Preparedness for when

2tonsils

so sorry to hear that Vanoonoo...its terrible when you lose a pet that is like one of your family.

Had torrential rain all night so spent most of it mopping up the rainwater that is leaking in, thank goodness the repair man comes to have a look tomorrow. It looks like its turning colder but might stop raining so that is good new re the leak. If its a broken pipe in the wall then it will be a big job and we will get it done on the house insurance.

The earth tremors seem to have calmed down again so that is a good thing. My shoulder feels fine but the muscles in my arm are really sore and aching so I still have the sling on most of the time to rest it like the doctor told me to do.

I am full of cold so thinking of having an early night and snuggling up under the electric blanket.........have a lovely evening folks.

[Deleted User]

2T hope the repair man can make an easy fix for your pipes tomorrow, sorry you are suffering with your shoulder, it must be the cold weather combined with the stress of the rain and earthquakes combined, it might feel better when you are able to relax after everything is sorted out. Hope your head cold is of short duration and goes very quickly. Have a medicinal tot of something alcoholic with some honey in to help your throat and make you sleep, look after yourself, Cheers Lyn xxx.

Perplexed_Pineapple

Popperwell wrote: »

Would a simple way of reducing the cost of HB be that landlords, HA's and councils to reduce their rents accepting that people are struggling especially in these times? Or is that unfair or too simple as a solution. I am bound to have missed something important.

The problem with that for private landlords, and maybe some HAs too is that the property is funded with debt - the rent needs to cover the mortgage or other repayment. If they default on the mortgage the bank takes possesion and everybody loses out. If this happens enough the bank has too much "bad debt" and gets into trouble (see Northern Rock).
We have a mortgage now (after many years of renting) and if mortgage rates go up to the levels seen in the 80s (>10%) we'd be in very serious cash-flow trouble - one of the reasons for prepping at the moment, to at least have food on the shelf (and in the cupboard, under the bed, in the shed...) if suddenly half our income or more has to go on mortgage payments.
Vanoonoo, sorry to hear about your loss

craigywv

not very good feelings on here today we all seem to be having worries with our pets mines an ulcer although he has recovered i still feel for you folk whos pets are gone or are ill.xxx chilly day here but gloriously sunny got wash nearly dried on line just put heat on so bunged it on the hateful clothes horse , it will bedry by morning. i heading out to leeeeedles in morning they doing punnet of strawberries for 69p and want to get their fab 4. starting to prep again and also inventorymy food , had let it slip a bit. car booked in for mot next wed so hopefu lly it should pass.checked how much oil we have left earlier we have the large oil tankand it was filled week before christmas ...........we haveused about 6 inches which i am delighted with that works out at about 40 quid a month in heating and thats the real rough from the winter , i know its still very cold but i havent found it as bad the past few days. working on that ratio our oil tank will be still half full by sept and i have been putting 10 quid a week away for next winter so will refill in july....we live ina 2 bedroom house so its easy to heat and water is pumping hot after an hr of being on. maybe will try and refill when oils at its cheapest

GreyQueen

So sorry to hear that you bulldog has passed away, Vanoonoo and sorry that esmf's dog is poorly too. It's the downside to loving animals whose lifespan is so much shorter than our own..........

I've been talking to desperate people about the bedroom tax for months now and with the start only weeks away, we have a lot of people desperately trying to downsize. My immediate neighbours in the Towers are unaffected as we are a block of one bedroom flats but there are some neighbourhoods where nearly every flat is a two-bedroom and now couples and singles will have to absorb the extra cost or try to downsize, and in some cases there isn't anything smaller to be had.

Don't want to go any further down that particular route as it can be a bit of a hot button for some and I'm not vested in stirring up controversy on a forum.

Re various people having a sense of dread, I can empathise as seem to have a feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Don't know whether that's a fey hangover in the DNA from the cattle thieving lowland scots ancestors (they were famous for catttle-thieving, btw:p) or whether I'm just a bit tin hat, but I have always liked to have some cash and some cans of grub and to know where my candles and matches are.

Been grubbling around on my allotment for a little while after work, having the lights on the bike to get home, but it is so lovely to see it light at 7 am and light again past 5 pm. Days are drawing out and things are slowly warming up.

We can't change the world but we can change ourselves and try to look out for what is important.

craigywv

great post GQ!

fuddle

I'm stepping up my frugal/wartime cooking as a way of prepping. If I can provide meals at a rationing level now while I can afford the luxury of learning, then it can only be a good thing. My prepping is mostly about learning more and more about scratch cooking incase things get awfully, awfully bad re:income/food costs/food supply.

Not a bad life lesson though and good to be passing down to the children.

Popperwell

Well, what was important for me was getting bread worth £1.39 for 7p(and I could have purchased loads)but that was silly and I don't have room in the freezer. I could have bought two though but I found a new loaf(half the size)reduced by 40p so spent 60p it was a Kingsmill called Fruit and Fibre. I thought I'll give it a try.

I spent two hours putting things in my trolley and putting them back on the shelves:pand as for that saying about a watched pot never boils...I had my eye on a couple of items in the yellow stickered area but the reductions were not worth considering they were too small and some items had not even been reduced.

I gave up.

I've had something to eat and now dive under the duvet and perhaps watch some TV on the laptop or listen to the radio.

pineapple

I found a 'cashcard' on the lane - I think it belongs to a newish neighbour (don't know her surname). Only problem is - it's for one of those pawnbroking/payday loan companies. Sign of the times eh? I think it might cause embarrassment if I take it round so I'm torn between bobbing it through her letterbox under cover of darkness or handing it in/posting it to the firm as an anonymous find - possibly the best option as she'll be doubly offended if it lands on the doorstep and it's not hers! :eek:

GreyQueen

pineapple wrote: »

I found a 'cashcard' on the lane - I think it belongs to a newish neighbour (don't know her surname). Only problem is - it's for one of those pawnbroking/payday loan companies. Sign of the times eh? I think it might cause embarrassment if I take it round so I'm torn between bobbing it through her letterbox under cover of darkness or handing it in/posting it to the firm as an anonymous find - possibly the best option as she'll be doubly offended if it lands on the doorstep and it's not hers! :eek:

It's a difficult one, isn't it? Traditional books on etiquette never seem to cover this kind of thing.

Here at the Towers it is customary to practise a kind of vacant stupidity when seeing People in Suits around asking questions.

Suits (male or female) seen in this block are usually bailiffs or something equally worrisome (CID are considerably scruffier when hanging out surveilling in their beanie hats and hoodies but SuperGran knows loads of them by sight whatever they are wearing. She just blanks them but then she's been working on her little old lady act for some years now).

With the Suits, no one knows anything about any of their neighbours, it's all shrug-and-dunno-mate if anyone asks. TV Licensing come around from time to time, seem to meet some of the scarier neighbours and have a bit of a fright and come back again after a couple of years.:rotfl: