Cooking for one (Mark Three)

PasturesNew

Where singles do lose out is when people vote - on financial stuff and local changes.....

Two houses side by side, one has 4 adults in it, one has 1.

One Councillor canvassing proposes building a tennis court and to charge it to the Council Tax at a cost of £1000.

The 1 has no interest so doesn't vote for that crowd; the 4 think "great, we can play tennis!" so they vote for that crowd.

The Councillor wins.... and the Council Tax goes up £1000 to pay for it.

The 1 pays £500 for a tennis court of no use/benefit to them, that they didn't vote for.
The 4 pay £500 between them to play tennis all the time with each other many times.
And even if the 1 finds a friend to play tennis with .... it's usually occupied with the household-of-4 using it already.

Replace tennis court with any local services/amenities and changes within any local area and single person households can be out-voted compared to those making (individually) a lesser financial contribution. So the single household "vote" has less "power" over how their £££s are spent.

Votes are per person, paying for things is per household. It's a mis-match of interests and input.

caronc

PasturesNew wrote: »

It wouldn't though would it, it'd be perfect.

We'd all like the same things, so would all have the same things, so there's less time spent stressing over choice and variation. No disagreements over stuff .... easy life. Everybody's happy.



When you analyse the statement it is peculiarly "wrong", yet oft quoted.

Ah remember the "Stepford Wives" perfection brings it's own issues :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

PasturesNew

I ended up going with the cabbage ... so what else did I have that I could toss in its general direction?
3 bendy carrots ... last of the bag, one's rotten through.
Instant mash ... because it was quicker/easier than peeling real spuds I've got
Sage & Onion Stuffing
A medium sized yorkshire pud
Gravy.

So that's used 1/4 of the cabbage and the end of the bag of carrots.... so that's a small step forward. The Yorkie was the last of 4 I bought in for Xmas. Won't buy another bag until next Xmas as that's about the only time I need "one quick yorkie".

moneyistooshorttomention

kittie wrote: »

then the singles should pay a lot less in council tax. I pay £169 pm and a working family of 5 down the lane pay much less, they have a big nice old house and very large garden. I have one bin empty every 2 weeks for that, no lights nothing

I've probably said before that I take the view that, as I'm paying so much more CT than "half of a couple" would - then I will try and get my "money's worth" all round any chance I see to get more "value" from my CT.

It also leaves me feeling quite free to tell the Council how I disagree with them spending (wasting) a bit of that CT on some people's "personal preferences" - when there isn't enough money here for necessities. West Wales is a pretty poor area - and it's West Wales councils that are the worst imo for wasting money on some peoples "personal preferences" (you can guess....:cool::rotfl:). I do firmly believe Councils should spend on things everyone needs and not what a few people "want". Or I'd be willing to "do a trade" - of "You can spend on what some people want - provided you also spend on what some of the rest of us want" (thinks wistfully of just how many free events my former City Council spends on...). It is pretty frequent to find free music events going on for instance and I can only think of one free community social event of any description I've been to since I came here (and that wasnt put on by the Council). I'm still getting my head round having to pay for all my social life here - because of those missing free Council ones.

PasturesNew

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

... free music events ....

That's a different bucket. There they're trying to get people to go there, to stay in B&Bs/hotels etc and spend money in local pubs and on tat at small shops, "gifts for home" etc. There's a bucket for "commercial success".

In that way, the people renting the shops will do enough trade to continue to pay the rent and then pay them Business Rates.

While I agree that "nobody wants a free !!!!!!!' music festival, annoying noisy mucky things" ... if they didn't do it those people would go elsewhere, the area would decline and become a ghost town/aka shyteole.

You pay £5 into the budget, so they put on a free festival, so that when anybody visits you you can walk them round the town and show them shops open ... and not just dirt, dust and "To Let" signs in windows and they say "Oh you're so lucky to live here!"

moneyistooshorttomention

Well aware that's part of the reasoning why my home area Council spends on those things - but us locals are quite happy to go along as well (after all we're the ones paying for it - indirectly through our CT)...

Farway

MIA onion is still AWOL under a kitchen unit and is awaiting rescue by next bendy visitor. If I were daft enough to try a rescue I would still be on the floor at Easter:(

Must be expensive spending month on here, I've just forked out for House & car insurance. Bad news PN, car insurance has gone up again

Luckily my car is a small diesel. Now classed as polluting, but was once classified a huge environmental saviour for taxation purposes by "Experts". Only £30 a year.

Sun's out, Yesterday I sowed my tom seeds & potted on the dahlias, just in time for the freezing weekend:o

Mooched around L's. nothing, just crackers & PB baguette pack, forgot to check the chip situation but this time of year the freezer space is full of Easter "stuff"

Nil breakfast

Lunch PB baguette, with Stilton & salady inside

Dinner is looking CBA and heating up a YS cheese & onion thingy, or two

Yesterday's trout & salad dinner was very nice, now I deliberately have LO cold boiled spuds, plus I have eggs that really need using before they hop out of the fridge unaided. Only thing I can think of is sliced spuds in cheesey, tom & onion omelette fry up.

I searched on line, but seem a bit beyond my tastes and store cupboard, like Kimchi, edamame, etc. I may open tin of corned beef and have some sort of hash thing instead, I could always pour eggs over it. Seems like a plan for tomorrow

PasturesNew

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Well aware that's part of the reasoning why my home area Council spends on those things - but us locals are quite happy to go along as well (after all we're the ones paying for it - indirectly through our CT)...

As the Council gets more "hands off", preferring people to pay them to rent space to put on events ... increasingly things that you'd have been happy to shuffle round for free are becoming "paid entry" events. e.g. Food festivals ... where you're charged a fee to enter, to buy overpriced food... I don't go to those. Happy to know that there's a free one on I could shuffle round - although I don't as I don't see the point of walking 3-4 miles round a food festival full of food that is overpriced in a thong of people ... and pay "festival food prices" to eat something in an awkward spot you can wedge into from a polystyrene tray I went a couple of times, then came home to make my own burger for about 50p instead of £5 the "artisans" wanted

Farway wrote: »

...diesel. Now classed as polluting, but was once classified a huge environmental saviour for taxation purposes by "Experts". Only £30 a year. ...

Mine's diesel - I didn't want it; I deliberately bought it because "they" were telling us we should switch to diesel .... it's got many years left in it (well, who can tell) ... and so I can't just get rid of it, to replace it with another 8-10 year old 2nd hand car. So I have to keep driving it until it becomes a nuisance to me, then downsize.

Also, diesel used to be cheaper, so I bought thinking I was doing something I didn't want to do but it was "considered for the best and cheapest"

Wednesday2000

^

I read that about diesel cars, people were encouraged to buy them and now they are trying to get rid of them. Annoying if you bought one!

Wednesday2000

We are very lucky in that we get free travel in London on the tube/bus/train because of my husband's job. Neither of us drive either. I've never even learned.

The Singapore noodles were delish. I will add some chopped spring onions next time.:)