Preparedness for when

VJsmum

GreyQueen wrote: »

I've ironed (in case VJsMum passes by, this being somewhat of a running gag between us), tally was 2 blouses, 3 liddle hankies, 2 pillowcases and pair pjs. That's Mount Ironmore by my standards btw.

I'm still here.:D. Just don't have tons to add ATM.

I did a dozen shirts, three pairs of OH trousers (I bliddy hate those) and a hanky ( but only cos I used it to iron the trews) the other night. I didn't realise it was possible to iron pillowcases or pjs.

I had a new cleaner start today - I think she thinks I am some kind of Eco warrior , goodness knows what she would think of me if she looked in the stash cupboard. She said that she couldn't find any loo roll in the cupboard and I must have run out . I was too to show her the real cupboard

Perplexed_Pineapple

Welcome newbies and lurkers <waves> the more the merrier.

GreyQueen wrote: »

It's amazing what people know. F'rinstance, my dear Dad, the mildest of men, once remarked that you can put sugar in M0lot0v cocktails to get the petrol to stick to surfaces.........in his defence, he has read a lot of history books. I filed that in the section of the GQ hard-drive labelled Things You Probably Will Never Need to Know But Might Come in Handy One Day.

I have put my 35mm cannisters away neatly. But I did bin one without a lid and lost a couple of other random plastic containers into the bin.

GQ it's probably not a good idea to keep M0lot0v cocktails in a small flat. A shed on the other hand, could be the ideal spot. Maybe that bloke who was caught with hundreds of gallons of petrol in his shed during the last fuel fiasco was a closet anarchist, rather than a hoarder.
Whatever happened to 35mm film canisters? They used to be everywhere and now I haven't seen one for years. Our kids will look at them with the same regard they have for the spinning Jenny and Stephenson's Rocket :rotfl:
The snow that was predicted for tomorrow seems to have vanished from the forecasts and I've no clue what's going on with the weather. As an aspirant self-sufficient grow-your-own type without the experience of some here this is a bit frustating as all sorts of seeds and plants are supposed to go into the ground in March or after the last frost - with this weird weather the last frost will probably be in July. Going to have to bite the bullet and start sowing a few things over the next few weeks anyway. Anyways, going to prep for tomorrow by getting some kip

BB that's a bad, bad website you linked to, I see many hours wasted....

jk0

Oh, thanks GQ, you just reminded me to go and iron my shirts on the cheap electricity.

VJsmum

I do only iron half of everything though. Only the front side of t -shirts, one side of each sleeve for the shirts, then the shirt gets folded in half lengthways and I do each front - which then does the back. Yes, there is a crease down the back but OH always did them like this and doesn't worry about it. I used to do them properly, taking nigh on five mins a shirt. Then discovered that doing it his way took about two mins. His way it is then

Only trousers get done properly, and I don't really iron much else.

Those shirts and things the other night took under an hour :T and that was two weeks worth of ironing.

GreyQueen

Morning all.

Just to clarify, I don't have M0l0tov cocktails in the flat or anywhere else, just vaguely knew they involved glass bottles, petrol and a rag. And apparently sugar, if you like the premium version.

Mark you, I have been known to get delightfully giggly on real cocktails which bypass whatever metabolic quirk allows me to hold my likker and heads straight to the funnybone.

secondhandrose, I am very sorry to hear about your friend who took his life. When I used to work in debt advice, we would have some new clients who were suicidal. One of my colleagues talked this gent out of killing himself. He was in a financial muddle and the worst-case scenario would have been that their house was repossessed. She gently cajoled him to the point of view that he would still have his wife and children, that the very worst outcome would be that they would all live together in a rented rather than a mortgaged house, and with our help, it might not even come to that. When it was phrased like that, he could see that it wasn't that bad. We shuddered at how near he'd come to leaving a widow and two young children fatherless.

He pulled back from the brink and was able to gain perspective and start to cope. It's a sad indictment of a society which so has financial worth tied up with human worth that death is seen as preferable to facing up to being poor(er) than one is accustomed to being. I really hope people in a crisis will seek help, gain persective, and survive.

I think a shelf of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books would be a comfort in dark times. I have dual nationality in the Discworld as well as the UK.

