TEMPERATURE IN NOTTINGHAM NOW

Good Afternoon!
27 FEBRUARY 2006

Sunday 23 April 2006. Did The Woldsman 50 mile challenge walk, in the Yorkshire Wolds, yesterday, in a time of 13 hr 26 minutes, nearly 2 hrs quicker than last year. It helps not to go too far off the route, as I did near the end last year. I was told this could be the final Woldsman, I hope not, as it is an especially good event for this distance, which is a useful length to do, as it just nicely fills a day walking.

Tuesday 18 April 2006. Interesting news about the Climate Change experiment, running on this computer in its idle time. Due to some error, the experiment is reported as having to be restarted. At the moment, mine is still running as before, and is now nearly 25% complete, having reached 30 Dec 1960. See my results HERE

Friday 14 April 2006. A few days at the YH in Newcastle, since the caravan is let, saw me getting to the 72 mile stage with the 100 route. Yesterday at St Mary's Lighthouse car parkowners brought their cars for display. One fashoin at the moment seems to be to have one wheel replaced by the spare! I liked the look of this one!

Monday 3 April 2006. At last I have upgraded to the 10Mb service from ntl. Here is an example from the adslguide speedtest. Luckily ntl replaced the modem a couple of weeks ago with one able to cope with such speeds. BT and adsl still have some catching up to do, with their 'up to 8Mb offers'. Maybe I should upgrade my adsl at the bungalow at Anderby Creek too.

Sunday 2 April 2006. A few days in Northumberland again last week means that my recce of the 100 route is going to plan. I have now walked the first 38 miles, getting near to Windy Gyle. Because of time limitations on Friday I had to turn back before that hill, to return home ready for the Charnwood Marathon 26 mile challenge walk from Quorn yesterday. My time of 9 hr 7 min was the longest yet, because of the walking I had done during the previous few days. The route was reversed compared to the previous occasions that I had taken part in this event. Generally the weather was good, although it proved somewhat squally with hail around Bardon Hill.

Friday 24 March 2006. Good news about the Grand Central rail service commencing later in the year from Sunderland to King's Cross. With a simple fare structure of �30 single, I hope it succeeds.
Chaos predicted in the N E with the closure of the Tyne Tunnel, and with no Metro services. However, it is wrong to change the conditions of service, including pension entitlement, without mutual agreement, so strike action as a last resort is the result. The same thing happened for teachers a few years ago, but no action was taken then.
Most of the media persisits in calling it 'Mother's Day', instead of the correct 'Mothering Sunday'. This is more infiltration from America. At least 'East Midlands Today' gets it correct.

Wednesday 22 March 2006. Two relevant items in today's budget: free local off peak bus travel extended nationwide from 2008, and the road fund duty based on emissions. With a figure of 212 the Honda Civic R sees its duty rise from �160 to �190 at least. It could even fall into the new �210 band, as the level when this rate kicks in has yet to be announced. A price well worth paying for the fun and performance from such a brilliant car!
The news that BT is free to compete with other companies in what it can charge for the line rental has had an excellent effect on the value of the shares. I nearly sold some today, the rise has been so dramatic over the past few weeks! And being classed as an intermediate investor, I can deal directly with the London Stock Exchange. This has greater risks, and less protection, but it has a dramatic effect on the already low dealing charges levied by www.idealing.co.uk

Tuesday 21 March 2006. At last, the Imation Wristband USB flashdrive 256Mb has arrived in this country. An email last night to the manufacturers resulted in them responding with www.keychainstorage.co.uk, who have been supplying the item since 12 March !

Monday 20 March 2006. Just back from a few days at Sandy Bay. Cold, snow, but got some walking done: walked the first 8 miles of the 100, from Wooler to Hethpool. The car park at Hethpool brought back some happy memories, to be repeated again this year once it gets warmer!
A new report published: The Future of Ravenshead. Click Here
I have been using the idle time from this computer to assist in the BBC climate change experiment since it was first announced in mid February. Here is my progress so far, as part of the AMD users team.

