MoneySavingExpert.com's Local Ebay Deals Finder

I have decided i needed a second-hand TV to play with and i used the Local Ebay Deals Finder app by www.MoneySavingExpert.com. The results were satisfactory. Easy to use, intuitive, app searches items listed on Ebay as 'Collection Only' and lets you search in your area - 5miles, 10miles, 15miles away etc. Based on the fact that a) you save on costs of transport and

b) most deals have usually less bids on them as the buyers are only limited to people redy to do collextion, rather than the whole of the UK competing and bidding on your auction. Depending on the area you live in that might or moght not be good for you, in my case it seemed perfect.

I have been adding items on my 'Watchlist' which match the criteria of being max. 15miles away and having a keyword search for 'tv'

Here are the, now, expired auctions (one of them i have won ;-)

I am not sure if you have an idea about models and prices but lets say the a cheap second-hand 32" TV of a known brand in a pawn brokers or cash generators shop would be about 100-135 pounds, depending on condition. You can see for yourself some of these tvs on my watch list have 'expired' been sold for a lower price.

Thank you and hope that helps

British autumn leek and potato soup recipe

Start with some pre boiled potatoes and one chopped large leek.

Finally - mix everything in the blender and add some hot water to dillute as you seem best for your taste. I magically managed to fit everything in one go into the blender and add maybe a tea cup of extra hot water to my taste. 

 Voilà

A bug shoutout, at the credits section, to the website www.studentcooking.tv and their Leek and Potato Soup recipe. I highly recommend you giving it a minute of your preparation time here: http://www.studentcooking.tv/recipes/leek-and-potato-soup 

Parking options in London - cheap - smart parking

Parking options in London - cheap - smart parking

Option 1- getting the Picadilly tube line at Southgate station

I would drive down to london so anything with north london and close to the M25 is fine with me.

I have identified one option in parking near the tube stop called Southgate, it is on the Picadilly line, which stops at Southgate tube. Car park address is Leigh Hunt Dr, London, England
It looks like this

Copyright - not mine - direct URL to image https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.630684,-0.126846,3a,75y,135.12h,74.11t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s0hMMx76gbm6MPO7N7ds7Fw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Charges: - Minchenden (High Street)
Places: 100

Up to 1 hr £1.00
1 - 3 hrs - £2.00
3 - 5 hrs - £3.00
Over 5 hrs - £5.00
No Sunday charging

Charging periods:

Mon - Sat
07.30 – 18.30 hrs

Information confirmed at the time writing this 07/07/2015 with http://www.enfield.gov.uk/downloads/file/10735/enfield_car_park_charges

 The car park is located at Leigh Hunt Dr, immediately after leaving High Street, turn left into Leigh Hunt Drive if you are coming from M25 and Southgate station. The car park is 5mins walk to the tube station, you pass by the tube station on the way there and you just have to walk back a bit.
Here is the map:

Copyright - not mine - direct URL to image - https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Leigh+Hunt+Dr,+London+N14+6DA/@51.6308667,-0.1275795,19z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x487619109435801f:0x2e4c491893b2678

The car park name is Minchenden

Copyright - not mine - Orignal image is a PDF available here - http://www.enfield.gov.uk/downloads/file/5900/minchenden_car_park_southgate

The car park is also listed at the Parkopedia site: http://en.parkopedia.co.uk/parking/carpark/minchenden/n14/southgate/

From Southgate to central london is 25-30mins ride on one line and it takes you to central london.
Southgate, London https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southgate,_London

Option 2 - Weekends only - onstreet parking at the financial heart of London - City of London

Very close to the Monument, London there is plenty of convenient onstreet parking. It is pay and display parking. It is free on Sundays, free at night and free most of Saturdays too.

Pay-and-display hours are:

The whole of the City is covered by a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ).
The controlled hours for the CPZ are:

Mondays to Fridays 7am - 7pm
£1.20 for 15 minutes, or part thereof - £4.80 for 1 hour
Maximum stay 4 hours for £19.20

Saturdays 7am - 11am
excluding Bank and Public Holidays. £2.00 flat rate or £1.20 for 15 minutes, or part thereof

 Free outside the above times incl free all Sundays

Verified at the time of compiling this at 07/07/2015 with http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/transport-and-streets/parking/where-to-park/Pages/Pay-and-display.aspx - http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/transport-and-streets/parking/where-to-park/Pages/Pay-and-display.aspx

Location:
Dotted across the City of London, I have personally used the ones close to the Monument tube station.

