Dear Diary

[Bleep1673 1,066]

Just been playing 8-Ball-Pool on Miniclip.com, I am a level 19 player, and just beat level 68, and a level 119 player. I'm so happy.

Edited November 6 by Bleep1673

[Bleep1673 1,066]

31 minutes ago, Bleep1673 said:

Just been playing 8-Ball-Pool on Miniclip.com, I am a level 19 player, and just beat level 68, and a level 119 player. I'm so happy.

Put a level 34 on that list.... I'm on a roll!

[ckn 10,625]

Tonight, I:

- deposed Stalin and brought back Trotsky
- conquered Turkey and Romania so I could control the ever important strategic links into the Mediterranean 
- rapidly increased my army, as well as the quality of my troops in preparation for my new neighbours, the Germans, who may be popping over the border for an unannounced visit. 

I had some free time so put a few hours into Hearts of Iron 4, playing as the Soviets/Russians. 

[Copa 3,435]

I started writing poetry this year and just received notification that a poem I submitted for a collection has been accepted and will be published.

Feeling quite pleased with myself right now.

 

[Bearman 3,666]

1 hour ago, Copa said:

I started writing poetry this year and just received notification that a poem I submitted for a collection has been accepted and will be published.

Feeling quite pleased with myself right now.

 

That doesn't thyme.

Must do better

[Bleep1673 1,066]

1 hour ago, Bearman said:

That doesn't thyme.

Must do better

Time, or Rhyme?

[Bearman 3,666]

14 minutes ago, Bleep1673 said:

Time, or Rhyme?

Rhyme. I was right I must do better!

[Farmduck 2,975]

I had a paraphrased Godfather scene today. I was in bed and felt something odd on my foot. I looked and there was a dead rabbit's head on top of my bed. My dog had put it there, obviously having eaten the rest of the rabbit. Is she making me an offer I can't refuse? It was only a small rabbit and I'm pretty impressed. She's about 16/17 so catching anything is impressive.

[Bearman 3,666]

  I have been given the card that identifies me as having a pacemaker. Someone in the NHS has a sense of humour as the model I have is a "St Jude". Some of you with a religious bent might know St Jude as the patron of lost causes!

[Bleep1673 1,066]

1 hour ago, Bearman said:

  I have been given the card that identifies me as having a pacemaker. Someone in the NHS has a sense of humour as the model I have is a "St Jude". Some of you with a religious bent might know St Jude as the patron of lost causes!

Wasn't/isn't there a Wigan St Judes ARLFC?

[Bearman 3,666]

2 minutes ago, Bleep1673 said:

Wasn't/isn't there a Wigan St Judes ARLFC?

http://www.wiganstjudesarlfc.com

[Bleep1673 1,066]

27 minutes ago, Bearman said:

http://www.wiganstjudesarlfc.com

Yeah, they weren't a lost cause, had some close matches against them.

[Farmduck 2,975]

Today I reported a phishing scam. My neighbour, who is 76, diabetic, has poor English and isn't very bright, had a call regarding the replacement of his Foxtel satellite decoder box. He called me in to talk to the guy because he had trouble understanding him - I had trouble understanding him even though I live in a street full of Indians. There was one sentence I asked him 4 times to repeat because I still don't understand some of the words. (and I'm a Foxtel customer who's had his own experiences with their call centres so I know most of the jargon.)

Scam: In order to replace your decoder box, which is free, we do need a $1.99 processing fee, and thus your card details to process this payment.

Obvious hole: he's been a Foxtel customer for 25 years so they already have his bank details.

But here's the interesting part: He really does have a problem with his Foxtel box and they really are coming around to change it. He was on the phone to them less than 3 hours before the scammer called. Of all the scams and scammers and potential marks out there, what are the chances of this being a pure coincidence? Someone at Foxtel is passing info about good potential marks to the scammers. Old people with poor English who are tech-illiterate and expecting contact from Foxtel.

Have I heard too many conspiracy theories or am I on the right track here?

