Doesn't Commute Anymore

When you have a baby, suddenly its all you want to talk about. Maybe I should find a baby forum for a while to deal with this - if only they weren't full of mortgaged, smug "my house is worth blah" types.......(***hugs***)

I found their stores poorly staffed and lacking knowledgeable staff able to give advice to help facilitate a purchase, which is what they need to do at the prices they are asking - i.e. offer good customer service, like mamas and papas do (but at a price). Also looked at pushchairs and the Mothercare junior sales assistant was about 16-18 and unable to demonstrate. This would be the same in a large Asda. The John Lewis, conversely, had an expert salesperson, and surprisingly matched the price of mothercare. I suspect there is a lot of profit margin in baby goods, hence why John Lewis can price match with their higher overheads. With new babies, people will give you hand-me-downs and things are very cheap at charity shops. You need a quality pram (sit-in, as flat ones only last 2 months), a quality cot and a quality bottle sterilizer system - microwave being very handy - IMHO. Everything else can be cheap and lower quality as little one grows so quickly anyway and half of baby accessories get lost or left behind/stepped on long before they wear out. Edit: Oh, and a quality car seat to make the list complete (again, friends can offer hand-down or some prams come with a free one)

I'm a new dad, so have learned a lot about baby stores recently (before, I didn't really notice them much). My wife and I only shop in the mothercare during sales. Their products and clothes are too expensive and easily undercut by Asda, Sainsburys etc.who actually do quite nicely on the quality front, particularly for baby clothes. The likes of home bargains make much of the toy and plasticware at a fraction of the price, and such things need not be good quality as they get lost/stepped on/broken quickly anyway. Mothercare seem to be too expensive. Their stores are often in locations or shopping centres where people seek value as well. That said, its always mothercare vouchers we get given by friends, so I guess they have a certain brand reputation from years back.

Woking is officially the second least deprived city or town in the UK, according to Office of National Statistics data which applies rating for factors such as income, employment, health, education, skills and training and crime level. Guildford tops the list, so can continue to look down on its Surrey sister. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35842488 I'm a little surprised Woking is so far up, and how far ahead both Guildford and Woking are of other UK towns (both 10% clear of the chasing pack, places like St Albans, Bath etc) . I don't know how areas are defined and where the borders of towns are identified, but I can only imagine both these bastions of Surrey commuter belt-ism exploit the nice surrounding rural areas in their data to get this far ahead. I'm thinking Hastelmere, Worplesdon, Chobham etc.

Platinum crossed $1000 today. A psychological barrier only, but interesting to note (I had a little purchase for fun a few years ago - its still deep underwater)

ha ha, very good

Why oh why do people buy once its gone up a lot. You're not a true goldbug until you've held it through a prolonged trough.

Good question. + My job conditions deteriorated a few years ago when living somewhere cheaper (Liverpool), so I switched employer. This is common. The Liverpool-Euston trains got a lot busier on Thursday/Friday after 7pm when the economy tanked - thats people who live NW but work London/SE getting home for the weekend/long weekend. Its far easier to find suitable work in the same field in London / SouthEast where living costs lead to more job opportunities (more transient workforce). + Wife is not from the UK. Heathrow/Gatwick are the only proper international airport hubs in the UK to allow direct flights to non-major destinations. A direct flight is very valuable if transatlantic - changing at LHR/GTW to then fly up to Manchester etc. adds about 6 hours onto a trip, so up to 14 hours plus travel to/from airport if switching planes, and thats the difference between needing an extra day to recover, or not.

