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Post by Alanović on May 5, 2022 7:49:09 GMT
My sis went to Birmingham University, and loved her years there. I used to visit as younger brother and likewise took a shine. I've been back for gigs and football over the years, spending weekends there usually. It's a good city IMHO. Not up there with my favourite UK city, Glasgow, but still pretty good.
I'm not sure what son's front runner is at the moment, I think he's having a total rethink. Problem is, he really wants Medicine, but that is ultra competitive and very hard to get into anywhere, and I'm not sure he's got the oomph to make it. He's very bright, but very lazy. I hope I'm wrong, but it's a hard place to be, in that I don't want to discourage his ambition but at the same time I'm not very confident he's got what it takes. He is at least taking the right approach and looking at how Medicine is taught at all the various places, and that's what has led him to discount Oxford (thankfully) as it is very old school as you'd expect, and open up the possibility of more modern thinking establishments, and not necessarily just going for the most "prestigious" by default.
We'll see. His back up to Medicine is Economics, I'm sure he'll be very well suited to that.
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Post by EspadaIII on Sept 10, 2024 18:44:29 GMT
The end of an era.
Having suffered several minor bashes which have required the replacement of numerous doors, a bonnet and a headlight (although that is not the reason for post), the car is now surplus to requirements.
It is now 20 years old, and mechanically it is great but there are enought cosmetic defects that only a mother could love it. The problem is that we now have our youngest living in Israel permanently and so all it is doing is sitting on the drive not going anywhere. She was here in the summer and drove it all around the Lakes which being a gopher on a youth group camp but now she has returned from whence she came... Last year she was away and the three of us who live here shared the duty of keeping it in motion once a week, which was a bit of a pain; but we knew she was coming home, whereas now it's permanent.
I wouldn't let anyone buy the car off us as it is at that sort of age when anything could fail tomorrow and the cost would effectively write it off. So we are putting the number plate on retention (at the request of the kids, as they named the car after the plate) and scrapping it. The excellent vehicle dismantlers who have supplied a huge number of parts over the years are taking it and as I said to the owner, "you're getting your parts back!".
There is a net saving in insurance. Removing the car from the family policy dropped the price by £750 but then adding my daugher on as a named driver onto her brother's Captur cost £325; he is already a named driver on Espadrille's Mini so if and when daughter comes home, she has a car to drive, as does our son who lives at home and Espadrille will take the bus or use my car.
The reduction in the fleet from five to four meant our multi-car discount reduced by a massive 19p.
The Punto has looked after three children, spent three years in Birmingham for university, been driven by me for months between selling the Merc (a premature sale) and getting the Ioniq and never really missed a beat. It has had repairs like any 20 year old car but given the cost about nine years ago of £500 at 10,500 miles, I'm not complaining.
Less insurance to worry about, no more servicing or MOT-ing and repairs so the overall saving could well be closer to £800pa. But we are sad to see the Punto leave. Our oldest car is now an April 2015 Captur followed by a September 2015 Ibiza. Barely run in compared to the Punto but in many respects, the Punto was the best to drive.
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Post by Humph on Sept 10, 2024 18:48:17 GMT
There does seem to be a recurring family trait for using solid objects as brakes? 😉
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bpg
Full Member
Posts: 2,731
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Post by bpg on Sept 10, 2024 18:59:15 GMT
I'm thinking more chance EspIII on a bus than Espadrille.
Been through a similar financial exercise over my S60, it's dug us out of a hole three times since getting an EV. Not worth much to anyone else, too good to throw away.
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Post by Humph on Sept 10, 2024 19:02:42 GMT
Ah but, he’s muttered something in the past about having a two seater toy. Could be a clever move afoot here…
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Post by EspadaIII on Sept 11, 2024 5:15:52 GMT
There does seem to be a recurring family trait for using solid objects as brakes? 😉 Several children have followed their father's example. Just not as severly... The idea of replacing the Captur with a two door, two seat something and letting son #1 use the Mini has not been dismissed. Unlikely at the moment.
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Post by Alanović on Sept 11, 2024 7:59:29 GMT
Seems a shame to scrap the Punto, I bet a local Deliveroo type person could have squeezed several more years out of it.
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Post by EspadaIII on Sept 11, 2024 10:40:10 GMT
It does but I just felt uncomfortable selling it on or even giving it away. I got £200 for it and I reckon that the non-service item expenditure (including body part replacement) has been no more than £2,000 over nine years, it has been a very cheap car to run.
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