Scarlet Pimple

Post no. 1241. Thank goodness for a bit of levity. Ayesettee. Ha! Ha! The rate of exchange for the pound against the Canadian dollar has fallen. So that my British pension will now be worth less than it was a couple of days ago before the "Yes" side went ahead in the polls. It's all uncertainty at this stage. But wait (as they say in all the best TV ads). Once the oil revenues start flowing towards Edinburgh instead of to Westminster we will see a difference no doubt. The U K's debt is astounding and I can't help but wonder whether or not the Westminster Government ever balances it's budget and finds funds to reduce the overall debt in any way, shape or form? Which poses another question: will a YES win for Scotland mean that the new Governors of the Scottish finances will see it as a priority to reduce the Scottish debt at all? If not, all your plans will be out the window.....?

You saying he sounds a bit backward, like? C'mon, IGNUF of that, let's have some fun -guy! Where is Canada Bob when you needed him?

You must be taken wiv him Lauraness--you've gone to his profile. Hope all goes well..

Lordy, lauraness and I thought that you werte so smart and all compoared to a Pimple with nonly oine good fuinctioning eye. Why mu=y posts are noit that bad after all in the waty they look.

If you are thinking of writing a book, this is how Reader's Favorite does the review process.The ratings for our book appear immediately above the name of the subject. We scored 23 out of 25 with an overall rating of 5. Book Review Mini-Critique Below you will find ratings (scale of 1-5) with descriptions for the major parts of your book followed by your Readers' Favorite review. Although these are general ratings we hope they will give you an insight into how others may view the different components of your book. These are the opinions of your reviewer, and although your reviewer is not an expert literary critic or professional editor, they are at the very least, an avid reader of books just like yours. Title: Destinies In Motion Author: Liliya Galitskaya Genre: Fiction - Fantasy 4 Appearance: The appearance of a book can make a significant impact on the experience of a reader, whose enjoyment is often enhanced by an enticing cover, an intriguing table of contents, interesting chapter headings, and when possible, eye-catching illustrations. 5 Plot: The characters of a book should be well defined with strengths and flaws, and while they do not have to be likable, the reader does have to be able to form a connection with them. The tone should be consistent, the theme should be clear, and the plot should be original or told from a unique perspective. For informative books--those without plot and characters--this rating refers primarily to your concept and how well you presented it. 5 Development: Development refers to how effectively you told your story or discussed your topic. The dialogue should be realistic, the descriptions should be vivid, and the material should be concise and coherent. Organization is also a key factor, especially for informative books--those without plot and characters.The order in which you tell your story or explain your topic and how smoothly it flows can have a huge impact on the reader’s understanding and enjoyment of the material. 4 Formatting: Formatting is the single most overlooked area by independent authors. The way in which you describe scenes, display dialogue, and shift point of view can make or break your story. In addition, excessive grammatical errors and typos can give your book an amateurish feel and even put off readers completely. 5 Marketability: Marketability refers to how effectively you wrote your book for your target audience. Authors may include content that is above or below the understanding of their target reader, or include concepts, opinions or language that can accidentally confuse or alienate some readers. Although by its nature this rating is very subjective, a very low rating here and poor reviews may indicate an issue with your book in this area. 5 Overall Opinion: The overall starred rating takes into account all these elements and describes the overall reading experience of your reviewer. This is the official Readers’ Favorite review rating 5 for your book. Review: Reviewed by Kathryn Bennett for Readers' Favorite

For those readers who may be interested, here is the 5 star Review which is shown on the webpage of Destinies in Motion.: It's short and sweet but gives an insight of what a seasoned Reviewer from Readers Favorite in the U.S.A thinks of our work. This is 5 stars from a range of 1 - 5 and is a top review. Readers Favorite is probably the largest book review and promotion site in the United States. Some film stars, such as Jim Carrie, submitted their manuscripts for their 2014 annual contest and, in his case, his work was selected for consideration for a prize. This contest is absolutely huge with countless categories, or genres, being considered....Enjoy. Review by Kathryn Bennett - 5 stars Reviewed By Kathryn Bennett for Readers’ Favorite Destinies In Motion by Liliya Galitskaya brings us into the adventures of Tacker or Tac, a house cat who is more than just that. He becomes the king of the forest and a feline that loves his family so much he seems to merge destines with them. He would do anything to help them. The Vladner family is a normal, everyday family. Lana is Tac’s mistress, the one he connects with the most, and it is Lana that must confront the magical changes that the family notices. The biggest problem in this, however, is that Lana does not actually believe in magic. What a unique and adventure-filled romp. I have read stories and adventures from the pet's point of view before, but this one is a fresh breath and new take on that. I found myself smiling almost the whole time through this book even if I was not supposed to be smiling (serious parts) because I could see my cats in Tac and that will always make me smile. The writing is well crafted and flourished in a way that pulls you in. I found every passage descriptive but not overdone so that you could simply immerse yourself in the story and enjoy every moment. I could picture the characters, the places, and the adventures of treasure hunting and more. If you are someone who enjoys the outline of a quest with a unique telling of the tale, I would recommend this book. I fully enjoyed it from cover to cover.

