Great thread.

Love watching my kids play sport even if they are not always great at it, but its important for them to be getting outside etc in this day and age with all gadgets and tv channels.

On sunday will be watching my daughter play some fun cricket at the women's ashes match at Worcester. Great deal where she gets to play in a mini competition during the break and we get free tickets for the game. Only started playing this season but enjoys it.

Watching her going out to face a under twelve team (she is 10) who had already put one of our team on the way to hospital was a bit scary, but she seemed quite happy. (she was caught out first ball, but at least she went for the shot!)

Thanks for running it was great fun even if I did rather poorly.

Dont reckon you would sneeze for a while.

Depends how he took them!

you would become Allergyman your super power will be to make anyone you come into contact with start sneezing and eyes watering. shortly after this you will sell your soul to a tissue manufacturer.

Can't think of a non-serious response at the moment sorry!

Just fully caught up (work does get in the way at times) so congratulations, and not just on seeing Pelicans.

I had turned the engine off whilst we watched, open mouthed, almost gasping, at these little chipmunks.

But we were not done yet.

Something caught my eye about 100 yards ahead, & there, just standing there, in the middle of he deserted road, as the sun was fading, was a herd of (thank you google) mule deer.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mule_deer

These are quite small, not as big as regular deer, and there were 20 or 30 of them. We watched them until it was dark. They were nervous & skittish, & we even saw two of them doing that jousting thing with their antler things. 

 

Click to see full-size image.

All of that - the roadrunners, the humming birds, Palmers Chipmunk, & Mule Deer, was within an hour.

If I've ever enjoyed an hour more than that, I don't recall it. What a thrill, what a stroke of luck to be right time, right place, & right company.

Love that story (just catching up with the diary from the weekend) makes me want to go to vegas even more. My ideal holiday is highlands of Scotland, where you always have that chance of turning a corner and seeing deer or red squirrels etc. Thankfully kids still like it so it happens every year at moment.

Thanks Wycher.

I did not expect much feedback, after all it's a poker forum, but I'm glad a few enjoyed it. It really was an extraordinary hour, seeing humming birds, Palmers Chipmunks, Mule Deer, Roadrunner birds, wow, that will never happen to us again, but we made the most of it.

I still have the rest of the Pacific Adventure to report, hopefully later today.

I agree as to Highlands of Scotland. If I had to choose one place on earth to go on holiday, I think it would be a cottage by a loch in the Highlands of Scotland, with SoCal a close second. Gill would probably do it the other way round, she enjoys the sun, whereas I have developed an allergy to bright light & sunshine, so it's not possible for me to stay outside in the sun for more than 30 minutes.

I think my wife and I would be the same she needs sun and that is the one thing that Scotland can lack at times, otherwise I think we would have even considered moving there. Loving the range of the diary its all about variety. My brother would be able to go on at length about the trains as he is still a train spotter despite having been a train driver for many years (you would think he would get bored!).

Congrats on the cashes

I had turned the engine off whilst we watched, open mouthed, almost gasping, at these little chipmunks.

But we were not done yet.

Something caught my eye about 100 yards ahead, & there, just standing there, in the middle of he deserted road, as the sun was fading, was a herd of (thank you google) mule deer.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mule_deer

These are quite small, not as big as regular deer, and there were 20 or 30 of them. We watched them until it was dark. They were nervous & skittish, & we even saw two of them doing that jousting thing with their antler things. 

 

Click to see full-size image.

All of that - the roadrunners, the humming birds, Palmers Chipmunk, & Mule Deer, was within an hour.

If I've ever enjoyed an hour more than that, I don't recall it. What a thrill, what a stroke of luck to be right time, right place, & right company.

Love that story (just catching up with the diary from the weekend) makes me want to go to vegas even more. My ideal holiday is highlands of Scotland, where you always have that chance of turning a corner and seeing deer or red squirrels etc. Thankfully kids still like it so it happens every year at moment.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hilarywardle/never-visit-these-scottish-places?utm_term=.qb6gqmAgg&fb_ref=mobile_share#.rr33M7BMz

What made me chuckle was the amazing pictures behind the comments, just made you wonder if they actually looked up from there phones at any point!.

Culloden had one of the best museum/displays i've seen and was an amazingly atmospheric place.

Hi

Can I swap Moorman for Ashton please

Many thanks

On this day in 1997: Eric Cantona announced his retirement from football at the age of 30.

Click to see full-size image.

As I United fan it was one of those jaw dropping moments where you really thought it was just a bad joke. One of the best ever players to play for United, and I suspect a reporters dream of a player. I was in a car park in Glastonbury at the time!

Did like the story about the win bonus that all the team decided to raffle amongst them selves (winner take all) two of the young players at the time (Nicky Butt and Scholes I think) put theirs in despite it being a very significant sum for them at the time. Cantona won the draw and gave them half each for having the nerve to put it in.

[1977]

Continuing with the theme of coincidences, at the very time when KP is making all the Test Cricket headlines......


1977


Tony Greig was summarily sacked after it emerged he was in league with Kerry Packer, who was setting up a rival Test Series for Channel Nine in Australia.

This was a monumental moment in cricket, & was to change everything, in so many ways.

Greig was reviled for being a traitor, & was almost hounded out of the UK.

He cut a deal with Packer though, made himself a very rich man indeed, & in later years, became, in many ways, quite a hero & well-liked bloke.

Oh my, how we despised Packer & Greig at the time, though.

This is a great, great story, I hope you take a moment to read it.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Series_Cricket

Until that time, cricketers were paid a pittance, but Packer changed all that, & Mr Pietersen & Co would do well to remember the debt they owe to Kerry Packer & Tony Greig.

The Court Case alone lasted 7 weeks.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

The irony is we may be coming pack to this as there is talk of a rival cricket organisation to the ICC funded by an Indian company. Given the way the minor nations are treated I actually think they may have some success.

By the way love the thread but no good at posting pictures etc.

Think they said on the radio before that his contract was not renewed, rather than him leaving...

I think he has said he did not renew his contract as it would restrict other work he wanted to do.

Call me suspicious but when they suggest a specific route I do wonder whether it is because it is the least expensive from their point of view. it maybe worth checking whether breaches of data protection have fixed penalties etc as opposed to potentially open ended liabilities for other routes.

Basically I don't need to be an employee in my company as any rights would only come out of my pocket anyway!.

I think I have a working solution so will go with that.

Many thanks to anyone who responded.

Sorry don't quite understand.

You are the employee being transferred and you own the company that the activities are being transferred to?

Why do you want to enter into a contrived arrangement to avoid TUPE?  It's your company that it affects.  You will be presumably getting a "promotion" to director and a new employment contract, so apart from possibly redundancy rights (which would lead to an option to take 30k tax free if it goes tits-up) TUPE would surely be largely irrelevant?

ps don't you have a lawyer advising you?

Hi Thanks for responding, I do have a lawyer for the contract but they are not an expert on TUPE and there do seem to be some very knowledgeable people on here. Basically the most tax efficient way of paying your self as the owner of a company is a small salary to reflect your directorship and the balance by dividends. This is based on you not being an employee just an officer of the company and therefore you don't have to pay national minimum wage etc. However, technically if you TUPE over as an employee I would not be able to follow this route. Hence the desire to terminate my employment prior to the purchase.

Sorry if I was not clear earlier.