London

(Worte this on the train home) 

I don’t blog very much because most of my life is quite boring, but this week me and Joni have been on a mini holiday to London which was fantastic, so I can tell you all about that!

Tuesday

It all started a bit early for my tastes – train at half 7 in the morning, leaving poor Tay alone for the second time in a week. I was a bit worried when we get back he will think James is his new owner! Then when reached York some idiot decided to jump in fount of a train, causing everything south of York to be delayed or cancelled. But it was ok, we got into London only an hour late and the sun was shining and our hotel (Super cheap, not to cheerful) was very close to Victoria Station. Quick stop to drop of the bags and get changed and we headed out into town.

As the weather was so nice we walked along the river to Parliament, and had ice cream sitting in the shadow on the London eye, very picturesque. We also managed to find a rooftop bar and garden on top of the south bank centre which was very nice, but reminded us of how expensive London is!

For a nights entertainment we had booked a table in a very good restaurant, Roux at Parliament Square and it was amazing! We had like 6 courses and each one was a perfectly crafted bundle of amazingness! We had Asparagus soup with parmesan foam (actually foam – it looked like fairy liquid, tasted like heaven), and Veal and Suckling pig and the most AMAZING Blackberry and Apple Soufflé which was massing and so soft. Joni had Salmon and Pigeon, also totally delicious. And you know what, nowhere near as expensive as I thought and totally worth every penny. My first real experience of fine dining and it was a good one. Can’t wait to do that again.

Possibly the best thing about the whole meal (aside from like everything else) was the magical refilling bottle of wine. I have no idea how he did it but somehow I managed to have my class refilled at least 4 times all from one bottle of wine! And a bloody good bottle too. Midnight on Tue found me and Joni giggling our way back to the hotel.

Wednesday

Wednesday was the day of the Big Show, the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (an exhibition of art works from contemporary living artist, for those not in the know) but that wasn’t until 11am, so we had a few hours to kill in the morning. The day before we had spotted some of those bike-hire stands they are now operating in London. Basically you can hire a bike, cycle to where you want to go and leave your bike at the nearest station. So we decided to give it a go and OMG, such a good way to get around London! We cycled all the way around Hyde Park, got a great view of it and then just left the bikes near the gallery. I think it cost about £2 each and that includes a £1 access charge so we could have used them all day if we wanted. An amazing idea.

The show was pretty amazing, although I think not really my favourite way to see art. The pieces were all very unconnected, as you can imagine as they were all from different artists. And there were so many! The show catalogue listed 1117 items. There were some amazing pieces – and a whole room of architects drawings and models which were really cool. We were thinking we might buy some work if we sound something good (the show is primarily a sale of works, form all sorts of different people. We had a maximum budget of £500, but it turns out this was nowhere near enough to buy something we liked. Both of us kept pointing out pieces we liked around the £3000 mark. Well, at least we know how much to take with us next time, to help start out collection.

We left the show about 2pm, having had nothing except the most expensive coffee&cake ever. So hungry (and so a little bit bitchy for me, as always when I am hungry) we decided to just grab a quick bite before deciding what to do next. Bring on the Subway, then half price tickets for a show that evening and a quick march to the British Museum to pass the rest of the afternoon. And OMG, THE BRITISH MUSEUM IS AMAZING! We were there until we were practically kicked out, just moving from room to room looking at all these amazing artefacts. I could have spent so much longer – I’m not sure we even saw half of the stuff they had on display. I saw the Rosetta stone, which I have never seen before, and so many Egyptian mummies and Greek statues. Just awesome.

Went for a quick Chinese buffet before going to see The 39 Steps, which was so funny! I know – Hitchcock’s Phyco-thriller but it was a comedy. Full on slap-stick farcical funny. It was a cast of 4, at one point with 2 guys playing 5 different characters at once with the clever use of hats and some excellent accents. I think it was made even funnier because it was set mostly in Scotland and their Scottish characters were all just brilliant – so stereotypical, but so true! So Wednesday night found me and Joni once again, giggling our way back to the hotel, past a beautifully lit Buckingham Palace. 

Thursday

Thursday we had till 2pm till our train left, so we decided to visit the Tower of London in the morning. Raining buckets this morning which was a bit annoying, but never mind. We took the tube again over the right side of town. It was a good attraction, the Crown Jewels were amazing and some of the armour they have on display is epic, but I was annoyed by how money-grabbing they were. Maybe it’s just been so long since I was at a proper tourist attraction, so I’ve forgotten how bad they can be, but this place seems particularly awful. Firstly you pay £18 entry. Then you automatically pay £2 “voluntary” donation, then they got all Joni’s details so they could claim tax gift aid, and then they have the check to put donations bins all over the place! And the souvenirs were all so incredibly expensive I couldn’t even get a tacky pen. In fact I’ve gone the whole trip without getting a tacky pen from anywhere we went. Very sad.

So it’s been an amazing trip. I’m really looking forward to seeing Tay. I hope he has coped ok without us.

A Trip North

We were very generously lent a car by a good friend while she was away for a week, so we decided to take the opportunity to venture north to visit the family again. My uncle has been offered a job in Thailand so they are all taking the plunge and emigrating in about 3 months, so figuring its about to become way harder to see them we had better get in as many visits in as possible.