Your opening paragraph about the pension pot-- How do you know that Alex? Are you a member of a Government panel or do you have some kind of inside knowledge about the level of pounds in that investment? The Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners and others used very astute and high profile lawyers to fight our case through several high Courts and they must have informed our organization that a special fund had been set aside for this purpose in Britain. Otherwise the CABP would not have told us--and there is one thing I will say about our group which is that they are very dedicated, smart and accurate in everything they say because they do not want to allow any slip-ups in our case to be used as an excuse for it to be sidetracked! And the sum, as I recall, was massive.The Government in Westminster may use this as a source of temporary funding for other expenses but, for sure, they will have to return the money back to the fund because if it is identified as pension reserve funds then they will have no option but to do that by law. Second paragraph--if you have been keeping up, which I now doubt since I have personally explored the several reasons why our demand for equality is fair in the past posts and you don't appear to be listening. But, if you go back and take each point that I have made and give a reasoned reply then I will listen. However I will repeat:- 1.The fact is that we older folks paid in the same level of contributions as any other pensioner who currently lives in any other part of the world. Yet, we get no uprating for inflation as coverage for the devaluation of the purchasing power of that pension which, once commenced, remains at exactly the same amount FOREVER. Everybody else in the world gets it but not us because we stay in an ex-Commonwealth country -- which is an absurd reason to deny us equality. In Britain, however, the amount of the pension paid to every retiree is uprated annually, year after year after year, to protect the actual spending value of that pension until the death of the pensioner. This policy eventually reduces the spending power VALUE of the ex pat's pensions to nil, meaning that the NI contributions we paid into the British Exchequer for all the years of our work in the U K is rendered useless to us since we then virtually get nothing of value back in exchange. Yet the people in power in Westminster still pay uprates to every person who is not living in one of the 4 Ex Commonwealth countries. What's fair about that? The only reason they do that is because the ex-Commonwealth countries have by far the most number of ex-pats which means that the Government does not want to pay out more than a very small amount by way of of pension payments and deliberately excludes those in these 4 countries to allow that to happen. It's all in the "White Paper Bulletin". What's fair about that? 2. But, that being the case, does the British Westminster Government offer to pay back to us some of the contributions that we paid in the past to qualify for the pension, in recompense for the annual reductions in value of our pension from the moment we retire. NO!! What's fair about that? They used our money at it's top value in terms of spending power as soon as they got it from us over the many years of work we put into the U.K., but we are the only group of people in the world who are excluded from receiving reciprocal value payments by way of the pension amounts we get. What's fair about that? To put it bluntly it's downright fraud. There is nothing fair about it at all--it's all about power and money and greed and votes and nothing else. British Justice and fairness? When did that EVER matter to any former or current British Government? It's all a convenient self-serving hoax. Watch what happens AFTER the devolution vote, regardless of who wins. There's trouble ahead...Remember, money corrupts. You don't want to discuss the National Service I put in, Alex? Why not? What about the fact that I lost two years earnings and work experience, most of it in Germany which I have never visited since but in which country I would by now be getting an uprated pension if I lived there. What is that worth? A valueless pension...sure...why not?

And, if T B did take over, how many thrashings from ICT would he be able to endure before he quit or how many snide comments from the County fans ? What if it turned into an uproar? --in which case his career as a football manager could be over.

5 figures eh? Well maybe it was 6. It would have to be a higher six though......I assume.

