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

mardatha

We've even had thefts here and this is way off the beaten track. A couple of galvanised metal cattle troughs and a quad bike. And we have Neighbourhood and Farm Watch. I think they got the troughs back, that was people who had been working on tree planting.

smileyt_2

Hardup_Hester wrote: »

Catzine, hope the wedding goes well.

SmileyT, I laughed til I cried when I read your message, I take in students & other lodgers, my house is very 'lived in' in fact it's a shambles most of the time & I've never been turned down. I would assume that the man who visited doesn't live in the reall world! I'm sure your house is loved & lovely, TBH I've had a fair amount of damage done to my house over the years by lodgers & students, including chunks out of the walls, mug rings on tables, white labels stuck on walls & shedloads of broken crockery. I've never worried about the damage, but I would have if my home had been a showhome. I'm sure another college with 'normal people' doing the inspections would snap your hand off with enthusiasm'
Hugs Hester

Hester, you have no idea how much better this makes me feel to know that someone else has a shambly house but one that is filled with love and welcome!

Catznine, enjoy your daughter's wedding. I hope you all have a fantastic day!

FTM, happy birthday!

Right, off to walk the dogs and then ... if I never post on here again ... you'll know I've been blown up by a pan of tayberry jam :eek::rotfl:

scottishminnie

Kimitatsu wrote: »

Morning All


Bit of a worry this week though, we live on a farm and have had more and more people wandering around. One of my neighbours went out into the garden on Sunday at 1020pm to find two blokes in their garden "looking for scrap". There have been a lot of metal thefts recently, and so I am now considering getting some geese to wander the big garden, not for any other purpose than the noise that they make!

We have had people coming to the door asking for scrap but thankfully have been put off by the size of the dog (who is a big softie really) and a hard glare and so have not returned. Makes you stop and think though as we are in a rural community and up until recently have been relatively protected from this sort of thing.

So going to peruse Focus for a new shed, some bigger gates and some geese and hopefully that will make them think twice!

We also live in the country and have recently had a visit from the local police regarding the amount of theft of "scrap" which is going on. To be honest I was pretty angry with them. they are advising everyone in rural homes to have security cameras installed.
When I challenged them on the cost of this (we already had several quotes, all around the £2500 mark due to the distance and length of cabling needed) they were pretty short with me saying that it was a matter of priority and they couldn't be expected to help householders who refused to help themselves. They also had a look round our garden and told us that we shouldn't be leaving garden furniture (couple of benches and a patio set) and stone troughs (full of plants) outside overnight and that anything which isn't concreted down should be removed and secured at the end of each day. What planet are these people on?????

I think we are being let down very badly, there are no police patrols on any of our roads. We also have a real problem with boy racers using the farm roads in the early hours of Saturday and Sunday morning as a racetrack which the police again say they can't help with. Our house is at the end of a private road and heaven help anyone whom I meet on my road. They have absolutely no right to be there and so help me they will know about it once I've finished with them.

I do also think that the scrap metal merchants who hand over cash to anyone who brings them goods have to be targetted by the police. Our neighbours recently had an antique sundial and plough stolen. Both of them were extremely large and heavy and in absolutely perfect condition so any scrappie taking them without question from a bloke in a rusty white van needs to be taken to task.

Anyway rant over this morning - that wasn't good for my blood pressure. I'll be back when I'm in a more constructive frame of mind:)

GreyQueen

ceridwen wrote: »

KIMITATSU - You won't be able to get owt at Focus I'm afraid. Its in the process of closing down everywhere right now - and my local one is now stripped bare and doors closed for good.

Hope you get the stuff you want okay. Its a shame that these thieves are getting worse - and I've certainly read several accounts recently on MSE of thieves stripping lead bare even from a lived-in house:eek:. I think thefts in the countryside round here must be getting worse too - as I've certainly noticed a couple of visual "inspections" of ME:eek: recently when I've been wandering around "off the beaten track" (only on public ground I hasten to add...) and have had to wait for them to get near enough to me to check out my face before they realised I'm obviously not "one of THEM" (ie a ne'er do well) and got the "Pass - Friend" reaction I'm used to having. So - this thieving is impacting on all of us - those that get attacked by these "characters" and those of us who obviously arent and have to remind ourselves not to take it personally if we are getting checked out visually by the occasional not-very-perceptive person who is wondering what sort of person it is they can see nearby. It is going through right now about being allowed to "use reasonable force" against intruders - errr...I thought we already COULD and my first reaction was "Oh - we can now do whatever we like to them - good.." but it is more along the lines of we are now going to be officially allowed to use force to protect our property, as well as our lives. Errr...some of us would have done so anyway.......LOL..least this will make it "legal".

