Pensioner tax rip-off & Free Windows 10!

The Express is leaning against an open door with me this morning.  It has always amazed me why retired people have to pay as much tax as they do - - - death and taxes i guess  - - - 

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even more ridiculous than the Express front page is the Mail this morning as the Financial watchdog is telling older people to sell up their homes and "downsize" to help tackle a housing shortage! - - - 

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 Lidl scores another goal against the traditional Supermarkets by promising to pay its staff the Minimum wage foundation's suggested £8.20 an hour.  The good thing about this move is they promise not to pass on this cost to the customers! - - - 

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Some great pics in this BBC article about Astronomical photography

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I noticed a strange widows "thing" in the taskbar of the netbook i am using for my book and clicked on it.  Free Windows 10? Something free from Microsoft? surely not i thought having had to buy windows XP and 7 in the past.  

On reading all the bumf, yes its true as long as you satisfy the criteria Microsoft are giving away their new OS.  

Having revived the ailing Toshiba laptop, arguably one of the best we have ever had apart from its crashing fits in the old days, i switched it on - - - no logo?  One of the criteria was that it should be "up to date with updates".  Having only just re-installed Windows 7 on it i am told it has 149 important and 65 recommended updates to perform.  Knowing you cant just load the lot i spent most of yesterday coaxing it to accept them and at the same time wondering why the Free 10 logo didnt appear after each re-start.  

Looking on the net i soon found out it was 2 of the "recommended updates" that triggered the logo.  One i had already loaded but the other eluded me and even downloading it individually failed to let it join the others. 

Finally after loading all the updates i forced it to "check for updates" - - - viola! nestled amongst 4 other recommended updates was the one i needed.  Re-starting yet again the logo appeared and i am now officially in the worldwide queue of devotees waiting for the e mail link for the download.  Experience will tell me to do a complete disc image before downloading although apparently if you dont like it you can go back to Windows 7 in the first month because the 10 upgrade stores rather than deletes all the 7 stuff - - - another disc image methinks - - - 

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 pretty cool again this morning no wind and no rain though

the weathercam pic shows a misty start although its clearing already because the clouds are just visible at the top of the pic.  The Met O is predicting rain until midday although Metcheck is sure it will be a sunny and pleasant day - - - 

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The much loved free Freezer, a gift from a departing Sharon many years ago has started to leave pools of water in the kitchen now and again and looking at the back where the cooling pipe enters theres an ever increasing blob of solid ice trying to escape.  

Having searched for a replacement and hit the button to "buy" from "Homebase" i had neglected to realise the lead time was in fact over a month, with a sketchy proclamation of "before 18th Sept!  

E mailing for a delivery confirmation 2 days ago i was rewarded with an apology for not notifying me sooner and told it would be with me between 07:00 and 12:00 today.  While wrestling with the Toshiba laptop yesterday we received an automated phone message, with an American accent? telling me it will be with us between 08:00 and 10:30 today, are we to get BOGOF? - - - 

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Enjoy the day 

Follow this link to see  our weather website

Or this one just to see  Live webcam - - Birdfeeders