EH - Essex > Hebrides...the next step of the adventure?

beanielou

Watched a fantastic programme yesterday about the new Elizabeth Line.

EssexHebridean

beanielou said:

Watched a fantastic programme yesterday about the new Elizabeth Line.

That sounds interesting Beanie - was the the "Secrets of the London Underground" one, or something else? 

Foxgloves I need to try to do some better maths around whether I'm better off using the slow cooker than the hob for things like dhal - my gut feeling is if I can set it to run mostly overnight I probably am but it's quite tricky pinning down the running cost of a gas cooker to compare as of course there are so many variables! 

SH I am very much looking forward to tonight but the travel is an utter nightmare! Also a nightmare was the fact that as of first thing this morning the ticket wasn't showing in my O2 app - fortunately it's now turned up! 

There definitely felt like a bit more traffic on the roads this morning and also more people on foot plus big crowds at bus stops. If things stay as they are right now for tonight I will be able to use the tube from where I work > Stratford, then the DLR > Royal Victoria, then Cablecar across the river. That relies on the Central line to continue to run at this end though - last strike day it got distinctly sketchy later in the day. If it does stop then that first step will need to be a bus instead. Coming back if the river boat looks like a good option to Canary Wharf then I'll go for that - otherwise it'll need to be a bus all the way to Stratford then hope for the tube by the look of it - deep joy!  

I've just done yet another analysis of whether it looks like any of the energy fixes out there at the moment might work for us - but it still looks like right now we're probably better off gambling on the SVR for a while longer. so many variables though - I'd like to see suppliers being forced to publish their "likely" rates well ahead of time, based on the predictions for the cap increase at the time - that would then mean consumers can make a far more educated guess. Last time for example we saw a far higher than 54% increase on our cost of energy because of nearly 80% of electric being used on our night rate - and that more than doubled! 

Tasty salad for tea last night -tuna, with lettuce, the first cutting of our home grown land cress, baby cucumbers and mini peppers from the veg box, some of the lovely cherry tomatoes from F@rmf00ds and the cooked potato I had cubed up ready. Tonight MrEH will do himself an omelette using up the rest of the mushrooms from last week - he can have some more salad with it if he wants but I bet he won't bother!    

Banks checked and fine - I transferred the ticket money to the CC this morning to clear that off too. I do need to cast an eye over that at some stage to see if there is anything else that needs transferring, too. Spends tonight will be travel (on my Oyster) and food which will come from my personal spends - I plan to do the same as last time and use my phone for contactless payments rather than taking - and risking losing - a bank card I think. I do actually have a small handbag with me this time which I might take - means I can have my iPad with me which might be easier for checking travel arrangements later on - I'll decide this afternoon though. 

girlatplay

That's quite a journey later!  At least you are planning well and not just winging it.

Your meal planning is working out well.  Is it this month you are doing the grocery challenge?

RelievedSheff

We keep looking to see if there are any fixed rate energy tariffs worth taking, but so far there are none that come even close to the SVR we are on with Outfox the Market. 

Thankfully we are low energy users when compared to the UK average so the expected price rises later in the year should still be manageable for us. 

I genuinely don't know how some people are going to manage this winter. I do think that the government needs to find a way to do more to help the people that are not eligible for benefits but are spending a high percentage of their wages on housing costs and energy costs.

Good luck with your transport tonight. It sounds like a logistical nightmare!

beanielou

Enjoy 

The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway~~Inside The Elizebeth Line.
It had two parts.

savingholmes

Hope the trip goes well and the concert is worth it. Sure you'll have a fab time

Suffolk_lass

Ofgem review the cap in August so guessing the middle to end of July the fixes will start to disappear. I presume you have seen the article Martin produced on this?

EssexHebridean

Beanie - thank you,  I'll have a look for that - it might be something we've seen, but doesn't ring a bell offhand. (In fact, searched for, and found - it sounds like a thing that has been running as two parters for a while following the build and presumably now the opening. Now set to download to our TV box!)

GAP - yes, I'm on the grocery challenge at the moment - and will probably continue with it for a few months at least. It's a nice crowd on the threads, and a decent way of seeing interesting ideas and recipes - I think right now anything that others find that saves a few pennies could be a good thing to look at whether it works for us! 