[Farmduck 2,975]

Today I'm bidding on a guitar on ebay for the first time in years and years. It's a 2000 Les Paul Classic and I'm up to $1600. New ones sell for around $3200-3500. We're coming up to the last hour so things should start moving. I'll probably only go to $1800 but I think it will sell for around $2300

I'm prepared to pay $2300 for some guitars but not this model. This one is the 2000 remake of one of these:

Edited November 20 by Farmduck

[Farmduck 2,975]

It went for $1876

[Bleep1673 1,066]

On 18/11/2019 at 06:02, Farmduck said:

Today I reported a phishing scam. My neighbour, who is 76, diabetic, has poor English and isn't very bright,

He's a Current Yorkshire based Championship referee. It fits the profile. Elderly, so can't keep up with play, doesn't understand English, isn't very Bright, and because of his diabetes has poor eyesight.

[Bleep1673 1,066]

I feel like poo today. Got man flu, and my throat is sore. Haven't got enough money for a medicinal toddy. I have the lemons & honey, but not the active ingredient, Brandy. I have to clear it up by 1400 on Monday.

[DavidM 7,290]

This is just an excuse to post this great picture . My friend in Australia has an ageing dog called Alf . She thought Alf was getting lonely so got him a little pal... although Alf apparently isn’t too impressed so far and is getting a bit bullied by the newcomer ...

[ckn 10,625]

A bit of a self-congratulatory post here, feel free to jump on ahead.

Six years ago, I almost went bankrupt, I was down to beans in my £5000 overdrawn account paying for healthcare for my wife that the NHS should have covered. I counted it again last week and the total outlay is £353,298 to date on directly attributable costs.

We went to PayPlan as a last-resort "help, we're screwed" and they convinced our £43,024 of unsecured creditors to give us an IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement) instead of bankruptcy as we had no assets beyond a house with hefty mortgage and our car. The creditors were outstanding on this and agreed a 9% payback (9p in the £1, meaning £3872.16 in total) on the condition we payed back more if we could, this was genuinely a good-faith agreement from them.

I will be forever grateful for Barclays, Halifax, MNBA and our Council for unanimously agreeing to this after reviewing our reasons for debt statement. It doesn't half mitigate the "soulless capitalism" view many have of finance and bankng firms.

That gave us the headroom to make trivially low payments towards the IVA and stop worrying about the massive debts facing us every day. That was a light in the dark moment for us.  The debt letters and phone calls stopped that week beyond a couple of "don't worry, we're now stopping these as you've done the right thing" letters.

I paid the last payment to my IVA last year, 100% repayment, including 8% statutory interest and IVA fees.  (PayPlan had a fixed fee that was only payable if I actually paid it off, and NONE in advance). I did my damnedest to repay the creditors' faith in me.

Last week, the IVA and debts fell off my credit score. I have a mortgage that's in great order and a credit card that I put a McDonalds on once a month to keep it alive, beyond that I owe nothing. That's given me this Experian credit score:

I didn't even know you COULD get there as I thought it was a theoretical max.

So, a bit of hope out there for anyone in debt. Address it, bite the bullet that it's going to hurt for years to fix it but there is a definite light at the end of that tunnel.

[Red Willow 425]

The hardest thing about debt is taking the first step and acknowledging the problem. There are so many solutions and something will fit your needs. There is a new solution in the pipeline called Breathing space, which will provide a short space to consider options think it will be 3 months. This gives you a break from being chased for debts.

You should be proud of the achievement and it gives hope to others.

[JohnM 5,872]

Yes, a real achievement and only half the story. As I understand it, the reason this happened is truly incredible, an act of immense sacrifice. 

[Padge 5,192]

On 11/11/2019 at 17:38, Bleep1673 said:

Wasn't/isn't there a Wigan St Judes ARLFC?

My local club.

[ckn 10,625]

In a sign that I have completely corrupted my wife, we were watching NCIS and they mentioned Nietzsche. My wife said “there’s nothing he couldn’t teach you about the raising of the wrist”.

She then swore.

I win  

[Farmduck 2,975]

We're officially now worse than Beijing