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    I have postponed haircuts for around a year now in total. The dentist was a good experience, all told.

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      I've started eyeing Alice bands online, since the most annoying part of my long hair is it getting in my eyes. I am feeling some considerable shame at that.

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        Originally posted by TonTon View Post
        Why would he need money to get on the internet?
        He's back in Scouseland. I think they have meters for the internet up there or something.

        Somewhat related to the thread, Lidl are selling pastas de natas that are as good as anything else I have tasted outside of Portugal or Ladbroke Grove at 6 for ?2.

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          I need to see a dentist very soon. I had extractions done just before Covid got real in the US, and implants done in the moderately safe zone of May. But moving across the continent has left me without a dentist, and therefore without actual teeth on the implants. And I don't really want to go in except in emergencies. But waiting too long might be an emergency...

          I've not had a grown up haircut since March. There've been a number of experimental attempts with the barbers' razor from the missus. No disasters, but the quality is definitely inconsistent. It's definitely time for a real haircut but that is definitely a luxury, unnecessary, so it will wait until things are much safer.

          Neither of these is a small win.

          Very small win for the day was that I got a puncture on my bike about 2 miles from home before the lovely downhill (so far, not a win). But the missus was just heading out to pick up some lunch, so rescued me from the side of the road, which allows me to fix the puncture and put a new outer tire on at home in the relative warmth of the garage, and with a proper pump.

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            Almost (but not quite) a small win today. Ordered sushi for pick up, and the person taking the order (waitress?) heard Hokkaido where I said avocado, so I wound up getting free Hokkaido rolls.
            Unfortunately none of us cared for them very much, so they went uneaten (apart from the two we nibbled at to investigate). So no win. Indeed a loss, as I had to spend time going back to the sushi place to pick up the avocado rolls (which I probably wouldn't have bothered doing if my son and I had ordered anything else that my daughter would eat).

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              We decided to buy a small hand blender to experiment with making our own soups. Mrs Thistle found a cheap one at Argos and then realised we could use our Nectar points to pay for it, so we got it for free.

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                Also when my RAC Membership renewed a few months back I got offered a choice of free bonus features including key cover, which I picked. So when one of my car keys came apart I phoned them up and this week a mobile locksmith came round, took my broken car key into his van, sorted me out a replacement in about half an hour, and gave me my old key back with a bodge-fix on it as well. All covered by my free loyalty bonus.

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                  My broadband is with phone company Eir. I've known I'm entitled to free Eir sports, which includes League of Ireland games, so I rang them yesterday. Didn't know that they were going to throw in free Amazon prime as well. Which was nice.

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                    Despite having lived in our new apartment for nearly 3 months here in Helsinki, it was only these past two weeks that I discovered the existence of a sauna on the complex, having seen a chap brave the snow and -15 temperatures wearing nothing but a towel and flip-flops on his way back from it.
                    We've booked it for 6pm today, and I cannot wait, it's been too long.
                    Last edited by Mr Delicieux; 13-02-2021, 13:03.

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                      Originally posted by Mr Delicieux View Post
                      Despite having lived in our new apartment for nearly 3 months here in Helsinki, it was only these past two weeks that I discovered the existence of a sauna on the complex, having seen a chap brave the snow and -15 temperatures wearing nothing but a towel and flip-flops on his way back from it.
                      We've booked it for 6pm today, and I cannot wait, it's been too long.
                      I guess with -15 temperatures it will soon shrivel up.

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                        He was wearing the towel around his waist to be fair.

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                          Wrote some invoices today, something I hate doing, and have been putting off for a while. In so doing I found that the approximately 3000 quid i was owed for some work actually turned out to be over 5000. Which is nice. Also important since I've done no paid work since November and I have no idea when I'll ever have any again. My mate in the UK who does basically the same work as me is on that self-employed furlough scheme (or whatever it's called), but I'm a bit stuck, such an option is non-existent over here. Starting to look at the possibility of trying to find an actual job, which is a bit scary.

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                            Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
                            Wrote some invoices today, something I hate doing, and have been putting off for a while. In so doing I found that the approximately 3000 quid i was owed for some work actually turned out to be over 5000. Which is nice. Also important since I've done no paid work since November and I have no idea when I'll ever have any again. My mate in the UK who does basically the same work as me is on that self-employed furlough scheme (or whatever it's called), but I'm a bit stuck, such an option is non-existent over here. Starting to look at the possibility of trying to find an actual job, which is a bit scary.
                            Sort of knowing/guessing/assuming the areas in which you work, the competition nowadays is a bit frightening.

