spoiler Monday 13/2/17

[Vicky]

v










v




v



v




Is Clarrie going to set up in competition with Linda doing B&B?

Ah she doesn't want to. Is there a reason she can't, just because they
are renting the house? Clarrie does do enough work though anyway,
without that.

TA really knows how to lay on misery. The story line was complicated
ehough, runnaway groom, comes back, she gets pregnant, not getting
back together married. There was no need to add this. Once again they
went for strong, unpleasant shock value. I am starting to get annoyed
again and considering my options. I could just listen to the Farming
Today every night at this time.

Luckily I finished the equally miserable A World Gone Mad, about WW2
in Sweden, yesterday and started re-reading a Georgette Heyer Regency
romance today, so have some pleasant fantasy to relax into. Also just
finshed Second World, Eddie Shah, which did have interesting elements
but went on too long and I was struggling by the end.

[the Omrud]

Post by Vicky
v
v
v
v
Is Clarrie going to set up in competition with Linda doing B&B?
Ah she doesn't want to. Is there a reason she can't, just because they
are renting the house? Clarrie does do enough work though anyway,
without that.

Surely there must be all sorts of hygiene regulations, inspections,
insurance, etc, required.

[krw]

Post by the Omrud

Post by Vicky
v
v
v
v
Is Clarrie going to set up in competition with Linda doing B&B?
Ah she doesn't want to. Is there a reason she can't, just because they
are renting the house? Clarrie does do enough work though anyway,
without that.

Surely there must be all sorts of hygiene regulations, inspections,
insurance, etc, required.

Yes but this is the Archers.

[Btms]

Post by krw

Post by the Omrud

Post by Vicky
v
v
v
v
Is Clarrie going to set up in competition with Linda doing B&B?
Ah she doesn't want to. Is there a reason she can't, just because they
are renting the house? Clarrie does do enough work though anyway,
without that.

Surely there must be all sorts of hygiene regulations, inspections,
insurance, etc, required.

Yes but this is the Archers.

Well my sister did B&B for about 20 years till a couple of years ago. The
only regulations I recall were if she wanted to be recognised by a third
party tourist organisation.

Clarrie's contract with her landlord may disallow subletting. Whether B&B
is subletting I don't know.

[Chris McMillan]

Post by Btms

Post by krw

Post by the Omrud

Post by Vicky
v
v
v
v
Is Clarrie going to set up in competition with Linda doing B&B?
Ah she doesn't want to. Is there a reason she can't, just because they
are renting the house? Clarrie does do enough work though anyway,
without that.

Surely there must be all sorts of hygiene regulations, inspections,
insurance, etc, required.

Yes but this is the Archers.

Well my sister did B&B for about 20 years till a couple of years ago. The
only regulations I recall were if she wanted to be recognised by a third
party tourist organisation.
Clarrie's contract with her landlord may disallow subletting. Whether B&B
is subletting I don't know.

I shouldn't think C and O would entertain sub letting. Its a typical Eddie
idea with his usual no idea of how much work it would take Clarrie every
day while trying to go to work full time.

Sincerely Chris

[Mike McMillan]

Post by the Omrud

Post by Vicky
v
v
v
v
Is Clarrie going to set up in competition with Linda doing B&B?
Ah she doesn't want to. Is there a reason she can't, just because they
are renting the house? Clarrie does do enough work though anyway,
without that.

Surely there must be all sorts of hygiene regulations, inspections,
insurance, etc, required.

This is the Grundy family - what do you think?
/?!!!😉

[Vicky]

On Tue, 14 Feb 2017 16:59:26 GMT, Mike McMillan

Post by Mike McMillan

Post by the Omrud

Post by Vicky
v
v
v
v
Is Clarrie going to set up in competition with Linda doing B&B?
Ah she doesn't want to. Is there a reason she can't, just because they
are renting the house? Clarrie does do enough work though anyway,
without that.

Surely there must be all sorts of hygiene regulations, inspections,
insurance, etc, required.

This is the Grundy family - what do you think?
/?!!!?

Would there be a formal written contract? And might Jill or Linda be
prepared to advise Clarrie on what she needs to do as regards being
legal? Wouldn't it affect their tax?

[Mike McMillan]

Post by Vicky
On Tue, 14 Feb 2017 16:59:26 GMT, Mike McMillan

Post by Mike McMillan

Post by the Omrud

Post by Vicky
v
v
v
v
Is Clarrie going to set up in competition with Linda doing B&B?
Ah she doesn't want to. Is there a reason she can't, just because they
are renting the house? Clarrie does do enough work though anyway,
without that.