My goodness Charles. For such a young lad at the time you have a remarkable memory for the hotties of the town; not to mention an excellent set of puberty- advanced hormones. Did they have Viagr. in them thar days perhaps? How many ice creams did you buy to develop your observational acuities..Ha! Ha! And how many cold showers did you have to take at the end of each day....? Anyway, it's good to know that you are no less human than the rest of us..it's the highland air I suppose

Maybe Dundee and Hammy will go off the boil once the adrenalin rush of being in the SPL will diminish? Second thought --is our team on steroids or pot--the latter being now legal in Canada?

In order to increase the readership of our newly produced fantasy novel, we have recently reduced the price of Destinies in Motion by some 17%. Initially written as the first part of a trilogy,whether or not my wife, Liliya V Galitskaya, who wrote the book or myself, Roderick,the Editor, will ever make money from the work is very open to question. This depends on so many circumstances beyond our control that we must concentrate on encouraging folks to actually read the book from cover to cover, in order to gain the greatest essence of it, as a first step. Our goal here, then, would be for us to enjoy the emotional fulfillment of knowing that people had actually read the book from cover to cover and had shared with us in absorbing the personalities of the many characters, both animal and human, that populate it, appreciate the quirks of these personalities and the impact on the story of their individual actions and thoughts....and enjoyed the whole experience greatly -- the emotions, the ambitions, the successes and the failures. Within a short time, the leaders start to emerge and different personalities begin to dominate, mostly through the pressure of circumstance rather than desire. Good comes to the fore and evil tries very hard to work its intent as well and frustrate good intentions by imposing their goals through all the old dynamics of power, dominance and control. The grave, exterior threat of the fierce and monstrous dragon, who came through a portal from another time and space, to the survival of not only the forest group but many other beings in that sphere as well, has to be faced down and contained and the way in which this is eventually accomplished is a refreshing surprise that will be revealed in due course. Suffice it to say that the resolution of this challenge is from the brain of the King of the forest, Tacker the cat, who again reveals his cool and reflective personality to solve the problem without harm to any entity. A positive person, not a naysayer or a whiner, and an action figure to boot. Amongst the animals, all of whom speak perfect English, size and species is irrelevant since the brains and thoughts dominate our view of each and the outcome of their actions. e.g. one of the Forest Council, which has been formed to try to ensure the survival of the group, a tiny mouse named Mixie who, at first sight may appear to be completely insignificant, soon reveals the practicality and down-to-earth nature of her approach to life. In doing so, she not only validates her selection and place on the council but reminds us that brain-power always trumps physical power and size. Very soon, in your mind's eye, as you get to know the traits and views of the individual animals you will cease to think of them as separate from us humans and will overlook the differences in form. Instead we begin to appreciate their value as spiritual souls bent on doing the best that they can as they develop and grow in response to the mighty challenges presented to them of good versus evil. Always with the possibility hovering over them that death can be the outcome of too much daring or too much individuality undermining the teamwork necessary to bring about a more safe and stable societal framework within which they live. At this point I will just ATTACH the words I penned some time ago as a promotional tool which still resonate with me, as I hope with you after you read the book, as an honest depiction in my mind of the value of our work which took two years to dictate, type, format edit, produce and self publish. Had it not been so I would never have taken on this project in the first place. My faith in the work and it's value is absolute at this point regardless of how many eventual sales it may or may not yield. The way that animals on this planet are treated is shocking and if writing this book leads to a greater understanding of the fact that they have souls and feelings as well as us, and deserve our care and consideration first and foremost, then we will have achieved a momentous leap in our own spiritual growth. Now at $14.99 U.S., we have to consider this book to be excellent value for money. For the following reasons: a. The average trade paperback is categorized as a trashy novelette with inferior quality paper, no illustrations, regular size of page and rarely more than 100-150 pages tops. Additionally, the interior will not have add-ons like drop caps (the style modification of the large capital letter which begins the first word of each chapter which, more often that not, is in the same format as the text itself), no illustrations, due to the cost and often the quality of paper cannot handle them, often a size of text which has been enlarged to make it appear as if the book is actually larger than it is (padding). I saw one the other day with all these faults and it also did not have an "Acknowledgements" page at the front, nor a "Contents" list page at the front. Yet it was priced at $15.U.S. I was staggered. Please COMPARE: www.destiniesinmotion.com a. Very large size pages.....9.61" X 6x69"...... on excellent quality, smooth paper. b. 398 pages (print).12 Chapters. Please see Order page on website for details of Ebooks. c. 22 illustrations (all done by Liliya in crayon colour but printed in black and white). d. Kindle Ebook and any other type of Ebook. See Order page for details. e. Professionally designed interior to our specifications: Drop caps, Individualized fonts for Frontispiece, Foreword, Contents and Acknowledgements pages. Chapter headings are Individualized. Textual Font is Times New Roman, 12 point -- easily read. Full colour cover, back and front, with information about the Author on the back. PLUS Our beautiful website set-up by Scotty and Don to whom we are deeply indebted for their professionalism, care and consideration.............www.InTorNetDesign.com Please forward questions or comments through the contacts page of our website. Or send a pm to me. All will be answered. Meantime, many thanks for your interest and time. Roderick (aka S.P.) RODERICK - Destinies in Motion- Description.doc

