As The Workhouse Approaches....How To Do Everything To Avoid It, the Old Style Way

GreyQueen

OFFERED free to good home (you collect) large 3 seater sofa in russet-brown cloth, vgc. Location; on the grass under my bedroom window.

:mad: I am angry enough to spit tacks, as the old saying had it. At 12.27 am a door banged just above my head and several young men carried the above item down the exterior stairs, thrumming the bannisters and flytipped it flush against the wall of my flat under my bedroom window. By the sound of it, the originating flat was either the address I have problems with, or the one immediately next door to that one. That address has "form" for flytipping.

Oh joy. I spend 14 hours running about yesterday, don't get back from the lottie until nearly 9 pm, have a bath and a glass of wine, bed at 11 pm nicely chilled out, then get shocked from the land of nod by this stupid, selfish behaviour. Didn't get back to sleep properly afterwards, either.:(

The galling thing is, this is a handsome piece of furniture in good condition, obviously not the cheapest item, and could easily be having a starring role in the windows of the nearby Oxfam or Sally Army shops, if the twerps had bothered to call for a pick-up.

I was astonished about the attidude of the charity who wanted the donor of the dining table and chairs to go thru all those hoops and they wanted to be paid to collect them. I have paid a charity shop to deliver a large wall unit which I'd bought from them and had no means to shift, and considered that OK, but the other way around?! I don't think so.

I dread it when a useful charity shop closes for a re-fit and opens up with a swanky new interior and an attitude and prices to match. This happened to a Marie Curie here several years ago. Yes, very nice and spacious but £4.50 for a second-hand hardback book?! The secondhand booksellers in town don't charge that and I assume that they pay something, no matter how modest, for their stock. The M.C. shop faltered and failed as they were far too expensive for our part of the city, which is well-supplied with c.s. who understand that their customers are hard-up.

I find that I am going to the more out-of-the-way charity shops which are off the beaten track, standing in a suburban parade of shops or tucked down the outermost end of a shopping street. The ones which seem the most genuine to me are the ones who support very small charities, often local, and whose donations, volunteers and customers all come from the same area. One shop I love is a bit like a jumble sale and the people who run it use everything (and I mean everything) for the benefit of their cause. If something is broken or unusable, they will literally dismantle it for scrap in front of your eyes. Nothing is wasted because they know how precious their money is to the foriegn orphanage they support. They turn out their books at 50p and 25p and sell loads and make a profit. As the guy who runs it explained to me, if he wants a label for something, it's a bit of card off some packaging waste and not a fancy ticket which has to be printed and paid-for. Good for him.

Went up to the lottie after work and stayed for hours, planting out courgettes, butternut and turk's turban squash. They look a little lost in the open ground so I hope they'll be OK. I inter-planted them with 4 pinter milk bottles pierced as watering points and have a stash of 2 pinters prepped to be interplanted with the peas which I will transplant this evening. It's go, go, go up there.

My runner beans have got a little rampageous in the greenhouse and I had fun untangling them from each other and the staging to pop them into the cold frame for a few nights before getting them into open ground. Memo to self; should've done it last week, gal.

The lottie is still dry but the dust has been dimpled by the rain showers and the yellow ball is back. My crop of fat hen is coming along nicely.........:rotfl:

Help please

A few weeks ago, I sowed what was advertised as an Italian salad mix (4 or 5 little packets, which I mixed and scattered into a seed drill). This is a first for me. I'd seen them come up but hadn't given them any attention until I saw them last night and I have a whole drill which appears to be Hairy Bittercress. (?!?) If not HB, it's a dead ringer, with those coarse and spiky leaves. Either HB or a looky-likey is a consituent of "mesclun" salad mix or weeds are somehow germinating in straight lines. What do people think this plant is? It looks so coarse and unappetising that a donkey would balk at it.

Well, that's all the news that's fit to print. The Bank is going to sort my ISAs out; apparently it was a mix up at another office (yeah, I smiled, too) and all will be well.

Hope everyone has a great day, a share of the yellow ball, and ((hugs)) to those with ageing and poorly pets.

ChocClare

taurusgb wrote: »

I'm beginning to wonder if charities have started to lose the plot. My DD wanted to do voluntary work to fill in time and do some good in the world while she looked for paid employment - but every charity she approached wanted her to PAY to volunteer.

My 15 year old DS has helped out as a young leader with the local Beaver group since he got too old to be a scout but has now given up in disgust after they asked him to pay £28 to continue as a helper .

I am also horrified at the reception your daughter received - a bit of naming and shaming is definitely called for, I think!

