Member Info for QueenElvis

The Director makes a fair point. Last week a flask in the school lunch box had hot chocolate and soup but this week chilled juice because we have had a bit of an Indian summer since Saturday but the grass is still too wet to cut properly and been a problem for years since a school holiday week in October was introduced as to who still had sandals and shorts in stock for a week away in the sun. Not necessarily dierich or I and definitely not many frequent lse posters by the looks of things but Brits are going abroad for sunshine and skiing breaks not just once but maybe two or three breaks a year and it is nice to have a few new tops and sleeveless dresses or boots regardless of the season and so much the better if they can be used at home for 9 or 10 months of the year as well. Wearing a summer dress today but will need a cardy tonight. Sold some here yesterday, should have waited but glad to have sold poly yesterday.

You should have bought those Gant pants Gerry - free hankies with some and some styles reduced. LOL Made a special trip into the café in Argyle Street for a buy one get one free toastie or panini and have just had a nice personalised £10 off a £40 spend in store voucher which I am going to use before my holiday for some gear for myself for a change. Was thinking of popping on the shuttle bus to Maeshowe for a secret tryst but bit worried about big boats hitting off pontoons and being stranded up there for the winter so off to sunnier climes I hope Talking of Pontoons should I twist or stick before this one goes bust.

Completely ridiculous that Northern Ireland deb stores are allowing folk to click and collect goods under £20 for free while the rest of the country need to be big spenders to click and collect for free. It was "Big down South" Sainsburys that gave Scots fewer Nectar points than the rest of the country for a while and to think it all started for them up here opposite that tree where the queen nursed the toy boy Darnley married 29th July 1565 and dead at 21 less than two years later - bit shocking like the baby poussin in the fridges but each to their own I suppose.

Sergio can you drop the £2 click and collect charge please so that (i) deb's are treating all UK customers the same and (ii) so that deb's don't put anybody off buying their opaque tights via click and collect with deb's this autumn. I know I never complained when you were doing the free hot drinks in Scotland but I did feel it was unfair to others less fortunate in terms of where the lived. There can't be too much admin and packing time going into a small click and collect order and we need the staff all to be busy little elves over the next few months.

Surprised by this story. Checked it out on the company web site. It says all click and collect orders in Northern Ireland are free and a £2 charge is applied for a spend under £20 in the rest of the UK. Not sure if this is new because I seldom use click and collect and have the orders delivered free of charge to the house and any order I have used click and collect for for speed or because I knew I would not be at home to take delivery will have been over £20. Certainly collecting in store means that it is all wrapped so possibly no need to pay 5p carrier bag charge -probably just one required for under £20 worth of goods. I think the amount of the spend needed to qualify for free delivery might have increased slightly recently but still free for gold card holders but possibly not deb's other cardholders regardless of how low the spend. Not all retailers offer free delivery for either small or bigger spends e.g. if you were buying a lot in spd and having it delivered there is still a charge for postage but they compensate you by giving you a voucher to spend on your next shop in store (not sure of the level of spend needed for the voucher to apply) - or at least that was the case the last time it applied to us a few months ago with them.

Thanks Gerry - as long as I haven't bought a complete turkey with the sale proceeds I'll be alright Jack. Midway must have been noticing all the bill board advertising Debenhams seem to be doing around about our way. I tried to read a report on the effectiveness of this form of promotion and fell asleep. You think Paxman's comments a few years ago on his M & S knickers have lost them customers? He should try buying Gant Ys from deb's - very supportive I hear though I haven't tried them myself other than on my head to hold back my hair when applying moisturiser and foundation. Have a nice day y'all, missing you already.

Haven't been around much this week and likely to be like that for a while for me. Sold some invp from a hotel on Thursday. Seem to be a lot of rampers on the bank bbs whom I remember from my last stay and they have either been there all that time or they sold out without saying and are back in now at lower prices but some of them have form anyhow in so far as poor behaviour is concerned. Bought some debs with the proceeds and sold them on Friday afternoon but I hope they keep going up for you Midway. Spotted the news of the Forsey resignation prior to what should be the USC verdict and used the news wisely. Have a good week all.

And you can count them on the one hand goodnight.

Dierich possibly for the same reason as you would buy shares in HL., weir , tesco, barc, Next, mrw, scotgold or any number of shares you and your cronies are invested inl? Midway there are still good bank interest rates out there but the banks offering them are all in foreign hands and it is still worth taking a student loan and investing it in the market leading student account though clearly a student grant would have been preferable. Lancebomabdier - it is a relatively small short term trading account I have. I use it only to trade long. Don't use it for shorting as you can lose more than you put in and you don't need a phD in the subject to work that one out . I have been busy lately or I would have plumped for Wetherspoons, JD sports etc. in addition to Kier and WMH from a few weeks ago for short term trades based on news so a fair old sprinkling of companies. Spotted clln had won a decent sized contract of late but, while deb's has a level of volatility based on the short positions open, they don't have the same massive percentage of stock out on loan as clln so I didn't go for it but maybe gerry and dierich are more qualified than me to talk about that one as I think recent investors in it? Good day to you gentlemen. I am sure gerry welcomes the break and some fresh input here.