Surely there must be all sorts of hygiene regulations, inspections,
insurance, etc, required.

This is the Grundy family - what do you think?
/?!!!?

Would there be a formal written contract? And might Jill or Linda be
prepared to advise Clarrie on what she needs to do as regards being
legal? Wouldn't it affect their tax?

Eddie: 'Income Tax?! Berloimy Clarrielurve!'

[Btms]

Post by Vicky
On Tue, 14 Feb 2017 16:59:26 GMT, Mike McMillan

Post by Mike McMillan

Post by the Omrud

Post by Vicky
v
v
v
v
Is Clarrie going to set up in competition with Linda doing B&B?
Ah she doesn't want to. Is there a reason she can't, just because they
are renting the house? Clarrie does do enough work though anyway,
without that.

Surely there must be all sorts of hygiene regulations, inspections,
insurance, etc, required.

This is the Grundy family - what do you think?
/?!!!?

Would there be a formal written contract? And might Jill or Linda be
prepared to advise Clarrie on what she needs to do as regards being
legal? Wouldn't it affect their tax?

purleaaasssse.....it is Lynda. You have upset her now 😬. Hide everyone.

[Penny]

On Tue, 14 Feb 2017 18:16:47 +0000, Vicky <***@gmail.com> scrawled
in the dust...

Post by Vicky
On Tue, 14 Feb 2017 16:59:26 GMT, Mike McMillan

Post by Mike McMillan

Post by the Omrud

Post by Vicky
v
v
v
v
Is Clarrie going to set up in competition with Linda doing B&B?
Ah she doesn't want to. Is there a reason she can't, just because they
are renting the house? Clarrie does do enough work though anyway,
without that.

Surely there must be all sorts of hygiene regulations, inspections,
insurance, etc, required.

This is the Grundy family - what do you think?
/?!!!?

Would there be a formal written contract? And might Jill or Linda be
prepared to advise Clarrie on what she needs to do as regards being
legal? Wouldn't it affect their tax?

I suppose it might count under the rent-a-room scheme which can be used by
tenants (subject to the terms of their lease). I think you can receive up
to £7,500 a year tax-free.

[krw]

Post by Penny
I suppose it might count under the rent-a-room scheme which can be used by
tenants (subject to the terms of their lease). I think you can receive up
to £7,500 a year tax-free.

No. HMRC would rule it was a completely different type of trade and
would insist on taxing it. It merely counts as Clarrie's self
employment income which needs to declare and pay tax.

[Fenny]

Post by krw

Post by Penny
I suppose it might count under the rent-a-room scheme which can be used by
tenants (subject to the terms of their lease). I think you can receive up
to £7,500 a year tax-free.

No. HMRC would rule it was a completely different type of trade and
would insist on taxing it. It merely counts as Clarrie's self
employment income which needs to declare and pay tax.

But they can offset some of the expenses of running the household
against the income.

How many bedrooms are there at Grange Farm? And would anyone want to
stay there with Joe wandering round in his long johns, doing strange
things with ferrets in the kitchen?

[Sam Plusnet]

Post by Fenny

Post by krw

Post by Penny
I suppose it might count under the rent-a-room scheme which can be used by
tenants (subject to the terms of their lease). I think you can receive up
to £7,500 a year tax-free.

No. HMRC would rule it was a completely different type of trade and
would insist on taxing it. It merely counts as Clarrie's self
employment income which needs to declare and pay tax.

But they can offset some of the expenses of running the household
against the income.
How many bedrooms are there at Grange Farm? And would anyone want to
stay there with Joe wandering round in his long johns, doing strange
things with ferrets in the kitchen?

Not many B&Bs offer live entertainment.

[the Omrud]

Post by krw

Post by Penny
I suppose it might count under the rent-a-room scheme which can be used by
tenants (subject to the terms of their lease). I think you can receive up
to £7,500 a year tax-free.

No. HMRC would rule it was a completely different type of trade and
would insist on taxing it. It merely counts as Clarrie's self
employment income which needs to declare and pay tax.

Apparently it is OK under rent-a-room. HMRC says:

You can use the Rent a Room Scheme if:
you let a furnished room to a lodger
your letting activity amounts to a trade, for example, if you run a
guest house or bed and breakfast business, or provide services, such as
meals and cleaning

You can’t use the Rent a Room Scheme if the accommodation is:
not part of your main home when you let it
not furnished
used as an office or for any business - you can use the scheme if your
lodger works in your home in the evening or at weekends or is a student
who is provided with study facilities
in your UK home and is let while you live abroad

[krw]

Post by the Omrud

Post by krw

Post by Penny
I suppose it might count under the rent-a-room scheme which can be used by
tenants (subject to the terms of their lease). I think you can receive up
to £7,500 a year tax-free.

