Week Three

Lets not forget Fusion Man who flew across the English Channel - OK he was dropped out of an airplane - but - that was in France he then flew across the channel under his own steam - so to speak - took him all of 10 minutes - he had a fire proof suit on and jet engines on each wing - his only means of steering was body movement . . . he is a braver man than I . . . (picture courtesy of Alastair Grant /AP - guardian web site)


Wow! Talk about economic melt down ... all doom and gloom - first its 9/11 and its death and destruction - terrorists beneath and behind everything unturned stone you can think of - i.e. buying illegal copies of DVD's and CD's are tantamount to funding terrorism - of course its is difficult to prove that somewhere someone involved in illegal trading of goods might well be involved in something like this but at the end of the day I just wonder what percentage of this can be linked to something like terrorism. Now my argument is not PRO-illegal copies and PRO-pirating NO - what I think contributes towards this are the exorbitant prices charged for goods - how much does it cost and what is a reasonable mark-up that is fair enough but when people start getting greedy - charging high prices they create a market . . . it the old Reaganomics argument - lower overall taxes - and make them simple - to the extent that companies / individuals will just pay rather than higher fancy accountants to find loopholes not to pay . . . it is simpler . . . a simplistic approach!

So now it is mortgages / and bad debt / the claim now is no one should have lent to these people . . . and everything points to the US of A . . . all banks seemed to be linked and all are over-extended to this debt . . . the UK seems to lag the US by a factor of about 3 to 6 months so does this mean we are in for more heavy seas . . . Economics professors must be in demand to try and explain what in heaven's name is going on . . . reminds me of an old Chicago song "Does anyone really know what time of day it is?"

It is all very surreal - watch the news lets see who is going to go bust next??? And if these big banks can't make it what about some of the smaller countries - Lesotho; Angola; Mozambique not to mention Zimbabwe perhaps they were responsible . . .or what about the said CERN - LHC was it not all caused by this experiment in Switzerland . . . makes you think . . .does it not - do we really know anything other than what is happening right now . . . .???? I'll be getting my white jacket soon if I keep this thread going . . . .

Still unemployed - so I phone my credit card because I have this payment cover insurance - I phoned them after university and they just said SORRY you have to be working for at least 6 months prior to making a claim . . . so I thought I was ready for them this time . . . boy was I wrong! - she just wanted to ask me a few questions (Oh-oh) - the word permanent came up - I asked her to define what she meant - something about you can only claim if you have been on fixed term contract and working for more than 12 months and they have attempted to renewed it once . . . and then something else about 24 months . . . well I can tell you my Blood pressure was about to go through the roof - I'm like WHAT! . . . after a long discussion they have decided they will send out the claim form and evaluate it when I fill it in and return it to them . . . the key is whether I knew I was going to finish off on a specific date or not????? HELLO a fixed term contract??? - what does that mean ???? . .. not that it is OK but if I thought / had reason to believe - I was going to be offered another contract even although I knew when it was going to finish . . . that's OK - AHA! but if I knew I was going to finish on such and such a date . . . . well then I can't claim ??????? Clear as mud to you - I hope - I'm still confused - but I know what I am going to tell them . . . . trouble is my ex company has to fill it in as well . . . and they might just not see it the same way as I do . . . hmmm - if you see what I mean . . . I went for 3 months and ended up working 9 . . . would you not think it would just carry on then as well - they were still busy - there were things still being released which meant more \Training still to be done - I was bumping into people telling them I'm leaving and the people would say - if they let you go - you'll be back in two weeks to do the Training on XY & Z ???? . . . (I might just add that none of these exclusions were ever mentioned when this policy was sold to me . . . ironically while I am hold a voice keeps booming in my ear "Take out payment protection - for when you are in difficult times" and guess what . . . that is all it says ...

Enough it is a long weekend here in Glasgow . . . have a good one - enjoy yourselves!