Funny thing is I do remember about ox-bow lakes AND I do live on the side of a hill

 

He does, or at least he used to, he sold one to me.

 

One born every minute.

 

We rent on a big hill. Where do we stand? ;-)

 

Classic early condender for thread of the month



Could be a ten pager now

 

Except if you are a BTL owner then you probably don't give a toss if your tenants got flooded so long as they pay the rent and clean up the sewage and leaves themselves.

 

He literally bedded you then?

 

Pity they didn't deliver it when they were suppppsed to though

You'll be pleased to know it was for my BTL property Tony

 

A straw mattress then?

 

Organic mattresses are all the rage now.

 

Why doesn't that surprise me.

Earwigs and bed bugs anyone.

 

The materials are treated to eliminate said critters.

 

I was re-reading this post and was reminded of Melencolia I by ‎Albrecht Dürer. I'd be interested in your interpretation of the engraving. Can't wait for Swati's, too.

 

I'm sure the irony is lost on those that purchase them.

 

Melancholia, that's a fine fitting hat that one. The engraving in my view is the despondency of the subject at the failure to find inner peace.

 

Durer's engraving is quite a philosophical and stark illustration that mental ease isn't always forthcoming by attempting to occupy oneself with pursuits. Better brains than mine compare Da Vinci's reckless abandon of various works with the engraving. Suggesting the mental dissatisfaction of the central subject is a parallel to Da Vinci's own disillusionment with his work and achievement. Da Vinci being one of Durer's influences.
Moving forward several centuries it seems the metaphor Durer illustrated in melencolia is still prevalent in society. Although now we have different labels for it.

 

Copy and paste was a brilliant invention.

 

No copy and pasting in the above posts.

 

Hey, J. Just got home, and very tired tonight, and I get a bellyful to talk about all this with my paid profession (not just some unpaid enthusiasm) to the point that it tires me even more. Do wait for mine, or just Google it/access it on Wiley/Athens etc.

Other than that, you can start a new teaching school with a subject "how to get people going and show their mojo". You'll mint it.

However, I may back to you on this. Right now two cocodamol for manky tooth and half a glass of wine is required to knock me out.

Ps-No lecture required on taking cocodamol with wine. I know what's what.

 

Diclofenac for tooth woes is more effective. Swilling with salt solution is also very effective. Speak to your dentist.

 

Ok, Dad.

 

Interesting analysis, thanks, Maz.

 

No lecture coming, now let me read your interpretation - Joz will haw haw himself in to oblivion. X

 

Oh my my my
I'm feeling high
My moneys gone
I'm all alone
to much oooh
The world is turnin'
Oh what a day
What a day what a day

Peace and blessings manifest with every lesson learn,
If your knowledge were your wealth then it would be well earned

If we were made in his image then call us by our names
Most intellects do not believe in god but the fear is just the same

Oh on and on and on and on (my cypher keeps moving like a rollin stone)
Whew on and on and on and on (all night till the break of dawn)
I go on and on and on and on (my cypher keeps moving like a rollin stone)
Ohh on and on and on and on (godamnit imma sing my song)

I was born under water with 3 dollars and 6 dimes
Yeah you might laugh 'cause you did not do your math

Like 1.. 2..3.
Damn, yall feel that? Oh...
1.. 2..3.
The world keeps turning
Oh what a day what a day what a day

The man that knows something knows that he knows nothing at all
Does it seem colder in your summer time and hotter in your fall

If we were made in his image then call us by our names
Most intellects do not believe in god but the fear is just the same

Oh on and on and on and on (my cypher keeps moving like a rollin stone)
Whew on and on and on and on (all night till the break of dawn)
I go on and on and on and on (my cypher keeps moving like a rollin stone)
Ohh on and on and on and on (mad props to the guy ja bone)

I am feeling kinda hungry 'cause my high is coming down
Don't feed me yours 'cause your food does not endure
I think i need a cup of tea, the world keeps burnin'
Oh what a day, what a day what a day

Your rushin into destruction 'cause you don't have nothin' left
The mothership can't save you so your *** is gonna' get left
If we were made in his image then call us by our names
Most intellects do not believe in god but the fear is just the same

Oh on and on and on and on (my cypher keeps moving like a rollin stone)
On and on and on and on (u cant *** with me so jus leave me alone)
Ooh ooh wee on and on and on and on (my cypher keeps moving like a rollin stone)
On and on and on and on (.. and on n on)

 

That art work isn't a haw haw matter, FYI.

