1949threepence

Well he's never going to be able to say "hands-face-space" again at a press briefing without the while country falling about laughing.

Yes, they have excellent memories and the same squirrel would almost certainly avoid that device in future. Also, in an suburban area where gardens all border each other, it might be a bit disconcerting if you suddenly saw a squirrel come flying over the fence at speed. They're a pest if they ever get into the house, typically the loft space, as they have extraordinary jaw power for such a small creature, and because their teeth never stop growing, they need to constantly gnaw to keep them down to size. Hence they can cause a lot of damage, and often bite through wires, damage wood etc. I must admit I would prefer to let them live, and only kill if the problem got so persistent and annoying that I felt I had no choice.

Although using this device, death is instantaneous, so it is a humane means of despatch.

I've had squirrels in my garden too. The cat's given up chasing them as they move at such lightning speed. She hasn't a hope of catching one.

Well he's dead right. It isn't his job, especially given he'll only be on peanuts anyway. Why should he risk violence when it's the job of the police to sort out drug taking. As far as drunk adults and kids running wild, I'd say that if you want a quiet peaceful holiday, choose somewhere there''ll be no noisy nuisance yobs keeping you awake at night. That doesn't include Pontins.

A qualified optician should always be able to spot a retinal detachment. But quite apart from anything else the symptoms your wife had, strongly suggest it anyway. Peripheral vision loss doesn't happen harmlessly. Treating a detached retina is - as you're obviously aware - a matter of extreme surgical emergency if you're to avoid permanent sight loss. Whoever your wife saw sounds seriously negligent. Frightening to think such idiots are testing people's eyes. Part of their job includes checking for eye diseases, such as glaucoma.

....and your F15? definitely is an F15.

The problem is that the lower bar of the one is indeed over the dot, but it's not BANG DEAD CENTRE over it. Chris's is just slightly too far left and half the bar is over a gap. I've similarly done myself in looking at potential F169's in much the same way.

Neat discovery Blake.

Now that I've got a 169, I thought I would put Gee's 1971 observation to the test, and so bought a 1909 F168 penny of equivalent wear, and compared the two fists of Britannia directly together under a loupe. I can confirm that yes, even with worn specimens, there is a definite and discernible difference between reverse D (the F168) and reverse E (the F169). The outline of Britannia's thumb on reverse E is distinctly more rounded towards the base as it leaves the wrist, than her thumb on reverse D, which is altogether straighter in appearance. It was very obvious under magnification, which surprised me, as I wasn't expecting anything more than the most subtle variation. Now that I've confirmed the differences to my own satisfaction, I also note that it's visible to the naked eye. The helmet plume on reverse E is slightly shorter, but it's not anywhere near as obvious as the two thumbs.

Yes, I read what you said. Just making my own separate observations. He sells many coins each day, and the others he sold around and about that farthing, all went for what look like realistic prices. So I'm not sure why he would decide to shill bid one poor farthing. I agree it's odd and was bid up to massively more than what it's worth, but it doesn't necessarily mean he's shill bidding. link to his completed listings including the Farthing in question.

I've only ever bought one coin from Lucido-8 ("a Lucido coin"), which in common with nearly all his offerings was just not quite EF - as you indicate above. He's been selling on e bay for as long as I can remember, and he's presumably built up a bit of a reputation and fan base in that time. So I'm not sure about him shilling. To be fair I'd say it was more probable than not, that he isn't. One observation I would make is that coins which go on at a high starting price, often attract no interest whatsoever - even when they're worth quite a bit more. I've got several like that, including an a/UNC 1895 2mm penny for just over £200. Waited till the last second to make my bid, but in the event, needn't have bothered.

I hope you'll let us know.

OK, thanks Richard. Never quite sure with multiple bidders. One of those things I'd need to see in action a couple of times, with facts and figures, in order to get a proper handle on it.

Cheers Jon.

So from a purely technical standpoint, if you got the 13 lots at exactly your bid amount, that would surely indicate 13 others bidding an identical sum to you, but after you made your bid. Is that the rule? If so, yes, it does sound somewhat implausible. The odds against such a long series of co-incidences all occurring at the same time, for the same event, totally by random chance, must be astronomic. Maybe a conundrum for someone well versed in probability theory. I bid £800 for my F169, and got it for £750. Only half expected to win it Bid £600 for my 1831 UNC penny, and got it for £360. Fully expected to win it. What were the bid/win differentials with your other five lots?

