make do and mend for tougher times

monnagran

I'm not really here, I'm actually slaving away at the Church Magazine, but you lot are irresistible.

Saw the Hidden Hungry programme last night and was amazed at the amount of food being taken away. Our Drop-in is obviously a much smaller operation so we get to know our customers better. In the nearly 2 years we have been going we have only had one man who pushed his luck and became very demanding and he only lasted 2 weeks before we'd sussed him out. I think alarm bells should have sounded earlier when the conman was taking away so much food that they had to give him a lift home to carry it all.
Most, if not all of the people we deal with are so considerate of each other that they wouldn't dream of taking more than they needed. We had a man in last week who had come for the first time. He had to be persuaded to take a bag of food. He wanted to know where the food had come from, did the people donating it know that it was going to people like him, why were we doing this, and finally he said that it didn't seem fair that he should be able to just take food without paying for it - it seemed like stealing. I said that it didn't seem fair to me that I should have too much to eat and he shouldn't have enough. He was quiet for a bit, then said he'd never thought about it like that and meekly picked up his bag. He turned round as he left and said, "Am I allowed to know your name?" "It's Joy," I said. "Of course it is," he said, and came back to give me the biggest hug.
It's things like that which makes it all worthwhile.
As for Charlotte, I want to adopt her.

Back to the Church Magazine, where I should have been for the last half hour.

x

Popperwell

PipneyJane wrote: »

Pops. Your busses are a nightmare. Makes me wonder: are there any transport planners employed any more? What happens down here is that they find excuses to split routes so that they can charge you two fares.

PJ,Wishing you well regarding the changes at work.

The difficulty is trying to explain just how bad the service is without it being boring especially if out of the area and you can only qualify it by saying every area probably has a similar story of sorts.

Molly's example sounded pretty bad where her daughter ended up in the middle of nowhere. Chicken and egg situation now. Are popel not using the bus service because it is infrequent and you cannot get to connect with a bus on another route but this means those who use the bus are fewer and so the bus service needs subsidising more and that means the service gets worse or more expensive or if they tried again by offering a better service people might come back?

It's a difficult one...we're not an out of the way rural town but a major one in the North East and pay more council tax than some areas. I might even accept paying for a split journey if the service existed. It is also a big player that offers the service - Arriva.

Oh well, perhaps the answer will end up having to have a rare evening out, save up over a number of weeks and pay for a taxi.

I can understand why people give up and spend hours at home often alone not socialising. It must impact on local businesses too.

greenbee

monnagran wrote: »

Most, if not all of the people we deal with are so considerate of each other that they wouldn't dream of taking more than they needed. We had a man in last week who had come for the first time. He had to be persuaded to take a bag of food. He wanted to know where the food had come from, did the people donating it know that it was going to people like him, why were we doing this, and finally he said that it didn't seem fair that he should be able to just take food without paying for it - it seemed like stealing. I said that it didn't seem fair to me that I should have too much to eat and he shouldn't have enough. He was quiet for a bit, then said he'd never thought about it like that and meekly picked up his bag. He turned round as he left and said, "Am I allowed to know your name?" "It's Joy," I said. "Of course it is," he said, and came back to give me the biggest hug.
It's things like that which makes it all worthwhile.

I just had to say thank you for such a lovely story. I agree with the man - your parents obviously knew what they were doing when they named you!

Hardup_Hester

The lady with the 51 ins TV reminded me, when MIL was widowed in the 1970's, she applied for help as she had 4 children aged 14,12,9 & 5. Someone from 'the social' came round & told her to sell the radio (they didn't have a TV), one dining chair & one place setting & then apply again.
Hester

MrsCD

monnagran wrote: »

I'm not really here, I'm actually slaving away at the Church Magazine, but you lot are irresistible.

Saw the Hidden Hungry programme last night and was amazed at the amount of food being taken away. Our Drop-in is obviously a much smaller operation so we get to know our customers better. In the nearly 2 years we have been going we have only had one man who pushed his luck and became very demanding and he only lasted 2 weeks before we'd sussed him out. I think alarm bells should have sounded earlier when the conman was taking away so much food that they had to give him a lift home to carry it all.
Most, if not all of the people we deal with are so considerate of each other that they wouldn't dream of taking more than they needed. We had a man in last week who had come for the first time. He had to be persuaded to take a bag of food. He wanted to know where the food had come from, did the people donating it know that it was going to people like him, why were we doing this, and finally he said that it didn't seem fair that he should be able to just take food without paying for it - it seemed like stealing. I said that it didn't seem fair to me that I should have too much to eat and he shouldn't have enough. He was quiet for a bit, then said he'd never thought about it like that and meekly picked up his bag. He turned round as he left and said, "Am I allowed to know your name?" "It's Joy," I said. "Of course it is," he said, and came back to give me the biggest hug.
It's things like that which makes it all worthwhile.
As for Charlotte, I want to adopt her.

