Mandy Lifeboats

2 hours ago, Designer1 said:

So, how likely do people think a second national lockdown is now?

It depends how you define it.  
 

An indefinite one like the one 6 months ago. 1%
 

A nationwide tightening of some restrictions.  99% 

More and more urban areas having tight restrictions with rural areas less restricted.  99%
 

Boris blaming the public for everything. 100% 

Boris still being around in 3 years. 1%

On 29/07/2020 at 21:12, Mandy Lifeboats said:

I’m a civil servant. We were planning for a second spike in January 2021 caused by Christmas and winter.  That then moved to November.  We’re now working on October.  

But the government seem determined to avoid a national lockdown even if that means imposing lockdowns in cities and not rural areas.  We’ve been discussing what “easements” need to be abandoned and what restrictions need to be reimposed.  But the big change from March 2020 is that we are working on geographic variances. 
 
I am finding this a bit scary.  In one breath the government is gradually relaxing restrictions.  But behind the scenes we’re all working on plans for a second spike that’s going to be worse than the first.  I am a big believer in “Plan for the worst” but at the moment it feels like we are doing that because it’s the most likely scenario.  

 

This was my opinion in July.  

I still think we are "planning for the worst" because that's exactly where we are heading.  

1 hour ago, AlwaysAVFC said:

Slowly starting to see things happening now.

Our mortgage application has gone in so just the nervous wait. I've seen so many articles over the last few months about how hard it is for first time buyers to get a mortgage at the moment. The rate has jumped up a bit since we got the mortgage in principle in July.

The solicitors initial searches have been done. Glancing through the email there were 2 things that stuck out. The one that got me most annoyed was that it said that she had a price down for the carpets in fixtures and fittings. Luckily the agent have said that they have it down as included. It varied on the room but £700 in total. The solicitor said they thought it was unreasonable and had questioned it with the other solicitor before emailing me anyway. Even without the agent confirming they were included,  no chance am I paying that.

The second was that there is a sinkhole near the property   

It's 230m away so hopefully it is just something that the searches have thrown up. The survey is being done in a couple of weeks. So all being well that will reassure us it isn't an issue.

She is trying it on with the carpets.  If they are “fitted”  she is likely to throw them in for free.  If she doesn’t it means she has to remove them when she moves out.  That’s time consuming and might even cost her money to just to throw them away.  It’s just another niggle.  
 

Knowing there is a sink hole 230m away is much better than there being an undiscovered one.  You might find it was subjected to major civil engineering repair.  My house came back as being “50m from a flood plain”.  When I looked it up, the area hadn’t flooded that far in 100 years.  The headlines can be shocking.  The details rarely are. 

"Chris Evans" is trending on Twitter.  I clicked hoping to see that the self obsessed, shouty, British DJ had wrapped his very expensive car around a lamppost. 

Imagine my disappointment when I discover the guy that plays Captain America has accidentally posted pictures of his erect cock. 

You click expecting to see news about a complete dick and all you get to see is a circumcised one. 

41 minutes ago, bielesibub said:

Dare I ask how your smell checker discovered Gurch?

There's 3 possibilities. 

1. I've corresponded with someone called Gurchan in a friendly manner.  Very possible. 

2. I've discovered a bizarre type of pornography. 

3. My spill chicken software is absolutely antelope. 

I once saw Hutch from Starsky & Hutch at New Street Station. I assume he was going to see Kojak about a big case. 

Ps My spill chicken just changed "Hutch" to "Gurch".  Wow.  So wrong. 

I mentioned earlier in the thread that I moved away from Brum (Selly Oak) nearly 20 years ago and neither miss it nor have any strong negative feelings. 

My first memories of Birmingham was going there from Wolverhampton by train with my nan. That seemed like a big day out to a young kid.  Visiting the Science Museum....looking at the mummy in the Art Gallery/Museum....looking up at the Telecom Tower and visiting the massive toy departments.  I watched the video that Kojak made when he went there.  Birmingham was just amazing.  I thought so and so did Kojak.  

I am now 50 but still visit Brum.  I saw Penn & Teller and booked a suite at the Radisson.  I saw Ricky Gervais and had a really good sushi meal somewhere I can't remember. I've booked a suite and spent an evening on the Roulette Tables of the Genting at Resorts World.  I've pressed every button at the Think Tank.  I do my Christmas shopping at the Bull Ring about this time of year. All really good experiences. 

But as an adult I notice things that I didn't notice as a child.  I notice the bad bits.  I describe Birmingham in exactly the same way I describe London.  Great to visit but not somewhere I would want to live or work. 

I wonder what Kojak thinks?  He must have retired from the Police Force by now.  Maybe he's got an apartment at the Mail Box? 

32 minutes ago, AJ said:

 Another thing is, sorry, but you all need bloody subtitles.

If you think that - never venture 15 miles from Brum into the Black Country.  It's where I was born  and raised.  It's like purgatory but with pork scratchings.

Con yow kik a bawl genst t wall then yed it an bost it?  

11 hours ago, ml1dch said:

That's basically it - it's similar to ministerial direction. So if a minister wants to do something that directly contradicts civil service advice then they are asked to put in writing to "direct" the civil servant to do it. Meaning it's on the record that it was the politician wot done it and the staff can't be blamed when it goes wrong.

