Welcome to everyday Lets Talk

MORNING ALL

Well we started off with brilliant sunshine and now its a little cloudy but they do reckon it could get up to 30 degrees along the coast today.....sounds nice but that is way too hot, for the animals and for me, lets hope its just warm with a nice breeze, that would suit me

How was the racing last night Lai? did you back any winners? was it a special meet or just a racing evening, I know Doogs is off to the races on Sunday, not sure if thats a special one either or just a racing day, I know nothing of horse racing so never sure whats going on with the racing, I do love horses though.

I've got my usual supermarket run this morning but i'm hoping a Latte and a Cake may be involved somewhere along the line build me up for the housework and a bit of gardening

Hope everyone has a really nice day whatever your up to......Bet Ane-Maries having a brilliant time at Silverstone this weekend.....lucky girl

littlewid-x-

Morning all - much cooler in the north. Sun's out but quite windy, so let's hope it stays nice for the weekend.

Chester was a great night at the races. Just an evening meet but a lot of fun + the bonus of two wins for me so unusually i left with more ££s than i went It's a great course in the centre of an historic town and you can park in the middle of the course.

Supermarkets on Saturday but with a latte and cake afterwards, maybe not so bad. I think we'll go on Monday night as we've got things on today.

Enjoy your gardening Littlewid and hope it's not too hot for poor Bentley.

Whatever everyone else is up to have a great weekend. Anne-Marie must be loving Silverstone, and Doogs enjoy racing on Sunday.

Lai

Good morning everyone

Winter seems to be here already - what happened? i know we have a north south divide but it's grey, cold and windy

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

Did you win at Perth races Doogs? Let's hope it was a fun day and you won lots.

Anne-Marie i bet you had a fantastic time - and need some now

Have a good day.

Lai

Oh my gosh! I'm absolutely pooped! I think on the Friday we got to Silverstone for 8am, Saturday 7am and Sunday 5am! The Friday and Saturday was more just to miss the traffic but Sunday was to get a decent place to sit in the terraces (grandstand seats are too expensive) even at that time we were second row back. Had a fantastic view though, with lots of action going on in front of us!! I also got Jenson Buttons autograph on Friday

SM, did you enjoy Silverstone on Friday? It was blooming hot though, in fact it was all weekend!

I will do a swan watch update tomorrow I think, I have so much to do after having friday off, and I'm off again Thursday and Friday this weekend. Off to the Isle of Wight with Chris and Millie for a 4 day break.

I'm going to have to dash! I've nipped on whilst bosses are at lunch and they'll be back shortly. They know I have too much on to be sat on the internet

Evening All

Hope you had a good day at the races on Sunday Doogs, did you get any winners?.....not ignoring the rest of your post but I think I said most of it in my PM to you

WooHoo....Jensens autograph......lucky you Anne-Marie, my little nephew would be dead jealous, he is a big Jensen fan Glad you had a good time even though they were some serious early starts

The Isle of Wight is lovely isnt it, I hope the weather is good to you at the weekend, i'll keep my fingers crossed, where about are you gojng on the island?

Hope everyone has had a good start to the week.

littlewid-x-

Glad you had a ball AM. Unfortunately TTs work - that give him the ticket - piled work onto him with the deadlines for that Friday. Why they gave him the tickets in the first place is beyond me. I was so annoyed, had my camera and equipment ready to do some speed photography and everything.

Anyway moan over!

I did event stewarding when I was back home. At one of the events that was 'Need for Speed' I was steward at Eddie Irvine and Jano Trilli's F1 stand and got their autographs. Luckily Sir Stirling Moss was also there and I got his also.

Did you get loads of photos, do share AM.

I would love a break, but thats not going to happen for quite a while. Enjoy IoW!

SM

Sounds like you really have the Knack of picking winners at the races Doogs, always nice to come back with more money than you went with.