Normally, I advocate declaring the end of February as the end of gold's 'up season', which I define as beginning at the start of September. So I used to suggest that people get ready for a bit of doldrums action in the months ahead around now in the calender . But that would be madness this year - it is clearly an atypical seasonal year. Market risk should continue to rise, and probably remain underpriced. Interest rates are in danger of falling, perhaps negatively. The next action with the US may possibly be to have to reverse its interest rate rise, which would be very damaging for market sentiment . GBP is also a weak currency while euro uncertainly continues until 23 June. So I see no doldrums this year, especially for those working in GBP.

almost a GBP grand slam in place on goldprice.org .....first time in a long while

Depends - if you cannot wait any longer and can really negotiate a bargain, or if circumstances force things (kids into nearby schools etc.), then maybe but the markets look a bit Lehman Brothers-y and in danger of a big collapse. Delay any exchange as long as possible into the spring would be my advice in case.

I've enjoyed this thread more than any for a while. It's climaxed in tandem with the government's enforcement of the contract anyway and it has teased out the reasons for the strike not really catching the support of the public, and certainly not the policy-makers. The cherry on the cake was hooking the god-complex, qualification-quoting "I think I am worth more" junior doctor on the fishing line, who seems to likes his sick patients, alongside their presumably stressed relatives, in a state of unconsciousness to avoid requiring care and compassion skills, and believes he will countenance any fall in wages by running off to GSK or Schroders or wherever else he sees a high salary, despite clearly lacking the analytical, regulatory or people skills to transfer to those sectors. That doctor has lost his mission in life and is not following the founding principles of the hippocratic oath. He is like an MP who hates his constituents, or a midwife who hates babies. He/she should take his wage bill to another country's taxpayers, I really welcome that outcome. Here is why the junior doctors lost. Yes, its a daily mail article by a senior GP. But senior members of the profession have inherent values in their practice of medicine that the new generation, on the picketline, have lost. Plus, the daily mail readership is your client-base as an NHS worker, be them "illiterates" or not. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3446180/I-m-sick-striking-doctors-says-GP-Medic-REALLY-tough-delivers-damning-verdict-militant-colleagues.html A few personal notes: + There is a general confusion in the junior profession between new and old values of practicing medicine, as I keep saying. As a profession, it was traditionally a calling to dedicate your life to the care of others, not an entitlement to earn high wages where you dictate when you are willing to care for the patient. If you want the latter, then fine, but you are subject to supply and demand wages like other regular contracted jobs. And in that case, lets have more medical schools to control supply better (The Open University medical school project needs re-starting). + the whole economy and workforce is stretched. Stop claiming you are more stretched. Its a broken record. PR mistake #1. + words like "care" and "compassion" need to be used around arguments involved patient care. They have not been used in this campaign. PR mistake #2. + Any argument about patient safety revolves around the patient's level of care. Not the practitioners wallet. PR mistake #3. + Modern medicine is interdisciplinary and team-based. If the argument is going to be "#juniorcontract - its everyone's fight", then it needs to be everyone's fight involving the out of hours contracts of these other professions, who incidentally conduct themselves with far more dignity. You need to be campaigning for those overworked midwifes and understaffed lab technicians not just BMA members. The salary of one profession within the hospital is not everyone's fight at all. This isn't just a PR mistake, its a breakdown in the relations between you and other healthcare professions. + Just like we see elsewhere on HPC, junior doctors have the raw end of the intergenerational deal here. Your older GP and hospital consultant colleagues got too generous a contract last time, so that leaves the juniors to take a cut to balance the books. Where are those senior staff in the press pictures of protesting medicine? In their 6 bedroom detatched houses. They dont support junior doctors either. + BMA looks increasingly militant and willing to hold the public to ransom. Its like the train drivers. BMA reputation is in tatters. Patients are not pawns in a game.

