AlwaysAVFC

My guess while reading it was that any reduction would only take it upto the standard variable and not below, I guess that's where the clarification is needed.

I've been reading more into what is happening to those on fixes. Martin Lewis still says that there is to be further clarification but there does seem to be advice now on the government website. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-bills-support/energy-bills-support-factsheet-8-september-2022 This seems too good to be true unless I'm interpretting it wrong, taking those figures off my fix takes it to 19.676p for electricity and 6.33p for gas. Comparing that with the 34p and 10.3p for standard variable and even what it is before the October rise. It just feels very low and that it won't work that way.

Erm.. a beautiful touching tribute by Wayne Lineker.

In part due to events yesterday but the announcement of the plan for the energy assistance has been a shambles with more questions than answers. Not sure if it's because he deleted it because the facts weren't clear or because of the criticism and arguments on his tweet about whether he was right to post it yesterday evening, but he said those on a fix might end up with a cheaper rate than the variable because if the way they were lowering the unit price being paid by customers also applied to fixes. He obviously felt it was important as people were cancelling fixes when they might be better to stay. So more waiting for it to be properly announced. It also looks look the cap is applying to businesses too which is great news for businesses, although God knows how much that means the final bill to be paid will amount to and whether they have under predicted the true cost to tax payer.

Should be fun trying to get in touch with the energy companies to come of a fix Will wait until I've seen the unit figures to double check the variable rate is lower than my fix but I imagine it will be.

We got ours one for her 9th birthday We wanted to get her something to listen to music on play games etc. It was a lot cheaper to get an OK android phone than an ipod and couldn't really see much else. She started middle school last year (year 5) a month after she turned 9 and has been good for her to keep on touch with friends and play games together etc. Although we do have to control how much she is on it as it would be too much if we didn't. She would definitely need it this year though. She was in after school club previously but we've decided to let her walk home. Until now I've only occasionally put credit on but will have to put her on some plan now though. I don't think she has a friend without one though so even if we hadn't got it we would be under pressure to do so.

I had a quick scan through the bio but missed that sorry. I'd just repeat what I said about checking whenever you can. Birmingham dogs home, I had the most communication with for dogs and we got ours from Blue Cross had the least come up and don't think I applied for one with them. Dogs trust had a few but felt the they got a lot of applications. Getting in early helps but they do evaluate applications too. So it's like applying for a job and selling yourself to them. RSPCA actually had a few litters of puppies when we were searching but we ideally didn't want a puppy.

Yeah that's Diesel, Patty says all children under 13. She is down as a large dog though and there is no picture at the moment. It is hardwork to look and can see why people just go the puppy route. My wife used to work for Blue Cross so we were only ever rehoming a dog and she wouldn't consider one from abroad either. The first one we arranged to see, it got a bit possessive with a toy so they rang to cancel and changed the age. The next we said we'd take and paid reserving fee. On between picking her up apparently a previous owner tried to claim her and said that it had snapped at a child. Which I think they said to scupper rehoming and centre had no choice but to cancel. They did put us on a priority list though. So the next dog that came up they contacted us and we went to see her and ended up taking her home a few days later.

Ours were 3 & 8 at the time. As I said it was a lot of searching, not many came up and some of those weren't for us. Then of the ones we applied for sometimes we didn't hear back, occasionally there was some communication. Any centre I registered with, I never heard back from. It was the obsessive searching to get in there first that got our success. Just looked on Birmingham dogs home where we got ours. https://birminghamdogshome.org.uk/dog-search-results/?jsf=jet-engine&tax=size:25%2C26%2C27;can-live-with-young-children:89 There is one Lurcher available and another that has been reserved both 8 month old for all age children, one was for over 8's. Lurchers did come up more than most and we didn't want one. Guess you do anyway but make sure you put about volunteering if you apply for any.

How old is your child? We got ours from Birmingham dogs home May last year. Them, Blue Cross, Dogs trust, RSPCA will have dogs for young children as will others. Although if it's anything like when we were looking, you have to be frequently searching, to get in there first when one comes up as there arent many. I had all searches saved and was on my phone a lot going through the sites. An unhealthy amount of time, but had to do it to stand a chance. We were also pretty open to what dog we wanted. We didn't want anything too small or like a Lurcher/greyhound. Some big dogs I think are an automatic no for young children. What are you looking to get ideally?

