El Loro, you are a man on a mission^^^^^^.

Joyron, try not to think too much about the operation, and concentrate on how much better things will be when you have your "new" knee.

Velvet, nice to see you in here.

Thank you Velvet.  Much appreciated.  Signing out for the night.  Will catch up tomorrow. 

hi in here
Aww joyron - hope your op goes OK

Good morning everyone

Cloudy at present, but mild.

Good morning everyone, a brighter morning but still a little misty in places.  Thanks for those links EL I will be sure to check them out later on when I am back from shopping (going to the M & S food department I will have to make sure I watch the budget) Have a good day

Morning everyone
Hi Yogi, couldnt get back on for DOI, my son had friends in and as you know the computer is in his room, it was good tho, Chloe wasnt her best and those headbangers
Hi Joyron, its good you have a date for your knee op, it will be worth it honestly, and you will be fit for your visitors coming in Sept (I am just going to reply to your PM just now)
Got a busy day, its my daughters birthday tomorrow , having a wee tea for her, so i am off out shortly to get goodies in and then get the house sorted. Bye for now xxxx

Good morning everyone.
Grey skies and showers up here.
I'm glad that the three best skaters are through to the final of DOI, Skylark.
Don't spend too much at M&S, Squiggle.

Just been reading back, best wishes to your son and his girlfriend, hope they will be very happy in their new home Yogi x
Spent a lot on goodies for tomorrow , never mind its only once a year! Hope you havent spent too much squiggle, M&S food is so nice its hard to stay on budget !

Hi I'm back and I was very good, kept strictly to my budget Did try something else though, I tried some of their extra quality tea bags, fair trade of course and very nice and refreshing I shall buy again definitely, they have a lovely flavour.

EL thank you so much for the links but they are not ringing any bells.  I do appreciate you trying to help though

I thought you might all be interested in Ben's update

Good afternoon everyone.  Hope you are all well.  It started off dull and dismal here this morning but the sun has been shining for a few hours now.  Lovely.

Thank you for the clip Squiggle.  Lovely to hear our Ben.

I have spent much of the say completing forms to take to the hospital with me on Thursday.  It's amazing how much they want to know about you and your home surroundings!!  I suppose they just need to cover themselves before they send you home after such an operation. 

Well done for keeping within budget. I think that M&S only sell fair trade tea bags. They used to sell non-fair trade ones as well, but they always showed the Fair trade logo much larger than they do now. Initially when they did that, I thought they had dropped the Fair trade ones until I looked closer.

I have not given up on the Laurel and Hardy question. I have just placed an oline order to buy DVDs of every single one of their films. When I get them, I will sit down and systematically work through each film until I find which one you saw. I may be some time.



On the other hand, maybe I'm telling porkies.

EL LORO! I fell for that, I was like nice one

If you were really interested, this is a link to Amazon for a collection of 21 DVDs of Laurel and Hardy films. This is probably the most complete collection available in one package and at £33-97 it could be worth considering. It's been years since they showed their films on television, apart from one or two of them. I think it's because of copyright problems.

Thanks for the clip squiggle
Dont worry about the forms Joyron, its just to see what will be needed for your aftercare x

Thanks for the link to the Laurel & Hardy films EL but I'm afraid my budget (topical topical!) is a bit tight.

Good morning everyone

A gloriously sunny day today

A sunny morning here too, but a bit nippy, I decided to turn off the central heating yesterday, but from the forecast I might be reversing that decision at the weekend.  Still you've got to try haven't you?

Wonder what the budget will bring today, have a good day peeps

Good morning everyone. The sun is shining this morning.
My car has gone to get the ABS sensor fixed - again! Afterwards it will be going for its MOT. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
Skylark, Many Happy Returns to your daughter.  It's also my middle son's birthday today, so we're going to visit him this afternoon. I went over to see them on Monday and they are settling in nicely in their new flat, thank you for your good wishes.
Squiggle and EL, we will need to have a party when you finally solve the riddle of the Laurel and Hardy film.
Joyron, good luck with your form filling, it will all be worth it in the end.

I'm wondering about what is intended with the suggestion that national insurance and tax are merged into one tax. That's OK for many employed people, but what about everyone else? Retired people and women over 60 don't pay national insurance, so would face quite an increase in tax - that can be mitigated by increasing the age allowance, but wouldn't help anyone on a higher than average level of retirement income or women between 60 and 65. What about self-employed people like myself. I pay a lower rate of national insurance than employed people, but the reason for that is that self-employed people aren't entitled to benefits like uneployment benefit. This would not happen straight away, but this could turn out to be the most controversial announcement in the budget.

Unfortunately, the budget itself will only give headline news, it doesn't go into the fine detail. So it's not until we get the fine print that we can see what is going to happen.

Hi thanks Yogi and a very Happy Birthday to your son too xx Fingers crossed for the car x  Good morning everyone else, and have a good day

Good morning everyone.    Lovely sunny day here too, and it's quite warm.

Yogi, my car has gone for a service and it's first MOT this morning too!!  Great minds think alike.

