Xmas Time

 So thats it im off to struggle thrugh Xmas in my terrible introverted awkward fashion . May you all have the Xmas You Love and may Cherie find just the right jumper , See you soon enjoy yourself in whatever way you choose 

Xmas Rant 2

 Well its the season of endless xmas adverts , the perfume ones are getting my goat, how many gallons of this ghastly slop do they actually sell?  there seems to be endless different ones this year , i did recognise a Hemsworth trying to look hard on one but thats about it , just endless weird looking folk we are supposed to aspire to be ?  maybe its just for the younger generation ? As someone whos guaranteed to get an instant headache standing next to people dribbled in the stuff maybe its a good job i dont venture out this time of the year...lol

The moment of glory is the M&S advert who the hell are these aspirational idiots prancing round a party?  i hated this one so much i looked it up , Tan France is his name and i would have drowned him in  if hed thrown the bored game i was forced to play because it was xmas , into a fishtank , not a clue who he is but hes my hate figure at the moment 

Today we had a local councillor election , i was the only one interested and it was an excuse to toddle down to the village hall on my own two feet , himself would have insisted on going in the car , we have had tons of leaflets from the Lib Dem candidate , but what gets me is why are they always boring blokes of a certain age want to be councillors ? wheres the younger generation or even an ethnic candidate? outside the polling station we had a bloke begging for votes for one of the candidates . You guessed it white middle class man of a certain age . But then it got very surreal , i thought i was hallucinating there appeared from the lane beside the polling station a hoard of Santa hat wearing , north face owners , all with their hiking sticks and they proceeded to surround the vote beggar and hound him about the anerobic digester they are building up the road ...ho hum i must say we and the other poor locals are the only people supporting this on the grounds that it may bring jobs for folks who dont have a degree to the area . 

Come on do tell whats getting your goat for xmas ? 

Progress with Mumsie

 So heres a moan about mumsies carry on ,  well the boiler is knackered and they want 3k to replace it , somehow this is odd that 10 days after the warranty would have run out it is dead , now i know mummy dearest had problems since the day it was fitted , good old Worcester Bosch were out two or three times every winter and she has paid out hundreds of pounds for parts because whatever was wrong with it was never covered by the warranty , daughter gave them a bollocking and let them know shes part of the legal profession and that the fault is caused by a part that they knew was faulty and have  supposed to have retrofitted 3 years agom they charged for it and we have all the receipts !!!! Not much help though when we need it running to stop the mould and damp !!! the complaint has however been passed up the food chain and we will see. 

Anyway daughter decided once again to chase up the Court of Protection having got an actual  phone number for this secretive branch . They were sort of helpful , if somewhat surprised that their phone actually rang . It was seem that the order was granted back on November 7th !! BUT they have a 3 month backlog on letting people know ...you cant make this up!!...so long as we can provide the relevant paperwork we finally may have got somewhere . Our next daft question is what is the required paperwork ?  we got a list , most of which we have but we dont have her Deprivation of Liberty document which the council had . They have lost it!!!  The home do have a copy but its whether the Court will accept it or if we have to go through paying yet another Consultant to obtain another ...AAARRRGGGHHHH 

Tad Chilly

 Well this is lovely the freezing fog started yesterday with just a smattering of snow we had no plans except looking out the window at it . Then we get a phone call ..lol   They were finally coming to tow away the car dumped here on the first day of the Covid Lockdown by useful son , so they had to drag a battery out and much to my amazement and the bloke from the transport company it started first time and crawled its way out of the bushes under its own steam and up on to the loader . I did think my threat to grow tomatoes in it might work eventually . We then had to trek out in the wonderful weather to go and pick up the keys for the garage hed found for it . 

I did manage to con my way into a trip to the community larder but it was bleedin freezing pottering round Sleaford , i got a round of applause they had been waiting for the first person to take one of their amazing display of huge cabbages , ive got cabbages in the garden but this monster couldnt be left behind it will keep me going till xmas. I also got a big bag of tiny pears , They get a lot of surplus from the fruit and veg packhouses , the cabbages would have been too large for the supermarkets the pears would be too small who cares its cheap food. and the dehydrator will be churning out more pear chips . I pop in when i get a chance and always make a donation , its not like a foodbank it helps reduce commercial waste you pay  membership annually then £6 a visit you can find the strangest things and the money paid in supports the foodbank , they had bags of cleaning wipes that were misprinted free yesterday . Last time it was to small bunches of celery by the bag load and fast food prepared bags of ready chopped lettuce and tomato it all dehydrates so i go when i can , himself and his fuel rationing doesnt allow trips out for no reason unless its for him ...lol 

Xmas Rant 1

 Im starting early this year ..lol  Im being plagued morning noon and night by phone calls from loan companies, now i rarely give out my number and the only people i can think of is i gave the number to is the Local Council a couple of weeks ago , so i imagine they have sold it on hence the rash of calls one even said to me that i was ruining xmas for my family by being broke !!! before i got a chance to hang up . As council tenants they assume youre broke so buying the phone numbers must make them tons . Its all over the TV as well hundreds of companies with stunning APRs just lending you a few quid for xmas , just fine till youre late getting paid and end up with default payments .AAARRGGHHHHH all these ads should be banned till post xmas .

My other pet peeve is the Studley old bloke flogging over 50s plans to eyelash batting widows , he lurks in garden centers and pops round to prune their bushes , you just know its not just a bit of commission hes after. 

Now is the season to consider making a food bank donation , please think canny on this one , they see enough selection boxes , chocolate oranges and mince pies . being needy isnt just for xmas day ! UHT milk is the one our foodbank is always screaming for ,  coffee, tea , pot noodles, cup a soup ,anything you just need a kettle for.  Pull top tinned fruit etc for when the leccy has run out is always needed . Dont forget CASH dont judge people it mostly goes to topping up electric and gas cards most foodbanks have an account to do this online . I went into our community food initiative the other day and someone had donated loads of bags of logs and sticks, there was lady stood guarding them and asking folks if they needed them she would deliver them on her way home .  So its not always the obvious stuff and you cant heat your home with a chocolate orange !!   

Bang Your Head

Its that time of the year again , ive lost the will to breathe , every year im the same it gets to the dark months and the will to live disappears no amount of vitamins , weird herbal remedy's or SAD lighting does a lot of good im just  a morbid minny once it gets dark. I feel the temperature changes in every bone and tendon this year its allover the place weather wise which isnt helping . For the first time in a decade we have tons of food and tons of heating oil , himselfs pretty stable health wise , he hasnt been in an ambulance for months so why do i get like this , i think this year its particularly bad due to all the hassle over Mummy Dearest . Just last week i had a phone call from a social worker asking if we were satisfied with her care and did we have any complaints ? all a bit strange . I did say why dont you go visit her and see , but apparently they arent allowed unless theres a complaint logged ???  We are just glad when shes not attacked anyone or done herself an injury.  We then get a call from a neighbour to say the boiler has packed up ...AARRGGHHHH  so my daughter had to do the trip out there , she only got the boiler a few years ago and it had an extended warranty . So the company came out  only to tell us that the warranty is void because the property is empty and it hasnt been serviced this year AAARRGGGHHHH , they charged us £400 for the callout and to order the part we await with interest the final bill , we still cant get any money from Grannys estate , so daughter has an interest free credit card  its all we could think off . It will get sorted eventually but how long is a bit of string? 

Be Prepared

 

So in the world of the fens im still dehydrating merrily , today its grated broccoli stems half a dried up onion from the fridge and the outer sticks of a bunch of celery , its great added to soups and stews i just mix them in a huge storage jar , im using one and filling another , i may even make a couple as xmas presents , that should baffle the recipient ..lol 

Ive just ordered a load of my usual sewing machine thread and i spotted £1 a reel varied colours of the same make in Grafters of Coningsby , weird shop , sells food, cleaning supplies shoes craft supplies in fact its a weird mix but very reasonable prices , hidden on a small industrial estate.