protesting so publicly and with such vitriol about the pay supplement for working unsociable hours suggests that the doctors unions actually think they should work 'conventional' hours, or at least that junior doctors deserve more financial reward than present for this out-of-hours aspect of their job. Do the nurses, paramedics and medical technical officers etc etc get this pay supplement the doctors want as well for unsociable hours? Are the doctors "#fighting' for them too? Are these other healthcare professionals on strike calling things #unfairandunsafe unless they get more ? No, no and no. By the way, there is a critical shortage in the NHS of medical technical officers (they repair cancer radiotherapy treatment machines,maintain blood test machines etc.) and those willing to train in the profession with a BSc clinical technology degree and workplace training. Maybe they should earn more for their unsociable hours (I am not one, but used to work with several about 10 years ago). If medicine is not a calling any more , then maybe its just another job, subject to supply and demand wages. Lack of MTOs training, lots of medical school applications. I'd pay these technologists more than their low AfC band 5-6 salary, not doctors, to keep the NHS running. Hospitals are staffed by many more essential professionals than just doctors, and these other groups are not complaining about the inevitable out of hours aspects of their healthcare job. Doctors have scored a PR own goal here, so the savvy politicians have just gone ahead with enforcing the contract. Everything is stretched - schools, hospitals, councils, universities, military, easyjet pilots, charities etc etc. Doctors no different here. That's a dead argument. I still argue that the problem is that a career in medicine has gradually gone from being a calling in life (for those with a high affinity to care for others) to being a bit too much of a safe middle class profession (for those wanting an appropriate lifestyle). The priest/vicar doesnt go on strike because of having to do late night visits to the sick and vulnerable - thats his/her expected role and why he/she gets such high community standing. Same should be the case for a doctor. In fact, if doctors keep going down this line, they will lose their standing in the wider world. Actually, my local GP surgery is a small village practice. The old village GP (retired last year) was a classic rural doctor doing night visits and visiting old folk on his way home to check up on them - being a village GP was his true calling in life. His young replacement does actually work Mon-Fri 9-5 (ok, maybe 8-6) and hires "virgin healthcare" to run an out of hours practice in the nearest large town. He isnt contactable at weekends. Incidentally, he isnt getting much respect from his local community. There is a good lesson there for doctors.

I still don't understand how paying more to junior doctors for unsociable working hours "makes the NHS safer". Not sure more pay = more safety for patients. If doctors were campaigning for working less weekly hours, so to be less tired while practising medicine, I might agree. But this isnt a protest about the number of working hours, its about pay rates for the unsocial parts of those same hours. So its about financial rewards. Less tired doctors may improve the health service. I dont think better financially rewarded doctors do. GPs got a huge pay rise a few years ago, and their quality of care hasnt changed from what I can see.

It's not ridiculous at all. The hypocratic oath is the key point of the 17 page thread. Doctors in the UK have lost touch with their origins and founding principles. Medicine should be a calling, like being a priest, and not a career choice for lifestyle/material/comfortable middle class lifestyle attainment. Treating and caring for people has never been a 9-5 role. So complaining that being a doctor (i.e. treating and caring for people) is unsafe unless junior doctors get paid more for outside 9-5 care is against the very principle of the profession.

Don't doctors sign a Hippocratic oath? The profession is supposed to be a calling - done for the motivation of treating/helping people - not with the aim of trousering lots of cash, or expecting extra cash for working Saturdays. If medics want Saturdays off, then choose a 9-5 Mon-Fri profession, which medicine is not. If they want more money and a 9-5 lifestyle, then frankly train as an accountant. I'm fed up of seeing press articles with protests of junior doctors outside hospital entrances, all middle class and called Sophie or Rupert, complaining about hospitals being unsafe for patients unless they doctors get extra cash incentives at weekends. Where is the 'helping the patient' spirit they all put on their UCAS forms at application? Midwifes and nurses do unsociable hours without the middle class moaning - its what they signed up to at career entry. For once, I am with the Tory minister on this. I dont see any hard up doctors anyway, but I do see plenty who are disillusioned or unmotivated as they chose the wrong career. Perhaps cut the salaries and take those with the calling, rather than those who see it as a middle class lifestyle, its not as if the medical schools lack large numbers of quality applications.

Gold up 14.44% in GBP in 30 days, so a pullback is sort of inevitable. The sudden recent lurch upwards may be explained by some weekend announcement, lets wait and see. Banking failure or interest rate drop?

