Quote from: pxr5 on May 01, 2024, 08:20:27 PMI've just picked this up for a couple of quid from ebay. I'm really looking forward to this one:

One For The Record - The Authorised Biography of Galahad by Andrew Wild

https://www.amazon.co.uk/One-Record-Authorised-Biography-Galahad/dp/0957007701

'One for the Record', the official, authorised biography of Galahad, charts the first quarter century of the Dorset-based band's existence: the highs and the lows, the challenges and the achievements, the numerous line-up changes (Yes have nothing on Galahad!)  including six keyboard players and eight bassists, the occasional madness on the road, the writing, recording, rehearsing and gigging.'

They are playing at the 'Prog for Peart' festival at The Northcourt in Abingdon in July (just down the road from me)

Pissing down here

Quote from: Nickslikk2112 on May 01, 2024, 10:20:47 AM

Quote from: David L on May 01, 2024, 10:19:36 AM

Quote from: Matt2112 on May 01, 2024, 09:49:37 AMJeremy Vine. On his show they've replayed the footage about a dozen times of yesterday's machete-wielding nutter being tasered.  Rightly, great praise is being given to the female police officer who deployed her taser while walking head on straight toward the perpetrator; what is being bizarrely overlooked is the other taser clearly activated from the side beforehand by a different officer just out of shot.

But this is typical of Vine being ineptly behind the curve on pretty much everything.

He's also a cycle fascist, trying to blame motorists at the first opportunity even when he is in the wrong. Knobhead

Trouble is, he's quite often right on the cycling.

Quote from: Matt2112 on May 01, 2024, 09:49:37 AMJeremy Vine. On his show they've replayed the footage about a dozen times of yesterday's machete-wielding nutter being tasered.  Rightly, great praise is being given to the female police officer who deployed her taser while walking head on straight toward the perpetrator; what is being bizarrely overlooked is the other taser clearly activated from the side beforehand by a different officer just out of shot.

But this is typical of Vine being ineptly behind the curve on pretty much everything.

He's also a cycle fascist, trying to blame motorists at the first opportunity even when he is in the wrong. Knobhead

Quote from: Nick on May 01, 2024, 07:27:35 AM

Quote from: Thenop on April 30, 2024, 03:38:22 PM

Quote from: Nick on April 30, 2024, 02:21:52 PMTooth extraction

Ouch, best of luck!

Got a bit complicated as the roots were difficult to pull and another stronger operative had to be called, got through it but now eating crisps will have to wait a week or so.

Wotsits can be sucked 

Miriam: Death of a Reality Star. Second episode of a three-part series.

Documentary about what was possibly the most irresponsible reality show ever. Made by Endemol (Big Brother), the premise for the show (There's Something About Miriam) was to gather half a dozen young alpha males in an Ibizan villa to compete for the affections of a model. The winner gets to spend a holiday with her and £10,000. She, honestly it seems, believes she will find love.
You've possibly guessed already, and at least one competitor had his suspicions, the thing about Miriam is...........she's a bloke. Produced in the early 2000s, I was not aware this existed or I can't remember it (which is hard to believe). What a dumbass idea from the get-go. Deceive a lot of testosterone-fuelled guys into flirting, snogging and falling in love with a transvestite from Mexico that's desperate for fame, has silicone tits and is still package intactica.
Miriam whittled the field down to two guys who, by this time, could barely keep their hands off her as they tried to win her over. Tonight they showed the reveal, by which time Endemol had had the sense to employ a psychiatrist to deal with the inevitable fallout.
As it is now 2024, a lot of the sympathy is directed towards Miriam and the effect on her for being rejected by the 'winner', even though she was fully complicit in duping the guys. I guess she was initially duped by the production company into thinking the show was going to result in a TV entertainment high-water mark.
Anyway, Miriam found herself dead at 38. Only two of the guys participated in this documentary. What happened to the rest? One more episode to watch tomorrow night so we may find out. We'll definitely find out how Miriam met her end.
Absolutely jaw-droppingly stupid concept that some of those who were involved (mostly female) still don't seem to understand why. They're obviously not imbued with an understanding for the male psyche, unlike my wife who watched a lot of it through the gaps between her fingers.

Quote from: Thenop on April 30, 2024, 05:31:03 PMThat sounds like the most very excellent usage of money to me.
As an alternative, you could go - as a wise man on this forum once said - buy a decent cd player and be done with it 

(Cadenza red is it?)

Cadenza Bronze.  Currently retails for £2199. Would cost me £1536 plus the old one in exchange. I'm hoping it can be repaired!
I wouldn't consider buying a decent CD player (I already have one of those) but I would consider an EverSolo DPM-A6 Master Edition...........if I hadn't already just bought one! 🙂

Quote from: Thenop on April 30, 2024, 03:38:43 PM

Quote from: David L on April 30, 2024, 02:39:31 PMLooked at the balance in my current account and noticed that my BT Pension payment was about twice what it should be. Thought it was a bit of a drag to have to ring BTPS to get an explanation. Got through to a human being after just a couple of rings. I was informed that the extra payment was an adjustment to my tax-free lump sum that could only be determined after the end of the tax year and was a result of me beginning to take my pension in the middle of the tax year.
£1263.94 I was not expecting - thank you! 

