Live on £4,000 for a year - 2009, Part 3

Vixstar

Thanks Bails your enthusiasm has helped confirm in my mind that Marrakech is a good choice.

SFT_2

:hello:Hello from Panama! Using my alias SFT as on different computer, Mr SFT had genius idea of taking his small laptop and using free WiFi in some of the hotels. The one we are in at the moment does! How frugal, you would be proud of us.

Well just a bit of news. We checked in at Heathrow at 4.20am and arrived in Panama 24hour later (via Madrid, via Guatemala City). Absolutely exhausted. Our hotel room is no palace but functional and at £25 per night you cannot complain. We are about 6 blocks away from the Pacific ocean.
Today we started with a cheap but substainal breakfast and then took in the sites of the city (ruins of the old city, the beautiful crumbling colonial houses and the sky scrapers of the business district). Really excited about the birdlife. Seen pelicans, egrets and eagles already. This afternoon -after a delicious leisurely lunch with a bottle of Balboa (one of the national beers) we went to the Miraflores lock of the Panama Canal. Saw a huge container ship pass through and visited the museum. At the top of the museum were amazing views of vessels stretching up to the Gatun lake. Tonight we are going to a restaurant called the Green House!
Food budget is about right so far, managed to save $10 of it so far.
Tomorrow we head out of Panama city on a local bus to the town of Boquete in the north - 6 hours! :eek: I'm expecting to see some locals on the bus holding goats and chickens. Great photo opportunity but I can't post any on my blog until I get back. Sorry!
We are not sure about visiting Honduras due to the Coup. The military are staking out the airport as the president threatened to come back. If not we may go to El Salvador instead.
Have not had the chance to read many posts so I do hope everyone is well and I miss you all already.

Naughty, naughty Vixstar-You should be in bed. I thought I might be just in time for Nyk getting up. Its 6pm here.

Take care all

sft

grandma247

Good to hear you got there safely sft. Have a great time.

SFT_2

Thanks Grandma! Hope the update had some MS in it!
sft

cw18

Sounds like you're having a fabulous time SFT - hope you enjoy the bus journey :rolleyes2





Have had to go back to the out-of-hours vet The sedative had clearly kicked in around her rump, and she had no idea what her bowels were/weren't doing - nor the strength to lift her rump up off the floor (sorry if TMI !). That in itself didn't concern me too much as I knew the injection had a sedative in it. But she was crying all the time, and I've never heard her cry before -- not even for her last owners when she moved in with us in March 2007. Phoned the animal hospital for advice, which - as I suspected it would be - was to take her back. Was also told that officially I should be charged another consultation fee (but they'd speak to the vet about it as I'd only been home a couple of hours, so it was clearly linked to the earlier visit) and that they'd probably want to keep her in overnight (like I could afford that!)

The sedation had clearly partially kicked in as didn't need her muzle this time while the vet checked her over again.... She hates seeing a vet and usually tries to remove their fingers!!! As such - and for when I do her claws - I have a muzzle at home I take with me, much to the amusement of tonights chap He then gave me two options - one being to leave her overnight (they'd adminster another small dose of the sedative, and then keep it topped up over night at a level she was comfortable at.), and the other being to give her a stronger dose that would probably knock her out all night and I could bring her home (on the proviso that if I have any more concerns I'm straight back up there).

Opted for the cheaper option of bring her home, and mentioned I'd struggle to collect her tomorrow as my car is booked in for service/MOT. I don't know what time they normally discharge patients as he asked what time I had to drop it off, but on being told 8am that was clearly too early for him. He did ask if I would still be able to get her to my registered vet if we have any issues tomorrow, and was happy to let her come back when I said I can walk it there (even carrying her) in less than 5 minutes

The good news is that not only did he waive the consultation fee, he also didn't charge for the second injection

The bad news is that - mainly due to her still being disoriented after the sedative, but also due to the uncharacteristic crying - he thinks it's probably a problem with her brain (he likened it to senile dementia)

By the time I got home she was flat out, and still is. Off to check up on her again in a couple of minutes, as I figure she's better in 'her' room that she knows her way around/the smells of if/when she wakes up -- rather than in a room she rarely has open access to so I can watch over her..... and it also means she has the dimly lit and quiet space the vet said to give her. Just wish I knew where my baby alarm was.......

taka

Vixstar wrote: »

Bails is there anywhere you'd recommend we visit whilst in Marrakech?

bails wrote: »

Vixstar, my advice would be get lost in the medinas, soak up the full atmosphere of it all and have a laugh with the locals rather than be intimidated by them (I found everyone lovely). Take time to visit one of the rooftop cafes in the main square - we love the one which has the mosque on the left hand side of the square, can't remember the name of it just now(next to CTM Hotel). The Jardin Marjorelle is supposed to be nice. If you have time, you could take a day trip out to Stti Fadma which gets you into the hills and will be much cooler, where you can walk up to the Seven Waterfalls. You'd be much better off buying souvenirs out of town at places like this and make sure you haggle or they'll be offended! It can be quite a drawn out process involving a pad with a line down the middle - he writes his starting price then you take the pad and write your price on the opposite side. He'll then cross out his first price and give you a new one, you do the same and so on until you reach an agreement. Start low! You'll get mint tea while you do this.:D If I think of other things, I'll let you know.

