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

HariboJunkie

Morning everyone. I've been up most of the night watching the riots unfold and hoping against hope that the innocent remain safe.

What I have been left with is a sure and certain sense that there is NO excuse for this behaviour. It isn't the civil uprising of a dissaffected youth, nor is it because of the economic situation or racial tension or any of the other catalysts for violence we have seen over the years. Remember the Toxteth and Broadwater Farm riots anyone?
Rioting isn't new. It happens in parts of this country every year. The fact that these riots are being carried out by people without any semblance of a cause, is.

These are the f eckless, greedy, lazy generation of young people whose sense of entitlement used to just encompass a career on benefits. Now it consists of the need to tweet and message eachother about when and where to steal en masse, taking down peoples' homes and businesses and probably lives before we are through. What possible excuse could any sane person give for that? Compare them to the young police officers who are of the same generation in time but a world apart in attitude. I'm hearing commentators say that this youth have no hope or money or sense of community. Well it takes no money at all to teach a sense of right and wrong to your children. And they are ripping the heart out of communites themselves. Hardly the act of people who are just fed up with the way the world is heading and feel they have to make their voices heard.

And so the conspiracy theories and waffle have started with people on the soap boxes, foaming at the mouth about "rivers of blood" and even that this has been instigated by the police in protest at their cuts. Some people seem to be happy this has happened as it gives credence, in their mind, to the doom and gloom they have been peddling in no usful way for years. Almost laughable if it were not so sad.

Mr Cameron et al need to show us they mean business this morning and a very clear message about civil disobedience needs to ring out.
I fear that the appeals to the parents will fall on deaf ears in the main but there must be some mothers who are distraught at the thought of their sons or daughters looting and setting fire to hard earned businesses. I don't pretend to know the answer but by God things have just got very much tougher for London in particular and I just hope the situation can be calmed before it snowballs.

Sorry for the rant folks. I hope all our families in the areas affected are safe and well. I don't do praying but they are most certainly in my thoughts.

redlady_1

Bloody hell, I go away for a week and anarchy breaks out! The police are damned if they do and damned if they dont. These little scrotes are just using excuses for such mindless violence. I have told the OH to get his mother from London if it gets any worse.

I havent caught up with what is happening on the thread yet. Hope all is well.

GreyQueen

Good morning campers...........

Well, a chance remark from a colleague a decade older than me in the office yesterday called to mind the "happy events" of 30 years ago.......we agreed that it reminded us of the bad old days.

One branch of my clan hangs its hats in Walthamstow and they're OK for now but badly-shaken. Good job Great Aunty Dolly, the east end matriarch of that clan, has passed over; she survived the Blitz and wasn't impressed with the last lot of riots.

((hugs)) to anyone who is involved or has their loved ones in the areas affected. I hope it is soon over.

Re potatoes in pillowcases; I assume these are ones which have been retired from active pillow-duty as I think they'd end up stained beyond the power of laundry detergent to revive. I agree with kittie and leave them in the soil for at least a fortnight to allow the blight spores to die on the surface. If you dig them up right now you run the risk of transferring the spores to the tubers and they'll rot in store.

Spud storage needs to be dry and cool but frost-free, and the container must be permeable to air (i.e. not poly bags). The farmer who sells potatoes door-to-door in my hometown inc to my family always uses those double-thickness paper feed sacks off the farm and I have used them to store potatoes I've grown. This spring I lucked out and got some proper hessian sacks at a bootsale. I normally store my potatoes in sacks, wrapped in blankets in my lottie shed and they have kept very nicely but the vicious winter we had last year caused the frost to penetrate and I lost a lot.

This year, I cannot risk that again so have made an alternative plan. My flat is absolutely titchy and is very warm, so I only bring potatoes indoors for immediate use a week or so at a time. I do have a second shed, in the block, a tiny bike shed. By random chance, I acquired a cylindrical laundry bin type thingy, about 3 feet tall, from a boot fair. It is made of some kind of plant fibre coarsely twisted around wooden uprights with lots of gaps and a flat lid which just sits on the top like a saucepan lid.

My plan for my h.g. spuds is to put a hessian sack into this bin, and put the tatties into that, folding the top over to exclude light. Spuds will sprout in autumn storage until the weather gets cool enough so they will need to be tipped out and de-shooted a few times between now and, for example, December. Then they should be OK until early Spring when they'll shoot again and need watching. Commercial tatties are heavily-sprayed to stop this happening, which is one more reason to grow your own.

I shall report back in 6 months on how well this has worked out for me.;)

Re sorting stuff, there must definately be something in the air, because I'm at it, too. Spent a little time yesterday evening re-arranging stuff under my low-slung pine bedstead which, as followers of the running gag will recall, is where I keep the stash of tinned tomatoes which I "invested" in earlier this year.......:rotfl:

The tommies and a few other canned goods sit in two square metal grid-and-wood trollies, originally from Argos but mine from a bootsale. This is ideal and I would be delighted to have another two and fingers crossed for luck at Bank Hol weekend when I plan to visit 2 sales.......oh, how I love a bootsale.:o

There are more conventional things under my bed, too; a suitcase and a trolley bag and a pair of shoes. Quite amazing what you can fit under a standard double if you have to.

