Preparedness for when

JayneC

Just popping on to say that I have found the Allotment month by month by Alan Buckingham a really good book. Very clear and easy to follow. HTH.
Also for advice about minimising chemical use look into permaculture. Can't really do any links as I'm on my phone.
Jayne x

nuatha

I was born in the middle of February 63, Mum having been in hospital since late December. My Dad regularly had walked 14 miles in each direction to see her, until his boss found out when he was told to use one of the horses (semi-retired cart horses as these were still regarded as more reliable than some of the new vans, and certainly better in the winter on hills).
The village I grew up in still has regular van deliveries on the two notebook principle, though the green grocer and his van retired a dozen years back.
Early '90s there was a Dutch business man launched a mobile supermarket in a more rural part of the county, 40 foot bendy vans (same idea as Boris's hated buses) which could cope with the rural roads. The business seemed to be going well, when some family health problems led to him closing down and moving back to the Netherlands
I've wondered whether a combination of mobile shop and online ordering might be a viable business.

paidinchickens

Thanks for the allotment links everyone. I was a little late getting to bed as one link led to another. Where does the time go

I remember having a mobile video man that came round when my daughter was young. She is now 25 and just remembers. They used to sell sweets as well.

They were closely followed by the local shop lifters who would be selling meat and coffee. I don't know why they followed the vidvan. I saw one of the shop lifters a few years back and they looked really old and poorly and I was informed that they ended up with kidney problems due to putting frozen joints in their jackets by their kidneys but I don't know if someone was pulling my leg.

Off to ring the Council at open O'clock to say yes please.

PiC x

[Deleted User]

scottishminnie wrote: »

I know the mobile branches are still around however I have a feeling they aren't quite the same

I would imagine they're nowhere near as common, now we have ATMs.

thriftwizard

Somehow a supermarket delivery isn't quite the same. I haven't placed one for a long time (although it would be cost-effective to do so in one of the cheaper slots as I'm some way out from any of the big ones) because I got fed up with only receiving half of what I'd ordered. At one point I entered into correspondence with T&scos but gave up when they basically accused me of being greedy for wanting more than 10 of things - 10 tins of baked beans would barely last a week when the boys were small! - because they had their other customers to think of! I did offer to order a week in advance so they had time to order things in, but that was just ignored. Plus the 4 minute delivery slot is too short when the poor man has to trot down a driveway & round a corner with enough food to feed my small army for a couple more weeks. If things get left out (not happy with alternatives, we have several allergy problems in the house) I end up still having to drive 6 miles each way and jockey for a place in the car park, so I may as well just go down there & buy what I need in person. End result: basically they have lost my custom - not that that matters to them one tiny little bit - except if I'm going that way anyway & am in desperate need of something they usually do have.

When the butcher, grocer or greengrocer didn't have what Mum had ordered, he or she rang up to see whether anything else would do. Or to let her know if they'd be late (though to be fair, T&sco do that too) as they knew she was working. If she wanted cheaper, she'd trot off to the market at 7am, but she was never one for queueing in the rain and greeted supermarkets with open arms - even though she had to walk further, still in the rain, to get to one! Supermarket deliveries are a godsend for her now, at 87, but she still has to go out to get the things that aren't there from her list. However, some of my "panic-mongering" has clearly sunk in, because when she opened the wardrobe the other week, I caught sight of a stash of tins & packets at the bottom. Hip-hip-hooray!

westcoastscot

Hi Guys,
the bank van still goes to Mull. When I lived there we had one ATM in Tobermory - a 100 mile round trip which took 4 hours. It now has one at each end of the island but the bank still goes over - the only bank is still in Tob :-)
We used to have Andrew Irvine from Tighnabruich come over with his mobile van which sold everything non-food that you could wish for - I saw them recently when over visiting. Also had indian gentlemen who used to come over on cycles with a suitcase balanced on the handlebars selling smaller items. They travelled around the island getting lifts as they could, and being put up where they landed - this was only ten years ago. The postman delivered bread/milk and prescriptions to those that needed them, and Willie Low's in Oban would send over supermarket groceries by van as a favour - I used to post them a list and a blank cheque! It isn't much different over there now.

Am feeling very low this weekend - was told yesterday that i'm doing too good a job, which is not sustainable for the organistion. I work in third sector health and wellbeing, and as you would imagine our client base has grown hugely in recent years, and I find it really difficult to turn anyone away - due to the job I do folks are usually desperate by the time they get to us. Feeling really deflated.

WCS

mardatha

Oh I used to go to Tighnabruich when I was wee for holidays
How can you be doing too good a job? What do they mean WCS?
Your wee tags arrived this morning and are PERFECT thankyou!

[Deleted User]

That's me £150 poorer.

Got a puncture the other day.

Took the car to the tyre bay and had two tyres fitted (other one on the same axle didn't have a great deal of life left), and had the tracking done.

[Deleted User]

westcoastscot wrote: »

When I lived there we had one ATM in Tobermory

They fitted an ATM in a Womble?

I don't even want to know, where you inserted the card.

westcoastscot

mardatha wrote: »

Oh I used to go to Tighnabruich when I was wee for holidays
How can you be doing too good a job? What do they mean WCS?
Your wee tags arrived this morning and are PERFECT thankyou!

What they apparently mean is that the area where I have extra hours covering for maternity leave has seen such huge increase in referrals (i've been out looking for them, networking, raising awareness etc which I thought was my job) - now apparently i'm "too busy" and this will not be sustainable when my colleague returns. In my regular hours it isn't fair apparently to expect everyone to work as hard as I do :-(