Rave

Dan Quayle

Bump- I listened to this on the way home on Friday, and it cracked me up. Highly recommended:).

It looks like it's in good repair but I'd have to call in some tunnel testers to be sure .

Hehehe, good work .

I'm a London bus driver. Our company offered us 4.25% now; then a further 1% in January coupled with a cut in overtime rates by 16% at weekends and 12% on weekdays. Approximately 98% of us told them to shove it. The thing is, if you work it out, to justify the loss of even one day's pay going on strike, we'd have to get an extra .3% for the year offered in return, so I hope it doesn't come to that. Personally, I'd happily vote for 4.8% for the year with no change in overtime rates, and probably begrudgingly accept 4.5-4.6%.

My brother and his girlfriend bought a small one bed flat in Bromley in late 2005. I told them not to of course. Well, I'm going to really enjoy rubbing it in that their flat fell in value by approximately .05% last month . Edit: now I've actually read the story, I'm stunned that the average asking price in Lewisham is £6k higher than in Bromley. Now I like Lewisham, and I've lived here since I was born apart from a few years in Southampton failing to get a degree. The only possible reason I could have for moving to Bromley would be if we had kids and we needed to be in the catchment area for St Olaves (and who knows, I might just possibly be able to manage the fees for my old school by the time they're 11 anyway). But you only need to open your eyes as you drive through each borough to see that Bromley's housing stock is, in general, miles nicer than Lewisham's. I can only think that ridiculous city boy activity in Blackheath (and maybe some of the silly developments in Deptford?) has massively skewed the average.

Just watching yours now DrB- but I couldn't resist watching one of Bruno's that was linked in a sidebar. Sorry if they've been posted before, that this one totally cracked me up: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=aejBR1Z2s8g&...ted&search=

True. But in the UK, the Sunseeker would have paid for by mewing, and/or the owner would have been a braying git .

Not long to wait then.

Well, alright. I'm an uber-bear, and I don't own a house. That won't affect my advice though. If you took out a fix 2 years ago I'd imagine it's at a rate that's relatively low- you don't state, but I'm guessing 5-5.5% or so? You can get over 6% now for a cash ISA, and that may well rise if IRs carry on rising. I'd stick the first 3K every year in an ISA that doesn't charge an exit fee (so you can swap if it becomes uncompetitive). Beyond that point, the mortgage offers the best 'return', so stick the rest in there. If IRs continue to rise, and depending on your fix rate, there may come a time when even after 40% tax on your interest, a savings account is the better deal (though I doubt it). Sorry if this is teaching granny to suck egss, and you were already proposing to continue to use up all your cash ISA allowance every year. As for being unable to borrow the money back, having cash savings being more flexible etc., in your circumstances I reckon the point is moot. Your mortgage will have to be repaid at some point, and that's the end of the story. It doesn't matter what house prices do. As long as you've got a rainy day fund (which you have) then don't worry about it. Just get the best return on the cash you're 'saving', however you do that. The only people who should worry, IMO, are the ones who are already in or are at serious risk of neg. eq.- if they want to walk away, they could conceivably put the savings in one partner's name, and the house + debts in the name of the other, who then goes bankrupt. I dare say it'd be tricky to get away with though.

Maybe, but those tipper trucks frighten the hell out of me, they're just so heavy when they're loaded up. Then there's the fact that you've got to be manoevreing in and out of building sites all the time- I'm bad enough trying to reverse park the bus when I bring it back into the garage. No, although I am tempted to get a (rigid) HGV licence at some point (it'd also upgrade my PCV licence to manual, at the moment I'm automatic only), my current plan to move on and earn a bit more is to become a controller . eightiesgirly, I get surprisingly little hassle from schoolkids, maybe I'm lucky, I only drive past a couple of large schools. The worst I've had was when about 20 11-13 year old girls got on, went upstairs, and started screaming and having a bundle of some description. I parked up at the next stop, ran upstairs and shouted 'OI!!!!', and that was the end of that problem. They were all back in their seats within about 1.5 seconds . I just found out today that from January next year all kids over the age of 11 will have to scan a child rate Oyster card to get a free ride. You can bet I'll be enforcing that rule like a complete jobsworth. Oh yes .

No- but then they don't have a f***ing hard job, which often involves getting out of bed at 3am (like this week- I'll be off to bed very shortly), or working until 1.30am; occasional abuse and frequent low-level rudeness from passengers (although more often from putative fare-dodgers); bad driving and inconsiderateness from most other road users; and the requirement to meet any number of (often totally conflicting) demands from my ultimate employer, TfL. Don't get me wrong, I think my wage is fair, but it's certainly not excessive. I happen to have a private school education and 3 A-Levels (As in Physics and Chemistry, C in Maths); I flunked out of university. If I'd known then what I do now I'd not have messed around for years trying to get back into uni, working in retail or (subsequently) in the civil service. I'm 28 now and I'd be a lot wealthier if I'd been driving a bus since the age of 22. Essentially, the other posters saying that people doing unpopular jobs, or skilled manual labour are often the ones earning the most are absolutely right. My bus company certainly pays most of its office staff less than us drivers.