Tortoises burrow. Although a tortoise of that size would leave a very obvious clue of having done so. Don't think they're at all suited to this climate, unless a hot dry Summer. Often they don't make it through hibernation.

Did anybody win any lots over the weekend? In particular who got the 1922 reverse of 1927, F192A? Sadly a bridge too far for me financially, on this occasion. Nonetheless, I'm pleased to say that I won lot 2009, the 1831 no ww penny in about UNC with subdued lustre for £360, and lot 2036, the Freeman 169 1909 penny for £750. The Freeman 169 is interesting in that the vast majority of specimens are virtually identical in grade, at just sub fine. Although there are a couple of better specimens, which may have been better value than mine. However, I am gratified to the extent that when the same coin originally sold at LCA in March 2013, it went for £1600. Maybe at a time when it was thought to be of a more extreme rarity than now.

I had my first covid jab a few weeks ago (the Oxford AZ), and was slightly apprehensive about side effects, given what I'd heard from others, but in the event, apart from a sore arm, I never experienced any. That contrasts massively with some colleagues who experienced very severe side effects - intense headache, nausea and sickness with one. Intense headache, chills and terrible muscle pains/cramps with another. Others, like me, experienced no side effects, or very mild. We've some to the conclusion that those who've actually had covid, experience bad side effects from the vaccine. The daughter of one of the colleagues above caught covid last Autumn, and she'd driven in the car with her daughter just before she went down with symptoms. She herself then lost her sense of smell and taste, but tested negative with the PCR, and returned to work, still not feeling right, but OK after a few more days. The other colleague definitely had covid, and tested positive. Was off work for several weeks. Similarly others who actually caught covid at some stage, also suffered worse side effects from the vaccine. Anybody here suffered side effects from the jab?

Where's Larry when you need him?

Yep, well done Terry. Beauty.

Agreed. That's got to be disheartening.

Excellent point about inflation - which largely appears to be the boom type "demand" inflation. If inflation rises and interest rates stay rock bottom, then I can see a huge migration of money out of building society savings accounts, as there will be considerable real terms depreciation of money assets held there. In turn this might well mean more difficult mortgages as building societies are very dependent on savings to finance mortgages (it's a very poor return even now). That will burst the property bubble and quite cause possibly house prices to stagnate for a time. Money is flowing out of London for the reasons you mention. If staff can home work, they might as well have a larger rural/suburban property and improve their quality of life. Not to mention that the capital is now a very nasty violent place to be, let alone live in. Who wants to expose themselves to all that on a daily basis - living in semi permanent personal danger from some nutter with a knife or gun?

Just as a corollary to the above, house prices have risen by 10.2% in the last year - SOURCE - ONS

I certainly agree with you in terms of university courses, many of which do not now meet the needs of most employers, and merely saddle the student with long term debt. Moreover, most organisations now have their own entrance tests as they can no longer rely on traditional academic qualifications as a guarantee of basic competence. Houses are a slightly different matter. I was extremely fortunate to inherit a house and some capital in my early 20's. But without that I'm pretty sure that on the income I was receiving at the time, it would have taken me a number of years to scrape together a deposit for a house, and then, of course, be looking at a hefty 25 year mortgage. House prices have risen at a rate well in excess of normal inflation, probably due to many fewer being built annually, combined with a rising population. Way too many people chasing way too few houses. Same with renting, too many renters chasing too few available rental properties. Both markets are red hot. I do appreciate what you say with regard to making sacrifices and I'm pretty sure a lot do. They have to, as only a very small number will ever benefit from the bank of Mum & Dad. A mate of mine has been in the construction industry since he was 16 (he's now 42, the same age as me). He started off as a builder's labourer, and gradually built up his skills (got some practical qualifications, but not sure what). He can now pretty much turn his hand to anything, including bricklaying, plastering, electrical work, plumbing, and could probably build his own house. He's quite well off and lives in a very nice property with his wife and daughter. But he tells me that he is in the minority, and would be even more so if he was 16 now. They just can't get new recruits as young people just want to go to university. They are currently haemorrhaging skilled workers to retirement, and they retire much earlier in that trade as it's often physically demanding work which takes its toll on backs, knees etc. So respectfully, I don't think that generation rent is as simple an issue as you assert. Far from it.