It was getting tough in 2006 and the workhouse still threatens us in 2011

Fruball

ceridwen wrote: »

Well - the "love of money" is indeed the "root of all evil" Frugal ...well...a heck of a lot of it certainly. There's many other causes.

Anyways - Frugal my lass - how are you these days? How's your father?

Thanks for asking Ceridwen... My Dad passed away a couple of weeks ago :(:( I was with him until he fell asleep and he passed away a few hours after I went home :A

I've been struggling to keep it together but reading the OS boards is helping to take my mind off things

Fru xx

Red_Doe

Hugs to Frugal, so sorry to hear about your dad. Hang in there.

smileyt_2

((Frugal))

Wasn't a teapot after all - I arrived too late and it was a Mrs Potts costumes - but just as well someone else wore it because it would have been down by my ankles it was that big! Still had a good time, though.

Scary thought that councils might get 10% less in the Housing Benefit budget. I am sure this govt is practising scrooge politics - let the poor die and decrease the surplus population ..... I imagine they are looking forward to a long, hard winter as that will bump off a few more 'economically useless' people. I don't know how they can sleep at night.

Anyway. Might have a look at making a door curtain tonight. I have a long Ikea tabtop curtain and some emergency foil blanket stuff, should be able to work something out ..... we'll see. The curtain is cream so will get absolutely filthy but hey who cares as long as it blocks the draught!

ceridwen

Frugal wrote: »

Thanks for asking Ceridwen... My Dad passed away a couple of weeks ago :(:( I was with him until he fell asleep and he passed away a few hours after I went home :A

I've been struggling to keep it together but reading the OS boards is helping to take my mind off things

Fru xx

Oh dear - sorry to hear that. What can I say - other than take care of yourself lass...((( )))

love

ceridwen
xxx

GreyQueen

Good evening campers and mega big ((hugs)) to those who are having such a hard time of it.

Red Doe, others have said it but deffo take advice on your situation from the CAB; I'm an ex-CAB volunteer and we live to help others so please reach out for assistance. The powers-that-be sometimes screw up badly and I hope that screw-ups explain your current difficulties and can be resolved to the good.

I haven't a clue whether benefits are the same in Scotland as they are down here in England. I do answer basic enquiries from the public on Housing and Council Tax benefits although I wouldn't claim to any particular expertise; it's a very small part of what I do every day.

There are 3 benefits in England which are classified as passporting benefits; income support and income-based JSA for working age peeps and Pension Credit Guarantee Credit (not the savings kind of pension credits) for the pensioner peeps. Have one of those three and the means-testing element is satisfied and you are passported into the maximum amount of HB/CTB for your circumstances. In England there are also Disability Premium and Severe Disability Premiums which can be applied to HB/CTB which can increase your award.

Calculating HB/CTB entitlement where the claimant or their partner has self-employed income is a major PITA for the assessors but it can be done and I have seen claims where the s/e income is zero or virtually nil and the benefits are getting paid.

Anyway, there are many many people at the CABs with much more expertise than me and there are also disability rights organisations. Have you tried entering that plus your region into Google and seeing if there is anything available to you? I appreciate that you are on the outer edges of Scotland so maybe help would need to be internet or tepehone based. HTH.

================

Today has been a bit manic and I have been practising my driving with my parents' car and will shortly be charged with TWOKing once again. Only joking; I'm on their insurance although they selfishly wouldn't let me take it on holiday. Car still in one piece...shame about the parents' nerves.:rotfl:

In an earlier life, I was a White Van Woman, part of the loutish society of Transit-driving maniacs. It's great; geezers let you out in traffic cos they think you're One of the Boyz and you jauntily wave your bare and very-obviously-girly arm out of the open window as a thank-you...such fun I have had in Old London Town.

I have a bit of a thing about vans of the Transit size; lovely sightlines and plenty of carrying capacity; they are essentially sheds-on-wheels and I covet covet covet them. I was nearly tempted to larceny by driving a brand new automatic Transit (a hire van rented by my employer at the time). It had less than 100 miles on the clock, heating that worked and comfy seats. Went like a bomb on the motorway and very nearly wasn't handed back.

(sigh) a Peugeot 107 won't be the same but it's perfectly adequate and I am looking forward to playing with it next weekend. All I need now is for the wet west part of Britain to develop a heatwave for 10 days and all will be well.

ginnyknit, not sure about the idea of Hurricane GQ on grounds of taste and decency with Hurricane Irene menacing our American cousins, but do advise your OH that my presence on the t'other side of the Pennines from my normal territory is potentially chaotic.

Three hours after I docked at Stornoway (well, CalMac docked, I was just aboard IYSWIM) a Gale Force 9 smacked into town. I was lying in my sleeping bag on my friend's sitting-room floor cowering in fear as the whole building moved in the wind and things (wheelie bins?) were flying around midair and smacking the bungalow. It felt like a looooong night. Come to think about it, that was one of the last days of August, too.

I adored the Outer Hebrides and have lost count of the amount of people who disbelieve me about the sunbathing cows on the beach on Vatersay...if they're round Shoebox Towers, they get made to look at the photo. A-mazing place. Must go back one day, with headnets and a crate of Avon Skin-so-Soft body lotion. I'm told the Paras take it on training exercises in the Highlands and I am not less butch than they.........those midges are something else, eh?!

OK, that's enough drivel, time to put the kettle on.

Frugal (((())))) I am so sorry for your loss.

Love and peas GQ x

smileyt_2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCXx_JGNVEg&feature=autoplay&list=ULODIcFSNiy4w&lf=mfu_in_order&playnext=1

'My' bit starts at 4:50 but I'm not telling you which one I am lol! It's the Albert Kennedy Trust.

There must have been some seriously cold people on that parade - in spite of the sunshine it was chilly and some people were wearing very little in the way of what could be called clothing!

frosty

mardatha wrote: »

Getting tougher and tougher innit ? And we were saying this morning imagine how much snow we'll have this winter if the weather stays on the way it's going...:eek:

Hi everyone.......just wanted to say I live in the North East of Scotland and the last two winters were very bad, I noticed each bad winter the trees were hanging very heavy with red berries but this year they are not too bad........might mean a milder one.:)

mardatha

Just read on Twitter a reporter spoke to a wee Glasgow woman in New York who wasn't worried by Hurricane Irene as she said it couldn't be as bad as the weather in Scotland

hornetgirl

So sorry to hear about your Dad Frugal xx

Fruball

frosty wrote: »

Hi everyone.......just wanted to say I live in the North East of Scotland and the last two winters were very bad, I noticed each bad winter the trees were hanging very heavy with red berries but this year they are not too bad........might mean a milder one.:)

Or it might mean they have run out of steam :rotfl: I hope you are right though!