I do get the feeling that a lot of people are sleep-walking through this life and haven't really processed that Bad Stuff can happen to them personally or to the wider society. So many people I see are spending to their limits each month, often on trivia like takeaways, mags, cosmetics etc etc. Not that manufacturers and vendors of these items shouldn't be entitled to make a living, but when people on modest incomes with no assets spend all they have, you are only ever a whisker from disaster.

A classic example I see is of people who normally have no savings at all who manage to accrue a few hundred or a thousand and then its Great! Let's go on holiday! Trouble is, the sum spent would only be a safety cushion for a few weeks' worth of regular expenditures and they don't look at that sum and think; It's not much, but it's a start, and I'll add to it each month.

Ach well, sometimes you can only learn caution by walking some hard roads in worn-out shoes, and that's something people will have to find out for themselves.Today's cunning plan will involve some minor preps and domestic organisational matters (OK, housew*rk) which will see me ready for a lot of things, and then it's the weekend and matters of an allotmentish nature.

Oh, quick word of comfort to gardening noobs; even in southern England, you can hang on to early April to plant a lot of things if March is a mucky month. And that's things which would normally go into the ground in March. Don't panic, Captain Mainwaring, don't panic!

paidinchickens

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Hi PIC he's an old boy now, will be 10 in April and is beginning to look venerable with much white on his muzzle and round his eyes, plus he is slightly bow legged at the back, cow hocked they call it, so I don't think he's a prime target for being stolen. We don't take any chances however, and if I felt in the slightest bit threatened or uneasy I'd head for the nearest house and ask for help, we know most folks in the village and everyone knows Docky!!! Lyn xxx.

10?? I've been kicking round this place far too long

Had someone drive into the back of the car last night (only just got repaired from the last !!!!!!) Everyone ok and the fella begged to do it off insurance as " he has claimed too many times" It was hubby driving my car and by the time he got home the bloke/kid rang up demanding cash for repairs.

I told him I would peel spuds in hell to pay higher insurance premiums before I would give him a penny as he was racing a friend (friend in car and him on a bike) and he went into the back of my car!!

Hubby is upset as even though it wasn't his fault his best friend died in a car accident.

Can't believe he rang threatening us, he really shouted that he wanted my F in address, which I gave as we have nothing to hide.

Hubby has been restless all night and hit me with his elbows several times through the night.

Any advice on how to deal with blackmailing scum?

PiC x

[Deleted User]

Oh yes GQ my soon to be ex lodger (HOORAH!!!) has extensive debts since she came out of uni and then decided to go travelling for a few years and last night was talking about being 40 next birthday and wanting to mark it with a landmark celebration and go to Las Vegas for a couple of weeks and do all the big tourist visits to the Grand Canion etc and also to take a large party of friends to a holiday camp for a party weekend??? This from the woman who a few weeks ago didn't think she had enough money to look at renting a £200 a month room until after Easter!!! what ever happened to COMMON SENSE? When did the 'I must have a big treat because..... Insert nonsense of choice here....that's what I expect to have and the fact that I'm stony broke dosen't mean a darned thing??? come into being, it certainly wasn't that way when I grew up and a railway rover ticket was an exceptional treat if it happened at all and stood for our summer excursions for many years. Thank heavens my girls have their feet very firmly on the ground, their heads in reality and a firm grasp of how to run your finances, and NO DEBT!!! That wasn't luck, that was parents who have the same attitude!!! Lyn xxx.

GreyQueen

:eek: PiC. Call the Police. Immediately. Threatening people is an offense.

nuatha

jk0 wrote: »

Edit: It just occured to me that a Speedtouch modem plugged into a laptop working on batteries would continue to work in the event of a power cut.

It does, assuming the exchange and POP have power.
You can get a USB powered external modem, though dialup ISPs are getting rarer. I use this one as a backup

paidinchickens wrote: »

Any advice on how to deal with blackmailing scum?

PiC x

Inform the police. Then the insurance company - and pursue it through his insurance.

Witless

GreyQueen wrote: »

Morning all.

Just to clarify, I don't have M0l0tov cocktails in the flat or anywhere else, just vaguely knew they involved glass bottles, petrol and a rag. And apparently sugar, if you like the premium version.

That'd be the sub prime version.

Premium has a handful of soap flakes as well.

(Apparently.)