Yeah LION, you are fairly minted even by London standards (median wage in London was 34k last time I checked). Nontheless you seem to spend it sensibly, so good luck to you! Anyway, my own circumstances: I live in SE London, in a 3-bed terrace worth about 180-200k, rented for £950 a month, which seems to be the going rate round here. I take home about £1500 a month on average from my job as a bus driver- a bit more if there's any overtime going. My wife only works part time though while she does an MA in history (which I foolishly agreed to ) so she only takes home about £480 a month. I have a £2k overdraft and I owe my mum £1650 which we borrowed to cover the moving costs when we moved in here. I've been pretty mean recently, my only luxuries are about £10 on magazines a month, a night down the pub every couple of weeks or so (say £20 a time), and the odd DVD here or there. My wife probably spends a little more than that on her silly diet food, magazines, buying lunch instead of taking sandwiches etc. but not a great deal more (since I explained to her how things add up ). Phones and cable TV are £100 a month. Anyway, long story short, my wife's wages cover our day to day living costs like food and going down the pub, and also cover our mobile phones and gym membership (council, £23p/m each). My wages pay all the rest of the bills. Even so I would be reducing my overdraft by £200-300 a month, were it not for the fact that every month there's some exceptional cost to be splashed out on- in May it was new tyres and shocks for my motorbike, in June a booze cruise and some garden furniture so my wife could throw a party for my birthday (which again I was foolish to agree to), this month it was some spending money for the holiday she's gone on with her parents, next month it'll be my bike insurance renewal....and so on until Christmas, I expect. So I'm basically standing still. Which isn't terrible, but I'd really like to pay off the overdraft (and my mum).

I read a report- which I guess may or may not be true, but I tend to believe that it is- that Blears, during her campaign for the Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party, said something along the lines of: "I passed the 11 plus, and went to grammar school. I'm now a minister in the Government. My brother failed the 11 plus, went to a secondary modern, and is now a bus driver. That's why I'm against Grammar Schools". Now of course I don't need to explain to the folks on here how absurd a statement that is. I will however post what I would say to Blears were I ever to meet her, which is the following: "I was lucky enough to go to a private school; one which in the year I took my A-Levels came 81st in the national League Tables. I left with a higher than average set of A-Level results for that school. I'm now a bus driver. I do a worthwhile job, transporting the working populace to and from work, and sometimes to and from their recreational activities. You on the other hand are a member of the government that has presided over a threefold increase in the cost of houses, a massive increase in the tax burden, the conduct of an unpopular and possibly illegal war, a massive increase in the rate of violent crime, a widening of the gap between rich and poor, a massive increase in both government and individual debt, and a serious erosion of our rights to privacy and our civil liberties (amongst other things). Not a day goes by when I'm not enormously thankful for the superb education I received. Thank you for your efforts to deny my children the same opportunity."

Shame I missed this, I live the other side of Lewisham (Catford). Might have to get the bus up there and have a shufty. Maybe I could combine a ride on the 199 with a trip to the Docklands 2000 car auction, which was fun last time I went:).

Our company seem to be offering about 4% (I'm a bus driver). I get the impression that nobody is minded to accept that .

I'd piss off to somewhere cheaper and better. I only stick with this country because I'm convinced it'll return to relative normality within the next few years, and because I like my friends and family and would miss them if I emigrated. It'll take 6-7 years of continued rises/stagnation before I'm convinced it really is different this time though- because that would be, AFAIK, the first time ever in history a major bubble hasn't popped spectacularly. All these people who've turned bull, or simply thrown in the towel and bought in the last year, are the kind of weak minded losers who will spend the rest of their lives getting screwed over. Ultimately, you have to believe the historical evidence, and screw everybody else's opinion. If my wife were to walk in here right now and say that either we buy this year or she divorces me, she'd be packing her bags on December 31st. Because ultimately nothing in life, even your marriage, is worth spending the rest of your life in penury for, or living the rest of your life knowing that you allowed yourself to get utterly financially assraped.

What machines exactly do they use at the annual meeting of the London Fire Authority? And how exactly are people expected to get injured at said meeting? Have you actually read the article you linked to?

Gotta be the inimitable RFD for me. The man appears to walk the line between genius and madness, which results in some all time classic posts. If the madness is affected, and it's all genius, then I apologise to you mate . I also always read threads by RichM and DrBubb. RichM I don't always agree with but I enjoy his style.

I don't have huge debts anyway, and it doesn't bother me if people who were stupid enough to amass them get screwed.

I'm pretty sure Private Eye has covered this, before anyone is tempted to write it off because of the source;).

LMAO!

No politician is ever going to come out in favour of a house price crash- it would be electoral suicide. I think he's doing a pretty admirable job of sounding a warning without actively burying his chances of re-election. Much as I want there to be an HPC, a lot of people are going to get badly burnt, many of them decent people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

You will never win a war on drugs- to try is to fail. Can't remember who said that because I'm pissed but they were right. Skunk though- nasty stuff that messes with your head. It's bad for me, that I do know.

Your love for Schiff surely gives the lie to your impartiality? I think he's great, but then I'm a bear, so I would think that. I reckon someone with no preconceptions watching that item might come away with the impression that things could go either way.