I had better not say anything I will be crucified on GB.

Quick Question:

How many of the so called "privilaged" South Africans parents could afford to send them to university? There are many that merely exist because affordability was just not there...........let me stop here!!!

I have 5 boxes (probably about 50kg each) still in SA which I want brought over here. I have had one quote which is R30 per kg - making it R1500 per box !! this is from Excess baggage and will take a week.

Maybe I should look at shipping it - takes longer but maybe it will be cheaper !!

A year ago - I took 16 of the same size boxes to SA and it cost me £400.... I cant believe how expensive it is - does anyone know of a cheaper way?

Looked for flights to Cape Town in March on http://www.expedia.co.uk and found this really competitive price.

Budget airline Ryanair is offering a raft of European destinations from a selection of British airports for as little as £7 each way including taxes & charges until midnight Thursday 19 Oct - very cheap indeed.

As always the problem with these things is actually finding the special offer flights, go direct to Ryanair and you'll pay more, yet read the explanation below and it'll explain how to use the free FlightChecker tool to speedily find the offer flights (for details on how best to utilize it see later)

Which airports does it fly from?

These £7 flights are available from East Midlands, Liverpool, Glasgow, Newcastle, Bournemouth, Blackpool and DurhamTeesValley.

There are also £8 & £9 flights from London Luton, London Stansted, Aberdeen, Bristol, Doncaster Sheffield, Inverness, Manchester and Leeds Bradford.

Lots of destinations are included; Dublin, Nimes, Milan, Aberdeen, Carcassonne, Kerry, Ancona, Barcelona, Bournemouth, Frankfurt, London, Porto, Santiago de Compostela, Santander and more!

When?

You need to book before Thursday and at least 14 days ahead and flights must be between 30 Oct and 24 March 2007 with the following exclusions

20th Dec '06 - 09th Jan '07
09 Feb '07 - 19 Feb '07 to/from UK only
16 Feb '07 – 27 Feb '07 to/from Ireland only
15 Mar '07 - 20 Mar '07 to/from Ireland only

Remember with Ryanair you pay to check baggage in, it’s £7 per item each way if you do it at the airport and £3.50 if you pre-book. So if possible take hand luggage only.

Also, you’re charged handling fees for paying with a debit cards (70p) as well as credit cards (£1.75). This is per person, per flight, but if you’re able to; avoid these fees by paying with an Electron Card if you have one.

How to speedily find the specific flights

The FlightChecker is a special free, non-commercial tool on this site designed to find these special offer flights. Normally you enter in the maximum price youÂ’re willing to pay; and the airports and date range and it finds the flights with you.

As that maximum price doesn’t include taxes and charges, for this promotion you should be looking for flights at UNDER £1. In fact, the result you want are the flights costing £0.01. Once you've found them go to Ryanair and double check your flight details, and the total price which includes taxes and charges.

There’s no hard or fast rule with this promotion; some 1p flights will come to £7, others more, but if you’re flexible with your dates and the airport you fly from, you’re likely to find a bargain.

source http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/show...ost3218782

October 17, 2006 Edition 1

Sports Staff

The pitch was poor, and Graeme Smith probably erred in opting to bat second, but local pundits criticised the lack of bottle shown by the South African batting line-up, and suggested one or two different players who might be useful in a World Cup squad.

On the "plus" side, yesterday's defeat would have been an early reality check, given the similar conditions expected at next year's World Cup.

Robert Houwing, editor of Wisden Cricketer magazine:

It is worrying that New Zealand - reckoned to be a "banker" win for the Proteas - came in pretty cold and had such an emphatic victory.

Looking ahead to the World Cup (with similar pitches expected in the Caribbean), maybe South Africa should re-think "brave cricket". Maybe it should be more of a horses for courses policy.

Perhaps Ashwell Prince is an option, with his nudging the ball around and rotating the strike... on wickets where 220 will be a par or winning score.

Surely it's time to bring JP Duminy into the equation.

Shukri Conrad, Cape Cobras coach:

Our batting is going to have to win us games. Wickets at the World Cup will be sub-par. Scores of 220-250 will be par, but the basics remain - you need someone to bat through the innings. No 5 is one or two spots too high for Mark Boucher.

How AB de Villiers doesn't make the side I don't know, and Justin Kemp, as a specialist batsman, should bat higher.


That Graeme Smith should bowl eight overs says something is wrong, if the (bowling) mix of the XI was right.

Eric Simons, former Proteas coach:

After losing two early wickets, the Proteas were a little nervous of the role the NZ spinners could play.

We don't play well on those wickets, so either we find players who do or (improve) the way we play.

The team is not settled; the balance is not right. Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs should open.

On the plus side the bowling's improved - Andre Nel was as good as he's been in those conditions, and Jacques was sharp.

Michael Doman, Cape Argus cricket writer:

Terrible as the pitch was, adversity calls for special amounts of application. Had it been a World Cup semi-final or final, would a shrug of the shoulders and pointing fingers at the dust-bowl have been acceptable?

One-day pitches usually favour batsmen; top sides need to have a plan B when this is not the case. There was not enough bottle from the batsmen. South Africa looked a batsman short, and must decide how many all-rounders they want to select.