Happy birthday wishes to Skylark's daughter and Yogi's son.     < lots of pressies all round.  Whatever is wanted will be there, as if by magic.  Hope they both have a really good day.

Hope to be back later. 

Sending good vibes your way for your car to sail through its MOT Yogi

Yogi, your car should sail through the MOT without problem as it's the first time.

squiggle, I see you've been pinching a bus for us. I notice that it's currently set as left hand drive, and we'll need right hand drive. To save on the cost involved, could you do a simple rotate on it ? (the others will think I've gone mad, but that's nothing new)

There you go, where shall we go to?



         

Thanks for that, squiggle - saves a few squid.

But before I can take you anywhere, I have to pass the passenger carrying vehicle test. You sometimes see trainee bus drivers driving buses under supervision and that's what that is about. I don't want to start squishing pedestrians and cyclists

I've just received a phone call from the son of the elderly client who died recently - you may remember me mentioning that he had little money sense.

He is starting a new business and wants to see me for advice and to deal with his accounts and tax in due course. He couldn't say what type of business this is as he was ringing from a training course he is on, so had lots of people there. Me thinks he may have bought into a franchise of some sort as they will tend to provide training as part of the fee. I'm not against franchises, some are fine. But some are not so good - and it can be too easy for someone to join a franchise as the organisers can make it too easy to start a new business. I know that as a result some people who buy into a franchise have no business acumen, think they will do nicely, then discover that the expected work never materialises.

At least he has had to sense to contact me at an early stage rather than delay, but of course it is too late to dissuade him if it does turn out to be a bad franchise.

Earlier today I made a comment about merging tax and national insurance. I have found this in the supporting papers:

3.5 Income tax and NICs reform — The Government has announced that it will
consult on the options, stages and timing of reforms to integrate the operation of
income tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs). In exploring potential reforms
the Government aims to remove distortions created by the tax system, reduce burdens
on business and improve fairness for individuals. However, it recognises that any
change will be complex and involve a wide range of policy and implementation issues.
A consultation document will be published later this year setting out the differences in
the current income tax and National Insurance systems, and options to address these.
The Government will maintain the contributory principle and reflect this in any changes
it brings forward. The Government will not extend NICs to individuals above State
Pension age or to other forms of income such as pensions, savings and dividends.

I've emphasised the part which would be of most concern to people, but it doesn't address the issue that self employed people such as myself would face an increase in tax but without the same entitlement to some benefits as employed people.

Good evening everyone.    Car is back having been serviced and passed it's first MOT.  I didn't think there would be any problems as the car is only three years old, but you never know!!  Hope your car fared well Yogi. 


Probably won't be back again tonight.  Have my pre-admission tests at the hospital tomorrow (a two hour consultation).  Will bring you all up to date when I get back. 

Glad your car passed its MOT, Joyron. We had to pay £135 to an Auto-electrical mechanic to get the ABS problem sorted out, before putting it into our local garage for an MOT. I must admit we waited with baited breath, wondering if it was going to pass- but I'm glad to say it did!
Good luck with your pre-admission appointment tomorrow.

It's a shame he didn't contact you, prior to going on the training course, El.

Love the big yellow bus, Squiggle. Are you the designated driver, or are we all taking turns?

No its EL (couldn't you tell from the piccie ) he is going on a course and once he is fully trained we shall hit the open road.  (As if he doesn't have enough to do )

Well done to your car and Joyron's.  Good luck tomorrow with your consultation Joyron.

Does he know you have volunteered him?

Joyron, that's good news on the MOT.Hope all goes well tomorrow . Don't panic if the doctors tell you about the complications that could arise with the operation - they have to tell you these things to keep them in the clear - it doesn't mean they expect these complications to arise, just that there is a possibility. It's a bit like the small print on the leaflets which come with medication - they go into just about side effect imaginable. So keep what they say in perspective rather than panicking. I think Skylark would agree with that.

Yogi, if you look at this thread, all will be answered about the bus

No no I didn't he won a free bus pass on Sweet Summer's thread, he re-found her missing driving doggy avatar but for some reason he ended up driving the bus.

Ah ha! I've been in Summer's thread, and all is clear now.

Good morning everyone. Weather is nice and sunny.
I woke to the sound of my hubby shouting "The dog has had sickness and diarrhea".
He then made a quick exit to work, as I cleaned up. Not a good start to the day.
I'll keep her on water only today, and take her to the vet tomorrow if it doesn't settle down.

Morning everyone, i am an early bird! Kept the wee one overnight as i am on holidays this week and my daughter went out for her birthday. Thank you for the birthday wishes x
Glad Yogi and Joyrons car passed the MOT,s x
Hi Joyron, hope all goes well today and remember what i told you about not being frightened to ask questions. As El said they will go thru the op with you and tell you all the details, dont panic if it sounds awful, unfortunately they have to tell you everything. You will be fine xxx
Have a good day all

Oh Yogi not a good start to the day! Hope doggy is ok xx