Preparedness for when

GreyQueen

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

The burglars would have to tidy my place up, before they could ransack it.

I dunno, Bob, when you've posted pix of stuff taken in your flat, it all looks very tidy.

I'd sort-of imagined a Spartan batchelor pad with laminate flooring. Gosh, another illusion shattered.

GQ glances guiltily around her livng room floor which is currently hosting some stuff from the kitchen floor (it's just drying after washing it) plus various bags, a shopping trolley and a box of tinned soups on a foot-stool. Half the couch and 3/4 of the table and desk are hidden under what could most charitably be called Misc.

[Deleted User]

GreyQueen wrote: »

I dunno, Bob, when you've posted pix of stuff taken in your flat, it all looks very tidy.

That's down to camera angles.

short_bird

I survived yesterday's trip; it wasn't too bad as long as you kept your eyes open for Those That Stop Suddenly To Look In A Window. OK when we went into the restaurant and not much worse when we emerged. I think I develop a no nonsense look on these trips.

You've reminded me of living at home when there were always 6 white loaves to be stored over the festive period as the shops were shut...

Oh, and the time when the house was burgled and the police said "They've made a bit of a mess" and then boyfriend looked round and said "No, they haven't..." Well, I was when I heard that but he wasn't bothered.

thriftwizard

I sometimes wonder if we have ever been burgled. Not meaning to make light of the misery of those to whom this has happened, but I suspect the muddle & clutter of normal large family life plus the fact that both of us have hoarding tendencies (albeit put to good financial use in my case) means that a potential burglar would get in, take one look & think, it'd take me an hour to locate anything worth nicking! But certainly doors have been left open when the house is unattended & overnight, windows accessible to a flat roof have catches that a cat can open from outside, sometimes windows don't have any catches at all (two currently) and our security system is called Ron & lives in one of the houses opposite!

Going back to the shopping thing - I think one of the reasons everyone in our village survived the great snow of '62-'63 was that it started over Christmas - Christmas night IIRC, and by lunchtime Boxing Day we couldn't dig Grandpa's car out for him to get back over the border into Cornwall, so we were stuck with him for several weeks until the snow-plough got through, and his 30-odd parishioners had to fend for themselves without his famous half-hour PhD-level sermons. But the level of supplies was at an all-time high; two weeks later & it might have been a different story.

Personally I think it's time for a real Christmas Rebellion. Take it back to basics; a bit of greenery & glitter around the house, simple inexpensive token presents, a decent feast without all the bits that no-one actually likes, will or should eat, and staying out of supermarkets & chain stores for at least a month starting on about 10th December. TBH this is what we've had to do or we'd have been bankrupt years ago, with 32 extended family members to buy & cater for at one stage. (There are even more now but we've reached some sensible agreements!) But I've had several friends collapse on my kitchen table in tears already from one or other of the seasonal stresses & I just think we should all be saying, loud & clear, ENOUGH!

Butterfly_Brain

carlislelass wrote: »

Our local shop has got Easter eggs on sale. Its not even xmas yet

:eek::eek::eek::eek: I am heartily sick of the commercialism that we are bombarded with.
We have stopped giving Easter Eggs now that our two are young adults. Besides that what has happened to chocolate? It is sickly sweet these days and not at all nice. I made the mistake of having a Quality street purple one and felt sick, they are not the same anymore, I prefer Aldi's Chocceur or Moser Roth, but the Dairy Fine is horrid so I don't touch it.

[Deleted User]

We've just been out with the cutters to get in our christmas decorations and I've just sorted out tealights for the votives I have which along with strings of cards and our tree with our old familiar decorations makes up the whole of the house decorations. I've catered for 3 days and have a few nice things to eat that we wouldn't usually have in. I've been buying something towards it when I've shopped for the past few weeks so I've not had to make a huge outlay or a huge shopping trip. We will have a quiet and lovely family celebration with long walks, perhaps a trip to the local hostelry, our own home grown and homemade produce as far as is possible and we'll enjoy it very much indeed without all the hullabaloo and commercialism, we'll leave that to those who play the spending game. We will most likely head into the sales on the 27th just for a look, probably won't buy much but that will be the most we'll do because we like spending time together as a family, lovely!!!

greenbee

GreyQueen wrote: »

I dunno, Bob, when you've posted pix of stuff taken in your flat, it all looks very tidy.

I'd sort-of imagined a Spartan batchelor pad with laminate flooring. Gosh, another illusion shattered.

GQ glances guiltily around her livng room floor which is currently hosting some stuff from the kitchen floor (it's just drying after washing it) plus various bags, a shopping trolley and a box of tinned soups on a foot-stool. Half the couch and 3/4 of the table and desk are hidden under what could most charitably be called Misc.

Erm... is this the place to admit I've managed to lose the hoover somewhere?

mardatha

Lots of great posts, am enjoying reading them all Good idea re going into seige mode for a month around xmas, think I will do that next year.
I hate xmas, totally and absolutely, but I love the idea of the solstice and the light returning - and I love New Year. This year I found myself getting quite down, a mix of the weather and the greed that's all around just now.
Any Scots in the thread please get ready for this big storm on the 24th, the weather forum is getting seriously concerned about it. All the ladies on there are cooking their turkeys tonight/tomorrow morning in case the power goes off.
Also anybody down south coming home for xmas - heavy snow up north now, blizzards, roads closed and snow gates closed all over the place. Add that to this storm and you get chaos.

Karmacat

Yep - I've just bought local tickets for Lancashire online, for when I travel tomorrow, and the rail company website was warning of potential travel disruption on the 23rd I better pack a bit more food than I usually would my journey usually takes 6 hours, and last year it took 12, there were so many breakdowns - I'm really hoping I don't get a repeat.

As for untidiness - I was stashing some stuff in the bottom of the wardrobe, and had an "a-ha!" moment - thats where the iron is!

ArthriticOldThing

Oringinally posted by Grey Queen: - GQ glances guiltily around her livng room floor which is currently hosting some stuff from the kitchen floor (it's just drying after washing it) plus various bags, a shopping trolley and a box of tinned soups on a foot-stool. Half the couch and 3/4 of the table and desk are hidden under what could most charitably be called Misc.


Originally posted by greenbee:- Erm... is this the place to admit I've managed to lose the hoover somewhere?


As I now don't bother with much in the way of Christmas decoration, last year I just used red and gold baubles in crystal containers - very effective & easy. However, when I went to do the same yesterday I discovered I've lost the (large) tin with said baubles in. :eek::eek: And I live in a small flat!!!


Is anyone else having problems with site? I'm unable to use the 'quotes' button and am having to copy/paste the icons. Any advice?