Author Topic: The Good News / Bad News Thread  (Read 389942 times)

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2625 on: 31 March, 2020, 11:32:48 pm »
Good News - last annual emissions report submitted to client with 40 mins remaining before midnight deadline

Bad News - I'll probably be dragged into it again next year, even though I'm jumping the fence
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2626 on: 11 April, 2020, 09:39:48 pm »
From 1995 to about 2012 I paid £100 a month into a pension with Norwich Union. When the time came to take that pension it seemed that the best option was to buy an annuity with Legal & General. I took a lump sum and thereafter, until I die, I'll receive a princely £86 and a few pence every month. I will have to live until I'm 84 to get the money back that I paid in.

However, I miscalculated. Just over a month ago I became old enough to take my state pension and to my considerable surprise my Legal and General pension has gone down to about £69 a month. I'm paying £17 a month in Income tax. For quite a few years my pensions have been too small or me to pay income tax.

Now it seems highly improbable that I will live long enough to recoup the money I paid into that pension.

The good news is that now I can start to claim gift aid on any charitable donations that I make.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Andrij

  • Андрій
  • Ερασιτεχνικός μισάνθρωπος
Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2627 on: 18 April, 2020, 05:49:15 pm »
GN: recycling bins were finally emptied this morning.
BN: mine wasn't.

Why?  Because downstairs neighbours put regular rubbish in the recycling bin. >:(  Even putting it in one of the orange recycling bags couldn't hide that it was regular rubbish in the bag.  Also, seems bin men (who visited yesterday) won't collect regular rubbish unless it's in a bin, as evidenced by the three bags sitting next to the bins.  I'll cut the neighbours some slack in that regard as they've only recently moved in.  But if they keep generating that much trash I'll tell them to get another bin from the council.  When it starts getting warm things will turn rather unpleasant, never mind what will happen once the foxes catch on.

Yeah, this could have gone into the rant thread.  Will do so if the situation doesn't improve.
;D  Andrij.  I pronounce you Complete and Utter GIT   :thumbsup:

Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2628 on: 24 April, 2020, 09:36:06 am »
GN: the garden centre has delivered my order
GN; Everything is there correctly
BN: they delivered two days early so I wasn't home
GN: they delivered to my back garden as per the delivery instructions
BN I haven't finished preparing the beds.

SoreTween

  • Most of me survived the Pennine Bridleway.
Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2629 on: 03 May, 2020, 09:07:15 am »
GN: After 10 weeks of no work I started WFH on Friday.
BN: After 10 glorious, wonderful, fantastic weeks of doing whatever I want all day I have to stay confined to the office.
GN: It is a very well equipped office with a nice view.
BN: it's still confinement.
GN: 8 hours a day Mon - Fri, for a while it looked like I might have to work 03:00 - 15:00 Mon - Sat.
BN: Still got 5 weeks to get through before I get paid again.
MBN: I have to work every week instead of 4on/4off.
EMBN: Pay rate is pish. Even working every week I'll only get 3/4 of my regular pay over each 8 week period.
GN: At least I'm home so I can do stuff in the garden lunch time & evenings. Normally in my 4 working weeks I'm in an isolation bubble in Forrin
BN: Looks like I'll be fiscally treading water until late summer or autumn.
GN: Only another 5 weeks of living off savings.
2023 targets: Survive. Maybe.
There is only one infinite resource in this universe; human stupidity.

Andrij

  • Андрій
  • Ερασιτεχνικός μισάνθρωπος
Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2630 on: 11 May, 2020, 10:03:20 pm »
BN: even with the seat all the way down, my hybrid was still too big* for my SO
GN: she found something with a better fit - and step-through frame - on the Bay-of-E
MGN: the seller brought it to her this afternoon.

* not IMHO, but not having cycled for a few decades, not being able to be on the saddle and put a foot at the same time was a non-starter.
;D  Andrij.  I pronounce you Complete and Utter GIT   :thumbsup:

Andrij

  • Андрій
  • Ερασιτεχνικός μισάνθρωπος
Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2631 on: 21 May, 2020, 06:56:44 pm »
From a different thread...
The complete* works of Bad Religion
Now that I've got Banshee working properly, it's much easier to play through my collection.  I will confess I miss using iTunes on my old PC.