Actually, this cusp season is a pretty good time to venture into lofts as it's neither sweltering nor freezing. I must offer to help Mum with hers at the Bank Hol; it's a hell-hole up there.

Didn't get up to the allotment yesterday as the whole day and evening was on-off thundery showers. I swear we had at least 3 lots of dusk during the evening, my lights were going on and off like fireflies. Hope to get there today as I can hear those weeds growing from a mile away......they're laughing at me, I just know it.

Hope everyone has a good day and special best wishes to taurusgb if you're reading this, hun. Get well soon.

ceridwen

GreyQueen

...and been meaning to ask you:

- did the elder branches (ie Victorian gardeners remedy) do the trick at deterring those moles you've been getting up the allotment?

GreyQueen

ceridwen wrote: »

GreyQueen

...and been meaning to ask you:

- did the elder branches (ie Victorian gardeners remedy) do the trick at deterring those moles you've been getting up the allotment?

I would say that the jury is still out on that one. Back in the drought, I was having a terrible time with moles kicking up their hills in seed beds and the pea and bean and strawberry patches, which were co-incidentally the only moist areas as I was watering those.

Mr Mole was therefore doing what came naturally by following the worms which had followed the moisture.

I used crushed elder leaves in conjuction with short lengths of dead bramble stems and it seemed to have a limited degree of success. What eventually resolved the problem was the breaking of the drought and the life-cycle of the plants making them less vulnerable. I still have mole hills popping up here and there but they aren't a problem and I haven't bothered about them for months. HTH.

HariboJunkie

Hello Red :hello: Hope you had fun and it's great to have you back

Red_Doe

I've been doing the sorting stuff thing too. Wonder if it's similar to nesting? The kind we get before winter weather hits? Maybe it's our instincts kicking in telling us there's a bad winter coming ahead?
I think too, with all the unrest and economic hardships around, we're also feeling the urge to take stock and make sure should the worst happen, we're as prepared as we can be.

3v3

HariboJunkie wrote: »

.... These are the f eckless, greedy, lazy generation of young people whose sense of entitlement used to just encompass a career on benefits. Now it consists of the need to tweet and message eachother about when and where to steal en masse, taking down peoples' homes and businesses and probably lives before we are through. What possible excuse could any sane person give for that? Compare them to the young police officers who are of the same generation in time but a world apart in attitude. I'm hearing commentators say that this youth have no hope or money or sense of community. Well it takes no money at all to teach a sense of right and wrong to your children. And they are ripping the heart out of communites themselves. Hardly the act of people who are just fed up with the way the world is heading and feel they have to make their voices heard. ...

Well, if it were due to the economy, they have shot themselves in the foot! Taking out businesses adds to the economic probles. If it were due to racial tensions, they have shot themselves in the foot - this is not behaviour which will cement positive relationships
As for career on benefits ... again, shot themselves in the foot: all this chaos, damage and subsequent clear up is going to cost vast amounts of central and local governments/councils and the Country's pot is already empty! Hence why the Olympics and projected revenue is good for our economy. But, with the current happenings, people will think twice about coming to the capitol (and those who do, what will they see? Boarded up/burnt out buildings? Pretty

So, in Hackney, it kicks off because someone was "stop and searched (nothing found)" ... what does that tell us? "The Yoof" kick off like spoiled toddlers having a tantrum! But on a far grander scale and with far greater consequences for the community, race relations, the economy and life!

We post here about how we have to reduce our costs, how we are resourceful in making ends meet, people supporting one another in their woes, congratulating one another on their successes and thanking one another for any tips/ideas which could increase their knowledge, make their lives a more bareable/productive one. This is precisely the same issues the Government are trying to deal with when facing a double dip recession due to World events, and the knock on effects: just on a grander scale and with a greater responsibility and with greater consequences. These riots are harming and hampering our Country's potential and prospects and I am deeply concerned as these events unfold!

(Sorry, rant over)

On the home front - my lads have friends over for a few days (so, at least I know *they* won't be out rioting!) so it's a baking day to feed their [STRIKE]bottomless pits[/STRIKE] appetites.

Thank you for the tip on sterilising soil! :beer:

ceridwen

...any more prepared than this Red Doe and I'll have the blinkin' ceilings coming down on me - having taken to storing food up in the loft as well.

Note to self - still awaiting those Lock and Lock box manufacturers deciding to make the 4 litre tall containers again (ideal for storing a whole bag of flour in). Had a fruitless search for them again - after losing 2 bags of flour (at £1.86 each:eek:) to having had them in a cupboard near a wall and the packets were covered with mould on the outside and felt distinctly heavy (ie from water I guess). I wasnt going to even open the packs and check them out....

Not prepared to spend on a damp course for this house - as I figure it had a variety of owners in the over 100 years it had been up before I bought it and I've had to spend plenty that it was down to previous owners to spend as it was (ie work that obviously had needed doing when previous owners had it). Cant take on other peoples financial responsibilities every darn time....:cool:

mambury

Thanks for the tips GQ, I shall delay the potato digging and do some weeding instead! I need to get some of my cabbages and caulis in too, might be a bit late for them but they should do something, hopefully......

As for the rioting, I can un derstand the cause of the original riots in Tottenham (don't agree but understand), but the rest??? I just hope that no one gets seriously hurt.

Right, off to have another cuppa and sort the kids out.