MACDONALDO67

Sorry to hear that but glad you are now happy. You have to do what is right for you and your son.

My friend emigrated to Perth last October and he lives in a place called Wembley, south of the city. He sent me a picture of two Tiger snakes just loitering about in the reeves in his local park. Having said that humans are responsible for thousands of deaths every single year yet the poor old Great White gets labelled as the killer and contributes to a few deaths a year.... in its own territory. Shame really but yes snakes do get bad press.

And yet in Hawaii there isn't anything other than the humans that is dangerous on land.... just what's in the sea. Cyprus has three poisonous snakes, one of which is bad but nothing compared to Oz.

Well that's Dandy. A few years ago, in fact it was around 2000, I ordered a pair of Oakley Half Jacket glasses from the USA and the customs slapped a tax charge on the import. I got the glasses for something around £40 but the tax was about £15 to £25 so it worked out I might as well have not bothered.

Are there not import tax charges when ordering from the UK or USA or do you ask the sender to tick the "gift" box? :laugh:

Just as long as it doesn't rain for when we get over there at the end of December :biglaugh:

Desperado and Kerry. When you were going to Oz were you excited, ecstatic, looking forward to the change of life? Without trawling through your posts what happened? What went so wrong? What was it that made you dislike Australia? Just interested to know.

Anyone see that you tube link of Glenda Jackson. She said it about right.

Great Debate. Puts feet up, opens beer and box of popcorn.

I'm a beer drinker. Might call in for my 1p :biglaugh:

I'm confused. One minute they are harping on about obesity, heart disease, liver damage and by putting the price up they are saving your life and using it as a reason to quit. Now they lower it? Reporting that people are living longer yet the above is contradictory if there is a drinking, obesity, smoking problem??? Just items used as an excuse to raise taxes.

All I'll say is that under Thatcher and the Tories the hospital's in 1986 were a disgrace. I was only 18/19 then but in A&E you had to wait up to 2 sometimes 3 hours to be seen. There was a shortage of staff and doctors/nurses were run ragged. It took three days for my dad to die under this lot because they didn't have the staff to deal with him and sent him home, throwing up, head banging, in a taxi. There were no beds for him to keep him in. They brushed it off as flu, bug. It was a brain haemorrhage. It took them until the 3rd day to think it was meningitus then when they said they were moving him to Walton we knew it was far more serious. Roll on 2007 when my mum come down with a tumour on the lung. Under Labour the equipment was there, the service was there and after the operation where they took a third of my mums right lung out, she made a full recovery and is still alive today. I know who I trust with the health service. Cuts to services costs lives. Do you know how many hospitals are under review in this country for losing their A&E? That's a lot of extra time in emergency calls to get to and from an A&E department = lowers chance of survival. I think the worst is yet to come for this Island and I reckon we haven't touched base on the full extremity of the cuts. When people's livelihoods, lives are being affected I don't expect this Tory lot to get in, in 2015. It will either be Labour or a coalition involving Labour.

By the way. Not only did Brown sell the gold but he also took a hefty chunk out of the pensions pot because that pot exceeded the 5% profit. Now look at where we are with the pensions. That's one thing, the pensions, I have not forgiven Brown for. Then again, to him, the little people are all Bigoted.

You'll love it there it's buzzing at that time of year. We are heading for the Family and Old Farts quiet area. :biglaugh:

Which part of Ibiza you going? We are going San Miguel in August. Top of the Island.

The time will pass. It will soon come around. Just have fun until then and at least it will fly.:laugh:

I seem to remember that we had growth in 2009 before Labour were jousted from Power and since the austerity announcements and cuts it's been shizer. Labour spent and spent and invested. There was no plan B. They didn't expect the crash to happen in the USA and everyone had been living beyond their means. Some people tried to tell them but they didn't listen. They had become complacent. So when the crash happened, (which incidentally affected everyone around the world just in case you had forgotton), Labour were caught out with their pants around their ankles. So here we are 3 years on and we are all talking about a triple dip. There is no growth. How do you get it? There is no money but we are talking about billions for HS2? Osbourne has no experience or qualifications in finance. He's only in that position because of his buddy. At what point will he admit that his policy and direction is not working and change it? He won't, they won't because that will be seen as a failure and a big mistake, especially when all the other countries bar Greece/Cyprus now, are in a better position than the UK. So come 2015 when Labour or A.N Other get in, it will be the mess inherited and so the blame game goes on.

