On my way to Vegas this morning. Had arranged to travel down by train to Gatwick, which was handy since we sold Karen's car on Thursday. If I drove to the airport it would mean walking to school for the boys for the best part of a week - an unpopular outcome for sure.
Very smooth journey in fact - no delays and very short transits at each interchange. The Gatwick Express was as efficient as ever.
The whole journey in 2nd class - something I'm not used to but it's all in the name of bankroll discipline.
Likewise, booked in Economy Class on Virgin for the 10hour flight. Well, I arrived at the ticket desk and made enquires. No seats left in Premium, but for 30,000 miles I can upgrade to Upper Class. Insta-call.
The ticketeer radio'd through to check -- last one ! Seems my luck is in.
From experience I know that securing an upgrade on the return leg is tougher, so it could be a very unhappy return trip if I go broke and get no sleep on the flight back !
Saturday, 19 April 2008
Thursday, 17 April 2008
Tortoise and the Hare
Matt and I played a first-to-101 table tennis game yesterday. Matt (read Hare) kept sprinting ahead, then letting me (read Tortoise) catch up and overtake. Unfortunately for him, his timing was slightly off as I edged over the line to win 101-99.
All Change
We seem to have finally agreed a deal to change our cars for shiny new ones. The prime mover for this was the realisation that the ML was too big a car for Karen to drive around on short, local journies.
Once we had decided the Merc had to go, then we really needed to change my BMW for something with more "boot" (of the in-boot rather than boot-in meaning).
As is typical, we thought for months about the general idea of changing (i.e. Karen re-reminded me for ages before I agreed to do anything) but the actual change happened very quickly in the end.
As is also typical, we thought about going for 2nd-hand or lower-spec cars to reduce the cost (actually it would have been a cash-positive trade in that case) but as we came closer towards decisions, the spec and newness of the cars drifted upwards till they were both brand-new factory-ordered cars with the top spec available. Hmm.... actually Karen's is not the top listed spec, but that is only because Ford are not taking orders for that derivative!
What was interesting is that CO2-emissions, fuel-economy and green-taxation actually did play a part in the choices. It is really the first time I can remember being genuinely influenced by the tax-treatment of cars.
The first influence was that the motivation to change the cars at all was given impetus by the imminent hike in excise duty for our two high-CO2 cars, and the new £25 congestion charge proposal.
Secondly, when looking at models, we really did reject many cars on a CO2-basis. In my case, it meant I did not consider the biggest engines and I opted for a manual gearbox. In Karen's case it led to the choice of a particular kind of dual-clutch semi-automatic which has manual-type emissions.
I have to say that whilst we were looking quite closely at the emissions data, I doubt we would have stuck to the choices without the tax factor. Of course, the total CO2 effect of our choice is minimal especially as we do low mileage but one can see how the virtuous circle can start to take effect.
I can imagine that used-values for high-CO2 cars may tumble as people start actually paying the new bills.
A word or two on the selling-side of the equation. As usual, I was frustrated at the myth of high-residuals for prestige cars. The Merc is 2years old and has done <10k miles, but the dealer bid for the car was still only 60% of new. In fact, it was hard to get them to make a price on it at all.
BMW was even worse - they literally did not return my phone calls when I rang up to get a price.
I had no valid excuse for not trying to sell the Merc privately, despite the hassle. So, autotrader.co.uk .... got zero calls. However, did get a call from a car-broker who did a deal between us and Mercedes in Reading - for a considerable increase over the p/ex value. The car is being picked up this morning and so long as the cheque doesn't bounce, all's well that ends well.
Once we had decided the Merc had to go, then we really needed to change my BMW for something with more "boot" (of the in-boot rather than boot-in meaning).
As is typical, we thought for months about the general idea of changing (i.e. Karen re-reminded me for ages before I agreed to do anything) but the actual change happened very quickly in the end.
As is also typical, we thought about going for 2nd-hand or lower-spec cars to reduce the cost (actually it would have been a cash-positive trade in that case) but as we came closer towards decisions, the spec and newness of the cars drifted upwards till they were both brand-new factory-ordered cars with the top spec available. Hmm.... actually Karen's is not the top listed spec, but that is only because Ford are not taking orders for that derivative!
What was interesting is that CO2-emissions, fuel-economy and green-taxation actually did play a part in the choices. It is really the first time I can remember being genuinely influenced by the tax-treatment of cars.
The first influence was that the motivation to change the cars at all was given impetus by the imminent hike in excise duty for our two high-CO2 cars, and the new £25 congestion charge proposal.
Secondly, when looking at models, we really did reject many cars on a CO2-basis. In my case, it meant I did not consider the biggest engines and I opted for a manual gearbox. In Karen's case it led to the choice of a particular kind of dual-clutch semi-automatic which has manual-type emissions.
I have to say that whilst we were looking quite closely at the emissions data, I doubt we would have stuck to the choices without the tax factor. Of course, the total CO2 effect of our choice is minimal especially as we do low mileage but one can see how the virtuous circle can start to take effect.
I can imagine that used-values for high-CO2 cars may tumble as people start actually paying the new bills.
A word or two on the selling-side of the equation. As usual, I was frustrated at the myth of high-residuals for prestige cars. The Merc is 2years old and has done <10k miles, but the dealer bid for the car was still only 60% of new. In fact, it was hard to get them to make a price on it at all.
BMW was even worse - they literally did not return my phone calls when I rang up to get a price.