Re the "keeping something somewhere for the unexpected" - I've only read instances on MSE in the last coupla days re one poster mentally setting aside money for a new kitchen on a house they were buying but their kitchen money went on an incontinent dog the previous owner having been allowed to wee everywhere and ruin things. Someone else commented that their new carpet money had gone on vets bills for the hens. I've had over £1,000 of unexpected expenses (mainly caused by other peeps:mad:) just since the beginning of the year. Unfortunately - these things happen.

EDIT: Found the thing re dealing with intruders:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2006245/Criminal-justice-legal-right-protect-home-fear-prosecution.html

Morning Ceridwen and everybody, that reminded me of what happened to the bloke who used to live next door to my Mum and Dad (ex-LA terraced house, 60 foot back garden backing onto a small plantation of trees). Anyway, after neighbour split with g/f he was so struggling to pay his mortgage that he took a second job as a nightclub bouncer on top of his full-time day job. He also had a Rottweiler who was as soft as they come, but they're big animals and have a certain rep.

He came in from the bouncer job at 3 am one morning and let the dog into the well-fenced (8 foot panels) back garden for a pee break. She tore off to the top like a blue streak. There were 2 young men breaking into his shed; one of them lived over the road and the other crim was from another town. Dog cornered one, the other got back over the fence. Neighbour forced the villain down into the house and called the Police; they took him away but neighbour ended up in trouble and got a caution because he apparently hit the thief in the effort to keep hold of him (dog didn't do anything more than bark and growl). It left a very sour taste in all our mouths.

I kinda think that if you are breaking into someone's property you have no right to complain if they react badly! Anyway, in country areas, a fair few people have shotguns or air rifles, so it could be a high-risk activity. Paradoxically, living in extremely high-density flats in the centre of a city is probably safer as no one can sneak up on my home and if you yell, here, lots of people will hear you.

((larumbelle)) that sounds awful, both with what you have to suffer personally and that appalling employer. Hope that they get the ruddy book thrown at them. Have a jug/ hug / mug on me.

Chirpy Chick, that tops my Worst Ever Employer by some measure. My parting gift to my personal pigs was to report them anonymously to the HSE. Later heard thru the grapevine that sorting the infractions cost them £26k.......:rotfl:You take care of yourself, hun, a spell of Domestic Engineering sounds just what the doctor ordered.

Well, today I shall wear my new glasses (visually indistinguishable from the previous pair but with added vroooom) and see what I've been missing. Am now up to 6.5 and 6.25 diopters' worth of shortsight, which for lay people means I'm so bat-eyed that if I leave them somewhere unexpected I can't find the blasted things. You can call me Mrs Magoo.......

Right, must get off the pooter and ready for work. Blasted job keeps getting in the way of my gardening. It was raining insanely hard yesterday with short bursts of non-rain, sort of like a monsoon. My water butts are filling up nicely.

VJsmum

Kimitatsu wrote: »

he cant help it he comes from the wrong side of the penines!

I read that as the wrong side of the pennies - that'd be right too!

VJsmum -everyone needs a rainy day account/running away fund/exotic holiday savings account. Dont tell him, save it and then you always have it. I used to teach financial capability and that was the one piece of advice I gave to everyone regardless of their situation, that you always need to have something somewhere for the unexpected.

Yes, i think i'm going to. I just found an envelope with some money in it that was mum's last christmas pressie to me - she passed away a couple of weeks before christmas 18 months ago, and haven't known what to do with it really. So i think i will use that to open the account with - then i'll feel like my mum is still looking after me!

Which reminds me, a long time ago my aunt died and left me a reasonable sum of money. I bought a couple of pictures wih it and the rest we used when we went out - i.e. if we went somewhere more expensive than usual or bought a dearer bottle of wine, the difference was "Barb's money". I think "Barb's money" ran out a long time before we stopped using it as an excuse to live a bit "finer" :rotfl: But Barb was very much a Bon Viveur and would have wholeheartedly approved. It also meant she got remembered and always when we were having a good time.

