Car Sales: Do Gentlemen’s Agreements Apply?

Car Sales: Do Gentlemen’s Agreements Apply? Is your word your bond?

What if you are offered much more money for what you are selling?

What if as a buyer, a much better deal just fell in your lap?

A guy recently said to me about a car transaction: “I’m old school and for me trust is everything, even if no deposit was given” – This was a guy who had agreed in principle to buy a car over the telephone and email. The seller sold the car to someone else while this guy was making arrangements to collect it and pay.… Click here to continue reading this article

Puccini Italian Restaurant Ashton Under Lyne Review

Puccini is an Italian restaurant located at 141 Katherine Street, Ashton-Under-Lyne, OL6 7AW. The phone number is 0161 330 1234. 

This place was recommended by a friend a few months ago, we have been a few times and have recently had a function there. However, there was an experience during that function that I feel is an integral part of the review, and people will want to know about upfront:

Greed.

We booked the upstairs function room for an anniversary party. There were about twenty adults and a small gaggle of children present.… Click here to continue reading this article

Vladimir Putin: Europe’s Peacemaker. A Proper Politician.

President Putin of Russia has recently made an address to the American people.

Yes, that’s right. Not the Russian people, the American people. Going right over Obama’s head to tell the American people the truth about Syria.

Let’s look at the relationship between Obama and Putin.

In this context, the power relationship is that of Putin shaking Obama’s hand at the G20 with his hand above Obama’s, palm facing down and with his left arm grasping Obama’s right arm in a firm grip on his bicep. This is the handshake used to demonstrate dominance.… Click here to continue reading this article

2013 Musings from Togliatti, Russia: Samara Airport Again!

Leaving Russia. KUF  Samara Airport Again! 

When leaving Russia, I always aim to arrive at the airport an hour before I would in the west in order that the inefficiency I have come to expect can move at its own speed and I might actually make the plane. So I arrived almost three hours before the flight was due to leave.

They X-ray your baggage on the way into the terminal building, and then again at security. The queue for the second level of security had already filled the main terminal building.… Click here to continue reading this article

2013 Musings from Togliatti, Russia: Cost of Living, Money and Finances

Note: Values are in £ Sterling. There are 100 pence (p) in £1. Those who think in Dollars must multiply by 1.5 to get a Dollar figure. Thus, £100 is $150, 30p is 45c, etc. You get the idea…

My wife is fond of telling me “people” earn £200 a month in Russia. I don’t know why she says this, as I never met anyone I supposed was on £200 a month for a long, long time. I since pointed out that she hasn’t lived there full time since 2005 and things may have changed.… Click here to continue reading this article

2013 Musings from Togliatti, Russia: Restaurants & Eating Out.

Eating Out in Togliatti. 

When you visit a place, you don’t really want to start cooking do you? So restaurants are going to feature. However, in my experience, this is something Russia hasn’t quite got to grips with yet.

We went in two places that had been previously OK that now have insect issues. One had beetle type things creeping around the corners, and the other some insect ran out of the menu at me as I opened it. The staff apologised and explained that the place next door had just been fumigated and all the insects had ran away into their restaurant. … Click here to continue reading this article

2013 Musings from Togliatti: Taxis and getting around in Russia.

The general theme of this small series of articles is to show how a provincial town in central Russia is slowly modernising over the years. I first went there in 2005, which gives me a good point of comparison when visiting in 2013 to observe changes.

Today I am going to discuss taxis and getting around.

Getting around. 

When I first went to Togliatti, when you wanted a taxi, you just stood by the road with your hand out and someone would stop. Negotiate a price before you get in and job done.… Click here to continue reading this article

2013 Musings from Togliatti: Russia is Changing.

I have just returned from a visit to Togliatti, so I thought I would make a few notes about the changes I see in this lesser visited part of Russia as an occasional visitor.

Readers may wish to comment, disagree, discuss, ask questions or whatever.

First impressions after a three year absence. 

Usually when you get on the road, you get the gargling paraffin taste in your throat that is the pollution. It is normally so bad that I need some antibiotics after a few days to quell my swollen throat.… Click here to continue reading this article

Samara KUF Russia Passport Control Problems

Samara Passport Control

I always found Moscow a bit of a pain to connect internally through (although I gather it has improved since I last went through there), and the flight is shorter from the UK to Frankfurt and from there to Samara. Plus the FRA-KUF route is served by Lufthansa and not Yuri Air so is usually on time and half decent. And being a German airline, the luggage usually arrives at the same time as me. Added to which, the UK to Frankfurt and then Samara is almost a straight line on the map.… Click here to continue reading this article

Choosing a Digital Camera

I have used the iphone camera too for almost everything since I had one. Cracking camera. But my wife wants one that makes that continual paparazzi shutter sound so she has about 200 of everything to choose from. Also, while the iphone camera is good; it has its limitations.

With the iphone camera, the pictures are pretty good, but the night shots are poor. Better than some digital cameras; but not that good. I find I have to switch off the flash and use it without flash to try and get a better picture.… Click here to continue reading this article

Thinking of Hostgator? Read this First!

I have been a very happy customer, and an enthusiastic exponent of Hostgator for some time. I think that is about to change.

I host maybe 20ish websites with them over 2 VPS’s. One VPS has one big forum on, the other one has a mixed bag of sites on – two are forums, an eshop or two and a few blogs and such.

In recent months, our server started going down for maybe 10 minutes at a time – now and again. I know this because I get the “nameserver failed” emails.… Click here to continue reading this article

Has Deletion Replaced Debate at TAZ?

