At last, I have accepted an offer on the house in Chiswick, and with a following wind the transaction should be completed by mid-October. The stock of flats seems to be in short supply so may keep my powder dry for the time being and see if there is a glut of buy to lets which come on the market over the Winter. In the meantime it will be The Lensbury Club for accommodation.
Work continues to be a nightmare with the imminent closure of the final salary pension plan. 20% of employees are affected and the water cooler discussions centre on nothing else at the mo. There are likely to be several hundred employees who will leave in march next year, so i am lining my ducks up as I am likely to be one such.
I am relatively OK in terms of pension but do feel sorry for the fortysomethings who will be seriously affected by this move.
As a combination of the above, this blog will be going silent, and may go off the air for a while as i move from the London server to the scouse one, which may mean there will be a change of blog address in the future. I will update when normal service has been resumed.
Wednesday, 26 August 2009
Thursday, 13 August 2009
Third isle down on the right sir.....
I have got myself a few months work in London at the moment, which is a welcome change from being on the bench since the Edinburgh gig finished. It may, however, be my last engagement with my current employer, as they propose to pull the plug on my, and others, pension scheme in April next year. If the porposals go through unchanged, I would have to work until i am well into my 62nd year to reep the benefits which I can walk away with now. That kind of seems a no brainer to me and alot of other people in a similar position.
The house situation is possibly improving with a couple of second viewings this week, but if it is still unsold by September then I think I will rent it out and use the income to supliment any pension I choose to draw down.
The golf club membership probably won't move much before the end of the year, but I have got holidays planned through September, October and November, as well as Camp Pete 2009 which is scheduled for the upcoming Bank Holiday. We are Vikings this year and will be looking to retain our 'most imaginative raft' title, won by the pirates last year.
Now where did I put that orange B & Q overall?
The house situation is possibly improving with a couple of second viewings this week, but if it is still unsold by September then I think I will rent it out and use the income to supliment any pension I choose to draw down.
The golf club membership probably won't move much before the end of the year, but I have got holidays planned through September, October and November, as well as Camp Pete 2009 which is scheduled for the upcoming Bank Holiday. We are Vikings this year and will be looking to retain our 'most imaginative raft' title, won by the pirates last year.
Now where did I put that orange B & Q overall?
Monday, 10 August 2009
Thats a nice pear
I've got to get this off my chest (grin), but I am getting a bit fed up with adverts for pear cider. I know I am on a campaign to protect old gits English when I reach for my 1956 National Benzole sponsored edition of the Collins English dictionary to look something up. Well I did, and I have.
It quite clearly states that cider is a drink made from fermented apples, not pears, not loganberries and certainly not strawberries, but what do I know about modern day linguistic applications of good old Anglo Saxon.
A drink made with pears is called a perry as every self indulgent Babycham drinker should know, and if its good enough for Vyvyan in the The Young Ones, then its good enough for me.......
It quite clearly states that cider is a drink made from fermented apples, not pears, not loganberries and certainly not strawberries, but what do I know about modern day linguistic applications of good old Anglo Saxon.
A drink made with pears is called a perry as every self indulgent Babycham drinker should know, and if its good enough for Vyvyan in the The Young Ones, then its good enough for me.......
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Friday, 31 July 2009
I said left, not right......
I am pleased with my new car, and I hate to say it, but one of the best bits in the sat nav. I have always resisted buying a TomTom or similar, as i think part of being a bloke is the right to get lost. its all part of the adventure.
"yes I know where we are", "No you don't, why don't you stop and ask?" "Its fine we will be there is a few minutes", "The kids are getting upset".....and so it goes on. You always manage to get there in the end though, and feel really pleased with yourself.
The sat nav has taken all that challenge out of driving and I must say I quite enjoy it.It calculates the ETA, it lets me know if there are traffic problems and can plan diversions. That was particularly useful in Lancaster last week, and it shows golf courses, petrol stations and hospitals if you want it to. Although now we don't argue about directions, i don't need the last category as much as I used to.
I still take the occasional wrong turn just to upset the lady doing the voice over, but she has not resigned from map reading just yet.......time will tell.
"yes I know where we are", "No you don't, why don't you stop and ask?" "Its fine we will be there is a few minutes", "The kids are getting upset".....and so it goes on. You always manage to get there in the end though, and feel really pleased with yourself.
The sat nav has taken all that challenge out of driving and I must say I quite enjoy it.It calculates the ETA, it lets me know if there are traffic problems and can plan diversions. That was particularly useful in Lancaster last week, and it shows golf courses, petrol stations and hospitals if you want it to. Although now we don't argue about directions, i don't need the last category as much as I used to.
I still take the occasional wrong turn just to upset the lady doing the voice over, but she has not resigned from map reading just yet.......time will tell.
Ring, ring......
My 200th post, well that's good going........and what a great moment to celebrate it with the news that number one daughter Rebecca, got engaged yesterday in Rome.
John, her childhood sweetheart, proposed in traditional style in a restaurant in Rome. No news yet whether the whole place clapped and cheered but lets hope so.
She is there to meet her mad mates from Oklahoma so I am sure they will all be drinking the local fire water well into the night.....I wonder if they will make it to Jonathans, near Plaza Navarrro it would be a fitting place to go.
John, her childhood sweetheart, proposed in traditional style in a restaurant in Rome. No news yet whether the whole place clapped and cheered but lets hope so.
She is there to meet her mad mates from Oklahoma so I am sure they will all be drinking the local fire water well into the night.....I wonder if they will make it to Jonathans, near Plaza Navarrro it would be a fitting place to go.
Thursday, 30 July 2009
How many can a man have?
Well, a week ago I had no BMWs, and now theoretically I have two!!
Regular readers will recall that in October last year my virtually new BMW was stolen from outside my house in Chiswick, West London. I had the keys so indications were that it had been towed away. The deal was that I had to wait six months for it to be an insurance right off and I could then order a new one. That I duly did and it is sitting outside with 800 miles on the clock having arrived last week.
So you could knock me down with a feather this morning when the Metropolitan Police called me to say the original car had been identified. They had found it in a hotel car park in Dublin Airport.
Well that's not strictly true. The hotel contacted their local BMW dealer to say it had sat there for three months and could they get it shifted. On checking the dealership found it was stolen and contacted the Guarda who contacted the Met. Its still in the car park and the owner of the hotel wants to know who is going to pay for the three months parking charges!!
As an aside, the car was taken from a street about 50 yards from the Chiswick Moran hotel. The group have recently acquired the Bewley chain of hotels in Ireland, and yes you've guessed it, the stolen car was in the Bewley, Dublin Airport, hotel. Seems like somebody wanted a lift home!!!
Regular readers will recall that in October last year my virtually new BMW was stolen from outside my house in Chiswick, West London. I had the keys so indications were that it had been towed away. The deal was that I had to wait six months for it to be an insurance right off and I could then order a new one. That I duly did and it is sitting outside with 800 miles on the clock having arrived last week.
So you could knock me down with a feather this morning when the Metropolitan Police called me to say the original car had been identified. They had found it in a hotel car park in Dublin Airport.
Well that's not strictly true. The hotel contacted their local BMW dealer to say it had sat there for three months and could they get it shifted. On checking the dealership found it was stolen and contacted the Guarda who contacted the Met. Its still in the car park and the owner of the hotel wants to know who is going to pay for the three months parking charges!!
As an aside, the car was taken from a street about 50 yards from the Chiswick Moran hotel. The group have recently acquired the Bewley chain of hotels in Ireland, and yes you've guessed it, the stolen car was in the Bewley, Dublin Airport, hotel. Seems like somebody wanted a lift home!!!
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