OK, anyone who posts a rocket gets reported to the moderators!

The story is the same in Surrey (commutable Surrey at least). Yes, its the ripple effect - grim/pokey flat in london (but with all the city location offers) vs acceptable house outside of London (but with a commute time/cost) was a trade-off that became unbalanced a few years back when London prices went mad. The trains are busier than they were in the mornings, I am surprised at the rises in Surrey, similar to what you say here for Herts, in the timeframe. I guess they are unsustainable, particularly if London falls or stagnates and the London living option becomes somewhat do-able again for more than just those given a hefty financial start in life. commutable surrey : 30-35 minutes to Waterloo : 270k now 360k for low-end 3 bed semi in three years, 220k now 300k for a low-end 2 bed terrace in 3 years. (PS - please don't shoot the messenger, It's madness and is sucking all disposable income out of the economy, plus giving those in their 20s/30s a lack of hope in life)

Belvoirs tried to charge me for made up items of wear and tear. I took them to the Tenancy Deposit Scheme and won my case, Please read all here if they have tried the same with you: http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?/topic/188868-do-i-cash-the-cheque/

Camberley is a pig to get to by train (change at Ash Vale) - meaning you have to get there by car, and there is no decent free parking. The wife hates paying for parking. Personally. I find Camberley very 'high density' in terms of people, cars on the road etc. - always being walked in front of in the street or have a car pull out in front of you on the road. Its like shopping in Waterloo outside platform 10 at 6pm. Surrey really is Guildford or nothing for shopping, Woking very average. As I said before, Woking is fine to live in, but live rural on the outskirts to get the benefits and only do so once you are a bit older and so tired of the desire for "London buzz" or "shopping experience". Gardening, book clubs, village fairs etc is the local scene. One downside is that commuters such as me have moved in and killed the local village pubs - the odd pint on a weekend isnt enough to keep them running business wise. Those that survive are scarce and basically restaurants serving expensive gastro food. Its quiet and dark at night, and safe. But there's not a good choice of places to eat out or be seen drinking in. There's a village hall though with yoga on a tuesday and allotment society thursday etc. etc. I see the Woking thread is now labelled as "hot" on the forum software. Never has Woking been so excitingly described!!!

I cut that cost a little by using a Boris bike from Waterloo - which I actually enjoy riding - every day Car insurance fell 80% comparing Woking/Surrey to central Liverpool, where I was before. Actually, crime in rural village-y Surrey is very low, so thats other savings on insurance etc. And qality of life improvements. Possibly cheaper childcare costs as well. But the way I see it, and that suits me personally, is that the extra I pay on a season ticket pays for the rural walks, canals, fields and the feeling of not being in London or its suburbs on a saturday or sunday. I agree - You are not exploiting the advantages of the Woking area by living centrally in the town and in a flat. Living here optimally is about some sort of village home/city work lifestyle.

I agree with worried1. Lots of nice countryside around Woking, better train links to London (I never need to stand except 7.46/53 trains, which I avoid by flexi-hours), people less snobby than Guildford better value all round. Woking area is great if you are past the "looking for London-buzz" stage of your life and have thrown away the need for rampant consumerism (town centre functional but not high-end shopping). If you are an ex-Londonite looking for cafe culture and boutique shopping experience, it will have to be Guildford or nothing in Surrey. I recommend living in villages around Woking and getting into station by bike, or alternatively living around Worpleston/Brookwood stations so you can walk/cycle to station. That Brookwood Farm development looks OK, but there are better ways to spend £500k in terms of quality of house and garden in the area, and walkability to a commuter station. Village community living with established clubs and activities is a strong benefit to Knaphill/Brookwood/Pirbright life etc. and you are probably throwing that away by living in a newbuild estate like Brookwood farm. Just to bear in mind. Downsides of Woking villages : a bit army-ish in places, taking the wife somewhere special (i.e. valentines) gets unexciting quickly - there really is a limited choice of places nearby, the area probably suits settled couples/families and certainly not singletons. House prices seem very variable depending on whether commuting is 'in fashion' or not. Prices have gone up a lot in last few years (as priced-outers give up on Surbiton etc.) but they fell hard in the 2007 housing slump, according to historic data, seemingly because Surbiton and London living became more do-able. So you need to realise you are living in a "compromise area" that responds in price inversely to supply of London houses. .