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                              Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
                              My mate in the UK who does basically the same work as me is on that self-employed furlough scheme (or whatever it's called), but I'm a bit stuck, such an option is non-existent over here.
                              Does that mean that, if you're prevented from doing what you normally do because a government has passed certain laws, you're not entitled to any compensation from that government?

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                                Originally posted by treibeis View Post
                                Does that mean that, if you're prevented from doing what you normally do because a government has passed certain laws, you're not entitled to any compensation from that government?
                                There isn't really a law getting in my way. It's the practical (Covid-related) bankruptcy of the industry I work in, the inability to travel (overseas), and the fact that the kind of work I do is low on the list of priorities of people who might otherwise be giving me work (and I'm fine with this, they need to focus on avoiding layoffs as much as they can)

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                                  Well, I admire your positive, and altruistic, outlook (and I'm not being sarcastic, in case it might sound like I am). I hope you can soon be once again getting paid for doing something you enjoy.

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                                    I've just learned that a favourite ex-colleague is returning to our organisation next month. I find myself mightily chuffed at this news.

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                                      As some may know I used to work in motor claims so whenever any of my old friends/family/general acquaintances have an accident they turn to me for advice on how to deal with the insurers.

                                      My ex-girlfriend was involved in a non-fault accident in December when a third-party entered a roundabout she was already on and collided right into the side of her. She had been in a serious accident some time ago (about 15 years ago) and the collision ignited some of the old injuries, causing some aching and whatnot. She missed a couple of days of work - which she wasn't paid for - and had to go to the doctors. When she was relaying this to me, I pointed out that she can claim for personal injury if she wants and I gave her the name of a couple of decent, reputable solicitors that we used to work with when I worked in PI claims because the insurer told her she couldn't liaise with them directly.

                                      Anyway, I'd forgotten all about this and yesterday she asked about some banking issues and asked for my details to transfer a penny to see if it works or not.Half hour later, I check my account for her and she's transferred ?100 for my help as she has now received her settlement (she took the insurer's first offer).. Despite my protestations, and pointing out that a coffee the next time we see each other, she insisted that I take it as she wouldn't have even known to make the claim, let alone use a specific solicitor.

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                                        As part of our building work, we're having a new water line put in from the mains.
                                        One of the builders said to me "are you thinking of getting an electric car at any point?"
                                        I am indeed, so he very kindly ran some armoured cable in the same trench they'd dug for the water pipe and into the cupboard where the consumer unit is.

                                        Saved digging it all up again or running the cable up walls etc. if and when I have a charger fitted.

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                                          Went to the supermarket. Found a non-tethered trolley so didn't need to use my trolley coin. Afterwards I took the trolley back to the stand. I left it untethered to help the next person then noticed in the row of tethered trolleys someone had left a pound coin. It was 3 or 4 trolleys back so other people had come, tethered their trolleys and not noticed. So I claimed it.

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                                            Just heard that our company are paying staff a 400 quid bonus as a thank you for our work through the pandemic. Lots of "ah but how much are they paying themselves?", "it's to soften us up pre redundancy notices" type comments. I'm actually quite excited. I've never had a bonus before.

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                                              That happened to me back in the early nineties. Was made redundant later that year.

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                                                Originally posted by Foot of Astaire's View Post
                                                Just heard that our company are paying staff a 400 quid bonus as a thank you for our work through the pandemic. Lots of "ah but how much are they paying themselves?", "it's to soften us up pre redundancy notices" type comments. I'm actually quite excited. I've never had a bonus before.
                                                Maybe they availed themselves of the government scheme in January that paid companies ?1000 for every employee they kept on. We all got ?900 which seemed so convenient it led to the conclusion that they'd taken the thousand and kept a little bit for their pot.

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                                                  Originally posted by Greenlander View Post

                                                  Maybe they availed themselves of the government scheme in January that paid companies ?1000 for every employee they kept on. We all got ?900 which seemed so convenient it led to the conclusion that they'd taken the thousand and kept a little bit for their pot.
                                                  I didn't know about that. The robbing gets!

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                                                    I went to Aldi in Walker to buy cycle locks and they had proper pancetta , which I can only get normally via special trips to italian delis (in unpleasant places like Jesmond and Gosforth)

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