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6:19 pm
Wed 28-Jul-10
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brightspark
| | Wilts | |
|  Supreme Being | posts 4657 | |
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Some pictures here and here of the fruits – on the second round of pitting the cherries – and apricots still to do (perhaps tomorrow!).
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"I tried to contain myself, but I escaped."
Gina Birch
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7:18 pm
Wed 28-Jul-10
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JoannaS
| | Latvia | |
| Supreme Being | posts 3987 | |
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Nice presents Brightspark
Thanks for the congratulations folks. Not so sure about when the grandchildren are likely to be coming along, I think she would like to train as a psychologist first – hmmm wonder if that is really necessary  . Her slightly younger brother is getting married this October though  so you never know.
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8:12 pm
Wed 28-Jul-10
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KateUK
| | uk | |
|  Councillor | posts 1648 | |
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A letter from those bastard bankers, laughingly known as our 'pension provider' informing us in a roundabout manner that, effectively, they had lost all our money ( I bet they are still getting their bonus though) prompted me to go through the over-full filing cabinet. I have removed all un-necessary stuff. I have shredded all that needs shredding.
Oh goodness, how do I HATE paperwork sorting of any kind!
Got space in there now and two bin bags FULL of shreddings.
Also a pile of files still to go through. But progress has been made.
There are times when I wish I was still able to drink gin. Do please all of you have one on my behalf this evening.It is the shredding that has driven me to it, not the loss of pension- how can one miss money one never had as it went straight out of the account each month to the bastard bankers…..no point whatsoever in getting wound up about it, us and many thousands of others in the same boat. Perhaps this should really be in the rant section…..
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8:55 pm
Wed 28-Jul-10
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Rae Mond
| | Waalre, NL | |
| Councillor | posts 1062 | 
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oh Kate, that's a bit poop. I also despise paperwork, but I quite enjoy setting fire to the longer necessary stuff (no pyro emoticon, D?).
I've never understood how banking works. people have tried to explain it to me, but it goes totally over my head.
How it can be fair or sensible to give bonuses to people who have failed so epically just bemuses me completely.
And congrats to your daughter,and your son, and to their respective partners, Joanna! I love weddings.
I've not achieved much today, at work I wrote an article for the internal magazine and a welsh themed quiz, then had to leave early to get to the dentist – 4 filings today. I've never had a filling before, it was weird. The vibration from the drill felt very odd throughout my head. The injections were fine, though the first one made me go a bit pale and clammy apparently.
Now my cheek is very sore from all the poking and prodding, but clove cigarettes will be the answer, as soon as i regain enough feeling in my lips to be able to smoke that is.
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10:11 pm
Wed 28-Jul-10
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danast
| | Argyll, Scotland | |
| Supreme Being | posts 5024 | |
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Kate, that is such awful news.  I don't know if I could have reacted that way if it had happened to me.
Well, my wee black lab, Midge has now been successfully mated to a rather handsome dog with a good pedigree. ( working labs) So with luck in about 9 weeks i should hear the patter of tiny paws. I am trying not to get too excited. 
Having had a hectic morning with dogs, I spent a lovely afternoon with an ex member of staff, just drinking coffee and blethering. It was so nice to see her. 
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Old teachers never die, they just lose their class
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7:22 pm
Thu 29-Jul-10
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shelley
| | Toulouse, France | |
| Councillor | posts 1065 |
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Bankers!! Oh no the nervous twitch has started already!!
We have been having issues with our bank since Jan, when in dire need we asked for a lengthening of our mortgage. 6 months later, after promises and reassurances from our advisor, that all was ok, no need to sign anything, no problem, new payments soon, I made an appointment with the manager. It turned out the advisor had done NOTHING at all until I made the appt with the bank manager. As a result of a rushed application the request was then refused.
Since then I thought that the manager was on our case trying to resolve the matter; I was on hols and then he was so today I rang the bank for an update. To my horror I was told that our file had been passed back to the old advisor under supervision of course, but now I needed to talk to him to sort things out!!!!!
I was absolutely FURIOUS. Taking a very french stance I REFUSED point blank to speak to him, despite the chap on the phone saying but Madame, he is control of your dossier, you have to speak to him. To this I replied, then either you get me the Bank manager, or a different account manager, cos that idiot is to have NOTHING whatsoever to do with anything of my account ever again!!!
I cannot believe that they thought that I would be happy for him to be reinstated as our advisor; phew!! I am still angry now. At 5pm a new advisor called to begin again as she said (for the third time; if it wasnt for the fact that the OH's job is still iffy and charges for moving mortgages are astronomical, I would have left long ago!)
