The Sting in the Tail
There always is, isn’t there!
I’d decided that the best way to get home from the hospital, would be to take a bus to Haverhill and then take a taxi.
As I left the hospital the 13 bus was there, so I ran to get on it. I may have had a stroke, but I can still run ande walk a few hundred metres or so.
I assumed that the bus would go straight to Haverhill Bus Station, as the previous one had done a couple of weeks ago. But this one did an unguided tour of all the delightful estates and I ended up being dumped in a place I did not recognise. It hadn’t helped that because of the rain I couldn’t see out of the bus in the dark.
So it was a long walk to the Bus Station and then I couldn’t get a taxi without half-an-hour’s wait.
So something that should have been easy, made me late!
I get more fed up with the countryside every day.
And Now The Good News!
Well I suppose it’s good news, in that the hospital doesn’t want to see me again about the stroke! I suppose I should be pleased but I don’t think I showed much emotion as I was getting tired after the travel. In fact if I have any emotions now, it’s about going to London, hopefully for a new start! At least when it’s like tonight, I won’t have to stay inside watching nothing on the television.
Cambridge Bus Chaos
After lunch I had to virtually walk halfway to Addenbrooke’s as Cambridge city centre is all dug up and the buses have been diverted. I was nearly at the station before I found one going to the hospital.
Let’s hope it all gets better when and if the Busway opens!
Carliuccio’s Gluten-Free Offering Gets Wider
I had to go to Addenbrooke’s today and as no-one could bring me home as it was a late appointment, I decided to go to Carluccio’s in Cambridge before and have a decent lunch.
They have added some good soups to the menu, by making the standard ones gluten-free and deleting the bread. In other words they hit both markets. I followed it with veal with a caper and tuna mayonnaise. It wasn’t on the gluten-free menu but it was on the specials and gluten-free. Veal may not be to everyone’s taste, but it was very good.
So they seem to be making a statement about how to serve coeliacs.
It Pays to Think When You Tweet
There is a story about how a Tory councillor, suggested something not very nice should happen to a journalist.
I’m afraid that you generally don’t make jokes about capital punshment, unless they are positive. For instance, if say someone was exonerated by further evidence like DNA and released, then to make jokes about the legal system is probably OK.
If the councillor had thought, he could have said something quite funny or constructive, that wasn’t offensive. He could have said that he disagreed with Ms. Brown and wasn’t it Tony Blair who took us into Iraq!
C was a barrister and she said that the most telling statement in Court was often nothing with an appropriate look!
The trouble with Twitter is it’s very much in the shoot first, ask questions afterwards camp.
We’ve already got the Cairns case, where Chris Cairns is suing Lalit Modi for libel in the English Courts.
There will be many more.
Zopa Brings in a Get Out Method
Zopa is in the process of introducing a get out or sell your loans on method, if you want to cash in and use your money for another purpose.
They call it Rapid Return and effectively loans are passed on to another lender.
I’m not sure if I shall use it, but it makes sense for a lot of lenders.
One restriction is that your can’t pass on a loan with a failed payment.
This does not affect me much, as nearly all of myof loans with a failed payment are now up to date, but I don’t think I will cash in any of the others, as most seem to have been going for over eighteen months at slightly higher rates than I can get now. So those are probably best left to generate interest until they are repaid in a few months.
I seem to have eleven loans, where my contribution is £300 and they were lent out at 8% over two years ago. Most are about 60% repaid, so they have done well. None has a failed payment. So I could recover about £1320, by selling the loans on. If I chose to keep these eleven loans, ‘ll get additional interest of about £100.
So it strikes me that Rapid Return may have uses for some people, it is not worth cashing in good loans, unless you have a desperate need for the money.
On the other hand, buying parts of these loans may well be worthwhile, as old loans tend to be at higher interest rates than those today.
I shall eep you up-to-date on progress here.
The Anonymous Widower 