Classic British Flight Sim

Hi Chaps

I'm at the stage now where the bottom of the barrel is being scraped for things to ditch. I've taken Luton and Sprinter XLWB loads up to our place in the Midlands and this week, had to put decking down in the loft as there's not enough space to fit our things in the normal living areas.. despite binning a pile of stuff already I was hoping for one more van load but it looks like it's gonna be two. I don't think the loft is big enough!
Anyway.. this morning I've hit boxes of software that have not seen the light of day for years and all of it is destined for the bin. Many old friends have gone.. FS5.1/FS98/2000/2002.. CFS/CFS2, Tornado, TFX, EF2000, Gunship 2000, Colin McRae, GP3 to name but a few. I've dared not try and add up the hundreds of pounds worth of software.. it'd be too painful but one bit caught my eye. FS2000 still had a 'Game' price sticker on the front and I couldn't believe I paid £60 for it!!!! Hen's teeth.. FS2000 was surely the most crap flightsim version ever and we paid up to £70 for the privilege (RRP)

Ah well.. it's all gone now and the toyroom is almost empty. This has been our final full week of trading.. we close at the end of play this coming Wed and that will draw the curtain on 23 years in the pub trade as well as 23 years of hoarding software!

ATB
DaveB

Hi Dave

Nearly there mate

I was going to pop round at the weekend with my wheelbarrow, but it looks like you'll manage without me

House sorting is a game is it not

We are sorting out his place at the moment

We started with a house full of junk and three months later we have dumped two houses full of junk and still have three house fulls to go

I don't understand the maths...but it is a fact

All the best for a happy concussion mate

Cheers mate.. I know just how you feel If you're anything like me, the junk does a couple of ccts before it'f finally binned. 'No.. I'll keep that' until the pile gets too big so it gets filtered again and again until in the end, you've saved nothing Alison was going to order a skip for here.. it'd have much easier if she had.. bin.. bin.. bin.. bin. As I've got rid of stuff in the Midlands, I've replaced it with our stuff from down here (and then some) so now, I seem to have less space there than when I started I dare not try and unpack stuff because it will without doubt be in the wrong place. Alison is going to die when she see's the mess Good job none of us have jobs yet.. we'll have time to sort things out

ATB
DaveB

G'day Dave,

I've sort of been watching your posts about moving and now you mention the last day of trading. What with the reports of pubs closing at a rate of knots in the UK I wonder what's happening to yours? My 77yr old brother in law was a local (TBH, his nearest pub was the White Lion at Crays Pond) and he would be devastated to hear that your pub was closing. Please can you let us know what's happening to the pub?

Thanks, Paul

Indeed Dave

It is a game of musical junk

Hi Paul

It won't close for good mate.. as far as I'm aware Marston's, who now own a 20year lease, will take over when we leave on Mar 19th. The old place will be closed for a while.. various 'expensive' odd's and sod's need to be done to bring it up to current fire regulations and they plan to do a number of things inside as well as outside to fit in with their 'scheme'.
The reason we're going is the one you're familiar with.. put simply, there aren't enough customers coming through the door. Many folk have been in over the last fortnight to say they're sorry we're going.. a large percentage of which we only see once or twice a year anyway! A cruel and bitter irony it's been difficult not to convey in their general direction!!! Since the global financial crash a few years ago.. we've struggled to make ends meet and this last year was a lot worse. Last christmas was dire and we didn't take anywhere near enough to cover ourselves last summer. This christmas just gone was equally poor leaving financial holes everywhere. We asked Marston's (who became our landlords when they bought what was left of the Eldridge Pope estate) for help last year and what was offered was near to nothing. They've now offered us what they consider a 'way out' which involves us paying them over £4k to become a 'Retail Partner'. Add that to another 3 months rent we owe and with a 'partnership' split of 80/20 (no guessing in who's favour that falls!) we'd be in double debt to them. No.. enough's enough.. time to walk away while we still have shirts on our proverbial backs! We need to take between 5-6k per week to cover the overheads (this doesn't include staff wages and other sundries) and we're currently trading at less than £3.5k. The sums don't add up mate. Out of the 20% left as our percentage, we'd have to pay ourselves, the staff, council tax for the flat and public liability insurance.. perhaps even their NI contributions too. It doesn't take a genius to work out that 20% of FA = FA!!

Anyways.. I've rambled on long enough. Whoever ends up taking the Bull will have a 400yo building with much that needs doing to it.. much that Marston's have no intention of fixing. They'll tart the place up (which it needs) and 'brand' the place with their own stuff. I'm sure it'll look great (on the surface) and will trade at good levels for the initial first few weeks (folk are nosey) It'll be a shame not to see the 'improvements' and work with them but we'll not be losing any sleep by not doing so. I honestly can't say when it will open. As far as we're aware, they've yet to advertise it.. working on the assumption that we'd stay at the 11th hour. It was to close for 2 weeks for work to be done then a further week for staff training but as of this moment, we're not sure how long it will be closed for and they won't have any staff!! It WILL reopen though so your brother-in-law won't have to stay in Cray's Pond indefinitely Convey this to him with our best wishes

ATB
DaveB

Dave : I am very sorry to hear of your troubles , which as you say are all too common now . I do hope you will find something both satisfying and profitable to do in due course

Cheers Chris There will be a hint of sadness.. Streatley.. Berkshire in general is a lovely place to live but we're at a point where we're glad to be going.. even if it's to unemployment at the moment! This won't be for long I'm sure All new challenges await.. not least of all having to drive to work but we're looking forward to them

ATB
DaveB

All the very best with the move and the new life DB

Your 'clearing out' comments brought this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac to mind Caution - adult language

Rgds,

Colin

Hi Dave.You're right about disposing of 'old' items when moving house.We had this problem when moving from a bungalow near Nottingham with garage,shed and loft space to an apartment in Edinburgh.SWMBO tackled the task with gusto(I never find out who he was!) while I was at work.This was over 4 years ago and occasionally I remember the odd thing not seen for some time.She says that I will never know everything that went!.I can send her down to assist you if you wish,but I warn you,if it ain't claimed or bolted down,it will be gone!
Hope all goes well for you all and very best wishes EricT