Nice, Fair non biased report. Glad you are enjoying it. We are there in December/January and Northshore has already given me some pointers at The Rocks. Just need to time it nicely for "Happy Hour" or won't be happy. :biglaugh:

We need a party for the working and middle classes and families. This lot in now most certainly are not for families otherwise they would not have come up with that crack pot idea for abolishing child benefit. Labour, thanks to Blair and his lies, are not the same party anymore. So there really there isn't anyone worth voting for and whoever gets in means certain fragments of the working and middle classes are fcuked.

Yeah well I got called a liar.

I can't get the computer to post a copy of this months bill but the table below is what I drew up from my on line statements. I've been trying to work out a pattern why fuel is so high when in comparison to others we are very careful Wife, two kids, computers, TV's, lots of clothes washing and the size of the house but even then it still sounds a lot. GAS [TABLE] [TR] [TD]DATE [/TD] [TD]KWH [/TD] [TD]TOTAL [/TD] [TD]£ [/TD] [TD]TOTAL £ [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Jan – 31st Jan 2012 [/TD] [TD]1097.68 [/TD] [TD]1097.68 [/TD] [TD]55.52 [/TD] [TD]55.52 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Feb – 29th Feb 2012 [/TD] [TD]2905.26 [/TD] [TD]4002.94 [/TD] [TD]133.70 [/TD] [TD]189.22 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Mar – 31st Mar 2012 [/TD] [TD]1358.50 [/TD] [TD]5361.44 [/TD] [TD]66.87 [/TD] [TD]256.09 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Apr – 30 Apr 2012 [/TD] [TD]1436.43 [/TD] [TD]6797.87 [/TD] [TD]70.01 [/TD] [TD]326.10 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st May – 31st May 2012 [/TD] [TD]786.55 [/TD] [TD]7584.42 [/TD] [TD]41.98 [/TD] [TD]368.08 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Jun – 30th Jun 2012 [/TD] [TD]377.61 [/TD] [TD]7962.03 [/TD] [TD]23.92 [/TD] [TD]392.00 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st July – 31st July 2012 [/TD] [TD]333.20 [/TD] [TD]8295.23 [/TD] [TD]22.24 [/TD] [TD]414.24 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Aug – 31st Aug 2012 [/TD] [TD]209.95 [/TD] [TD]8505.18 [/TD] [TD]16.88 [/TD] [TD]431.12 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Sep – 30 Sep 2012 [/TD] [TD]612.69 [/TD] [TD]9117.87 [/TD] [TD]34.16 [/TD] [TD]465.28 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Oct – 31st Oct 2012 [/TD] [TD]1360.51 [/TD] [TD]10478.38 [/TD] [TD]66.96 [/TD] [TD]532.24 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Nov – 30 Nov 2012 [/TD] [TD]1615.51 [/TD] [TD]12093.89 [/TD] [TD]77.81 [/TD] [TD]610.05 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Dec – 31st Dec 2012 [/TD] [TD]2581.56 [/TD] [TD]14675.54 [/TD] [TD]120.11 [/TD] [TD]730.16 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [TABLE] [TR] [TD]DATE [/TD] [TD]KWH [/TD] [TD]TOTAL [/TD] [TD]£ [/TD] [TD]TOTAL £ [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Jan – 31st Jan 2013 [/TD] [TD]2439.90 [/TD] [TD]2439.90 [/TD] [TD]113.95 [/TD] [TD]113.95 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Feb – 29th Feb 2013 [/TD] [TD]2036.98 [/TD] [TD]4476.88 [/TD] [TD]95.66 [/TD] [TD]209.61 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Mar – 31st Mar 2013 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Apr – 30 Apr 2013 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st May – 31st May 2013 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Jun – 30th Jun 2013 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st July – 31st July 2013 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Aug – 31st Aug 2013 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Sep – 30 Sep 2013 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Oct – 31st Oct 2013 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Nov – 30 Nov 2013 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Dec – 31st Dec 2013 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] ELECTRICITY [TABLE] [TR] [TD]DATE [/TD] [TD]KWH [/TD] [TD]TOTAL [/TD] [TD]£ [/TD] [TD]TOTAL £ [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Jan – 31st Jan 2012 [/TD] [TD]605.57 [/TD] [TD]605.57 [/TD] [TD]87.83 [/TD] [TD]87.83 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Feb – 29th Feb 2012 [/TD] [TD]640.00 [/TD] [TD]1245.57 [/TD] [TD]92.21 [/TD] [TD]180.04 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Mar – 31st Mar 2012 [/TD] [TD]629.00 [/TD] [TD]1874.57 [/TD] [TD]91.04 [/TD] [TD]271.08 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Apr – 30 Apr 2012 [/TD] [TD]691.00 [/TD] [TD]2565.57 [/TD] [TD]99.35 [/TD] [TD]370.43 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st May – 31st May 2012 [/TD] [TD]577.00 [/TD] [TD]3142.57 [/TD] [TD]83.93 [/TD] [TD]454.36 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Jun – 30th Jun 2012 [/TD] [TD]544.00 [/TD] [TD]3686.57 [/TD] [TD]79.26 [/TD] [TD]533.62 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st July – 31st July 2012 [/TD] [TD]643.00 [/TD] [TD]4329.57 [/TD] [TD]92.95 [/TD] [TD]626.57 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Aug – 31st Aug 2012 [/TD] [TD]438.00 [/TD] [TD]4767.57 [/TD] [TD]64.93 [/TD] [TD]691.50 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Sep – 30 Sep 2012 [/TD] [TD]560.77 [/TD] [TD]5328.34 [/TD] [TD]81.55 [/TD] [TD]773.05 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Oct – 31st Oct 2012 [/TD] [TD]655.23 [/TD] [TD]5983.57 [/TD] [TD]94.62 [/TD] [TD]867.67 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Nov – 30 Nov 2012 [/TD] [TD]577.96 [/TD] [TD]6561.53 [/TD] [TD]83.90 [/TD] [TD]951.57 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Dec – 31st Dec 2012 [/TD] [TD]803.04 [/TD] [TD]7364.57 [/TD] [TD]114.83 [/TD] [TD]1066.40 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [TABLE] [TR] [TD]DATE [/TD] [TD]KWH [/TD] [TD]TOTAL [/TD] [TD]£ [/TD] [TD]TOTAL £ [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Jan – 31st Jan 2013 [/TD] [TD]717.00 [/TD] [TD]717.00 [/TD] [TD]103.07 [/TD] [TD]103.07 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Feb – 29th Feb 2013 [/TD] [TD]675.00 [/TD] [TD]1392.00 [/TD] [TD]96.84 [/TD] [TD]199.91 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Mar – 31st Mar 2013 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Apr – 30 Apr 2013 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st May – 31st May 2013 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Jun – 30th Jun 2013 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st July – 31st July 2013 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Aug – 31st Aug 2013 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Sep – 30 Sep 2013 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Oct – 31st Oct 2013 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Nov – 30 Nov 2013 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]01st Dec – 31st Dec 2013 [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

