h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Who is William?

His significant 'other'

F64235?thread=8275024?thread=&skip=0&show=20

It's not actually another term for away with the fairies... but it could well be.

Awwww.


Just got my offer through email confirming salary etc.

Was just working out take-home pay with a PAYE calculator.

It does take some of the shine of when you crunch the numbers and see the take-home doesn't differ markedly from the benefit I received while unemployed.

Obviously it's better (the next paragraph is about pensions contribution - good; bonuses - good; share options - good) and there's being independent (at last!) etc etc.

Also on the spread sheet I'd accounted for my loans which at present obliterate most of my benefit anyway, so the experience isn't exactly comparable though the raw numbers might be.

I'm still ridiculously excited, I suppose this is just reality settling in a bit.

You enjoy the shine while it lasts

Honey, I get to work in the liquid nitrogen storage room.

This job is just too awesome to not love turning up every day!

I'll knit you some gloves!

We don't want your bits and bobs freezing off

Not a bad idea that!

That's your Christmas prezzie sorted!

Oooh Christmas, I get to decorate my own place!

You could have a paaaaaaaaaaarrrtttaayyy!! *hic*

I was wondering about a pumpkin-carving party for Halloween.
("Bring your own 'kin'")

However it is turning out Cambridge is expensive so to save money I'm looking at single rooms shared houses or bedsits. i.e quite tiny.

*giggles*

A pumpkin carving paaarrttaayyy?? That could be a bit messy, dahlink *hic*

A shared house might be okay, but a bedsit just might be a little too bijou for dancing around the

I wouldn't knock the idea though. It would be a great way of making friends with your new colleagues, and show them how good you are at carving pumpkins!


lil x

Well done, that Ostrich.

>>>crunch the numbers and see the take-home doesn't differ markedly from the benefit I received while unemployed.

Don't forget Working Tax Credit. It can possibly boost your earnings quite a bit for the first year.

Just ring HMRC to see if I can claim benefits I find references to "thresholds" but no indication what those might be....

Sneaking suspicion I might fall just on the wrong side of that line but i'll ask and see....

Ah - ve hav gud nooz...

According to the nice young man at the HMRC - I will be able to claim working tac credit, which as it is calculated on last year's income (which for me was job-seeker's allowance) which is so small as to be untaxable, so for tax (credit) purposes my income is treated as nought (£0) which means for the next 6 months (until April 2012) I'll get the full wtc benefit.

woo-hoo!

Great!

Just don't let them put you onto the emergency code of Mth 1/Week 1, or you will be paying tax immediately instead of accumulatively. It doesn't take long to sort out, once you've been notified of your coding.

*gets beer drinking boots ready* Out on the science park I guess, by the sound of it?

Housing in Cambridge is more expensive than most parts of London, I could*just* afford to sell my ex-council flat in Cambridge and buy a somewhat smaller place in London Soho... seriously... rent seems equally as rediculus Oh, and beer in Cambridge is more expensive than most parts of London too.. though there are a few exceptionally good paces for beer which I might just know

advice on finding decent housing urgently appreciated!

hmmm.... there really isn't much... asides getting a spare £400,000 to buy a 2 up 2 down terrace house... anything near/in Cambridge itself is seriously expensive, and it only really drops when your heading out of town a fair way, and even then some fo the small villages carry a hefty premium on price due to their being nice villages near the city...
InCambridge itself areas 'over the river' for some reason drop hugely in price, both Iguess to rent and to buy, and of course being a University town there's a lot of student type accomidation... Over the river, is kind of in Romsy (if that is spelt right), Chesterton is probably a bit cheaper (kind of district of the town, not really seperate from the city anymore)... Anything on, or near Mill road, or East road, is nice and central (Mill road isn't really*central as in city/town center, but its the bohemian kinda center, and has a few shops which one might actually like to go in, unlike the town center which is teh most generic town center in the country)... Depends how far out of the city/town you want to be, which may of course depend where your working, as the traffic here is terrible, a twenty minute walking distance to the rail station from mine, by road, in the 'morning rush hour', might easily take two or more hours were you to do it by car...
I've only really lived in a few places here, most were ten years or more ago now (I obught this place in 1999), I couldn't afford to buy anything in the town now, so lucky I got this place when Idid, its more than doubled in valvue, apparently in the time I've been here Try to not get a flat/house in Arburry (err however its spelt... that isn't a too nice an area at all ) *thinks* Just keep lookign on the web... rightmove.co.uk is useually fairly good (though of course other property and property rental sites exist)