Sort of debt-free but hope to be a super-scrimper in 2019

[Deleted User]

doingitanyway wrote: »

I love the stories about your husband. You have a talent for storytelling.

Redo has stories about her cats that are equally compelling to me.

Honestly, both read like short stories.

Have a good day and enjoy your cauliflower

Thank you, you're very kind:T


I must go and check out redo's diary as I love cat anecdotes:j


My beloved cat had to be put to sleep after a horrible road accident several months ago. I would have had a wealth of stories about him if I'd had a diary. His doings were much more interesting and a lot funnier that OH's.

[Deleted User]

Seasidegal58 wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: at your cauli tale! Especially as OH really likes cauli too!

But he may be on to something - a rather trendy, upmarket local restaurant has a plant/flower trough outside and guess what's one of the things planted in it.............?:D

Ornamental cabbages seemed to be all the rage a few years ago, they maybe still are. There were some lovely ones at the garden centre, lovely shades of pink and lilac. I didn't splash out on any as I was really broke then and they looked too good to eat. I was just concerned about what we would be able to have for dinner:o. Maybe now the debt situation has eased I might add some to my treats list;). Visual rather than edible treats though:rotfl:

Sayschezza

[QUOTE=enthusiasticsaver
I agree Cameron was a good speaker and seemed to be able to respond effortlessly in PM questions. [/QUOTE]

They do get the questions up front though to give them time to check facts and figures. He was a PR man.

Lifeisforliving19

Sayschezza wrote: »

They do get the questions up front though to give them time to check facts and figures. He was a PR man.

Silly isn't it? Would be much better if everything was just off the cuff.

[Deleted User]

Lifeisforliving19 wrote: »

Silly isn't it? Would be much better if everything was just off the cuff.

I agree, but then I suspect we'd be subjected to endless waffle. A few facts and figures are always useful;).


In the debates, not the PMQs, I always like it when the speaker takes interventions from others, especially from the opposing 'side' and then has to respond 'off the cuff'. Even then they invariably ignore the question they were asked or the comments that were made and go back to their prepared answers whether relevent or not:eek:. I enjoy it most on the occasions when sparks fly and we get some impromptu responses:j. It's enlightening to get a tiny peek at the real man or woman behind the carefully practiced façade. Sadly, it doesn't happen often enough.



Cameron was good at responding to those sort of occasions. Before anyone gets the impression I was a fan of his, I wasn't overly so but listening to what he had to say, whether I agreed with him or not, was far less painful than the endless waffle and repetition of some of the others.


I know he was a PR man and I've always thought that when new MPs are elected they should be given at least a rudimentary amount of training in public speaking and debating. Maybe they do but it obviously isn't enough:(. I know they'll have addressed meetings in their quest to be elected in the first place but the standard of very many of them, once in parliament, is woeful. Also, some MPs, however long they've been at it, will always be poor speakers either through being wooden or verbose. It's only because everything they say these days is beamed into to everyone's home that we are even able to criticise;)

Lifeisforliving19

Wonder if it was better in the old days, when no one actually new exactly what went on in the House of Commons? I certainly think the media dramatise it and that is what fuels a lot of the problems in the country. People need to see the whole story and not just the little clips that the news chooses to show us.....Mr X said so and so.....yes but what did he say before and after that and why did he say it?

[Deleted User]

Lifeisforliving19 wrote: »

Wonder if it was better in the old days, when no one actually new exactly what went on in the House of Commons? I certainly think the media dramatise it and that is what fuels a lot of the problems in the country. People need to see the whole story and not just the little clips that the news chooses to show us.....Mr X said so and so.....yes but what did he say before and after that and why did he say it?

I'm not sure being kept in the dark is a good thing at all:eek:

I like to know what's going on and what the government is doing in my name. Being fed snippets by the media, especially TV news bulletins, is exactly why I watch the BBC Parliament channel most of the time I have the TV on. I like to know what's going on and make up my own mind.


It's the same situation on such TV shows as I'm A Celebrity..... The contestants are there in the jungle 24/7 and all we get to see are tiny snippets, usually the dramatic bits. With that we're supposed to be able to decide who to vote off:eek:. An absolute farce. When I say 'we' I don't mean 'me' by the way. I was a great fan of the first 2 series but soon became disillusioned by the whole format. I saw a tiny bit of a recent episode on another programme and it looks as if it's exactly the same. Why people waste their money phoning in to vote beats me:eek:

elizabethhull

carbootcrazy wrote: »

I know he was a PR man and I've always thought that when new MPs are elected they should be given at least a rudimentary amount of training in public speaking and debating. Maybe they do but it obviously isn't enough:

Oh they do ! The son of a friend of mine became an MP under Cameron and was re-elected in the last GE. He had to go to a LOT of public speaking courses, produce speeches and essays both off the cuff and prepared on a wide variety of topics, and get them marked as if he was at school ! I was amazed, as I agree it often doesn't sound like they've done anything like that. He obviously did his maiden speech a while back, and tends to concentrate on working for local affairs rather than be in the public limelight - so far ! I think he has plans, though.

[Deleted User]

elizabethhull wrote: »

Oh they do ! The son of a friend of mine became an MP under Cameron and was re-elected in the last GE. He had to go to a LOT of public speaking courses, produce speeches and essays both off the cuff and prepared on a wide variety of topics, and get them marked as if he was at school ! I was amazed, as I agree it often doesn't sound like they've done anything like that. He obviously did his maiden speech a while back, and tends to concentrate on working for local affairs rather than be in the public limelight - so far ! I think he has plans, though.

Thanks for that, Elizabeth:T

I assumed they must give them some help but, as you say, it often doesn't sound like they've had much training:eek:. I suppose in the heat of battle as it were, a packed House of Commons with everyone baying and gesticulating must seem a very hostile place:eek:, it's easy for an inexperienced public speaker to become flummoxed and nervous.


I hope your friend's son does well and makes a great success of his parliamentary career. It sounds as if he has his head screwed on as the saying goes;)


It's a huge regret of mine that I didn't have more of a political life:(, I served as a Parish Councillor for several years and there were enough machinations within that small circle to rival any of the goings on in parliament:eek:. Parish Councils can be very cliquey and I decided not to put myself forward for re-election after about 6 years of hitting my head against a metaphorical brick wall:mad:.

Sayschezza

carbootcrazy wrote: »

It's enlightening to get a tiny peek at the real man or woman behind the carefully practiced façade. Sadly, it doesn't happen often enough.)

Such as the ' Stupid woman' remark.