  • Sunday 12 March 2006. A profit warning from Future Publishing, publishers of PC ANswers, on Friday did not do much for the shares. Just look at the graph from the last few years. Graph

  • Saturday 11 March 2206. So the Lambeth BS is to 'merge' with the Portman BS, according to the letter received today. Apparently this news was announced on Monday. They call it a merger, but it sounds more like a takeover to me! Lambeth branches will be rebranded Portman, and the CE will simply be a board member of Portman. Not to worry though. I will still be voting to support this move, as there is a cash windfall of around �400, taxable unfortunately. I recall when I drew the cheque from Nottingham BS to set up the Lambeth account, I was asked why the Lambeth! Apart from a better interest rate at the time, we now have another reason. And I already have money in a Portman account.

  • Thursday 9 March 2006. Zopa goes from strength to strength, now that it is becoming more widely recognised. Money is being loaned out almost straight away. And no bad debts so far! Here Is the latest situation for my loans.

  • Monday 6 March 2006. Shares in bt have now moved well into profit with the near 5% rise today. To think that only last week I was sitting on a �1000 loss, and now that has almost completely been reversed. I am gambling on there being a bid any day for BAA, having bought both shares and CFDs in the company when the market opened this morning. I have to try to raise the funds for the 2007 Civic R somehow!

  • Sunday 5 March 2006. More about the next R here

  • Thursday 2 March 2006. The new R is on its way, although not in the UK until 2007. Here and here are recent news items about it, together with pix.
    I entered for the 50th Chevy Chase today, in July. At last the results have been posted for 2005

  • Tuesday 28 February 2006. If you are concerned about privacy on the internet (remember how google is keeping records on all your searches, and if you use the google toolbar, records of all websites visited) then you may find this useful. Join up now and protect your privacy, free, for ever! Well, for as long as the system set up with that aim remains available to us.
    Tomorrow the caravan park at Sandy Bay reopens after the three months winter shut down. I have some exciting plans in mind for the coming weeks, quite apart from the recce I need to do on the Northumberland 100 route.

  • Monday 27 February 2006. Thank you to the Belvoir Challenge website for sending so many visitors to look at my pictures from this event. Here are this years in a different format.

  • Sunday 26 February 2006. Online booking for Spamalot, Palace Theatre, London, opened this morning. The show itself, starring Tim Curry, opens 2 Oct 06, with the official first night 17 October. I have booked for a date soon after this!

  • Saturday 25 February 2006. Belvoir Challenge time again. My time was 8hr 4 min 5 sec, 10 minutes less than last year, probably due to the easier conditions, although I had not walked any distance since the end of November. Here are the pix in yahoo slideshow.
    If you have your own website, you may be interested in THIS. Click HERE to see the results! Google takes over the world. It even has its own video player to download now!

  • Tuesday 21 February 2006. An analysis of the counter on this site shows some interesting data. For example: just 3 visitors account for 25% of the overall total, being 11%, 7% and 7% respectively. I hope you are interested in the Honda R, long distance walking and profitable investment, otherwise it will be somewhat boring.
    It has been a good month so far for my shares. Although several have fallen and are showing losses, I took profits in others, so that the overall profit realised in the past three years is now over �12,000. Details can be found HERE.
    Similarly the three loans I have made now total about �12,000 also, and are gradually being repaid weekly or monthly. This gives rise to another regular income to go with all the other sources!

  • Monday 20 February 2006. Have a laugh with up my street and its analysis of my village! In fact, it's fairly accurate! Why not do it for your postcode? click here

  • Saturday 18 February 2006. Mirc 6.17 was released yesterday. Get it at www.mirc.com

  • Monday 6 February 2006. Want to see this page in a different language? I have added the translation feature. Click the appropriate flag towards the bottom of this page.

