There just isn’t any way to know for sure, save for my having wrapped the bike and wheels in many layers of bubble wrap.

Even if the bike box is stored correctly in the back of the van, anything, anything, loose in the box can cause a lot of damage. Bubble wrap is inadequate. Plumbers pipe insulation is OK, but everything needs to be strapped tight and secure. Take photos of packing as proof.
Suck it up, offer him a full refund and put it down to experience.

What has criminal intent got to do with it?

Indeed. I don’t know about Egypt but here ignorance of the law is no defence.

Decent size le creuset is what, a ton these days?

And some!

What was the total cost?
£350 could be 10% or 50% extra…

Definitely roast them, with shallots, drizzle of olive oil and salt n pepper. Yummy!

With Jerusalem Artichokes and snips. Your guts will enter the new year in fine fettle!

Unfortunately in England the roads are shocking for enjoying, high hedges and stone walls.

Get yourself down to Sussex; there are some cracking roads that are pretty empty on week days.

My tyre man suggested Goodyear Vector as an alternative.

Or Nokian All Weather, Vredestein Quatrac, etc, etc…

My tyre man suggested Goodyear Vector as an alternative.

Or Nokian All Weather, Vredestein Quatrac, etc, etc…

“I stick to an indicated 80, roughly 74-75 on motorways”
Yeah, we are in the presence of a driving god who knows better. There is a law, stick to it please.
Amusing isn’t it? Slagging others off and admitting to being an unacceptable driver in the same post.

I’m with The Count. Better to be driving over the speed limit, concentrating and fully aware of what is happening ahead, behind and alongside you than bimbling along at 65, oblivious to your surroundings.
Be sure to flash him for at least 30 seconds as he dares to overtake you…

Serious question; thersa gazillion videos out there claiming BMW Xdrive is vastly inferior to Audi’s quattro system – any truth in this?

Makes F all difference without the right tyres. Do X drive or quattro help your braking?

I’m talking about English ‘snow’ conditions here. No need to buy snow tyres for the one day a year it snows enough to use them. Totally get your point if you live in Norway/ alpine resort

Here we go again…

If you regularly get snow then get something more biased towards snowy conditions, like Vredestein Quatracs or Nokian All Weather.
I’ve had the Quatracs in the snow and they’re OK, but haven’t needed the Nokians’ snow plugging ability yet. They do though get in the top three of “proper” winter tyre tests and are more than adequate for year round use.

Both would be a night and day improvement over the Primacies in any foul conditions.

The builder won’t be needing all the materials at once so there’s no need to pay 20k up front. You should, though, make progress payments on signed off valuations.
Remember, it’s a two way street and to expect the builder to trust you to cough up £100k on completion is nuts.

I bought my first house this way, initially owning 50% and increasing the percentage to 75 and then 100% over 5 years.
Thames valley housing association owned the other portion. We had no issues at all with them despite buying the house as a near derelict shell and substantially increasing the value by improving it. I had feared they would want a cut of ‘my’ added value, but not at all.
This was 20years ago so their policies may have changed, but if they’re the same I would have no hesitation in recommending them.

my old odd job man in sw london is now a 250 a day decorator. Thats a 4 day week and you clear a grand.

Except it isn’t, and you don’t…

Why is this so difficult?

Personally, I hate people crooning while I’m trying to listen to Radio 4…

Strikes me that trades are looking for easy low hanging fruit, like some old dear who won’t haggle or complain. I’ve ended up doing jobs myself but I’d rather be out riding my bike

Damn right!
Where would you rather spend your day? Helping out an old dear who feeds you tea and bikkies, and chats about her late husband’s love of his shed, or doing a boring job for some self entitled git who argues about the price and has so little regard for your skills that he “would do the job himself but doesn’t have the time”…

A query for those who sell ‘underperforming’ funds. How do you judge underperformance? Funds are subject to the same cyclic effects as the rest of the market, even if the peaks and troughs can be damped somewhat by the fund managers, and selling on a fall is generally unwise unless there are other reasons to sell.

I keep an eye on the Trustnet ratings posted above, and generally those funds performing well today are the same ones that have performed well for the last 6 months, year , 3 years etc. They may also have performed well for ten or twenty years but to me that is of less relevance.
I tend to stick with the same funds in each class – Japan, tech, EM atc, but do increase or decrease the weighting of each region/class depending on their performance and prospects.

Every analysis I’ve seen has shown the opposite over any reasonable period of time.

