lovepump@yourmums.co.uk

Yep, seller appears to have gone very quiet. 

Whatever, nothing lost. Money still sat with me.

a quick google of left handers:

Adolf Hitler

Jimmy Savile

Piers Morgan

Pee Wee Herman

case closed

let's sack him

there must be dozens of quality managers out there willing to be our 4th manager in 13 months

Why would someone on e-bay be really really keen to get my e-mail address?

I've bought something and I've had three or four messages in a couple of days trying to get my e-mail address. Can't see why it would be needed if it's a straight deal. I've pointed out you can't actually send that info via e-bay anyway it spots it and won't let you. He's come back and asked I tell him in one mail what the gmail / yahoo / talktalk bit of the address is, then in another separate mail include the front end of the address and he will stitch them together.

Thanks, but no thanks. 

I just couldn't picture a scenario where I wouldn't find your dick annoying.

Not a single situation where I could end up thinking, ooh good, here comes Stef's dick, this will help with the smooth running of the task at hand.

31 minutes ago, StefanAVFC said:

Realised I'm that annoying dick martyr that never takes off sick. Actually took a day off today and my supervisor almost celebrated.

'I'd like to sit next to the weird foreign guy with a cold and an annoying dick.'

said nobody

anywhere

ever

It's a shame I'm busy that weekend 'cos I'd have been right up for it normally.

And the Severn Bridge is being painted.

(seriously though, if you do ever end up over this way, I'd be up for a pie and a pint and a rum or two)

(but I'm not doing sex stuff)

7 minutes ago, Rugeley Villa said:

  now im going to start collecting vinyl, we can meet up and go to record shops together. maybe i could bring the family and make a weekend of it by the sea, yeah she would love that my missus.

gumtree

Don't forget gumtree too, 2 hours ago somebody in Brizzle put up a Sony PS something or other for £25. Same page has a Goldring for £50 and it looks like the tonearm might be worth that alone.

4 hours ago, Rugeley Villa said:

im going to start buying vinyl again thanks to you and chrisp65. cds are much easier,but i do miss vinyl. going to have a look for a vinyl player next week.

1 minute ago, Chindie said:

Made them the most powerful nation on earth by a country mile, and the only truly global superpower to have ever existed.

Yes, sorry, it wasn't my opinion, it was me trying to channel the opinions of the typical tea party type.

When you're not sure where Panama is, other than sort of by Mexico, the global importance of the canal and the USA involvement in it doesn't feel immediately important. The image of big cars at the drive in movies doesn't need the global super power stuff, nothing beyond John Wayne movies anyway. They have a mental image of a self sustaining cowboy, not the hard miles of diplomacy and aid.

Cowboys live well, until they die, peacefully in their mountain shack, or stopping bad cowboys dressed in black. Cowboys don't have painful teeth for twenty years, they don't get a rough deal from their middle manager at their job in Walmart. They don't get beaten up by white police patrolling black neighbourhoods. It's a cartoon ideal of america that it would appear millions of people think if they wish hard enough, will be delivered.

I was trying to say that.

pffff, sad sad news there, Stevo.

Just erm, no idea what to say. 

Without wishing to look like any sort of Trump apologist, where has 100 years of world policeman got them?

The USA didn't have a natural leaning to push it's philosophy on the world, it had to be persuaded and prodded quite late in to two world wars. It's then tried after those wars to pre empt troubles and to counter communism. Perhaps any number of bloody noses and pains in the arse, from Korea to Vietnam, Libya, Afghanistan, Nicaragua and others have lead quite a lot of people to think the old isolationist policies were the best.

A promise to let the world sort out its own shit, thus saving money and their sons lives, whilst building up the military, being safer at home and literally physically building walls to keep foreign people out must actually be quite appealing. If you think about it, it's only a version tweeked for a different market of what we are being seduced with right now from our own right wing politicians. We are being told that we are better than the others and we'd be better off alone, safer and richer and 'in control'  before too many bulgarian weirdos, romanian benefits cheats and brown skinned rapists climb on board our raft. 

It's a very tempting message when people are scared.

Wrap it up in some old time religion, some promise of money tomorrow and a chopsy entertaining leader, it all gets very compelling. We could very easily find ourselves soon in a world where, from the Russia, the Ukraine, Poland, France, the UK and the USA all have variations on 'strong' personality lead right wing governments.

I'm not sure how Boris will measure up to Putin and Trump. But just think of that photo caption opportunity. Two of them staring at each other like some re run of a Frankie Goes To Hollywood Two Tribes video, whilst Boris dangles overhead with a little flag.

So who on here believes that when China decides to dump cars on the european market below cost, the EU will act swiftly to save Mini and Renault? No of course not, they'll worry and worry and be too slow.

Now, who on here believes that if the same happens when we are out of the EU the UK government will step in and protect Mini and Nissan plants in Oxford and Sunderland from £5,000 Chinese cars? Of course not.

These politicians aren't cutting off their own noses to spite their own faces. The negotiators don't work 4 days in a warehouse or making gearboxes than negotiate on Fridays. They couldn't give a toss what the consequences of three years of confused negotiation might be. They'll still be politicians at the end of it. It's just that you might not be a car maker for Nissan. Do you really think they care that much that they will wrap up the deal in a week or three?

6 hours ago, MakemineVanilla said:

I am sure it will bring some sunshine into the lives of those widows whose houses overlook your plot.

Double-spit digging in the spring usually requires the shirt to come off. 

it was like one of those sexist Coca Cola 'coke break' adverts

sometimes, I think I'm just meat to them

Wales as a region certainly does currently have a net monetary gain from the EU. There is nothing that could convince me that George Osbourne or Boris Johnson would simply replace that money rather than reduce spending or offer tax cuts for the good people of Hampshire and Sussex.

