Harry Peterson

Night everyone. Off for a quick stroll round Forest Gate (not the E7 one) to see what's up, then to bed. 💤💤

I’m sure that’s not the case. Your posts are fine, and I think the problem lies elsewhere with an old friend who might have returned to amuse us all.

Missed those. Same person?

I thought I wasn’t imagining it. This should prove interesting, but the mods look already to be on it.

Are you by any chance picking up the same sense of deja vu that I am today?

I’m interested in the storage battery concept - until relatively recently they haven’t made a lot of financial sense. We installed panels under the early Feed in Tariff scheme in 2010 and they’d repaid the £14,000 cost by 2017. The maximum allowed was 4kW at the time, but it’s been a very good investment, bringing in around £2000 a year on top of the savings on the electricity bill. We don’t use anything like all the electricity generated in the summer, so if batteries are now cheaper and better I need to check that out.

I think I'd be inclined in that situation to check actual usage (via meter readings) and costs per kWh against direct debit payments (which are only estimated) in case there's an underpayment building up!

Confirmed - it’s a direct debit to get the lowest price. I wish it were just an estimate, but it’s pretty accurate and based on my own actual usage for last year. Obviously I’m not exactly chuffed with it, but I can at least afford to pay it - what really bothers me is what’s going to happen to the large numbers of families and individuals who can’t.

Currently playing with a spreadsheet working out what’s going to be disappearing from our bank account by way of direct debits from next October when the energy ‘price’ cap goes up again. 42% was the projected increase not so long ago. It’s now 65%! We’re fortunate in that we’re on a fix at the moment, but it ends in early October, so with last April’s 54% and another 65% on top of that the current £200 pm will rocket to just over £500 pm. I knew it was going to be a lot, but across the country that’s a huge chunk of spending taken out of the economy. Netflix is an early casualty, along with big ticket items like white goods, but it strikes me that cruise companies may have to make some pretty hefty price cuts if they’re going to pull in the punters. I’m sure they’re well aware already, with contingency plans in place, but I’m not sure it’s yet fully hit home how much higher the energy bills are going to be in October.

Sorry. Forgot about that. Silly, really - I’ve had my expectations reset so many times since 2010 they’re barely recognisable!

Given that P&O have removed so many of the things which were paid for and should have been included in cruises, because they haven’t recruited enough staff, perhaps an appropriate recompense for that might have been to remove some of the extra charges tacked on over recent years. Somehow can’t see that happening though.

I’m really sorry to read of the ordeal suffered by your aunt and yourself, Megabear. And you, of all people, have the ability to resolve problems. You did absolutely everything within your power - nobody could have done more. Your aunt will now be in excellent hands, quite possibly getting better care in the Italian healthcare system than she would here as things stand now. I hope things work out well for her. Thank goodness she had you for support, and to argue her case. Harry

And better still upside down.

It would be a very brave person prepared to invest in any cruise-centred company as things stand, with the number of factors piling up against them worldwide. It's not that the graph shows Carnival to be any safer than people here have been suggesting - just that the others are every bit as risky an investment. Admittedly, £700 isn't a lot to risk in the overall scheme of things, and if Carnival stick with the minimum 100 share holding for the OBC you can get some of that back pretty quickly, but there is still a pretty fair chance of losing the lot.

I fear you may be right. If it becomes too cheap to buy into shareholder perks it shifts the economics of the scheme somewhat.

Not forgetting, of course, the bin cleaning fetish……..

Shhhh……..it’s perfectly true, but not on message. The official line is that it’s all over, live with it, business as normal, stop fussing. 🤮

Hilarious! Another gem from P&O's Department of Ludicrous Excuses. Translated: "We've unfortunately run out of 'operational reasons' to excuse us for bad service, and we know you're all getting a bit fed up with that one anyway, so we're pausing that excuse until our back room boys have worked out a new one to taunt you with. Further details at Christmas. 2024. If possible"

They’d probably still use that excuse if one of their ships hit an iceberg.

Operational reasons? 😇

John!!! This is not good! Please take another tablet, my friend! 😉

Anyone remember those delightful conversations around the dinner table a few years back when some bright spark decided to enlighten everyone with his story about how he booked a suite for 31 days for £99 at the last minute? And still got £900 OBC. Maybe those happy times are returning……..

Does ‘less than 100 MPs’ grate too? Asking for a pedantic friend. 😇

I take your point entirely about the situation in Wales. By all accounts it’s not good. Free prescriptions don’t make up for other inadequacies, but the cost might be relevant. I imagine there might be a problem getting staff into remoter areas too, but you’d think that would apply to Scotland too. I’m surprised this issue hasn’t been tackled (it applies across the UK) by means of remuneration packages. It seems senseless to allow GPs, for example, to congregate in leafy suburban southern areas (sunlit uplands?) when the need’s far greater elsewhere. Revised differential per capita remuneration ought to be capable of resolving that.

Thanks Avril (hope you and Frank are fully, 100%, recovered soon) - just felt that my personal deep satisfaction with the dedication shown by NHS staff, very much including doctors and GPs, was worth recording. My wife feels exactly the same way too, and the constant press attacks by certain newspapers make us both furious. They also alienate medical staff and make the retention and recruitment of key staff even more difficult than it already is. On a related issue, I'm having my other cataract sorted tomorrow - just one month from the NHS referral by Specsavers, and in that time I've already had the pre-assessment by the ophthalmologist. How good is that, particularly given the impact of the pandemic? I know there are some problems - but the positives and the dedication of NHS staff never seem to get the publicity they deserve, because it doesn't fit the agenda.