As for your son, the only thing I can think of is that - in guides at least, so I expect it's the same for scouts - all the kids plus "registered" adult helpers have to pay an annual membership fee which is round about the £25 mark. I pay my fee and my helper's out of the unit funds as this is a legitimate expense and I really don't see why we should pay extra when we are running it all year for nothing. I claim gift aid for my unit so usually have a bit of extra cash in the kitty, but I know that other units who don't claim can be very strapped for cash, so maybe that is why they asked for his money. As someone else has said, guiding/scouting is supposed to be open to all, so subs are kept to a minimum and, although we can chase someone who hasn't paid their subs, we can't FORCE them to pay, nor is an inability to pay a reason to exclude their child. I know a friend who runs a Brownie unit in a very run-down area says she struggles sometimes when half the unit can't pay - but she keeps going nevertheless!

ChocClare

Welcome to the boards, loopylou, and congrats on your news. Always lovely to see someone else from Dorset on here!

mamaninie

thanks grandma247:):)

the loaf turned out quite edible if a little "cakey" so I'm now determined to make this machine pay for itself as we get through at least 2 large medium sliced loaves and 2 bags of bagels a week. And as the kids get bigger I can only forsee increased bread consumption!

I haven't seen milk powder in bread recipes before and I'll have to buy a packet specifically for this recipe - what does it do in the recipe?

grandma247

mamaninie it helps strengthen the gluten which then makes bigger bubbles of air. Also adds a tiny bit to the calcium content.
i have been buying a tin of n*stle nido milk from the asian supermarket but I have seen it in other ones.

scottishminnie

Charis wrote: »

Even I, famed for my OC tendencies, think that's a little OTT Why not just defrost a whole Lock 'n Lock container and keep it in the cupboard? In the long run it would cost less than all the Ziploc bags you would need to buy, wash and eventually replace. Once the flour has been frozen the weevil eggs are unlikely to hatch, hopefully they're stone dead. You then have freezer space for a bogof or two. Don't forget that it costs to keep things frozen.

I guess my concern about storing it in boxes was that when I defrost the box wouldn't I need to use it all quite quickly? I was thinking if it was in bags I would only need to defrost what I needed if that makes sense.
How long does it keep once defrosted?

Sorry for all the questions:o

Mrs_Veg_Plot

mamaninie I am currently making white bread due to OH's collitis and the whole family likes the following bread

Put the ingredients in in this order
Break 1 egg into a measuring jug and top up to 300mls with tepid water (not too warm or the egg will start to cook), add to BM
450g strong white bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of quick yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons of oil

Great loaf every time. There is one in the BM at the moment and it smells good.

Deleted_User welcome and congratulations.

Got 3 loads of washing done last night so off to put it on the line in a mo. Weather looking good again today.

Beans and courgettes have survived their first couple of nights after being planted in the veg plot. Did put a ring of crushed egg shells around the courgettes to be on the safe side.

Garden is looking lush after all of the rain (sorry greyqueen, I'm not bragging about the rain).

Have a good day

Mrs VP

mamaninie

grandma247 wrote: »

mamaninie it helps strengthen the gluten which then makes bigger bubbles of air. Also adds a tiny bit to the calcium content.
i have been buying a tin of n*stle nido milk from the asian supermarket but I have seen it in other ones.

Ah, I boycott Nestle http://www.babymilkaction.org/pages/boycott.html, but I'll have a little squint in asda when I go to see what they've got.

Mrs VegPlot - I'll see how the milk loaf goes then try the eggy one - thanks:):):) - a good one for chicken keepers I would imagine!

GreyQueen

Mrs_Veg_Plot wrote: »

Garden is looking lush after all of the rain (sorry greyqueen, I'm not bragging about the rain).

Have a good day

Mrs VP

I know you're not, hun, just glad someone has some. I've got a scabby patch of municipal grass outside the windows of my flat and the one next door, no bigger than someone's living room, and a council grass-cutter (the ride-on kind) has just driven onto it to try and cut it. Trouble is, it's so very parched that it's yellow, not growing and doesn't need doing. And it has that blasted sofa on it; grr, hope people in the neighbourhood don't think I've put it there. I'm ground-floor and the flats are so small that your bed has to be just under the window, as anyone who lives here knows very well. I've been dissed and I'm p*ssed.

Dread tonight in case it attracts a vagrant or a bunch of alkies to have a party. We live in the city centre and these things happen. Wish I'd had the guts to get out there in my nightie and confront the little barstewards who dumped it, but that wouldn't have been wise. Will have to report it to the council and get it shifted but that could take up to 3 days to happen.

rachbc

!!!! - our car is making a nasty squealing sound and has a burning clutch smell - booked into the garage for tomorrow but could really do without this! Really annoying as we were planning to get rid at the end of next month and buy something more economical and newer but can't do that til after dh has heard about the outcome of his restructure at work.......

Lay awake worrying about money last ngiht which I haven't done for months as been getting a much better grip on our finances over the last year or so