I had no valid excuse for not trying to sell the Merc privately, despite the hassle. So, autotrader.co.uk .... got zero calls. However, did get a call from a car-broker who did a deal between us and Mercedes in Reading - for a considerable increase over the p/ex value. The car is being picked up this morning and so long as the cheque doesn't bounce, all's well that ends well.
Monday, 14 April 2008
UK Exchange Rate
Last night and tonight, we have some unexpected guests. We had a call on Friday from one of ther parents at BMS. He had arranged (partly with the school) a trip to the UK of a group of 14-16 year olds from Ukraine.
They are spending most of their time in London staying in a hostel in Russell Square and taking in the sights.
However, they are spending a day at BMS today and so they needed accommodation for a couple of nights. The group are dispersed amongst a few families. We thought we would get 2 girls but in the end we had 3 boys which was easier for Matt and Harry to acclimatise to, although they are all extremely easy guests to have.
Based on the ones we have, they are very polite, speak excellent English and are both interesting and interested.
Fact of the day: Ukraine is the biggest country in Europe by area - I would not have known this, but one of the boys told me (in fact he gave the actual area in sq.km). When we checked in the Times Atlas, he was indeed correct !
They are spending most of their time in London staying in a hostel in Russell Square and taking in the sights.
However, they are spending a day at BMS today and so they needed accommodation for a couple of nights. The group are dispersed amongst a few families. We thought we would get 2 girls but in the end we had 3 boys which was easier for Matt and Harry to acclimatise to, although they are all extremely easy guests to have.
Based on the ones we have, they are very polite, speak excellent English and are both interesting and interested.
Fact of the day: Ukraine is the biggest country in Europe by area - I would not have known this, but one of the boys told me (in fact he gave the actual area in sq.km). When we checked in the Times Atlas, he was indeed correct !
TTT update
Further to the Turning The Tables post, Harry has now upped his game so I can't beat him either. Most recently he beat me 6 games to nil in a best of 5 match.
Wednesday, 9 April 2008
Turning the Tables
I wonder when is it that you stop having to let the kids win, and they have to start letting you win?
Well, with Tennis, for example, we are not quite there. With poker, I think we are still a way off as well although Harry does have a good record against me in heads-up play. This week for example we played and he was very solid. He won, in fact, when I attempted what I thought was a well-timed bluff. It turned out he already had the top full-house ! Oops.
Anyway, whereas in tennis both Matt and Harry have a bit to learn, it seems that in table-tennis Matt is already there.
We just agreed to buy an outdoor table and with some "help" from the boys, it was assembled on Tuesday night.
In the first few games, I did enough to stay in front. Then Matt figured out how to smash the ball. He's absolutely deadly and before long he had to resort to blatant point-throwing to allow Harry or I to keep up.
Since then, Harry has also learned the real-world equiv of the Wii-power shot and is catching Matt up fast. Only the fact they have exams is keeping them from practicing more and becoming unbeatable.
Well, with Tennis, for example, we are not quite there. With poker, I think we are still a way off as well although Harry does have a good record against me in heads-up play. This week for example we played and he was very solid. He won, in fact, when I attempted what I thought was a well-timed bluff. It turned out he already had the top full-house ! Oops.
Anyway, whereas in tennis both Matt and Harry have a bit to learn, it seems that in table-tennis Matt is already there.
We just agreed to buy an outdoor table and with some "help" from the boys, it was assembled on Tuesday night.
In the first few games, I did enough to stay in front. Then Matt figured out how to smash the ball. He's absolutely deadly and before long he had to resort to blatant point-throwing to allow Harry or I to keep up.
Since then, Harry has also learned the real-world equiv of the Wii-power shot and is catching Matt up fast. Only the fact they have exams is keeping them from practicing more and becoming unbeatable.
Monday, 31 March 2008
What's Up With That ?
I noticed yesterday, after 11 years, that the brake levers on my bike are fitted in a bizarre way - they sit above the gear changers and are pointing up at a ridiculous angle. I can't believe I have never noticed it before.
However, I can believe this happened in the first place. I have realised previously that the bike-supermarkets have absolutely no idea how to assemble a bike in a basically correct fashion. On mine, for example, the rear tyre has been fitted back-to-front. An easy mistake to make, and not that serious, but you would not expect a bike shop to do this.
On a previous bike that we bought for Harry, there were 8 obvious (albeit minor and only moderately dangerous) errors. I didn't bother to take it back as there seemed little chance they would do a good job of correcting them if they could let them happen in the first place.
Anyway, all 4 bikes went out yesterday on a family tennis trip to the park yesterday afternoon. Karen wasn't too sure at first, but turned out to be pretty good (at tennis) in real life.
No serious games were played, but we did invent one or two new variants: most significantly, ping-pong tennis in which the ball had to be bounced on one's one side of the net before crossing over. Quite tricky, but achievable once you're into the rhythm.
However, I can believe this happened in the first place. I have realised previously that the bike-supermarkets have absolutely no idea how to assemble a bike in a basically correct fashion. On mine, for example, the rear tyre has been fitted back-to-front. An easy mistake to make, and not that serious, but you would not expect a bike shop to do this.
On a previous bike that we bought for Harry, there were 8 obvious (albeit minor and only moderately dangerous) errors. I didn't bother to take it back as there seemed little chance they would do a good job of correcting them if they could let them happen in the first place.
Anyway, all 4 bikes went out yesterday on a family tennis trip to the park yesterday afternoon. Karen wasn't too sure at first, but turned out to be pretty good (at tennis) in real life.
No serious games were played, but we did invent one or two new variants: most significantly, ping-pong tennis in which the ball had to be bounced on one's one side of the net before crossing over. Quite tricky, but achievable once you're into the rhythm.
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