No. HMRC would rule it was a completely different type of trade and
would insist on taxing it. It merely counts as Clarrie's self
employment income which needs to declare and pay tax.

you let a furnished room to a lodger
your letting activity amounts to a trade, for example, if you run a
guest house or bed and breakfast business, or provide services, such as
meals and cleaning
not part of your main home when you let it
not furnished
used as an office or for any business - you can use the scheme if your
lodger works in your home in the evening or at weekends or is a student
who is provided with study facilities
in your UK home and is let while you live abroad

Good grief. HMRC being helpful! Whatever next?

[BrritSki]

Post by krw
Good grief. HMRC being helpful! Whatever next?

I always found them very helpful with my personal tax affairs and also
with the setting up and running of my Ltd company.

The only problem I had with them was when they claimed that I was an
employee under IR35 rules and it took a visit to the Special
Commissioners court to get that knocked on the head.

To be fair to them, they were also helpful after they lost that case
both personally and with the company.

[Btms]

Post by BrritSki

Post by krw
Good grief. HMRC being helpful! Whatever next?

I always found them very helpful with my personal tax affairs and also
with the setting up and running of my Ltd company.
The only problem I had with them was when they claimed that I was an
employee under IR35 rules and it took a visit to the Special
Commissioners court to get that knocked on the head.
To be fair to them, they were also helpful after they lost that case
both personally and with the company.

IR35. Was a poorly thought through piece of legislation that seemed typical
of noo Labour.

[Marjorie]

Post by BrritSki

Post by krw
Good grief. HMRC being helpful! Whatever next?

I always found them very helpful with my personal tax affairs and also
with the setting up and running of my Ltd company.
The only problem I had with them was when they claimed that I was an
employee under IR35 rules and it took a visit to the Special
Commissioners court to get that knocked on the head.
To be fair to them, they were also helpful after they lost that case
both personally and with the company.

I had occasion to phone HMRC about a wrong tax code the other day. The
woman I spoke with was extremely helpful and polite, and sorted it all
out without requiring me to send in any written information.

[Jane Vernon]

Post by krw
Good grief. HMRC being helpful! Whatever next?

Is this not an urban miff, that they are unhelpful? I have always found
them extremely helpful, patient and constructive and I must say that
whenever it's come up in conversation, my friends have always said the same.

[krw]

Post by Jane Vernon

Post by krw
Good grief. HMRC being helpful! Whatever next?

Is this not an urban miff, that they are unhelpful? I have always found
them extremely helpful, patient and constructive and I must say that
whenever it's come up in conversation, my friends have always said the same.

Sometime ago whilst still at work we needed to make a change for each
employee as we were converting from a defined benefit pension scheme to
defined contribution. They would not accept the employer delivering the
necessary information - it had to be done by each individual and I
believe they would only accept a telephone call and not in writing. It
needed a change in tax code for quite a few staff. It would have been
much easier for the company (which had all the information) to submit it
in writing (or even signed by the individual as separate letter which
the company wrote) which could then have been processed at the far end
and there would have been a paper trail.

There have been other events over the years.

On a related matter I hate it when submitting a complaint on the web (I
am looking at you BBC and various railway companies) and there is no
facility to send the complainant an email copy so that there is a record
of what was said and when. The acknowledgement generated does not
contain the details of the complaint.

[Chris J Dixon]

Post by krw
On a related matter I hate it when submitting a complaint on the web (I
am looking at you BBC and various railway companies) and there is no
facility to send the complainant an email copy so that there is a record
of what was said and when. The acknowledgement generated does not
contain the details of the complaint.

Languid wave.

Chris

[Mike McMillan]

Post by Chris J Dixon

Post by krw
On a related matter I hate it when submitting a complaint on the web (I
am looking at you BBC and various railway companies) and there is no
facility to send the complainant an email copy so that there is a record
of what was said and when. The acknowledgement generated does not
contain the details of the complaint.

Languid wave.
Chris

Nor can one usually see the recipients email address.. and any
acknowledgement is sent from a 'do not reply' email address.

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

Post by Mike McMillan

Post by Chris J Dixon

Post by krw
On a related matter I hate it when submitting a complaint on the web (I
am looking at you BBC and various railway companies) and there is no
facility to send the complainant an email copy so that there is a record
of what was said and when. The acknowledgement generated does not
contain the details of the complaint.

Languid wave.
Chris

Nor can one usually see the recipients email address.. and any
acknowledgement is sent from a 'do not reply' email address.