Himself is busy ordering end of season fishing stuff , at least its cheaper than his rusty crap but ive a good tale to tell about him...Yesterday he got a call from the DWP  , so he had to take the call which set him muttering he hates them with a vengeance, they refused to speak to me, he usually passes it across because i know he will start shouting and swearing hes so paranoid about them . Inevitably he throws a fit a couple of minutes in and slams the phone down . Hes then off on one about scammers asking for bank details , he promptly has an angina attack and i was wondering whether to ring the ambulance but he did eventually calm down . Now i had been expecting a call, the DWP lost at the Court of Appeal the other day , i watch all their court cases with interest and they were trying to get out of paying their arrears backlog on the grounds of Covid , they lost and it stated they would phone those affected and inform them of their payment details , for some people its a very large sum of money that the DWP has spent millions on trying to avoid paying , its ruined many disabled peoples lives and a lot of people have died waiting for this to be resolved. It has stopped people accessing other help that was available to them and have you seen this mentioned in the headlines anywhere ? Once again the disabled arent news worthy or does the DWP just silence all criticism ?

Shopping

 In the real world i popped into town yesterday with himself of course , so it was a pain , he wanted a meat pizza from Morrisons but they no longer do made pizzas and Morrisons was it usual nightmare, they have shrunk the actual food portions of the shop yet again and everything he insisted he wanted from their they didnt have , which of course was my fault , did get a cheap chicken on yellow sticker . Then the discount crisp lady , where he proceeded to park in the deepest part of the flooded carpark , they had little actual food just endless booze not even much of a crisp selection for him oh and by then im wet to the knees . Lidl was as usual a little hit and miss but they have got actual shin beef at the moment its not cheap but what is . i got 2 packs and despite the moaning i will split them down to get 3 vats of stew . jusy got half a small trolley full ,a case of milk  and his diet peach tea . Then Asda for the stuff Lidl didnt have it had been ransacked there was little on the shelves but its month end and then i remembered the government have given a grant so their were lots of folks laden up . I did manage to get some expensive pre mixed screen wash , in case you havent noticed its pretty much all been watered down to the point of uselessness its all good to only -2 so you might as well use water , so do check before you buy it . Im struggling with self service tills as my hands are playing me up , so i joined the endless queue at the normal tills there was only a couple and i got the choice wrong, in front of me were a couple of a certain age with 2 heaving trolleys the man was checking it all off with a calculator and kept telling the cashier that the prices were wrong and gripping and moaning  eventually it gets to the paying bit and he wants to pay with his phone £250 quids worth .....well the phone said no , so his wife says wheres your card and he looks at her and says guess , so she scuttles off to get it . Now you would think that meant in the car so we all watched her galloping across the car park , leap in the car and drive off!!!  By then the queue is down the store as we all stand looking at each other in amazement , then the manager turns up the cashier explains and he says can you all reload your trolleys and use the self service . Things got a little interesting as he was told to GTF by one bloke and nobody moved , so hes on his radio summoning back up and more senior management turn up with security telling us all to go to self service as he was closing the till , nobody moved ...then the very pink faced lady reappeared with a sheaf of plastic and paid .  I was ages so i got a right rollicking when i got back to the car , but what got me was the bloke just stood their leaning on his trolleys smirking . 

its Raining Again

 Well it would seem being 12 ft above sea level is very fortuitous on the edge of the fen , the hard bit is getting from A to B . We have umpteen million pound new flood defenses that didnt work on the day , horncastle Tesco is under water , a boat got stuck in a sluice gate while it was open on the estuary so the tide just ripped in , theres houses schools and roads flooded for miles its a wee bit of a mess in fact we are just waiting for more breaches . but im fine here and its still raining , i have a load of towels out on the rinse cycle and they will be lovely and soft in the distant future when they dry . 

It promises icy weather after the floods so that should be when the mould team come to strip everything out we will doubtless freeze to death , You see we had a surveyor for the council turn up last week to inspect the mould , it seems they are now going to do something about it,  he was horrified and he said they would be there next day , i explained i have to use two bottles of mould spray a week just to try and keep on top of it , the usual nonsense about not opening the windows enough and drying washing on the radiators which i never do , I pointed out that they had had independent surveyors do a full inspection and they said pulling the place down was the only solution , its in the plaster the insulation the water system . So weve waited a week and someone further up the food chain is coming tomorrow . I really will struggle to be polite if they start the same old shit about it being our fault 

Phone

 So heres a wee rant....bleedin phones have they become the biggest cause of mental health problems in the world?  Teenagers with hate at the end of their arms ?  Its become to easy to drop down the rabbit hole , teenagers who never sleep because theres always some other muppet sharing dumb ass tic toc at 3am . What has occasioned this rant im watching peoples  life being destroyed by the mobile phone , all the endless shots of where youve been,  what a good time they are all having , the perfect lives of people who are so far from perfect in the real world . Do they have a partner who expects an answer every 20 seconds to his puerile where are you? what you doing? its like collective brainwashing . I had a whole conversation with grandson on how his lovelife isnt going well , because the girl hes besotted with runs every sentence past her friends ..WTF  so i made a really wild suggestion ..why dont you both turn off your phones when your together ? The look of horror said it all , i pointed out they could actually talk to each other and get to know each other . Then i heard him chatting to his mate about using their mobiles in class!!  the technology to block phone signals is inexpensive why arent schools using it ? give the teachers a walkie talkie each to call for back up if they need it ..thats another problem solved . 

My daughters struggling due to the pressure of being perfect , shes always been a high achiever and expects far to much of herself , she has a high responsibility job , she thinks she must have the perfect home the perfect life . Turn the damned phone off when youre finished for the day , live with your washing yurt , the cat prints on the floor the fact you go to bed to sleep because youre both to knackered to put on a huge sexual performance that your phone tells you every body else is doing . 

Step away from the phone it is ruining your lives !!! 

Winter is Coming

 Well the geese are better than any weather forecast for the last couple of nights theyve been coming over in the early hours , old cat has come in for the season she decided she was joining me in bed last night and wanted to fight me for possession of the hot water bottle , little cat was not best pleased so they were having a scrap on the landing at 4am , this morning old cat has been out to do her business and has discovered that the dehydrator is a source of warmth so shes cuddling it . ho hum .. got to remember to fetch in the last of the houseplants before dusk , ive ordered a cheap burn your house down growlight from China for my ginger plants popped into the fake fireplace there may be room for a few salad plants we shall see.

We are still having fun with our GPs  , other half is supposed to have his transfusions or infusions every 6 months , he has six monthly blood tests to schedule his hospital visit , he had the blood test and they insist his results are perfectly normal so he doesnt need a transfusion the problem is this cant be true he has no ability to absorb iron from diet ,so his problems are getting worse hes itching all the time his tinnitus is ridiculous hes shouting all the time and hes just exhausted .  We have a telephone consult with a new haematologist in a couple of weeks maybe they can kick our GP up the arse and teach them how to read test results , i know what he has is rare but delegating reading his results to some office minion isnt on . Meanwhile im sick of being told that i can expect these things at my age and not seeing anyone . 2 years since i last saw any doctor at our surgery !!!  there is never anyone there other than support staff , woe betide you have a medical problem thats not super normal or available on google .AAARRRGGGGHHHH

Catch Up

Ive finally caught up on life, ive been out doing a bit of fruit tree pruning this afternoon in his absence, i havent the time or patience to tackle big jobs when hes home . He will insist i have to get out the proper ladders the correct safety gear etc etc and dont forget the training session on the job ive done a thousand times before from a bloke whos never had any interest in gardening ...lol  So ive been standing on the wheelie bin with my chainsaw and my second best glasses on and thats job done . 