Ian did brilliant with all his climbing, I bet he was a bit exhausted when he got home, pleased he achieved all he wanted to do though, good on him

Isn't it always the way with the weather, nice all day and then starts changing when you leave work, we started off with rain this morning, then it was a little dull then it brightened up, did some gardening this evening, well cut all the Wisteria back that was growing over the fence, all the flowers had gone and I was left with all those long tendrils everywhere, so they had to go.....also gave bentley a nice groom this evening, so he looks really nice.

Have a nice evening everyone

littlewid-x-

Morning everyone

What happened? it's so autumnal here, cold and windy and no sign of the anywhere!

Doogs, i am so impressed Ian did all that climbing, what an achievement. I bet he was exhausted when he got home. Well done you at the races, at least you know when to quit and Glorious Goodwood will be great fun. I haven't been for absolute ages.

Sounds like there may be nothing left of your wisteria Littlewid they are beautiful but once the flowers and leaves go can be a bit boring to look at.

Sadly i'm off to another funeral this afternoon, having been to one yesterday afternoon. Neither being family but people i had known for a long time.

Hope you all have a good afternoon.

Lai

Oh Lai, thats sad, funerals are never nice but to have two one after the other thats hard, I hope it all went well yesterday and also today and I hope you are ok as well.

its getting a bit gloomy here too, its been fairly sunny today but windy and no-where near as nice as it has been........Where has the Summer gone

You are right about the Wisteria Lai, very boring to look at once the flowers have gone and all those huge tendrills growing everywhere, so it looks much neater now, there are still green leaves but they will soon turn brown and drop off......then it will be a big sweep up

Hope everyone has a good evening and it stays dry for you all, we had a little rain a few minutes ago but it's stopped now.

littlewid-x-

Good afternoon everyone from a wild and windy and wet Cheshire.

I am hoping it's better in the south as i'm off to London this afternoon for a 'girls night out' with 6 of my best friends, a good catch up and a meal. What could be better on a Thursday?

Whatever you are all up to, have a great day and a fun evening.

Lai

Hi everyone,

Hope you all had a good weekend!! Time for me to do a forum catch up!! Sorry I disappeared without saying goodbye! After the GP weekend, I only had 3 days in the office to catch up from the friday and get organised for the two days I was off!! Isle of Wight was wonderful!! Saw the most adorable red squirell (I had never seen one before) at breakfast one morning. Apparently he's a regular visitor and is there daily, so the following morning I trundled down to breakfast with my camera only to discover he's camera shy! Never saw him again. Millie had a great time on the beach. She made lots of new friends and I was really pleased with how she interacted with new dogs after her attack not so long back. She is exhausted, could barely drag herself outside for a wee this morning! I'll post some piccies soon!!

Right catch up time!!

So glad you had a good time Anne-Marie and dont worry about dissapearing, sometimes time is short isnt it.
Bless the little squirrel, what a shame he is camera shy, look forward to all your other pics though.
I am pleased Millie had a good time and played with other dogs, that is such good news after her bad encounter, shows she has put it behind her bless her.
Good to have you back.

littlewid-x-

Quick question for you all, I'm hoping someone may know the answer.

In my stupidity I've decided to do a tandem skydive for DSWT next year. Now if you book the dive saying you are doing in for a charity you have to raise a minimum sponsorship of £395 (i'm assuming to cover the cost of the jump). However, if I book it to just go and do it, it only costs £240.

Now my question is, do I have to say its for charity? Because I want all the money I raise to go to DSWT. My company will fund my jump. I'm confused

mmmmmmm I'm not sure on that one. Perhaps SM or Littlewid could answer as they run Assisi Fundraising.

Lai

Sounds a bit complicated to me I wonder why the increase in price if your doing it for charity. If your paying to do the jump anyway , why do they need to put extra on ?.
I cant see why, but I wonder if it's anything to do with insurance. I wonder if one of us could contact them seperatley from you, and ask them. Then you would'nt be involved in asking
WS

Thank you everyone!!