And they say (I think the most recent I came across were e.on) that they
insist on you contacting them using their hard-to-use (and -to-find!)
webform, "for security reasons" - something like "we ask you to
communicate using our website so your communication is protected": but
then _they_ reply to _you_ by email. (From an address that ignores
replies, of course - but they only tell you that at the end [or hidden
somewhere in the middle!], so you've composed your detailed reply before
you are aware of that ...)

[steveski]

On Thu, 16 Feb 2017 10:20:00 +0000, krw wrote:

[]

Post by krw
On a related matter I hate it when submitting a complaint on the web (I
am looking at you BBC and various railway companies) and there is no
facility to send the complainant an email copy so that there is a record
of what was said and when. The acknowledgement generated does not
contain the details of the complaint.

Screenshot?

[Chris J Dixon]

Post by steveski

Post by krw
On a related matter I hate it when submitting a complaint on the web (I
am looking at you BBC and various railway companies) and there is no
facility to send the complainant an email copy so that there is a record
of what was said and when. The acknowledgement generated does not
contain the details of the complaint.

Screenshot?

Often, when I am trying to get my wording right, I prepare, and
save, the key bits of text in Word. This doesn't help if you have
more than one communication thread with a particular outfit.

It can be really galling when the eventual reply ignores, or
misinterprets, what you originally wrote, but they don't bother
to quote it in their response. Even worse, they won't accept a
direct reply to their email, you have to go back into their web
system. :-(

Chris

[BrritSki]

Post by Chris J Dixon

Post by steveski

Post by krw
On a related matter I hate it when submitting a complaint on the web (I
am looking at you BBC and various railway companies) and there is no
facility to send the complainant an email copy so that there is a record
of what was said and when. The acknowledgement generated does not
contain the details of the complaint.

Screenshot?

Often, when I am trying to get my wording right, I prepare, and
save, the key bits of text in Word. This doesn't help if you have
more than one communication thread with a particular outfit.
It can be really galling when the eventual reply ignores, or
misinterprets, what you originally wrote, but they don't bother
to quote it in their response. Even worse, they won't accept a
direct reply to their email, you have to go back into their web
system. :-(

I am having some fun and games with Barclaycard, which ended up with me
sending an email to their CEO this afternoon. Already acknowledged - I
expect some interesting results tomorrow...

[Penny]

On Thu, 16 Feb 2017 15:53:41 +0000, Chris J Dixon <***@cdixon.me.uk>
scrawled in the dust...

Post by Chris J Dixon
Often, when I am trying to get my wording right, I prepare, and
save, the key bits of text in Word.

As someone who responds to messages sent via a web form, with the (free)
software we use this practice can lead to problems. I've lost count of the
number of messages received which start off ok then just stop the moment
the correspondent uses an apostrophe or quotation mark.

Damnation upon Microsoft and their 'curly' quotes!

I suppose this is why some browsers have a 'paste as plain text' option but
I don't think anyone uses it (I never remember myself).

[carolet]

Post by Penny
scrawled in the dust...

Post by Chris J Dixon
Often, when I am trying to get my wording right, I prepare, and
save, the key bits of text in Word.

As someone who responds to messages sent via a web form, with the (free)
software we use this practice can lead to problems. I've lost count of the
number of messages received which start off ok then just stop the moment
the correspondent uses an apostrophe or quotation mark.
Damnation upon Microsoft and their 'curly' quotes!
I suppose this is why some browsers have a 'paste as plain text' option but
I don't think anyone uses it (I never remember myself).

Often, when I am trying to get my wording right, and my facts, possibly
having to check other documents or web pages in the process, the
feedback form times out and I lose my carefully crafted words. This is
the reason that I might, on occasion, prepare my feedback in another
document, not necessarily Word. I think I would always read though what
I have copied into the form, to check that it still looks right, before
pressing send.

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

Post by carolet

Post by Penny
scrawled in the dust...

Post by Chris J Dixon
Often, when I am trying to get my wording right, I prepare, and
save, the key bits of text in Word.

As someone who responds to messages sent via a web form, with the (free)
software we use this practice can lead to problems. I've lost count of the
number of messages received which start off ok then just stop the moment
the correspondent uses an apostrophe or quotation mark.

As someone who fills in web forms, I get very frustrated when I
subsequently discover that the webform software has discarded all my
newlines, thus rendering my carefully paragraphed text into one solid
ugly block. Does the free one you use do that? It's got so common - I
can't imagine a lot of the companies I am communicating with use free
software, either - that I've taken to putting
\\
where I'd otherwise have left a blank line; it doesn't stop the
scrunching, of course, but at least it puts _some_ division there.