But beyond regional winners and losers, the company I work for landed a massive contract with a europe wide company back in the summer of 2015. That contract was going to net us over £100,000 of fees per year for 6 or 7 years. OK that's not in the same ball park as BMW or Airbus. But that is a handful of good jobs underwritten for long while.

That contract is now on a very slow track, essentially treading water to see what the outcome of the referendum is. So we are earning far far less income than we budgeted for. If in June we vote 'stay' the contract picks up again. If we vote 'leave' it will continue to tread water until that Client can be sure its spending share holder money in the right way in the right places. Now that isn't project fear. That's common sense.

What we have to rely on, is on a leave vote, our politicians can tie up all the negotiations with these poor ponderous inefficient european negotiators and completely clarify future trading rules BEFORE small companies run out of money.

Who on this board is confident that our politicians could organise that? Or perhaps I'm just falling for project fear?

@Awol whilst you might have seen steel and nuclear as needing some form of state input or control, I'm not absolutely sure that Boris Johnson and Liam Fox quite see it that way. Unfortunately, it's more likely they will be in charge than you.

The unknown future will cause a pause in investment, anything else would be against shareholder best interest. It's the shareholders that have the power here, not unions or 'people' or flags. 'Investment' isn't some nebulous money thing. It's ordering shiny new kit and ideas from smaller companies.

----

I'm due up the allotment now! .First sunny day on a weekend since about October...

1 minute ago, Awol said:

@chrisp65 The reason why the EU is unlikely to faff about over an EU/UK trade deal is the need to maintain exports uninterrupted to their largest single export market. Taken together the EU nations export more to the UK than to any other country in the world, scores of billions more than the UK sells to them.

Maybe they'll ignore that and deliberately damage their economies further, having watched the open Europe simulated post Brexit negotiations, making a deal with the UK would be the overriding economic priority of the EU. 

As an example of this dynamic approach to protecting their own essential industries and security I guess we can point to the example of steel?

For our ability to strike a great deal, look after our own industry and ensure our security I guess we can also point at steel plus the great deal we've negotiated with China to build nuclear power stations?

There is a disconnect between the ego of politicians in London and Brussels with the day to day lives of car workers in Oxford and steel jobs in Redcar. Skoda sell less cars in Britain for a few years to help French politicians can make some selfish point? So be it.

Jobs in GE at Nantgarw, Airbus at Broughton or Tata in Port Talbot won't suffer a few years of job losses until the medium term up tick happens. Once it's gone, it's gone.

Don't get me wrong, spite and potential downturn due to political idiots is not a good reason to stay. But the presumption politicians will keep industry running for 5 years whilst they discuss per centages of tariffs is a big mistake.

I wouldn't have recognised the name. But that song is on a lot of the mixtapes in the other car.

When I sit in the other car I'm usually given an enthusiastic three person karaoke version of this.

EU is bad at negotiating deals is a bit of an odd argument. We are part of the EU. It is not the EU vs UK right now, we are integral. If the EU is crap at deals ir means we as a member don't have the ability to improve them.

Sitting the opposite side of the table to the crap and ponderously slow negotiator to start a new negotiation will not be making that situation better. The EU with us takes years to do a deal. How will the EU vs UK be any quicker? It's just another one of those arguments that both sides are throwing up that are actually utter tosh when you study them.

As is the constant reference to project fear by people that then go on to tell us how all the rest of the EU are bad people that want to stop us trading with India and want to force us to give our houses to ISIS sleeper cells. 

I still don't want to be forced to choose between two colours of ridiculous flag. Stripes or stars? Good grief.. I'm not actually all that convinced that I'd be better off or my kids better off for living under the good old union jack with it's devotion to the wealth and power of bankers and politicians, London, royalty, Lords, house price inflation and an obsession with dabbling in wars it doesn't understand. 

Still not hearing a good fact based argument relevant to me coming from either side, yet. 

Personally, I'm trying to find out a bit more about the likelihood of Turkey joining any time soon. That could throw the whole debate in to a downward spiral. Interestingly, the UK appears to be one of the main sponsors and supporters of Turkish entry. 

We have a Labour party that has disappeared up it's own arse and a tory party ready to split over europe. Our politicians are very very poor quality. We voted them in.

I am concious I'm morphing in to some Travis Bickle / Victor Meldrew hybrid.

7 hours ago, HanoiVillan said:

Guarantee you're going to be hearing about this:

Champions League does not need likes of Leicester, says US sports executive

 

Closing off European football competitions to include only elite clubs could make them far richer, according to the American sports executive who has held talks with the leading English Premier League teams about a shake-up to long-established league structures.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/mar/04/champions-league-leicester-relevent-sports-charlie-stillitano

A fascinating interview, in so many ways. 

We need more americans and american sports executives this side of the Atlantic. Bring 'em on. Bring their dollars. Bring their transferable skills. Bring daddy's money.  Bring their expertise. Bring their business know how. Bring their 5 year plans. Bring their bright sunny disposition. Bring their free spending. Bring their war veteran apologist arse kissers. Bring their freedoms. Bring their can do attitude. Bring their millions. Bring their drive. Bring their wallets. Bring their henna tattoos. Bring their contacts. Bring their bright futures.

What's the worst that could happen?

medically and scientifically speaking, snot is basically pre cum with a dodgy sat nav

Yep, Horace Andy is quite a new discovery for me, but I'm not sure why, you start reading the lists of musicians on the back of these things and they were all playing on each other's albums. Anyway, very listenable. 

Cover art: I'd never have picked up either of those two album covers as a random purchase. Whereas, I think my first ever Lee Perry album I bought just because I liked the cover, didn't have a clue what would be inside.

@dAVe80 the biscuits were a deliberate munchies joke!! great spot, 20 internet points to your good self!!