  • Saturday 4 February 2006. Persistance certainly pays off ungainst unjustified actions!
    So when are these wristband flash USB devices going to be available in the UK. They seem only to be available to personal callers at one company's stores in USA at the moment.
    So JustDial is ceasing its voip service on the grounds that it is no longer viable. Maybe they had too many phone adaptors that failed and had to be returned! I have arranged for another service using an 0191 number to take over from this, although I still have the 0115 number available via the computer only.

  • Wednesday 25 January 2006. Hey, thanks Pete for getting in touch today. Close readers of my blog will recall that Pete is the star turn on a few of my photos taken 18 months ago on the Cambrian Way walk. Whilst searching for his name on Alta Vista (I thought everyone used Google these days) he found the reference I had made to him in mid 2004, concerning the lack of response to the pix I had sent. As I had wondered at the time, these had not been received. I was able to find them on a CD, and am very pleased to have emailed them on today. You can see the pix too: Click here. I also took the opportunity to amend the broken link. However, why did Alta Vista find the reference on an old host, and not the host I use at the present time? No matter, it found it anyway!

  • Sunday 22 January 2006. I wish JustDial would get their telephone adaptor sorted out. The first one they sent had to be returned to The Hebrides of all places as it would not connect properly. It turned out to be faulty! They have not yet sent a replacement. Meanwhile, I am using the voip through the computers on an 0191 number. I also have voipcheap, another provider, and this time I have an 0115 number. I am told that the clarity on this service is better than JustDial, particularly when I am downloading.
    I do like my 8 in LCR TV which is now next to my computer, permanently showing News24. What excellent coverage they provided on the Thames Whale.

  • Tuesday 17 January. Had two new Bridgestone tyes fitted on the front of the Honda R today. Ordered online from Black Circle, and fitted locally, at the appointed time, by Ron Brookes.
    The northern lights website was featured for four minutes on channel 4 this morning.

  • Sunday 15 January 2006.I had a VW polo E for a few days last week. With a 0-62 time of 14.9 sec, the only reason I can think of for cars like that being made is that the company can then advertise them as costing from �7999. Apart from driving in cities, it is a useless car. It was yellow, too, which made things worse. I notice that there were none of this colour on sale!
    The exam meeting for the present marking session was yesterday. Now all that remains is for me to get the marking completed, and the marks sent off via the internet. But the internet speeds vary so much. The other afternoon, on this 2MB line, they went from 1100 down to 300 in a few hours, before increasing again. I can see that when on screen marking starts, I shall have to choose my marking times according to the demand on the ntl cable. Some markers with limited speeds and low download allowances could be in for a shock, too!

  • Tuesday 3 January 2006. My new computer arrived today. Luckily the AMD 64 DC 4200+ meets the specifications required by the exam board, thus enabling me to take part in the on screen marking in March. This means that it will be paid for by the exam work within six months. A good return on the investment. The 19" TFT seems so large compared to the 15" laptop screen.
    My second holiday is now booked. A walking holiday in The Shetlands, later in the year. All I have to do is get to Aberdeen on time!

  • Monday 26 December 2005. Another Xmas, another set of exam papers nearly marked. I have just 50 left to complete by 30 Dec, then there is a two week break before the papers arrive for GCSE. I note that soon on screen marking will arrive, and for that I will need to upgrade my system. At least the fees from the online work this year will more than pay for this essential upgrade.
    Many years ago I worked as Company Secretary for Tabramhill Estates, a local company that owns some valuable land in Ravenshead. Although I relinquished this important position, I notice that Companies House has out dated records showing that information. On contacting the present Company Secretary I am assured that, in accordance with legal requirements, current records held by Companies House are up to date, and all accounts have been filed on time. Thank you for a speedy response at this busy time of year!
    It's that time of year when the papers are full of adverts for holidays. I received a brochure from a company I had used in the past, and immediately booked a place on the trek from Ullapool to Cape Wrath. Also, The Ramblers Association has walking holidays to The Shetlands, another one on which I hope to go. Next stop The Faroes, Iceland and Greenland!

