The Retirement Thread

[alicat]

Clover/ chamomile ?

That sounds good, especially if I can make the camomile into tea....

 

[numbnuts]

Morning

 

[Tenkaykev]

That sounds good, especially if I can make the camomile into tea....

Was in Edinburgh a few years ago and our daughters friend's parents were also visiting so we all met up for a walk. We popped into a small Turkish cafe and the friends dad ordered Chamomile tea. I half expected tbe usual " Pukka " tea bag but what arrived was completely different. A large transparent glass teapot containing the flower heads, the spout had a sort of metal spiral in it that acted like a filter. It looked and reportedly tasted amazing.
Meanwhile I was earwigging as the owner was demonstrating the process of making Turkish coffee to a new hire, there were certainly more stages than I expected.

 

[Dirk]

Morning all

Fish Friday!
Got to pick MrsDs car up some time this morning, so will do that on the way to lunch.
Might have a tinker with the mopeds first thing.
Chap came round last night to pick up the Velo Solex and paid in £50 notes. I checked them all. I later looked him up on Google and it appears that he was found guilty of running an illegal scrapyard in 2020 - suspended 3 year sentence and fined, get this......£400k !
I've got all his details in case I've been done over. I won't lose any sleep over it as it was only £300. I'll get the notes checked at the PO this morning.
People you meet, eh?

 

[Mo1959]

Riverside trail walked. It was warm and humid but I was forced to put my jacket on as the rain came on half way round.

Porridge has been eaten and I now have a purring pussy!

 

[Dave7]

Porridge has been eaten and I now have a purring pussy!

Photo or it never happened

 

[Webbo2]

Morning all

Fish Friday!
Got to pick MrsDs car up some time this morning, so will do that on the way to lunch.
Might have a tinker with the mopeds first thing.
Chap came round last night to pick up the Velo Solex and paid in £50 notes. I checked them all. I later looked him up on Google and it appears that he was found guilty of running an illegal scrapyard in 2020 - suspended 3 year sentence and fined, get this......£400k !
I've got all his details in case I've been done over. I won't lose any sleep over it as it was only £300. I'll get the notes checked at the PO this morning.
People you meet, eh?

Mrs W used to work for a steel construction firm and they had scrap man come round every few months to collect the scrap and he would pay them in cash. However one time when they tried to pay it in at the bank, it turned out to be fake.

 

[PaulSB]

Having a company car used to be a really good perk.......then the tax man came down hard on that until, to some extent, it became a finacial liabilty.

Yes, agreed it was a very good and valuable perk. Especially as a youngish father of three. It meant our family could, just about, run two decent vehicles when the kids were small.

Later when the tax breaks changed it would have made greater financial sense to own my car and claim running costs. I chose to stick with a company car. Two reasons. The expenses claims would have been hard work and cost the company significant amounts. After three years my cars usually had 100,000 on the clock, worth bugger all at the end. That and having no worries over the cost of running the car.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Having a company car used to be a really good perk.......then the tax man came down hard on that until, to some extent, it became a finacial liabilty.

My boss had one when I used to work for a big company

when it came up for renewal they had changed things so he take the money instead

He worked out all the numbers and worked out that he was massively better off buying a second hand car a few years old giving up the company car

 

[numbnuts]

Done the ironing, I need some milk so pop to Sainsburys soon.

 

[PaulSB]

My boss had one when I used to work for a big company

when it came up for renewal they had changed things so he take the money instead

He worked out all the numbers and worked out that he was massively better off buying a second hand car a few years old giving up the company car

Yes, he would be right on this. One of my views was I would have been in my rights to claim +/-40p a mile, about £13-14000 per annum. I managed the business, a small family business, and from the company perspective it would have been hard to afford. If I'd worked for a big company my view would have been different.

The other thing is the discipline of keeping expense records. I was once investigated by HMRC, it's a nightmare. Horrendous experience. I had done nothing wrong. A spot check showed a petrol receipt. I drove a diesel. I was dumbfounded until I remembered the day I put petrol in the tank!!! We had all the paperwork to prove this. That wasn't enough for the Revenue and I had an 18 month investigation into my business expenses. "Where were you on the 26th August 1998?"

Add to that unless one puts away an element of the expenses claim every month there's no money to buy another car with.

 

[PaulSB]

Absolutely hammering down here. Stair rods! We have thunder storm warnings until tomorrow. I have to do a bit of u3a stuff, final bike fit of the week after my guy changed the bars and a few other bits. Then it's a PT session and quiz night!! This is why I have no time to hot wax my own chains.........see another thread!! Oh, yes I need to quietly practice using my electric pump and pressure gauge. I've tried quickly and it's like all these things, the roadside isn't the place to learn. DAMHIK

 

[gavroche]

Bonjour from a wet and grey North Wales.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Yes, he would be right on this. One of my views was I would have been in my rights to claim +/-40p a mile, about £13-14000 per annum. I managed the business, a small family business, and from the company perspective it would have been hard to afford. If I'd worked for a big company my view would have been different.

The other thing is the discipline of keeping expense records. I was once investigated by HMRC, it's a nightmare. Horrendous experience. I had done nothing wrong. A spot check showed a petrol receipt. I drove a diesel. I was dumbfounded until I remembered the day I put petrol in the tank!!! We had all the paperwork to prove this. That wasn't enough for the Revenue and I had an 18 month investigation into my business expenses. "Where were you on the 26th August 1998?"

Add to that unless one puts away an element of the expenses claim every month there's no money to buy another car with.

He worked all that out as well
He and his wife had a lot of debt - there were "good" reasons at the time but they realised that the reasons were not so good
and they needed to pay it off
SO he went to the loan company and arranged to INCREASE the loan to buy a secondhand car
and then increase the monthly payment to pay

They had it paid off over several years

Glad it worked out for him and his family as he died young - he could only have been in his late 40s/early 50s and when he did his family were debt free

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Just seen an article in The Metro abotu a teacher who has been banned for giving a female pupil a pen with a hidden camera
and telling her to "get changed before you use it" - specifically for doing her homework!!

So I was wondering how easily stuff like this is to get - NOT that I want any of course

I found a site that talks about all sorts of things like that
with the text saying that you can "act like a real secret agent"
and stuff that is clearly OK - like hidden security cameras

but a lot of the stuff is straight up pervert stuff

and the advertise that they deliver everting in plain packaging!!
which I recall was one of the things porn sites advertised for "those videos and magazines" in the old days

Oh - and I know because I got some once
I didn;t order them - they just arrived and the mags were very dodgy - and that is just based on the cover of the top ones

I had JUST qualified as a teacher - so didn;t even want to report it in case ......

I just burned them very thoroughly in the yard and crushed the ashes and put them in the bin!!

But I remember the packing looking very plain - and no name on it presumably so the "client" could not be identified!

Maybe I am lucky but "that sort of stuff" just doesn;t turn me on!