In the real world we still await any news from the Court of Protection regarding mothers care home fees , at £1500 a week they are mounting up rapidly and they never stop hounding us. We can do nothing only wait . My daughter says shes owed over £1000 just for the gardener, plus despite the bungalow being empty the council wont accept that it is , so full council tax is due until we get the legal guardianship passed . Mother meanwhile is still psychotic , knows no one and terrorises the staff and other patients. I wonder if everybody else is rich they deal with ? I will just continue crocheting endless tedious xmas decorations , subtle hint daughter turned up with a load more wool and to collect batch one. gives me something to do of an evening while we all watch the world implode and burn , none of them are right its just endless poor people being used in the power games of the rich .      

Doom

Sorry im neglecting you all at the moment , ive been a tad under the weather and im getting there slowly . pottered down the garden yesterday for the first time in nearly two weeks only to find my 20 year old wellies have developed a hole and the veg has snuck up on me . ive squash hiding everywhere , the green beans are monumental and something has eaten off my spring cabbages despite them being in a cage ?? At least we had a windy day yesterday and ive caught up on the washing . The usual high level of help from the other members of the household  means ive a lot of catching up to do . Though himself has enjoyed eating loads of tinned crap nuked in the microwave by son . Getting the mould and stench out of the fridge is a challenge as they just left everything fresh to go rotten ..ho hum . Himself pointed out that i need to stock up on tins , he has no idea that i have many more hiding places than just the tin cupboard , being a sly prepper is a way of life ...lol 

Season of Mists

 So its the season of mists and total apathy ,  my daughter has charged me with crocheting dozens of xmas somethings for a craft fair because shes not well and promised them to someone , can you imagine anything more depressing for someone who loathes xmas?  im bad enough this time of year without dozens of little xmas trees haunting my life ...lol  Anyway im removed from the tyranny of the garden by the weather but still it haunts me , im constantly tending the dehydrator , himself having discovered Pear Chips his new favourite food , i have yet to figure out the exploding raspberries problem but ive tons coming ready so they may end up in the freezer instead of the dehydrator , despite being on 24 hrs a day the dehydrator uses little electricity , next project will be lemon cucumber chips we have a glut of those coming the next week . Then theres the weird way we have a huge crop of Pink Fir Apple potatoes  they were a couple of strays that were hiding under the pumpkin leaves and have produced the best crop ive ever had , Nature is a funny old thing . Strange request time , does anyone have a couple of fresh walnuts for me to plant , i can pay postage if you have Paypal . 

I seem to be reaching saturation on the winter groceries front , im more well stocked than ever this year and im running out of places to hide stuff from him...lol . The freezer looks healthy and i will collar a turkey something as soon as they are released into the wild its just an extra few big things like more pet food , Maggi catering mash and dried milk , there will be more fresh stuff this year , sprouting seeds is proving popular and i will have a multitude of different squash and cabbages along with leeks . i wish sweet potatoes grew better here but your reliant on the weather for them , but they keep well so im picking small ones up cheaply at the moment .

So thats my exciting life at the moment ...what are you all up to?

Prep ??

So im doing my usual prep for winter routine , stock up on a few things, look round at water butts in the sales, inspect the sheds for repairs and buy weird shit from the auctions..lol                                                    On the weird stuff from the auctions , once again crappy photos and my view of sizes went a little awry , i have looked for a fish kettle all summer to plant winter salad into , i figured it would slot up the side of his scooter in the porch . I have had numerous plastic windowsill boxes they all go brittle by spring and snap and fall apart  so it seemed quite logical to me and i payed next to nothing for the auction lot . Its huge , its french, its aluminium it weighs  nothing , it still has the vintage stickers on it and i think you could cook a small whale in it , weirdly it came with a brand new pickaxe , which my agrophobic son claimed and dragged off to his lair, should i be worried ? it also had two big caravan water containers which have been sterilized and dried in the sun , prepper mind says they may come in useful  in the event and they can reside in a shed wrapped in plastic , nothing does my head in more than the filth that comes from nowhere in a shed when you want to use something .                                                                                  Then i went to the carboot sale and something winked at me , i wandered all round the place but when i went to the car it was still winking to me , asked the old bloke selling it and he said hed ruined the top trying to clean it , so im now the proud owner of a long arts and craft stool its big and chunky and i havent decided whether to recover it or live with it in ruin we shall see, i seem to have amassed loads of projects for the winter plus my daughter has roped me into crochet a load of xmas stuff for a craft fair , its all go. which with my nine millionth batch of shingles is just great , just got to pop out and struggle to plant out 20 spring cabbages and Japanese onions...aaarrrrgggghhhhh 

Refugees

 So as a woman of the working class and of a certain age , you may be expecting a whole rant about immigration . Guess what it isnt, its about the chucking up of houses on every spare inch of the village one of the ancient touch your forelock farmers having turned over the business to his offspring . They are selling off every inch they possibly can to be used for building overpriced houses , last year we had them building a huge eco house mansion about 200 yards away , it took forever because she changed her mind every 4 minutes about everything , best laugh she planted a huge line of £100 trees all across the front  probably to block out the view of us poor folk and every one is now a large dead twig due to planting them at the wrong time of year , then there was the row with the cable layers when they started digging her block paving up at the end of her drive , pure street theatre provided me with entertainment for days , council officials, management from the cable companies blokes with tape measures you name it they were there only for her to be told you cant annex a strip of verge because it made your drive entrance look untidy . The sense of entitlement is epic . but now we are getting 4 more of these eco monstrosities directly in the field over the road and i have had to rehome the refugees at hedgehog feeding time i have between 6 and 18 of the hungry nosed buggers . A tawny owl, a grunty squirrel and snakes . You see they have ripped all the trees and ancient hedgerows out , the wildlife is all homeless and hiding here . Guess thats how you designate an eco home ? 

While cutting the front hedge the other day i was accosted by a rather posh lady driving a Tesla Betamax, she wanted to know what the village was like , she really did pick the wrong day , so i told her ... just behind the pretty trees there is a huge chicken farm that stinks , theres a pig farm just over the fields and the worst smell is its shit spreading season , just to cheer me up the RAF obliged with a full on performance of we are late for our lunch with a couple of  jets screaming overhead because they are on day and night war games at the moment . Oh and theyre building the largest anerobic digester in Europe up the road , she cant say she wasnt warned...lol

Pain

 In the arse that is , my dearly beloved grandson who was going  home last night decided as one final treat that he wanted to go to Stickney car boot sale yesterday . I was rolling on the floor pleading nooooooo , so of course himself took no notice and said oh yes what a great idea . So off we went  . The overnight rain had kept the dust down if nothing else , there was still 15 rows of stuff to wander through , i think in my case it should say trudge through, they wanted to inspect every crusty tool and vehicle part so i lost them and looked at the odd bits i found interesting , i managed to buy a large kilner type clip jar for storage and a bunch of Sindy knitting patterns , I did ask the price of a lot of stuff but it was all out of my price range , A Simplicity Bias machine new in the box £50 it was a very fair price because they are £120 new in the shop but i dont have £50 for a need or a want...lol . There was also a house clearance bloke with 2 boxes of Sindy furniture and stables etc . i was after the clothes i can spot them at a thousand paces , but once again he wanted £50 ,  i dont think he realised the clothes alone were worth far more than £50, the world of Sindy became quite ridiculous during Covid and it shows no sign of calming down . Barbie who you couldnt give away is now doing the same.

The veg man however was his usual joy , huge tubs of grapes £1  ive had to pop loads in the freezer this morning but once again ideal for the winter , pineapples 3 for £1.50 guess im going to be practising my canning again , we got 3 melons so that grandson could take one home , his mother doesnt do fruit much . managed to stop himself buying tons of beetroot huge bunches for £1 but the prices of good keeping potatoes has soared theyve gone from 8 to £15 for a sack of Marfonas locally grown ,scary when winter is coming and theyre usually cheap now . I keep getting the £1 bags of scrubbed jacket potatoes they have 10 or 12 in them , i part cook them in the microwave then finish them when i have oven space, then into the freezer they go . 

