whiteowl

Leicester is still in lockdown after theirs started in June...

The Lords have voted to ensure trade deals meet UK animal welfare and food safety rules. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54615820 Wonder if the shambles in No. 10 will used the Parliament Act to force the bill through 🤔

I had a letter marked "On Her Majesty's Service" addressed to the resident that was a letter from the Office for National Statistics in conjunction with Oxford University. It came in an A4 white envelope though. It was about random COVID sampling. There was no online bit, I had to ring up to participate - with a £50 voucher for the first test done and £25 for subsequent ones. Have had 2 COVID tests so far with a lady coming this afternoon with the 3rd. Received the £50 voucher so far that came in handy as I turned it into a £50 Amazon voucher in time for the Prime days they had last week. They did ask questions about employment status, health etc, but in a quite generic way, not wanting to know specifics. I'd suggest your neighbours is probably not a scam but you can never be too sure especially with an online section.

I see the police are to get access to some of the track and trace data to be able fine people who break isolation. I guess that will solve the problem of people not being able to get tested as many people just won't bother now. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54586897

My app is telling me the local Covid Alert level is Medium and High 😂😂

The was no link but I assume you mean the haveIbeenpwned site. Have used it before , still only listed on 4 breaches, the last one a year ago. I'm tempted to do what someone suggested on here years ago. Purchase my own domain and set up a mail server. Whenever a company wants an email give them their company name @mydomain.com. For example if Currys want an email address, I'd give them currys@mydomain.com - just interested where the spam comes from.

Wow, maybe I spoke to soon. Been getting Paypal/Amazon scam emails through thick and fast in the last couple of days. Stay safe guys.

I think Kent voted 60-40 for brexit, They won, they should get over it.

Isn't it a bit like flu? In my understanding, people rarely die from flu itself, it just exacerbates other conditions/illnesses that might not have been otherwise life threatening. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Was texting my sister last weekend. She's a nurse in a High Dependency Unit so literally on the front line, Her reply, and I quote, was: "In Blackpool as the moment having a bit of a rest before COVID truly hits again". Another relevant message from her back in May: "They reckon the second wave will come September, so the doctors are saying, but we will have to wait and see" Trust journalists, politicians all you like. I'll always take the word of my sister, it's anecdotal I know, but she is there in person not looking at graphs or projections.

Well, according to my test and trace app, S8 is Medium - which is tier 1 🤷‍♂️

Interesting you said this, as I was (maybe still am, see below) in the same boat. The email I got from Npower back in July said : "If you’re not happy with these new E.ON Next terms and conditions, you could choose to switch to another supplier and we’ll do everything reasonable to ensure the transfer takes place to your chosen supplier within 21 days of them telling us. As long as you do this before we move your account to E.ON Next or up to 30 days afterwards, we’ll waive any exit fees. Please note: If we've already started the process of moving your account over to E.ON Next, there will be a period of two to three weeks when your transfer to another supplier may not work. This is because the energy industry's systems can only handle one change at a time. If you owe us money, we may stop you from switching to a different supplier. If that’s the case, you’ll need to pay us what you owe within 30 working days of us telling you that we’re stopping the transfer. If you change supplier your Smart meter may no longer work in the same way and you may have to provide your own meter readings." I've bolded the bit that interested me. I decided to switch and, surprisingly, the day after I initiated the switch E.ON told me that they were about to switch me to them instead. Six weeks and many confusing emails later I think I'm on British Gas (they were the cheapest at the time) and so I decide to cancel my E.ON direct debit (experience has taught me it's easier for me to pay what I owe than claim money back from a big company) and I get a snotty email saying I've cancelled my direct debit. I get in touch with them and the guy says yes, you're on BG but we need to reinstate the direct debit to refund my credit. I say OK and they have actually paid by the money in my account, but today I've had a bill from them for £30. Have made sure the direct debit is cancelled again and I expect another snotty email from them tomorrow. *shrug* I think the point I'm making, is that, assuming you had the same email as me, I'm guessing you're out of time for cancelling your contract so you'll be tied in. However, they seem like they don't have a clue so it may be worth a snotty email/phone call to see if you can blag them.

My smart meter is at the source. It has no idea whether I'm running a hairdrier or a vehicle charger. Both of which will be (more than likely) on the ring main. Even if they weren't, they'd be on separate fuses and my smart meter is nowhere near those.

It definately used to be like that. Just checked on https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10 and it says : "After downloading and installing, the tool will walk you through how to set up Windows 10 on your PC. All Windows 10 editions are available when you select Windows 10, except for Enterprise edition. For more information on Enterprise edition, go to the Volume Licensing Service Center." They must have gotten fed up having to create multiple copies every time they tweaked things 😂 Just make sure it's a recent version of the Windows 10 ISO - download available from link above 👆

Pound for pound, I think the most cost effective upgrade for a PC/laptop is an SSD for the system drive.