Morning Midway, I hope you are enjoying the Ayrshire Gold cup weekend. As far as I'm concerned, trading is a bit like choosing a horse with a share like this one which keeps bobbing about. I know you have sold tranches here at both a loss and a profit and I can only hope for you that your gains have outweighed your losses. It's the same with the folk who are saying on bbs that they are shorting and going long on the same share at the same time. What that indicates to me is that they haven't a scoobie about the immediate share price direction even if they are looking at the closing positions on foreign markets and trying to make an educated guess based on that and it doesn't wash with me when folk tell you how well they have supposedly done after the fact as that might be good for their egos but it is little help to anybody else reading. Always more people around to tell you when they have bought but fewer to tell you when they have sold. I have been lucky - and that's all it's been - with debs a couple of times this year and another bigger trade was more than luck and based on predicting good results in April. It's got a decent divi which should be enough to ensure that anybody who buys some at the right price and is prepared to hold will not be out of pocket over the long term though some big hitters are doubtless coining it in on a weekly or monthly basis but big hitters like that are offering nothing by way of free advice to small fry on a bb like this and, even if they do, it's probably a bum steer. If you are not in something for a divi and hopefully a capital return over time and are doing short-term trading - which I do with some funds - then for me personally there is no point in focussing on one or two shares because news is announced on a daily basis about companies which can be a very accurate indicator as to whether the price of a share is likely to fall or rise immediately rather than taking a pin cushion stab at a share which has no news for a short term trade though you might well invest at a low price price for longer term with such a share. I couldn't care less whether folk are fat or thin, what religion they are or how they vote as it is not important to my investment choices though some people recruit folk using those types of yardsticks and then wonder why their performance is a bit under par. I am not even sure if it is currently accurate anyway as he looks to have been spending a lot of time in his gym(s). Anyhoo, I'm adopting a one strike and you're out kind of approach on these bbs. If I raise a point with somebody on a bb directly and they fail to respond and it is clear they are not on a world cruise then that's it as far as I'm concerned and they can talk to the hand in future. Off on my travels now.

Mixed bag announced on behalf of Fani Titi and the rest of the board today but this article seems to suggest better value than barc, stan, hsba and lloy with Roberts Stephens concluding "Investec is forecast to increase EPS by 12% next year. In my view this makes it an appealing buy when allied to its low P/E. The future performance of the business may be uncertain and it faces additional currency risk. But I believe that Investec’s valuation takes this into account. Therefore, its investment appeal is relatively high in my opinion." http://investomania.co.uk/2016/09/is-investec-plc-better-value-than-barclays-plc-standard-chartered-plc-hsbc-holdings-plc-and-lloyds-banking-group-plc-after-its-briefing-statement/

Morning Rus - I think of Mike Ashley being to retail what Ross Poldark was to the copper mining industry, exposing price fixing and cartels and the like and spd has made me some money - in real time too - as well as Midway so no need, I feel, to resort to insulting Mike on a bb. Water off a duck's back to him probably. I didn't take the M & S job offered from the milk round as it was like the civil service and required upward and downward mobility. Goldbergs were concerned about one of their Saturday girls having philistine interests so no management opportunity there either so there is no way I would be in any position to take spd private and besides I was the widow's daughter who went to the local comprehensive and I'm not grammar school educated like Mike so I'm definitely inferior in every regard but I would just say he needs to look at the 66% increase in profits announced by jd this week though spd have sold their shares there. Said it before, in retail there are always winners and losers at any given time so hopefully John Lewis's loss will be deb's gain. Just think spd could have bought proper shares in debs instead of this options malarkey. The one time they did, they cashed in for a quick profit in a matter of hours or days. Did you say Gerry that deb's was a trader's dream share. Maybe no place for a long-term holder like yourself then or could that change at any minute? I'm looking at registering again with lse as Paraffin Young or Imelda Poldark if Netley doesn't get in there before me. God help the Scottish yes voters like Midway if we had been relying on oil to prop up the economy over the past year or more. Couple of holiday weekends in a row this neck of the woods so off to retrieve my dough from the hook on the food processor and let it rise (like the shares) before rolling it onto the Jamie Oliver pizza stone bought at a reduced price of course from debenhams as need to give the kids something home made and wholesome though they don't like healthy brown flour base. Have a good weekend some nice weather around.

