THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

Karmacat

Shropshirelass wrote: »

I grew up in a chemical industry town on Merseyside, and have the delicate mucous membranes to prove the effect pollution can have. Many of these medicines were developed and originally manufactured there. I don't believe my cave-painting ancestors walking across from Europe via Dogger had troublesome sinuses like mine.

Me too ... right in Liverpool, where the washing came in from the washing line dirty it was better (in terms of pollution, at any rate!) when we moved to the Wirral, but the wind came straight in from the Irish Sea to our 300 foot high hill :eek:

mardatha wrote: »

Well Bob the govt cut the money they give to the councils and then sit back and watch the councils get the blame. Divide and conquer lol. But I'm not getting into politics on here it just makes me ratty. The number one prep in life has to be against our own govt, that is very true.

I wish I had the energy, Mar ... trying to catch up with myself, and trying to live my life, is taking everything I've got. And frankly, though I know this sounds like a conspiracy theory - vested interest in the status quo, plus propaganda, keeps things the way they are I fought so hard against that in my 20s and 30s, but its still there

mardatha

And my own dad fought against it in his 20s and 30s too Karmacat! And yet here we are today, back to the days of casual labour, now dressed up as "zero hours contracts" and back to the days when the sick starved and froze quietly at home :mad:

Witless

.... and I: in my 20s, 30s .... now into my 60s and still trying.

With acknowledgement, and thanks, to Alphonse Karr (Les Guêpes, January 1849 ) -
plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

GreyQueen

:mad: Gee thanks, BB. Thanks a flippin' bundle. :mad:

I (local government employee) had a pay increase in the present tax year for the first time in the best part of a decade. Net, it would buy me one medium portion of chips per week. It doesn't come anywhere near keeping up with the cost of living increases in this year, never mind the ones in previous years. The cumulative effect of the loss of pay over many years means I and other like me are sliding into poverty.

Most of my colleagues scrabble around with side gigs, like having a second job, or selling online, doing the electoral canvass/ elections duties etc etc. We're chazzer experts and YS blackbelts and work like crazy and are still only just above the poverty line ourselves.

I'm on the verge of slipping out of income tax liability altogether, because the threshold inches upwards annually and the wages don't; I may not pay any income tax after April, which will mean no more gift-aiding chazzer donations.:( Bliddy NI is x 4.5 the income tax already and I will be still paying that, of course.

For our sins (and I work one month every year to pay my council tax in a Band A property in a deprived ward) we get to take all the fallout from the public when they find out that they can't get what they used to get for the ever-increasing council tax. The public forgets, or never even knew, that millions of ££ spent in their area each year wasn't ever raised locally, it came from central government, and they've been cutting it back by multiple millions per authority, year in and year out. About three-quarters came from central government, not council tax. Where did that money go, lovely peeps?

Sooo, if you wanna !!!!! about politicians, give your local council(s) a flippin' break and take the fight to the perpetrators in Lunnon Town.:mad:

* climbs off soapbox and stomps off to go hunting YS bargains instead of doing something extravagant like buying a bag of chips. Grrrrr!!!!!!!!!*

mardatha

Gimme a guillotine! Gimme a barricade!! Gimme a bag of chips!!

GreyQueen

mardatha wrote: »

Gimme a guillotine! Gimme a barricade!! Gimme a bag of chips!!

Heh! I can't afford chips for mesel, never mind for mad arthur.

One good thing about having had some sketchy eating in the past 3 days - lost 0.7 kg......... :rotfl:

[Deleted User]

mardatha wrote: »

Well Bob the govt cut the money they give to the councils and then sit back and watch the councils get the blame.

The money the Government gives to the Councils, is our money anyway, so, whether the money to pay for local services comes from central Government or Council Tax, it's still our money being used.

mardatha

Apart from what the govt keep in their hot sticky wee trotters... that's ours too but we'll never see it again.
Snow showers this morning and to be minus 6 tonight.
RV had a terrible night, heart pounding,distressed and shaky - then we found he forgot to take his heart pills yesterday. Never happened before and makes us realise how good those pills are.

thriftwizard

Had an email round about wind-damaged "structures" at the allotments, so OH & I hot-footed it over there this morning (first day he's really been up to a walk in the icy blasts) to assess any damage to our free-off-Gumtree bodged-together shed. I'm delighted to report that it was still sitting sturdily on the edge of our plot & nothing of ours seems to have suffered any great harm beyond a little nibbling and some frost-shock to the perpetual spinach, which it'll bounce back from. Some other plot-holders haven't been so lucky; some of the little plastic greenhouses have flown clear over the site & collapsed in a heap by the fence & there are composters & waterbutts in some very strange places.

Even though it does cut down the sunlight a little, and gives us an ongoing battle against some fearsome weeds, I'm blessing the day I picked a plot with a hedge alongside it...

Karmacat

mardatha wrote: »

RV had a terrible night, heart pounding,distressed and shaky - then we found he forgot to take his heart pills yesterday. Never happened before and makes us realise how good those pills are.

I'm glad you realised, at least, mar - hope there were no aftereffects from forgetting the pills

thriftwizard wrote: »

Had an email round about wind-damaged "structures" at the allotments, so OH & I hot-footed it over there this morning (first day he's really been up to a walk in the icy blasts) to assess any damage to our free-off-Gumtree bodged-together shed. I'm delighted to report that it was still sitting sturdily on the edge of our plot & nothing of ours seems to have suffered any great harm beyond a little nibbling and some frost-shock to the perpetual spinach, which it'll bounce back from. Some other plot-holders haven't been so lucky; some of the little plastic greenhouses have flown clear over the site & collapsed in a heap by the fence & there are composters & waterbutts in some very strange places.

Even though it does cut down the sunlight a little, and gives us an ongoing battle against some fearsome weeds, I'm blessing the day I picked a plot with a hedge alongside it...

Glad you've got no damage!

Wind here has picked up again this morning, though not as bad as the bit that took down the remainder of my gently decomposing fence, which is now stacked just outside the front door ...