My friend's dad left his grandchildren £200 each in his will to be spent "frivolously", personally i am not sure i would have had the self control to let them do that and would have been urging savings. But to their credit, my friends did just that - took the boys to a toyshop and let them have whatever they wanted.

Sorry, i think i've wandered. Today is the first of 5 days off and i'm going fruit picking to make jam.

Charis

mardatha wrote: »

We've even had thefts here and this is way off the beaten track. A couple of galvanised metal cattle troughs and a quad bike. And we have Neighbourhood and Farm Watch. I think they got the troughs back, that was people who had been working on tree planting.

It's happening here too. (West Mids) Lead stolen from a roof a mile off the main road and car keys and Jeep stolen from another house in the middle of the afternoon. I'd like to know who's fencing this stuff. Much of it must be recognisable if it's just been stolen. Mind you it would help if we had local police coverage after tea time.

rachbc

We've used metla theft in our favour - leaving a few unwanted items out in the alley til they get taken - though we've also had the old coal 'ole cover nicked. I was in the back yard last week when the 'rag and bone man' (thats a polite term) came round and asked if I wanted a trampoline and metal saw horse that were obviously in use in my garden. I made it clear he was welcome to help himself to anything we left OUTSIDE the gate but nothing INSIDE - and not the gates either!

kezlou

Kate thanks for the pasta recipe!

kimitatsu for the apricot jam recipe!

wow how many pages i'm on page 185 at the mo and still loads to catch up on!:eek:

Noticed that people were talking about kilner jars, there currently selling them in poundland with the sealed lids etc. Oh and i use these pouring tubs with lids, hold about 1.5l to 2l, got mine out of poundland too. It keeps cereals and flour quite fresh and easy to store.

Neighbours looking at me crazily today, there's me and the cats planting out leeks. All this in the lightly pouring rain, just got in before it started panting it again. Rain for weeks now, strawberries are dying because of it, the slugs and snails have eaten all the salad leaves. So not impressed, but on the plus side i have 3 roses yay!!! The patio rose bush is alive and kicking! So nice walking through the front door and seeing it there. Ah heaven.

Now just have to plant a lily, yes i know naughty shouldn't have spent money on a flower but it makes us happy, seeing all the pretty colours!

starsandmoon

Hurray Im rich! Well only by £100 but feel like Ive won the lottery. Got a phone call off United Utilities (or United Futilities as we call them) over my complaint over the shoddy way they installed my water meter, the dangerous 6 foot hole they left and all the rubble they let into my pipes so blocking up every tap in the house. They apologised profusely, accepted full responsibility for a carp job and then said they would give me £75 compo. Told them I had to get to get a plumber out over the taps as their one was rubbish (it was BF but still had to buy him a pint lol) and that my phone bill was very high due to the calls to them so Im getting £100 in a cheque:beer:

To those dealing with serious probs in work especially disability issues, employers have to make adaptations to work places/stations by law and if you can no longer do the job you had they have to offer you a different position. Obviously if you were say a firefighter and for example lost a leg you couldnt carry on as a firefighter although they could offer an office based job. You can sue the hell out of them and they are being very foolish if they are ignoring you.

One of the directors where I work was made redundant yesterday. Amazingly she has no savings or anything even though we knew 12 months ago things were looking shaky and may have to sell her house. Just come back from a trip to America which cost thousands. She asked me about my redundancy insurance I have but I took that out nearly 2 years ago! Pointed out that now she is on 90 days notice no one will insure her. Amazing.

Larumbelle

Chirpychick - :grouphug: I hope it all works out for you. It sucks to know there are so many bad employers out there.

Starsandmoon - yay for you! I need to channel some of your inner fight lol

I'm a little more cheerful today, though sadly still in pain. I really can't believe work haven't even responded to my complaint yet. My sicknote runs out tomorrow and I don't know if they're expecting me in or something - sadly unless they make the adjustments they'll just get another note. I don't know when the penny is going to drop that it's ALWAYS going to be this way now. At least - semi-permanently, which is long enough. In the meantime I'm looking round for stuff to ebay. Also made another batch of board-game books to stick on my etsy and dawanda stores, just in case they find buyers.

Scary all the stories of burglaries. Have you seen what's happened in Salford? *shudders*