Morning gerry. I did use the word "consistently" which makes the world of difference. See how hot you are for the rest of the week.

"weird swings... I wonder what's going on?" You are right canard and that's why nobody on this bb can read the direction consistently on a day to day basis but not as big as the swings on spd of late and yet the spread betting companies would have you believe that lack of volatility over the summer months hasn't been good for them and they are hoping for traditionally better times from St Leger (is that today lol). Makes you wonder at some of the big boasts on the bbs about people raking it in when it seems to me a two way bet on the same horse just cancels out any gains either way lol. JP congrats on making the transition from tesco employee to trader. I know you thought Mike Ashely would do well from bhs takeover when I thought he wasn't truly interested even for a song. We now need to wait and see who is going to pick up those customers and it will not become apparent immediately. You still think Ashley will take spd private? Price? Dependent on what? Off out and oddly enough have some German rye bread for the ducks.

If you had to judge based on the in store cafes at lunch time, M & S and deb's will not be headed the same way as bhs any time soon and not all folk are sitting at home or in their offices on computers. A rainy day certainly but not a spare table to be had and very noisy to the extent that I couldn't hear myself think let alone hold a sensible conversation. Older lady companion said to me how can all these young mums afford to come here for lunch and I said maybe they are job sharing part-timers or maybe on zero hours contracts. In fact, even ran into somebody who pretended not to see me who I might have known would be in there - what she made of the male companion Lord only knows but definitely a me and Mrs. Jones moment and will be the talk of the steamie no doubt. It looked to me as if M and S had been slow to get in autumn stock but then maybe it had sold out in the branch in question as a smaller branch had the dress in question in greater quantity across the various sizes on Tuesday. You need a man or another woman for a back zip but not a side one. Ah the fifty pounds notes. The Queen never carries cash after the Glasgow kiss incident with a female beggar in Spain. My passport and thomas cook travellers cheques were in the handbag after all. Hadn't seen one of those notes when I was headhunted for a top job in a cashroom after school with no relevant experience but I was thought eminently suitable cos I had studied Latin and French which was how things used to be in Scotland with some employers. Went for the interview on an Ash Wednesday evening and thought there was something odd. The innocence of youth eh. Does this look like him or Phil sailing on the good ship Dignity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjhfH5P5ZEM

Teenage boy happily walking about in garb from debs. Teenage girl happy to have been introduced to quality cosmetics, underwear, swimwear and jammies and slippers. Getting to the fashion conscious age now and half schoolwear from debs own range and half from Quiz within debs. Debs must be happy enough with all the floor space it is renting out to these boutique chains because remember students aren't the people with oddles of cash to spend - that's the mums and the grandmums - and as long as I think I can be taken for a supermodel or even Sally Gunnell in a John Rocha dress from debs that should be good enough and it certainly stops me becoming a M & S frump prematurely. Have a nice day - I think the USA closed. Time for you to whisk up a lemon drizzle sponge for the one and only Mrs. G.

Lot of people from my neck of the wood think Slim Jim Baxter, star of home international games, was the greatest footballer who ever lived. I'm aiming to live a wee bit longer than him but don't thing he would have been into the green tea or the white tea - probably not even the black tea come to think of it . Goodnight and good luck here.

Ah well Jim you have the interim ex divi date coming up so a bit of income to look forward to to eke out the pension. Think a lot of the folk on the bp bb were advanced in years like Maloo. Bonz 1957 will be 60 next year. One of my knees has been a bit funny after doing jumping jacks on land so I ams switching to the water. I'm a bit like Sally Gunnell, the hurdler, (50 on 29th July I think she was) and have started just using my lead leg for bending when coming downstairs and the like but I am okay climbing up them for the time being. atb

There's a guy thinks you might find that mixer/processor cheaper in Curry's - not if you are a deb's cardholder though and get your timing right.

Going to be interesting. It was only a handful of stores open until the bitter end. If you accept that the place was mismanaged then the remaining customers will need to go somewhere and my guess is M & S and debenhams but I will get to test that theory out soon because granny needs to find another shop for her tights and is in need of being taken out to shop for some new clothes but has her red boiled wool jacket I got her from deb's last year. Andy Murray is getting on in years now but it looks to have been a good year for the Brits at the US Open. All these baseline rallies never as exciting as Timboy up at the net. All I had to offer the man from Arabia was meat and two veg with batter for the Yorkshire puds perfectly mixed and I might just have some proceeds from hmv shares bought a tuppence and sold for fourpence when the pumpers arrived which goes to prove you need to be prepared to risk it for a piece of brisket sometimes. Midway must be at Ayrshire doors open. I think the sheriff court was open lol.