If things get tougher?

katieowl_2

sammy_kaye18 wrote: »

Patchowrk - yeah Glyn was on big brother last year - he is from north wales though where its mroe predominantly spoken though. If you listne ot his accent it is totally different from asouth wales inhabitant (that so cant be the right word but you know what i mean) and then west wales accents are different again.


Katie - 'ive been to the bank, it is too hot?'

Daft thing is Im not actually welsh or even from Wales (i seem to pick up languages easily though), decided to learn it as my little boy was born in Wales and attends school here and dreaded the 'mum? can you help me with my homework please?' question. Luckily my sister in laws husband is fluent welsh so have a back up if necessary.

Mae'n bwrw glaw.

Stupid question too but anyone know why pet charges have gone up?? cant be becuase of the petrol etc surely? have my dog being neutered on 26th and was told the price will depend but its usually around £90 (with the painkilling injection etc) and yes he is insured, fully vaccinated etc but when I rang them yesterday to confirm and enquire abotu after care he'd need they said its going to be about £110 - £120. Im only neutering a jack russell!!!

Yes It was too hot yesterday....especially to about three miles to the bank and back! Living in London these days cracks me up. Centre of a world capital, and they close the local branch (at the end of the road) and nearest becomes a mile and a half walk away - and there's NO direct BUS! I'm resonably fit and healthy, but how is a little old dear supposed to manage!?

North Wales speak a slightly different Welsh our tutor said...he played us some CD's so we could hear the difference...it's much 'harder' more clipped.'
It is indeed 'Bwrw Glaw' I love the direct translation "Today she is throwing rain!" Made me remember!

Why are you having your boy dog neutered??? Unless there was a good reason, I think I might be inclined not to bother....We've only ever had our girls done.

Regards,


Kate

katieowl_2

sammy_kaye18 wrote: »

Tashja - we were promised a voucher when we adopted him from the dogs home he came from (they were workign with the NCDL) but it never came so god knows if it was even sent

We did ask at the PDSA but they said we are not on the right benefits to recieve any help. Sounds awful but we have only jsut gotten financially stable enough to be able to get him neutered and we've had him 3 years (he is almost 7) and thats only becaue my job offers us a pay out with its dividend as i am an employee so both me and bf agreed that he takes priority this time as there are no bills that need urgently paying unlike every other time - plus its not a case of being able to wait to have him done as he has a hernia on his stomach (hes always had it and regular checks show its not affecting him in any way) but id rahter get him sorted and know hes better rather than it causing him pain in the future and having to have more surgery

Ahh I just saw your later reply...Honesly Sammy - If it's only that you were supposed to get him done, and he's now seven and you aren't having any problems with him being 'entire' and it's not effecting his hernia - I'd save the little fellow the trouble, and save yourself the cash...The only reason that the rescue centers want dogs 'done' is so that they don't end up with more unwanted puppies....just promise yourself that you won't ever let him get out, and have his wicked way with one of the locals

We did get a contribution for our two - in fact I ended up getting a good deal, as we rescued two !!!!!es that needed to stay together, and my vet did both of them at the same time, and gave me a discount, threw in the micro chips, and one free set of injections, and then the rescue centre sent me a bit more than half - the bulk discount LOL! The vet had just seen me loose my 'special boy' so was feeling sorry for me I guess...plus he loves Staffies so was pleased that I'd rescued two, and I guess I am now a customer with TWO dogs...:rolleyes:

Regards

Kate

mardatha

Can I digress here and go back to when things get tougher , rising prices, fuel & heating costs etc ? Sorry to butt in Just been talking to my coalman ( ooh I have such an amazing social life )..he says coal is set to rise as well. We were talking about how far he travels on his rounds and how much it costs him in diesel etc.
I was wondering whether people think it's better to live in towns or cities , or away out in the wilds as I do. What are the advantages & disadvantages in hard times ??

katieowl_2

Spose it depends on your lifestyle....

I can see that if you grow all your own veg and don't want to go out much, being in the sticks could be an advantage...

Supposedly living in town you might have better access to supermarket 'bargains' and be able to save on transport - but I don't honestly think this is the case.... Fares being what they are, and even in London getting or doing 'stuff' is becoming more difficult. Certainly in the past casual work was supposed to be more easy to find in the city - as far as I can see that's a thing of the past!

I'd rather be 'in the wilds' than stuck here in London right now!

Regards

Kate

annscullamus

I live fairly remotely in the west of Scotland, and I think it is probably better. I shop once a month at Inverness Lidl/Farmfoods etc, and limit myself to a set amount. I almost always come in at, or just under. It is one lot of petrol, and it feels like a day out! Most folk seem to do that here, when a round trip to the 'big city' is 170 miles!
We collect wood from the surrounding area, there are no Macdonald's, or other fast food outlets, so no great spend on eating out - which I did much more when living in the South of England. People help out and donate bits and pieces they don't need to each other, and most households still do lots of home baking and eating a square meal every night.
It is not paradise, but a great deal easier to live a more simplified life. I have a stock pile for bad weather days, and my other car trips tend to be a mile into the nearest village for the odd pint of milk etc. I can live much more cheaply than I ever did before, and at a much slower pace.