* all 17 albums I own.

Bugger.  Banshee can't make it through an entire album before crashing.  No warning, no error message. Tried other albums/artists, same thing. >:(
Suppose this could qualify as a FWP, too.

Bad News: Banshee keeps crashing.
Badder News: I have the current version, which dates back to 2014.
Good News: Exaile seems to work just fine, if not quite as intuitive.  :thumbsup:
;D  Andrij.  I pronounce you Complete and Utter GIT   :thumbsup:

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2632 on: 11 June, 2020, 04:05:54 pm »
BN: Hot water packed up on Sunday evening.
GN: New boiler fitted today.
BN: This meant most of the day with no water and gas.
BN: I nearly died of tea deprivation.
GN: We now have gas again.
GN: We now have running water again.
BN: But only cold.
GN: But that's only until tomorrow.
GN: We can cope with that.
BN: Plumber left an awful mess.
GN: This is getting a bit FWP isn't it?  ;)
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2633 on: 14 June, 2020, 02:27:39 pm »
GN: fleabay are having a £1 mximum final value fee sale, so I can flog my Brompton
BN: my tolerance of fleabay eejits and shysters is non-existent
GN: I also put it on nextdoor.co.uk and a very nice person bought it this morning at my asking price.
Haggerty F, Haggerty R, Tomkins, Noble, Carrick, Robson, Crapper, Dewhurst, Macintyre, Treadmore, Davitt.

PaulF

  • "World's Scariest Barman"
  • It's only impossible if you stop to think about it
Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2634 on: 14 June, 2020, 02:51:16 pm »
GN: fleabay are having a £1 mximum final value fee sale, so I can flog my Brompton
BN: my tolerance of fleabay eejits and shysters is non-existent
GN: I also put it on nextdoor.co.uk and a very nice person bought it this morning at my asking price.

:thumbsup:

I put my fat bike up for sale on a specialist Facebook group on Friday night, had a message the next morning and it was collected yesterday afternoon. Very easy transaction and nice guy to deal with.

Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2635 on: 16 June, 2020, 08:12:36 am »
BN: My ebike battery packed in. It's a Bosch, so very expensive.
GN: Someone on fleabay was selling one & a charger for not very much money
GN: The charger is worth £60+, so that'll be sold once it arrives
GN: Someone bought the old, knackered battery on fleabay. I'm posting it today
GN: My 'new' battery will end up costing me only £60 or so

Edit:
BN: The charger is £75 new, so I'll only get £40 at best.
Haggerty F, Haggerty R, Tomkins, Noble, Carrick, Robson, Crapper, Dewhurst, Macintyre, Treadmore, Davitt.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2636 on: 20 June, 2020, 02:09:23 pm »
GN: Thursday's post included Arrivée and a brown envelope from HMRC
MGN: HMRC informs me I have overpaid tax by £*** for the past tax year and can claim a refund. Follow linky in post.
BN: I cannot get into Government Gateway. Have had this trouble since March but I WANT MY MONEY.
BN: Spend ages on phone getting nowhere.
GN: Borrowed D's windows laptop and got in quickly.
GN: Money should appear in current account soon.
BN: Seems HMRC no longer works with Safari on a Mac. WTAF?

Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2637 on: 20 June, 2020, 02:11:06 pm »
That'll be because the gubbishment will be using all of their Apple spoons on the new tracking app ...

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2638 on: 20 June, 2020, 03:25:36 pm »
Nice try!
I was unable to use the Government Gateway on 11 March with Safari onna Mac. Gave up through lack of spoons then.

Acquired spoons when I had refund letter.

I don't think they've spent the last three months cobbling this app. If they HAD worked on it that long, they might have made something workable.

Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2639 on: 24 June, 2020, 04:53:09 pm »
GN: I got my hands on a surplus Bosch ebike battery charger as part of a cheap battery deal.
GN: eBay were having a £1 max. fees deal, so on it went.
BN: I was bombarded with the usual moronic questions, particularly one person who had no idea how fleabay works and asked me to end a listing early, as she needed the charger quickly. I declined.
GN: It sold for £6 more than I would have accepted if the buyer had initially used the Make an Offer feature that I pointed him to.
GN: Payment made & item wrapped for dispatch tomorrow.
Haggerty F, Haggerty R, Tomkins, Noble, Carrick, Robson, Crapper, Dewhurst, Macintyre, Treadmore, Davitt.

tiermat

  • According to Jane, I'm a Unisex SpaceAdmin
Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2640 on: 25 June, 2020, 09:02:59 am »
The moronic question issue is why I will no longer use ebay for selling.

It all ended like this :

Advertise a towbar for a Honda FRV, stating years it is suitable for and a link to the manufacturer documentation for the same.

First question "What year of CRV does it fit?"

Second one "What make and model is it?"

Third one "Will it fit a Toyota?"

All within quick succession.
I feel like Captain Kirk, on a brand new planet every day, a little like King Kong on top of the Empire State

Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2641 on: 26 June, 2020, 07:15:50 pm »
Two people - one with 200+ feedback - couldn't fathom out how to make an offer, despite the big, blue Make an Offer button. They kept sending them via messages, which was useless. It's a specialised product, so fleabay was my, regrettably, best option.
Haggerty F, Haggerty R, Tomkins, Noble, Carrick, Robson, Crapper, Dewhurst, Macintyre, Treadmore, Davitt.

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2642 on: 27 June, 2020, 08:18:44 pm »
I collected my click this afternoon. Except it wasn't all there. They had missed out all the fresh fruit & veg.

After a series of calls I returned to Messrs Waite's & Rose's hall of higher class toothy comestibles where there was a rather nice bottle of Italian red which had been given to me as some compensation for my buggered-up afternoon - which had already been buggered up by the weather.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

CommuteTooFar

  • Inadequate Randonneur
Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2643 on: 29 June, 2020, 06:45:24 pm »
BN Central Heating Faulted
GN As Mum is 85 I was an emergency case and Britsh Gas came within 2 hours. I now have Grundfos Alpha 2 pump in the airing cupboard which is probably better than the forty year old one that had given up.

 

Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2644 on: 29 June, 2020, 08:14:16 pm »
Good piece of kit.  :thumbsup:
Get a bicycle. You will never regret it, if you live- Mark Twain

Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2645 on: 29 June, 2020, 08:17:42 pm »
A flatulent heating pump?  Sounds dodgy.........   Should have got a Vogon job, better warranty.      https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Grunthos_the_Flatulent
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2646 on: 02 July, 2020, 04:43:19 pm »
GN: My new car washer jets (Fan spray type) turned up, having been ordered yesterday.

BN:  Contrary to expectations, they need a T8 torx bit to adjust the spray angle

GN:  After hunting around and finding only T10’s, just before ordering one, I had a thought - and found one in the hard drive upgrade kit I bought for the iMac  8)
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2647 on: 11 July, 2020, 02:51:38 pm »
Two people - one with 200+ feedback - couldn't fathom out how to make an offer, despite the big, blue Make an Offer button. They kept sending them via messages, which was useless. It's a specialised product, so fleabay was my, regrettably, best option.
GN: My Mondaine Swiss Railways watch sold on fleabay for £51. The buyer coughed up promptly.
(Possible) BN: I described it as it is, very scratched and has seen some action in its life, so I'm wondering if the buyer hasn't read the description. I would never pay £51 for such tat.
GN: I have another identical watch in far better nick that I'm now going to flog next time fleabay have a listing fees sale.
Haggerty F, Haggerty R, Tomkins, Noble, Carrick, Robson, Crapper, Dewhurst, Macintyre, Treadmore, Davitt.

Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2648 on: 19 July, 2020, 01:14:33 pm »
GN: MotoGP starts today  :thumbsup:

BN: It seems Quest aren’t actually showing the highlights  >:(
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: The Good News / Bad News Thread
« Reply #2649 on: 21 July, 2020, 08:20:12 pm »
GN: my boy and his partner is moving to the Angles after a several of years in THAT LONDON
MGN: they are looting, at least initially, for a home in our town.
BN: any nebulous plans we have to run away from brexit to Scotlandland are now put on hold.
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.