make do and mend for tougher times

bonnie_bumpkins

Possession wrote: »

Phew it's hot here in Kent.

Pooky wrote: »

I'm in Kent too :wave: and yes itis silly hot.

Another Kent gal here :hello: and I was melting today, in a non air conditioned shop... On the bright side it appears that Australian Olympic people are based just up the high street so there was a succession of tall blond muscley men coming into the shop for me to [STRIKE]chat up[/STRIKE] serve with a smile :drool:

Tip I learnt today: cold tea is good for sunburn, apparently.

Another day in the furnace tomorrow so I'm going to get some shut-eye while it's relatively cool.

Nighty night. Oh and pops, make sure you've eaten :cool:

mardatha

Been out all day so just skimming - but fuddle, is it not the council's responsibilty to get children to school free if the school is over 2 miles away? It is up here. We have kids on farms who get taxis to their doors, and everbody more than 2 miles from the school gets a free minibus. I thought that was law all over the country..?

kidcat

Fuddle I think Mardatha has a point its certainly the case here anyways, it may be worth a call to your local parent partnership service as they can tell you the statutory requirements and help you access them. Alternatively it may be more cost effective for a group of parents to get together and pay for a minibus/large taxi between them.
I know a taxi guy who does a school run daily and only charges £10 per day, as its regular money, he picks up three kids from same route and so it only works out at £3.33 each per week.

Evie74_2

Phew! What a lot of catching up I had to do to get up to date!

Evening all and (((hugs))) to all in need.

Busy day back at the coalface today - the phone was ringing non-stop which was fine except I couldn't get anything else done :mad:. No doubt everyone will be back on the phone tomorrow demanding to know where the things they wanted are - answer: get off the phone and I'll be able to get on with some bliddy work!

This afternoon I went to pick my DDs up from my mum's house (they've been staying there a couple of days while the worst of the kitchen destruction has been going on). They've had a whale of a time but my poor parents looked shattered! We all went to a charity tea-and-cake thing and I won a lovely jar of lemon curd (with lavender, apparently - not tried it with lavender before, but I'll give it a go) in the raffle. All for a good cause too

The kitchen is starting to look a little more like a kitchen again now. Yesterday was stressful - the electrician took up floorboards all over the upstairs and then the kitchen stuff itself was delivered and they couldn't get the oven through my front door!:eek: The door had to come off its hinges and it was still a close thing - they were talking of taking the window out at one point!:eek:

Today, however, some of the units have been built and the wooden work tops cut roughly to size so it's looking a bit better. The house is still in chaos though.

On the bright side I managed to dig a new veg plot and massacre a million-or-so slugs and snails. Am aching somewhat today though (from the digging rather than the slug slaughtering I think!) - I had to retreat to the garden as I just couldn't sit around in the house watching people working all day!

I've had a rather annoying email this evening from BT moaning at me about my broadband use. Apparently I have exceeded my allotted 10GB for the month yet again. We haven't watched much on the iPlayer (maybe an hour's worth?) which I know normally cranks up the usage so I'm a bit baffled. I don't really understand how much 10GB is - could I have used that much just from having the PC on every day? I do have the internet on quite a lot through the afternoon/evening, but only for MSE, Facebook and checking emails really.

I will have to do some research to see whether an unlimited package is very much more - I feel like we are already paying a fortune to BT every month and I am a bit cross that they are being snarky about the broadband, especially when our broadband speed is so rubbish.

I watched that BBC programme about 1970's family life last night - it was a real nostalgia trip for me! The yellow flowery wallpaper! The stringy-thing picture! The painting of the lady with a green face! The swirly carpets! It was like they had raided my family photo albums for inspiration.

Although I was v. young in the 1970s (born 1974... bet that wasn't a surprise given my name!) I remember the power cuts as we had an electric cooker and I remember my mum cooking on a camping gas ring in the kitchen rather a lot. I don't remember the 3-day-week (I don't know whether my dad would have been affected as he was office based, or maybe I was just too young at the time to realise), or the rubbish piling up in the streets. I did have a chopper bike though - it was purple and I absolutely loved it!

Fascinating programme - not sure I could have brought myself to vote for Mrs T at the end of it all, although I'm sure my parents did (they probably still would; neither of them can understand where my socialist leanings come from!).

On which note - another cuppa before bed, I think.

Evie xx

[Deleted User]

:eek: GQ your post about your spuds caused me to open my sacks and they definitely have a lurgy. They looked great when I packed them away and have been in good conditions. I am sure that it is the start of blight and I have had to take action. So, after reading yesterday on american sites, I have boiled in their skins to cooked through, as felt with a probe, took 25 minutes as they are whole. I have just tidied up now and have to leave them to cool overnight

Tomorrow I will peel and dice then dehydrate, which I am sure you can do in an oven with the door open. I haven`t any space left in the freezer :eek: and am so grateful to have a dehydrator

grandma247

For those with toddlers or for childminders I had the link for this in an email. It really is a good list for keeping littles occupied for a little while.

Pips_Mum

Thanks for that list Grandma! I definately agree with the rice, I dyed some 40p rice with food colouring and a squirt of alchohol hand gel then dried it, Pip played with it in a big tub in the garden today for about 2 hours! He shovelled it, put it in pots, ran his cars through it allsorts.

grandma247

Pips_Mum wrote: »

Thanks for that list Grandma! I definately agree with the rice, I dyed some 40p rice with food colouring and a squirt of alchohol hand gel then dried it, Pip played with it in a big tub in the garden today for about 2 hours! He shovelled it, put it in pots, ran his cars through it allsorts.

Brilliant. I had a quick look around the blog and found the playdough balloons. I could see them as great stress busters for adults :rotfl:

Popperwell

Possession wrote: »

Am sure I've seen some fairy stuff on Pinterest, will have a look tomorrow, just about to log off now.
Also my DS will be starting senior school next year and unless things change we will have to find £660 a year for the school bus, despite it being our only Catholic school in the area. Am thinking of lift-sharing with another mum who will have one there and still another at the same primary, but it's not easy. With two kids that's £1320 a year AFTER tax I need to be earning just to get them to school.

This is frightening, how lucky I was that my schools were within walking distance and only streets away...

The Government just doesn't get how most of the population are living...

Popperwell

bonnie_bumpkins wrote: »

Another Kent gal here :hello: and I was melting today, in a non air conditioned shop... On the bright side it appears that Australian Olympic people are based just up the high street so there was a succession of tall blond muscley men coming into the shop for me to [STRIKE]chat up[/STRIKE] serve with a smile :drool:

Tip I learnt today: cold tea is good for sunburn, apparently.

Another day in the furnace tomorrow so I'm going to get some shut-eye while it's relatively cool.

Nighty night. Oh and pops, make sure you've eaten :cool:

Point taken...even if I am eating at midnight!:)