Daydream fund challenge part 4

Davesnave

Well, I've still got this ruddy great astronomical telescope, so if it clears and isn't too cold, I might drag it out there and try to 'fine tune' it. The sighting scope isn't pointing where the main bit does, I think.

It was a wonderfully bright and still morning for the Remembrance service, but no way did we have 2 minutes' silence. The church and war memorial stand in an acre of part-wooded grounds.... with a rookery, Boy, is it loud!:rotfl:

Spent the afternoon in quiet contremplation, filling holes with various kinds of gravel and rubble. I am really fed up with rubble and muck, so seeing it disappear is therapy.

Still have a few sweet peppers hanging-on in the polytunnel, but it's just lettuce, mizuna and chard after they go. Oh, and the Chinese artichokes, which are prolific, Unfortunately, they seem to have the main drawback that Jerusalem artichokes have.....:(:o:o:o

Oh, and a friend just gave me some Malabar spinach, which is more like a succulent than spinach. Kitchen windowsill for that.

Fay

alfie_1 wrote: »

fay.... my sons a fireman and they had a pensions/financial advisor turn up to speak to the station.. they pay a humungous pension contribution and nat ins. also a stupidly high personal insurance... HE advised them to put their money into property rather than pension as the return would be far greater !! buy to let he said, then income for life...?? they have moved the contractual retirement/years of service which means he will be expected to go up a ladder etc in his 60s... if he doesn't pass yearly fitness tests he gets early retirement on a reduced pension ! they cant win ! he signed up for 30 yrs and its now got to be 40yrs !! not fair and not right in my books..
it just makes me cross as people have planned for a retirement and suddenly its "nope, do a few more years cos we aint gonna pay you the money you are owed"....


apart from that mega moan ... its a lovely cool but bright day here..

Yes, very similar to what's happened in the NHS. If the government increase state pension age, which they will, so will the NHS. I think I'll be lucky to retire before 70 with a pension. I've also been told to stop paying he ridiculous amount I do and put it into property! It's terrible that our fire fighters are being treated like this but sadly they're doing it to all public services

Davesnave

Fay wrote: »

Yes, very similar to what's happened in the NHS. If the government increase state pension age, which they will, so will the NHS. I think I'll be lucky to retire before 70 with a pension. I've also been told to stop paying he ridiculous amount I do and put it into property! It's terrible that our fire fighters are being treated like this but sadly they're doing it to all public services

We cannot afford to retire people in public service jobs at 50. The fact that we once did, means that others are now funding them, rather than somebody else.

Of course, I'm not including those retired due to ill-health, which is also an unneccessary drain on society, if they got that way by soldiering-on and ignoring danger signals,

I was speaking to someone this week whose daughter has just relinquished her headship at 57, due to stress and other difficulties arising. She's the same age as I was when I got out, at which point I was the oldest person in the school, barring the caretaker! I dropped the responsible job four years earlier, knowing damn well I was past my sell-by date for that.

Unfortunately we're not living in the 1960s, when being in public service was easier, although the public often imagine nothing's changed! :rotfl:

Not me. Last time I was in a hospital, a few months ago, I was very impressed with the efficiency and the way I was spoken to.

We need a different way of looking at a working lifetime, but being one of those who stepped-down to a lower paid job, I know just how hard it is. There are feelings of entitlement through age, but that's because of snobbery regarding the work people do and also the genuine concern that wisdom will be lost.

It's a hard nut to crack. :undecided

Fay

Public sector jobs certainly don't hold the perks they used to, but as you say there is still a perception we are overpaid and have great benefits. I work in mental health and the impact of this used to be recognised with a scheme called mental health officer status which gave you an option to retire at 55. As you say, we are all living longer now and such schemes have gone. Sadly if anything, I feel we are now under more pressure (albeit different perhaps) than we used to be. I could earn an awful lot more in private practice but I wholeheartedly believe in the NHS and providing for those who can't afford it, but the work takes its toll. I'm not sure I will be still doing it when I'm 67!

Fay

In other non work related news my blackened dahlias are still uncut and in-mulched. The greenhouse is also uncleaned

Davesnave

Fay wrote: »

Sadly if anything, I feel we are now under more pressure (albeit different perhaps) than we used to be. I could earn an awful lot more in private practice but I wholeheartedly believe in the NHS and providing for those who can't afford it, but the work takes its toll. I'm not sure I will be still doing it when I'm 67!

