Over & Over

Its look out the window at the beautiful sunshine day again , just done the school run and that icy wind is back again . So a day of domestic servitude eventually after looking through a whole weeks blogs , doing the months end competitions and an appointment with the only book ive read this month, something of a first but im having problems with concentration due to the interesting lab rat drugs my dear doctor thinks are a good idea  .  Munchkin has requested his favourite tea mince and cheesy beans in wraps so no prep needed . Im doing my usual totally ignore xmas routine , quietly preparing my dont shop January list , plus just incase Brexit extras.
Finally they have managed to fit  two water meters its only taken 3 years , this time it was a subcontract plumber sent by Anglian Water  who got round the problem of  the no stop tap issue that the council havent resolved in the last 10 years .  He wandered round and knocked on every door in the street then turned of the main tap at the hydrant in the road .  We now have proper stop taps at both places where we have a supply entering and a seperate drain point for the whole heating system plus 2 water meters he got round the lead piping issues by fitting the stop taps six inches into the property on the copper internal piping . He said he was contracted for half a day , so he might as well do what needed doing , sod the council. This now means that finally i can apply for the disability grant available from Anglian water, it wont save us much but its something . Plus it will annoy next door and the kids no end they all use our outside tap because its at the back of the house  to wash their cars and water their gardens now the tap is turned off internally and you need a key to get into that shed which i have misplaced somehow...lol
I had to laugh I had a letter from one of the debt companies yesterday saying they could give me a 70% discount for xmas if i paid my debt in full before xmas its not a huge amount and they get £10 a month into infinity or death which ever comes first , so if i have a lottery win they can have their money , of course id have to have the money to buy a lottery ticket . My huge income of £64 a week carers has to stretch a long way , ive 3 cats to support only one of which is mine , £12 a week to the water rates . £30 a month to my debts , then im expected to buy all the fresh stuff milk fruit and veg and bread. Cloth myself fund a bad jumble sale habit , and keep my vehicle on the road and pay for my fuel . But were so much better off than last year that it seems like an awful lot of money .
Cat jumble sale 10am Birchwood Scout Hut tomorrow!!!

Tad Chilly

Looking out the window at the lovely sunny garden , shame about the wind chill factor , i need to go hang towels out shortly , they do dry eventually if its just warm enough for them not to freeze , just have to remember to turn them a couple of times .
Its amazing the difference the new windows have made you can stand near a window without your skin shrivelling these days , even have the curtain open in the daytime, sheer luxury . The new boiler is not quite such a good idea , its A rated but despite using less oil it seems to drink extra electricity because it goes on and off all the time ..ho hum yet another environmental fraud sold to the council , much like the ground source heatpumps they fitted into properties that they cant now rent out because of the huge electricity bills , the solar panels that the company went bust and theres no repairs for etc etc . We have now discovered that the only reason they have upgraded our heating and windows is because the houses couldnt meet Letable Home Standards  which they can get a 10k fine for each property from April . Still grateful however .
Middle son isnt having a lot of luck on the job front 500+ job applications , bless him hes banged on doors everywhere but all want experience or references which he hasnt got, hes got to wait till the new Year to get a volunteer card so he can work in charities just to get something to put in his CVs . His only reply was a very nice letter from Boyses to say he hadnt enough experiance but at least it was a reply .
Main gripe at the moment is whos going to be here for xmas , its the one day i have to really plan for and theres still loads of dithering going on , some cant be helped Young Baldricks baby is due Boxing Day we await that with interest, but things seem to be going well so far .
All im doing is trying to read a bit , crochet a bit and potter around a bit . No grand plans im afraid just domestic servitude and wandering through the tunnels between boxes going woe is me . lol ..wondering how im going to cook and seat people , turkey on your lap sitting on an Amazon box is looking likely

Messy

Well Hello Strangers , seasons greetings from the Amazon warehouse in the Fens , At least thats what it seems like a damned warehouse. Boxes and furniture piled up wherever you turn , not able to get to anything i need , musnt put the heating on because of all the boxes having some treasured electronica in them in front of every radiator , im really walking through tracks in every room its like an episode of hoarders it really is driving me mad . Its looking as if this could go on for months as middle son tries to find somewhere to live , not sure where to put a xmas tree but up his arse is a possibility . Hes happy in his hostel place , nobody bothers him, , him being huge and ginger has its advantages. Hes run up against the fact that nobody will let to him because hes on benefits , but if he gets a job he has to leave the hostel within seven days find a huge deposit quickly and then go into private rental but because hes under 25 he must have guarantors which we cant be because we are on benefits , everybody else in the family is either to selfish or on a pension .
The poverty trap is alive and well, blighting the lives of millions in this country , once you have to claim benefits your life is pretty much over , but not many get paid enough to manage without claiming anything , certainly the young are hit heavily at every turn .
  Our main concern has been funding heating oil this month , we had a call from the Vulnerable Tenants Officer the other day to remind us to apply for all the winter fuel grants, she didnt believe me when i told her we are ineligible for them all mainly because we have oil heating and cant be dual fuel customers , cant pay by direct debit and other daft ideas. Im currently once again having the usual arguments with Anglian Water , another engineer turned up the other day to fit a water meter only to say he cant do it without a team of engineers , so the cost to Anglian will be to high . Happens every year im afraid , this is ongoing so will keep you posted .