So im off to hobble down the garden to pick beans , zonked off my head on painkillers after being up with cramp absolutely everywhere all night , guess you can can veg stoned , functioning zombie today sums it up , i will go chat to my pumpkins and squash the neighbours know im batty so they wont notice ...lol 

Chores

 So its food preservation time , its all very experimental at the moment , I know i dont need tons of anything so im doing 4 jars of each garden fruit and veg as it comes ready , its just so easy , though himself is eyeing up yesterdays canned plums already , hes not getting his hands on them till after xmas in the dark times when we can get bugger all fresh fruit and veg here . All im using is endless jars that once held Lidl gerkins that himself is addicted to ,  the plums are huge this year and the stones just fall out when you split them , it really isnt hard work , just chop them chuck them in a jar with a couple of dessert spoons of sugar top up with warm water , its much the same as jam making everything needs to be clean and the same temperature , im using the huge jam pan i picked up at the jumble the other week, it says 20 to 25 minutes so i give them 30 minutes boiling just to be on the safe side . For the weekend im planning an apple sauce fest , that wont be just 4 jars ...lol 

I went to my favourite obscure jumble sale on Saturday , just bought a cook book but i did get a couple of bits in the auction , another metal photographers case for himself to store power tools in. But i did by myself another chore , they sold it as an old tool box but it really isnt, its a Victorian service box , i remember my gran still had hers it was a wooden suitcase that you kept your personal bits and bobs in if your family wernt rich enough to afford luggage  , you usually had that and a carpet bag , its had a hard life the handles and metalwork have been changed several times but its already having a makeover , its been treated for woodworm , i think they were long dead but you cant be to careful , now its awaiting wood filler and rooting out the correct handles and waxing it all , It might become dolls clothes storage i accidently bought a small mountain in an auction last month it was an extra box that somebody didnt want when i picked up a dolls house cheaply , Free is always good 

On the dehydrator front , citrus fruit are a pain i got a huge bagful for a pound at Grimsby market , because i will use them for the apple sauce , i have found out it takes forever to dry slices,,,lol...live and learn 

Sad

 The demise of Wilkos is the first shop going under that has actually encroached on my world i get all my garden stuff from them as its cheap and good , the shops for the most part always seem to be busy but now we dont go out much i shop online , maybe thats the problem the generation that uses it is aging out of the retail world . I suppose thats whats happening everywhere , its not that people just want to shop online its that its been decided somewhere up the food chain that its what we will all do . Maybe thats why theres so much tagged clothing at the jumble sales?  nobody can access a changing room anymore , so you order more than one size or a different colour , ordering a different size or two the same size doesnt mean it will fit , theres no quality in clothing these days whatever the label . So as the tumbleweeds wander down the UK high streets , painting pretty pictures on the boarded up shops isnt helping matters and i have no solutions to give . 

 Himself hasnt been into a shop for years , hes no concept of the price rises and hes driving me steadly mad with his wants , hes dragging me off to Grimsby on Friday to visit the butchers he doesnt understand that it will be no cheaper and it will be out of our price range still i will go through the motions . Its not a case of being unable to afford food its just that our choices are pretty limited , the garden is helping big time, but its the daft stuff , you cant buy a cheap loaf within 15 miles , its £2 plus for a white Hovis , £5 for a little bottle of olive oil , toilet roll is creeping up week by week and dont even get me on the subject of Lincolnshire Coop for a shareholder owned social enterprise they are taking the piss and you have to remember for a lot of people they are the only shop they have access to . Have you noticed the government has stopped mentioning that they allow £12 a week for food and self care if you are in receipt of benefits, i wonder why ?  

Life and Stuff Like That

 Hello Folksies , whats happening in my non exciting world ?  Lots of gardening with my teen helper who is deeply impressed with my mini chainsaw , he had to climb behind the scrap car dumped in the garden by useful son the day before the lockdown !!  its still here folks but the sycamore was growing into it , so rather than give him another excuse not to move it , i tried to kill a teenager . 

My squash plants that i popped into the garden as i took the new potatoes up have gone mental and taken over the garden , tons of male flowers but all theyve yielded so far is a mini marrow and a single pattypan but ive a feeling they plan to go mental late in the season plus ive spotted a couple of pumpkins and a turks turban that are doubling in size every day . Green beans have yielded a couple of meals but i can see by the number of flowers that i will have a glut soon , not many tomatoes set on this year apart from a couple of mini heirloom ones that are tiny plants but with huge tomatoes and ive lost the label off them so will have to remember to save seed .

In the worls of elder care theyve down dosed mothers anti psychotics and shes awake again and receiving visitors , she has no idea who they are, but she will claim any visitor as a family member of some description . On her care front yet again we had heard nothing for 6 weeks since the kerfuffle over her attacking the manager of the new home that they wanted to move her to because it was the best value for money , Nobody is answering their phones or emails but yesterday my daughter finally got an email from her social worker saying they are leaving her where she is and having nothing more to do with the matter ????? in other words dont call us , we arent calling you . 

Finally got to the car boot this week first time since the monsoon season began , spent a grand token of £3 , two massive glass clip lid storage jars , i had seals to fit them allready, they came with tons of free dust but theyve cleaned up nicely i was given some seed pod trays that now have spring cabbage planted in them , donated by another lady who i bought a small basket from was  a tiny Victorian dolls head the size of my thumb i also purchased a bag of stamps and a book , So a good selection for the money i spent . Im going to try and take some photos later , maybe , if i have time , wish me luck 

Summers End

 Have the seasons moved again this year , its turned into Autumn very early this year , the nights are cool enough to need a blanket and you get up in the morning to heavy dew fall just waiting for the first frosts ? At least we are getting a break from monsoon season for a few days , so its out in the garden time . Just ordered a few extra seeds , japanese overwintering onions seem like a good idea , i noticed this year that onions were scarce early in the year. Then a selection of spring cabbage which should pop into the gap between kale and ordinary cabbage.

Other half is developing that worried look as i measure up part of his scrap yard to put in raised beds , he promised me that hes getting rid of stuff but it doesnt seem to be happening ...lol ..i was looking at the posh metal beds but theyre way out of my price range so i guess it will be pallet collars , saying that they last about 10 years untreated which should see my gardening days out . I wouldnt plant directly into this part of the garden its doubtless fermented in petrol and diesel and all the other bodily fluids leaking from his vehicles , ive already started fermenting several large builders bags of home compost and i will chainsaw loads of small branches to pop in the bottoms and keep my eye open for garden stuff in the sales 

First dehydrator experiment was a success two big bags of watercress are now a little jar full   , observation's , you need to split the thicker stems down unless youre drying just leaves . Also the instructions from Lakeland are pretty sparse and not very helpful , but its a good beginner tool and just two of us will be using it so its about the right size. I cant imagine it would be a lot of good for powdered eggs or anything very liquid but straight forward garden produce seems simple , experiments continue 

Shop

 Well it was big shop day today , mainly because i have the munchkin for a few weeks maybe ,,,who knows . The usual trip to the discount grocers for other halfs endless crisps and goodies aided by giving the munchkin £5 to last his whole stay  the only thing i bought was a case of Heinz vegetable soup , handy for me when i cant face cooking and its the smaller tins as well.  Lidl was as usual a bit hit amd miss . i noticed that they have shrunk the fresh fruit and veg aisles to nearly half the size but theyre still only half full , i got most of what i wanted , no cooking bacon yet again , but i picked up another 3rd off gammon joint for the freezer, frozen food was ransacked , i noticed that the munchkin has got an eagle eye for reduced stickers , shopping with granny does him good...lol  Ended up at Asda for the stuff i hadnt found anywhere else , virtually nothing on the yellow sticker front but i did get a couple of big bags of watercress so i may finally get to play with the dehydrator if i dont eat it like a bag of crisps first ..lol noticed ive got a few windfall apples so they may well be dehydrated as well and this may prove useful for the mountains of crab apples i waste each year , we shall see if im that motivated .