Post by carolet

Post by Penny
Damnation upon Microsoft and their 'curly' quotes!

(I don't have that particular problem, as if I do pre-prepare the text,
I just use NotePad+, i. e. plain text. But I have certainly encountered
problems from their fancy quotes: such as in usenet posts, where such
quotes can appear as all sorts of things - a square, a raised 2 or 3, or
sometimes two or more characters, like A$ or 27%.)

Post by carolet

Post by Penny
I suppose this is why some browsers have a 'paste as plain text' option but
I don't think anyone uses it (I never remember myself).

Yes, it's the remembering that's difficult: with the above blank line
thing, the text does look as I want it to when I'm typing it in in the
webform, it's just when what I said is quoted back to me in subsequent
emails that I see it compacted.

Post by carolet
Often, when I am trying to get my wording right, and my facts, possibly
having to check other documents or web pages in the process, the
feedback form times out and I lose my carefully crafted words. This is

Isn't that infuriating! Another almost as bad is where they have a
number-of-characters limit, especially where they don't tell you
beforehand, so you're gaily typing away, then happen to look at the
screen and see it stopped well before where you thi

Post by carolet
the reason that I might, on occasion, prepare my feedback in another
document, not necessarily Word. I think I would always read though what
I have copied into the form, to check that it still looks right, before
pressing send.

Yes, me too. Always worrying about the timeout.

[Penny]

On Sat, 25 Feb 2017 14:11:30 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"

Post by J. P. Gilliver (John)
As someone who fills in web forms, I get very frustrated when I
subsequently discover that the webform software has discarded all my
newlines, thus rendering my carefully paragraphed text into one solid
ugly block. Does the free one you use do that?

No, it shows paragraphs correctly on incoming stuff but has an annoying
habit of adding an extra line break on outgoing.

[Penny]

On Sat, 25 Feb 2017 12:48:40 +0000, carolet <***@btinternet.com>
scrawled in the dust...

Post by carolet

Post by Penny
scrawled in the dust...

Post by Chris J Dixon
Often, when I am trying to get my wording right, I prepare, and
save, the key bits of text in Word.

As someone who responds to messages sent via a web form, with the (free)
software we use this practice can lead to problems. I've lost count of the
number of messages received which start off ok then just stop the moment
the correspondent uses an apostrophe or quotation mark.
Damnation upon Microsoft and their 'curly' quotes!
I suppose this is why some browsers have a 'paste as plain text' option but
I don't think anyone uses it (I never remember myself).

Often, when I am trying to get my wording right, and my facts, possibly
having to check other documents or web pages in the process, the
feedback form times out and I lose my carefully crafted words. This is
the reason that I might, on occasion, prepare my feedback in another
document, not necessarily Word. I think I would always read though what
I have copied into the form, to check that it still looks right, before
pressing send.

I think it probably looks fine on the form but fails to make it through to
the dogsbody (me) on the receiving end. It's not just the punctuation that
is missing but all following text. I found something similar happens on
submitted content the other day - a < was used in a description and that
and all following text disappeared.

I think it may be some sort of security thing to protect us dogsbodies from
picking up possible malware from messages. The interface will not display
any attachments, embedded images etc either.

[Sam Plusnet]

Post by carolet
Often, when I am trying to get my wording right, and my facts, possibly
having to check other documents or web pages in the process, the
feedback form times out and I lose my carefully crafted words. This is
the reason that I might, on occasion, prepare my feedback in another
document, not necessarily Word. I think I would always read though what
I have copied into the form, to check that it still looks right, before
pressing send.

When I do this I use Notepad, since it's a (fairly) simple text editor
and thus doesn't introduce any fancy formatting which might upset the
web form.

[Kate B]

Post by Sam Plusnet

Post by carolet
Often, when I am trying to get my wording right, and my facts, possibly
having to check other documents or web pages in the process, the
feedback form times out and I lose my carefully crafted words. This is
the reason that I might, on occasion, prepare my feedback in another
document, not necessarily Word. I think I would always read though what
I have copied into the form, to check that it still looks right, before
pressing send.

When I do this I use Notepad, since it's a (fairly) simple text editor
and thus doesn't introduce any fancy formatting which might upset the
web form.

I always use Notepad for anything longer than a couple of sentences, as
I am likely to get distracted by something or somebody else before I've
finished. And I always paste in plain text anyway (Notepad isn't
entirely unformatted) to avoid oddities. I'm currently building and
maintaining a couple of Wordpress websites and pasting in non-plain text
can be a nightmare.