I went with the British Gas fix in June/Jul. While there were exit fees for a different supplier it is possible to move to another British gas tariff without charge. So I'm presuming you can change to the standard variable. Although I didn't look further into it. So hopefully if it turns out to not be a good move on the fix I can move back to variable and the only damage will be the 3 months paying the currently higher than variable fix. Who knows whether it will go like that, if that ends up being the situation.

Typing this without catching up, but I understand why Russa might feel the hate for Gorbachev, but was it not what happened to USSR/Russia that helped a lot of the oligarchs become what they are?

Encona is my go to hot sauce. I prefer the one with Papaya in it to the original but they don't stock it in the supermarkets near me, so only get it when I end up in one further afield and remember to look. In terms of hot food, I've always had a high tolerance to it and love hot Curries. I can still handle the heat but it does have more of an impact next day than it used to.

Was it the April one, they were actually predicting a slight drop only a month or 2 ago? Unless something is done, little chance of that staying at that figure as well

Had a feeling I'd seen some It was a few years ago now when I lived that way but didnt try it. Might be a tricky one to get hold of though.

Just to add to the good news

I got it in Morrisons, Newquay while down here. I think @Xela often gets his beers in Morrisons too? So I'd definitely try there first. My local one isn't that big and has a very small selection. Newquay had about 4 times more 'craft' beers.

I actually had one the other day too. Very fruity which isn't really my thing a lot of the time. It was OK, took me quite a while to drink it though. Probably wouldn't buy it again.

I drove down to Cornwall Sunday morning. It was a nice drive and early enough to avoid much traffic and other issues. It was quite pleasant most of the time. We weren't in a rush so with a heavy car I kept it at 70 to keep fuel cost down, which is easy to do when it's quiet. While driving on the inside lane, no-one In the middle, there was a car behind me in the outside lane for a couple of miles. I had to over take a lorry, which happened to be at the time the car was finally passing me. As it passed it then cut across me into the inside and also slowing down. Completely baffled me and pissed me off. I've seen people cut across middle lane drivers or realise they need to get off but this was neither. Then had a middle lane driver on her phone (hands free) changing speed from 65-90 and a truck over taking me, slowing down then getting annoyed that I over took it again, when I was in cruise control and didn't change my speed once. For a journey to Cornwall in August it was easy and uneventful apart from a flurry of 15mins.

Disney+ has getting a lot of customers at the moment but they can't be making much money? I had it 3 months for free, now a couple of months into 12months free and also given another 3 months free which I don't need as have the 12. For those that haven't got free deals, i think there's currently a way to get a year for less than £20. Sure some people will stay on but a hell of a lot will get rid once the deals dry up.

No and people bring it on themselves. Through many things in life and work, my motto is 'people are stupid' and i'll try and consider what stupid things people will do, and how they might not listen or read properly. My wife works for a housing association, specifically shared ownership and the amount of people that will get into arrears, have their head in the sand and will still prioritise holidays. You've still got to enjoy yourself but spending a few grand on a holiday when you owe a few grand is crazy when you can lose a house that you part own. It seems a bit ridiculous anyway, but when people are seriously struggling with money the chances that any of that money being used for its intended purpose are slim and that's not even the ones that will use it frivolously. We will see what other suppliers do but I would presume the idea of the help going direct to the suppliers was to avoid this situation?

That interesting, not had an email yet. Its quite a big concern though. Some people can't look after their money and will spend it. I know people who used the payment for those eligible as low earners to put towards a holiday and other stuff. Its like universal credit payments for rent, this should go straight to the housing associations (it can do but not compulsory) people will use it for how they see fit, and sometimes this is not the best use and just causes bigger problems further down the line.

We were offered a fix in June. I looked at the advice then and I think it was consider a fix if it's less than 45/50% increase. I think ours was a 35-40%increase so took it. The advice now is anything less than a 95% increase! taking into account further rises. That is crazy!

I've probably mentioned this at some point before but I went to Germany v England in Berlin. We were in a full, noisy bar with not many English on match day. My mate dropped a Stein and the whole place went quiet and everyone turned round and looked at us. We didn't get thrown out though. Did get a 24 hour exclusion order from Berlin City centre on our way back to the hotel though that night, but that's a different story and would love to have seen our journey from the last bar to the hotel. It would be comedy gold.

It had actually started to come out of my vocabulary, after living away from the Birmingham for a lot of the last 15 years. Having returned nearly 2 years ago, it's become normal saying it again.