Food gripes of the week . JustRol  pastry was on offer the other day went to make a plate pie for tea the other night and all there is in the box is masses of paper and a tiny sheet of pastry not big enough to cover the pie plate i bodged it into a sort of lattice top but this is shrinkage at a ridiculous level , off the shopping list it goes .  Then i spotted a Seabrooke Crisps multipack Worcester Sauce flavour a rare endangered species in the depths of Lincolnshire , i was looking forward to them then i pulled the top pack out and it was soggy and it had to go to the birds , so i picked out another and it was open it decorated the kitchen rather well and made the cat spit when she tried to snaffle one , you guessed it every damned packet was unsealed , ive emailed them but heard nothing .

I watch a great many weird and wonderful things on wet days on You Tube , i watch a lot of cooking and prepping stuff cant say i agree with many of them politically but thats what the off buttons for . Ive noticed that theyre all going mad panic buying rice? so i bought 2 tiny packs today same as i do most weeks . Theres a whole array of smug folks prepping food mountains and buying lots of ammo . Here in the UK its more growing an allotment or garden and buying an extra box of teabags 

Checking Out

 im seeing lots of people on about folks checking out , nothing creepy just people refusing to accept that life is crap , blindly doing stuff that fits the norm despite nothing being particularly normal since Covid . If you live rurally our big problem is lack of access to cash . The cash machines are empty most of the time , we are a tourist area and this month and next are the worst, the population explodes with holidaymakers , access to local shops is virtually impossible and the little coops and sainsbury locals cant fill the shelves fast enough so the shops are frequently pretty sparse , so you have to online shop and a lot of shops dont deliver rurally or they dont deliver half your order . Plus having everything delivered carries a premium like it or not . 

Since Covid everything is being turned into holiday cottages , new builds are all huge, filled with a couple of  retirees from London wondering why the locals are a wee bit peeved at their wonderful eco homes, their Tesla Betamax and their urge to moan about the smell of shit and the constant plane noise. It never ceases to amaze me that people move here who think that a couple of major air bases either side of you arent noisy, usually during the week , day and night . We get the Battle of Britain Flight trundling about and the red arrows practicing  as well , we think nothing of it , you just go to bed with earplugs , theirs a website tells you when theyre night flying , except when its something urgent . Ive long faced the fact im a misfit , i can go days without glancing at my phone , without feeling the urge to shop , i can erase 400 emails without even glancing at them then go out and hoe the garden which is my plan very shortly.  

This business with my mother and elder care has opened my eyes to the horrors of being made to socialise and conform , my mother was miserable drunk and antisocial long before she went totally batty , her social workers insistence that she needs to be forced to comply with their ideals of little old ladies gratefully sitting in a circle enjoying visiting war time sing along folks baffles me , individualism isnt allowed in elder care even very expensive elder care, 

Dont live long enough to need care should be everyones motto   

Wander In

 ive not abandoned blogging just feeling im boring people to death at the moment, life is very boring and pedestrian at the moment with just a couple of highlights ,  we went to Wheating Steam Rally , havent been since before Covid , i did a big picnic and we took useful son because i cant unload his buggy even if he kicks up a stink and steam engines are his thing . We got rain showers and blinding sunshine but as usual little thought is given to me i was on my feet for 8 hours and spent 3 days barely able to move ..lol

Then i had a big birthday and they proved they know me well , no spa days , no flowers no balloons. Himself insisted we went out for dinner then was baffled that all i wanted was a giant battered fish from the chippy , i knew it would make me ill but it was worth it . Daughter kidnapped me the following day and made me go charity shopping and to the garden center . I managed to get a couple of 50p books from Tesco and  a selection of dead plants from the garden center . Then as a surprise i got to meet up with a friend i havent seen in the flesh for 8 years , we went for a bar meal and because it was tea time it was virtually empty .  

My big presents consisted as a mini chain saw and a dehydrator and tons of chocolate . So no fuss , i was so glad , i had planned to run away if they did the normal birthday stuff , im just not into crowds or fuss . Now they are gutted that im not out there with a chainsaw and dehydrating myself into a coma , but the monsoon season has arrived so not a lot i can do about that  

Time

Where does it go , i seem to be getting up at the crack of dawn and dropping into bed at 10 and ive gone in 30 seconds , at least the tyranny of watering everything is taking a rest for a few days due to the thunderstorms . I need to find a cheap replacement for himselfs garden gazebo that he likes to sit under, a dust devil off the fields  mangled it and took a couple of branches off the big sycamore at the front the other day ...bleedin weird weather 

The gardens finally sprung to life weve had 2 strawberries but the plants are throwing dozens of runners , the birds ate the few raspberries im hoping the autumn ones fill the gap, but ive still some in the freezer from the glut last year . The third lot of broadbeans have yielded a couple of pods , most of the bush beans never germinated . The fruit trees have just a few visable but they glutted last year so not surprised . On a plus note the corn cauliflowers cabbage and squash are doing well so plenty of veg for the winter . 

Ive also got a big patch of his scrapyard  to add to the garden , he promises me it will be cleared by the end of the holidays  ho ho ho , we shall see . Im not holding my breath . 

Out in the real world , groceries are still unpredictable , im working from the winter wish list and strangely the hardest thing to find was nutmeg  , no idea why it had vanished locally so had to order on line . The new season sweet potatoes are starting to appear . very small and oddly shaped but still around the £1 mark , the huge ones are to hard for me to cut and he gets a moan on when im power sawing veg up

So thats my boring life at the moment eat sleep and garden , what are you all up to? 

Mumsie Chapter ???

 Where to start ...Well we have had two zoom meetings over the last few months , the last to assess whether mother needed nursing care or just dementia care , the NHS decided she only needs dementia care , so we receive no further funding at her current elder prison . Because of this we the family are responsible for the cost of her care , which would be fine if we wernt stuck in the at least a year or more likely 2 year  queue  for the court of protection to get control of her finances ...AAARRRGGGHHH we do not have the funds to hand to pay her current very good home , so the local council have informed us they are moving her to the cheapest council approved elder care prison they can find , which will probably kill her this week , they did give us a shortlist of 4 homes 2 are bleedin miles away from her visitors, mainly other elderly relatives so that it takes it down to 2 one is a big Victorian house the other is a smaller modern facility , so we sent our cousin on a look round, as other family matters are eating our lives. He says the Victorian mansion doesnt have individual bathrooms and he saw a patch of damp on a wall but looking at its reviews it gets loads of 5 star ones on different online sites and i quite think Mommy dearest would like being the lady of the manor . The modern development has some pretty shocking reviews  amid the good ones and she would get an individual toilet  , so its all very ho hum .  Anyway because shes having another psychotic phase they have had to double her medication so shes sleeping pretty much all the time at the moment, so this may be the only time they can move her easily, so we await the next move from the Council at this time. All this because she didnt want to sign Power of Attorney !!!!

Well im having problems with Blogger , all very glitch in the matrix . It wont let me write posts on certain things anyone would think i was being censored by bots ?  Now the best you get from me is poverty vegetables and jumble sales so im not quite shore what is going on, but i start writing a post then it goes all waffy and it wont let me continue. this is as far as ive got in days . Maybe its viral  , but woe betide i try to correct the spelling or punctuation it loses the plot altogether . 

Anyway nothing interesting going on here im building up to a mummy post and youre going to love the latest chapter . Theres a big jumble tomorrow , i need nothing, but i need the stress relief . Weve had more grim family news , so we need to see where thats going ....hey ive got further than its let me go on longer  than ive got all week . So i apologise for the spelling and punctuation , I darent correct it just incase and i will be back ....

