Another pointless thread

Well we can all look forward to the inevitable summer drought and water shortages!

hope the water's back on for you Gwyn, and it's never to early for a beer..

..or any other drink.

I think I've linked to this video before but...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPCjC543llU

Says it all realy

Thanks HG. They repaired it all very quickly, and the water was drinkable immediately they said.

Sunshine today . Makes a change.

Nice and sunny here in West Yorkshire today, we're away this weekend for a couple of days...

...in the Lake District which has a lousy forecast over the next few days!

Now, do I take the pushbikes or a wetsuit?

I hope the weather is better than forecast for you! Lucky you going to the Lakes.
Me? I'm off back to the town where we used to live for a couple of days, depsite the 4 cases of Covid-19 there. Luckily not my son, who tested negative in Abu Dhabi and was able to get home a couple of days ago.
His Nibs and grandson#2 are celebrating their birthday together on Sunday (the 11th is the actual day), and the camper is going in for it's service and MOT on Monday. We take it down there to a garage we know and trust.
Cloudy here today but no sign of rain (yet).

Well the stock market is in free fall this morning after falling all week, so there go my savings and pension fund. It’s going to take years which I don’t have to get back to the level of a month ago. It doesn’t look as if I can give up working any time soon even though most people my age are either retired or dead. All thanks to the disgraceful Chinese markets in endangered animals transferring Coronavirus to humans, maybe the planet is fighting back.

Yep, the stock market decline really hurts those with long term investments. I'm sure the traders themselves have ways of taking advantage of such declines (and that must make matters worse at times like this).

I don't think we can blame any nation or people for a disease outbreak - the current state of world affairs makes it very likely that outbreaks will occur and possibly be more severe. Antibiotic resistance will definitely cause issues in the future. What we do need is education and a set of laws that 'encourage' safe and clean practises.

The way that things are going we'll be dropping some pretty good EU laws and replacing them with stuff like chlorinated chicken!

HarisF1 I don’t agree, I think we can definitely point the finger at the Chinese markets as this isn’t the first outbreak and they provide a lucrative demand for parts of the world’s most endangered species with their medieval medicines and strange dietary supplements, none of which has any scientific basis. The more pressure the rest of the world can put on the Chinese government to act the better. And we had perfectly sound hygiene laws before the EU so no worries there.

Perhaps a bit hard on the Chinese? They've been practicing their version of medicine for thousands of years and probably getting strange diseases from it for just as long. Strange diseases were probably happening under Chairman Mao but we didn't know about it. What's different now is the world's dependence on Chinese goods and people travelling half way round the world at the drop of a hat. We want the benefits (including cheap photographic gear), we have to put up with the risks. That doesn't mean that Chinese medicine and treatment of rare species is right, just that it shouldn't take the full blame for the world-wide economic impact of the virus.

It's not the first time that foreign trade has caused health problems and economic damage to this country. There's a sign in Weymouth that says "The black death entered England in 1348 through this port. It killed 30-50% of the country's total population". The disease originated in China, spread along the trade routes and came via a seaman from Gascony.

Happy days!!

Steve

The decline today seems to be hinged on a price war over Oil

His Nibs main pension fund, which had to be used to buy anannuity under Dutch law, was hit by the last downturn, when interest rates dropped dramtically in the months before he could retire. Between that and the pound/euro rates for his British pensions we have had a big cut in what we had hoped to have in retirement. We get by, but it isn't what we'd hoped for.

I hope things will recover quickly once the virus scare dies down.

Keeping an eye on the virus situation as we are supposed to visit the UK at the end of April for my brother's 75th birthday. Since he is going blind and this is probably the last chance for him to actually see us I am really hoping it goes ahead. Ferries are cancellable, though the accomodation isn't so we'll take a bit of a hit financially if it does get cancelled.
Oldest son's boat is mostly chartered by German schools, so he is watching and worrying, as his the boats owner, whose main job is building stands for exhibitions. Second son, who was trapped in Abu Dhabi, is worried the company may drop his small specialied section and he'll be back to boring sound work rather than helicoptering over sports events, and the third works for Maersk, sothings not going to be great there either.
Currently in one of the hotspots for the virus here in the Netherlands after visiting the family. No one seems too worried though.

Keep washing those hands folks!

It’s a double whammy, you would think travel companies could benefit from cheap fuel but their prices are falling faster than s**t off a shovel because no one wants to travel. Saga, the insurance and cruise company having been hit in both fields, is now only worth pennies; only last month the pundits were advising to buy so it just shows how much they know. Just as long as whisky doesn’t go up!

Well Gwyn it sounds like your offspring are healthy and doing ok so you have a lot to be thankful for.

Yes I have a lot to be thankful for, but my point is that stocks have fallen before and when they did they affected our pension dramatically, not the fault of the Chinese, but of greedy bankers.
A new market fall has long been predicted.
Our pension has further fallen with the Brexit chaos. No fault of the Chinese.

We have drastically altered our plans for retirement, and now need to check every penny we spend, one reason I stll have my K-5S. I probably won't be able to buy the new model no matter how wonderful it is. Not spare cash for things like that, but we manage, for now.

My sons jobs could all be in danger if this virus develops further. They may not have jobs if it continues. With no job, they may not be able to remain here even though they have lived here all their lives, because of Brexit.

But I hope we all remain healthy, and that everyone on the forum does too, even if you are all a little bit poorer come pension time.

Why is it that, no matter what we do, our generation end up loosing out?

The budget seems, on the face of it OK, beer's been left alone, but dropping the interest rate to bu***r all aint helping the savings..

...at the current rate it'll take 42 years before I can afford to pay for a round in the bar,,

,,,,and there's only 2 of us!