Preparedness for when

ginnyknit

MrsLw I so agree with you. My beloved father used to say 'theres nowt as cheap as soap and water' He lived through the deprived 1930's in the back streets of Manchester and was always clean and tidy. He then went to war in India and the pictures of him and the lads showed suntanned smart men, hair all slicked back with tidy uniforms despite the heat of the day.

The trouble is now they want everything NOW! hence the furniture shops that charge 2000% for a suite that will have fallen apart before its paid for. They havent the sense to buy a pack of canned drink and take one with them - I am addicted to diet coke and its at least 65p in the shops but 25p roughly in a multi pack.

Cake sending hugs hunny, terrible situation but you have your wits about you and friends a click away. x

fuddle

Lyn it's the unkemptness (doubt that is a word!) That annoys me in this day and age.

My grandma was a house wife, mother and wife of a miner. Working class to the core and bludy struggled at times I can tell you. That woman lived in her overall and spent the week in rollers just in case she needed to go out at any given time. My grandma kept tidy children, heated the water for my grandad to be clean for after his mining graft and kept on top of the dirt that trailed through the door with him.

Above all else my grandma scrubbed her doorstep becUse she had pride. She cared for everything she was blessed to have and had pride in herself and family.

Too many people do not have any pride today and its very annoying because a sense of pride brings confidence and that influences society in a positive way. In my opinion.

No matter how down on our luck our family have been we have always been clean and tidy... much to the digust of the benefits assessor when we found ourselves in a situation where we needed to ask for help! Her mistrust in us because we were not able to fit in her stereotype of 'claiment' was apparent.

[Deleted User]

Hey FUDS unkempt means dishevelled and uncared for and down at heel all rolled into one. I don't understand how folks can't at least wash and have clean hair, let alone clean clothes but I guess that presupposes they have access to washing facilities for themselves and thier clothing and I might be being very unkind in assuming that's the case. I see so many folks with that appearance though that I think it's just folks being lazy because you could wash in a public loo and even scruffy clothing can be mended and kept neat if you have the will to do it,to do this while living without hope and living on very little income would mean having knowledge and resourcefulness which I guess they just don't have. We live in an uncaring society I guess and maybe there are more people with difficulties than I am aware of.

Nargleblast

the cake good luck for the battle ahead. A few ground rules....
Keep a record of every conversation whether face to face or phone. Print out a copy of all emails. Document all events in chronological order - dates, times, places, who was there etc. Don't be surprised if evidence that backs up your OH mysteriously goes missing, the other side will be fast and furiously covering their a r s e s even as we speak. And don't attend any meetings without a union rep by your side. Do not trust the other side as far as you can spit them. Cold, clear, logic, that's what will win it for you.

lobbyludd

no i really do not think life was easier in the past.

regardless of which past we are talking about, they all include higher infant mortality, higher violent death rates, fewer rights for women and children, terrible dental hygiene, lower life expectancy and no matter how clean one's ancestor's front step was and how proud they were of their appearance: rampant communicable disease.

the fact is that hygiene has increased - those classed as unkempt or shabby today will be cleaner than the majority 50 yrs ago. it is a nonsense to suggest otherwise.

BitterAndTwisted

Allegedly people in the UK buy more toilet-soap than in any other european country. After having travelled on the London Underground for the last forty-odd years it is my firm belief that a lot of it is bought as presents and hoarded in airing cupboard rather than being put to use.

mardatha

I never said life was easier. I said it was simpler. or I meant to
My youngest son is self-employed and recently took on a young lad for casual labouring. He turned up in trainers and my son asked where his boots were ..."dunno". Then son noticed he had no bag with him and asked where his piece was (lunch)-- lad said "I dinny eat" :D

Perplexed_Pineapple

Just been catching up on the last few pages and interesing discussions as always. Have become a bit of a lurker since rarely have enough time to keep up with the thread and usually several days behind but wanted to say hope it all works out for the cake and virtual hugs from here.

VJsmum

It doesn't take a lot to be clean. At Glastonbury there were two cold taps for the whole field. Many queued to use them every morning for a "quick wash and brush up". With my 10 litre water container and Kelly Kettle I could produce hot water for DS and I to wash properly with. We used a plastic breakfast bowl sized dish and face cloths. We also had baby wipes. In the little porch part of my three man tent, i could wash all of me (not hair) - OH testified that we didn't smell when we got home, and we had been away for 5 days - and it was VERY muddy. I did wash my hair once though, apart from the first wash, I was rinsing in cold water. It still came up OK though.

My nan also used to say that "soap doesn't cost much" and you don't really need hot water - cold will do (though isn't so pleasant). I guess drying clothes might be a problem in some seasons for some people.

My nan and grandad were poor as poor, they had 8 children to feed (although not all at once, the 8th was born after the first had already had her first child). Grandad was a tally man (debt collector), and mum says he never left the house without shining his shoes, even if he was just walking up the road.

Poverty and mental health have a part to play nowadays, but a lot of it is sheer laziness / lack of self respect. I have been severely depressed in my time but, even though it was an effort some days, I always managed to shower and clean teeth etc every morning.

Hugs, Cake.

GreyQueen

jk0 wrote: »

Bl**dy hell. That is pretty all-encompassing, isn't it?

Any property can be confiscated without compensation for virtually any reason.

Best bury your gold in the garden I think.

jk0, I can see that you are labouring under the commonly-held delusion that you are allowed to own property. You are a tax donkey, as are we all, and you are only allowed to accrue and accumulate property until our donkey-drivers want it for themselves. Think of yourself as a caretaker rather than an owner.

This sorry fact has to be at least veiled, otherwise we donkeys might be less active in our accumultations and thus have fewer things for our masters to confiscate at will.

I was interested to see that confiscation and requistion are itemised separately, so obviously shaded by different legal meanings. Anyone here able to clarify that to me? From the victim's point of view, they've taken your stuff against your wishes, so the end result is the same.

I think that item could be condensed down to; we can do what we want, when we want, how we want and you can't do anything about it.

Of course, that pre-supposes that TPTB are able to keep control of their controllers (police, military, tax collectors) and that isn't necessarily so.

And hoards of coins and precious jewellery come to light every year, demonstrating that although the original owners didn't get to keep them, neither did the would-be confiscators of the day.

PS - It'd be enormously helpful to future archaeologists if persons burying coins in the back garden could include one with that year's date on, as they would know that to be the latest possible date for internment.