This is basically Jonathan Jones doing that for the whole civil service. Or the legal department anyway.

I'm sure that @Mandy Lifeboats will be able to correct my layman's interpretation if I have that wrong...

 

100% correct.  I am a civil servant myself.  On numerous occasions I have used  the “instruct me in writing” tactic.  Most of the time it prompts the person to have a second look at their instruction and seek advice from others.  But ultimately it gives me protection if things go wrong. 
 

But....
 

Civil Servants should never break the law even if instructed to do so.  If you think you might there’s a procedure where you can log the matter.  You will then receive a legal opinion from the department’s legal team.  This effectively becomes the legal stance of the entire department and the Secretary of State (SOS) who can over-rule his own legal team if he wants to. 
 

I’ve issued the formal process once in 33 years. 
 

Being directed in writing by your department and therefore the SOS himself gives you personal legal protection that is water tight 99.9999999% of the time. 

6 minutes ago, blandy said:

Were you feeling a bit sheepish?

My first sexual encounter was rogering identical twin daughters and their mom one after another. 

Or a ewe and her lambs as the farmer referred to them in the witness statement. 

19 minutes ago, stuart_75 said:

Middle Eastern countries seem to have low crime rates and very harsh penalties? Is that due to religion/culture rather the fear of being caught? Sorry, I haven't checked the stats in advance.

It’s not quite as easy as that.  Take Saudi Arabia where homosexuality is a crime.  Does that deter people from being homosexual?  Do you think Saudi Arabian Police are particularly thorough when investigating high value financial crime by very rich individuals?  If adultery is punishable by death wouldn’t we consider those that administer the punishment to be the real criminals?  If a Saudi man caught a 10 year old child stealing apples and whipped him, would the child’s parents be able to get justice?   How much crime is resolved by a smack around the head or a kick up the ar$e?
 

1 hour ago, StefanAVFC said:

Sorry stud

Solo crimes are very hard to prosecute. 

I just got this Timex as an everyday watch that is bound to get beaten up.  It was £230 for an automatic with a sweep hand.   

Timex watches aren't highly regarded but I'm impressed with it.   

1 hour ago, BOF said:

I actually went 2-1-3-4, not 2-3-4-1.

That's an attacking formation. 

4 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

They even get supper! 

But the choice of wines is really limited.  They don't have dessert wines and the Chablis is never a good vintage.   Its hell.    

1 hour ago, stuart_75 said:

Mortgage brokers, anyone here swear by them or prefer approaching the bank/BS themselves?

The reason I ask is that I saw one yesterday and the lenders she showed me on her screen were not the same as the ones I found on moneysupermarket, in fact hers all bar one were offering worse rates. If she can't get a AIP with the cheapest one them I'm going to tell her to forget it and I'll do the leg work myself.

Do it yourself. With rates so low the chances of them getting you a much better deal are slim. 

But do your homework.  It isn't just the interest rate that is important. 

Can you overpay each month? 

Can you pay off blocks of money periodically. 

Are there any penalties for early repayments. 

Do they insist you use their own surveyors who are exceptionally expensive? 

Are there any fees? 

Will you get discounts on other products like house insurance?  

I have an idea. 

Hold a referendum on the death sentence but voting is not anonymous. 

We honour the referendum result. 

If we use the death penalty and the deceased is subsequently proven innocent someone has to pay for that "murder". 

We draw out a random name from the pro death penalty votes and kill them.  

They voted for a system that is known to kill innocent people .  They are also partially responsible for the death because they allowed it.  Therefore they can't complain.

The draw could be a big TV event with Anthea Turner and Anton Du Beke.

Trust me.......its a winner. 

I moved from Selly Oak in 2003 and don’t regret the move one bit. I have no strongly negative views of Brum.  It’s like any big city.  The centre is eye catching, generally safe and has all that you need.  But there are other areas that are dire.  

I miss not being able to pop out to a sushi restaurant, browse the shops and seeing a major artist play a concert.  

But I don’t miss my garage being covered in graffiti,  the house being broken into or gangs of lads hanging around making a nuisance of themselves.  

I still visit Brum.  I like it. I have fond memories of it.  But I don’t miss living there.  

43 minutes ago, PaulC said:

When things like this happen and the Manchester arena which has been in the news today it makes me think that we should bring back the death penalty. Why waste tax payers money on life imprisonment for scum like this. 

 

 

A man who knows he faces death is likely to fight to the death.  Think about the poor sods who have to confront them. 

22 hours ago, villakram said:

Deaths in England are in the single digits or low teens. Time to get on with life and stop being terrified of an illness that has minimal effects on the vast majority of the population.

Deaths are low BECAUSE of the changes we have all made to life. Doing too much too soon will increase deaths. 

I don't know anyone who has ever died of handling asbestos. It has minimal impact on most people. But we don't say it's all ok and we can drop all of the asbestos safety measures. 

I doubt there will be another national lockdown but we are heading back towards localised lockdowns to control the second spike which is going to hit us.  

There is also Des Moines Bremer.  
 

Villa legend.  

That picture is clearly the Washington Louisa Muscatine border as shown on the map. 
 

Its also a pretty good girls name. 


 

I think all parents should name their children using the Iowa County Map. 

Pocahontas Calhoun would be my choice.