  • Friday 2 December 2005. Things have been so hectic these last few weeks., what with the four Everly Brothers concerts at Newcastle, Manchester, Nottingham and London, RAH, a Bobby Vee, Johnny Preston and Chris Montez concert in Wolverhamton, three days in exam meetings in Sheffield and London, a visit to the Richmond Theatre to see 'Marrying the Mistress', and two trips in my caravan. I just have to mark all the exam papers now, so will add more here later!

  • Saturday 12 November 2005. The 6 Dales Circuit was the challenge walk today, put on by the LDWA Staffrodshire group, starting from Biggin. For a change this year it was set up in reverse, which makes a completely different walk. My time for the 25 miles was 7 hr 47 mins. And thank you for all the welcome food!

  • Wednesday 9 November 2005. On Sunday I again took part in the Steppingley Step, a 26 mile walk near Luton. From the results I see that I was 14th out of 70 declared walkers, with a time of 7 hr 0 min. But did someone really complete the event in a time of 4 hr 48 mins without jogging for part of the way? Here or here are the results.

  • Wednesday 2 November 2005. Some new photos of the cats uploaded yesterday : Here
    An interesting news item in the Nottm Post yesterday, concerning a retired local doctor, and drugs. Read about it Here

  • Tuesday 1 November 2005. The house is now ready to let, and to confirm that, the To Let board is now in place. HERE. I had one potential tenant, but they wanted to reduce the reant by 8.7%. Sorry. The monthly rental is not open to negotiation, as it is very reasonable for the location. It is also in the catchment area of several good schools.
    My first venture into CFDs has brought success! I bought 600 CFDs of HBOS, at 828.91p, which would have cost about �5000 as normal shares, but accounted for about �1000 of the cash in the CFD account with idealing. Today, 4 days later, the price had risen to 845p, so I took that opportunity to sell. Overall the profit was �96.54, and after all costs �76.97. Trading in CFDs has two great advantages over direct share investment: firstly there are no taxes, which if the shares had been bought directly would have been about �25, and secondly I did not need to find the �5000 that amount of shares would cost.

  • Wednesday 19 October 2005. Entry forms for the Northumberland 100 mile challenge walk are now available. click here

  • Sunday 16 October 2005. Read the review of the Honda Civic R in the Sunday Times today, or here. I think the reporter liked the car! He's not the only one.

  • Sunday 9 October 2005. Yesterday I took part in the Waltham Winder, a 26 mile challenge event from Waltham on the Wolds, Leics. The runners set off at 8 am, followed by the walkers at 8.15 am. Picture Here.Unfortunately the event is marred by those who think that they are allowed to jog or run, just to stay ahead of faster walkers. Having made my comments about this at the end, I hope the problem will be discussed by the event committee, and an appropriate warning given both on the website and at the start that no running is allowed for the walkers start. For the record, the winning walker completed the attractive course in 5 hr 55 min, another non running walker was second, followed by two jogging 'walkers', which meant my time of 6 hr 14 mins put me officially in 5 th place, but in 3 rd if we remove the two cheaters! More details of the event can be found here

  • Friday 7 October 2005. Back last night from my first couple of days in the caravan. How lovely it is to sit and watch the sea so closely! And the caravan is fitted with all the mod cons anyone could need. Lappy found the mobile connection a bit flakey though, but I did manage to get connected to a quakenet channel before the battery gave out. The connection is much better from Nottingham. I had a good chat sitting in the Asda car park this afternoon!

  • Saturday 1 October 2005. Reading the announcement about Freetalk, the new voip service from DSG has made me investigate this in more detail. I discover that one-tel has a similar service, which, after buying the necessary box enables a normal phone to be used. It is run by Just-Dial, a service division of Telco Global Ltd which has been acquired by One.Tel. All standard 01 and 02 calls are free for a charge of �8 / month, whilst calls to mobiles are capped at 20p or 15p off-peak! A bonus is that it is possible to choose a phone number which has no connection with the area in which you live. Even an 0191 number is available.
    I understand that Sandy Bay is within reach of the Vodafone mobile internet service. That could be useful during my stays in the caravan!

