The Garden Fence - help and support in tough times

Softstuff

Hester, it sounds to me like there's someone else who needs a bop on the nose to bring them back to reality. You can't fix everything for her and shouldn't be expected to. Hold on to that anger and use it to fight back with SS.

Mtstm, I changed banks over atm availability here. My old bank didn't have an atm nearby, my new one lets me use any and they just pay the atm fees for me. I can also pay cheques in at the post office or post to a free post address though mainly deal electronically with everything. We've had maybe 2 cheques in 5 years, so not much of an issue. My suggestion would be to remove the obstacle, request another form of payment.

Greenbee, having my builder here has been inspirational. I'm inspired to do more of the work myself and make less mess :rotfl: what kind of colour do you fancy for the floorboards? I have a great and cheap way of making pine look like limed oak if you're curious.

Hugs Minnesota (still letting my tablet name you), sounds like you need to plant something.

moneyistooshorttomention

nursemaggie wrote: »

Well you can pay checks into the post office for some banks Money but I don't know about yours. I don't think I would want a bank I had to travel a distance to put in checks.

I'm fine with them - its just that they dont have a branch here. Its the Nationwide and hence I can only get at them physically on visits back to Home City or to one of the bigger towns (with nearest being over an hour away by bus). I prefer not to have a "bank" bank iyswim and I believe Nationwide are probably one of the safest in the current economic climate and they don't drive me "nuts" at intervals with inefficiency (something that is all too frequent in Britain - and I really resent having to deal with). I've got enough inefficient firms to deal with - without swopping from an efficient one to one that might turn out to be inefficient:rotfl:

I dont visit Nearby Bigger Town specially to put a cheque in - but just take the opportunity whilst I am there anyway (eg that's where my dentist and optician are - as I dont rate the ones here). Also there is very little of my type of clothing here - another reason for visits elsewhere...but my visits are infrequent (as I'm also not keen on having long bus journeys to visit the type of places I used to walk to ....).

I get cash by getting cashback when I'm shopping. Cheques arent something that frequent - businesses etc pay me by bank transfer and I recently made sure money a group owed me was given to me in cash. It's basically cheques from parents - as that's their definition of what to give me for christmas/birthday/etc presents since I moved.

HESTER - My sympathies too on your dealings with Social Services. I've heard this enough times that they will look for someone else to plant "responsibilities" onto. I reckon you're more than a match for them though - and I can't see them succeeding with that one somehow LOL. Power to your elbow on that one.

camelot1001

money, could you open a post office account just for paying in such cheques and then transfer the balance online? Having lived in a very rural location no banks were near and it is a problem chosing which is the lesser evil.

HH - As others have said, you cannot solve all the problems in this situation but your help and support is invaluable as I'm sure SS are aware. They must not, however, use you as a solution to their inability to put a care package in place. I am very angry on your behalf and glad you have your fighting spirit.

greenbee

Softstuff wrote: »

Greenbee, having my builder here has been inspirational. I'm inspired to do more of the work myself and make less mess :rotfl: what kind of colour do you fancy for the floorboards? I have a great and cheap way of making pine look like limed oak if you're curious.

I'm thinking of colour washing the same colour as the walls but dilute enough for the grain to show, which is what I have always done with new boards. I'd be interested to know how you get the lined oak effect too - I have a lot more house to do, although I'm going to have to let the builder do most of it as I simply don't seem to get round to doing stuff myself.

Maybe I could get Monna to sort my garden out?

MTSM - nationwide have a form you print out and fill in for cheques and then post to Swindon. I think it's freepost but haven't needed to do it for a while. You can get cash out of your account via the post office.

ivyleaf

When my brother first moved to Germany, he found a flat in a particular town and opened an account with one of the big national banks.

A bit later, he had met my now sister-in-law and they decided he should move in with her. She lived some distance away, so he then needed to transfer his bank account to the branch near his new home.

He was astonished to find that he couldn't transfer his account. He had to go back to his old branch in person to close the account there, and then open a new account at the new branch!

moneyistooshorttomention

That does surprise me Ivyleaf - as I think of Germany as one of the efficient countries (something which got backed up by a holiday there in which nothing EVER went wrong once - just total efficiency displayed throughout always everywhere). The Scandinavian countries also seem to be efficient.

If I hadn't seen that it is possible - then I might regard it as "one of those things" and put up with it without moaning/delivering swift verbal comment to the person concerned as appropriate/etc.

monnagran

Oh, Softstuff, Greenbee and anyone else who harbours misconceptions about me.

Yes, I love beautiful gardens and have many imaginative ideas about how I'd like mine to look.

Yes, for economic reasons I have kept us supplied with fresh fruit and veg and enjoyed the eating thereof.

No, I DO NOT enjoy gardening. My idea, as I have said before, is to sally forth into said garden wearing a shady hat and bearing a glass of something cold and bubbly and tell the man where to dig.
The only reason I garden at all is because I cannot bear to see it neglected. When forced into it I weed, dig, prune, plant, spray and murder slugs with resentment and hatred in my heart. And still the wretched things flourish and blossom.

I put all this down to being brought up by 3 extreme gardeners. My father, mother and aunt, who lived with us, were fanatics about our acre of soil. They were out there at 5.00am for goodness sake, getting in a couple of hours of purgatory before breakfast.
The result of this was that I lived in a show garden with an inexhaustible supply of fruit, veg, flowers for the house, eggs and honey without having to lift a finger.

Paradise.

That is Saturday's Essay and the last word I have to say on the subject.

I'm off to trim my mustard and cress in my dinky cold frame.

x

monnagran

If Greyqueen is lurking, DO NOT READ MY PREVIOUS POST.

I have been reading a book that puts forward the theory that we all resemble an animal.
Mine is a SLOTH.

That is my last, last word on the subject.

x

mardatha

Monna then I'm a wee dormouse!

mardatha

I love flowers and pottering about in them and growing them, but veg leaves me very bored and disinterested. When people talk about the money they save by growing veg I always wonder what the hell they EAT.
I grow tatties because I like them - but we don't eat many now. I have grown and will again this year, tomatoes indoors on my bedroom windowsill. I sometimes try lettuce but greenfly eat it and they make me sick so I canny face eating it after them lol. Turnips when I tried them were bitter and horrible; onions were nice but give me hellish heartburn and I don't eat them now; and anything else green makes me puke and its easier to buy a bag of frozen brocc then drown it in butter & cream.