I stayed in the state sector, despite being tempted to go private, but it was an increasingly hard choice, especially when valued colleagues defected to the 'other side.'

Things are happening here, at last. The electricians have made contact and Mr Rod is here at the end of the week to start plastering.....Hurrah! :j

choille

Glad you see a bit of progress Dave - We are the same as we are getting a hand with someone who's been before & is good & quick thinking & adaptable to wiring to joinery stuff etc.
I cut down a few whippy trees this afternoon - I'm going to try & work away at that if it's half decent outdoors as there are too many crammed in together, so it'll let the others get a bit more room. We'll burn them on the stove once they are dry & logged. Mainly birch, so you can get away with burning them green, but we don't need to.

DaftyDuck

That moon was stunning - when the clouds occasionally broke! The owls were out in force, making use of the Hunter's moonlight to harvest up all they could find. I wandered around the farm a bit, occasionally falling down a hole (light wasn't that bright), or just falling over (my legs are playing up again!), and the shadows were spectacular. Bats were active as well, making a carnivore's feast of the night.

Despite having passed my Physics 'O' level, and a few other such exams, I obviously failed to get a grasp of the fact that water flows uphill. My main feed on the water meadow now works, but the drain outlet.. is an inlet too! Despite using the highest-quality most-accurate-and-posh measuring scope ( a £11:99 Ebay special plastic one ...), we got it wrong somewhere. Oh well, once the water was in, we used the highly-technical method of bunging some sticks and rocks as markers, so we can fix that. I've still not got the main water gate in properly either, so please no heavy rains yet!

I'm not going to get into the pensions debate, aside from stating the obvious, that we can't spend as we were, and leave the debt for the next lot to clear up! With Trump and Brexit, we've more than enough to leave everybody divided and angry! :mad::mad: :shakesfist:

White doves all evicted, and barn sealed. Housing blocks for birds erected. And ignored. They'd rather sit on a thin and crumbling ledge than sit on a wooden platform in front of foot-long sheltered houses, with private sleeping quaters, all loaded with a little straw and hay, with an overhanging roofline for keeping the damp out, and a little grain added to each platform (and sleeping area)! When I say all evicted... three have worked out how to get back in (and I haven't worked out how they do it!). However, since the three are mum 'n' dad 'n' last baby hatched, I'll forgive them. Baby is sweet, and brrrcoo's at me. Fully fledged, but I think she's (see - no wonder I let 'her' stay... ) keen to hang in the shelter until she's more experienced.

The others are extremely pretty, and do make a lovely noise, but I could have exported guano to South America with the quantity gathering in the barns. Big clean-up required now!

Still working on finding a plumber for the heating system who'll do it the way we want. We are also investigating a high-tech heat pump and solar, combining that with our other inputs, but that is pricey, a big initial investment. Roofer failed to turn up for two expected-weeks, but did then phone - to say he wouldn't come for a further two more weeks! Builders! Well, at least there's a subject that's safe to moan about

I'm hoping to start the interior work myself in about a month. Need to have the place in a tip for Christmas as an excuse to repel boarders, in my usual social manner. Close friends welcome, but it's a good excuse for some of the less-welcome!

Time to open a bottle and light the fire.

Cheers, all!

Davesnave

DaftyDuck wrote: »

That moon was stunning

Didn't see a thing, but it was very bright for a cloudy night.

It's the last decent day here for a while, so I'll have to make the most of it. I'm assuming the conservatory people really will show up next Monday and they'll need something less trench-like to park their ladders etc.

Ordered our slate hearth yesterday and enquired about the flooring we'd seen last time....only £45m2. Might need to reconsider that...

Feeling somewhat unwell this morning after visiting a local hostelry with friends for a theme night, which was Italian. Not a strand of spaghetti in sight, but many different items, which was fun, but not necessarily harmonious, consumed together...._pale_

Davesnave

Aaaaarrrrggghhhh!:eek:What is this strange white stuff falling from the sky????

And where is everyone, especially CTC, who sent me an email this morning, although it wasn't really from her.

Mr Rod is here. :j

Half way through the day yesterday, when we were having a small taste of the tornadoes they had around Aberystwyth, DW 'phoned the conservatory company to find out why we'd heard nothing.

"Oh, we won't be with you till early December; we're running late...."

Nice of them to tell us. :mad: Still, at least that means I have a chance to get my second soak-away done in reasonable conditions, which they aren't, right now.