  • Thursday 29 September 2005. The two mice arrived with the normal post today, around 1pm. Very good service as they were only ordered yesterday morning, p & p free. And they are not food for the cats! They are optical mice, with a cool blue light shining on the top.

  • Wednesday 28 September 2005. �101 deducted for Council Tax on an unoccupied house this morning. Why? Because Gedling B C has a backlog of work to process, so has not yet stopped the Direct Debit. I am assured that the amount wrongly deducted will be paid back into my account sometime next week. Cheques are so much simpler. I simply would not write one!
    My optical mouse has ceased functioning today, so it was back to one of my proevious ones, which is a bit unstable in operation. At least it works! I took the opportunity to order two, post free, so that there will be one available for lappy as well.
    Sad news about foxygamer yesterday, hospitalised for a few days. Hope your recovery goes well, FG, and that all you channel friends will see you back very soon.

  • Saturday 24 September 2005. Made good progress with the house yesterday. The decorator called, the piano was removed into storage, and I now have the landlords gas safety certificate. Also, arrangements were made for two new carpets, and two further keys were cut. Following that a visit to the agent, Gascoines, in Arnold, to hand in the three keys to enable potential tenants to be shown round. The secretary is an ex pupil of Arnold Hill School. What was that about seeing a senior member of staff and a member of the maths department kissing on an escalator in Victoria Centre?
    Karen Thompson, who I taught between 1979 to 1981 found my website via Friends Reunited, and left a message in my guestbook. Like the email address Karen!. Thank you for making contact, and I hope you find something of interest here!
    Now when can I get back up to my hideaway in Northumberland? The caravan overlooking the sea at Newbiggin will be very quiet at this time of year, and from what I have just learned, should make for a very interesting visit. It would be even better when my laptop is enabled for internet access via Vodafone.

  • Thursday 22 September 2005. So now the house I am in the process of getting ready for a tenant has had its new garage door fitted. I used AB Garage Doors, a company run by Adrian Barnes, Carlton. Interestingly, he is an ex-pupil of mine at Arnold Hill School!
    A car accident in Ravenshead, at the Kighill cross roads with Longdale Lane. Here are a few pix taken a short time ago.
    Had a lovely couple of days in Northumberland, finally completing the deal on the caravan at Newbiggin by the Sea. It is on Sandy Bay Park, and is on a premium site just a couple of yards from the cliff edge, and also close to beach access. Erosion was taking place, but that has stopped recently because of preventive measures such as placing rocks so as to prevent the waves undermining the cliff face. Here are a few pix using google slideshow.

  • Monday 19 September 2005. An example of red tape at its finest: Having obtained Power of Attorney last week, the bank and building society involved need to amend their records. But would the Nottingham Building Society allow the change. Oh no! It's against their rules, on the grounds that they would then have no control on the account involved, a TOISA. The remedy is simple. Transfer the money to the Halifax, which does allow me to have the control. Unfortunately it took five visits to the two branches involved, and a total of one hour wasted this afternoon.

  • Sunday 18 September 2005. Things are progressing: sold a violin and viola Wednesday, cleared a house Friday, walked forty miles yesterday, and bought a caravan today. Nothing much really! The High Peak 40 yesterday was completed in a time of 12 hr 48 mins 5 sec, about 1� hours slower than last year. So much for the strains of house clearance the day before. The caravan is at Newbiggin by the Sea, about 20 miles north of Newcastle. The company, Park Resorts, runs several sites around the country, calling this one Sandy Bay Holiday Park. It contains 450 static caravans, of which about 25 are on the cliff edge side, overlooking the sea. On phoning them today I was told that one of these select few 'premium pitches' has become available, so I bought the caravan on that site straight away. I will be visiting the site on Tuesday and Wednesday, when the purchase will be completed. That makes five properties of one sort or another for which I am now responsible. Tenants are still needed for the 3 bedroomed house in Woodthorpe,though. And the caravan will be particularly useful next year, as the LDWA 100 is taking place in Northumberland.
    Sitemeter has improved recently, and apparently shows a lot of confidential information. It shows how careful you have to be before visiting websites.

