If things get tougher?

fedupfreda

ceridwen wrote: »

I do understand why people "bury their heads in the sand" - it IS scarey taking a good hard look at things face-on. But stuff doesnt go away just because you don't deal with it - dealing with whatever-it-is in life in any context ensures a better outcome than just sitting there HOPING for a good outcome.

I totally agree - which is why I joined MSE in the first place - not having any faith in Government (of any political party) to sort things out - IMO there are just too many vested interests.

Ultimately what happens to us will be down to us. Which is why I took the decision to live as self-reliantly as possible - but then I suspect I am far from the only one!;)

sandraroffey

where i live we are plagued every winter with power cuts and i have been despareately trying to get hold of a 2 ring camping gaz cooker. i used to have one but it finally gave up years ago. has to be cheap of course and the camping shop ones seem to be quite a lot. have tried freecycle. any ideas?? they are really useful to have around.

ALIBOBSY

only way to put off cats which really works is to get your own cat. Your own cat wont foul its own area and the others stop spraying in another cats territory. They tend to spray the boundary between their territories.
Cats dont like water so you could try the old hose/bucket of water action if you see any spraying in your garden (my uncle had some success with this) but much easier and kinder to get a cat yourself. Even my uncle gave up and got a cat lol.
We never even saw another cat on our garden when we had our Jilly (sadly missed for 2 years in dec).
Only other option is a dog in your garden, that will keep em out. We have 2 neighbours with dogs and despite not having any dogs or cats now ourselves still rarely see a cat on our garden.
ali x

mummysaver

aurorahelios wrote: »

I'm intrigued, do you have a link so I can see what it looks like please.

I've known a couple of people who have bought the electronic cat repellent things to find they don't work. It seems to work initially and then the cats get used to it and carry on as normal.

I think you're right, my neighbours on one side have one, and my cats often go and bask in the sun on their patio table! Thankfully my cats and dog ensure that I don't get other cats in my garden, that's the only solution that seems foolproof! Guess it helps that mine prefer to come indoors to use the litter tray as well, so no nasty surprises when I stick my hand in the ground, well other than the slugs! :rolleyes:

mummysaver

BigMummaF wrote: »

I posted earlier on the Grocery Challenge, that I suspect the current absurdly-high price cuts are merely a ruse. The example I gave was:-
A jar of Fudgit Budget curry sauce..Oct 18th cost 4p. On Nov 1st, the price was 26p, then the shops announce Price Cuts! & the price "drops" to 20p, thus producing 16p profit on the original item but us mugs tugging our forelocks in gratitude that we've 'saved' 6p :mad:
The worrying thing is--this is legal practise & goes on ALL the time!

Oh this drives me insane, I'm just so fed up seeing it happen on fairly basic products, like tomatoes or baked beans. Though on the positive side, despite mysupermarket showing Mr T's toms at 30 something pence, I found them in the little one near me still labelled at 21p, and they went through the till at that price, so assume that they must have a different barcode on the old tins or something, anyway, I bought a couple of trays, not quite as mad as it sounds as we use a lot of them!

Value pasta had gone up to 39p in Asda on Sunday, I'm sure it used to be 19p - slightly high increase surely? Though they are still doing trays of 15 free range eggs for £2.00, so swings and roundabouts I suppose.

Anyway thank heavens for the os board and this thread as well, I think most of my friends are fed up hearing me go on about food prices! Yet they all moan that their food bills are going up, but they don't seem to think about why! :rolleyes:

rosieben

sandraroffey wrote: »

where i live we are plagued every winter with power cuts and i have been despareately trying to get hold of a 2 ring camping gaz cooker. i used to have one but it finally gave up years ago. has to be cheap of course and the camping shop ones seem to be quite a lot. have tried freecycle. any ideas?? they are really useful to have around.

I have a 2-burner like this one which my bil got from a local hardware store.
there's another one here; Argos also sell them as you know, and maybe worth trying any local camping store. They are a bit expensive but worth every penny in an emergency

FairyElephant_2

Don't bother with the sonic-cat-repellant things - they do not work on cats but drive some humans mad!

Our elderly neighbours got one to keep cats (mainly our LO I think) off their garden - guess what - the cat takes no notice but the noise drives US (especially the DSK's) round the bend! It has almost caused a major falling out with the neighbours, as they are both a little hard of hearing and can't hear it, they think we are making it up! ("Oh but the packaging says that humans can't hear it!") - it ruined the few nice days we had last summer as we couldn't sit in the garden due to the noise, asnd had the eldest DSS threatening a night-time sortie over the wall to sabotage the darned thing!

So please stay on good terms with your neighbours and use another method to repel cats from your garden!
Squirting water works best, and I found that my cat doesn't like citrus smells, so putting orange/lemon peel round plants I want her to avoid seems to do the trick.

Unfortunately, even though I left a bare patch of dug earth for our cat, they will 'go' where they want to, not where we would prefer them to (mine now decided she prefers my raised border......)

calleyw

Charis wrote: »

Ceridwen, I noticed your sig today about Britain only being able to feed 17 million. Have you read this page, written about a year ago, entitled Can Britain Feed Itself? http://transitionculture.org/2007/12/20/can-britain-feed-itself/

They reckon this country is 9 meals from anarchy see here

So after 3 days of no supplies the country there will be chaos.

Yours


Calley.

dorry_2

cats rarely venture into our garden, they won't go anywhere near our dog:D

elona

DDs have been watching episodes of "Are you being served!" and last night I noticed comments in them like the transport strike, fuel shortages, rolling blackouts, price of candles etc. All of them were actually happening at the time.

It all went over DD's heads as they they have only experienced the odd power cut for an hour or so.

When I tell them about bread shortages, sugar,salt and coffee shortages etc they think I am making it up.

I actually remember working as a civil servant with my coat on in the office and working by the light of a single candle- that was in the 70's!