My journey to a debt free life

Onebrokelady

foxgloves said:

How lovely if you have badgers for neighbours, @Onebrokelady. Maybe there is a local badger-watch group which uses wildlife cameras for badger surveillance? Or maybe you could borrow some night time binoculars? Although I think they are expensive, & probably not owned by many people. 
Re steroids, my Mum was on them for nearly 20 years to control the symptoms of her myasthenia gravis. Every so often, the dose would be reduced to see if she could manage & I suppose to decrease her exposure to them. She always ended up having to get them increased back to the previous dose though, as her floppy muscles & breathing issues would return to a level where they affected her everyday life. It may be that your condition is similar, in that Drs will want to try & reduce the steroids but that you have found a level that is right for controlling your pain levels. I think everyone would rather not take them, but quality of life issues are important.
Look out for those badgers.....& if they're regular neighbours, they'll need names!
F x

We have had badgers for a while but I didn't realise they were so close to the house. We had a surreal experience one evening a couple of years ago when we took B out at about 7ish to find around 5 or 6 badgers running around playing on our road. They were quite obviously youngsters and it looked like they were playing hide and seek behind the parked cars. We haven't seen them out in these numbers since then but when I let B out before I go to bed there is quite gone one in the front garden or on the path outside. I can't remember exactly what year that happened but I'm wondering if it was during lockdown when there weren't many people about. Along with coming face to face with a Tawny owl on my fence it's something I will never forget 😊

Onebrokelady

milann said:

How exciting to have badgers. I saw my 1 st one last year scavenging through a bin in Cornwall. We wondered what the snuffling was and stood watching it for ages…..it wasn’t a bit bothered. Dh tried to video it but it was too dark to show it properly.
Hope the higher dose of meds help you.

They can be quite noisy. The two I found in then chicken run sounded like a couple of pigs rooting around in the mud 😀

The higher dose had made quite a lot of difference so far so I think it was a good call. I'm still hoping I can carry on reducing them in four weeks though as they are really not good to take long term 

Onebrokelady

Sun_Addict said:

I can highly recommend following Mr Lumpy and Friends on FB for badger and wildlife watching. She sets up a camera that shows badgers and other wildlife coming into her garden and eating the food she leaves out. The badgers also eat out of her hands. We’ve had them in our garden, I haven’t seen them but they left the telltale 💩 signs. Sadly I’ve also seen dead ones on the B road close by 😢

I follow Mr Lumpy 😊 the videos she puts up are amazing. I like the Sidney squad 😀

Onebrokelady

Another nice shift at work today. It was quiet so I got some of my child protection training written up. I have to do 8 hours every three years and so far I have 5.5 so need to find some more things to watch or read.

I also got my payslips and P60 printed off to help me when I start my UC claim and I've printed off all my pension info to show my sister when we meet up. I'm going to do the UC claim tomorrow when I get back from posting off my passport.  That's lots of things getting done that I've been putting off for months.

Onebrokelady

Mum phoned earlier to say Dad has been taken into hospital. He was having trouble breathing and was falling about so she called an ambulance. They said that the heart failure he has has  got worse but he also has a chest infection so he's on antibiotics and fluids and will be kept in. I have managed to get tomorrow off so I can go and see him. I phoned the ED and they said he was better than when he arrived and was having a cup of tea, he has a HCA sitting with him and he will be transferred to the emergency medical unit as soon as a bed becomes available.

Today I started my UC claim but I have hit a snag already. They needed to confirm my ID but want to see photo ID and I don't have any apart from my passport which I posted off to the passport office this morning 🙄 I have to go to the job centre on Tuesday for an interview to prove my identity so I've messaged them to say it will actually be a waste of time as I don't have the documents they need. Seriously what are you meant to do if you don't have a passport and don't drive 🤷‍♀️ . I think my birth certificate and proof of address should be enough or they should bring in a photo ID card for everyone.
Doing the actual claim was easier than I thought it would be. I now have until the  17 of March to get my passport back so I can prove I am who I say I am 🙄

Cherryfudge

Sorry to hear your Dad's in hospital, a difficult time for everyone, though at least he has someone there to keep an eye on him.

Re: ID, I had a lot of trouble recently finding something sufficiently formal with my address on. In the end it was a printout of a bank statement: everything is online. I will also be having words with Iceland soon as I don't have any of the things they accept as ID for 60yo+ customers to get their discounts. They have a few weeks to sort that one out before I hit the magic number! For some reason a passport isn't on their document list.

I hope your family has a restful night and your visit tomorrow is helpful.

Sun_Addict

Sorry to hear about your dad, sounds like he’s being well looked after.

I’m 62 and can’t get the discount in Iceland because I don’t have the required ID. I was in there on Tuesday and the woman on the till wasn’t asking for ID she was just looking at the customers and scanning the 10% card. When it was my turn she looked at me but didn’t scan the card. I didn’t know whether to be miffed I can’t get the discount but qualify or chuffed she thought I didn’t look old enough 🤣

Willowtree222

Sorry to hear about your dad. Hopefully the antibiotics will start to work quickly and he feels better. 

X

Cherryfudge

Sun_Addict said:

Sorry to hear about your dad, sounds like he’s being well looked after.

I’m 62 and can’t get the discount in Iceland because I don’t have the required ID. I was in there on Tuesday and the woman on the till wasn’t asking for ID she was just looking at the customers and scanning the 10% card. When it was my turn she looked at me but didn’t scan the card. I didn’t know whether to be miffed I can’t get the discount but qualify or chuffed she thought I didn’t look old enough 🤣

Sorry to go off topic but I had the opposite happen! I'm nearly sixty but got a discount without asking and later worked out why! DH has turned sixty so I need to send him on a Tuesday, our local one can be handy for discounted fruit and veg.

I can only put it down to not dying my hair.

@Onebrokelady, how is your Dad this morning?

badmemory

I never thought of proof.  It is not somewhere I go often but I should get it sorted before I do.  I'm off to see what they need, it might as well be in my pocket as theirs.  Thanks for the heads up SA.