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

Rowan9

Lovely welcome cool temps here:). I don't like the heat so am happier now and easier to live with .
Grandma247 - I hope you feel better soon. Nasty thing to happen.
Haribo - hope you have a lovely day with family. My DH is one of 4 as were my mum and dad so I enjoy large(ish) family get-togethers either with my lot or his:D. I also like quiet times too so have been enjoying the silence book from the library.
Mardatha -Heading down your way today as have already been out with the dogs so have all the wet weather gear looked out, with boots coming down from the loft before we go. DH has one of those Driza-bone (sp?) jackets he got in Australia a couple of years ago but might wear another one so I'd borrow his. They're brilliant for keeping you...dry as a bone :rotfl:.
Good rugby on at mo - come on Ireland! Did anyone see the eye gouging :eek:?
Got the M&S meal deal yesterday - in fact we bought 2. So, steak pie tonight yum yum.
Soup pot looked out but that's as far as I've got with that. Lots of lovely kale to add to it:D. Need to sort out a meal p;lan this week but freezer is stuffed and we have loads of the veggie box still to eat so I should avoid shops except for fruit and milk.
Hope everyone has a good Sunday.
W

7_week_wonder

scottishminnie wrote: »

I've been toying with the idea of a breadmaker for a while so I can control what goes into my loaves. Since I have a John Lewis voucher I've been looking at this one but I'm not sure if it's fancier than I need. I've had a look through the breadmaker threads and they all seem to favour Panasonic but I also wondered if I should hold off till later in the year and use my T*sco clubcard vouchers (from my credit card) on a double up for a cheaper breadmaker. Decisions. decisions:)

Anyway enough of that - my mission for tomorrow is some more Delia scones and maybe some Twinks Hob Nobs. Maybe even some chocolate hob nobs!

Just sticking my nose in to say I would be tempted to go for the panasonic one. I ummed and ahhed for months and then got one and have never looked back. I got mine just over three years ago, and when it packs in it will take me less than 24 hours to get a replacement, I love it so much. It gets used at least 3 times a week and that's only for two of us.

I am going to shout at the radio if I hear one more "record-breaking October weather" news item - it is tipping it down here and the poor old hens are once again in danger of getting trench foot. Oh well, in an attempt to cheer myself up I am planning to make twinks hob nobs, a lemon sponge, pickled runner beans and some mint syrup by the end of today, and I've just taken a loaf of sourdough out of the BM - yum!

Enjoy your day everyone.

ceridwen

Re non food poker - I'm not going to head up to the loft to count - but I have a couple of storage containers full of "traditional" type lightbulbs. Think I've probably got round about 80 or so:D.

Errr....I'd read about the mercury in the "eco friendly:cool:" ones....and there's summat scratching at my memory re the health angle as well.....

So - I've got various little stashes secreted around the place:
- cheapie soap for laundry gloop purposes
- washing soda for laundry gloop purposes
- loo rolls
- "traditional" light bulbs
- loads of biros for some reason (errr..plastic...errr...product requiring oil to make??)

...but I've only got about 8 tins of tomatoes. So G.Q. - you're still the Tomato Queen.:rotfl:

*********************************

Softstuff - thanks for the clarification on migration. I would say that sums it up accurately. T'only other point I'd make is a lot of us are very aware of how overcrowded England is (we literally don't have any "room" left)...think I should maybes have given a link to that photo in The Guardian yesterday of Brighton Beach to help prove that point. I've been thinking since that it must now be an expensive business to go to the beach in places like that - by the time one has bought screens/beach umbrellas/etc to place around a reasonable size "patch of beach" to make sure one is far enough away from other people. My guess is that everyone on that beach was waiting for everyone else on that beach to give up and go home - so there'd be enough room to be able to actually "enjoy" being on the beach.

Re other countries requirements - some Arabic friends of mine needed to move from their own country (NOT for economic reasons....) and moved to Holland eventually. They've been told there is a time limit within which they have to have learnt to speak Dutch (which makes me nervous for her - as she never got that good at English whilst here) - but it is a very "fair" requirement for them to make.

GreyQueen

ceridwen wrote: »

Re non food poker - I'm not going to head up to the loft to count - but I have a couple of storage containers full of "traditional" type lightbulbs. Think I've probably got round about 80 or so:D.

Errr....I'd read about the mercury in the "eco friendly:cool:" ones....and there's summat scratching at my memory re the health angle as well.....

So - I've got various little stashes secreted around the place:
- cheapie soap for laundry gloop purposes
- washing soda for laundry gloop purposes
- loo rolls
- "traditional" light bulbs
- loads of biros for some reason (errr..plastic...errr...product requiring oil to make??)

...but I've only got about 8 tins of tomatoes. So G.Q. - you're still the Tomato Queen.:rotfl:

.

Thanks hun, I like to excel at something........:rotfl:I also have a shoebox full of low-energy lightbulbs as there was a time a couple of years ago when every tom, !!!!!! and harry was posting them to me; think my disability was flashing up on the utility company's database or somthing. I ended up having to turn them down; blasted things last forever. I only have 6 light fittings in my flat (4 rooms and a hall with a central light fitting, all low energy bulbs) and an uplighter which I use on a timeswitch for security when I'm away which has to have a conventional bulb as the low-energy ones are incompatible with timers.

Interesting aside about the low energy bulbs; my brother has epilepsy (controlled by meds, thankfully) and spends hours each day in front of a computer running his online bookselling biz. Anyway, he started to have funny turns and changed the monitor, thinking it was that, but the problem was the low energy lightbulb over his head. This was changed for a conventional bulb and all was well again.

Might be something to bear in mind if anyone else up here has epilepsy or knows someone who does.

These low-energy bulbs last for a long time but they gradually lose their wattage so won't be outputting the advertised strength of light. I get around this by trading out the most used one (sitting room) for the least-used one (bedroom) as they go west.

Softstuff, thanks for your concern and I hearby pledge to buy no more soap until about 2020....unless its a really good price, naturally.:rotfl:

VJsmum

We have our work cut out today trying to persuade the teenagers that they really don't want to be in darkened rooms watching screens of one kind or another but, in fact, would love to be out in the warm sunshine with their ageing (to them) parents. Bribery may well have to come into it somewhere, but the homework excuse might come into play.

I had an enforced retail experience yesterday as i went to dig over my veggie patch when OH confessed that he'd broken the digging fork and had neglected to tell me. So off i go to the garden centre. They aren't cheap, are they, digging forks? :eek: I ended up buying the dearest, but which might turn out the cheapest, as it has a lifetime guarantee. Oh, what a thing of beauty it is - far too nice to dig with.:D It has shiny prongs and a beautiful all-in-one-piece wooden handle. The lady at the checkout and i were both stroking it lovingly at one point :rotfl:

It is now on display in the conservatory - hasn't yet made it to the veggie patch.:p

DD had her first proper bus experience yesterday. Honestly kids today have no idea - and these are the so-called "bright" ones. A late afternoon phone call went something like this

DD "the bus hasn't arrived"
Me "when is it due?"
DD "I don't know"
Me "How long have you been waiting?"
DD "10 minutes" <insert raised eyebrow and tut smiley>
Me "Well it will take me half an hour to get there, how many of you are there?"
DD " Eight" (I have a normal 5 seater car!)

So i duly look up bus timetable, discover it isn't due for 20 minutes and make them wait. An hour and a half or so later, in she comes, she popped into town after getting off bus to go shopping as she was stressed!

She needs to pick up some MSE ways, that girl, we are going to have a word.

Kimsmum

7 Week Wonder it has been pouring down here since friday, and I mean pouring think I will need a boat soon to go out.
So I hope all you lovely ladies are enjoying your sunshine.

Mardatha my teabag total is 1920 hows yours:)

scottishminnie

7_week_wonder wrote: »

Just sticking my nose in to say I would be tempted to go for the panasonic one. I ummed and ahhed for months and then got one and have never looked back. I got mine just over three years ago, and when it packs in it will take me less than 24 hours to get a replacement, I love it so much. It gets used at least 3 times a week and that's only for two of us.

I am going to shout at the radio if I hear one more "record-breaking October weather" news item - it is tipping it down here and the poor old hens are once again in danger of getting trench foot. Oh well, in an attempt to cheer myself up I am planning to make twinks hob nobs, a lemon sponge, pickled runner beans and some mint syrup by the end of today, and I've just taken a loaf of sourdough out of the BM - yum!

Enjoy your day everyone.

Thanks for that - I'll probably order it today. I did debate using the voucher towards another le creuset casserole but I have a perfectly good one already and would be unlikely to use two at once so that would not be as sensible as the breadmaker.

I'm with you on the weather - it's tipping down here, I can't see beyond the garden fence due to the mist and my father is talking about having to bring cattle in for the winter already due to the state of things. Yesterday I had to put the lights on at 3pm to be able to see what I was up to and today looks like a rerun. The dreadful thing is when it's like this my instinct is to retreat the the kitchen and bake like a maniac. The problem with that is that I'm a few pounds heavier after the holiday and I don't need to add to it.

Maybe I should just curl up on the sofa and watch a DVD this afternoon - I have a well watched copy of Brigadoon which I haven't seen in a while - it's just one of those kind of days:)

ceridwen

Hot already....now where were my cordial recipes?

Anyone got any good ones?

lizzyb1812

Grey Queen - talk about a missed opportunity! Did you not think of kissing the frog? It was obviously a special one.........:rotfl:

Non food poker - are we talking total size of stash or size of stash per person in the home? Cos 200 loorolls for 4 people is 50 each and a singly with 70 has more per person - perhaps Softstuff could ajudicate on this? I hasten to add that I will not be competing as the evidence is already there that my efforts are puny compared to some :rotfl:

Charis

Softstuff wrote: »

I think the primary difference is what's expected of you in countries it's possible to emigrate to, and what you'd receive once there - I'm not sure that people are denouncing open border policy, but rather economic tourism.

[...]

I make no judgement here about what is right or wrong in this, just to my mind what the differences are (in fact, it always seems to me rather funny how strict Australia is given many settlers here originally were convicts and that the very people restricting immigration are often immigrants).

Excellent post, Softstuff, and very well put. Your last comment is also true in the United States, except that the majority of them are descended from economic migrants and people fleeing religious persecution.

A friend worked alongside and became friendly with a Polish chap who, because he was working here, was entitled to tax credits and housing benefit. When my friend asked him what he would be entitled to if the situation was reversed and he went to Poland and worked, he was met with a quizzical look and the reply "Nothing". I gather they don't have a benefits system like ours so they can't be forced to include all workers in a non existent system, which is probably true of the majority of Eastern Europe.