Just love the positivity of these poste. Uplifting and inspiring. Long may it continue. Eh Bughmaster?

Alex, I have to say that I would be very surprised indeed if any politician had had the nerve to dip into any pension fund already set aside for a rainy pension day in the future, just to use the funds in it to fight a war or buy weapons in the way you suggest. However, it may well be that any fixed sum, which formerly may have been set aside for this purpose on a regular basis, could have been reduced in some way to find money . The very fact that these same politicians have made the effort to set aside such funds emphasizes, don't you think, how seriously they view the issue of pensions? If they don't pay the appropriate pensions to their citizens after these citizens have contributed to them by way of N.I. contributions then I think there would be riots in the streets. Unfortunately, we have no streets to demonstrate in and so Mr Cameron and his ilk just ignore us because he can! Very recently, in our Province of Quebec, there have been large demonstrations in the streets over a Firemen's pension issue. And I seem to recall that the current strike of teachers in British Columbia is bogged down over at least one pension issue. These teachers have an average salary of about $84,000 per annum (not for rookies of course who must start on a lower level), paid monthly, plus 6 weeks off in the summer and extra days off for this and that. But they have had a simmering, ongoing issue with successive Provincial governments for years over how much they are rewarded and how hard they have to work( ) They also get sick days as far as I know.. They should try being self-employed: Rarely a day off, work even if sick or injured 'cos if you don't work you don't eat, and running a business is not a 9-5 job. e.g How do you get a holiday if you have no one qualified to take over because your business income is on a knife edge and there is no one available whom you can trust not to lose you clients etc.? e.g. I had one holiday in five years just prior to retirement at age 70 and before that it was at least 12 years without a break. In Canada the pension age is now being raised in incremental steps from 65 to 66 then 67 very shortly.

Thinking about the possibility of T B 's taking over the County Managership? I can't see it. He must still be licking his wounds and the disappointment he must have also suffered when it all fell apart so terribly must have affected his self-confidence greatly? It would take a very strong and determined man, who also has a different personality to TB, to come back to the Highlands so quickly. I mean,another bad beating from CaleyThistle in a derby game would be the last straw for him and I don't think he could handle it with a smile and with aplomb.

Nah! Nah! Sneckboy. Re your post # 74.....Not true! Would I do a thing like that now? Thinks--wow, Sneckboy noticed, maybe others did as well.... The pension to which I made a brief reference was the Canadian pension (which has always been uprated regardless of where one lives--Timbuctoo even) not the British one. Thanks for giving me an excuse to mention it again, though .

Alarming crowd whatever the figure. Team is playing the best football for ages, scoring and signing up committed players with a future and top of the league. I found the cost of living in Inverness some 6 years ago was higher than ours over here in Western Canada by a considerable amount so, maybe cost is a factor after all. Food in the store and in restaurants has been climbing significantly over the past two-three years and the cost trades for of home repairs is staggering. It's also a fact that now our country, according to the stats, is currently in a depressed business state despite what Fed. Gov. officials are warbling. My wife's boss is seriously worried about the drop in his business revenue and I am seriously worried about how low her net paycheque has become. This month's is half what it was 1 year ago. I always get the same from the Feds in terms of my pension so that stabilizes the ship a little.

I assume that you mean "over 65" now? Otherwise they most likely are dead and gone and have no further interest in her? To jog my memory--was Salvadoris in Greig Street? If so I wish to report that my hormones are still functioning; if not, I don't remember but that is due to a slight case of galloping Alzheimers not hormonal incapacitation....

'Cos he is now the Manager at Palace. BUT...Danny Lennon might go for the county job:- Ex St Mirren man likes it in the highlands.... http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/28975886

Re TB .......many a word spoken in jest. I wonder how desperate he really is at this point? How the mighty has fallen. Figures!