Your analaseses probably use a random basket of funds, or averages, completely ignoring that investors aren’t tied to a fund that starts to underperform. you do need to keep an eye on your investments, but a couple of hours every few months shouldn’t be too onerous…

and therefore you’re not better off picking a fund instead of picking an index tracker – however you’re worse off as the trading costs are higher.

Trading costs on most funds are practically zer0; there is no stamp duty, many platforms charge no dealing costs, and the spread is often zero. Initial charges (up to 5% or more!) are often negotiated to zero by the platforms.
You do have the ongoing charges( about 1.5%) to pay but the returns on a well managed fund will usually exceed those of a tracker. To prefer a tracker to a managed fund purely on the basis of fees is being penny wise and pound foolish.
If you want to know which funds are performing well, and should continue to do so, check here: https://www2.trustnet.com/Investments/SectorPerf.aspx?univ=O&SP_sortedColumn=PerformanceCurPerf.P1m&SP_sortedDirection=DESC

And the dog got to have the skin
WHAT?!

He’s definitely doing it wrong!
Who has the oysters? the parsons nose?

Lake 146. Like a fetish boot but waterproof. Not too warm but OK down to freezing with Woolly Boolies. Beyond that you’ll want the 303 (highway to the Sun). Both are sturdy, very well made, and waterproof.

Nokian Weatherproofs.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/92868/nokian-weatherproof-tyre-review

Happy doggies!
Landed on their feet and they know it!

And get a whole set, not just two…

im guessing id click ‘transfer an existing pension to a SIPP’ rather than just ‘start a SIPP now’, that right?

and if i do that it takes me to an application form to apply for a Vantage SIPP. is that the one i want to be going for?

Yes and Yes.
If in doubt give HL a call. They’re very good on the phone.

drlex – Member
Premium Bonds are pretty meh as an investment, unless you’re a higher rate tax payer.

Yes, but if you need easy access (2-3days)to your dosh they make sense. If you have enough you’ll get a win every month or so and it may be a big one…
You won’t be entered in the first months draw though so you won’t be winning anything until December at the earliest!

Old Motorbikes ..

+1

Teething gel

I’ve had a few. It’s not that bad if they go in through your groin. Having your pubes dry shaved 😯 is probably the worst bit! I can’t comment on the other means of entry.
A colonoscopy is far more unpleasant

25% in US tracker,
25% in UK smaller companies managed fund,
25% in FTSE 100 tracker,
25% in EU managed fund.

Or 20% for each of these and add 20% Emerging Markets ( China, India, Taiwan, Korea, South America etc).

got to say, its not an unsubstantial figure when i add it up, it seems tempting to have a bash meself to try and better my old pension than have to pay all of what its currently doing each year to someone else. but.

Have a bash. It’s not rocket surgery. Invest in varied tracker funds and you can’t go far wrong. Read the weekend papers’ money sections, monevator.com etc, and you’ll soon get a grasp of things.

What returns have your pensions been making?

what the bloody hell do you invest in to get that return??

Over the past few years, just about anything!

https://www2.trustnet.com/Investments/SectorPerf.aspx?univ=O&SP_sortedColumn=PerformanceCurPerf.P1m&SP_sortedDirection=DESC

click on a sector name and it will show you what the best/ worst performing funds have been making over each timescale. It may open your eyes…

plus i think it was 3% running cost for anything invested by them.

Well, F me…
3% every year?

It’s a waste of money in my opinion, but then I’ve never needed repairs to Boiler, CH, water, or electrics etc, so what do i know?

If you’re a worrier though, pay for it and get peace of mind …

Fair comment IHN, I know the SIPP will be more expensive (best I’ve found is 0.3% platform fee + fund fee) but was hoping it would be worth it with more exposure to emerging markets.

AJ Bell Youinvest have a platform fee of 0.20% and a massive range of funds and ETFs.

https://www.youinvest.co.uk/sipp

iWeb have a flat quarterly fee, so better for larger amounts.

http://www.iweb-sharedealing.co.uk/Landing-Pages/pre-application.asp

Are there any restrictions on the useage of the cottages? Are they holiday let only or some such designation that would preclude anyone living in them permanently?

all the info is available on request.

Which is nowhere near as helpful as having that information up front and prominently displayed.

Oh and the main house’s view is a bit spoilt by three little cottages…

I use RH specialist insurance of Swindon (01277 206911) to insure my ’76 Alfa Junior. It costs £180 inc Vat, etc, for the coming year, comprehensive, including 3 months abroad, legal cover, breakdown (not needed yet!), unlimited mileage as it’s used every day, and agreed value of £28k .
I think that’s a bit of a steal!

Also wouldn’t use Adrian Flux again. Bunch of **** spivs.

Will they stretch once on?

Yes.