Breaking Through, Travelling On

ramorth

Karmacat wrote: »

Right, I don't think the Nectar/Sainsbo thing is worth it for me - I'd have to use my current voucher to get enough points to buy something, and the categories mean it'd be presents, and there are exclusions to check through .... life's too short, if I invest that sort of time, I want more of a guarantee that it'll be useful to me.

Just read the newsletter too, and Martin's blog about Cameron's article, had to comment on the special thread on here ... the article is nothing particular, just a list of what the government's done wrapped up in words like "dignity" and "security". Reporting on David Cameron, good; giving him a platform, bad. Any of them, i.e. any politician, but particularly the head of the government thats overseen the biggest transfer of wealth from ordinary people to the richest 5 - 10% in generations. And Martin has a bit of a go at people who're upset that he's given Cameron a platform.

When I first talked to my family about what I was doing on mse, years ago now, I used to call Martin "the blessed Martin", and his word was good enough for anything, anything at all. I still trust the tools available on the website, I'm prety sure, but all in all, I feel very sad.

yes i can totally agree ... i stopped reading his stuff a long long time ago, just hung around for the forums and even then i take a break often, its the people like yourself Skinty, Beanie, Bob, Butti, Dunstonh Tilly, Ed and GG etc that make me come back ...

[Deleted User]

I usually agree with everything you say,Karmacat, you've been an inspiration to me in so many ways, even though our lifestyles and financial situations are very dissimilar. I've learned so much from how you go about things, long may that continue to be so:A

But I can't agree about the Cameron issue, whether I agree with his politics or not. At the very start of the article that you mention it was stated quite clearly:

'The Prime Minister asked if he could tell you about pensions. We said yes (don’t worry, this isn’t us going party political, we’ve had senior politicians from all parties write). So here’s his exclusive blog for us. Yet remember this is his view, not ours'.


I can't see any problem with that:)

gallygirl

carbootcrazy wrote: »

I usually agree with everything you say,Karmacat, you've been an inspiration to me in so many ways, even though our lifestyles and financial situations are very dissimilar. I've learned so much from how you go about things, long may that continue to be so:A

But I can't agree about the Cameron issue, whether I agree with his politics or not. At the very start of the article that you mention it was stated quite clearly:

'The Prime Minister asked if he could tell you about pensions. We said yes (don’t worry, this isn’t us going party political, we’ve had senior politicians from all parties write). So here’s his exclusive blog for us. Yet remember this is his view, not ours'.


I can't see any problem with that:)

Me too CBC

Karmacat

CBC (and Gally, edited to say I just saw your post ), I'm glad we agree on so much, and on our own debt free/savings journeys, frankly I don't care about Cameron that much ... or about the article, actually, it could have been written by the most junior hack in the Press Office - which is probably one of my objections to it, I think . It just doesn't seem like the Martin who was up and running when I joined the site (and oh dear me, I see that was in November 2006 .... um, 8 years ago this month :eek: ) that Martin wouldn't have had such a superficial "article" in pride of place. "Nostalgie de temps perdu", I guess, thats all.

I managed to work again in the garden, got the new compost mixed in with the garden soil, and I'll let it lie for a little bit. The unexpected achievement out there was to get a little raised bed, made out of a set of drawers, up and running. Its had garden drainage stones in it for ages, and a self sown fireweed (I think). I put some leaves in as extra organic matter, got the fireweed in some proper soil, planted some volunteer ox-eye daisy from my last house, which I absolutely adore, and some fuschias that I bought at a local fair this year, they needed soil around their roots if they're going to survive. Put the same new compost in there as the garlic bed, topped it off with local lumps of clay soil as a kind of mulch, dead branches over it to protect from cats and bob's your uncle. It looks terrible, especially with the dead branches, but the plants are happy :j

Karmacat

I'm very excited right now :j I've discovered some UK personal finance blogs - through MMM, I think, or maybe monevator. There's http://simple-living-in-suffolk.co.uk/ and http://mistersquirrel.com/ (though he's quite new, and he's quite open about not being particularly frugal :rotfl:) and http://thefirestarter.co.uk/ which is a *great* name and stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early :j:j:j one of his categories is "frugal food", so I'm guessing that one's more in tune. Plus a huge permaculture website, that was called permies when I found it, but has gone forward to https://www.richsoil.com.

And I have a Reiki 1 course set up for 4th December. I wonder what living in an RV in America would be like? Actually, a 2nd cousin of mine did that years ago ... possibilities are opening up :j

ZTD

Karmacat wrote: »

Just read the newsletter too, and Martin's blog about Cameron's article, had to comment on the special thread on here ... the article is nothing particular, just a list of what the government's done wrapped up in words like "dignity" and "security". Reporting on David Cameron, good; giving him a platform, bad. Any of them, i.e. any politician, but particularly the head of the government thats overseen the biggest transfer of wealth from ordinary people to the richest 5 - 10% in generations.

To be fair (as I seldom am), the biggest transfer in wealth occurred during the bank bailouts. There haven't been too many of those recently. There's also been a reversal in the flow of money with bank charges and PPI - but the organisation/intervention of and by HMG (only one letter away from OMG) in those matters has been a disaster.

