15months to debt free - I hope

jwil

Good luck with the dentist.  We've just lost ours as they've gone private.  Nothing anywhere even for the kids.  My MP is just a Tory mouthpiece as well and never diverts from the party line.

foxgloves

I do hope you can get some NHS dental treatment, @ladyholly. When we moved here 20 years ago, I was even then unable to find a dentist in our local town to take us on. They simply weren't registering any more NHS patients. So we have remained with our previous dentist at the city university. It's a 35 mile round trip & the traffic can be awful on the trip back, but there's no way we are going to lose our place at that practice. While we were there earlier this week, I'd already gone in for my check-up, & Mr F heard a conversation between the receptionist & a chap who'd popped in to ask if he could register. She said they are absolutely full, but when their client list drops to below 5000 people, then they will be accepting new patients. They are also hoping they've found a new dentist, which will also mean they can take on more people. Our county is way under the amount of NHS dentists required & I bet everywhere else is the same. I don't think they can make the practice pay, when they are paid less per NHS patient than the service costs.
It's a mess. Like so many things cut to the bone in this country by the current incumbents, it has ceased to function properly through lack of funding. 
F

ladyholly

Thanks for all your comments re dentists. I would mind travelling to th local city as long it was somewhere near the centre (approx 20 miles each way) but over 60 miles each way is beyond a joke. I am not only thinking of me but what about all the children who are now without dental care. I have written to my MP for all the good it will do.In this case it is even worse as he would like to dismantle the NHS and go for an insurance sysem. Funny I thought NI was for health care pensions etc.

Anyway teeth problems aside Bear was at the vets this pm.I ttok hispassport with the details of previous boosters but because our vet does a different vaccination that protects against more he effectively has to start agai so we will be back there for his second one in 3 - 4 weeks time. I also got his calming tablets. I am not sure they do any good and I am gradually reducing them. He only has 1/2 twice a day now and when Mr LH come back from his next festival at the end of August they will go down to 1/2 once a day. The bill was £99.40 so definatel not a no spend day.

Yesterday I submitted  our meter readings and got the statement this morning. I knew the electric would be high as I did a lot of washing while Mr LH was awy and we have been running the fan a lot to keepBear cool butit was a silly amount.I need to go through tthe bils for the last few month and see where we are. I am still in credit but not by much and I do have almost £400 saved from when they reduced the dd butIknow the bill will shoot up come October when our fix ends so we need to be prepared.

Fortunately no other money spent.

Another very warm day and even hotter tomorrow. Not feeling that well at all either because of the heat or the covid vaccine. Mr LH slept until his usual time today so that was handy and he is asleep at the moment iin his chair but I am really hoping he wakes in time to take Bear for his last walk or I will do it and it is always a fight  because of the number of cats around here.9 in one night is the record.

I  did get the letter for next weeks hospital appointment this morning and to be fair it was dated  and postmarked 20 th June so only took 3 days for a 1st class letter to arrive. A distance of about 20 miles.

I am off to finish my book now and play with Bear as its cooler. Take care all.

ladyholly

Nothing much to report money wise except the rust patch on the car that was found at the last MOT as an advisory which Mr LH said would cost sbout £500 is going to be £1400 but that does include the proper cleasning and rust proofing underneath it. We had it done when we first bought the car about 7years ago so does need redoing. Whatever it is called it is better than unerseal.  Our car is one of those that is very subject to rust so it is wellworth having it done. We were still somewhat shocked at the price. I can find the money but it means the hall and stairs are on hold just when I had saved almost enough to start getting quotes. The good thing is the emergency fund wont be touched so we will still have that to fall back on if need be. I have told Mr LH we are on bread and water

Hospital appointment today was ok basically carry on as before and as I wont have the steroids unless I get much worse basically I have to put up with the symptoms i Ihave.

Bear had a good day on Monday in the secure field and was quite responsive. He does vary from week to week and his recall is still very iffy as he doesnt listeen and if something grabs his attention hhe just doesnt hear instructions. We have tried making silly noises, clicker, squeakies, etc but none of them worl consistently. The only thing that always gets his attention is what we call his fluffy thing which is a piece of sheepskin  on what is basically a lead . The disadvantage to this is that he needs to be looking at you to react. Training continues.

Still virtually no rain, it keeps being forecast and we get the clouds but no rain other than a bit of drizzle.

Nothing else for now take care.

jwil

Ouch to the car bill!  At least you won't need to touch the emergency fund.

