| Life on the fast track
At that long-lost North Norfolk junction I might just have been saved from breaking my dentures on a rock bun in the station café by a woman with a cut-glass accent who needed help with a smut in her eye.There the smut would end, what with me being a doctor and Celia being married and with the Brief Encounter script being by Noel Coward in the strait-laced and censored 1940s.Phew, but that Rachmaninov music still gets me going. Possibly it even warmed up the chap with the pipe and slippers sitting by the fire at the end of the movie who, encouraging his wife between supper-serving and sock-darning, says: “Thenk you for coming beck tooo meee."What a pity it did nothing for that Dr Beeching - the man with the scarlet suit, horns and trident - who lopped off most of our branch lines in the bittersweet 1960s.But why put the romance of train travel into the past? From Wednesday the first new railway in Britain for a hundred years is set to relight our love affair with what should always have been a transport of delight…Eurostar will be shifting from Waterloo to St Pancras, and promising easier and speedier services for an estimated 50 million passengers a year.
Budgeting for a Baby and Managing Debt
In my last online discussion, there were many questions I couldn't get to. So here are a few leftovers with my answers: Q: I'm expecting my first child and while I'm thrilled, I just don't know how we're going to cover the expenses, even on a decent two-salary income. My husband and I just bought a house and we're essentially living paycheck to paycheck. I don't know what we're going to do when the baby comes and day care is added to the mix (not to mention all the expenses of a baby!). I'm so scared about how we're going to be able to make ends meet. What should we do? .
Weekend Beat: LIFESTYLE & MORE: Big Issue mag big help to homeless
Maybe you've seen them standing at street corners holding up a big glossy that calls itself the Big Issue? The magazine sports an eye-catching cover, features famous singers and celebrities, and the content targets younger readers. The vendors are all homeless. The street paper's mission is to provide an opportunity for the homeless to earn an income and become self-reliant. And thanks to the movement, there are success stories where homeless people have managed to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and off the streets. The magazine marked its fourth year on Sept. 11. The publisher, Big Issue Japan, set up in May 2003, also launched a Big Issue Foundation in September, which uses its resources to support the homeless. The next big issue for the Big Issue Japan is to find a way out of the red.
Bankruptcy Possible For Some Homebuilders In Slumping Market
Homebuilders such as Dallas-based Centex Corp. and Pulte Homes Inc. aim to survive an industrywide unraveling by selling houses at bargain prices, slashing jobs and scrapping growth plans. But as the housing downturn worsens, experts say at least a few major U.S. homebuilders may end up bankrupt. Builders constructed more than 2 million housing units nationwide in 2005, the year the boom peaked. So far this year, housing starts have fallen to an annual rate of 1.2 million units through September, and economists expect the number to drop to an annual rate of 1 million by mid-2008. .
GRTU asks for legislation removing credit card charges
VALLETTA, Malta (di-ve news) -- November 16, 2007 -- 1455CET -- The Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises - GRTU has formally requested the Government to legislate the removal of charges on credit cards imposed by the commercial banks and credit card companies.
The GRTU said that the yearly charges on consumers for the use of credit cards and the fee charged to businesses for every transaction making use of the cards were both 'abusive' and represented an unfair burden.
The Chamber said it was also objecting the Lm7 tax on each card that had to be paid by the credit card holders.
The Government should ensure that the necessary laws are in place as soon as possible, as this would also facilitate the changeover to the euro, the GRTU further said, as it also criticized the Government for implementing harsh penalties for slight changes in the euro changeover but then put extra burdens on businesses and consumers alike by allowing the charges on credit cards.
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