The OS Doorstep - a helpful and supportive thread in these tough times

kidcat

Oh my am so embarrassed. It was big filter at bottom. Asked oh to clear it last week and he hasn't. Nor the week before or the one before that either. Or it seems ever.

fuddle

At least its not an expense kidcat. Well done that machine for persevering with a chocka filter. Men!

Im just back from the office... I have passed my induction period!

Better news is that we have a new customer. A lady in her 60s who refuses to have ready made meals. She would like a carer to come in and batch cook for her 2 hours a week - guess who has the call I may be bending your ear.

paidinchickens

"I do not know who told you to shut up, but at the start of every meeting there is an open forum where any Parishoner is invited to have their say - as is their right. Once the Paish Council goes I'm to formal session only Parish Councillors may speak.
From memory it has been about Five years since the last increase, so I do not believe it is ridiculous - you can only dig into reserves for so long."


Sorry to post this here but this is a reply I got from our local Parish Councillor about our 17% rise. Is it me? am I unreasonable?


Although the Parish CT is only a small part of the overall bill I still think 17% is excessive and have told them on their website so I'm now getting harassed for stating my opinion.

17% :eek:

PiC x

kidcat

PIC - that is a rather bizarre message to post to anyone. And its tone is not endearing. 17% is a huge amount to increase, and I would be upset too. On the opposite side it seems that many councils and similar have been kept from increasing bills for a number of years now and have reached breaking point. My local council have announced they are going to hike our bills this year far more than ever before, but having only increased small amounts for years they can't contain it any more. Realistically we would have been better off paying real increases every year for the past few years than being hit so hard now.

paidinchickens

Thanks for the reply,

I'm really annoyed, they have raised this however they are paying for a graffiti artist to spray the newly purchased skate park :eek:

They were going to spend thousands putting up railings to stop the dog users from letting their dogs foul on the field until I pointed out the people who don't pick up won't use the fenced area anyway to which they had to back down.

Money wastage :mad: the actual CT and police part has only risen 2-3 %

Plus they just look down their noses at us mere mortals

PiC x

kidcat

Its the ridiculous stuff that gets my goat too PIC, graffiti art and railings are not the most necessary of items - I bet the local art students could do it for free!

mcculloch29

Another overall thumbs up for Jack's book from me though not every recipe is a total winner.(Thanks for the satay sauce recipe Mrs LW, that's definitely more like it..!)
Tonight I did do her recipe for sausage, lentil, and bacon casserole and it really was good. I tripled the amount of bacon though, I used the Mr T cooking bacon which is basically bacon mince, it really flavoured the whole pot and at 81p for 500g didn't break the bank. Definitely doing that one again.

What I like about Jack's recipes is that there are plenty of tips for variations, and their straightforwardness means that anyone but the absolute novice can see how to make a variation that works for them. Lots of good advice on sensible shopping and kitchen equipment.

I took a copy down to our local library yesterday evening with the hope that it will be borrowed by those who cannot afford to buy it.
It only cost me £3 in a way as postage for the copy I bought for DD would have been £3.50 ish. I bought two copies to get free postage so had a copy to give to someone and chose the library. So it wasn't a grand gesture to make.

paidinchickens

Are there a lot of vegetarian recipes?

PiC x

kidcat

mcculloch thats a really nice thing to do and not something many people would have considered

Do libraries take not brand new books I wonder - I have literally hundreds of kids books that are like new but not new, I really would like to be rid of.

mcculloch29

Pic, the veggie and vegan recipes in Jack's book outnumber the meat recipes and even then, most of the meat ones can be adapted, using Quorn or veggie sausages/bacon for example. Protein being the most expensive part of the meal, beans and pulses feature heavily.

Thanks, Kidcat, I'm a bit of a bibliophile but I have too many books so I have passed books on to the library for a while now.
Re the Jack book, I just thought that for a couple of quid it was a gesture that could do a lot of good, potentially.
I give my library books I have read that still look very new and have been published fairly recently. I'm a careful reader generally, I use proper bookmarks and don't turn down corners. Sometimes the books you see in remainder shops have faults; these wouldn't be suitable, but many are.