Preparing for winter II

Confuzzled

skintbint wrote: »

had to laugh at the post bus - i too lived in the country and the postie used to do the glens all the way up to the spittal of Glenshee and mentioned the post bus to someone where i live now and they wouldnt believe me, now sadly i believe due to insurance they no longer provide the service and i think there is only one service bus a week!

when i lived on skye there was a post bus for some of the most remote areas, mind you it's been many many years since i lived there so i don't know if they still do it

they also used to have the regular bus drivers deliver packages! i'm not sure how the fares worked out for that but many a time the seat behind the driver was occupied by large parcels all very practical, and a great idea in my mind. there are places on skye that are 70+ miles from the bridge believe you me you do NOT want to miss a parcel (even if you only had to go into portree to get it you could still be 50 miles away from that! :eek:) .

island life is so different, rather than miss parcels we left our back door open, or if it was bad weather we'd leave a key hidden in the shed for the postie, he knew where is was and would let himself in (occassionally he'd have a cup of tea and use our loo too, all oked by us) and then he'd put the key back and be on his way. the weather was too poor to leave parcels in the shed and with only a snib type lock to keep the door shut we couldn't leave it unlocked or the gales would blow in the kitchen. so quaint, and quite lovely to have that level of trust, wouldn't trust my posties here with that one though :rotfl:

Confuzzled

tugrin wrote: »

D'you know the more I think about it. the more I'm cinvinced I have been ever so slightly taken for a ride by the sweep -£50 for slightly less than half an hours work rather
Asks self - shall I retrain - how about chimney sweep and lawn mower reapairs????

goodness gracious! now i realise it's been nearly a decade since i've had a chimney swept but it was only £12 to have it done when i did and that was on skye where they kinda had you over a barrel, not too many people on skye to do it none willing to travel to do it!

i would have thought £25 mind you i don't know how remote you are... you may want to do some asking around with the neighbours and some google searches for next time or, as you said, maybe retrain for the job!

seriously though, i found it difficult to book a sweep at all on skye they are always so busy, or at least at the time of year everyone thinks to do it, might be good to have another sideline for warmer months. but with so many people now using open fires to supplement heat since gas/electric prices are so high the sweeps job may be on the rise again, it could certainly earn you a few bob for extras , i don't think the brushes themselves are all that pricey, so with the knowledge and a big ladder (and swallow any fear of heights) you could do well!

annie123

tugrin wrote: »

I'm cinvinced I have been ever so slightly taken for a ride by the sweep -£50 for slightly less than half an hours work -

I last paid £70 for a sweep here in London and that was a few years ago, after that DH bought some brushes from B and Q for £12.
Does it every year, does make a bit more mess than the sweep did mind but better that than those prices.
And the rods double as drain clearing rods...different end attachment, so no more blocked drain problems would need to be paid for.
Best £12 we've ever spent

just had a look and they're on special at £19.98 cant get a link to work but search b and q with the following:

Drain Chimney Rod Set T69100

hth

or we could go back to sending small children up there but add a modern touch.. microfibre cloth and some vinegar but that may be TOO oldstyle;)

Alwaysthebusybee

Hello All,

Been a while since I have had chance to read - I suspect once DH goes on nights my laptop will come to bed with me to catch up

I have made some preparations thanks to everyones own list which I have adapted to myself

I have 48 toilet rolls in - which I will continue to stock up on whilst they are on offer anyway. I now have a buffer of cat litter, however I do need to find another storage place as I am running out - DH said he will put me some shelving up in what used to be our coal shed

Pennies have run out this month but I have a list of food items to stock up on and my car box list which I will add to. I have 2 fleeces for the sofa but decided against lining the curtains as my blinds slide nicely down the back of them meaning most of the heat will come out anyway curtains won't be closed unless it is really draughty

It is very nippy where I am and I find that the heating on an hour a night heats it through nicely - not to mention DH has stopped having the ceiling fan on because he is cold :eek: A lady in our street tried her heating and it didn't work needless to say it is better to give a quick blast just to make sure all is ok!!

I am finding that a lot of shops still have the garden furniture in and nothing for winter Haven't found any grit yet Will keep searching!!

Busybee x

ZsaZsa

Red_Doe wrote: »

My front (only!) door is one of those PVU (?) affairs, in a rented property. Does anyone know of an easy and cheap way to put a door curtain up without having to drill holes etc? It's got a large glass window and the cold that seeps through that in winter is awful.

We've had exactly the same problem. Have hung a telescopic shower curtain rail with cheap tab top curtains. I havent lined the curtains, as Im not sure how much weight it would take, but its been up a couple of weeks with no probs and its definitely keeping the draughts out

oldtractor

bamboo canes are good for hanging curtains. cheap to buy and fairly strong. they come in various lenghts too.