For me, the issue is that politicians already have many outlets for their "opinions", hosted with breathless sycophancy. They don't need another.

Of course now, to show "fairness", he's going to have to give a platform to another politician, and another, and very soon, this site will be up to the armpits in something unpleasant. Makes you wonder what Martin is up to.

Karmacat wrote: »

And Martin has a bit of a go at people who're upset that he's given Cameron a platform.

He does that. That's not new.

Karmacat wrote: »

When I first talked to my family about what I was doing on mse, years ago now, I used to call Martin "the blessed Martin", and his word was good enough for anything, anything at all.

His word has never been good enough for that for me. However the scrutiny I put it under has increased throughout the years. Most of the "news" stories are just garbage now.

Karmacat wrote: »

I still trust the tools available on the website, I'm prety sure, but all in all, I feel very sad.

"Trust but verify." as Ronald Regan once said.

Karmacat wrote: »

It just doesn't seem like the Martin who was up and running when I joined the site (and oh dear me, I see that was in November 2006 .... um, 8 years ago this month :eek: ) that Martin wouldn't have had such a superficial "article" in pride of place. "Nostalgie de temps perdu", I guess, thats all.

I'm afraid it all went pear-shaped for me during the "ban the smileys" episode. I did at least learn something from that: There's a limit to how pathetic you can be, before your entire future turns risible. I guess not watching all of those Reality TV programmes meant I was spared that lesson before

ramorth

you learning reiki or teaching it ?

gallygirl

ZTD wrote: »

HMG (only one letter away from OMG)

I know it's a serious post Z - but :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:.

Personally I wasn't bothered by it. I don't always agree with the editorial content on the site (lazy, inflammatory headlines about Ryanair for example) so tend to take everything with a pinch of salt, as I do with most websites/newspapers etc. Never quite got over a newspaper in Dubai with a headline along the lines of 'Dubai moving towards self-sufficiency' - read the article and it said they no longer need to import dates :rotfl:.

edinburgher

I'm afraid that I'm a big cynic when it comes to the benefits of reiki. Suffice to say that a relative developed an interest and the phrase 'bum chakras' may have been coined :rotfl:

I am surprised you've not come across at least one of those blogs before. We've had a few discussions about Simple Living in Suffolk. He makes some good points, but is a bit curmudgeonly/conservative (small c) for some of us. He's a helpful fellow though, and posts on MSE under his blog moniker of ermine.

FIREstarter (how many people born later than the 80s will actually get that title?) looks to have grown a lot since the first time I took a peek, I'll dip in during my lunch break today if our firewall doesn't block it :T

Not sure about the Squirrel One, I suspect it's ermine under an assumed identity :rotfl:

Karmacat

Z, good points there. Fancy Ronald Reagan saying that! Thats a great saying, very concise, very realistic.

ramorth wrote: »

you learning reiki or teaching it ?

Learning from a friend who did her counselling diploma the same time as me (at the tail end of the 1980s :eek:) and its changed her.

gallygirl wrote: »

I know it's a serious post Z - but :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:.

'sgood, innit

Personally I wasn't bothered by it. I don't always agree with the editorial content on the site (lazy, inflammatory headlines about Ryanair for example) so tend to take everything with a pinch of salt, as I do with most websites/newspapers etc. Never quite got over a newspaper in Dubai with a headline along the lines of 'Dubai moving towards self-sufficiency' - read the article and it said they no longer need to import dates :rotfl:.

Fair enough on your point - I think on an adult level, I've always agreed with that, no matter that at one stage I thought Martin should be beatified Loving, just **loving** the Dubai headline :j:j:j

edinburgher wrote: »

I'm afraid that I'm a big cynic when it comes to the benefits of reiki. Suffice to say that a relative developed an interest and the phrase 'bum chakras' may have been coined :rotfl:

Oh good grief, !!!!!! is that :rotfl::D :rotfl: As I say, proof of the pudding (well, I didn't say that, actually, but its what I meant). I was a probationer healer for the Nat Fed of Spiritual Healers many moons ago, and got totally fed up with the Dickensian structure of the organisation itself, and reiki seems to have a much more modern structure, yet still be trustworthy, if you get on with the thing itself. Some stuff that people swear by doesn't affect me at all, like homeopathy, other stuff has been very powerful. I'm certainly a cynic about fluffy stuff, and I look behind what people say, certainly.

I am surprised you've not come across at least one of those blogs before. We've had a few discussions about Simple Living in Suffolk. He makes some good points, but is a bit curmudgeonly/conservative (small c) for some of us. He's a helpful fellow though, and posts on MSE under his blog moniker of ermine.

Oh! :o I may have thought it was Suffolk in New England or something, or just not been in a space to take on a new name (I can be fluffy too, y'know ) :o

FIREstarter (how many people born later than the 80s will actually get that title?) looks to have grown a lot since the first time I took a peek, I'll dip in during my lunch break today if our firewall doesn't block it :T

I'm not sure I *get* it, but I like the acronym he's found to go with the name.

Not sure about the Squirrel One, I suspect it's ermine under an assumed identity :rotfl:

Ooh! Might be, he sure comments a lot on Squirrel! What fun