All sounds like it's going well with Bear.

ladyholly

It has been a very energetic (for us) couple of days. Earlier in the week I promised I would tidy up the plant baskets from the pond on Friday. When mr LH got up he announced we are cleaning out the pond so can I get out the large tubs from the garage and fill them as a temporary home for the fish. When the pond was emptied we found that we must have missed the autumn clean so it was very hard to clean. Mr LH does all the cleaning but I do allthe running around, teamaking, walking the dog and putting everything away. That was Friday. Saturday I finished the last basket and left him to clean the filter. Lastly the path and drive needed to be cleaned where the dirty water from the pond had drained. Normally I use the pressure washer and clean next doors as well a it looks odd if I only do ours. However the concrete on their drive is in an awful state so if I use the pressure washer it will destroy the drive so a yard brush and hose pipe it was. Both nights I did bear evening walk so today other than a load of washing and cooking a roast dinner I have done nothing and feel a bit better for it.

I was going to my brother in laws this week but as ASLEF have announced a week long overtime ban I have put it off until next week as both the train companies I use have warned of short notice cancellations. With using 3 trains each way there is almost certain to have at least one cancellation which throws the whole journey out.Annoying but I think it is the sensible thing to do.

Money spent none except £16 for the next two sessions for Bear in the enclosed field. I need to do a shopping list for the coming week and I have had a small ebay sale so a post office visit tomorrow to post it and pay my council tax.

Off now to finish my book. Hop you have a good week.

Sun_Addict

Annoying about the trains - again 😠 This has been going on for a year now and nothing has been agreed, I think it’s time they gave up and accept what they’re being offered! 

ladyholly

Bear had a great time on his field yesterday as it was much cooler than recent weeks. I took out his 2 furry tug toys and we had him running between us to practise his recall and was doing pretty well but there are very few disractions there. However he disgraced himself in the evening when he got hold of mr lh's head torch and chewed through the headband. He uses it to take bear out at night to find the poo and at festivals to find his car and the toilets at night. £10 on a new one today as we couldnt think of a way to repair it and just knotting it which would work for me wasnt an option as it woulld hurt his head as he has very little hair and what he has is very thin.

Very lazy morning only putting yesterdays washing away as we did the shopping this afternoon, got diesel on the way home and that was a job and a half as we ended up at a pay at pump only and as they wanted to take £120 for 3 days for our £50 worth of fuel mr lh refused to do it so we went to Mo******s and he had trouble getting the pump to zero so by this time he was steaming until a lovely man in the kiosk went and helped him thankfully. We then dropped off Bear at home and went to the DIY place to get some netting and poles to make new nets for the pond as the local cats have broken the existing old bamboo ones by walking on them to try to get the fish. All we need now is a dry day for him to make them. It has rained all day today and the garden looks so much greener it is lovely. It is the first decent rain we have had in ages. I am already making plans for the garden for next year as this has been such a failure so going to change things round a bit to see if I can be more successful.

Thats my doings for the last couple of days. Not much but enough for me. Have a peaceful night/

foxgloves

Oh, naughty Bear chewing up Mr LH's head torch! Soot has also been on the naughty step this week - he's been up to all sorts of tricks, most of them, as always involving his tummy! He strolled out of the pantry as bold as brass when I opened it yesterday. Thankfully he hasn't yet worked out a way of getting the lid off the new cat biscuit container, as that's what he went in there looking for. He sounds like Bear for hot weather......Ash is happy to find a den & stay out in it, whereas poor Soot just mopes around trying to find a cool spot. We have been popping a couple of Lick-e-Lix in the fridge on very hot days so that they can have a cool treat & this has been very well-received.
F

ladyholly

Wow a very warm couple of days. Yesterday I just sat and dripped ( sorry to be graphic), today not quite so bad but very close. It was my 70th birthday yesterday and my dd came to see me.Mr LHs contribution was agrunted happy birthday when I woke him. Other than that just a normal day except I cooked a steak dinner with a bottle of Cava that dd bought me.Thimnking about it we should have had fish and chips then at least I wouldnt have had to cook. Mr lh says he cant cook but he manages his suppers and when he goees way so I dont believe him.

Today a friend called with some birthday flowers which was lovely. She was full of apologies for being a day late but it was just nice she remebered me.

Dd brought the money she owed for the theatre trips I have booked so I will use that for shopping this week and I have bids on a couple more items which end tomorrow. I hope they pay quickly so I can post Monday morning which works best for me.

Wehad a salad for dinner and used the first home grown lettuce this year, some of the cucmber my neighbour gave me and used some cold meat that was about to go out of date so all in all a useful money saving meal. Hopefully soon I will have some tomatoes. They are forming but very slowly. The spring onions also sem to be growing a bit but nowhere near ready. The next garden jobs are to sort out the runners on the strawberry plants and cut back next doors shrubs but drop bits into our garden. She knows I do it and doesnt want the cuttings back. Hopefully it wont be too warm tomorrow so I can get out there.

I think thats the limit of our excitement for now, Take care all.