Free will is an illusion. People always choose the perceived path of greatest pleasure. (Scott Adams)

🙂

Just did the initial test and scraped into Rank 3 by ONE pushup! I'd be happier if I had just missed Rank 4 by one pushup tbh! 🙂

I'll have a think about which days best suit me and start the plan next week . . . . or the week after . . . . .

😉

Rat-O-Van . . . a rat thats been run over by . . . a van

🙂

CaptJon – Member
From each according to their means to those according to their needs.

Did you know, council tax is only about 4.5% of govt's receipts?

And the rest comes from here . . . . lol

“Airplane Tax”
Air Passenger Duty
UK Passenger Service Charge
Insurance and Security surcharge
Fuel surcharge

Airport Tax
Corporation Tax
Fuel Tax
Income Tax
Inheritance Tax
Insurance Tax

Stamp Duty Land Tax
Up to £125,000 0%
Over £125,000 to £250,000 1%
Over £250,000 to £500,000 3%
Over £500,000 4%

VAT (Std Rate) 17.5%
VAT (Reduced Rate) 5 %
Vehicle Tax

When the oil light on your car comes on, it DOES NOT mean "keep driving til you find a petrol station then top up the oil" !!!

That was an expensive lesson 🙁

(For those who don't know, it means "your oil pump has failed – your engine has 10 seconds to live at this speed")

or if it's via Hotmail:

"Hey . . . We want to update your account . . . ."

/Devils Advocate mode/

"I believe the people owning the nursing homes look at it as a business rather than a charity and charge whatever rate they believe the market will bare"

The fact that there are Porches and Astons outside would seem to indicate that they have chosen a good business to invest their money in. They are simply working within an existing system . . . .

Courtesy of Scott Adams/Dilbert:

Sometimes you shoot your foot off to spite your face.
If it can't be done today, don't wait until tomorrow.
I'm sweating like a bullet.
Monday morning the fan is going to hit the roof.
We're having this meeting to make sure all our ducks are on the same page.
Yeah, I've got a lot of black sheep in my closet.
You don't want to put all your legs under one blanket.
Call me back at your least convenience.
It's six of one and one of the other.
I can't do it in the spur of a hat.
I don’t want to run any flags up the telephone pole.
You know I’m just pulling your lamb?
I've been running around like a chicken with my legs cut off.
This has been a red herring around our necks.
Like water through a duck's ass.
We're treading on thin water here.
Knock it off before I beat you with a dead horse!!!
I don't want to go out on a limb and shoot myself in the foot.
"I've just got my feet in too many pies right now."
Gee, we haven't been here since the last time.
'I see,' said the blind man to the fly.
You can argue until your eyeteeth turn blue in the face.
I swear on my dog's breakfast!
This library attracts deaf patrons like a siren's song!
Don't bite the mouth that feeds you.
I keep telling you these things, but you keep turning a blind cheek to it.
Screaming like a chicken with its head cut off.
I hope I haven't used a sledgehammer to teach my grandmother to suck eggs.
She was born with a silver spoon up her ass.
This guy's sharp as a cookie.
I beat it like a red-headed mule!!
Now, I do not want to toot my own wagon.
I think you hit the nose right on the head.

LOL @ mutton dressed as lizard!!! ffs

This is my grans situation:

My gran, who was single (widowed), had to sell her flat and pay her own nursing home fees until her total "savings" came down to 16K (iirc). At that point the government stepped in and now she is allowed to keep about £15 per week out of her pension and allowances (to pay for sweets, shampoo, clothes, hairdressers etc) and the rest has to go to towards her nursing home fees. She currently pays around £500/month – I have no idea what the balance is that the government pays, but 5 years ago gran was paying a total of £1200 a month. So it should be the £700 balance & 5 years worth of increases?

I don't think you are made to sell a properety if one of you is able to stay at home. (Maybe the government have a claim later on when the second partner needs care?) Often people in that situation will go together into a warden assisted private property with a nurse on site. And from there into a residential or nursing home, and from there into a small wooden box 🙁

I wonder if it would be better to down scale your property every 5 years after the children leave home and spend the released capital on yourself and your family? Then let the state take care of you when you need it?

so grey armpit hair then?