SL - I have seen Martin's article, and have been keeping an eye on the possibilities for a fix for a while now. Our issues are twofold though - firstly much as I dislike UW they are annoyingly the company with the absolute lowest night rate at the moment - so switching elsewhere even if things were equal and we were switching onto another SVR would still cost us a not insignificant amount. secondly, I am reluctant to risk switching from them at a time when they have some of our hard-earned floating around in their system unallocated to the account, as I can't see any chance of us getting that back! As for fixes starting to disappear, it's already happened with most of the reasonable open market ones - that or they have gone sky-high again in a bid to put off people thinking of switching I assume. 

RS - I'm with you on both being relieved that yes, we can cope with the increases in costs and also being worried for those who really can't. I think the MSE "Heat the person, not the home" guide needs far more widespread publicity, as does the details about the warning signs for risk of hypothermia frankly. This is simply something we've not had to be concerned about for the most part in this country in the majority of people's lifetimes - but this year, with rising costs and so few homes now having an "open fire" heat source as well, I think we really do need to be aware of it as a possibility. 

SH - I did - thank you! 

Travel last night wasn't too bad, in the event. The way there went to plan - I got almost straight on a tube at the nearest station to the office, Switched to the DLR at Stratford, then had to queue for about half an hour or so for the cablecar but that was fine and I got there just after 6pm so plenty of time for loo, food etc. Coming back I debated the cablecar again but decided that by the time I reached it the queues would be even longer than earlier, so opted for hoping that the planned free shuttle boat service was running - it was, not sure whether I was on the first or second boat but we pulled away from the pier at just after 11pm and got to Greenwich about 20 minutes later. And THAT was where I nearly screwed up as I totally forgot that the DLR runs as almost two totally separate lines these days, so having got on the train I suddenly realised with a shock that I had NO idea whether I could in fact change to a Stratford train at Canary wharf...the TFL site was no help, as all it would offer me was bus, cycle or walk options, and the area I was in by that time was not one I wanted to be aimlessly wandering round late at night looking for bus stops! Having not found any better options I cautiously alighted at Canary wharf being ready to hop back on again if it didn't look like a good option, and there on the opposite platform was a Stratford train - thank goodness! Managed to get on the right bus at Stratford just seconds before he closed the doors, and all good from there, roadworks on the motorway but only lane closures not a full close until my junction. The gig was fab again - possibly not QUITE as good as the earlier one, but that might partly have been because of less atmosphere where I was sitting than down on the floor - not surprising. The view made up for it though as it was absolutely stunning! Really interesting to see how some of the special effects we could see from the floor were done too - the amount they can do with just visuals on screens now is astonishing! 

So - spendiness - ticket was expensive but worth it, and already declared, so there! Travel was just over £10 which was exceptionally reasonable particularly as it included a Cablecar trip, and I had a N@ndos for my tea - £11 so not  cheap, but very delicious! The travel was from money already on my Oyster, and the food came straight from my spends account. Ticket money already transferred back to the card as mentioned yesterday. 

In other news then - the plastering should be finished today - it's looking amazing already and once it's dried I think the hallway will already look bigger/better than it did! This does of course mean that we need to choose a colour ready for painting - although that will be a few weeks away yet to allow for proper drying of course. We also need to choose things like light-switches (possibly the same flat-panel metal ones we have in the kitchen? Or possibly just new plastic ones - will probably depend on what the current backbox will allow though) cupboard and interior door handles, and at some point a new light fitting as well. We've temporarily shuffled the money from the holiday account to pay the plasterer, that will need shifting from somewhere else once we've decided on "how much" and also whether we want to take some from any other savings pots that are currently over-funded - car is the obvious and it might make sense to rob what we can from elsewhere rather than taking it from our higher interest accounts. Email fired to MrEH to start planning out the decoration side anyway. 

Banking checked and OK - I need to do some work on the CC at some stage as there is stuff that needs transferring about to square that up. The EDF DD came out this morning, and the Marcus accounts should see interest hitting at some point today. 

beanielou

So glad that you enjoyed & travel worked out well.

Good news on the plastering 

girlatplay

You did great with the travel!

Newly plastered walls do look pretty good.  How exciting that you can paint them soon.  It's all the little accessories which make room decoration complete.