Hmmm, so I've been doing some research and this is what I've found:

Charity Skydive: Raising Funds for Charity

Many people who make a parachute jump do so whilst raising funds for a worthwhile cause. Skyline are the largest organisers of sponsored charity jumps in the UK working with well over 1,500 charities who will all pay for your charity skydive in return for you raising a minimum amount of funds for them. By doing this you get your jump for FREE and the information on this page explains how you can take advantage of this...
Jump for FREE

In return for raising a minimum amount of sponsorship money a charity will pay for your jump and training and receive a sizable donation from your efforts at the same time! The minimum amounts you will be asked to raise differ from charity to charity but on average they are as follows:
Tandem Skydive: £395
Static Line Square: £360
Accelerated Freefall: £535
From these sums the charity will receive an average donation of at least £140 and you will receive your parachute jump for FREE!
Simply select your charity from the list above and you can either book online or request a free information pack and sponsorship forms.

So I'm thinking I can just book the jump and I don't have to say its for charity? I'm sure they could make it clearer!!

Hi Anne-Marie

It's not something that AF have got involved with but I am sure tying it into a recognised charity fundraiser is to cover the legal side of raising money, ie you are not paying the direct £240, raising money on behalf of a charity and then have no legal obligation to send that charity the money, by tying it into a legal fundraiser it ensures the supporters money goes to the charity and not the fundraisers pocket (please dont think I am saying you will do that, its just an explanation)

The cost of the jump is not free for anyone, they say your jump is free which it is if you raise over £395 ( otherwise you often cant jump or have to fund it yourself) as £240 of that goes back to the charity for the cost of the jump,but the company have earned £240 and the charity have lost £240 of the money raised, that has to officially go back into their bank account and they end up with £155, so the only way they gain with big money is if you raise well over £395.

So you gain by spending nothing......as long as you raise over £395
The company gain by £240
The DWST loose/break even with the £240 that goes back into their bank account but gain £155 for your efforts

There are some undesirable fundraisers out there who will say they are doing stuff for a charity and then pocket the money, not fair or right on the charity or the supporters who give in good faith.

Also from what I understand from a friend who is doing an abseil very soon, she had to hand all her money over before the abseil and this is becoming standard practice now as many people are collecting money for charity through various ways and then not doing or completing the task.

Someone else I know is climbing Mt Kilimanjaro for the limbless, it has cost the climbers well over £3000 to do the climb and the monies collected have to be paid upfront beforehand or have been sent through justgiving, again all to do with protecting the charity and the supporters.

Hope that makes sense to you
littlewid-x-

Good morning everyone

It's not raining whatever you are all up to today, i hope the is shining.

I'm taking my mum to Tatton flower show in a minute so here's hoping the rain stays away.

Have a good day

Lai

Thank you for your advice on that one LW! I might give DSWT a shout and see how they want to do it. Its all very confusing, but what you said made complete sense! I can imagine there are a lot of people out there saying they are raising money for a charity and they don't!

Hope everyone's ok!! Work is silly busy for me at the moment!! My desk looks like an explosion has happened on it! I'm currently organising everything into piles and then work through them one at a time!! Painstakingly boring but needs to be done!!

Hope the sunshine makes a return for the weekend!! Could do with a weekend relaxing in the garden!!

Good morning everyone

Whatever you are up to this weekend - it hope the is shining. It's lovely here today which is typical as we are going to London for the weekend

Have a great weekend and catch up on Monday.

Lai

Uh Oh.....missed you Lai, hope you have a fantastic weekend in London.

We have a brilliant day here too, loads of sunshine but it's also windy but that keeps it a little cooler which is great. At least it's not raining as i'm going to get my hair cut in an hour, at least it will only get blown around instead of soaked as well, which is the norm when I get my hair done.

I've had two mahoosive weeks at work as well Anne-Marie, I had to deal with 100 patients single handedly in July so far and we aren't out of July yet, its just been mega crazy and by the time iv'e sorted the animals and here when I get home my brain is too frazzled to think straight. I have a catchment area of 100,000 patients, so I am dearly hoping many of them go on holiday in August for at least 6 months

I have the photo's of the Dog Show from last Saturday so I will try and post those this evening......Nero looks adorable, just a shame about the owner
I will also have a good old catch up too.

Have a good rest of the day everyone.

littlewid-x-