:-0

ok maybe not strictly a "day to day" basis for most people lol

It is a bit depressing, but you so often hear one political party accusing another of introducing this or that "stealth tax", got me wondering just how many taxes we pay on a day to day basis.

This is the list so far:

“Airplane Tax”
Air Passenger Duty
UK Passenger Service Charge
Insurance and Security surcharge
Fuel surcharge

Airport Tax
Corporation Tax
Council Tax,
Fuel Tax
Income Tax
Inheritance Tax
Insurance Tax

Stamp Duty Land Tax
Up to £125,000 0%
Over £125,000 to £250,000 1%
Over £250,000 to £500,000 3%
Over £500,000 4%

VAT (Std Rate) 17.5%
VAT (Reduced Rate) 5 %
Vehicle Tax

might be . . . .

😉

I'll check but I bet its NTFS. 🙁

(From http://www.enduropulse.com.au)

In what must be a show of strength, Shaun Lewis, James Williamsons team mate, continued on and rode and finished Stage 3 as an individual finisher.

That can't have been easy. Respect to Shauns effort.

On TV tonight there was no speculation.

Sorry – didn't see that!

Joined now – and I'm 42nd. Much better than 6711th

🙂

There's a place near me that does a 600g steak. I have mine medium rare with mushroom sauce. You don't need much else with it btw 🙂

WOW – after just one race I have racked up an astonishing 194 points and lie in a respectable 6711th position . . . . .

I thought there were only about 40 of us ffs! LOL

🙂

Done 🙂

The "Unleashed in the East" album is excellent.

I have their double DVD of videos. Great stuff and very nostalgic. Saw them at Donnington in '88 – 107 000 capacity I believe. 2 people were crushed during the Guns n Roses set.

Never underestimate the culture shock, even to a place with the same language

or even to a place with the same language, and where you also spent most of your childhood lol. Things are very different (but not impossible) 20 years later as an adult.

I think geography has a lot to do with it too. For instance I think I would feel differently if I was say "a long drive away, but it was do-able" (eg somewhere in Europe) as opposed to "6000 miles away". Also being in a different hemisphere throws you, winter here/ summer there and vice versa.

I can't decide whether having half a dozen UK TV channels here on satelite makes it easier or harder? It's nice for the entertainment value, but it adds greatly to the surrealness of the situation.

🙂

I'm really enjoying it. We're on episode 7 in south africa 🙂

Used to be anything by cadburys, but I expect that will go to the wall now 🙁

Be glad you don't live in Africa!!!

When I'm abroad I use this one to see what the weather is like near where I live when I'm in the UK.

http://www.shorehamairport.co.uk/webcam.asp

Assuming you have a normal life and can't take all day about it?

What does that mean? You want to get it done quick as poss? Some mates of mine did it in 6 days last year, but they're all reasonably fit. I think a good average is 100 miles a day, so ~10 days

Needing to book time of work, family to get back to etc.
It's not me btw, it's my son 🙂

sorry – half and half I think? Road where necessary, bridalways etc where possible.

Hey – repeat thread! You did all this not long ago Graham!

🙂

just goes to prove that there really IS someone for everyone.

🙂

you said that twice – you've lost it mate 😉

About 6 hrs – it was 38 degrees with a slight breeze. Then came home for a swim in the pool 🙂

Haven't read the whole post, but has anyone mentioned the Jaguar XJ-220?

Also, not a "failure" as such, but an incredibly inefficient way of doing things – Storage Heaters!

Heat rocks at night and then sit by them in the day. Straight out of the Roman times!

ha ha 🙂

Contact
Silence of the Lambs
The Evil Men Do
The First Great Train Robbery

All better reads than films.

I saw it ages ago and thought it was very good.

"I don't know who you are, I don't know what you want
If you are looking for ransom – I can tell you I don't have money
But what I do have, are a very particular set of skills
Skills I have aquired over a very long career
Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you
If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it
But if you don't, I'll look for you, I will find you and I will kill you"

"good luck"

project – books. Tons of them daily all over the world.

How about spending your redundancy money on a once in a lifetime trip to Here[/url]