Copyright - not mine - Interactive map available at URL http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/transport-and-streets/parking/where-to-park/Pages/Pay-and-display-bay-map.aspx

 --- The end

I have visited both option 1 and option 2 and I am writing this to share the experience with anyone else who wishes to travel to London and avoid massive car park charges. Driving and parking in London is affordable when you know little tricks like those I have mentioned above. Have a safe trip and enjoyable time in London!

Bikes

that really needs to go on Tumblr... but I can't remember my password now.

Some bike advers with prices and notes, all in June 2015 on a student learning portal small ads section. Collection only

Aliexpress.com - shopping around for an iPhone

I had this idea of trying to get an iPhone from Aliexpress and see if it is the real thing, it costs much less than in Europe. 

I found this thread interesting:

Re: fake iphone on Aliexpress

Posted 23 Sep 2010 20:18

Ahmed, you have been told over and over again that you can NOT buy origional phones cheap from China, you will only recive copies,
lease stop waisting your monney...........

MbM  

MVP: 18,922 Rank:19

Member Since: Aug,2005

Source: http://resources.alibaba.com/topic/500020566/fake_iphone_on_Aliexpress.htm

Some food for thought!

Also

Re: Re: fake iphone on Aliexpress

Posted 24 Sep 2010 09:35

yes that you can do, but use only paypal on Ebay, remember paypan is not secure uotside Ebay, Please forget all about brand name goods from China and Indonesia 

MbM  

MVP: 18,922 Rank:19

Member Since: Aug,2005

Learning Bulgarian - tips and resources

Some useful website for bulgarian learners and people interested in bulgarian culture (different perspectives) 

The blogger Karoline (Karolinka): 
http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/2013/06/06/10-things-i-already-know-that-ill-miss/#comments

The omniglot colletion of audio recordings: 
http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/bulgarian.php 

Various economics resources

Various economics resources

Observatory of Economic Complexity (MIT edu)
http://atlas.media.mit.edu/explore/tree_map/hs/import/rus/show/all/2012/

Piera - Bringing together experts from industry and academia to discuss some of the biggest issues facing our economy today.
http://www.pieria.co.uk/

Simon Wren-Lewis Professor of Economics - University of Oxford
http://www.pieria.co.uk/experts/Simon_Wren-Lewis

Manchester - Prof Diane Coyle Professor of Economics - University of Manchester, OBE
Personal Details, Research, Publications, Teaching
http://www.manchester.ac.uk/research/Diane.coyle/personaldetails

Repec - Daria Taglioni - World Bank, Econimist
https://ideas.repec.org/e/pta176.html

French for beginners, resources

--09/01/2016

found some answers to a phrase i couldnt translate with a dictionary here on Reddit, i am not even sure what that does but one discussion was quite useful for me 

https://m.reddit.com/r/French

Also started to use a dictionary, i saw it had a few copies in the local library - Collins Robert Dictionary French, complete and unabridged 2200+ pages, also got a copy for home of its smaller edition  1300+ pages

---17/11/2015 I got an update about Pascale Eyre, she also teaches at Warwick University Language Center, which is a good reference for her skills and she has a regular practice. I am taking a class that she teaches, Lower Intermediate French class, once a week for 9 weeks a 2 hours. I didn't get to do her 1:1 private classes or the group which she runs once a week at her home, also intermediate level.

I wanted to share this resource;

• http://apprendre.tv5monde.com/fr/apprendre-francais/ 

it looks amazing!

I also started using the Conjugator! on the LeFigaro website, has a lot of useful things to do with verbs and their forms.

• http://leconjugueur.lefigaro.fr/ukindex.php

Similar resource is at

• http://french.about.com/this one is getting better and better, the main author seems really good. 

I need to do more writing and indepedant work outside class, doing my writing excercises and looking up words and concepts and figuring out stuff. I am lacking some verbs and basic structures to help me put thoughts into words.

---Today 29/09/2015 i enquired about French practice and modes of teaching with Pascale Eyre. His home in Royal Leamington Spa had a poster advertising classes and i visited his website http://www.peyre.co.uk. It looks like the domain has expired as it takes me here http://66.147.244.109/~mathsapp/PascaleEyre/index.html

Let'see when the reply comes!

