Shorty

Do you have a pic of the grounds? I think you should be hosting the N-E meet-ups :p

Oh. That's really nice. I might look into that pebbly kinda outskirt thing you've got going on, what's been used as the partition there?

Ugh, that really sucks. I love Trials. Well, glad we got to the lighthouse last weekend at least

Stein's;Gate fits your bill pretty well. There's also been some great Evangelion remake movies and a second season of Suzumiya Haruhi if that's your kinda thing. I loved Sword Art Online but it's a bit marmite, and more fantastical than you were suggesting but rooted in reality which is quite cool.

I had to prove the funds for the deposit existed, with bank statements, before I got the mortgage offer. But I didn't have to pay it until the week of completion.

Where the heck do you live, Downton Abbey??

Wot u on about m8

Got my Help to Buy ISA letter today, talk about skin of my teeth, dropped it off at the Solicitors, only a couple of steps left now......

Not as much as you suck at detecting sarcasm This is what a teaser is meant to be/used to be :p

My new house has a really nice garden, I'm planning to stay on top of maintaining it I don't know anything about plants or flowers, but I'll try and look after what's there already. In the corner is an old iron shed, I might dismantle that and turn that corner into a veg patch instead. There's two trees in the garden, I'm also going to look into putting up a hammock

I got really lucky and there's no chain. I'm a first time buyer, and the couple I'm buying from have bought an empty house, so there's only three people involved. I would say mine has been a pretty quick/smooth process. I had my offer accepted on Feb 12th and completion is May 25th so it took 3.5 months after finding a place to get through the hoops and red tape, although I might've been able to speed that up if I'd called and nagged a bit more.

Final tip: don't keep your debit card and credit card in the same wallet, in case it gets stolen like mine did in Venice....

Image isn't loading for me @Ashley Where you off now? As someone who hasn't been on holiday in 2 years, I'll probably be jealous no matter what it is. Good call, that's exactly what my PO card was for. The only issue I did have in Australia was their card readers ask you what kind of account it is, Savings, Checking or Credit and iirc Checking was the right choice. Also, you probably don't need telling this but, make sure you have another way of getting money while you're over there in case the card doesn't work for some reason, you don't want to be using a CC to withdraw cash from an ATM (huge fees). No you don't get penalised for not using it. Having several fairly young credit accounts has a minor negative effect on your overall rating, so after a few months of non-use it will actually be better than it is now. I have occasionally used my PO card other than abroad, for ordering imports online, since you won't have to pay a transaction fee (usually your bank will charge you a flat fee or paypal's conversion rate will not be as good as it is with the card).

Sorry to hear that RA, but that's what solicitors are being paid for, hope they get it sorted. I've reached the point now where I'm no longer looking forward to actually living in my new house, I'm just looking forward to having the purchase process behind me.

You guys... this is just a thrown together CG teaser to raise awareness about the existence of a new series. It's not footage from the show. I thought it was good for the music alone.

What type of card? I actually think credit cards are great when used properly. I've got four. One I started with, just to get my credit rating up, a normal one. Should close that. A Post Office Platinum card, because you can buy things abroad and you don't get charged any exchange rate. A Tesco Clubcard credit card, because it was 0% interest on purchases for 26 months and you get extra clubcard points for spends in store and elsewhere (but fewer than you used to). Most recently got a Virgin Money credit card, 30 months 0% finance money transfer, they literally just put £3k into my current account, small charge (1.59%) and then give me 30 months to pay it back. The wonders you can get with a decent credit rating. As soon as my house purchase is out of the way, I'll be getting another one, Sainsburys 0% purchases card. As long as you pay the balance off in full monthly and are sensible, or on a 0% card at least pay off the minimum (set up a direct debit), they are very useful.

That cheesy bit at the beginning can't actually be part of the show, can it??

Eventually motorways go from scary to the most boring thing you can drive on. Actually I remember being taught the same thing. I think because of the speed you're going at you shouldn't really be taking your eye off the road to look over your shoulder. At high speed you should be constantly updating your mirrors and a lane change should be taken in good time, so there's no need for a full over-shoulder check. On the motorway I typically keep a constant mental note of who's behind me in my mirrors, so I'm never surprised to find someone overtaking.

Apparently you need to catch up a bit on recent events, I don't think Serebii needs to do any of those things.

Those are really great @dan\-likes\-trees What are some basics that a beginner can do to try and capture the detail in the distance like that? Whenever I go out to the peaks or take a pic of a good view in my city, I'm always disappointed with how unexciting it looks in my picture compared to how it did in person. Or is there nothing I can do without buying bigger and more expensive lenses?

Actually I think it's nowhere near as bad as being shot down at a bar. It's disheartening, but doesn't come with anywhere near the courage requirements, so you feel less like you revved yourself up for nothing. And far less resultant embarrassment. You can just review where you went wrong and try again, you get near unlimited attempts to tweak your approach and give it another shot in your own time. Tbh I'm glad I found my first couple of relationships so easily and then skipped way ahead into the online dating world. At first it was weird and difficult, but now I know it's definitely much better for me than trying to meet someone at a bar. Welcome to the boards by the way, @Nuntendo

So getting the Help to Buy ISA sorted can definitely take weeks :/ Called Halifax the day the vendors suggested a completion date, they had to post out an account closure form which took 5-6 days to arrive. Returned that and the account was closed 2-3 days later. Then they've sent out the all important letter which I need to get in no less than 5 days before completion, but that hasn't arrived yet either and I'm currently 7 days before completion. Cue panic, as I cannot afford to not get that Help to Buy. The day I get my keys I'm getting myself a new 26 months 0% purchases credit card :p

Of course not

Unsurprisingly you don't have much idea of how these sites work :p That is the point yes, but girls get 1000x the interest that guys get, it's relatively unlikely that they message first. A girl using a dating site has to sift through a constant stream of (often awful) messages, cross referencing non-creeps and similar interests. A guy has to send out a million opening messages, trying to strike the balance between original enough to stand out and non-lame enough to save face, and hope vainly for a response.