Very, especially for payments to eg school for eg class photographs, cheap day-out type trips etc.
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School - ahā¦ Iām long done with that and never got round to producing any other little genii.
Other than school and perhaps tradesmen (sparks, brickies, chippies) or do they prefer brown envelopes?
Itās some years since UK s/mkts and filling stations stopped accepting cheques. What is the rationale, if any, for persisting with them?
It allows the shopkeeper time to enquire of the shopper about their health, holidays etc and then to enquire about the health and holidays of every other member of that personās family!
It is another world, frustrating at times but one we have chosen to live in for so many other reasons.
For us, a french person can arrive and give us a cheque for their rental and we are happy as we know itās a sure thing and will clear our account the next day. And their damage deposit just sits on the mantelpiece. It makes for a positive relationship from the start.
All other nationalities have to pay upfront, and give us the damage deposit in advance too or in cash, which they donāt like.
We donāt use cheques in supermarkets and so on, but for plumber, electrician, local classes, tourist tax, library, etc (the list is long) they remain useful here.
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I did receive a chq the other day. When I closed my Santander UK a/c I was told that any interest remaining would be paid thus. They didnāt do transfer for closed a/cs.
Chq duly arrived and went straight into la poubelle - Ā£0.20! The stamp to send it to my Lloyds bank would have cost four X as much.
I write 2 cheques each year, one for the chimney sweep and one for the fuel delivery. 
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Me too ! I also write one for the sweep, but my other cheque is for the chap that brings round potatoes, apples etc in the autumn. Not cheap, arguably a rip off but I buy a big sack of spuds every year because they are the best Iāve ever eaten.
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This got me thinkingā¦ (what else is there to do on a dreary day)ā¦
Throughout the year, we have events at the SdF and folk pay the entrance fee by cheque or cash and any performers/caterers etc will be paid by cheque by whichever association is in charge on the day.
The local school kids come around fund-raising with catalogues of stuff for sale ā¦and folk write a cheque ā¦
Local workforce ā¦ from tree-loppers to home-helpā¦ etc etcā¦all get paid by cheque.
In fact, I realise that there are many occasions when cheques change handsā¦ and this is just one village/commune.
I have been with Britline Normandy for 8 years, never had a single issue to complain about and believe me I do complain if things are not right. My only minor issue was the price of their house insurance, went with it for a year then changed to Allianz, saved about 90ā¬ a year.
App is very good, online banking has never failed yet (both problems I have encountered with Lloyds)
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I had the GAS some years ago with 2 fenders and a yamaha, until i realised 2 is company and 3 was a crowd, so the Yam went. Serenity returned with just the 2 Strats, ah dont you just love a G string now and again.
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Surprised to hear of the glitches with Lloyds. Atypical I believe. Iāve been with Lloyds for 55 years and the service has been getting better and better as time has gone along. I find the app, online banking and telephone c/s exemplary - all in a different league to Santander, for example.
Pleased to hear about your Britline experience. I shall sign up with them chop-chop, if theyāll have me.
How long do they keep?
Ages.
I share them with a friend, half each (we are both single person households).
I bought this current bag late November/early December and none of them have started sprouting yet.
Last year they had started sprouting before I finished them, I seem to remember I had to throw just one or two away but the rest were stil perfectly edible and it hadnāt spoilt the flavour. Might have been about 4 or 5 months? The man says they keep for 6 months but that would be pushing it I think.
Lloyds have had some system downtime recently, probably related to the issues that TSB encountered, they probably had the same core software (tsb hbos etc)
2 Strats? Wot! No Tele? Now thereās a hole to be filled. I have Tele GAS māself, a.t.mo. The Firefly range has a Tele Thinline that has amazed the world. Only available from AMZ.com and they wonāt ship to Europe.
And I have an irrational bout of GAS about having a guitar with āGibsonā on the headstock. I donāt even like the h/b sound. I had yet another go at liking it with an Ibanez AM53, which is a very cheap 338 clone but extremely well made. I turfed out the h/bs - the usual sound of mud - and fitted p90s, which do sound good - kinda meaty with some edge.
I just had a meeting with the estate agent to settle the price my flat is going to go on sale for. When it does sell there will be GAS and it will be followed by NGD. And it will be some species of Tele - but not one of those pointless non-Teles with h/bs.
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