You also know what women are like. Not all, but some would do almost anything for you, if you send them a > X; even if it's a virtual trap.

I'll keep it simple with my interpretation, because I'm all for simplicity, me!

So, here we go.

The creator thought he did not know what beautiful was??? HA! To my interpretation, he did know that ‘nothing’ was beautiful. His art speaks for itself. The animal instinct is in coma, so is the innocence. On one hand there’s a world to lose, on the other hand there’s nothing to gain. In fact he knows that there’s nothing to lose, and nothing to gain. The bonding of mind and thin air filled with nothingness in this art work is spectacular!

On the downside (excuse the irony), what contaminates this art work is the concern for what’s being lost, what’s not gained, and the sight of what’s owned is immaterial. All of that is ‘nothing’ in 'true' melancholy state of mind.

A reasonable self-portrayal, but I’ve seen some real living works of art much more melancholy than that. I could go on, but I’m gonna leave it here.

 

Pensions are not a waste of money, employer matched contributions are free money. If you opt in to your company pension scheme you are automatically giving yourself a pay rise (Your cost to the company increases) In addition, anyone paying 40%+ taxation rates would be stupid not to be putting money away into a pension fund especially as it's highly likely it gets 40+% relief on the way in but will only suffer 20% taxation on the way out. You win with the 20% difference, along with the tax free cash, along with the free money from your employers.

Just an example...

Employee pays in via salary sacrifice £500pm to his fund, employer matches this £500pm to take the monthly contribution into the fund to £1000pm. The scheme used is salary sacrifice which means that if you are in the higher tax band salary wise, your loss is £500pm (Gross) but only £290 (Net) (42% = 40% Income Tax + 2% NI)

So for a £290 deduction from your net take home pay, you are getting £1,000 put into your pot each month. How can that be seen as bad value That's not all, for every £1,000 put into your pension pot, you are allowed to withdraw £250 of that tax free which means of that £290pm net contribution you are making each month, you will get £250 of that back with only £40 of your £290, or £40 of the £750pm contribution going into the fund to buy an annuity (And taxed at the lower 20% rate) That is worst case scenario assuming no growth which of course is not true. If we add in growth where the fund is performing reasonably well over its life, you can in essence get all of your net contributions back when you decide to take the 25% tax free cash out. If you put in £100,000 (Net) over your working life, you can expect to take that same £100,000 (Net) out at the other end. The remaining 75% being made up of employers contributions, tax relief and growth. This means that when you take your 25% out, the other 75% used to buy the annuity has cost you sweet **** all

People that say pensions are crap are the people who do not understand them. They are ridiculously good value saving plans.

I would say you should aim to put enough away to give you a comfortable retirement. This would be a monthly income around 1/2 to 2/3 of your salary.

 

Crap compared to the gold plated, final salary schemes that used to be available, and very crap compared to some on offer in the public sector including Doctors.

Also who the hell knows what the value of your fund will be in 30 years? It could all be gone or raided by the government.

 

True that they are not as good as the old final salary pension schemes where you had a guarantee, but seeing as they are now as rare as hens teeth in the private sector and are now being restrained and reduced in the public sector, then ordinary GPP and the likes are the next best thing and will out perform practically everything else that you can invest in.

Your pension pot will always be your pension pot, no government would start dipping into them, it's the annuity rules that need looking at. Come retirement, you should have a lot more flexibility over what you do with your fund. Buying an annuity is the worst possible answer to this dilemna, £100k pot will buy you £5.5k pa pension fixed which will mean you will need to live +18yrs in retirement for you to even get your money back (Never mind 18yrs of inflation, further investment etc) Give the entire pot to the pensioner to do as he/she pleases, any deduction after the 25% has been removed taxed at the local tax rate. I think/hope that's the way it goes

 

Such a good scheme I'm leaving it in April. 28% contributions, 68 retirement age, not final salary and taxable at 55% soon.

 

That's not normal PAYE NHS employee contributions though, isn't it 7-8% for doctors/consultants employed within the NHS?

Your self employed running your own practice if memory serves me right? So you are paying employee and employer contributions for yourself? (14%/14%) but overall you are reducing your taxable income by 28% to which you are also receiving 40+% relief/credit on those contributions?

If your self employed why are you tied to a particular retirement age, I would have thought being self employed you were self investing and had a lot more freedom? Apologies if I'm way off the mark, I don't really understand the SE/Contractor side.