CW- I hope your Yorkie gets better soon. That sounds horrible... ((((hugs))))

Vixstar - I second the fact that Marrakech is absolutely fab! We got sooooo lost in the Medina (couldn't find our Riad again after the 1st full day of wandering around as it was in the maze of the medina and not accessable by taxi!) :eek: :rotfl: We wandered round the Saadian Tombs, El Badi Palace, Ben Youssef Medersa, Marrakesh Museum, Almoravid Koubba and the Jardin Majorelle is definitely worth a visit too (its wonderfully cool and watery if nothing else)! I think we went to another museum but I can't remember which one it was... We had a meal and watched the sun setting over Djemma el Fna from approx 31.625376,-7.988155 (look it up on google maps). I can't remember what the cafe/restaurant was called but it had a lovely view and I keep recognising the balcony terrace bit in various films (eg one of the early scenes in Mama Mia where bill is on a bike after getting his invite to the wedding and a rather depressing film called Rendition about CIA torture etc in "north africa". Various outside bits were filmed in Marrakech -the palace was used as the "prison" outside shots). It was may when we went and should have been coolish but was 40degC at teatime when we arrived. :eek: Enjoy!

SFT - :hello: Lovely to hear from you! You sound like your enjoying yourselves so far!

Frugaldom

Good morning everyone

SFT, glad you're having a great time, your posts are showing up as just after midnight, so you must be 6 hours behind (or is that 18 hours ahead? :rotfl:) I'm seriously hoping you get piccies of people on buses with chickens and goats! Can't wait to see the blog once it's updated.

CW, hope your little dog improves soon, it's never a nice thing to see any animal fitting.

Dry here this morning, although a bit overcast. It's a little quieter out there with no Mr White trundling up and down outside Captain Beaky's run whilst cockadoodledoo-ing until he's hoarse. Neighbour came and collected him yesterday.

Have now been in contact with SM - let's just say we live on different wavelengths at the moment, but I'll soon get her trained up into our country bumpkin, rural 'northern' ways. :rotfl: I'm oblivious to the toonie ways, have never had any need for them, so they need to be explained several times over for me to remember the main differences.

In defence of vets, they are not all out to rip you off (although they can charge what they like, drugs mark up, I think, is still unregulated). It's a very, very expensive industry that requires highly qualified and dedicated professionals to be at the public's beck and call 24/7 every week of every year. They are under constant pressure to extend their studies, are constantly researching and can work very long hours that go unseen to the surgery clients during consultation times. They also have massive overheads, insurance costs, animal nurses to pay, plus the admin staff and constantly turning over stock with a short shelf-life. If it costs a few hundred pounds for some emergency treatment which, I might add, is given there and then with immediate follow up treatment and no waiting lists, then what's a few hundred pounds over the lifetime of a pet? At the end of the day, pets cost money, they are a luxury item. Rant over, sorry.

Day 1 of my newest challenge!
Today is the start of my nine-week C25K programme in a bid to step up my 'get fitter, not fatter' project. I'm very fortunate in that we have a readymade 5km route right here on the farmland around us. Friend's joining me later for 'Workout 1', which is listed as a brisk 5 min warmup walk followed by alternating between 60 seconds jogging and 90 seconds walking for 20 minutes. It's a nice easy start with a total of 3 workouts per week over a period of 9 weeks. Each week, the time & distance extends until, by the end of week 9, you can warmup and then do the 5km run without even thinking about it. That's the theory, anyway. I guess it'll depend on how well my creaking joints hold up to the running. :rolleyes: I'll still be going the evening walks most nights, I'm determined to shift all the weight gained on over eating since quitting smoking.

Is anyone else still doing the 'get fitter, not fatter' challenge and does anyone else fancy giving this a go? It's FREE, you just print the workouts and download your personal training schedule thingey. Or are you all going to make me switch to a different site for C25K chat? :rotfl:

Frugaldom

Buzzbox wrote: »

At least you now will have SM as a neighbour through the bitter cold and to come up with more frugal ideas to keep warm! On that note, what vegetables are good for growing during winter?

I am now officially part of the local LETS group, looks interesting so far, can not wait to get my username details to see what the folks around me has on offer so I can expand my skill set.

:beer: Congratulations on joining LETS! I'm going to another LETS meet in a couple of weeks, but wish our group would hurry up and get online! We're a bit behind the times and have to rely on old-fashioned printed paper for contact details and the occasional email to pass on to those without Internet access. Re the veggie growing, cabbages, leeks, turnips seem to be OK but I'm still researching the possibilities. I have some turnip and onion seedlings almost ready to go out into the raised bed as soon as I life my disasterous potato crop that the slugs infested! :mad: I knew I should have left the chickens to it rather than fence off the potatoes! Chicks would have devoured the slugs!