  • Saturday 10 September 2005. I took part in the Staffs LDWA walk 'Hills & Dales' today. This is a 22 mile challenge walk starting from High Ash Study Centre. My time was 7 hrs 20 mins. Thanks to all concerned: the food at the end was particularly good!

  • Thursday 1 September 2005. I have just contacted ADT Security, based in Nottingham , speaking to Kim, Senior Manager, Service Department, as to why I am not renewing my burglar alarm contract with them. A year ago, after the annual service, there was a two hour power cut, during which the alarm went off. As the system has a back up battery, that should have taken over and prevented activation. Clearly the battery was not holding its charge. On calling ADT asking them to visit and rectify this, they told me that there would be the usual call out charge, about �75 or so. Now why should I have to pay this, when the system failed simply because the battery had not been checked at the time of the service two days previously? I was able to explain all this to Kim, also saying that I would not be renewing the contract for the next twelve months. I have changed to a reputable local company, based in Eastwood, that installed the system at the local police contact point. The annual service has already taken place, given a thorough check, all for a cost of �45, instead of �120. There was of course the cost of the replacement battery, �15 extra, which ADT did not check a year ago. So if you asked me which company I would recommend for burglar alarms, I would suggest that you avoid ADT. I hope ADT will make all of its service engineers aware of the need to do the annual check properly, because if not, then customers such as myself will not renew or recommend them.

  • Wednesday 31 August 2005. Hopes are raised, only to be dashed again. This has happened four times now.
    Another great internet idea, investing in property 'shares' on-line: for details, Click Here

  • Sunday 28 August 2005. A regular challenge walk in my diary is the Cheviot Challenge, which took place yesterday. I completed the 23 mile course, a new route each year, in 10 hr 25 mins. Great to meet Neil again, along with his friend, Simon, as well as Moira, who I had not walked with since the Chevy Chase. The 194 mile journey was very easy at that early time on a Saturday, taking exactly 2 hr 51 min, including two petrol stops, and the 50 mph slows through the road works on the A1 near Ferrybridge.
    I installed google talk as soon as it was announced last week, and am pleased to be getting others to set it up. I like the clean look of the chat window, typical google, as well as its simplicity. Why pay international call rates when such as google talk or skype are available. As you need a gmail address to install google talk, please contact me at [email protected] if you would like one. It's still available only by invitation though , but as everyone has 100 invites to give away, there is no problem with getting one!
    A big thank you to Martial Bekkers, from EBI, the Everly Brothers International network. When I realised I was in London the day of the Everly Brothers Royal Albert Hall concert on 24th November, the day before my examination meetings, I tried to get a ticket. The only ones available were second hand, and cost around �120. However, on mentioning this to Martial, I was surprised to get the offer of a ticket for Euro 121.50, plus any charges my bank makes for arranging the transfer of the funds. Maureen also would like to go to this concert, much to my surprise, so we hope a second ticket is forthcoming. This will be the 4th concert I will be attending during what could be their final tour. I am already booked to see them in Newcastle, Manchester and Nottingham. How the costs mount up!

  • Friday 19 August 2005. My widescreen freeview digital television arrived yesterday. Excellent service from digitaldirect, as the TV was only ordered Tuesday afternoon! Picture HERE. Now for the HDD/DVD/VCR recorder! And talking of good service, it is a pity that all firms cannot give such efficiency in their dealings with the public. We have been waiting about a week now for a debit transfer to take place into my account at egold. Why londongoldexchange is taking so long I fail to understand. Apart from the length of time to process this simple transaction, they have failed to respond to my emails. I am investigating other companies, including goldage.
    Congratulations to all the successful A level studnets, with their results announced today. We all know how much easier it is to get high grades these days, but studnets are not choosing the more difficult subjects like Maths and the sciences. One student I was particularly interested in is someone I know only from IRC. I have helped him with his Maths A level and Furthe Maths AS level. He obtained grades Maths : A, Art : A, Economics : B, FM : b. Well done. And at this stage of clearing you may be coming to Nottingham University! Another result from the same IRC chennel obtained Physwsics B, Maths C and Chemistry D.