I also had a look at the pages of Languages Cafe, World@Warwick

They offer free language classes here

https://www.warwicksu.com/worldatwarwick/language/groups/

--

The French section in this page is significant, i used it several times and the quality of materials is comparatively high

http://french.about.com/od/verb_conjugations/a/aider.htm

--

Today 9/Feb/2015 I found this video shared on the Languages@Warwick Wesbite -

Comprehensible Input | Stephen Krashen  (3mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjAHPl1ACmQ 
How to learn languages


I am 6 weeks into my 2h-a-week french course, and I came across this guy online

searching on ebookee.org - i found this 

French For Beginners Podcast
Louis | 1.01 GB | MP3 | 2008
Read more at http://ebookee.org/French-For-Beginners-Podcast_285882.html#P7TDQk1i6oUs6YSj.99

The link however is broken, but that looks like a serious collection by one website, which intrigued me. http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/beginner.php is the original address and this guy Louis is the author.

Also i find the Alexa french lessons very good: her profile and background make these very high quality material. https://www.youtube.com/user/learnfrenchwithalexa 

I also found a great author on about.com - Laura Lawless. Her profile is here: http://french.about.com/bio/Laura-K-Lawless-3906.htm and apparently she is a French fanatic and author of three books for french. Her French virtual lessons are here http://www.lawlessfrench.com/

Review - Car Service and Annual MOT at Halfords

The price was 99£ down from 135
The MOT only was 35£ down from 50+£ (obviously an offer to get you)
The catch was a MOT retest fee - upon a registered FAIL on the MOT tests, the car owner has the following option

• get a quote for the repairs necessary to pass the MOT from Halfords itself, leave the car with Halfords and pay Halfords the repairs only. No retest fee. Then they repair it and give you a free retest, on the points where you have had a FAIL registered, and issue you with your MOT certificate for the next 12 months. (*catch - see below*)
• Tell Halfords that you will go to another car garage to get your car serviced, based on the registered MOT FAIL points, go do this within 10 days, come back to Halfords - who are the testing authority who issued the MOT FAIL certificate, pay a re-test fee of half the price of the MOT (this time retest fee is 17.5£ (half of initial 35£)), if they are satisfied with the repairs carried out by others - fine Halfords issue you a MOT certificate for the next 12 months. Cost of MOT 35£ (initial Halfords fee) + 17.5£ (Halfords re-test fee) = 52.5£ (Total)

Halfords Coventry - Foleshill road

Dishwasher not working - beginners problems - salt and rinse aid

Ever run your dishwasher for as long as the salt and the rinse aid runs out? Run it until Flashy blinky lights come up, and you continue to use it (because it works)?

I have and today it stopped working! It simply would not start (or at least i can't find a way to make it do a normal wash cycle) It is a BOSCH dishwasher and the Refill Salt Red Light is On and Steady (not blinking). Also it displays the digit 4 on the display where the remaining time is usually shown.

I found this video useful: Bosch - How to refill salt and rinse aid on my Bosch dishwasher.
Brilliant and simply demonstrated (i don't imagine starting to look for the appliance manual, i have not got a clue).

http://youtu.be/TizY3IeAoao - video with instructions showing what you need (to buy) and how to refill salt and rinse aid (also explains what rinse aid is - and what to do when you spill some salt by mistake inside the appliance, handy!)

I am off to the shops to get some Salt...... fingers crossed!

Bike Maintenance - using a instant temporary sealant to fix a puncture

Why you are here:

I want to share my mistakes and let you learn from them. Let you tap on my experience

 Bike Maintenance - using a instant temporary sealant to fix a puncture

 Tried to seal a puncture on my inner tube by using a sealant foam/spray from a can i bought on the high street retaiers (one of the 1 pound shops). The idea is simple, you get a small pressurized can with an adapter; then you attach the adapater to the tyre and depress the button on the can - voila - in 5-10secs the tyre is both pumped up automatically and the puncture is sealed (temporarily).
Mistake: something happens but the tyre after 4hours was flat again, the ventil was leaking white foam, and here comes the mistake - as soon as you tried to pump the tyre up - assuming the pucture is sealed - the foam comes into my pump hose and I might need a new pump hose - i didn't expect this!
Learning: don't try and pump up your tyre after it is being filled with this temporary foam sealant
Learning: tyre is not permanently sealed (exactly as the manufactures says)

original from: http://lozarev.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/mistakesmistakes.html