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Anyone here drive a Skoda Kodiak? It has good reviews online so more interested in any major issues people may have had.

On average, what is a price of a new kitchen back home these days? How much installation on average?

What companies did people go with?

My advice would be to seek out a good joiner, pick your kitchen, and they should be able to source the units etc from a couple of wholesalers for a much better price. Obviously, if you're a big hitter, which you are, the stone worktops and boiling / fizzy water taps will cost you 😁

We got a new kitchen 2/3 years ago and that's what we did, got a joiner who specialises in kitchens, there's one place (think it's in Derry) that provides your kitchen doors, he'd a  brochure and she picked the doors, he then gutted the kitchen, I took up the existing tiles, saved a couple of hundred but wouldn't bother as it was a bitta effort, he also took the wall down off a back room that extended the kitchen, he provided the sparks and plumber, paid them separately but they all were there on time and good job.

He's done 4 houses in our street, currently across the street at a neighbours now. He's a perfectionist and did a great job.

I'd say we saved thousands rather than going to a kitchen showroom and paying them..

Definitely big savings to be had.. If I mind right, one of the suppliers is Derry and the other is in Dungannon

Cookstown Panel Centre are a big supplier.

We actually did a mini Kitchen revival 2 years ago where you keep your current structures but take the doors off for repainting and it all gets resprayed in the kitchen too, put in a new cooker, sink & taps and a couple of other footery things and it was an excellent job (separate retiling job of the floor too), looks like a brand new kitchen. Couple of outfits around Armagh area that do that type of work.

Benny are these

We actually did a mini Kitchen revival 2 years ago where you keep your current structures but take the doors off for repainting and it all gets resprayed in the kitchen too, put in a new cooker, sink & taps and a couple of other footery things and it was an excellent job (separate retiling job of the floor too), looks like a brand new kitchen. Couple of outfits around Armagh area that do that type of work.

Benny PM me the details for those people round Armagh please.

I know one fella who does it but he's hard to get and he says there a lot of painter and decorators doing it but they're not using the right type of paints to make it hard-wearing and he has been called in to redo jobs.

Kyle Walker could be heading out of Manchester City. He has asked for a move abroad.

I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't go to Saudi Arabia considering some of the bills he has landed on himself running 2 families!

[Mna]

Mna City are back! 

City  missed a trick there , not calling the  women's team that 

Fir sure.

I like to see what Gregory Campbell has brought to his constituency in his whole time elected there. Ballymoney main street, totally run down, nothing of note workwise brought into the area. A total dinosaur from the past, and the fact this **** still gets voted in, says alot about the general unionist population in the area.

As much as I hate Gregory Campbell would Ian Paisley (now Jim Allister) not have been the MP for Ballymoney?

Correct I believe. Flegory is East Derry and Ballymoney is N. Antrim.

Think we could all end up paying for this with a hike in insurance premiums.

Is it true about a lot of people in LA that their Insurance Policies were cancelled about 4 months ago?

Not sure about that but I'd say there will be large numbers with no policies as a lot of the big hitters either exited the California market entirely, or didn't renew thousands of policies over the last couple of years, to limit their exposure. It's been clear over the last few years with increasing numbers of these fires that something big was coming and insurers aren't stupid.

In other DUP news, despite half a million people waiting to see a consultant, Gregory Campbell MP has intervened to reduce the amount of GAA content on a UU video. Well done Gregory.

https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/education/this-shouldnt-have-happened-in-the-first-place-dup-mp-complaints-about-excessive-gaa-branding-prompt-university-to-change-campaign/a2089785990.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawHvNsRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHafta1ARobUdjxlKBtSFGYV6EgQtnFOFDmtgo1jvmul985GdVofn7-5LIA_aem_Igv2KZz5UnBZvnlI-3G__g

It was squeaky bum time for him last time to get re elected after a few years not being his usual bigoted self so he must feel he has to resort back to these silly attacks to win back voters

That's about the height of it.  Rise up the knuckledragging bigoted voters  by  throwing a wobbler about something related to  the GAA  , the Irish language  or  a banned orange March 

Retaining their seat, and their cushy  salary, that's what it's all  about.  The likes of him will say or do  anything to  hold onto that

Maybe a Lord's gig later at £350 a day plus expenses.

What a day for these Accrington Stanlry players.

JC that is absolutely those clubs that I would be advocating for some level of support.

This is what I think the county should be looking at as opposed to throwing crazy money at the top of the tree that will have limited impact.

Support the middle tier teams to bridge the gap and help the lower tier teams to become more stable within the leagues.

As Faughs says it's very much a numbers game though, if you don't have the numbers that's a big gap to bridge, so get those GDO's into the local primary schools around these clubs and build that relationship and bond with the kids and club as like ourselves we don't have the people to go in there for us other than one retired lad (whose as grumpy as fúck at times  ) and the new "participation" GDO in there once a week which is a start.

The likes of Carey dont even have a primary school I believe and numbers are well down in many other parish schools. Many of these 2nd tier clubs may have generational success, Cushendun in the 90s being a prime example, but without numbers within your own parish at grassroots there is no conveyor belt and continuing in the lower divisons or amalgamations are the only options left available.

How many parents would happily send their kids to their local secondary school?

Going comprehensive will bring the levels to England levels

In theory should be no difference in a properly streamed school. In my local grammar school that my 2 eldest attend/attended the standard of teaching in many (not all) subjects is notoriously poor and external tutors are making an absolute killing because of it. However, they get away with it for the reasons someone mentioned earlier i.e. they feel they don't have to do much as the kids should be able to do it themselves. The missus says there is a difference between teaching and just delivering information.

Many of the teachers are missing from class during the week even at GCSE and A Level as they are out with sports teams. They also take morning gym and take teams on a Saturday so I wonder myself could I be arsed setting a load of homework when I'm running from pillar to post all week.

The lack of consistency for essentially the same goal is baffling.

Mel Gibson and Ed Harris added to that list.

Every school has good teachers and bad teachers. The biggest problem is nothing gets done about the bad ones. Same across the public sector - with banding you can do f**k all every day and/or play the sickness game for 6 months and your pay packet will be the same as someone who is diligent in their work.

Do you have to pay to go to those "grammar schools"?

No, there were some prep schools that allowed you to go to at primary level which gave you entry to that grammar that it was associated too

The big prep schools aren't free. Inchmarlo, Campbell, Victoria College etc. are all about 5 grand a year.

The problem with CCMS, and I had dealings with them, they shortsighted. They rather see a school close than become integrated, that doesnt make sense. Worse run is DE, I can't get over how badly it's run, and I not get started about my own outfit EA.

The worst decision the DE made was rationalising the five education & library boards into the EA. It is a complete shitshow ! It is similar to the supercouncils costing just as much as old system!

Rationalisation in the public sector rarely means a reduction in overheads and/or an increase in productivity. I have a brother in law who works in the EA and he wonders how many of them put the day in.