Today then , several calls to that bank and another we hold an account for. Call to builders to complain again about the damp in the cellar; all my old photos have been destroyed by the damp as I discovered yesterday. plus work, plus a few labels for jam, plus call to mosquito frames company to enquire where they are.
Lots of hassle in French but some resolution
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7:33 pm
Thu 29-Jul-10
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Toffeeapple
| | North Bucks | |
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Crikey Shelley, all that hassle and in French too! I really don't envy you and I hope that everything will be sorted soon.
Kate, I don't know how I missed your post; I feel very sorry for you, I know you didn't have the money but you were expecting to get some..
Bloody bankers!
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8:21 pm
Thu 29-Jul-10
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JoannaS
| | Latvia | |
| Supreme Being | posts 3987 | |
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Every sympathy with the bankers. I also despise the paperwork but I won't be able to put some off much longer I have to file our UK taxes soon. 
I am pleased we signed to withdraw some of hubby's pension today, I was wondering if we were doing the right thing.
Rae thanks for the congratulations, I like weddings too. It would seem my kids don't believe in spacing them out
If it makes you feel any better Shelley we just heard today that the guys can't get on with our barn because the firm that is cutting the wood can't get hold of any  . Latvia's largest export is wood, we are surrounded by forests and for some reason someone cannot get any wood . Maybe it is because times are hard so companies have not been working, maybe none is dry enough – there is enough cut, I have seen it lying by the sides of the roads or maybe the guy is too drunk to cut the wood – all quite possible. Feel sorry for the guys building the barn.
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10:07 pm
Thu 29-Jul-10
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shelley
| | Toulouse, France | |
| Councillor | posts 1065 |
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you have to laugh; or else you'd cry!!
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10:33 pm
Thu 29-Jul-10
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Danny
| | Newmarket, England | |
| Admin
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Kate / Shelley – you have my total empathy.
My employer closed my Defined Benefits pension a few months ago. I can understand why. But the online re-application for the alternative Defined Contributions scheme was very baffling. Apparently, I checked some box that most others did not. I had no idea what it meant or what the consequences were. Now I have been informed that it was a bad choice but, sorry, it is all now locked in cement and i cannot change it.
Any way, I reckon there will be zilch by way of pension and we are planning accordingly. If there is ever any pension payment, that will be a bonus. We have retired friends who expected a handsome Equitable Life pension and who are now scrimping and pretty desperate. Hateful stuff.
It's all such a horrible but legal con.
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11:19 pm
Thu 29-Jul-10
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KateUK
| | uk | |
| Councillor | posts 1648 | |
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Absolutely Danny- the little phrase "shares can go down as well as up" exonerates them completely.
I knew we'd be better off burying it in the garden….
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10:00 am
Fri 30-Jul-10
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ep
| | Bulgaria | |
| Supreme Being | posts 2820 | |
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A word of advice…I decided to not draw my state pension and to defer it thinking…it's my way of saving…at that point I could live off what was then a reasonable interest rate until the banks blew it away…..so I thought….I'll start drawing my pension….
Four years of saving and the b*****d Inland Revenue decided to take 20% of money that if I'd have drawn it monthly would hardly have cost me a penny. So if they don't get you one way….they get you the other….my tax 'specialist' is trying to get some back but I don't hold much hope…as I've said before, if you are an honest upright citizen who is 'recorded' as being so and always paid your dues, you tend to end up an angry 'uptight' citiizen …ggggrrrrrr….and paying for those that don't.
As for private pension scheme, fortunately for me I couldn't afford one when I was of an age to do it (children/university etc.) and what a blessing that was.
Too early for a drink  so I'm going shopping……
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3:01 pm
Fri 30-Jul-10
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shelley
| | Toulouse, France | |
| Councillor | posts 1065 |
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Danny said:
K We have retired friends who expected a handsome Equitable Life pension and who are now scrimping and pretty desperate. Hateful stuff.
It's all such a horrible but legal con.
My parents also suffered at the hands of Equitable: not exactly hard off but certainly far worse off than they should have been. I also lost 1 third of my then (and now!) meagre pension savings overnight. It was a bit of a blow
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5:37 pm
Fri 30-Jul-10
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ep
| | Bulgaria | |
| Supreme Being | posts 2820 | |
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6:53 pm
Fri 30-Jul-10
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Toffeeapple
| | North Bucks | |
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Oh dear, what a reputation to have!  Elsa, I will have been employed until the age of 64 and some months, in December, when my Company will stop paying me. Like you I deferred my pension and hope that I will be able to live on that, since saving was not an option for me. I heard on Radio 4 a few weeks ago that for every five weeks you defer the pension increases by 1%, surely that would apply to yours too?
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