Month: April 2015

Our brilliant legislators

Bought a car from somebody who parks on the street?  Under the new DVLA rules you’ve broken the law!
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When the rules on car tax changed last year, anyone selling a car has to notify the DVLA. The DVLA will automatically refund the seller the price of any “complete” months left (which will not include the month you actually sold the car because, there isn’t a “complete” month left)You as the buyer have to tax the car before you can use it. If the previous owner parks on the street, you can’t drive the car away because you can’t use it ’til it’s taxed, but parking unlicensed vehicles on a public highway is an offence. So, drive it away or leave it there, either way you’re committing an offence.

The fact that the DVLA has now been paid twice for the same month (because you must tax it from the day you bought it and the DVLA has not refunded the previous owner for that month) has nothing to do with it.

Stupid stuff eh? Nobody is going to enforce such silly rules are they? Fines and towaways have gone up from an average 5000 per month to approx 8000.

March Photo Challenge – The Winner

Yes, I know it’s rotten awful late but I have been busy with boat stuff, getting ready for Spring takes longer every year.

As for the pictures all three were good but I will always give extra points for wildlife shots (very hard to get a good shot of wild things, young kids and babies included).  So between Janus and Ara as finalists, sorry OZ that boar on the hoof may have made it.

Raptors are favorites of mine  (you may have noticed) so I will give Araminta the edge this time, the hawk was very special and that kind of opportunity comes along so rarely it makes it that much harder to take advantage and frame the scene.

Well done Ara, worthy of National Geographic.

There Will Always Be an England.

Departing Luxembourg improved my mood immediately. After the abject disaster of the past 9 months, getting on with it was a relief. Strangely, the skies over London agreed with me. My flight actually landed at the scheduled time and I crossed the UK border smoothly. I also didn’t manage to get lost once travelling to Bayswater. My hotel in London was adequate, if Spartan. I stayed at the Latvian Guesthouse on Queensborough Terrace. The room was tiny but clean and the service was competent, if inconsistently polite. The younger Latvian staff were courteous and helpful almost to a fault. The manager, in her fifties, betrayed a Soviet upbringing in her demeanour. Their breakfast was also adequate. A kindly older Latvian woman prepared full English breakfasts at no additional cost.
Continue reading “There Will Always Be an England.”