Prep On 2

 So im thinking this may turn into a wee series of daft stuff i think will be useful in the event , not sure what the event may be , it may just be more poverty due to inflation . Ive somehow filled the freezer so im having to look for alternatives for storage of garden produce . I have noticed that the warm weather means that theres a lot of mince out there of every sort on yellow sticker . i always take it out of the packaging and bag it , twice the meat for half the space . so i now have a drawer of lego bricks of mince for the winter . Then yesterday i ventured into Heron and they had mountains of beef meatballs 12 for 85p yellow stickered so i bought quite a few packs , they have been bagged some will become burgers others will be flavoured for various winter meals . On the foraging meat point do visit obscure Tesco Express and mini Morrisons or Sainsburys in the afternoon they often have yellow stickered meat i managed to get a huge pack of boned and skinned chicken thighs that ive chopped and split down into bricks , i had some out of date packet mixes so i coated then with salt and pepper mix and chicken tikka mix once again great for winter stirfries or wraps etc 

Then i had a moment ive been looking for Bombay Potatoes in a tin but like most things i like ive either been priced out or just cant find them , . So i ventured to Amazon and found The Old India Spice Co.  based in Leicester you cant get more Indian than that . They do a whole range of herbs and spices in various sizes and low and behold Bombay Potato mix . We are going to be overun with spuds this year so with the addition of a one or two yogurts and a couple of spoonsful of the spice mix , obviously adjust to taste , bingo bombay potatoes ! Now the area i live in has a large community of Chinese and we have three really good Chinese supermarkets so thats going to be on the list of places to visit before winter . In fact whatever ethnic supermarkets are round you , pay a visit you may be surprised at what they stock and theyre usually English speaking and very helpful

Foodie

 It was day the munchkin and daughter and daughters friend were available , i detest weekend shopping im not into crowds , but they blackmailed me into going with a jumble sale to start with ...lol 

The usual cat jumble sale , a winter top, a handful of books, a door curtain and a voile curtain to beef up the fly protection a whole £2. Then onwards to Lidl  not an egg to be seen , nothing much in the freezer stuff , no cooking bacon , but most everything else , they even had bottled water something thats becoming hard to find , im not in the doomsday prepper realm of water storage but i do like to keep 2 or 3 cases, just in case himself needs it in the event.  

Daft stuff ive bought this week , a blue glass optrex eyebath , himself has boxes and boxes of plastic squeezy eyedrops he cant use because the plastic is so hard you cant squeeze the drops out , so to me this seemed the ideal solution. A couple of canning cookbooks the first one wasnt what it said it was , so beware of these large softbacks when it says 1200 days on the cover it may to us appear that means 1200 recipes instead it was about 50 recipes on waterbath canning  and the whole your going to die if you do this wrong , the worst my gran managed was a few memorable explosions , she learned during two wars so i tend to believe her methods . The second book was more useful it had hundreds of seasonal veg pickles and waterbathing . Ho hum not that i didnt need more cookbooks .

So now the gardening becomes urgent we had the first monsoon for 6 weeks last night so i many be able to get some potatoes up today.......onwards 

Dead

 So i travelled to the depths of Scunthorpe for a family funeral yesterday , i had to go on my own while brother in law babysat. It seemed to take forever , endless cyclists farm machinery and roads closed . I havent been out this way since before Covid  so theyd chucked lots of roundabouts in as surprises . Anyway i had to screech to a halt at the Crem with just minutes to spare , nothing unusual for me . Then im looking round and realise i know nobody , i was wondering if i had the right funeral . So we waited and waited and waited, the undertakers were on their walkie talkies , all very secret service and 15 minutes later they turn up , my cousins husband would have been impressed he was never on time for anything when he was alive . Genuinely nice bloke , with an evil sense of humour who will be missed . As we troop in i finally spot a couple i know and we sat together in the back pew the wonderful Ellen commented we had the naughty seat for whores , lesbians and ner do wells .  There was a real hell and damnation preacher he even looked like the wrath of god , he was reading the eulogy of the sainted coffin wearer and Ellen and I are looking at each other , it bore no resemblance to the poor bloke , in fact we were trying not to laugh at one point where they said he spent many happy hours in his father in laws garage . His father in Law my uncle hated the human race and if you went in his garage it was for one thing . A damned good bollocking . So it gets to the end and the curtains are closing and my cousin decides to hurl herself on the coffin best drama performance in years . They had been married 54 years so why the hell not . Talking outside after she was telling me that none of the family attended because they two had been shunned for years , partly for sticking up for me . My cousin is profoundly deaf and has been since i gave her measles as a kid so she tends to shout . But what they dont realise is shes the best lip reader ever and we communicate with her whispering in my ear and then reading my reply weve done this since i was a kid . She says ....did you like the jumping on the coffin bit?

i asked why there were no hymms and she says.. im not paying £120 quid for something i cant even hear 

I wondered about the eulogy, she said she could hardly tell the truth the vicar wouldnt have read it .

You see they were ardent naturists and well known local swingers thats why i didnt know anyone the guests were mostly from that side of their life , so all those respectable grey haired old folks all had a past ...lol 

Beetle

 So its gardening season and whilst in Boston we toddled into Wilko and i mooched round while daughter did her annual top up on gallons of shower gel i wandered down to the depths of the shop hoping to find anything garden on sale . Ermmm well the seeds wasnt on sale yet , do tell if anyone sees this on their travels . But what they did have was all the bulbs that are a bit shrivelled but just require a day in a bucket of water , so long as they are nice and solid theyre fine just sad looking . but what they did have were potato sets and they had dozens of bags in a big hopper 5p a bag most had the scraggly long sprouts but underneath were dozens of bags of maincrop that were just nicely sprouting so i made daughter buy some ..lol i havent room and her other half is a beginner gardener . There was a mountain of onion sets as well once again they just need a soak overnight and away they go and they thrive on neglect and scorchio weather . So for a grand total of £1.15  i got a garden load for them . and a sprouting ginger root and yet another pack of broad beans because me and the mice love them , gladioli are already poking through . So yes never listen to the instructions on seed packs , if theyre cheap enough just chuck them in , your losing pennies and they just want to grow .

OK so the other day i was sat on my stool rooting around for new potatoes  and in slow motion  i tumbled backwards but there was a problem i was beached flat on my back like a beetle in the potato row it took me half an hour to scabble on my back up the row till i could reach the bench to pull myself up , theres no dignity in getting old...lol didnt hurt myself just wandered into the house covered in weeds and all himself said was,   Its 10 past 3 wheres my cuppa !!

Not Funny

 I had a stunning day out with daughter mooching round Boston , its started to pick up a bit and there seems to be much less empty property which is unusual with the current economy but then i noticed they are moving lots of stuff into the main square and precinct from the outer nooks and crannies so maybe they are gaining nothing who knows . We did the charity shops and bought nothing but a book in fact there doesnt seem to be anything very interesting in even the better charity shops and im not about to buy a £7 charity shop teashirt . I have noticed as ive started dragging all the stuff out to wear bought from the jumbles over winter that Lagenlook isnt for me i look like ive been draped in dust sheets im just weeble shaped round and short and it just doesnt work for me im proportionally wrong, so ho hum thats another bag filled to go to the charity shop . Couldnt resist a trip to the Polish bakery and supermarket it smelled so good and i came out with two huge pastries they do cheese and apple my grannies favourite and something you dont see here anymore , daughter was moaning at how expensive everything was but they have to van it here from Poland what can you expect plus these days i dont think its much dearer than Lidl .

Now for the funny not funny part of the day i had to go for my diabetic eye check , the girl doing it was very large and very beautiful , she seemed baffled that i can read the bottom of the eye chart and my vision is much better these days but as she sat down her gas powered chair deflated slowly and she vanished behind the desk this happened not once but three times and i was in stitches by that stage i felt awful for her . 