[Chris McMillan]

Post by Chris J Dixon

Post by steveski

Post by krw
On a related matter I hate it when submitting a complaint on the web (I
am looking at you BBC and various railway companies) and there is no
facility to send the complainant an email copy so that there is a record
of what was said and when. The acknowledgement generated does not
contain the details of the complaint.

Screenshot?

Often, when I am trying to get my wording right, I prepare, and
save, the key bits of text in Word. This doesn't help if you have
more than one communication thread with a particular outfit.
It can be really galling when the eventual reply ignores, or
misinterprets, what you originally wrote, but they don't bother
to quote it in their response. Even worse, they won't accept a
direct reply to their email, you have to go back into their web
system. :-(
Chris

I'm definitely looking at my ex employers who were replying without
answering questions as far back as 1979. Staff wrote their honest replies,
boss refused to sign them unless very bland, promising to look into the
complaint. Even when a refund was forthcoming it was rare but still bland.

Sincerely Chris

[Fenny]

Post by krw
On a related matter I hate it when submitting a complaint on the web (I
am looking at you BBC and various railway companies) and there is no
facility to send the complainant an email copy so that there is a record
of what was said and when. The acknowledgement generated does not
contain the details of the complaint.

Not just a complaint - any form of communication. I usually end up
c&p my message into a word document or similar and filing it with the
appropriate date and time and details of what it was about.

I also really don't like companies who when I email them and ask them
to reply by email, phone me during the day when I'm at work and either
don't leave a message (for data protection reasons) or ask me to call
them back between 9 and 5. Email is my preferred method of
communication. It gives a trail and can be done out of office hours.

[Vicky]

On Thu, 16 Feb 2017 18:01:39 +0000, Fenny

Post by Fenny
I also really don't like companies who when I email them and ask them
to reply by email, phone me during the day when I'm at work and either
don't leave a message (for data protection reasons) or ask me to call
them back between 9 and 5. Email is my preferred method of
communication. It gives a trail and can be done out of office hours.

YANAOU. I don't like phone calls from companies I've complained to.
I'm talking about you, Tescos. I email the complaint and want an email
reply. It doesn't interrupt or disturb me and I have a record of it,
plaus I sometimes have difficulty with accents on the phone.

[krw]

Post by Fenny
It gives a trail and can be done out of office hours.

Very much so.

[LFS]

Post by Fenny

Post by krw
On a related matter I hate it when submitting a complaint on the web (I
am looking at you BBC and various railway companies) and there is no
facility to send the complainant an email copy so that there is a record
of what was said and when. The acknowledgement generated does not
contain the details of the complaint.

Not just a complaint - any form of communication. I usually end up
c&p my message into a word document or similar and filing it with the
appropriate date and time and details of what it was about.
I also really don't like companies who when I email them and ask them
to reply by email, phone me during the day when I'm at work and either
don't leave a message (for data protection reasons) or ask me to call
them back between 9 and 5. Email is my preferred method of
communication. It gives a trail and can be done out of office hours.

I prefer email too but where there is an online chat facility, I find
this very useful. An issue with Amazon over the return of a faulty item
was quickly resolved when I was able to refer to the chat record which
showed that I had been incorrectly advised. Mind you, actually finding
the chat option on the Amazon web site is not at all easy...

[Fenny]

On Fri, 17 Feb 2017 13:47:47 +0000, LFS

Post by LFS
I prefer email too but where there is an online chat facility, I find
this very useful. An issue with Amazon over the return of a faulty item
was quickly resolved when I was able to refer to the chat record which
showed that I had been incorrectly advised. Mind you, actually finding
the chat option on the Amazon web site is not at all easy...

Yes, if the chat facility is available out of office hours, it's
usually a good way of getting things sorted. Although some companies
seem to have one person dealing with several queries at once - or at
least that's how it seems from the speed of response.

Amazon do a call back service, which is available out of hours. You
ask them to call you and the phone rings almost instantly.

[Nick Odell]

Post by the Omrud

Post by krw

Post by Penny
I suppose it might count under the rent-a-room scheme which can be used by
tenants (subject to the terms of their lease). I think you can receive up
to £7,500 a year tax-free.

No. HMRC would rule it was a completely different type of trade and
would insist on taxing it. It merely counts as Clarrie's self
employment income which needs to declare and pay tax.

<snip>
<snip>

Post by the Omrud
in your UK home and is let while you live abroad

I presume living abroad is defined using the test of being resident or
domiciled elsewhere, is it? Someone who spends long periods of time
elsewhere but lives in the UK and is domiciled here wouldn't be
classified as living abroad, would they? And a lodger who lived there
all the year round whether or not the family were present would be a
lodger not a house-sitter.

