I really do not understand!!!:(

[Scurra]

Green Jelly or Red Jelly? I sense an acrimonious split coming


(edit: brilliant top of page posting for a thread titled "I really do not understand"!)

[clvrlad]

jelly?
well if thats what it takes t get you to come........

allways knew you were weird

[Bunnylump]

Marvellous. Oh you lot do cheer me up. I haven't laughed as much for ages.
P.S. Red, obviously.

EDIT
And yes I know I am the only one who has been finding the whole dongle thing funny. But I am still laughing. I think I need serious psychoanalytical help. Or jelly. Or both.

[LAT]

Exactly how did we get from the original posting to a discussion of coloured jelly?

[Scurra]

You have to ask?!

[clvrlad]

im blaming scurra for going off topic

[Bunnylump]

Yeah, Scurra. You are such a trouble maker.

[LAT]

We need a moderator here.

[clvrlad]

where is gill when we need her lol

[Bunnylump]

Oh she's off sunning herself in Spain and playing with her grand son. She just doesn't know what she's missing with all these jelly dongle revelations.

Donald just came into the room and asked me if I was alright. He thought I'd been crying.

[MBH]

Exactly how did we get from the original posting to a discussion of coloured jelly?

It's the Government's fautl.

[katsmom]

I like layered jelly myself.

I asked my husband about this not too long ago because there was a homeowners meeting to discuss the negative equity in our building. First he told me to go back to my puzzles and forget worrying about money-that's his job. (isn't he sweet)
But then he explained to me that it is only negative equity if you have a mortgage and the current property value is less than you paid for it, but your payments already made on the mortgage are more than the current value of the property. And that you still have years worth of capital and intrest payments left. So even though my house is less than the value of what we originally purchased at, it isn't negative because it's paid for. He chalked it up as being normal fluctuations in the housing market and told me this isn't the first time this has happened in HK.
My understanding is that it happened when we first bought the flat, and that is why he decided it was time to buy then and stop renting. He's also decided it's almost time to buy another flat, but the idea of another mortgage terrifies me! I guess that when houses start going into negative equity that is when all the speculators come out and start snapping up properties. -- Or maybe he was just feeding me a line to shut me up because he was watching tv

Kind of on the same topic, but a bit different. Is it really that bad in the UK? I hear stories on the news from all over, and I know that unemployment here is around 5%. Other than some more expensive groceries, I really don't feel a difference. Do I just have my head in the sand, or am I lucky? Maybe it is because I'm in education? None of my friends have lost their jobs yet, and my students all seem hopeful that they will find work even if it is at a lower starting wage than 10 years ago.

[clvrlad]

well according to figures in todays papers
over twice as many people are applying for the low paid jobs than a year ago but then it also said companies are advertising 50% less jobs...

it specifically mentioned a £14000 bin man job that received over 200 applicants
it went on to talk about companies cherry picking the applicant

that said the company i work for used to be continuously hiring every month but to my knowledge hasnt as of yet this year butwere not losing staff members either..... b4 there was a sigificant turn around in staff people
the wagon drivers that deliver to us also have said that there bosses are worried one company has stopped using agency staff and is talking about redundancies because of the lack of work
so it is effecting things but by how much im not sure

[clvrlad]

basically with the place i work
is the bad finical times causing work to stop hiring or is it causing worry with the employees who aren't leaving....

and with the drivers the work could just be going to other companies....

so neither is a positive indication in and of it self since the sample is too small

[giraffe]

Is it really that bad in the UK?

Figures announced last week said unemployment 10% in Birmingham. Worst city in UK. Also something like a 160% increase in people looking for work in Cannock. (Also in midlands).

The frightening thing is the big, old, famous names that are going to the wall. The ones that your subconscious feels are solid institutions and everything will be alright while they are there, and suddenly they're not. (Like Wedgewood and woolworths).

My OH has long held that instead of buying things on interest free credit, where you get the goods and forget how much you wanted them when the pain of paying starts, we should introduce credit free interest, where you pay the interest, but don't have the credit or the goods. (He has a weird sense of humour!)

[katsmom]

We constantly have on the news how one company or another declaired bankruptcy and didn't pay its employees. I haven't noticed any increase in this over the past 10 years.

Last week I was left speechless though. A book warehouse that I have been buying from since the day I arrived has folded. This place sells to all the bookshops in town. It really tells you something about society when a book warehouse folds doesn't it. A very sad day for Hong Kong (a good day for Amazom) Would you believe in the book stores here the exchange rate is 18 to 1? It really is cheaper to order from overseas.

[Bunnylump]

Well, speaking personally, my husband's business has taken a really major nose dive. This is mainly to do with the economy ( he runs an air conditioning company, and people are classing that as a "luxury" rather than an essential) but the unbelieveably poo summer last year didn't help either. Almost all of my friends have experienced worries to a greater or lesser extent. A friend who is a building surveyor has spent the last 6 months drawing plans for a company which has just gone into liquidation - he's owed thousands of pounds. Another friend who works for a large surverying company has just been told they are laying off half the workforce. Another has been asked if he wants to work part time or take a wage cut. Even my friend who is a chiropodist has noticed a drop in the number of people coming to get their feet looked at!! So yes, I'd say it was extremely serious. Sadly, I think the worst is yet to come. I know of so many small businesses who are clinging on by their fingernails. Goodness knows where it will all end.

The house prices and the negative equity thing has only affected me in that we did have a contract with a property developer who was going to buy our house and garden with a view to building on it. We were going to get the market value of our house plus £100 000. But that's all gone down the pan. Now I'm just pleased that we have a house and have already paid off our mortgage. Of course the negative equity thing only affects anyone if they are buying or selling.

Can we go back to dongles and jelly please? It's far less depressing.

[tricia]

Weill i work in a bank's call centre - so I am keeping my head well down

Tricia

[Biscuit]

Air conditioning - could he move into fume extraction or is this to bigger jump only schools are always having science labs redone and fume extraction is needed for the fume cupboards obviously and this is a public sector that they are supposed to be pumping money into although a lot of this is Government show I must admit.

[Biscuit]

Another thought that may help - whilst this only helps cash flow rather than the business. The government offer a 2.5% rate if you want to spread your tax payments which includes Corporation tax, NI/PAYE and VAT. This can help in the short term. They are quite friendly so long as you give them a payment plan and stick to it. As most overdrafts are above this rate this is a viable alternative.