Smile of the day - What is yours?

[Craig380]

New x-ring chain and sprox fitted. It's amazing how much smoother the bike is, and it feels more responsive too.

Got 43,000 miles out of the original factory chain & sprox though. Let's see how long the new DID and JT set lasts.

[Seeker]

That is some impressive mileage. I can't remember what new chain I had fitted but I suspect it won't last as long as the original since I've noticed that its tension varies slightly already as the wheel is rotated (in about 5k miles).

[Craig380]

The chain was quite worn, to be fair (it had stretched by 1%, or double Suzuki's recommended wear limit), although there was no visible damage or frozen links. The rear sprocket still looked good, the front sprocket had visible 'hooking'.

I probably ran them maybe 3-4,000 miles more than I should really have done, but I decided to just keep the chain clean and well-lubed to get it through to MOT time. However, the new chain set feels so good I wish I'd changed earlier ...

[garynortheast]

Phew!! Just....phew!

I'll expand on that later when I have more time.

[maviczap]

Sounds positive Gary

[garynortheast]

Right well I had this a few days ago which meant that a number of avenues to help would have been shut off to me, for example, help with rent and council tax. Generally without tax credits you are no longer eligible for this type of assistance.

Yesterday, a very nice woman from the housing dept phoned in her role as finance advisor to council tenants. She was less than pleased with the DWP for ruling me ineligible, so told me she would phone me back after doing some research into the issue of rent and council tax. She called me back this morning to say that she had managed to secure full support for both items as I am on such a low income. She also emailed me a number of links to further assistance for which she thinks I would qualify, and urged me to follow them up.

We had a great conversation about what was available by way of help, and then discovered that we are both runners. She has a dog as well and was very interested in the idea of canicross! She went off after talking with me, to look up the subject with a view to giving it a try.

I have to say (again!) just how kind, and incredibly helpful are all the people I've dealt with at the council housing department here in Powys. I really couldn't have asked for better.

By way of a qualifying statement, I have to say also, that I would really rather not be in this position of having to claim stuff like housing benefit/council tax assistance, but I am at a loss to know how else to deal with the situation in which I find myself.

[admin]

Originally Posted by garynortheast

Right well I had this a few days ago which meant that a number of avenues to help would have been shut off to me, for example, help with rent and council tax. Generally without tax credits you are no longer eligible for this type of assistance.



Yesterday, a very nice woman from the housing dept phoned in her role as finance advisor to council tenants. She was less than pleased with the DWP for ruling me ineligible, so told me she would phone me back after doing some research into the issue of rent and council tax. She called me back this morning to say that she had managed to secure full support for both items as I am on such a low income. She also emailed me a number of links to further assistance for which she thinks I would qualify, and urged me to follow them up.



We had a great conversation about what was available by way of help, and then discovered that we are both runners. She has a dog as well and was very interested in the idea of canicross! She went off after talking with me, to look up the subject with a view to giving it a try.



I have to say (again!) just how kind, and incredibly helpful are all the people I've dealt with at the council housing department here in Powys. I really couldn't have asked for better.



By way of a qualifying statement, I have to say also, that I would really rather not be in this position of having to claim stuff like housing benefit/council tax assistance, but I am at a loss to know how else to deal with the situation in which I find myself.

That's a great outcome Gary.

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[garynortheast]

It gets even odder now John. Just had a letter today from the DWP telling me they "have located a private pension that I may have some entitlement from" (sic). It's apparently with.......Powys County Council!

I do recall doing some work for them in a couple of different guises in the 90s so I can only imagine it's from that. I'll phone them on Monday and see what it's about.

[Craig380]

How strange! Great news about the credits, though.

[garynortheast]

It's turning into a bit of a soap opera Craig!