Nick

[Jenny M Benson]

Post by the Omrud

Post by Vicky
v
v
v
v
Is Clarrie going to set up in competition with Linda doing B&B?
Ah she doesn't want to. Is there a reason she can't, just because they
are renting the house? Clarrie does do enough work though anyway,
without that.

Surely there must be all sorts of hygiene regulations, inspections,
insurance, etc, required.

Elfin Safety will certainly want to stick their oar in.

I remember a tv prog a few years ago in which a couple had a GORGEOUS
very old house, delightful period features at every turn. They were
either already doing B & B or were wanting to, but they were told they
had to completely destroy the character of the house by making changes
demanded by the Elfins. I forget exactly what changes and I also forget
whether the couple agreed or decided to abandon B & B. I know they were
very upset at the thought of the changes they'd have to make.

[Btms]

Post by Jenny M Benson

Post by the Omrud

Post by Vicky
v
v
v
v
Is Clarrie going to set up in competition with Linda doing B&B?
Ah she doesn't want to. Is there a reason she can't, just because they
are renting the house? Clarrie does do enough work though anyway,
without that.

Surely there must be all sorts of hygiene regulations, inspections,
insurance, etc, required.

Elfin Safety will certainly want to stick their oar in.
I remember a tv prog a few years ago in which a couple had a GORGEOUS
very old house, delightful period features at every turn. They were
either already doing B & B or were wanting to, but they were told they
had to completely destroy the character of the house by making changes
demanded by the Elfins. I forget exactly what changes and I also forget
whether the couple agreed or decided to abandon B & B. I know they were
very upset at the thought of the changes they'd have to make.

My sister had none but if she had an alcohol license elfin and safety would
have say because of fire.

[Vicky]

On Tue, 14 Feb 2017 20:31:42 +0000, Jenny M Benson

Post by Jenny M Benson

Post by the Omrud

v

Surely there must be all sorts of hygiene regulations, inspections,
insurance, etc, required.

Elfin Safety will certainly want to stick their oar in.
I remember a tv prog a few years ago in which a couple had a GORGEOUS
very old house, delightful period features at every turn. They were
either already doing B & B or were wanting to, but they were told they
had to completely destroy the character of the house by making changes
demanded by the Elfins. I forget exactly what changes and I also forget
whether the couple agreed or decided to abandon B & B. I know they were
very upset at the thought of the changes they'd have to make.

I did B&B years ago. Our mortgage rate went up from 12% to 16% between
contract and completion, as far as I recall. Capt Ex was away and it
was just me and 2 daughters and locally a language school brought over
groups of children from abroad for a week or two for English classes
and a bit of getting to know London. They were housed in homes to
better learn English.

We'd all meet the coach and take our child back home and I had a new
exctention with bedroom and shower room downstairs and used that to
house one or two children. We'd give them bed, breakfast, evening meal
and sandwiches. I am pretty sure nobody inspected my house.

As I'd taught English as a foreign language for Berlitz before having
children I later on began to teach instead of hosting children. Some
of the older groups were challenging as they felt they were on
holiday. I began to organise the local centre too and after a couple
of years did more training and moved on to teach for FE colleges,
adults, not children!

[Kate B]

Post by Jenny M Benson

Post by the Omrud

Post by Vicky
v
v
v
v
Is Clarrie going to set up in competition with Linda doing B&B?
Ah she doesn't want to. Is there a reason she can't, just because they
are renting the house? Clarrie does do enough work though anyway,
without that.

Surely there must be all sorts of hygiene regulations, inspections,
insurance, etc, required.

Elfin Safety will certainly want to stick their oar in.
I remember a tv prog a few years ago in which a couple had a GORGEOUS
very old house, delightful period features at every turn. They were
either already doing B & B or were wanting to, but they were told they
had to completely destroy the character of the house by making changes
demanded by the Elfins. I forget exactly what changes and I also forget
whether the couple agreed or decided to abandon B & B. I know they were
very upset at the thought of the changes they'd have to make.

You can have up to a certain number of guests before you have to have
fire doors etc. I think it may now be compulsory to have some kind of
water arrangement ensuite, at least a basin if not an entire shower/loo
compartment, or sole use of nearest bathroom.

Air BnB also require quite high standards - my husband's daughter rents
out one bedroom in her house in Greece and they were quite strict.

[Btms]

Post by Kate B

Post by Jenny M Benson

Post by the Omrud

Post by Vicky
v
v
v
v
Is Clarrie going to set up in competition with Linda doing B&B?
Ah she doesn't want to. Is there a reason she can't, just because they
are renting the house? Clarrie does do enough work though anyway,
without that.