Obviously there are no theatres, concert halls etc. but at the price of a ticket now - that is probably just as well. The price of fuel is approx 4p more a litre, but on a trip to Inverness I can fill up at the normal price and that usually lasts me until the next trip.

I can also get the train for £9 return with a Highland Railcard, which is astonishing - a much less than petrol if I am just wanting the city centre.
All told, I can live cheaper and more peacefully here.

mardatha

Ok Anns, I know Skye. I didn't dream that people would go to Inverness for groceries though !:) I sometimes envy people in here who have a huge choice of shops at hand , but then when I visit my son in Edinburgh I hate it.
One thing I find is that to save money you first need to spend it LOL and that means you have to have it ! To stock up and buy in bulk, to start off the garden, etc etc. City folk dont need to do that, at least.

annscullamus

Actually I did my monthly trip yesterday, which is what prompted me to answer! Made a day of it - lovely drive over, picnic in the car, then a shop followed by a bargain cinema daytime ticket at £5.70 to see the new Narnia film!

Home by 9pm, with a full load, and all for around £70, not including £12 Homebase vouchers, but INCLUDING £25 petrol. However there is just me and the dog, so I am not feeding the 5000!

I made the radical decision 9 years ago, and came here from a high flying job in LOndon, and I have never regretted it once. I visit my daughter and family 3 or 4 times a year, and I do have to go away to work sometimes, but even so I have enough work here to live comfortably - IF you no longer want to eat out 4 times a week and go to the opera/concerts/theatre. Now when I do go it is such a treat, but never worth sacrificing my slower and much cheaper lifestyle!

However, the pinch in Utilities is felt here as much as anywhere, I have to have LPG gas and it has gone through the roof. I am considering a wood burning stove for the kitchen so I can turn off the radiators in there and my room upstairs off the kitchen in winter. I have a young builder (ex student who also made the radical decision and then married a local girl!) who gets us lots of wood for the fires, and logs are only £30 per load here, when my daughter pays £80 for the same amount in Sussex. The gas will be on less, and I have a solarpanel for free hot water when the weather is good - and it has saved me around 30% over the years - we get such long light evenings in the summer. It is obviously useless in the dark winters - and please don't ask me about payback..................I made the choice to do it, from small savings, hoping for reduced bills, and that is what I get. If things get tougher it will affect us just as much I fear.

I am fully insulated,door curtains,thermal window curtains and fleecy dressing-gowned. The fires are the real boon, and I know they are 'inefficient', but every virtually house here has one, and when you walk in it is warm and friendly. The Forestry commission now sell a cheap license to pick wood up off the ground after they have massacred large tracts of pine woods, and that is a great deal.

No, I would not go back to town!

katieowl_2

annscullamus wrote: »

I am fully insulated,door curtains,thermal window curtains and fleecy dressing-gowned. The fires are the real boon, and I know they are 'inefficient', but every virtually house here has one, and when you walk in it is warm and friendly. The Forestry commission now sell a cheap license to pick wood up off the ground after they have massacred large tracts of pine woods, and that is a great deal.

No, I would not go back to town!

To he££ with inefficient! Using my original fireplaces is the ONLY way I've ever got this Victorian Terrace anything aproaching warm! Central heating was as good as useless...We had it disconnected when the gas fired Aga went in (not that I can afford to run that either at the moment) The HIPS guy (don't get me started) just about had a fit when he found out I didn't have central heating! He'd never seen an Aga before and rated me worse than a stone cottage in Wales we were looking at online.

Wood is a renewable resource too isn't it... so it's presuambly got some 'green' credentials?

Regards

kate

DdraigGoch

I have a treat coming up if I ever sell my house then, Kate! I run entirely on wood for heating. In our main room I have one fire and our room is 25 metres long by 6.5 meters wide by 4.5 metres tall, with two glass doors 3m wide by 4m tall. The fire keeps it nicely warm and we don't have central heating either. I'm contemplating fitting it - have bought the boiler already, but that's wood fired too! Our bedroom is unheated, but we're having a woodfired cooking range installed in the kitchen beneath our bedroom so that should bring some heat upstairs, even though these new double insulated chimneys are very well insulated and you get no heat out of them - doh! Hot water is heated at point of use via a Sadia multipoint heater or the shower itself. That does for us, but if the HIPS man ever catches up with me, we're probably dead in the water :rotfl:

DdraigGoch

but then, probably my version of "warm" isn't the Government's/HIPS man's idea of "warm" .....