Daydream thread continues.....

lostinrates

Itismehonest wrote: »

I suppose in alfie's case it would be what if you became too ill to drive or to take care of the animogs? Somehow, alfie, I can't see you curling up & saying "Well, if they die, they die. What will be will be". I'd lay odds on you fighting tooth & nail to do something for them if not for yourself.

I think we can all be resigned to our own fate to a degree but I bet we'd all fight under certain circumstances.

It's relevant to this thread in as much as smallholdings & places with land are the realms of the reasonably fit or of those with alternative incomes enabling them to pay others to do what they can no longer manage. :

I agree it's relevant. But saying what will be will be is not necessarily defeatist, far from it IMO, it's just accepting that the fight is best put somewhere it is useful. If Alfie couldn't drive and really couldn't get round it, my guess is she would have some coming to terms to deal with, have to factor in when she next moved and start demanding the son who borrows the van keeps it, but brings it home to see her full of feed twice a week.

Some things there are no way round.....and the energy spent fighting them is......gone, lost.....making our own personal ozone layer making us vulnerable to future 'pollution ' of life's daydreams and vulnerabilities.


Now, I am NOT a hippy, and I along with dh have worked bloody hard for everything we have. I know a lot of people would not, for exame, keep the horses in my state, and if it gets so I cannot meet their needs...well, the choice is clear. However. When I cannot walk out there I lean on something, when I cannot lean and hobble I have before now crawled.:o. I do not say 'que sera sera....they live or die' I say 'que sera sera, am I walking or hobbling today?'.

Davesnave

ukmaggie45 wrote: »

:beer:

I'm an ageing hippy too, but I do hate someone with the name of Dave C who is intent on taking this country to hell in a handbasket while giving his mates loadsa money... (anyone else remember LoadsaMoney the plasterer from way back when?)

Spent lots of my relative youth being despised because of my name (Maggie Maggie Maggie, out out out. etc). So Dave, my commiserations for sharing your name with our "beloved" PM.

I never give that a thought. I don't think I'm cut out for conventional politics, which is all spin & no substance. To me, it's all about tough love, and none of the main parties is anywhere near tough enough to cope with the ills that befall us now.
Sometimes, even if you love someone, you have to be hard to make them achieve what they are capable of.

I had quite a hard time as a child, going from relative affluence to precarious poverty in the space of a year....and staying there! My opinion is that it did me good, though at the time it really hurt.

I used to dream of living in a council house, and I'm not joking!:p

rhiwfield

Definitely glass half full this morning with normal service to be resumed as soon as possible

Only 4 days to Family Christmas!!

Not ready yet, tree to be got, turkey to be bought, short of pressies

But have got the mega box of choccies so the girls of all ages will be happy!

ukmaggie45

Woke up at 4.15 am to deathly silence, but heard a door banging. TV had gone off, otherwise wouldn't have heard it (usually fall asleep with TV on so it was prob the sudden silence woke me ). Got up and rebooted the cable box while I made the usual very early morning bathroom trip, then heard door banging again so woke poor OH up to investigate. TV wouldn't boot, so went downstairs and tried that, no joy. Phones off too, so OH called Virgin on my mobile, nobody there till 8am. So we had a pot of tea and a very early measly muesli breakfast followed by toast and marmite. OH called Virgin back at 8 and there's "a fault in your area, engineers working on it, expect to have it fixed by 4.30". So OH immediately asked if we'd get a rebate! Apparently yes, though suspect it'll only be a couple of quid.

This morning OH has to be over at his Mum's for 9.30 to let handyman in to put in key safe and move grasp rails lower by the entrance so MiL can see them. So I chucked on my clothes (not time to wash, but did clean my teeth :cool: ), packed laptop, and OH dropped me off at Old Home where the TV is working, and also the internet and telephones. :j So glad I didn't get round to cancelling the broadband here yet!

So am sitting watching daytime dross, and catching up on news here. Must light the fire if I can find where OH stashed the coal, and then really should get on with yet more packing (rolls eyes!). But will probably just vegetate for a while as this is far too early in the morning for me to up, dressed, and out!

Itismehonest

rhiwfield wrote: »

Definitely glass half full this morning with normal service to be resumed as soon as possible

Only 4 days to Family Christmas!!

Not ready yet, tree to be got, turkey to be bought, short of pressies

But have got the mega box of choccies so the girls of all ages will be happy!

Glad to hear you're feeling better, rhiw. :j There's loads of WVV around so I hope the family escapes it & everyone can enjoy your 'Christmas'.

Ukmaggie - Davesnave would have had a reeeeaaalll problem if the unions had picked the other brother then. :rotfl: 2 Daves.

It was meant to be better weather today. It's not actually raining at the moment but it's been like the Black Hole of Calcutta all morning. It obviously just isn't going to get light today.