You are making dangerous and niave assumptions about the friendliness of foreign countries in diplomatic situations. Stop thinking the world would embrace Scotland and welcome it into organisations like NATO. Expect hostility from other countries with separatist regions, and exploitation from whomever offers a "helping hand" to a new Scotland. Expect to have no control over fiscal policies when piggybacking on another countries currency.

I'm not sure what Danceswithsheeple has to do with this discussion, I will assume its an (understandable) mistake in use of the overly complex quote system, and that the part below is actually your direct answer. I suspect you are angry as you clearly have looked up who I am on the HPC portal, and picked the name of my hometown from 6 years ago. That's not normal behavior for people responding to posts (have you looked up people 2500 times for each of your posts? If not, why me? ). Well, to answer the personal bit, I don't live in MK anymore, it reminded me too much of West Lothian new town Livingstone, which is depressing, and so I left. Incidentally, I see no correlation whatsoever between the number of posts people make here and the quality of the individual's discussion. I suspect a relationship, if any, would be weakly inverse to that. People busy enriching their lives with real world activities, rather than clocking up hours (months?) online here being exposed to groupthink, probably offer more enlightening input. I expect anyone who reads on here to be acutely aware of the powers of a central bank though, and what relying on another countries for fiscal policy would entail. You've walked into a trap with the Panama issue. Even Salmond didn't want Scotland's scenario to be compared to a Panama model. You can hunt weak facts or google images all you want. (your argument is rubbish - Most capitals in this part of the world are heavily built up and skyscrapered - Bogatoa, Caracus etc). The reality I will describe, from a traveler to Panama approx annually over the last 3 years, due to my wife's nearby nationality : Perhaps the majority of people live in poverty, many in housing that would make you stop discussing UK housing problems ever again (all UK houses have reliable sanitation), the government lacks any control over the pricing of goods or the costs of imports/exports. As a result, industry is very poor and employment levels very variable, with the exception of the Canal, which brings in something like $2bn a year only, as it is at capacity. Jimmy Carter gave the governance of the Canal back to Panama, but the US menacingly still controls what goes in and out, and the finances to its much needed expansion for larger ships (the technological problem besides bigger locks etc. is the availability of water from the reservoir at the top of the mountains) is all US and dollar dependent, as there is no central bank to do otherwise! The US have a stranglehold on Panama and can do as they please, before through the Albrook military base (now partly a huge upper class shopping mall) and now through fiscal control. Most of Panama's industries are off-shore style banking, who knows how much is off books, but certainly not much income from it flows into the government via taxes. You are either part of the 10% in that industry (and well off) or you are in the other 90%. All have their fortunes tied to the US. Do you really want to float Scotland as a next Panama? Please don't brush off news articles as "msm brainwashing" etc. You ask for evidence, then dismiss it. See groupthink above. Scotland would have to apply to join NATO and to join the EU. Both have unfortunate sign up clauses (dont expect Belgian or Spanish help, or help from their mates, with anything due to their separatist region issues, so joining may not be possible and may be blocked repeatedly). The EU would demand a Shengan agreement, creating a physical border between England and Scotland. The trains would stop at Carlisle/Newcastle as I tell you. NATO would want a big boost in state military spending and probably some form of minimum armed forces sizes. That's Scotland's hypothetical oil money just spent. Oil revenues by 2016 may be around £3 billion (see the Heriot-Watt Professor Dorrik Stow's work)