Back to the Church Magazine, where I should have been for the last half hour.

x

(We can see you!)
You really are lovely monnagran Thank you for all that you do with the food bank and the church.
I haven't seen the programme, but there are probably always going to be people who take advantage of schemes to help people out. It's human nature unfortunately. Thankfully they usually get caught out.

Hardup_Hester wrote: »

The lady with the 51 ins TV reminded me, when MIL was widowed in the 1970's, she applied for help as she had 4 children aged 14,12,9 & 5. Someone from 'the social' came round & told her to sell the radio (they didn't have a TV), one dining chair & one place setting & then apply again.
Hester

It just shows how times have changed. That was a terrible attitude towards your MIL, and needed to change, but I think things sometimes have gone too far the other way.

MrsCD

VJsmum wrote: »

Hope you all like bananas

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20126452

Shepherd's pie could be interesting!

Possession

I have survived! Need a large gin and tonic though.

GreyQueen

maryb wrote: »

The really interesting parallel, to me, is that it was the austerity measures in Germany in 1932 that really boosted the rise of the Nazis - the hyperinflation that supposedly terrifies Germans today was over by the mid 1920s and anyone who was not on a fixed income had recovered. Germany was actually doing reasonably well by the end of the decade. Then came a Chancellor who responded to the crisis caused by the Wall Street Crash by imposing deflationary measures. Hitler only got 2.8% of the vote in 1928 (I remember that from O level history all these years later!!) By 1932 his support was rising at about the same rate as Golden Dawn's in Greece. The rest, unfortunately, is history. France very nearly tore itself apart trying to cling to the Gold Standard. Once again, the UK was lucky in being forced off the Gold Standard early in 1931 - it meant that, despite the severe hardship in the Northern towns, the country avoided the worst of what happened in Europe - imagine if support for Mosley's black shirts had been boosted enough for him to gain power!! I find it so frustrating that the Germans who are supposedly haunted by their history won't learn the right lessons from it

My Nan was a girl in the 1930s and Moseley's brownshirts were in her village and surrounding areas, something do to with people rebelling against the tithes (?) They weren't wanted, asked for, and it scared the stuffing out of the villagers. Nan doesn't talk too much about the olden days, it was very hard and she doesn't like to reminisce overmuch. She's a firm believer in keeping your eyes forward. She's 89.5 years old so she must be doing something right.
Possession; have a virtual bevvie on me; :beer: There should be medals for hosting children's parties, it really is an ordeal. Have participated in a few over the years and it's an education for the child-free such as myself.

I've been pootling about since work doing bits and bobs. I've cooked two FB pies at once, eaten half of one and reserved the other half for tomorrow, and the other was cooled, wrapped in clingfilm and frozen. I do this because they take 25-30 mins at Gas 8 and that's a lot of juice. I put them in the bain marie part of my stainless steel stacking saucepan and they heat through beautifully. Gotta pinch those pennies.

Right, the teapot is calling, have a good evening, GQ xx

2tonsils

Hi have just caught up with the reading. The good news is that our ton of logs arrived at last so we spent all afternoon carrying them through the house and stacking them neatly under tarpaulins. I think he brought over a ton so well pleased. Not so thrilling was the huge spider we got free with the wood, even the wild cat that comes for a drink wouldn't go near it! It wandered off down the hill as though it belonged there lol.

Have really bad weather on its way..we have very high winds at the moment and they are forecasting dangerous storms and 40mm of rain tonight and the same tomorrow. Italy seems to be getting the brunt of it and Venice is going to be even more underwater than it is now. Its not looking good.

If its safe to drive and go out tomorrow we will be going shopping to keep essential stocks up. The freezers are full so it will be mostly other things like sticks to light the fire and canned food (and teabags of course).

[Deleted User]

Evening all, just had the best evening with the nicest kids coming for Halloween trick or treats. Mostly in home made costumes and mostly with parents who were keeping them safe. I think we had nearly 200 this year, I lost count after 150 and each and every one of them said thank you without being prompted. It was a joy!!! I made life easy this year and got jaffa cakes, marshmallow teacakes and haribo sweeties in little packets which all seemed to go down very well. I usually bake but with DD2 being in hurricanes etc I didn't feel like doing it. I have hopes that she will be flying home tonight, the plane is inbound and looks like only having a 30 minute delay before setting off for Heathrow. I will be one relieved parent when I can speak to her on UK soil. Hope you have all had a good evening, Cheers Lyn xxx.