jasper123

Ohhhhhhhhhhh Barb you are making me feel really hungary for all that
and the scones here with the fresh cream and jam are Wonderful
About the diet --- I weighed myself the other day and after converting the stones to pounds I found after 9 & half months back home I am just about the same as when I left U.S. and that surprised me cause I am ddefinitelyeating more here, but alas I am still 17 pounds over my ideal weight
I will have to knock those pounds off sometime ---- I suppose

jasper123

Charleygirl, thanks I am doing much better now, still a little sore though, WELL it just shows you how observant I am cause I never noticed your picture before with your U.S. cert, you know Barb I dont know why but very shortly after I arrived home I bought a nice frame and framed my USC certificate and its on my bedroom wall, Hmmmm I wonder why I did that ----- maybe its just that Im proud that I finally made it to become a U.S. citizen, go figure Huh.

jasper123

trotty thinking back to when I was sorting through everything, and all the rest, and gradually marking things I had done off the list etc etc WELL when I sat down and looked around me and everything just seemed so terribly overwhelming instead of the cup of tea ------ for me it would be a full nervous glass shot of Rum ---- nervous glass? the big american shot glass, which is standard in most bars in U.S. and would be the equivalent of a triple shot of booze in an english bar,

jasper123

Yep it sure is

jasper123

whats NCB?

Mummy in the foothills

No claims bonus. They don't do that for our US insurance but a letter from the insurance would probably prove no claims, except we just switched insurers. I figure I'll take DMV printouts of all our driving records, $5 each at the DMV.

J.J

It all seems to fall into place after a little time. I think we were not street smart when we first arrived, in a rush and no one to guide us apart from BE.

Charleygirl, I forgot to say in my previous post about car insurance, they threw in a 3 year NCB with the reduced price.

I just got our house insurance for this our 2nd year here, down £50 from the competitor quote, just by starting early and holding out until they made their best offer.

I notice that if you phone an insurance company they ask what were you quoted elsewhere, and then they knock off £10. So my tip is to tell them a lower figure than you get elsewhere.- -I figured if they can go down £10 then they can go down £20 or more - turned out it was negotiable and for the same plan.

Also, I did insurance estimates from comparison sites and online applications, but they did not ask enough right questions so got better results by discussing on phone. Online was useful to get ball park figures.

Our bank, Lloyds TSB offered us a Credit Card out-of-the-blue as we had established a good record for 1 year. I didn't really need the card but accepted, could come in useful.

jasper123

Hi Mummy,
Strange isn't it that in the U.S. the auto insurance companies dont give a no claims bonus no matter how many years you have been with them, in Vegas I was with the same company for 10 years, did not have a single claim in all that time, and my U.S. drivers licence has been squeaky clean with not even a parking ticket for over 30 years, ------- yet there was never a year go by where I didn't get an (increase) in premiums, very soon my fully comp auto insurance monthly payments was getting real close to my car loan payments, just before I left they socked it to me again with another increase of $22 per month making it a whopping $139 per month, or $1,668 per year when I phoned them up and asked why such a large increase this year and they said it was because I just turned 65 years old, and so I step into a riskier age group, Hmmmmm, well I was a little offended, I have always been proud of my good driving record, and I feel that if you have had no accidents and no claims then the insurance company should reward you with lower premiums like they do in U.K. but no ----- in U.S. they treat you just like everyone else, they certainly know how to rip you off over there dont they,
I do realise that US being so large, that states and cites will obviously differ in prices for car insurance, and if you live in a smaller city or town with less cars and therefore less accidents then the premiums will be lower,
But OK I was living in Las Vegas, one of the highest accident prone cites in the country, I know that, but all I had was a 6 year old Hyandai Accent (the smallest model) worth about $3,000 tops, go figure!!!!!
Anyway these days Im away from all that B.S. and Im just a happy OAP bloke with a free bus pass, I like my life a lot better now, nice and simple just the way I like it,
Rodney.

sallysimmons

Has anyone noticed the difference between magazines in the US and UK?

I love home decorating magazines and bought a few at Manchester airport for the flight back. What a pleasant surprise! First, they put the table of contents right up front instead of making you wade through pages of ads to find it.

Then there is just so much more content to read. Instead of mostly ads with a few articles tossed in, these magazines are packed with information and interesting stories. I wish I could subscribe and have them sent over here.

between two worlds

You probably can--at a price!

Many UK magazines are available overseas.

I agree the magazines are better--but above all- the NEWSPAPERS!!! One of the UK things I missed the most in US.

Tina

Mallory

Rodney, they don't call it no claims bonus in the US, it's called "safe driving rate." Which means if you don't have any accidents you are in a lower rate than someone who has had accidents. The more accidents you have, the more your insurance will cost. It's the same thing, just worded differently.

Ours is not more expensive because my hubby just turned 65, in fact it's lower. It's called - over 55, pleasure driving, of no more than 7,500 miles (of course no one actually checks your miles), they just use that as a guide. It also depends on your deductible. Some people have a much higher deductible than others, personal preference. It also depends on what type of car you are driving, some cars are more expensive than others to insure.

If you stay with one company for 10 years and never look around, you are probably losing out on much cheaper rates. As June said, you have to be proactive and shop around, and barter for rates. Yes, insurance does go up every year, but that's everywhere, sadly called inflation.

cheers

There is something strange going on in the magazine publishing industry in the US because i'm getting them in the mail free. Times must be tough for them.
Years ago I went through the magazine and cut out all the ads to see what would be left. Not very much!
I love going into WHSmiths in England and seeing all the magazines covering all areas of interest. The other thing is the journalists are not in the pockets of the advertisers so they seem to give there honest opinions.
Am I nieve?

Cheers

Mummy in the foothills

I think my Dh fancies himself with an OAP bus pass, but he's not old enough Our went up religiously each year, it made me crazy.
We added Ds#1 when he got his license and it went up $200 for 6 months, then we took him off when he moved to UK and it went down $50 Then we added Ds#2 as he passed his test and it went up another $200 for 6 months. they couldn't/wouldn't just switch it from one son to the other.
Then this summer it went up $600 a year, for no reason, no explanation, no accidents or claims ever! So we moved and we are saving $1300 a year over the new price, I even called and they didn't seem to care we moved, this is the agent we've been with 18 years, a friend of Dh from high school. So Dh was disgusted, he is now convinced he really does have no friends here at all.

Fish n Chips 56

What about the selection, the UK has the best selection of magazines I have ever seen. I always come back with a load of magazines and local newspapers after a visit to W.H. Smiths.

cheers

Wot I said

I suppose what happened in the US is one magazine bought out another and so on until it became a monopoly and now people are fed up with contents of the magazines.

note: my wife got Good Housekeeping magazine in today's mail. We have been getting them free for the last several months. She also gets Oprah magazine and I get Motor Trend free every month. The publishers must be in a desperate situation for paid subscriptions.

Yep, to be able to go into WHSmiths would be something.

Cheers