Funny Old Things

By now most of you know we are a tad skint , but this year has been since March a hundred percent better than 2017 the year of the DWP fiasco .
We are still living hand to mouth , theres not a lot of paying off debt or luxury, no saving for a rainy day , plenty of minimum cost meals. I watch political affairs on both sides of the atlantic and was chuffed to see that Trump is trying to get information released through the courts about certain websites that disagree with him , a couple of which i am members of . Maybe I will end up on his little list ? Im sure im on quite a few in this country . This morning however lets talk about the hatred in this country , we are becoming a hugely divided nation , the haves loathing the poor . The rich preaching know your place . One rule for the rich and no justice for the poor .  Sat outside the Coop the other day in the winter sunshine watching the local Conservative club over the road . There they are men of a certain age , reading the papers with a fag and a cheap pint , they hate the world with a vengeance, much like my mother in fact . My mothers been so foul and twisted of late that I can barely stand to talk to her. So bad in fact that i looked up angry dementia and found there is such a thing .  Maybe this is why were in this mess , all the wealthy oldies who vote tory have a form of dementia ?
On a more cheerful note , last week I took sarcastic son to the jobcenter for his ritual humiliation , hes now so full of antidepressants that he doesnt mind going , though 5 letters a day and endless threats to sanction him for their cockups isnt doing him a lot of good . While he was in I popped up the road and for some reason being on my own , I thought lets have a look at the M&S foodhall , the carpark was pretty deserted because the other big department store across the road is closed and being renovated . What can I say , I blew the catfood money on yellow sticker mince , pork and beef will keep me going for weeks . I suppose the posh folks dont buy a lot of mince ? there was numerous yellow sticker foodstuff seriously good but with a budget of £10 you have to prioritise this was at 2.00pm so what would the reductions have been later on ? 

Popping In

Im a very lax blogger at the moment , in fact ive barely switched the puter on for days , struggling to type , its as if ive never been so busy , we had another not unexpected death , the other Grandad left the building quietly but as he had Alzheimers and was very frail its a blessing .  Daughter is in bits , she was Grandads little girl , there have been lots of discussion over the munchkin going to the funeral , she wasnt keen but hes 10 and hes chuffed with hs new black tie , his big concern was whos going to buy him cherry bakewells now . Im not going its my ex father in law and we remained good friends till he didnt know anyone anymore but  its clear the rest of the family dont want me there .
The Jumble Sale season is over till the spring and apart from a couple of chrismas fairs that have a Jumble as well its cabin fever time , still trying to desperately finish the big garden jobs , ive a book pile thats huge, tons of craft stuff half finished and my hands have picked the worst time to play up , getting lots of swelling and painful joints , tried to explain to the nurse practioner that this happens from time to time and i just need a month of decent anti inflammatories to settle it , just blanked the idea and told me I can expect this kind of thing at my age!!! im 55 not 75 .  I explained that i cant hold a book or sew and knit and holding nails is virtually impossible , his reply . thats what sitting inside with the heating on and the TV for company is for ..grrrrrrrrrrr. So its tubes of Ibuprofen gel everyday till i trigger a bleed yet again,  the result of  the missing notes fiasco strikes again .
And the annual highlight of the year is very late ...Mr Bah Humbug started his Christmas rant last night , the Currys advert set him off on his usual commercial bullshit rant . But I must admit that what I find scary is the number of credit company adverts that are on every channel , even more scary is the rates they charge that they now have to plainly state, one you buy something for £400 and pay back over £1000 , desperate Christmas for so many folks this year i'm afraid , retail is going to take a slaughtering im afraid .  They do say that an awful lot of shopping precincts will close in January due to them having being bought by land speculators a few years ago , they have spent nothing on maintaining them and have encouraged them to deteriorate and will go into administration in January , making a huge profit on prime city center building land