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Hedgecutter

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Everything posted by Hedgecutter

  1. It humours me that Buckie seem to avoid their Twitter feed whenever the opposition score. Not quite as much as this though: ETA: aye, I know it's an old post, but effectively pinned.
  2. He's make Fury look like a bit of a c*** there, hasn't he.
  3. FWIW, my mum was a childminder for about a decade and got fed up with it, persevering mainly for the flexibility and ability to work from home and not require a childminder herself. The final straw for her was them wanting qualifications to carry on. She essentially told them that if they prefer to have youngsters with a certificate over a mum of three then they could stick it. She promptly moved into the candle selling business instead, selling overpriced lumps of wax to those probably complaining about the cost of childcare. I strongly suspect that worked out better for her financially.
  4. Aye, it's a decent period of certainty. After all, there's a general election in the pipeline and I don't fully trust the British electorate not to vote in the MRLP. ETA: looking at it a bit more, if I went for the 2yr option then I'd need the rate to have fallen to <3.94% by 2026 to make it worthwhile paying 0.4% more for the 2yr fix. Probably worth settling with the 5yr option for security, instead of gambling in the hope of saving ~£20pm. Anyone else find themselves being a little bit flippant about such things and then opting for a different brand of beer because of a 20p difference?
  5. The above chat has prompted me to look at my own options through Nationwide. Regarding the automatic renewal talk (which is June for me), they're currently saying I'd go into a variable rate of 7.99%. That's in contrast to 2yr @ 4.84%, 3yr @ 4.79%, 5yr @ 4.34%, or 10yr @ 4.9% A tricky choice between the 2yr and 5yr option I'm thinking seeing as there are murmurings of a fall to 3.X% later in the year.
  6. As a general observation from my social circle at least, there seems to be a tendency for folk to go straight to the 'forever home', rather than going up the 'housing ladder' (which you hear about near-daily, but seems to be a lost concept to the under 40s). I don't ask about their finances, but when you have even modest interest rises on what's probably upwards of 200k debt on a house early on in the term, then that's going to fairly hit the drinking kitty.
  7. I still remember being in a pub in Durness when there was a tidy Czech barmaid. When I asked her tongue-in-cheek "where's the party tonight then?" at closing time, the whole bar sharply perked/sobered up when she replied "in my bed". Turned out she justed wanted to go to sleep after a long shift.
  8. I had a similar experience once, although I ended up having what felt like a date across the table with the waitress. Far preferable to having her lingering around just for me. Was a midweek effort and there was nobody else the entire time. PTTGOYN for me though is when waiting staff insist on doing every little thing for you, e.g. pouring drinks with a hand behind their back, despite me saying they don't need to bother. I just find that whole servant thing a bit archaic and uncomfortable. The nightclub toilet guys who evidently think you can't wash your hands on your own take the biscuit though.
  9. There's something strangely familiar about a story in which some dressed-up Scots inadvertently become box office worldwide after starting up a dodgy money making scheme.
  10. Dune (1984 one), largely because I went to see Dune 2 the other day and had little idea what was happening because I kept falling asleep in the cinema (after coming off night shift). Having seen the cinematography of the new ones, the old film seems more of a gingerphobic comedy. Never saw the bit I wanted to though because I, err, fell asleep.
  11. I still think there's potential for a Spock spin-off film/series in which he wanders around learning how to use those 'colourful metaphors', maybe in a Malcolm Spocker fashion. What d'ya think? @scottsdad
  12. Interesting. I wonder if this is why Dave Ramsay & chums are such staunch advocators of paying off the mortgage early, because of a different system.
  13. Correct. Personally, I've got almost all of an overpayment allowance left for 23/24 and a bit of cash sitting in a fixed cash ISA. Starting to get a pressing issue now as the cut-off date for charge-free overpayments approaches.
  14. As in, why pay April 2037's £330 mortgage bill now when you can pay it in 2037 for what might be the price of a Freddo? ETA: then again, if that's the case, one might then regret having invested £50k long term when all it might do is buy you a box of Freddos. Basically, would inflation not affect the savings and mortgage payments equally, ie. just cancel out any inflation issue?
  15. Something I'm struggling to get my head around because I feel like an utter thicko whenever complex sums are involved: Background: I'm in a situation whereby I stopped overpayments on a 1.9% mortgage because I'm getting 5.5% in a cash ISA instead, i.e. more made in ISA interest than mortgage interest saved. I'm now reconsidering this approach as my fixed rate will soon match the savings rate. My initial reaction would be to say "there's no difference, may as well keep it in the ISA to add to the rainy day fund rather than tie it up in bricks & mortar". However, and this is the main question: is there another significant facet to what's potentially/probably an oversimplified argument, particularly in a situation where I'd put what-was the monthly mortgage money into savings? For simplicity sake, let's say the most extreme overpayment by completely paying off a 50k outstanding mortgage balance today. Option A: pay a 5% mortgage as normal at ~£330pm for 20yrs (taking a £29k interest hit in the process), overpay nothing, and instead stick the 50k into a 5% savings account for 20 years: £85k gain through savings interest - £29k mortgage fees = up £56k Option B: Use the 50k to wipe out the mortgage. Stick the £330 into a savings account every month for 20 years = up £56k, minus ERC. What's missing here? (other than an appreciation that 5% savings account might not be around for the next 20 years)
  16. Overly fancy and stupid job role descriptions. 'Principal's who aren't even the lead member of their team, with multiple of them. That and teams with five 'leads' where the name lead simply means 'not a graduate', etc etc.
  17. It's all fine and well hitting six past Strathspey, but when you're losing to the Broch, Formartine, Buckie, and failing to score against Bo'D at home, then you have to question the ability of this guy to be remotely competitive in the promotion playoffs should we scrape our way there. At risk of sounding arrogant / entitled, there's little point in winning the league if we'd just be rolled over in the playoffs by EK (never mind Clyde), so I can't see the point in persevering with a mediocre setup. Problem now is that it'll be difficult to judge if there'll be improvement when playing lower end of the table teams like Keith this coming weekend. That said, Keith are above Buckie-beating Clach.
  18. Just clocked that I can significantly increase my darts score by just aiming for the 1 instead of the 20. Turns 26 points into 39.
  19. When all you want to do is turn the TV on and you're met with this: Or just anybody's TV setup which involves two or more controllers. The pictured one is an overcomplicated sound system that lets people in Tristan da Cunha hear any music or explosions should you dare turn up the volume to hear what the characters are saying.
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