Surely there must be all sorts of hygiene regulations, inspections,
insurance, etc, required.

Elfin Safety will certainly want to stick their oar in.
I remember a tv prog a few years ago in which a couple had a GORGEOUS
very old house, delightful period features at every turn. They were
either already doing B & B or were wanting to, but they were told they
had to completely destroy the character of the house by making changes
demanded by the Elfins. I forget exactly what changes and I also forget
whether the couple agreed or decided to abandon B & B. I know they were
very upset at the thought of the changes they'd have to make.

You can have up to a certain number of guests before you have to have
fire doors etc. I think it may now be compulsory to have some kind of
water arrangement ensuite, at least a basin if not an entire shower/loo
compartment, or sole use of nearest bathroom.
Air BnB also require quite high standards - my husband's daughter rents
out one bedroom in her house in Greece and they were quite strict.

But do not inspect.

[Anne B]

Post by Jenny M Benson

Post by the Omrud
Surely there must be all sorts of hygiene regulations, inspections,
insurance, etc, required.

Elfin Safety will certainly want to stick their oar in.

In my day, most of the rules and regs only kicked in if there were more
than 6 bedspaces on offer, or if any of the rooms were above the first
floor or in a basement.

So if you had a one- or two-storey house and three double bedrooms to
let, you just stuck up your sign and waited for business.

The exception was food hygiene. You had to comply with certain rules
about that. The food hygiene people were the only ones with power to
force you to close down - though I don't know how they monitored that
afterwards - not sure they could, especially in remote area.

I remember in the 1970s going to deal with a complaint from a tourist
that a certain B and B on my patch had 'a menagerie of cats and dogs
running all over the house'. I got a food hygiene inspector to come with
me and to cut a long story short 'menagerie' was an understatement.
There were so many dogs and cats in the kitchen and dining room that you
couldn't see the floors, and there were parrots and mynah birds in cages
above the food preparation area, just out of reach of more cats lying
all over the the work surfaces. The inspector slapped a closure order on
the place more or less on the spot.

There is a different set of criteria that have to be complied with if
you want to advertise via one of the official tourist boards, but they
are not legally binding and there is no legal requirement to co-operate
with the official tourist board.

Also, I am very out of date and there may be new legislation since my day.

Anne B

[Penny]

On Thu, 16 Feb 2017 09:12:28 +0000, Anne B <***@btinternet.com>
scrawled in the dust...

Post by Anne B
In my day, most of the rules and regs only kicked in if there were more
than 6 bedspaces on offer, or if any of the rooms were above the first
floor or in a basement.
So if you had a one- or two-storey house and three double bedrooms to
let, you just stuck up your sign and waited for business.

I have memories of a B&B beside Loch Lomond I stayed in as a child when
travelling with my mother, bother and bother's friend, must have been early
'60s. (Can't remember where my father was - big brothers were having an
extra adventure by travelling by boat from Southend.)

The house was small, I don't recall any stairs but perhaps it was 2 storey.
The large room to the left of the front door was decorated and cluttered in
Victorian style but contained two double beds. A slightly smaller room to
the right of the front door was almost filled with a table surrounded by
chairs. Behind that I think there must have been some sort of bathroom,
then a lean-to kitchen.

We ate evening meal with the family around that table - there were plenty
of them. I think that may have been the first place I encountered Scottish
rectangular sausage at breakfast time.
The boys shared one double bed and mother and I shared the other. We
speculated as we drove away in the morning as to where the family slept.

[eastender]

Post by Vicky
v
v
v
v
TA really knows how to lay on misery. The story line was complicated
ehough, runnaway groom, comes back, she gets pregnant, not getting
back together married. There was no need to add this.

Quite so. We've had Brexit, Trump and Titchener. It was time for some
good stuff.

[Sid Nuncius]

Post by eastender
Quite so. We've had Brexit, Trump and Titchener.

Commissioners for Oaths?

They've certainly engendered a few from me.

[Peter Percival]

Post by Sid Nuncius

Post by eastender
Quite so. We've had Brexit, Trump and Titchener.

Commissioners for Oaths?
They've certainly engendered a few from me.

When did populist become a term of abuse?

[Nick Odell]

On Wed, 15 Feb 2017 23:09:57 +0000, Peter Percival

Post by Peter Percival

Post by Sid Nuncius

Post by eastender
Quite so. We've had Brexit, Trump and Titchener.

Commissioners for Oaths?
They've certainly engendered a few from me.

When did populist become a term of abuse?

When was it ever not?

Compare and contrast with popular.

Nick