Today

 Its been nearly a week since Mr Bah Humbug had his wee nip and tuck and i got my first proper sleep last night . He has been a nightmare , I know hes been in even more pain than usual but refusing to take more painkillers has been interesting to say the least . I expected that we would be living with a grouch but he has managed to offend everybody even the munchkin , who said please come and live in our spare room ...lol    Anyway hes on the mend now its just an arm he cant use , but its his one good limb and i dont think it crossed his mind that he would be unable to use his crutches, or his walker, due to his crappy walking ability , or that if he tumbled he would just face plant . He couldnt even use his computer till the grandson got him a special disabled mouse from somewhere on the internet . So hes just sat festered and expected me to be two feet away and on his beck and call day and night, Getting him up onto his feet and turning him in bed has nearly killed me. So the munchkin and the sons have really helped  this weekend , they decided we should go to the immense windy hellhole that is Stickney carboot Saturday  they are now on about fitting his wheels with a remote control  so they can send him round like an RC car im not sure they were joking , he was trying to use his crap arm and kept running over people .  His constant criticism of my driving and him grabbing at the wheel ended when we had a screaming match in a layby and i threatened to just leave him there.  All i achieved for the four hour marathon round the dusty field  was a ginger mint plant ,a couple of 50p ornaments that made me smile and a huge quantity of veg . Thats todays chore process veg , im trying to think of an economical way of canning i have the jars i just need a new pack of seal tops but sticking stuff on for hours isnt an option i just cant afford the electricity . I will experiment once the garden veg starts to come in , im thinking of doing it over wood in the garden...lol  Right im off to watch canning videos on You Tube wish me luck 

Mum

 I had little to say and himself has his nip and tuck tomorrow so i will be glued to him for a couple of weeks at least , so lets do a mumsie update 

Currently shes still languishing in her Elder Care Prison , creating mayhem wherever she can . The good old council summoned us to an online meeting as part of the process of determining her longterm care only to find out that the representative for the carehome was unable to attend due to an outbreak of Norovirus at the home , mother was fine i hasten to add , They said they would reschedule but its been a month and we have heard nothing and nobody is answering calls yet again at social services or the council so shes still getting government sponsored care, Daughter is proceeding on with the application to the Court of Protection . we have finally managed to pin down who is medically responsible for her and its cost us £150 for a letter confirming that she will not get any better and that she has psychosis and dementia  . The next stage is two payments of £ 395  to send the application in and actually review it . I did suggest we porn her jewellery , which was greeted by absolute disgust from the rest of the family , but it seemed practical to me . The jewellery is in my safe where its been since she went into hospital .   None of the family are rich and there will need to be a lot more cash outlay to get the Protection Order which we can claim back from her estate once its granted , but it may take 2 years because there is a backlog .

So if I had one suggestion even if your running round fit as a flea , give Power of Attorney to a family member it costs £85  and can save thousands in the event you become incapacitated , plus it can stop the council leaving your property to rot into the ground till its your last asset and they can then sell it off cheap to a friendly builder they use for next to nothing as its dilapadated . This happens all over the country. 

Prep On

 Hows life treating you in the real world ?   Still reeling from your grocery bill, frantically turning off everything electrical and killing yourself growing your own ?  I was watching a video online from a lady of a certain age ,who was struggling to manage grow your own , why do people still think you have to struggle to grow the traditional veg garden ? No dig is excellent and a great use for the endless amazon packaging they gift you with . I crave another wood chipper i had to sell mine during a cash crisis so my fantasy is an even bigger model the sort you could put a body through , just think of the fertiliser you could make !!  but the simple fact is that if you mulch your plants to death theres little work involved other than the odd bit of weeding needed plus theres much less watering involved . On the mulching front scrounge the neighbours grass cuttings if they dont use lawn chemicals.

I also watched a seriously batshit prepper of the UK variety , but he had a few nuggets of wisdom . People who are transferring cash from the bank into gold and silver . Dont bother you cant eat gold and silver , youre better buying bottles of spirits  to barter with and theres the bonus you could just spend the end of days hammered...lol  My abstract thought was the most valuable item in the event of a serious collapse of society would be tins of babymilk not everyone can breastfeed and it would be a really good barter item .So heres a few things i would like to think most of us would have kicking around if we were a tad paranoid .

A good herbal book with lots of pictures , and a good few herbs growing that you might need 

Jam jars and lids , make sure you store them somewhere dust free its irritating if they get filthy in the shed 

lots of home remedies , diarrhoea pills, antacids, generic hay fever pills, painkillers

lots of herbs and spices , dried or growing 

duct tape and a big mixed jar of screws and nails can usually be found at the car boot sale 

so thats todays list to think about ...lol  Prep On     

Sunshine

 Its that hint of sunshine out come the shorts time of year , im trying a work till i run out of batteries for the garden power tools one day , sit and die unable to move on the second day . This is day 3 of the cycle , light garden jobs , plant out the jewel sweetcorn that himself has requested because he uses so much for his fishing adventures do a bit of strimming and pull out sticky buds from the flower side of things. I also have a pile of mending i need to tackle , himself seems to have spit the crotch of everything he owns and now even son in law is sending his mending ...AARRGGHH will i be stitching up crotches for the rest of my days ?

Another sign of the poverty around here , is the big increase in the amount of scrap men trundling around our usual suspects call often because himself usually has stuff for them , hes promised me that two of the little sheds that are dropping to the ground are going but hes been saying that fot years if they call when hes fishing i may well tell them to empty them and then point out years later that he never noticed . We seem to have vast amounts of window cleaners door knocking , Then theres young lads in vans looking for odd jobs , i got chatting to one last week bless him , he was offering to cut down and tidy up all the front yard , i told him it had taken years to get a mature orchard and nut trees all round just so we have privacy . Then later i got a visit from the neighbourhood watch , ironically one of the traveller community living a few doors away , warning me for encouraging thieves yes we get the odd outbreak of theft once in a blue moon , we have someone at home 24/7  , we have cameras because himself cant get up to answer the door if hes on his own , so im not much worried . I think himself has frightened a whole generation of delivery blokes to death with the disembodied voice shouting at them to drop that parcel as they toddle back to their vans .

Yesterday i accidentally scored a bonus we had to go into town and himself decided he wanted a bag of chips for his dinner from the little precinct at hykeham  i went into the little tesco direct corner shop and they had butter in the dump bin at £1 a pack so i snaffled it all for the freezer, i only went in for a drink and got to watch a smackhead doing his daily shop into his big coat , the staff spotted him shovelling stuff but did nothing, it seems they just film them and forward the video to the police, sign of the times yet again . Have you noticed how many shops are moving all the pricy stuff to the back of the shop , that and security tags on packs of sausages and the like  , baby milk and nappies with security tags .

Time

 Wanders in , before i need to wander out again..lol ..busy garden season im afraid , epic amounts of rain have turned it all into a lush green paradise that i need to control a little .  Between himself being a bit of an epic nuisance , shouting and balling at the munchkin for the whole neighbourhood to hear and the munchkin belting round the garden on a scooter they have resurrected , They are now  performing  an epic rebuild from parts that have languished in boxes for more than ten years of some very expensive pile of rust that he tells me will be his last project .If i believe that i will believe anything .

  He has an appointment for one of his many little day surgery jobs that will leave him helpless for at least a month at the end of the month , hence the frantic gardening im indulging in . Its a good bet i will be on nursey duties for at least a week 24/7 so im really looking forward to this ...and the shouting !!  But at least the munchkin will be here for his school holidays so can help move him. He was supposed to have a little nip and tuck work done last week he turned up and they said it wasnt quite bad enough yet see you in six months . Im not sure if they will do his day surgery either but we will see , he had his blood tests done yesterday and thats when stuff usually gets put back .

So life plods on as normal , trying to shop cheaply gets harder and harder and the total abscence of Lidl cheap fruit and veg boxes is one of the main reasons for expanding the garden back to its pre most of the family leaving home size , im working my way through the bags of fruit in the freezer in an array of pies and crumbles and keep promising myself i will find a vacuum bag sealer at the jumble ..lol 

So heres todays question what little extras do you think we should be looking for to add to next winters food stores ?  mine is powdered egg , its not cheap but it does come in useful with egg supply being a tad hit and miss at the moment .

