A new 'tougher' thread... and so it continues

shelley_crow

Hester - the cut in pay is terrible, it's a lot of money to lose. What the betting that the big bosses won't be cutting their money. I didn't even realise they could do that, awful.

PAH - You are brave, dentists are the worst experience ever. It must have been very stressful for you

Tonight I have a hot date....literally! I have borrowed a soldering iron to try and repair a wire on a Kenwood Chef. It's been about 13 years since I last used one so fingers crossed!

We've had a lovely rain shower just, the temerature has dipped and the pressure in my head has eased, bliss. I have headaches when it's close and muggy outside, must be due to atmospheric pressure or something.

[Deleted User]

SHELLEY - don't solder with crossed fingers - if it all goes wrong they'll stay that way He he he!!!!!!!! -( trying to fit the Goldfinger music to Silver Finger doesn't work!) Cheers Lyn.

Byatt

Just heard from neighbour that our LL is putting up their rent...really worried now, as it's likely I suppose mine will go up too.

I don't have a nice a place or as big as theirs, but still...sigh...

shelley_crow

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

SHELLEY - don't solder with crossed fingers - if it all goes wrong they'll stay that way He he he!!!!!!!! -( trying to fit the Goldfinger music to Silver Finger doesn't work!) Cheers Lyn.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: you make a very good point, maybe I should go and watch some tutorials to refresh my memory before I start.

Byatt - sorry to hear about your rent, it's always a worry. Ours is creeping up but the maintenence is very poor, I believe our kitchen was one of the very first thing the cavemen built after they invented tools.

I have a saucepan dilemma, I made popcorn and a lot burnt on the bottom of my favourite pan I feel so silly, I took my eye off it for a minute. There's no chunks left but there is black residue. I've tried soaking in hot soapy way, soaking in bio powder, using aluminium foil to scrub it off and it's all not working. Has anyone got any ideas before I bin it?

maryb

A tablespoonful of ammonia and put the whole lot in a black bin liner, tie the top and stand it in the sunshine for a day. Be careful of the fumes when you open the bag. Did this with a grill pan where the black stuff seemed permanent and it just flaked off under the cold tap.

Byatt

Shelley, what upset me was a woman, who is a LL saying she loves this time of year as it's increase the rents time.

My income is going down all the time, and in September I have no idea how I will manage as one source stops, so I will lose around £200+ a month. I'll just shoot myself now.

shelley_crow

Thanks Mary, I will try that. Where did you get your ammonia from?

Mrs_Chip

Oh don't mention the S (older) work to me :rotfl:. We have just spent most of the day watching one of our neighbours trying to solder over a hole in a water pipe in the hot-water boiler on our van - it mysteriously came back from the menders with a hole in it, and we did not find out until we checked it out just before our fist night's frying. Poor bloke is in his eighties, and it was in a very awkward position. He ended up attacking it with a blow torch that looked like it came off the ark, but finally, after several hours of soakings and swearing he has got it down from a vigourous spurt to an occasional drip :rotfl:. He has saved us a lot of money, so there will be several pints and chippy teas winging his way!

SC - burnt on pans - try some Vim if you can get it (as long as it is non-stick) usually does the job for me - or any cheap cream cleaner should have enough abrasive in it. Just dampen the Vim a bit and use like a paste (thinking about it, Astonish paste will do too!). Many is the time I have totally knacked my stainless pans, and they have always come back nice and clean.


Mar - you are not alone, we have a ratty problem too. As you know I love rats, but enough is enough. We can't afford to have vermin with a food business. After a lot of reading, and trying to deter them, I had to do something so set a snap trap baited with a bit of chcolate and caught a poor young rat the first night. None since, they are not that stupid. I will move it around and see how it goes.
I thought of catching and releasing, but they are territorial and if they are let go into another ratty patch they can be killed or starve. I hate the idea of bait and loath those sticky things (why on earth are they legal?) so a swift death seemed the best thing to do Of course cat totally ignores rat noises and not in the least interested in catching them!

Sorry about awful dentist PAH, hate them myself too!

It's a lovely evening now after a dull day, seems to be they way of it every day now - not that I am complaining!

shelley_crow

Byatt wrote: »

Shelley, what upset me was a woman, who is a LL saying she loves this time of year as it's increase the rents time.

My income is going down all the time, and in September I have no idea how I will manage as one source stops, so I will lose around £200+ a month. I'll just shoot myself now.

Nooo, don't do that How much has your rent gone per year before now? Have you applied for housing benefit or local housing allowance? If it goes up and you can't afford it then you should be entitled to something, you can't magic money out of nowhere. Apply as soon as your other income stops in September.

The rental system in the rest of Europe gives much more protection to tenants, it's a real shame we don't have a similar system over here.

Byatt

Thanks Shelley, it hasn't gone up since I first moved in, but it's pretty high to start with, so I may be let off the hook for a while. I do get some HB which covers about a third of the rent. The LHA is lower than my actual rent. It's an expensive place for housing. Can't get cheaper.

I did get some discretionary payments from a nice council person who bent the rules somewhat so I was eligible (on paper I'm not, but reality is so different as they don't take into account many things), but he's now left.

Oh well, they can't get blood out of a stone...