Right ...... off to have the barnet done. Hope everyone has a dry, or at least drier, day.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

flipping cold this morning..

been sitting my 'office' ( shed in work:D) getting paper work bank accounts sorted etc...

now to sort out the payout for the caravan once and for all:mad:

You might want to block your ears:cool::rotfl:

alfie_1

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

what a diff a day makes, no cars or road sweepers in front of the house ( yet)

Davesnave thanks.. so it isnt really a silly thought question, asking where does water go, once its in the ground

Alfie I so wish I could be like you, I just 'bite' at everything, and can not leave things go over my head....I think it might stem back to being bullied in school, so now, I cant let people walk over me..or get away with things that messes around with my way of life..or my passed partying life and recreational activities might have left their mark on me

I really do need to learn to chill out...

oh i can fight my corner,dont worry there .... i have just learnt to step back, ask myself "is this the end of the world".." will it kill me"..... will i survive this".... if its a NO,NO,YES then i can move on.
IF ITS NOT...I GET THE FACTS AND COME AT THEM CALMLY BUT WITH ALL GUNS BLAZING....;) :rotfl::rotfl:

itsme.... noone knows how thier health is gonna be... im not going to deprive myself of things ie. animogs....just incase.
i was told donkeys years ago that i would ...not be able to, stand for long, walk for long, drive, ride, i was in a wheel chair at the time....it took me 2 years but i got there.

as they say IT AINT OVER TILL THE FAT LADY SINGS..;)

Itismehonest

alfie_1 wrote: »

oh i can fight my corner,dont worry there .... i have just learnt to step back, ask myself "is this the end of the world".." will it kill me"..... will i survive this".... if its a NO,NO,YES then i can move on.
IF ITS NOT...I GET THE FACTS AND COME AT THEM CALMLY BUT WITH ALL GUNS BLAZING....;) :rotfl::rotfl:

itsme.... noone knows how thier health is gonna be... im not going to deprive myself of things ie. animogs....just incase.
i was told donkeys years ago that i would ...not be able to, stand for long, walk for long, drive, ride, i was in a wheel chair at the time....it took me 2 years but i got there.

as they say IT AINT OVER TILL THE FAT LADY SINGS..;)

I, too, know that ill health can come without warning, alfie.
If we go through life not facing up to these things & the increasing likelihood that they will happen (it's just a matter of when) then we don't plan for the inevitable. It means we are more likely to hang on in there until it's too late &, instead of being in control of our own lives, we find we've possibly no options left without becoming a burden to those around us.
Very often the people who are taken to court by the RSPCA have just got too old or incapable to keep their much loved animals up to expected standards. I'm definitely not saying that you would be like that because I think you'd admit the situation to yourself early enough &, if possible, get the animals rehomed but many people don't or find that there's nowhere that can take them at the time it becomes necessary.

This isn't just about us...... it's a thread for people who want/intend to live the life & they also need to think about it. As Alex said it struck a chord with her. If we are to be fair to those who still daydream they have to know the downs as well as the ups of the lifestyle.

Someone once sold my late MiL an £800 vacuum cleaner which was so darned heavy she couldn't lift it. It was a brilliant machine, did everything from hoovering to spraying paint but it took someone much younger & stronger to use it. Living hundreds of miles away we didn't find out in time to do anything about it. IMO smallholding can be like that vacuum & I wouldn't want anyone conned like the old lady was. It can be a fun way of life & rewarding but it's seldom idyllic for the old or infirm.

Itismehonest

It never did get light today.
The sun was shining over South Wales, though ....... or looked to be.

Popped down to Ilfracombe Quay to see the infamous Verity. Just drove round & had a quick look.
Seeing the real thing did nothing to make us warm to her :eek:
The one thing that did make me smile was I noticed that she's obviously starting to get used to being in North Devon. She's already developed green wellies from spending time in the salt air & our glorious 2012 climate

Davesnave

Alexelisey wrote: »

Sometimes I wonder if we really should buy anything with land at all, but that would mean giving up on what we've both wanted for such a long time. Sigh.

"Two legs good, four legs harder & expensive!"

Terrible misquote, but it sums up my thoughts about owning land over an acre or so. I used to say something similar to CTC, then look what I bought! :rotfl:

If you think about it, an acre or just over is enough for one person to garden and run some chickens, perhaps in an orchard, like we do. It's even enough to have a couple of pigs. Beyond that, you get into managing grassland and competing on price with the equine buyers.

.....Unless the additional land is a bit pants, that is. A rough, scrubby wood isn't so demanding and it could pay for itself in firewood. Plenty of those sort of places in Wales, but not so many around these parts.

Thanks to Google Maps & Streetview, I'm able to travel back to some properties we didn't buy to see what the people who purchased made of them. Here's one just over the border in Mid Wales, near Berriew. It was a pretty farmhouse with attached barn with PP for incorporation + 10 acres of mainly steep land. It also had a ready-made, award-winning garden. Obvious which it is:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Berriew&hl=en&ll=52.618879,-3.254963&spn=0.002534,0.005922&hnear=Berriew,+Powys,+United+Kingdom&gl=uk&t=h&z=18


Here, the people who bought it have dug out the hillside behind the farm and made an in-out driveway by putting a road through the field and out between neighbouring houses. (Bet that made them popular! :rotfl:) That's exactly what we'd envisaged, but they've gone one better and built a road to the top of the land too, using the spoil. Never dreamed of that - thought it was too steep.

It was a lovely spot, and at £325K the price was good, but it was out of our chosen area. We thought it a tough decision, but suddenly there was none to be made, as our buyer pulled out.