What are we going to spend it on 

Well......I've had a bit of a hi-fi related nightmare in the last couple of weeks. Thought I had a fault with my moving coil phono stage, I didn't but it cost me £150 to discover that ( ). I do have an issue with my Ortofon MC cartridge. If it can be repaired, around £700. If not, about £1500 to replace. Not too happy as although 5 years old, it only has 490 hours on it (should really have another 10 years life in it). The RRPs of the higher end Ortofon carts have gone crazy in that 5 years (bloody Brexit  ).
So my windfall could not have been better timed!
At least I have a second turntable to use!

Looked at the balance in my current account and noticed that my BT Pension payment was about twice what it should be. Thought it was a bit of a drag to have to ring BTPS to get an explanation. Got through to a human being after just a couple of rings. I was informed that the extra payment was an adjustment to my tax-free lump sum that could only be determined after the end of the tax year and was a result of me beginning to take my pension in the middle of the tax year.
£1263.94 I was not expecting - thank you! 

Quote from: Slim on April 24, 2024, 02:10:53 PMNurse Campbell has been touting a link between the third "booster" COVID vaccine and a rise in the incidence of cancer. Unsuprisingly, it's bollocks.

Phew! That's good news! I wondered where she'd got to 🙂

I'm really looking forward to packing in work in August after notching up 44 years for the same company. I joined Post Office Telecommunications as an apprentice on 1st September 1980 the day after my 17th bithday. When I joined, retirement was set at 60 years of age and from the age of 18 we paid into the defined benefits pension scheme which was designed to provide a lump sum and an annual pension based on half your final salary after 40 years service. However.....It all changed in 2009 because it was too expensive.

The final salary scheme was replaced with one based on career average pay and the retirement age was increased to 65 years of age. I think (?) we also had slightly increased contributions too (of course, the benefits already built up under the previous scheme were not lost). However.......A number of years later this too was deemed to be too expensive so it was junked for a defined contribution scheme (roulette wheel!).

Last year some of my colleagues opted to initiate a 'Flexible Retirement' option which allows you to take the defined benefit part of your pension and continue to work for a maximum of two years (salary plus pension). However.....BT has periodically offered quite good redundancy packages ('Voluntary Leaver Scheme' - recently been capped at 12 months salary). A lot of engineers in my role are of a similar age and most were hoping one day we would benefit from VLS. I duly decided to go for the Flexible Retirement Scheme but not before I made equiries about whether a VLS package would be coming down the track in the near future. I was told it was most unlikely. With that in mind, I had a decision to make on how to take my pension (min. lump sum, max lump sum, PIE etc.). Happy with my decision, I 'pressed the button' last June and started the countdown to my last day of work being no later than 31st August 2025 (my 62nd birthday).

I never intended to work until that date and decided that I would take a year of the pension payments before quitting. I informed my manager about six weeks ago that I wanted 31st August this year to be my last day of employment. I was happy to be leaving on my own terms at a time that suited me.

However.....the shine has been taken off my leaving due to a VLS being announced just a couple of weeks after I gave my boss my termination date. This means that colleagues of a similar age, in a similar role will now be walking away from the company with over £40K redundancy. The few in my position were pissed with the situation and a snotagram was sent to my senior manager. Stock reply stating the redundancy package would not have been offered to me anyway because I'd opted for Flexible Leaver Scheme.

 I feel I've been a bit unlucky but when you factor in the pension payments for 12 months, interest on the lump sum and the fact that I've been erroniously paid a call-out retainer for nearly six years (even though I have brought it to management's attention at least three times!), I've done OK. I've also enjoyed what is possibly one of the best engineering roles on the company and for the last five and a half years I've been blessed to work in a stunning part of the world (Gloucestershire Cotswolds) with little or no managerial interference whatsoever - probably the most enjoyable period of my career. So I needn't feel too sorry that I missed out on a wedge of cash that, in truth, I don't need. I've also been fortunate enough to squirrel away the maximum into my DC pension from my salary for the last few years and probably won't need to touch it for quite a while. All I need is for the BT share price to fly. That would be gravy!
 
If I hang on to the lion's share of my unused annual leave, I should be leaving around mid August. It all sounds great unless........WW3 ruins it all

Quote from: Nickslikk2112 on April 19, 2024, 02:47:33 PMGot train tickets to Newcastle through Trainsplit to replace the ones I've returned to Cross Country trains at a much cheaper price 

Trainsplit? Was that set up by Mussolini?

Quote from: Nickslikk2112 on April 19, 2024, 02:45:25 PM

Quote from: Slim on April 19, 2024, 12:45:33 PMYes, and Mussolini made the trains run on time.

I think I could put up with Fascism if that happened 

Where's the modern Mussolini?

I think Slim is suggesting he is sitting as an independent MP for NW Leicestershire    

Quote from: Thenop on April 19, 2024, 07:34:51 AMHappy to see all the succes stories in buying houses. I have been a bit less fortunate, I am renting a place after selling the house some 12 years ago with a huge loss. Mostly to do with health and self preservation: the health of our neighbours was in jeopardy because I would have killed them (both sides), and self presentation to keep me out of prison doing so.
No more buying for me for the forseeable future, the prices are ridiculous over here.

Anyway, it's Friday, which makes it a good day always.

Sorry to hear of your bad luck. To have bad neighbours must make for a miserable existence.

Quote from: Slim on April 19, 2024, 12:25:14 AMAbsolute clowns, but a lot of thick people have been taken in. I don't think Bridgen is one of them. He's just trying to salvage a career out of their ignorance at the expense of people's health and lives.

I'm literally represented by the most dishonourable, irresponsible MP in the entire House of Commons, and I voted for him. But I'm looking forward to cleaning him out of there.

His efforts here bring to mind those he made to reveal the truth about another scandal: