WCMUT....what cheered me up today

Lots of hog action in the garden last night. Put the camera out the night before and caught plenty, including one very large little beast, and one hoglet...
 
Mrs WW is from Thailand and came to the UK under what's known as the five year route. This involves a "Spouse Visa," two Further Leave to Remains and an Indefinite Leave to Remain after which she is free to remain here permanently. It's an expensive process to go though and quite stressful too as an immigrant needs to reach a certain level of English and pass exams including a Life in The UK test and can be refused leave to stay at any stage.

Previous Visas have been either fully hard copy or partially digital but the ILR we've just completed was fully digital and despite a few "oh er..." moments it went smoothly and this is the first time we haven't been asked for more documentation. For example when we did the second FLR I supplied my bank details as requited and then was asked for them a further twice. Where the documents were going I just don't know and can't guess, they must have been going missing as everything was in the same signed for box as documents they appeared to have. Anyway. It went relatively smoothly this time with the only issues being some garbled/ambiguous language which seem to be endemic in these things and when getting to the end only then being told that all electronic copies of documents had to be in B&W and this afternoon we received her Biometric Residence Card stating Indefinite Leave to Remain :D I assume we'll get the official letter or email soon :D

So that's it. We seem to have hopefully come to the end of an expensive and at times almost incomprehensible process. She now wants citizenship but I think she should take a rest first and destress, Maybe go for it next year. I usually get her a present when we've hit a milestone and I know she wants a new Samsung tablet so that'll probably be it :D

For anyone else going through this... It can be done. We've done it all ourselves but I know some people who've engaged a solicitor but we've saved quite a bit with the DIY approach :D
 
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woof woof said:
Mrs WW is from Thailand and came to the UK under what's known as the five year route. This involves a "Spouse Visa," two Further Leave to Remains and an Indefinite Leave to Remain after which she is free to remain here permanently. It's an expensive process to go though and quite stressful too as an immigrant needs to reach a certain level of English and pass exams including a Life in The UK test and can be refused leave to stay at any stage.

Previous Visas have been either fully hard copy or partially digital but the ILR we've just completed was fully digital and despite a few "oh er..." moments it went smoothly and this is the first time we haven't been asked for more documentation. For example when we did the second FLR I supplied my bank details as requited and then was asked for them a further twice. Where the documents were going I just don't know and can't guess, they must have been going missing as everything was in the same signed for box as documents they appeared to have. Anyway. It went relatively smoothly this time with the only issues being some garbled/ambiguous language which seem to be endemic in these things and when getting to the end only then being told that all electronic copies of documents had to be in B&W and this afternoon we received her Biometric Residence Card stating Indefinite Leave to Remain :D I assume we'll get the official letter or email soon :D

So that's it. We seem to have hopefully come to the end of an expensive and at times almost incomprehensible process. She now wants citizenship but I think she should take a rest first and destress, Maybe go for it next year. I usually get her a present when we've hit a milestone and I know she wants a new Samsung tablet so that'll probably be it :D

For anyone else going through this... It can be done. We've done it all ourselves but I know some people who've engaged a solicitor but we've saved quite a bit with the DIY approach :D
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Congratulations to you both!
 
sphexx said:
Congratulations to you both!
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Thank you. I haven't totalled the cost of the process up but even though it's a pretty penny it's a fraction of what we'd have paid had we used professional help.

This all started when I did some work for a Japanese company in Thailand. As she was the highest ranking Thai manager and could speak English she was my contact and bridge between the Thai management and the non Thai speaking Japanese higher ups.
 
woof woof said:
Mrs WW is from Thailand and came to the UK under what's known as the five year route. This involves a "Spouse Visa," two Further Leave to Remains and an Indefinite Leave to Remain after which she is free to remain here permanently. It's an expensive process to go though and quite stressful too as an immigrant needs to reach a certain level of English and pass exams including a Life in The UK test and can be refused leave to stay at any stage.

Previous Visas have been either fully hard copy or partially digital but the ILR we've just completed was fully digital and despite a few "oh er..." moments it went smoothly and this is the first time we haven't been asked for more documentation. For example when we did the second FLR I supplied my bank details as requited and then was asked for them a further twice. Where the documents were going I just don't know and can't guess, they must have been going missing as everything was in the same signed for box as documents they appeared to have. Anyway. It went relatively smoothly this time with the only issues being some garbled/ambiguous language which seem to be endemic in these things and when getting to the end only then being told that all electronic copies of documents had to be in B&W and this afternoon we received her Biometric Residence Card stating Indefinite Leave to Remain :D I assume we'll get the official letter or email soon :D

So that's it. We seem to have hopefully come to the end of an expensive and at times almost incomprehensible process. She now wants citizenship but I think she should take a rest first and destress, Maybe go for it next year. I usually get her a present when we've hit a milestone and I know she wants a new Samsung tablet so that'll probably be it :D

For anyone else going through this... It can be done. We've done it all ourselves but I know some people who've engaged a solicitor but we've saved quite a bit with the DIY approach :D
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Congrats. Must be a relief!
 
gman said:
Congrats. Must be a relief!
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Yes. It's a weight off. One worry for me was that Mrs WW insisted on using an English certificate which had expired (there's a date on them and they don't last long enough to use on more than one visa application). The rules state that you can use an expired certificate if the issuing body is still accredited but there have been cases of visa applications being rejected because of expired certificates by inexperienced HO staff who don't know the rules, people then have to appeal and that's all extra stress and expense. I thought she might as well just do the exam again as it's easy for her and we'd have a day out in Leeds or wherever and it'd "only" cost about £100 all in. I thought this was better than taking a risk on the expired cert but she insisted on going with the one she had.

Why an English certificate should expire I don't know. Do they think people will forget?
 
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Sometimes, just a word does the trick.

On Friday morning at 7.45 am I heard the council grass-cutting machine nearby and looked out of the window to see the driver was going along the grass verges outside each house along the road. These verges are about 1.5m x 3m and are separated by the concrete drive-ins for the house driveways with the pavement between them and the driveways..The driver cut the grass on our neighbour's front to our left.,drove onto the road around our verge, back onto our neighbour's verge to the right and also did the next one. Why miss ours ?

The verges are only done five times a year which is why we..the neighbours..do our own in-between cuts. Then I thought that if he did that along the full length road to the end he'd save about 15 minutes, so, a short while later I went for a walk along the road and he'd missed 14 verges and I was just in time to see this driver and two others cutting nearby on their machines, on a grassed area opposite near the end of the road, driving off after what was obviously a break. Infact, I posted a photo of them on March 24th in "Men or Women at work" in the General photos thread of them doing exactly that in a different location near our house...ie... having a break. I don't begrudge them a break, it's a noisy, monotonous job, and they have to wear ear-protectors. So, I carried on to the end of the road and made a note of the numbers of the houses that had been missed and contacted the council and spoke to a very empathetic lady who asked if I wanted to make an official complaint. Not really..I just wanted someone in the Highways dept (they cover grass cutting) to have a word. The lady asked if I knew which verges had been missed (ie house numbers) so I gave them to her and she remarked that it was a lot.

Fast forward to this morning (yesterday being a bank holiday) and a grass-cutter went along the verges and cut the grass on every one that hadn't been done. I call that a result... :)
 
See my signature!

WCMUT was getting around to adjusting my bike handlebars a fraction. Puts the levers in a slightly more comfortable position a couple of mm lower.
 
Just back from sitting the grass watching and waiting for the Owls, a Barnie stopped just mtrs from me :) ... shame there was a tree covering half of him/her... can't have it all :D
 
Just seeing things like that is a privilege IMO.
 
JohnC6 said:
Sometimes, just a word does the trick.

On Friday morning at 7.45 am I heard the council grass-cutting machine nearby and looked out of the window to see the driver was going along the grass verges outside each house along the road. These verges are about 1.5m x 3m and are separated by the concrete drive-ins for the house driveways with the pavement between them and the driveways..The driver cut the grass on our neighbour's front to our left.,drove onto the road around our verge, back onto our neighbour's verge to the right and also did the next one. Why miss ours ?

The verges are only done five times a year which is why we..the neighbours..do our own in-between cuts. Then I thought that if he did that along the full length road to the end he'd save about 15 minutes, so, a short while later I went for a walk along the road and he'd missed 14 verges and I was just in time to see this driver and two others cutting nearby on their machines, on a grassed area opposite near the end of the road, driving off after what was obviously a break. Infact, I posted a photo of them on March 24th in "Men or Women at work" in the General photos thread of them doing exactly that in a different location near our house...ie... having a break. I don't begrudge them a break, it's a noisy, monotonous job, and they have to wear ear-protectors. So, I carried on to the end of the road and made a note of the numbers of the houses that had been missed and contacted the council and spoke to a very empathetic lady who asked if I wanted to make an official complaint. Not really..I just wanted someone in the Highways dept (they cover grass cutting) to have a word. The lady asked if I knew which verges had been missed (ie house numbers) so I gave them to her and she remarked that it was a lot.

Fast forward to this morning (yesterday being a bank holiday) and a grass-cutter went along the verges and cut the grass on every one that hadn't been done. I call that a result... :)
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No mow may by any chance ;)
 
2 down, 1 to go (on Saturday). Bike MOTs!
 
All done!
 
Yesterday rather than today. Spent an hour plus watching a white tailed eagle on the shore of Gruinard Bay. It sat for ages on a rock then flew off and harried an otter for its catch.. A great sight.

Dave
 
Tringa said:
Yesterday rather than today. Spent an hour plus watching a white tailed eagle on the shore of Gruinard Bay. It sat for ages on a rock then flew off and harried an otter for its catch.. A great sight.

Dave
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Any chance of a repeat performance when I'm there?
We pulled in once and there was a bunch of guys obviously on a birding tour. We saw them a few years. We pointed our scope where they were looking (as you do) and there was a WTE sitting on Gruinard Island. This was in the early days when it was quite rare to see one. More recently a bit north of there we watched an otter swim to a rock with a fish and settle down to eat it. It didn't finish it (it was a big fish). It went to go back into the water, saw the black back gull sitting on top of the rock, went back for the fish and dropped it in the water.
I'm a bit biased in favour of the golden eagle, but I'll stand and watch either variety
 
I'll stand and watch pretty much any BoP!!!
 
Jannyfox said:
Any chance of a repeat performance when I'm there?
We pulled in once and there was a bunch of guys obviously on a birding tour. We saw them a few years. We pointed our scope where they were looking (as you do) and there was a WTE sitting on Gruinard Island. This was in the early days when it was quite rare to see one. More recently a bit north of there we watched an otter swim to a rock with a fish and settle down to eat it. It didn't finish it (it was a big fish). It went to go back into the water, saw the black back gull sitting on top of the rock, went back for the fish and dropped it in the water.
I'm a bit biased in favour of the golden eagle, but I'll stand and watch either variety
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While we were there a lady who passed mentioned that WTEs were nesting on Gruinard Island. We were in a layby close to First Coast which gave a good view towards Gruinard. However, we did not spot the eagle until it was relatively close to the shore.

It was the first WTE we've seen in about 10 visits here over two years, but in the past we've seen two in half an hour, so you could be lucky.

A couple of heavily cropped shots of it - a 300mm lens is nowhere near long enough.

WTE3A by Dave Marley, on Flickr

WTE2A by Dave Marley, on Flickr

Dave
 
Glad you got to see and photograph that Dave. Congratulations on both counts :D
 
Thanks, Alan. As always lots of luck involved, we only stopped in the layby because we know it overlooks a place where seals haul out, and then along comes the WTE.

Dave
 
Tringa said:
Thanks, Alan. As always lots of luck involved, we only stopped in the layby because we know it overlooks a place where seals haul out, and then along comes the WTE.

Dave
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That might have been the one we watched the otter from, and the one on the north side of Gruinard itself where we saw the WTE on the island. I get my laybys mixed up. There were seals where we saw the otter - we were watching them moving from rock to rock as the tide pushed them off, then the otter came along
If we're out to see what we can see we'll have the scope and I'll have the 150 - 600 lens. If we're out walking I'll have 10 x 25 monocular and an 18 - 135 lens
 
Fuji Dave said:
Off to the cardio rehab gym later as have to do a walking test, so I hope that they then offer me a time to start my rehab.
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Did not manage to do a 6 minute walking test, but chuffed I did get to 5 minutes done. Over the moon that I now can start my cardio rehab next Tuesday.
 
I spotted a dust bunny in a picture today so I got my rocket blower out but that didn't shift it so I did a wet clean. It was still there so I did another... and another. It was still there. I convinced myself that it must be under the glass. Ho Hum. That's disappointing but the camera is something like 8 years old now. I put it away and went downstairs feeling quite deflated.

When sat having a cup of tea I suddenly realised I'd been cleaning the wrong side of the sensor. I know that if a mark is at the top of the image it's at the bottom of the sensor and I know left and right remain the same so why would I clean the wrong side? I have no idea... Big Brain Fade maybe.

So, upstairs I went and I cleaned the correct side and the result is a clean sensor at f16 :D
 
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Reference my post of April 14 re collecting a courtesy car that...a reminder... had a fair bit of damage to the rear bumper not shown on the inspection sheet and was dirty inside, empty, take-away box, empty juice bottle, sachet of salad dressing under the front seats, dried mud on the pedals,muddy interior sills and signed off on inspection sheet as "cleaned", we've now had a response but not from the hire company. We haven't had a response from them either by Email or phone from a manager, as promised by a staff member, despite sending an Email complaint with six photos attached . So, we forwarded it to our insurance company with whom the hire company has a contract and wouldn't want it knowing about this, I'm sure. Shows how stupid they can be not realising we might inform our insurance company should they not respond.

Here's the response from the insurance company. I see in the opening sentence the representative of the hire company said they don't note damage that can't be seen from more than 2 metres away. If anyone reading this has had experience of an inspection upon return of a hire vehicle they go round it with a magnifying glass.The damage to the bumper could be seen from 10m and more, away. They just can't hold their hands up, can they. I wasn't sure if I should write the name of the hire company, so I haven't but it's a national one.

Response from our insurance company:

I've upheld your complaint in full and will explain why below.

1.Concerning your hire vehicle having damage on its bumper upon delivery, without the damage being noted in your documentation.

I've reviewed what's happened and the communication between **** and yourself. Although *** have stated they didn't need to mention damage not visible from 2 meters away on the delivery sheet, I'm upholding this concern. It's reasonable for any existing damage to be mentioned on the delivery sheet to avoid charging the wrong person for repairs. The onerous isn’t on you, the customer, to verify any pre-existing damage, so I’m sincerely sorry this has happened.

2. Concerning the cleanliness of the vehicle that was delivered to you.

From my investigation, I’m glad to see an **** manager has acknowledged you are absolutely correct in this regard. **** has accepted your photographs as evidence of poor work and I’ve been given reassurances the matter has been discussed with the team who cleaned the vehicle and that additional training is being provided where needed.

3. Regarding the manager call back, which wasn’t done.

When a service staff member arranges a manager call back, it's fair and reasonable for that call back to go ahead as planned. I'm sincerely sorry **** have let you down in this regard as failure to follow through on a promise made is completely unacceptable.

Feedback has been made to **** in regard to these concerns already and they have also confirmed you won’t be held liable for the damage.

To say sorry for the inconvenience and frustration you’ve experienced, I've sent you a cheque for £150. Please allow up to 10 working days for the cheque to arrive in the post and please accept it with my best wishes..............End

I hope it's the hire company that pay this and not our insurance company.
 
JohnC6 said:
Reference my post of April 14 re collecting a courtesy car that...a reminder... had a fair bit of damage to the rear bumper not shown on the inspection sheet and was dirty inside, empty, take-away box, empty juice bottle, sachet of salad dressing under the front seats, dried mud on the pedals,muddy interior sills and signed off on inspection sheet as "cleaned", we've now had a response but not from the hire company. We haven't had a response from them either by Email or phone from a manager, as promised by a staff member, despite sending an Email complaint with six photos attached . So, we forwarded it to our insurance company with whom the hire company has a contract and wouldn't want it knowing about this, I'm sure. Shows how stupid they can be not realising we might inform our insurance company should they not respond.

Here's the response from the insurance company. I see in the opening sentence the representative of the hire company said they don't note damage that can't be seen from more than 2 metres away. If anyone reading this has had experience of an inspection upon return of a hire vehicle they go round it with a magnifying glass.The damage to the bumper could be seen from 10m and more, away. They just can't hold their hands up, can they. I wasn't sure if I should write the name of the hire company, so I haven't but it's a national one.

Response from our insurance company:

I've upheld your complaint in full and will explain why below.

1.Concerning your hire vehicle having damage on its bumper upon delivery, without the damage being noted in your documentation.

I've reviewed what's happened and the communication between **** and yourself. Although *** have stated they didn't need to mention damage not visible from 2 meters away on the delivery sheet, I'm upholding this concern. It's reasonable for any existing damage to be mentioned on the delivery sheet to avoid charging the wrong person for repairs. The onerous isn’t on you, the customer, to verify any pre-existing damage, so I’m sincerely sorry this has happened.

2. Concerning the cleanliness of the vehicle that was delivered to you.

From my investigation, I’m glad to see an **** manager has acknowledged you are absolutely correct in this regard. **** has accepted your photographs as evidence of poor work and I’ve been given reassurances the matter has been discussed with the team who cleaned the vehicle and that additional training is being provided where needed.

3. Regarding the manager call back, which wasn’t done.

When a service staff member arranges a manager call back, it's fair and reasonable for that call back to go ahead as planned. I'm sincerely sorry **** have let you down in this regard as failure to follow through on a promise made is completely unacceptable.

Feedback has been made to **** in regard to these concerns already and they have also confirmed you won’t be held liable for the damage.

To say sorry for the inconvenience and frustration you’ve experienced, I've sent you a cheque for £150. Please allow up to 10 working days for the cheque to arrive in the post and please accept it with my best wishes..............End

I hope it's the hire company that pay this and not our insurance company.
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Quote "I hope it's the hire company that pay this and not our insurance company."

I worked for two large composite insurance companies as an engineer surveyor for over 30 years. It will be. :D
 
More of a chuckle really,
I was watching a couple of dozen Starlings probing my lawn for grubs.
Enter stage right, a House Sparrow, who proceeded to bully them for their catch.
She largely won too. I guess she had kids to feed.
 
simon ess said:
House sparrows are reincarnated Jack Russels. I'm certain of it.
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It's just that I'd never seen one go for a small flock of starlings with such determination before,
so you could be right :D
 
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We have a couple of Robins that I'm sure would take on anything.
 
The sun's come out. I may be able to cut the lawns on Monday.
 
Cockney said:
Just done ours. :p
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looking good. Well done. Ours was too wet when I looked earlier this afternoon but the sun should be drying it out nicely. I'll be up early on Monday to take a car in for some work and once I'm back the day is mine so I hope to cut it then.

Mrs WW is pestering me to leave a corner to go wild. I think it's a good idea.

PS.
I'm jealous of that blue sky. We have sun but the sky is pretty non descript, as is more or less usual.
 
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Cockney said:
Just done ours. :p
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Blue sky? so you have it, I wondered where it went!
Its thick cloud and chilly wind down here, its been like that all day! :(
 
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