*** The pilgrimage Bar***

I don't do buy it for Christmas traditions anymore. Not kean on Turkey these days although when my family were young and Christmas was more like a Christmas should be I could eat half of one in a day easily at various times of picking a bit more off. We have done either a visit to one of the family on the day therefore not buying any of the stuff ourselves or on the rare occasion of staying home just buying what we fancy. I like lamb so am quite happy to have that along with some sort of treat for starter and finisher. I can't do huge meals anymore like Mr. Creosote.

The barmaid apparently resigned in February and left with the brewery delivery bloke. They ran off together and opened a small bar on a Greek island. Amazing what you find out when you drop back in. She did steal a couple of packets of cheese and onion but the nuts are still hanging behind the bar.

 

wow i thought this bar was gone .. good to see it back to life..
Is there a NYE party

The place could do with a refurb

 

We could have one Joe if everyone is willing. Sod the committee lets just use up the stock for free with a free bar and all the nuts and crisps you can eat. Might even find a sausage roll somewhere. I mean we do have something to celebrate this season so far and we might not at the end.

 

well Sorry im late as been suffering for 2 days as a late new years eve 4am, its not the drink its the lack of sleep and thise old mouldy sausgae rolls you left out Sensible. i was a bit peckish .. i thought lets eat some crap for once hahaha

Hope you had a good new year hopefully it will be a happy one come May .. that will be a later night hopefully.

 

I wondered where the sausage rolls went. I saw some rodents hanging about a couple of days ago and assumed they ate them. Did nothing on NYE except have a glass of wine at home and go to bed just after the gongs. Don't really do parties although we do get an invite every year to a friends. I'm hoping this year will be better for everyone for a change. The last couple haven't been up to much have they. We might be celebrating long before May this season Joe........{he says hopefully}. I'm not counting chickens for sure but just hope this season doesn't fall away like the last one. Don't think it will. Anyway hope all is well with you and yours currently. I do wonder sometimes when you disappear off the radar but guess it must be difficult at times. Give the lad a hug from me and keep smiling.......

 

How are the bar”s funds? I’d like one of those hot beer nut dispensers. Spicy coated beer nuts in a little cardboard thing (Also available in supermarkets). Will do wonders for beer sales if you put enough spices in.

 

You'll be wanting prawn sandwiches next.........this ain't Chelsea or Man U you know.

 

The bar funds are non existant notdistant. That's because nobody came in here and bought a round for almost a year. You can have a half pint of bitter, a packet of peanuts, a spoon and a box of matches. The rest of it is DIY.

 

Betty Stoggs please.

 

I bet she does,

 

well i was that rodent and became ill i blame the sausage rolls ..

Yep thats why i disappear at times sensible i have to keep going to london, but i have family there also .. my partner moved back their 3 years ago to be closer to our son, but all is good, to much stress for her to be honest being so far away, but we get on with it. life changes but for both of us its keeping him well and being there ,at least we still get on nothing nasty .. it had to happen. move on.. i had to stay because everything is here apart from him but i go weekly and also get to see a few games when im in london as yet i have not been to any argyle london games .. thanks for your kind comments hopefully we will see this out until the end and get to the championship.. then we can celebrate

I amy be missing end of the month as have to be at Great ormond street for another procedure for him but i can do my predictions ok, i miss the marking and banter of making a mess but we have the top man now Not distant all digital.. no errors... yet

Have a great year love to you and your family

 

better get some functioning toilets then...

 

Plym will get the next round its his shout..

 

Great Ormond Street takes me back to my chlldhood. I remember it so well even though I'm 60+ years on. Don't think you ever forget that place. Anyway hope all goes well.

Plymborn won't get a round in he's a poor pensioner............like me.

 

Great Ormond Street was Mrs Plyms first job from School about 1960.

 

Thanks both, yep im sure it will all go well.. there is the risk but there is that risk with most procedures... hopefully it goes ahead with all what is happening in the NHS with one thing and another
Pensioners are not poor under this goverment .. the working man is very poor ...

 

I've had my share of hospital stays including ICU.
I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for the Doctor's and Nurses.
Keep faith in the system Joe.

 

Yep my parents played Doctors and Nurses and here I am as well..............spooky.

 

Depends what you mean by a pensioner Joe - I wouldn't want to live on the State pension that's for sure. Private pensions are what you saved out of your own earnings, or rather from what's left after your earnings after they've been taxed left, right & centre or course. I don't see why relying on your own savings should be begrudged by anyone.

There's a great danger that pensions and pensioners are being blamed for the country's ills: a Government report concludes that the country's labour shortage isn't their own fault by taking us out of the EU but by pensioners who are having the gall to retire before they're in the 65-70 age bracket.

This is deemed to be due to over generous pension schemes and rules that define how early you can take them. Sounds like covering up your own ghastly Brexit mistake to me but you can see where it's leading: more tax on pensions. That also neatly ignores the fact that public sector pension schemes are far more generous than those in the private sector by the way..

After numerous raids on pension schemes, started by Gordon Brown's removal of reliefs on pension fund investments - despite the fact the fund is only the bridge between taxed earnings and taxable pensions, so it's triple taxation in effect - were was followed up by curtailment of tax relief on pension contributions and penal taxation of pension pots of over £1m.

The latest idea that's been floated in the press recently is that unused pension funds - which can currently be passed on to your nearest and dearest outside Inheritance Tax - could be taxed instead at punitive rates on death - 55% is being mooted. This is iniquitous for two reasons: firstly, such transfers are already taxable on the recipient when they draw the cash down and secondly because those that have built up such funds can do bugger all about it now.

This may sound like special pleading and it is, but there is a serious general problem here.

The reason why pensions were given favourable tax treatment way back when was to encourage workers to provide for their own retirement years. That's been severely eroded: very few employers outside the public sector now offer defined benefit (DB) pensions because Gordon Brown's raid on the funds made them too expensive. The investment risk over a working life has therefore been transferred from the employer to the employee and total contributions into schemes from employers and employees has fallen. The £1m limit on pension funds is one reason why doctors are leaving the NHS: the value of fund required to provide a meaningful DB pension to a doctor very quickly grows to £1m, after which non-cash investment gains within the fund bounce back into the doctor's monthly tax bill. As tax thresholds are not increased for inflation year after year, more and more will be dragged into this trap, let alone what will happen if the Government decides to slap on another stealth tax burden that few understand until it's too late .

All this is going to mean more and more people abandoning private pensions and ultimately more and more pensioners relying on the State pension. Unless they are to live in abject poverty, that means more tax for the working man in future generations.

 

"That also neatly ignores the fact that public sector pension schemes are far nore generous than those in the private sector"

I can't speak for all pension schemes but I would throw into that comment a fact which is often forgotten. When I worked, in the public sector all of my working life, firstly in the RN my pay was piss poor considering what I did and what I gave up family wise to do it. The only equivalent I can go to is the Merchant Navy who were paid loads more than we were. The second job was in Local Government and the job I did would have commanded several thousand a year more in a Housing Association. However, the pension scheme sort of maee up for years of being paid less. It depends how you look at it. I got poor pay comparitively for 45 years but a reasonable boost to my State Pension for X years as that is unknown. However it is unlikely to be for 45 years. I get no other benefits paid to me with the exception of Heating Allowance which all pensioners get.

Anyway whose round is it?