The Admin Zone (located at theadminzone.com and known as TAZ) is a discussion forum where people who run forums congregate to discuss running forums.

Run by an amiable fellow called Howard – aka The Sandman – it has been for many years a pretty well run forum that I am (was) a Premium supporting member of.

As can sometimes happen with forums, too many chefs spoil the broth, and the constant rotating stream of moderators and administrators allow some people the opportunity to be what they are not in real life: someone with influence.… Click here to continue reading this article

Post Office Refusing To Accept PPI Mail.

The purpose of this post is to name and shame a Post Office.

Windmill Lane Sub Post Office.
697 Windmill Lane,
Dane Bank, Denton,
Manchester
M34 2ET
0161 336 3810

The branch is run by a nervous looking chap called Peter, together with another middle aged lady and an elderly lady.

This was one of the Post Offices we used to use each day to send business mail. My spend was between £20 and £100 per day there. I have been using them on and off for years.

When one spends at that kind of level in the Post Office, the time has way passed to move onto what is called PPI.… Click here to continue reading this article

What Happened to Anonymity Online?

What exactly did happen to anonymity online? And do we really need it?

I think that people were generally more likely to use pseudonyms or post anonymously back in the 1990’s; yet nowadays it seems everyone’s almost too open about themselves.

Just look at older interactive site or forum, and about 90% of them are run by staff going under usernames related to the topic in a generally anonymous way. And many of the members are a bit more secretive than people online now.

But then when you look on any more ‘modern’ website, it seems like hardly anyone is writing things pseudonymously (is that a word?)… Click here to continue reading this article

Amaani Restaurant Ashton Under Lyne Review

The Amaani Indian Restaurant is located at 77 Lees Rd, Ashton-under-Lyne. OL6 8BQ.

The phone number is 0161 339 9876.

In a rush? Here is the short version: Food is forgettable. Service is a bit crap. For Ashton, its about average.

A friend and I decided to go out for a meal recently to catch up. We both like Indian food and for logistical reasons, Ashton-Under-Lyne was the location.

He told me that the Amaani was the one everyone was talking about now (whoever everyone might be). So we went there.… Click here to continue reading this article

от чего американцы предпочитают лечиться у себя, в Америке, а не в России, например?

Мне всегда было любопытно выяснить, отчего американцы предпочитают лечиться у себя, в Америке, а не в России, например?

Или не в Китае , или в Мексике. Или где-бы -то ни было еще. Спрашивала я тут разный народ, и пришла к выводу, что большинство людей имущих (кто может позволить себе путешествие в тур за здоровьем в другую страну) свято верят, что в Америке самая- пресамая медицина. Ну, а те, у кого дженег на путешествия нет.. у тех денег ни на что нет и они “вынуждены есть то, что дают”.

Во-первых, – по собственному опыту, – стоматология и косметология здесь оставляют желать лучшего.… Click here to continue reading this article

Про араба и генерала

Она не верила в сайты знакомств до тех пор, пока мой муж чуть ли не силком заставил ее выслать ему ее любимую фотографию и сам собственноручно открыл ей страничку на том самом сайте, где мы встретили друг друга (www.luckylovers.net) Указал ее возраст- написал ей в анкете какие-то интересы …и она стла ждать.

Мужчины кинулись писать часто и много. Но она совсем не знала английского, а тех курсов, на которые она ходила чуть ли не целых два года, как оказалось, недостаточно даже для элементарного понимания. Западным мужчинам же хочется романтики. Хочется видеть женщину по вебкамере и кричать ей по Skype какая она прекрасная и слышать что-то в ответ.… Click here to continue reading this article

Положение рубля достаточно стабильно, однако без доллара России не обойтись, считают эксперты

Положение рубля достаточно стабильно, однако без доллара России не обойтись, считают эксперты

Депутат Госдумы от фракции ЛДПР Михаил Дегтярёв подготовил законопроект, запрещающий оборот и хранение долларов США на территории России. В документе подчёркивается, что ограничения коснутся исключительно американской валюты, а евро, фунты стерлингов, юани и др. будут использоваться так же, как и раньше.

Политик полагает, что сейчас позиции доллара нестабильны и валюта не застрахована от краха. Дегтярёв с помощью такого законопроекта планирует оградить россиян от финансового кризиса, который может быть спровоцирован резким падением курса доллара.

«Если госдолг США будет расти, то крах долларовой системы произойдёт уже в 2017 году.… Click here to continue reading this article

Reviewing Anastasia Date

Reviewing Anastasia Date -Two models for agency financial success:

Various different forum threads have reported the recruitment of ‘Translators’ and ‘Interpreters’ into the agencies that feed Anastasia Date.

There are both agency descriptions (of how to recruit TERPS) in the home site and there are advertisements that were previously reported here and on various online forums.

This recruitment for paid ‘translators’ is indicative of a model for having women appear on camera or on chat to deceive the men users into thinking that they are chatting with someone who wants to find a husband.… Click here to continue reading this article

David Tennant to Return to Doctor Who in November 2013.

The BBC has announced that for the 50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who to be screened in November, will feature David Tennant!

Fans of the Doctor may also be pleased to know that Rose Tyler – aka Billie Piper – will also feature. Despite denying it on the Graham Norton show two months ago.

Has the BBC finally woken up and sniffed the skinny latte?

Perhaps the slothful revenue from Dr Who merchandising since they introduced Matt Smith as the Doctor has made them feel the need to bring David Tennant back.… Click here to continue reading this article