Rainy-Days

My John Lewis flannelette sheets arrived this morning just before leaving for work - how good was that - they are lovely. I put them on in the wash and have hung them out on the line to dry when I got home. Been to Sainsbury's as I had a £12.00 off a £60.00 shop so I have stocked up on Lloyd Grossman curry sauces (they keep and we love them) and a few more things for the freezer. Sainsbury's currently have the Fairy washing powder on offer for £10.00 (80 wash big box) down from £20.00 so added that and as I say it was £12.00 off at the till.

Tugrin - you haven't offended me - it takes allot to do that

rising_from_the_ashes

tugrin wrote: »

Sorry last cooment promise - I have been teaching 30 years = even if I only went in at 9 and left a 3.15 it would not be £25 ph maybe if I was a deputy head it would be.

I would rather not have done this "in public" which is why I sent the PM, however, now that it has been "aired", I must also make a last comment:

Teachers here with 5 years experience are paid about £25 / hr:

£34,200 / 1365 hr = £25.05 / hr (35 hr x 39 wk = 1365 hr)

These are "normal" teachers - PTs, DHTs and HTs are paid more (some considerably). I have no idea what teachers in other parts of the UK are paid but it surely has to be similar - or you're getting ripped off!

tugrin wrote: »

indeed both my own chldren have made me feel guilty on several occasions whilst growing up by saying I cared more for my class than them. My daughter was walking a mile on her own to school when she was 8 so her mum could get to other peoples kids. I have been a bad mother for the sake of other peoples children and of course to keep a roof over our heads but when you are 8 that is hard to understand.

tugrin wrote: »

I have worked blood y hard for 30 years (almost no maternity leave too back to work when DS was only 8 weeks old)) so I was merely saying that perhaps I would have been better off in terms of my time to devote to my family and my own time and health by being in a different job.

You have not been a bad mother ... all kids feel like this at some point, unfortunately, it's a fact of life that many mothers have to work when I'm sure many would rather stay at home.



Most teachers I know work a few extra unpaid hours per week but so does practically everyone I know! (about 10 hr / wk for me which reduces my hourly rate to under £7.25)

Is it right? No!

Why do we do it? Usually because we're dedicated to our jobs and/or worried that at the next round of redundancies we'll be picked if we don't.

If a teacher works say an extra 10 hr / week their hourly rate drops to just under £19.50 which is a huge difference to someone on minimum wage doing an extra 5 hr / week and seeing their rate drop to under £5.20!

If anyone watched the 24 / hr in A&E on Channel 4 recently (or knows anyone who works in many of the public services), they will have seen the abuse that many staff put up with on a daily basis and many of these people will be on minimum wage ...

I did not say that teachers don't work hard, or don't deserve the money they are paid - but IMHO there are others in jobs who suffer the same (and worse) abuse and are paid at minimum wage - and this is why I took offense at a very decent hourly rate being called "pathetic" ....

tugrin wrote: »

Please let this end here and accept my apologies if I have seemed smug/superior or belittling - I didnt mean to honestly.

You didn't come across as smug/superior and I sincerely hope that wasn't what came across from my PM.


Hoping the matter can now be put to bed and we can all get back to getting on and enjoying our preparations.

wifeforlife

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Teachers here with 5 years experience are paid about £25 / hr:

£34,200 / 1365 hr = £25.05 / hr (35 hr x 39 wk = 1365hr
s.

Surely it's £34,200 into 12 months = £2850, then divided into 4.33 for the weekly amount £658.19, then dividing this weekly wage into hours e.g 40 hour week makes it £16.45. Remembering to deduct about a third for tax, ni and pension contributions for a truer amount?!

Anyway I missed the whole part of that conversation and am a bit dim with maths but that's how I would have calculated it

My winter prep is slow now. Filled my wee freezer, still need decent winter coats for the kids and decent kids thermals, oh and coal prices are on the rise so need to stock up!

smileyt_2

A friend came round this morning and laughed at my curtain. However, he and his partner between them have both had well-paid and stable jobs for the last fifteen years at least, so I guess they have no idea what it's like to worry about putting the heating on. Between them they must have at least eight times my annual income. They both work hard though and I don't begrudge them their money, but sometimes the differences do show in our attitudes towards spending.

I had a good shop this morning. Four emergency foil shelters bought in poundland, which will go to friends and rellies so they can line their curtains, paracetamol for the medicine cupboard, more double-sided sticky tape, velcro, safety pins and curtain header tape. And 700 poobags for the dogs :rotfl:Only trouble is, the bags are perfumed and boy, are they perfumed! They are going to live in the plastic cupboard in my back yard because I can smell them in the kitchen when they are behind the front door (ie effectively three rooms away) and the smell is making me feel ill! Hopefully a stint outside will lessen the odour.

I also bought some cotton sheeting to use over the sofa so that guests don't get hairy. The lovely sparkly, satiny throw I bought originally for this purpose is going on the chimney breast as a wall hanging - it's slightly padded so should add a bit of insulation. I am determined that the energy companies are going to get as little of my money as possible this winter!!