  • Wednesday 17 August 2005. The set up for my CFD account with idealing is nearly complete. For an explanation of how CFD's work, Click Here
    My egold and London Gold Exchange accounts have been set up for nearly a week now, but the latter is proving very lethargic in transferring funds. However, I have had a payment into the egold account, and I now own $0.95 worth of gold. I hope the price of gold surges in the near future!

  • Tuesday 16 August 2005. It was enjoyable tonight logging on with shoutcast and winamp to LB's server to broadcast a few tracks to the world. When it is connected you can log on here. A few tunes from afroman entertained my four listeners from #edit !

  • Saturday 13 August 2005. Well!!!! Two new kittens, bought on Friday! There is a 15 week old Birman blue boy, and a 14 week old Birman blue tabby. Click here for some pix!

  • Sunday 7 August 2005. Just back from the Poppyline 50, the longest walk put on by the Norfolk & Suffolk group of the LDWA. A redesigned route for this year, making it 52.7 miles, which I completed in 16 hr 58 mins. Thanks to Steve and Bill for their support during the night section. For the results in pdf format, Click Here. How patient they were! I understand from Chris that the group could be considering a change in start time from 9 am to 8 am. As I already leave home at about 5.40 am to drive the 120 miles to Sheringham, I don't think that would be a good idea! However, the Honda CTR goobled up the miles and I was there in double quick time. Chris would appreciate your thoughts on the early start time. You can contact him: HERE
    No further news on the potential holiday home in Northumberalnd. In terestingly, three of the walkers I chatted to had spent time at Newcastle University, and know of the delights of the area.

  • Thursday 4 August 2005. It's been a busy few days, what with a trip to Rothbury, then to Anderby, before returning here on Monday. Then to Solihull to look at five Birman kittens (ahhhh!), and share watching, looking for the opportunities that the market presents an astute investor such as myself. Yesterday such an opportunity arose: BSkyB presented good data, increasing profits and dividend, and subscriber numbers looking good too. So what was the market reaction: it marked the share price down, enabling me to get an order in, completed at 540.5p. If I had been about thirty minutes earlier, I would have saved �20, but I had not noticed the big fall at that time. Later, of course, the price recovered, and at the close I was just about breaking even. However, today the price began to move up in the middle of the day, so I was able to sell at 552.12p, making a quick profit of �69.27. This could have been increased by �100 if I had waited until just before the market closed.
    Today is a red letter day in my online share dealing, as I now pass the �10,000 realised profit mark since I began 28 months ago. Some call it luck...I call it skill!
    I have also been investigating the purchase of a residence of some sort in Northumberland, England's secret county, spurred on by the �200,000 bungalow with no electricity that overlooks Embleton Bay. I need a quiet retreat somewhere really, but may have to settle for a static caravan on a park very near the coast. Although I would like one with a sea view, they may not be available at this time, and they are always at a premium anyway! In the longer term I may sell my bungalow at Anderby Creek after 27 years, and invest in a more substantial place up north, maybe a lodge or something similar. It all depends on how the next few months turn out. There is one company that sells the caravans, from �5000 used to �25000 or more new, and will let the latter at a guarenteed fee for the first five years. That way the annual site rental fee of �1645 is covered. I now need to make a site visit in the next couple of weeks.

  • Friday 22 July 2005. Hey!!!! My cool Civic R is on the Radio Nottingham gallery: Here. But they have blanked out the JG04 FUN plate. If that link fails, then Click Here for my screen print.

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