Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

That link isn't working for me jkO :huh:

RAS

jk0 wrote: »

Phew!

No nightmares last night. I think I was too tired for them. Fingers crossed for the future.

jk0

I do really nasty nightmares on occasion. The occasions are:

1. Anything to do with codeine or related chemicals (mouth ulcer treatment for example).
2. Fever
3. Getting too hot - the worst is the late spring when the tempurature fluctuates. At the moment I sleep alongside the duvet and can cuddle it or reject it as needed .
4. NSAIDs often raise my body temp and lead to the same problems even if I am strict about eating with them. The coated ones are worst.


I prefer not to have my own private Stephen King movies so I try to keep tabs on this lot.

[Deleted User]

I was in the precinct earlier, doing some shopping.

There was a man there, trying to sell something (a financial product, by the look of it), from a tiny lectern type stall.

As people walked past, he would speak to them, using phrases like "Hello mate. How are you doing?".

Am I the only one, who finds that to be inappropriately familiar, given he was addressing complete strangers?

ivyleaf

No, you certainly aren't

Frugalsod

I will confess that as I go more OS I am seriously cutting down on the junk and additives. My if I can make it then don't buy it mantra is now extended to more and more items and now includes desserts. So if I am shopping the YS discounts have to be serious for me to buy any ready meal now. The german discounters have the right idea and I suspect that the middle market will shrink no matter what Asda and Tesco try and do carry on regardless with endless makeovers. In the US where the stagnation is much further advanced even Walmart sales are falling and they are losing out to the dollar stores. Can you imagine a situation where people buy much of their food from stores like Poundland? The real problem that many in the UK are failing to appreciate is that the middle class is under attack and has been for many years, and that within a generation I suspect it will be less than 10% of the population.

In the US the retailers that appealed to the middle classes are struggling and it is why so many malls are closing. I do not see our wonderous leaders doing anything to stop it either.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/753839f0-e75b-11e3-88be-00144feabdc0.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18693825

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/05/29/can-whole-foods-make-a-comeback.aspx

GreyQueen

I get ticked off by being accosted full-stop, never mind the faux chumminess that some of these peeps practise.

No, pal, you're a chugger and I'm a passer-by, we're not 'mates'. You're trying to sell cable TV and I'm carrying a bow and arrows, who'd'ya think has the more interesting life (this week's encounter)?

My attitude to Stuff is, if I'm interested, I will research and go get it. Probably secondhand. If I'm not at your store/ stall/ whatever, it's safe to assume I'm not in the market for your goods or services, so leave me alone. If badgered, I get cross and move off pretty sharpish.

Been chewing the fat up at my mate's curio store, as usual handling some interesting stuff. Thanks to him, I can recognise some things which I couldn't recognise before, including knowing which is worth £5 and which is worth £500. Now I just need to drop my hands on the choice elements and roll it on at a profit. That's the hard bit

Kid bruv sold a book last week for £150.00. He bought it for 75p. I'm on the look-out for another copy..........:rotfl:Not bad for a 1980s novel, hey?

Dad's been doing the family tree, and among the farmers and farm labourers, there were a few who were majorly into buying and selling, so we jest that our propensity for this behaviour is wired to the DNA. One of them even made enough in the early 1800s to afford a tombstone and left a will. woop woop.;)

RAS

Sometime recently there was a mention of over-wintering crops in a frame???

If it is of any interest, this is my list of green stuff that I can pick outside in the first three months of the year which may not be on the normal plot.

Down to minus 19 and survived even when the snow melted and it was then minus 11 all day and minus 19 at night

Giant Red Mustard - strong flavour
Mizuna
Land Cress
Lamb's Lettuce/Mache
Swiss chard - Lucellus - not all plants.

Note cabbage stalks rotted and rocket popped its clogs. All the above thawed late afternoon so picking was before dusk.

I suspect that other mustards would survive and are milder in taste (the Streaks) and other Chinese Veggies would be worth a trial.

If the winter only drops to minus 11 at night then add

Swiss chard - mixed colours
Rocket
Oriental Veggies
Salad onions.
Edit - add parsdley to that)

(Bit of news - may have a new (to me) greenhouse shortly. Must collect the rest of the glass this weekend).

Frugalsod

GreyQueen wrote: »

I get ticked off by being accosted full-stop, never mind the faux chumminess that some of these peeps practise.

No, pal, you're a chugger and I'm a passer-by, we're not 'mates'. You're trying to sell cable TV and I'm carrying a bow and arrows, who'd'ya think has the more interesting life (this week's encounter)?

A chugger with an arrow in his back will have a more interesting week, did you make that offer to him? Did you give him a head start and tell him to run!?

The fact that many try this faux familiarity will probably work with a few only encourages them to continue. The chuggers are at the very bottom and get paid minimally and it is their employers who make most of the returns from the first years donations. So refuse and say that you already donate directly. I have a standing order to Oxfam and even during the years when I was struggling it was still going to the charity.

[Deleted User]

When I find myself approaching chuggers, I look straight ahead and keep walking.

Most get the message, and step aside.

The ones that don't, jump aside at the last moment, which is sensible, as I'm 6'2" and over 16 stone in weight.

GreyQueen

Alas, the bow was unstrung and encased, and the arrows in their carry tube, it would have taken a few mins to tool-up to menace anyone.

Hoxfam is my charity of choice, too, although I don't commit to a DD, I do donate all my unwanted stuff there (and bring stuff up from Mum & Dad's on the bus to donate as they don't have an Oxfam in their town). I also shop there; am on the last chapter of a book I bought there earlier this month, which will be going straight back again after. And the gift aid helps.

My route to archery is straight across the centre of town, through all the main shopping streets, so I can see what the world is coming to. Was 'up town' this afternoon on an errand or two, and find myself a touch bemused by all this shopping. I have actually turned into my Dad; you identify a need (new shoes as old ones are worn out) go out and buy with minimum of fuss, and go home - end of.

What I particularly dislike is the doorstep chuggers badgering you at home. I know that they're probably students (they all look pretty young) just trying to make a buck, but I honestly feel like telling them to go back to whomever assigned them Shoebox Towers as a patch and complain.

We're a pretty impoverished neighbourhood, our whole ward is classifed as deprived. Lots of people are out of work, some because of serious health problems which see them teeter at death's door. Some are able to work but can't get any jobs. Others are hardcore crims, like the drug-dealers, the child molester, the lifer out on parole etc etc.

We know who these people are, who not to bother, who's on their uppers, who not to trust. Yet older adults send these chuggers into the 'hood, tripping about knocking on strangers' doors. SG tried to warn one young lass, working solo, about a couple of addresses, but Miss knew better, didn't she? She got out OK, but going into homes where even the Police go in fours, unaccompanied? I dunno how the mothers of teens sleep at nights, frankly.