It was encouraging that spinner Robin Peterson got into his ninth over. Makhaya Ntini had an average start - all the bowlers will need plenty of warm-up matches just ahead of the World Cup, after a long period playing in SA conditions.

'It makes others uncomfortable'

October 18, 2006 Edition 2


The veil worn by Muslim women is a mark of separation that makes other people uncomfortable, says UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Wading into the increasingly acrimonious debate over the wearing of the full veil, or niqab, Blair also backed the Kirklees Council in West Yorkshire, which suspended classroom assistant Aishah Azmi for refusing to remove her veil at school.

Blair said: "They should be allowed to take that decision.

"I do support the authority in the way that they have handled this."

With an employment tribunal yet to give its verdict on the case, Azmi's lawyers threatened proceedings against the British prime minister if he refused to retract his remarks.

A string of ministers has criticised the wearing of the veil as unhelpful for community relations since the leader of the House of Commons, Jack Straw, raised the issue of Islamic dress earlier this month.

Muslim organisations have accused the government of encouraging Islamophobia and Labour MP Khalid Mahmood has claimed that ministers' interventions were little more than "Muslim-bashing".


Pressed for his view on the veil row, Blair backed Straw's claim that wearing the veil is a statement of separation.

"It is a mark of separation and that is why it makes other people from outside the com- munity uncomfortable."

"No one wants to say that people don't have the right to do it. That is to take it too far," he said.

"But I think we need to confront this issue about how we integrate people properly into our society."

There will be speculation that Blair's view has been influenced by that of his wife Cherie who has spoken in the past about the full-length burqa as symbolising "the oppression of women".

But in a sign of tensions within the government, education secretary Alan Johnson will warn colleagues in a speech today: "Rather than driving people into defending their faith, we (should) instead encourage an open celebration of our diversity." - Daily Mail

GORDON STRACHAN was understandably delighted after CelticÂ’s impressive 3-0 victory over Benfica. Second-half goals from Stephen Pearson and two from Kenny Miller have boosted the Hoops chances of progressing to the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in the club's history.

The Celtic manager saw his side dismantle a team that reached the quarter-finals of last seasonÂ’s competition. And they did so without several players who may well have been in the starting XI if they'd been fit.

Thomas Gravesen, AIden McGeady, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Mark Wilson – all of whom started for the Hoops in their opening UEFA Champions League match against Manchester United at Old Trafford – were all missing from the side that faced Benfica.

But Celtic showed their strength-in-depth and character as they produced the result of Matchday Three of the UEFA Champions League.

Speaking after the match, Gordon Strachan said: “The players were excellent in the first 20 minutes of the match and in the second-half they really showed what they could do.

“We asked them to show their true personalities and they did that, all right. More than anything, they can be very proud of themselves because that’s what I feel for them. I’m very proud for what they achieved out there.

“Tests like these give players a chance to show their true personalities. I mean, when we played so well early in the match and didn’t score, Benfica came back a bit and probably spooked the crowd a little. They might have spooked us, too.

“But our players came back and asserted themselves and won so well. They can take great pride and pleasure from that, at least until tomorrow morning. Then they’ll know that there’s another match coming up against Motherwell on Saturday and one after that.

“And they’ll go back to work and prepare for what’s ahead. Yes, we’re in a good position in the group and that was a big step tonight, there’s no denying that. We would have taken this a month ago, after we had lost the opening match at Manchester United. But there’s still a big job to be done.”

What is your opinion about all the hype around Madonna adopting a baby from Malawi.

Personally I think the media is going to make his life so miserable that he would have been better off being back in Malawi! :yikes:

> A young man walks onto the stage of 'Stars in their Eyes' (a UK
> TV programme), on crutches, with a plaster cast from his feet to his
> hips.
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> Matthew Kelly introduces him as Simon.
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> It's very brave of you to come here, says Matthew. Please tell
> the audience what happened
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> 'Well' replies Simon 'about a year ago, I was driving with my
> uncle when we had a really bad accident. Unfortunately my uncle was
> killed outright but I survived. I was trapped in the car for six hours
> before I was eventually cut free.' 'The doctors had me in surgery for 12
> hours but they couldn't save my legs.
>
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> That's terrible. But I see you have legs now. Are they
> artificial asks Matthew?
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> No Matthew, while I was in hospital the doctors informed me that
> my uncle had in fact died, but that his legs were fine and with all the
> advances in medical science, they could graft the bottom half of his
> body onto mine.
>
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> As you can see the operation was successful. I have been having
> physiotherapy for six months and hope to be walking fully again by the
> end of the year.
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> A huge round of applause erupts from the audience.
>
> Kelly responds with: 'That's an unbelievable story. So tonight,
> who are you going to be?
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> It's worth it honest.....
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> 'Tonight, Matthew, I am going to be Simon and Halfuncle'

The British have reacted to the recent terrorism alerts by raising their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross."

Londoners have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940, when tea supplies all but ran out.
Terrorists have been recategorized from "Tiresome" to a "Bloody
Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning
level was during the great fire of 1666.

Also, the French Government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide." The only two higher levels in France are "Surrender" and "Collaborate." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country's military capability.

It's not only the English and French that are on a heightened level of alert.
Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout Loudly and Excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain:
"Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."
The Germans also increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to
"Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs."
They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbour" and "Lose."
Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday, as is customary, and the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.