I am hoping SM will be here for winter with a whole bunch of frugal warming ideas. On this side of the fence, we still haven't finished flooring all our loft, which is insulated, but more flooring may help a bit more (especially for storage), nor has the problem of no heater in the kitchen been resolved. (Mental note - cook more!) I made a couple of draught excluders last year and have a heavy curtain for hanging across the front door in winter. Wood store is full, coal bunker full, garage filling up with cones & sticks, I just need to get organised with heavier curtains for the other rooms. The house is double glazed, so that helps, and it isn't anywhere near as drafty as the last one. This is a bungalow, as opposed to a 3 storey chill tower, so not as much height to gobble the heat.

cw18

nykmedia wrote: »

CW, hope your little dog improves soon, it's never a nice thing to see any animal fitting.

No it wasn't, but she seems a little more "with it" this morning apart from the sudden and unexpected 'sits' as she's pottering around the hall/kitchen :rolleyes2

I, on the other hand, am totally shattered !! The second injection that was meant to knock her out for the night lasted all of 2 hours...... and I've had her crying at me from then until it was almost time to get up this morning, so very broken sleep for me It's just like having a poorly baby again

In defence of vets, they are not all out to rip you off (although they can charge what they like, drugs mark up, I think, is still unregulated). It's a very, very expensive industry that requires highly qualified and dedicated professionals to be at the public's beck and call 24/7 every week of every year.

DD was horrified about the consultation fee when I told her this morning what I'd had to pay, but I said to her that they're paying the staff and the running costs of the place even if they have very quiet nights/weekends - so they have to get the money for that from somewhere and I can understand the charge. I think the problem is that I'm spoiled by my normal vets - my SIL says they're cheap, and even then they often discount my bills 'cos they know things are tight at home, both dogs are 'rescue' dogs, and that I'd never leave them in discomfort.

I certainly seem to get preferential treatment, as I took the Yorkie down with something on a Friday that the receptionist didn't think would class as 'urgent' to get an appt before the Monday. But she went to speak to the vet (who was on his lunch break) and came back to inform me he'd see her as soon as he'd finished eating - so before afternoon surgery officially started. And he still didn't charge anything extra for seeing her The receptionist seemed stunned, but I've yet to take a dog in because I'm worried without the vet agreeing there's something wrong - so I guess they know it's unlikely I'm wasting their time

I don't know if it's still the case, but I remember being told as a child it took longer to qualify as a vet than a doctor !!!!!

Day 1 of my newest challenge!
Today is the start of my nine-week C25K programme in a bid to step up my 'get fitter, not fatter' project.

Is anyone else still doing the 'get fitter, not fatter' challenge and does anyone else fancy giving this a go? It's FREE, you just print the workouts and download your personal training schedule thingey. Or are you all going to make me switch to a different site for C25K chat? :rotfl:

Had a very quick look at this yesterday (before the dog decided to take up all my time ), but need to go back and see if I can adapt this for me. I'm not supposed to run (certainly not more than the last few yards as the bus heads up to my stop) due to my back, but do need to increase my exercise because of my cholesterol I made the mistake of doing the "Mother's Race" at elder GDs sports day, and really suffered for it the next day :eek: I guess I need to build up my walking first, and then start to introduce anything else at a much slower pace than they seem to be working on, so would probably take me more like 9 months than 9 weeks to get to the 5k run :rolleyes2

BigMummaF

cw18 wrote: »

In my eyes the moral support is the most important/effective.

Financial help (whilst useful, especially when you find yourself in a tight hole with little/no notice) is great as a "quick" fix.

Physical help is often only available short-term - and it can be too easy to start to rely on it/take it for granted which can cause ill-feeling (one reason I'm insisting DD start to contibute towards the costs of me looking after my GDs).

But I find it's the moral support that keeps me going and teaches me how to manage in the long-term

I fully agree with this statement..it's the reason I read this thread every day. I'm still not sure how the 'money neutral' thing works & am far too much of a computer coward :huh: to attempt match-betting & cash-back, but you lot have got me seriously looking at my finances.
I would love to visit some friends who are 800+miles from here so need to find--for me--mega amounts of cash. I've looked at coach & rail fares, but now I'm wondering if the initial outlay for my first ever passport might not actually give me a saving in the long term. With no real hankering to travel abroad, a cheapie internal flight would not be an option as I've had no reason to update to a photo-driving licence either. See what you've done to me! :rotfl:
As for pets & vets, I do wish I'd stayed strong & told the offspring they could do as they please when they have their own homes :cool: No1 initially wanted a sssssnake *_pale_shudders just TYPING the word* but thankfully agreed to a (vegetarian!) iguana whose almost five & the other two wanted Pooch now two. I love them both dearly--the pets that is, not the kids--& can't imagine them not being here. In the same vein, I've already said that when the time comes, NOTHING else is moving in here. For one thing, I'm a big softie who adores the cuddles & loves but cannot bear to see the pain, but the cost of keeping them in an appropriate manner is just too much of a luxury for our incomes
What is that saying about knowing then what I know now