Happy thread

austinbob · March 07, 2015, 06:46:35 PM

Beautiful sunny day here in Farnborough, Hampshire. Grass nice and dry and not too long. Mowed grass with knackered lawnmower which, somehow, didn't seem too knackered today! (probably cos I've just ordered a new one!!)
Sat in garden (with coat on) admiring my handiwork and fell asleep.
Spring is nearly here...
Bliss...

railsquid · March 08, 2015, 06:27:03 AM

Baby is still in fine working order after an unfortunate perpendicular change of altitude the other night. I took him down to the station to do a bit of shopping and he would have seen his first train, except he was asleep the whole time. Though I did remember to stand back a bit further than usual from the crossing, as a 10-car EMU thundering by 3 feet away could be slightly alarming.

Newportnobby · March 08, 2015, 10:37:53 AM

With baby eyesight how else was poor Squidlet meant to get the number off the train?

railsquid · March 09, 2015, 12:27:22 PM

Quote from: newportnobby on March 08, 2015, 10:37:53 AM
With baby eyesight how else was poor Squidlet meant to get the number off the train?

Hmm, bearing in mind even in my spotting heydays in my brief coach-spotting phase I could never get the numbers off a rake of coaches trundling through Birmingham New Street, even my adult eyes would have difficulty identifying the numbers close up at something doing 60~70 km/h.

Anyway feeling a bit chuffed because despite re-motoring my balky Fleischmann locomotive it was still running a bit erratically, which I traced down to the pickups from one of the bogies not connecting properly, more precisely the bits which clip onto the PCB. After fixing that and a few teensy droplets of oil it's now running nice and smoothly

Tdm · March 10, 2015, 07:00:22 PM

Well for once I am happy with what the Politicians are doing with the British economy - making the £Sterling strong again as today it hit a 7 year high against the Euro.#

Of course events in Euroland could be also partyly to blame for this - but whatever the reason it puts more money in my pocket, which means I can afford more model railway "goodies".

Getting €1.40 for every pound Sterling today and virtually all our Income is in Sterling, and our expenditure in Euros, so the exchange rate does make a significant difference to our finances.

I have an Occupational, State, and Stakeholder Pension - each paid in Sterling, and U.K. holidaymakers who rent our holiday apartments also pay us in Sterling. Costs have risen over the past 12 months in Tenerife, but you can still get a good Porterhouse steak here with all the trimmings for just €8.95 locally (that works out at £6.40 in Sterling).

Think I'll take the misses go out for a meal tonight, but shan't tell her I have just ordered another engine from Hattons.

Trainfish · March 13, 2015, 02:33:56 AM

Does anyone ever use Geolotto? I have just 1 square these days which costs £1 per week and I have won £5 a few times. At the moment they are giving away 50p per day to use on the instant win games so of course I use them. Sometimes I've won £5, or £1 etc and used them up to win more, after all it hasn't cost me anything apart from my £1 per week on the main game.

Anyway, I just used my first 20p of the day and I won £100 ! Ruddy marvellous that

If you fancy having a go use this link as, you've guessed it, it will earn me some referral credits

Let me know if you do sign up please so I can check that the link works

Newportnobby · March 13, 2015, 04:21:39 PM

Popped into HMV this morning on 'the off case' and managed to get some CD's to allow my vinyl some rest e.g
The Nice - Five Bridges £2.99
Toto - Toto IV - £1.99
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road £2.99

Got to the counter and the guy sold me the DVD 'Prometheus' for £2.99 which was on offer as I was buying something.

Happy Days

Trainfish · March 13, 2015, 04:44:50 PM

Quote from: newportnobby on March 13, 2015, 04:21:39 PM
Popped into HMV this morning on 'the off case' and managed to get some CD's to allow my vinyl some rest e.g
The Nice - Five Bridges £2.99
Toto - Toto IV - £1.99
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road £2.99

Got to the counter and the guy sold me the DVD 'Prometheus' for £2.99 which was on offer as I was buying something.

Happy Days

I never really liked The Fonz myself and as for the Cunningham family..............

DELETED · March 13, 2015, 05:42:29 PM

Quoteall our Income is in Sterling, and our expenditure in Euros

...one would hope you pay / have paid any tax on it in the UK also?

Tdm · March 13, 2015, 06:15:12 PM

Quote from: RST on March 13, 2015, 05:42:29 PM
Quoteall our Income is in Sterling, and our expenditure in Euros
...one would hope you pay / have paid any tax on it in the UK also?

As a non-resident (non-property owner) of the U.K. I legally pay all my taxes to the Canarian Government except for my Occupational Pension which is classed as a U.K. Government Pension and is taxed at source before being paid into my Canarian Bank a/c in Euros. I am not liable for paying the Inland Revenue anything except the above.

Like most people here I have a "Gestor" who handles all our tax liabilities and any monies due are automatically collected directly from our Canarian Bank a/c. All our Worldwide income is declared - no matter what currency it is received in.

I hope you are not suggesting I "evade" paying any of the the taxes I should pay - that would be a libelous statement.

DELETED · March 13, 2015, 08:24:40 PM

Not at all and apologies if I mis-read your post, or perhaps could have worded my comment better

I'm actually very envious! Most folk I know live outside the UK now (ex-pat or emigrated, mainly through work) and I see why these days. For some of us UK politics are not going quite so well, I wished I'd seen what the other guys did years ago and got out back then...Anyhow that's going OT.

On the happy side: I got another days work today, that makes four days since last October now! Hopefully the more days I get labouring in the plant, the better chance I have of picking something else up. The plant already have my CV, so if nothing engineering-wise turns-up (not likely to this year by the sounds of it), at least I can say I'm getting to know the place and working my way up from the bottom.

DesertHound · March 13, 2015, 08:43:29 PM

Quote from: Tdm on March 10, 2015, 07:00:22 PM
Well for once I am happy with what the Politicians are doing with the British economy - making the £Sterling strong again as today it hit a 7 year high against the Euro.#

Not quite sure that it's a case of strong Sterling. Look what it's doing against the dollar. More a case of very weak euro and "less weak" pound.

Obviously it's benefitting you Tdm, so get those locos in!

Well done on the job front Rich!

Dan

Tdm · March 13, 2015, 09:21:07 PM

Todays local rag is saying that by the Summer you could be getting as much €1.62 to the £Sterling - the same as it was at the turn of the Century.

We bought our 1st Tenerife apartment back in 2001 and the rate was then €1.61 to the £, so a €100,000 apartment then only cost you circa £62,111.

For those of you thinking of a Holiday abroad this Summer - pick somewhere in Euroland and your £ will go a long way on a night out. You can still get a beer here for a €1 which equates to just over over 70pence a pint at todays tourist rate of 1.40.

DesertHound · March 13, 2015, 09:23:50 PM

Problem is, at 70 pence a pint, I'd probably spend more!

MikeDunn · March 13, 2015, 09:27:20 PM

Given the alcohol laws in your neck of the sand - wouldn't you do that anyway ? !!!