good walk around lens. I also use my 100-400 for such things, though it is big and heavy. I get extra reach with it for picking of details of landscapes, architecture and for using its shallow depth of field for ‘isolating’ people, plants etc against a blurred out background. It is not just for things ‘at a distance’.

When you are in the UK go to Jessops as they have revamped their shops so that you can wander in and hold all their stock and they have a good range of lenses. It caused me to choose the 7d over the 60d as I found it easier to hold and I knew it would be getting a lot of use on a daily basis. It also caused me to choose the 100-400 over the 70-200 as the extra reach was worth the extra weight. I live with the weight, but then I am fairly committed to using cameras and carrying kit.

I would not overly recommend actually buying from Jessops (sadly) as they have a long term reputation as not being very well staffed or priced. I hope this improves given the commitment they are showing to imaging at the moment with the store re-vamps.

I have personally used
http://www.acecameras.co.uk/
http://www.bathphotooptics.co.uk/
and found them both to be very helpful.

In the back of Amateur Photographer http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/%5B/url%5D

They list

http://lcegroup.co.uk
http://mifsuds.com
http://www.ffords.com/%5B/url%5D

All those above have been advertising for years. LCE has shops all over the place too.

I cant recall the ones below, but that only means I don’t look at the back of the mag very often and cannot remember for how long they have advertised.

Ask on forums for the reliability of suppliers – people are usually happy to comment.

http://www.camtechuk.com
http://cameraworld.co.uk

Hang on, will get a copy of a magazine to see re 2nd hand. Will post again soon.

“As it has always been, so it shall continue to be. “

Yes. Thats what they said about:
Women being refused the right to vote
Women not being able to legally own property
Slavery
Not educating the children of the poor
Kids being apprenticed to full time work at the age of 5
Blocking the working classes from contraceptive and family planning advice
Health care for the well off and death for the poor (pre NHS)

Err, until someone actually stopped saying “As it has always been, so it shall continue to be.”

Apathy, ‘its not my problem’, ‘I dont want to hear about it they should leave it be’ and sheep like mentalities
– how the ruling elite love to see these in the underclasses.