It was a fantastic trip. I'v found as i'v grown up my relationship with my Aunt and Uncle, and with my cousin who are now teenagers, is completely changing and it just gets better and better. Joni and I found ourselves sat up half the night chatting stories with Kate which was just wonderful. I remember my cousin being born, and now they are both like, real sized people with stories and dreams and they are such cool people. Im really looking forward to getting to know them better as we, hopefully, get closer.

Even my granny seem to be on top form. She had something of a 'funny turn' as she likes to put it, a couple of years ago when i last saw her, but she is recovering well. Sounds like she will go to Thailand too. I guess it means i won't see her as often, but then i was only seeing her once a year anyway so its not like she has been a regular presence in my life since i was a child. And i really think life out there could be very good for her. Get her away from the cold and the damp of the Scottish weather, bit of sunshine might do her some good. Live out the rest of her days lounging in a Thai garden with a sun hat on, listening to ex-pats rant about the war. Im jealous!

I really hope we get to see the family again before the go. Its certainly provided us with a real incentive to get on and buy our own car. Now we just have to do something about getting turn down for all the loans we have applied for.....

Whats the problem with buying a new car?

We have decided to buy a car. Living in Fife without one is just getting stupid (it takes Joni 2 hours to travel 13 miles home from work on public transport!) and having admired some extreme budgeting we have worked out what we can afford to spend each month. So i began googling - Bank loans, other loans, second hand cars of eBay, autotrader etc etc. After a few hours of searching i found myself pricing up the cost of buying a brand new Ka on Ford's website. Much to my shock i found the monthly costs came to around the same as the cost of a second hand car. So i started getting ideas into my head.

Fast forward a few days and i find myself test driving a new Toyota Aygo with a very good sales man (he even claimed to have a nephew at Notts uni and "accidentally" showed us how much commission he gets on sales - a really good sales man!). They are offering these cars with a 5 year warranty, 2 years free servicing and £500 free petrol. So we are looking at one of these PCP offers. For anyone who doesn't know this means we can have the car with basically no deposit (which is handy as we don't have one) and we pay around £200 a month for 3 years. At the end of this we basically still owe then £3000, but we have 3 options. Hand the keys back and be done and dusted with it. Hand over the £3000 and take the car away. Or have the car revalued and then any difference over £3000 we can have or use to invest in a new car. (For a truly interested party its worth noting at this point current 3 year old Aygo on Autotrader costs around £6000, giving a £3000 difference).

Between the first look at new cars and the test drive I have been asking the opinion of just about everyone on buying a new car and the reaction has truly and genuinely shocked me. I thought a few people might not like the idea but it turns out everyone hates it! My mother yelled at me - she hasn't done that since i was 16! A mate from college has been quoting numbers at me all week. Whats most incredible is I still don't get it.

Now I don't think its arrogant to say im quite an intelligent person. I succeed in getting a degree so im clearly not a complete idiot (although i do know some idiots with degrees so maybe thats not the best argument), and i think its fair to say i normally get thinks pretty well. Which does make me question what it is im massively not getting here. This could now turn into a long and rambling post as im about to try and explain, mostly to myself, what it is i think everyone thinks im missing, and why i think im not missing it.

Firstly there is the question of ownership. If you get a car on a PCP contract, you don't own it, until you hand over the final payment of £3000 and then you have paid £10,000 and you have a car worth £6000. I can see this is not a very cost-effective method (although i do believe there is an argument in saying if i get a loan in 5 years i will have handed over £6000 and have a 7 year old car worth about £3000 - is that much better really?) But what if you don't intend on ever owning the car? In 3 years time we plan on having the car revalued and using the extra to trade up to something new - bigger, better, more expensive. At which point we continue paying monthly payments we can afford, just like we would have done when we decided to trade in a second hand car. So we never really own a car and im going to be completely and truly honest here (and please excuse the language) but i really couldn't give shit. I find no pleasure in being able to say "that car is mine" over being able to say "that car is on extended loan from a dealership". When i hear "not really ours" what i hear is "not really our problem", much like i do with renting the flat. When the roof fell in on our flat it was the landlords problem to sort out, much like if the clutch falls off a new car, its covered by the warranty.

The biggest problem most people seem to have is this one of deprecation, my views on which i think i have largely covered above. I think its all a matter of perspective. Mostly i struggle to see how the depreciation effects my life directly - If Im paying the same amounts each month, and after 3 year years on PCP im in a position to trade up to another new car, or with a loan i have to wait 5 years and all i have is a car worth about £2000, whats really the difference? but then maybe thats my problem. Im just a little too short sighted, i struggle to see past 27th March 2014, when i finish my PhD.

Its about this point i run out of steam and this is why I'm writing this post, and not putting up pictures of my brand new Aygo. Surely the whole world can't be wrong? Surely i must be wrong? Surely there is some massive problem with buying a new car that im just not getting and i would be a fool to get one? And maybe im just to arrogant to admit it.


P.S. Some progress on the Argo's bed saga. Firstly we waited about 3 days when the brought in a new offer on £100 0ff all furniture which did include beds (funny, furniture, but not bedroom furniture) so we got the bed even cheaper. Also written letters to Argos, ASA and Watchdog. So far only ASA has responded, telling me to wait and hear from Argos and get back in touch if their answer isn't satisfactory. Will keep you posted