Remember him.....? http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/premier-league/ Well he isn't coming North again I think.

Paint yer face blue and carry a sheathed claymore and the huns will think you are either one of them or Mel Gibson (braveheart) .

Probably will be a cracking match though. We are up agin a good Killie but we've got Billy.

The Royal Bank of Scotland is more English-based now than otherwise. Their service has become appalling with huge fees and penalties for slight miscalculations. They also have removed telephones from their branches on the pretext that they want to spend more time servicing their walk-in clients when in fact the real reason is to save money. Now. a person who lives overseas cannot contact his/her branch direct ---- have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous--in this day and age they don't even have email communication. I have to 'phone a general number who, in turn, contacts the branch. New cheque books were sent to the branch but no one thought to send them on to me. So I complained via the general number and they assured me that the distribution centre would henceforth send them to me direct. Yesterday I found that this had not been done and the instruction still on the system was to send them to the branch. So would devolution have any effect on the lack of service to the client?

Charles--if I read you correctly what you are saying is spot on. I had to wait until I reached retirement age , 65, and then had to send in an Application to the U.K to get the pension--this booklet was 20 pages long. The pension I started to receive was, as you say, based on all previous contributions to the British N I scheme. when I worked in the U. K. just as if I had never emigrated out of Scotland. I declare that income in Canada and pay tax to the Canadian Government but not to Britain because there appears to be some kind of agreement between these two Governments which, if bypassed, would result in double taxation being applied. After that, the amount of the first payment in pounds that I ever received from Britain has never altered upward or downward. The word "uprating " means an upward adjustment for each year's inflation to that figure so that, as the years go by, the value, or buying power, of the money can remain at what it was when the first payment was made. The Canadian Government pays all of our pensioners an annual uprating in the case of this Canadian pension plan (the CPP) which kicks in on the January of each year and this is based on their statistics relating to the inflation rate for a selected basket of good during the previous year. Of course when I worked I paid the standard contribution rates for the CPP just like all other employees in Canada. I also contributed through my work to the OAS (the Old Age Security plan) which in Britain probably is still called the Old Age Pension. So I get two payments from the Canadian Government and I can select how much tax is deducted monthly at source, all of which is adjusted when you submit your annual Income Tax Return. Then you either get a rebate for overdeductions or pay the Government what you still owe them(if anything) by online Bank debit. In the case of the monthly OAS payment to pensioners the Canadian Government uprates the payment every 4 months during the course of the year to offset the eroding power of inflation. If the inflation rate is nil over any quarter then sometimes the quarterly payment is not increased at all. Hope this clarifies the situation Charles.My apology for being a bit curt with you early on. This is such an ongoing irritant and gets many needy people so uptight when we discuss it that things can slip out uncontrolled. Caley D.; 1.Re the British Pension accumulation fund I do agree with you on the need to set money aside for emergencies in the future. However, the sum required to right this wrong for us is negligible compared to the total currently saved in that fund. 2. Tit for Tat, eh? Nah that's off the topic, The topic we are discussing is the unfair allocation of funds based on where one lives. If I lived in Seattle, Washington ,USA--only 100 miles down the road-- I would get the inflation increase but living in Vancouver I do not ...WHY? Because there are less Americans getting these payments than we Canadians and I have already explained all that. 3. Fat cat politicians in Canada? Sure! And we are doing something about that: This year already we have uncovered several scandals and chucked out 3-4 senators from their highly paid, useless jobs for making illegal expense claims. We tried to abolish the Senate (like the House of Lords) but we are informed by the Prime Minister that the Judiciary says we can't do it that easily. M.P's salaries in my opinion are very high compared to the actual value we receivee from their position and the only way you can get anywhere ,I think, is to keep on and on at your own M.P on this issue and that issue so that you wear them down. Then , you vote against them at the next General Erection (ours is in 2015) . And I will quit whilst I am ahead. the Queen's attraction in Canada is NOVELTY. Being associated with the Royal Family since birth for Brits means that you can get to see the flaws of keeping them in the luxury they are accustomed to and eventi=jua;lly it all goes sour. The Canadian Government goes along since it's good P R. Mind you, the new young couple are neat and it would be a shame to abuse them or be rude to them wouldn't it? I hope they have a very happy life and contribute to the welfare and happiness of your island in their future but the love affair with the Royals might turn sour very quickly over here if the cost of upkeeping them was borne by us in Canada I think. Cheers S.P.