They are not made up figures. They are true factual costs and Mid November through to the end of this month my bills are knocking on in the £90's. I don't know why? I'm starting to wonder if my metre's are faulty but the house is newish, 10 years old. It's a detached 3 storey and it's not as if we are hammering the fuel. If I can work out how to copy and paste a picture of my bills or graph, (it is British Gas I am with), then it will astound you. I can't work out why they are high but the neighbours in the houses either side, same type of house, have similar bills. One of them pays a fortune in water costs compared to us and they can't work out what is wrong there either.

This is the crucks of it. Those very rich politicians don't know what ordinary folk go through. I bet that they don't even know how much council tax they pay, what their electricity or gas costs come to, how much milk is etc. They have the money there to just pay it and that is if it isn't off their expenses. The latest Government spin is with the fuel. Swap your provider. So I went on Uswitch and fed in my total gas and electricity consumption for the year. If I switch I save £143 alegedly. However, the figures I input are based on the cost before the 7% increase and swapping companies usually takes a few months with lots of paperwork and phone calls from both providers of which one is asking why you are leaving for the future company you switch to....... to put up their prices. So the saving isn't that great. I actually dread this future power shortage we in the UK are going to be hit with. I expect the prices to go sky high. My gas and electricity last month came to £93 each ish, £186 and we only had the gas/hot water on for an hour in the morning, an hour in the evening and sometimes in the afternoon depending on the temperature outside. Yet it's still expensive in the winter months and only cheaper, (gas mainly) in the summer. The electricity is't much of a difference and we use energy saving goods, bulbs, machines. Puzzled here. So yes I just think the politicians (everywhere) are out of touch with family life in the jungle because in their little bubbles life is so great.

That's great. There are some jobs just advertised at Rio Tinto. Think I'll put in knowing I have no chance. :biglaugh:

:biglaugh: Hats off to you and someone fell for it !!!