Preparedness for when

mardatha

Hope everybody has AlkaSeltzer in their preps this morning..

elona

Happy New Year everyone.

Having a very lazy morning before going downstairs to start making a buffet style lunch as DD and SIL are coming round at two, I am not sure if my other two DDs will be able to make it what with the bridge collapse and diversions. Hope that baked salmon fillets, salad, green veg, home made spicy chicken and the lasagne I baked will be enough. If it ends up only being three of us then I will have to freeze things for another day.

ivyleaf

Very well put Doveling

Happy New Year everyone. May it treat us better than the last one treated some of us.

Karmacat

thriftwizard wrote: »

Happy New Year to you all! Have to admit, I got out from under my mother's spare duvet to watch the fireworks; she lives in the centre of our county town and has just returned home from two weeks' respite care after leaving hospital as weak as a kitten.

That's great news that she's home, thriftwizard.

Doveling wrote: »

_party_:j:beer::beer::kisses3::beer::beer::dance:

_pale_ :coffee:

Happy New Year!

Well put Doveling 2016 *is* going to be a great year for me, I've decided, though its going to get off to a slow start, it'll be lightspeed by the end :j

[Deleted User]

armyknife wrote: »

Can't see the reason for making a big point about it myself

The point I was making is, after 6 years, it's finally gone over the £1k mark.

armyknife wrote: »

GehQu, have you heard of a thing called 'The Wireless' there's some quite nifty spoken word programmes on it, many by the Beeb.

And you don't need a licence for it.

fuddle

We've been without our gas boiler since last night. It isn't an issue as we're suited, booted and equipped for it but hands are chilly. It's not practical to wear gloves for any of us indoors, unless we are doing nothing, so for future reference I think I shall have to crochet some fingerless ones with an optional cover over the finger tips. LL knows and has acted superbly - engineer is booked for tomorrow. As SHTF scenarios go, this isn't one. We have no financial responsibility which is a relief.

What feels like a SHTF situation is my digestion. I'm currently supping 500ml water based 'smoothie' containing cabbage, lettuce apple and strawberry out of necessity! Happy New Year! :rotfl:

[Deleted User]

IIWY fuddle, I'd invest in an electric convector heater, just in case the boiler ever goes caddywhompus again.

fuddle

Yeah bob, we've had the same discussions ourselves today. The house we have just left had two oil filled radiators from when the heating system was changed over at the beginning of the tenancy so there's been no need for us to buy back ups. Moving on top of Christmas into a nearly new build a back up rad just didn't enter our heads... but it would have done. Just not yet. It has now!

moneyistooshorttomention

Well - I guess this counts as Society planning for the future does it?:rotfl:

Have just had a letter through the door addressed to "The Resident" of my address (that would be me then:)) headlined as from Department for Work & Pensions - Office for National Statistics.

It states its to "ask for your help with an important study that has been running for more than 20 years. It collects information on the living standards and circumstances" etc etc

When I looked for a phone number to ring and give permission for an interviewer to call - I read on to see that an interviewer will be calling anyway. Oh well....

Well - it was a tiny New Year pressie for me:) - as a £10 voucher was included for me anyway. Every little helps as the phrase goes and I guess that buys about half an hour of my time then - so...fair 'nuff thinks me. Might as well do it...

Has anyone else had one of these? How long is it likely to be before this interviewer turns up on my doorstep? How long is the interview and what sort of questions do they ask? Is it completely confidential (ie no other Government Dept would be able to think "Ah yes - we'll just look up Money's file - where we put her answers to those questions"?

EDIT; does confess to cynically wondering why I've never had one of these before - ie whilst living in bedsits, public sector, starter house and only got one now I'm in an owner-occupied house in what is deemed to be a pretty reasonable area here. That being - an address that is very "average householder" - not poor, not wealthy. But I presume they do send these right across the spectrum of accommodation - all the way from bedsits to mansions to get a fully accurate reflection of Society and not just "yer very average in the middle" set-up?

[Deleted User]

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

When I looked for a phone number to ring and give permission for an interviewer to call - I read on to see that an interviewer will be calling anyway. Oh well....

You don't have to participate. If you prefer not to, you can tell them to go away/go forth and multiply/p***s off, etc., in the same way you can deal with doorstep salesman, bible bashers, chuggers, TVL, and the like.

Has anyone else had one of these?

Yes, but mine was straight from the ONS.

Despite what it said in the letter, that it wasn't mandatory, she called several times (on each occasion I was out), and put a card through my letterbox, asking me to ring her mobile number to "arrange a convenient time to conduct the interview".

Suffice to say, I never rang, and, after a handful of visits, she stopped calling.

How long is it likely to be before this interviewer turns up on my doorstep?

My first visit was about a week or 10 days after the first letter, but that was direct from the ONS, not DWP.

How long is the interview and what sort of questions do they ask?

Can't help you on that.

Is it completely confidential

That's what they say, but they also say that about our medical records.