Shopping

 Busy busy busy , the potatoes are all finally in the first batch planted at easter have just popped up , stirling effort from the munchkin though quite how he crammed the last of them in i probably dont want to know..lol , parsnips and carrots sowed , cucumbers and squash just peeping in the outside propagator need to find something to provide extra ground cover because i need to open the bottom of the garden and digging isnt an option , i dont grow stuff we dont eat so nothing exotic . 

now heres a tale , we have a large upright Indesit freezer 18 months old , last week it started to make a horrible noise , more horrible than its normal weird noises looked online and theyre noted for weird noises , but mine was having a fit and the top drawers were a bit soft . I was now panicking a bit it wasnt more than half full but i couldnt really afford to lose anything and daughters freezer was full , So after much searching online i found a supposed fix , it said i had icing on my evaporation fan so i placed a bowl of boiling water on the very top shelf and shut it for 10 minutes , mopped up all the water and turned it back on at full bore with a towel under the air vents and low and behold it started to work properly . I chucked the bit of seafood from the top drawer onto the bird table the cats got a couple of packs of ham and weve had a weird menu for a few days . The trouble is i dont really trust the damned thing now so im having to change my food stash a little , put the meat at the bottom and maybe just use the top for bread and stuff .

 Meanwhile start to add to the tinned food stash ho hum more expense . This week ive ordered a mixed pack of Grants tinned meat offerings direct from Grants , i have a load of tinned haggis of theres that i managed to get from Asda for the first time in a couple of years at just £1,50 each ,  https://grantsfood.com/collections/grants-foods    I think they may have found it lurking in the warehouse because the date is quite short and this is the price it was 2 years ago , we didnt much like the tinned mince and peas it was tasteless , but i know himself loves the barbecue ribs so i ordered a case and we will try the other stuff and see whether they warrant an order , theyre not particularly cheap but if he likes them it saves cooking . They also had yellow label corned beef this week !! 

Plod

 So im lax blogging yet again , problems with mother dearest , problems with hospitals and himself and the bleedin mice ate the second lot of broadbeans i put in .

I really feel life is just one endless chore at the moment , you go shopping and theres nothing you want or need , or its just to expensive . I went to Asda the other night and it was as if there had been locusts, there was just empty chillers and freezers , they had loads of bags of spinach with a yellow sticker that was visibly rotting in the bags ...ughh  im not sure if this is because they have just payed out the latest cost of living payment or just the end of the month , who knows but i think this month could be a problem child with three Bank Holidays  and gardens not contributing a whole lot . All i got from Asda was a few random bits and a load of wraps at 15p a packet so wraps now hve a drawer of their own in the freezer , There were hundreds of packs on yellow sticker, again very odd.

Mother managed to have another psychotic few days and injured herself , so everything moveable has had to be taken from her room the home rang me in the middle of the night and sent me photos of her injuries , its just scatches and a thick lip , pretty much what she used to do to herself when she was drinking . This now means that they have agreed to pay £120 a week towards her care costs and we have another meeting with the hoards and acronyms next week . Had a chat with Dave the nursing co ordinator and he said he hadnt realised we were estranged and didnt understand why i was fighting her corner . Simple she has been a monster all my life but that isnt my mother so why would i let them walk allover her?  she has sufficient money to pay for good quality care , i dont want her money . AAARRRRGGGHHH

2nd Class

 Sorry i havent been around , its gardening season and i had the munchkin for a week , hes 14 and now towers over me...lol...genetics are  wonderful within a family of dwarves hes going to be the odd one of this generation , we seem to get one changling now and again .

So heres a strange one , it seems i am viewed by certain members of the family as a second class person  one of those who languishes in a Council House and scrounged all their life my neighbours for the most part take the same view . Some of you wont have followed for long enough to know the whole story.

Once upon a time we wernt rich but we were managing , MR BH was working as a bloke with a very big spanner fixing lorries and farm machinery . He earned a pretty good wage but he only got to keep £40 a week because of his endless spat with The Child Support Agency back in the days when they wrecked many lives and families . I was divorced from an alcoholic dick head and working for the bailiffs , he also managed to shaft me financially, the sale of our house covered all the debts he ran up and i ran away , he didnt bother to pay all of his debts and is still hiding from his many creditors with his 3rd wife . I had a huge debt with the DWP because my ex had claimed benefits for the kids while they wernt living with him , so they came after me for the balance as they used to do. We decided to move in together and we were always skint but happy , we both worked endless hours to clear this mess then he managed to have an accident and break his neck , and mash his legs , they were more concerned about his legs so didnt spot the neck till 18 months later when he couldnt move his hands , admittedly they operated within days and plated him up but it was never quite right and he struggled on , in 2017 he went to work one morning and rang me to say he was parked in a layby and couldnt feel his legs . They found that his discs had popped at the base of his spine but it couldnt be repaired because he had an inoperable benign tumour  so every time he was lifting anything heavy he was bruising his spinal cord . They have since decided he has degenerative spinal problems and umpteen other weird and wonderful things wrong in his bones . He then had seizures and heart problems probably caused by prescribed drugs that have left him mentally a wee bit odd.

So here we are stuck in the benefits trap ,  its not going to change till the day he dies and believe me hes got a whole range of things that can kill him . Im just the zoo keeper of a bloke who has endless bowel and bladder problems constant nose bleeds of epic proportions , shouts because his volume control doesnt work all the time and dont even go there about the weird neurological stuff when he cant speak what he means and just a jumble of words come out , thats the one that makes him really angry because he thinks we are just not understanding what hes saying . hes now back at the hospital for nerve degeneration so hey ho .

So there you are dont judge the fat folks you see racing around on mobility scooters , dont judge the neighbour whos barely coherent and in their jimmys all day , you dont live in their skins , you dont live the daily humiliations of their lives and you never think that life can change in an instant ... thats todays rant over with ...Thankyou  

Mother Dearest

 So after a pretty good Easter its back to earth with a bang Tuesday . We had a zoom type meeting today with my daughter and social services , her physio and her rehabilitation nurse . ERRRRrrr well it was interesting . despite the consultant declaring that she has mixed dementia in writing it would seem we cant get control of her affairs , she would have to give written consent for Power of Attorney which she wont give to anyone . So because she is classed as self funding i will be liable for the cost of her care as next of kin . There is a 2 year waiting list for the other means of getting control of her finances . So every thing is up in the air at the moment , i stated laughing when they said i would be liable and they would take me to court if they had to . I told them fine , i own nothing and my only income is £70 Carers  Allowance go ahead . i got the usual lecture on how she is my responsibility . Then they decided that the social worker would visit her this afternoon and do a financial capability assessment and ask her to sign a document they need .

This afternoon i got a call from the home Mummy Dearest had gone off her head at the social worker and because she was getting so worked up they asked her to leave ...lol  Once again shes refusing her medication and her hearts allover the place 

Daughter was their again at the weekend , she was asked to fetch her new clothes , nothing fits her anymore she is visibly wasting to nothing and is rarely lucid at all . Sadly i keep wishing that nature would resolve the problem 

Jumbled

 Its officially Jumble Sale and Spring Fair season around Lincoln and ive had 3 Saturdays on the trot so ive gone a little bit mad , at least by my standards , New summer wardrobe purchased , lots of household bits and bobs that id broken replaced , This week i got a huge storage bag full of snowflake Pyrex and a couple of worktop savers , it was a good job i had daughter in tow or i would have struggled to get it to the car , The bag of Pyrex had 8 tea plates 4 side plates , meat dish , 2 casseroles, two jockey bowls , two different sauce or gravy boats , 3 nesting glass mixing bowls and of course the 2 large worktop savers . This mountain cost me £4 so well worth the trip out and it does as replacements for my disintegrating plastics caused by our evil microwave . Not sure what the problem is, the plastics all say microwave safe.

Then there has been a bit of success at the box auctions we had two  3000 lot sales when the sales are that big its a fair chance there will be days of half decent stuff and one day will be all the couple of pound a box rubbish which i love, part of the fun is trying to guess what is on offer in the lousy photos , so i won a couple of lots , one is a large vintage tapestry Crinoline Lady fire screen that is already in use because my fireplace is truly hideous , But the other lot was described as knitting and sewing and just showed a plastic crate nobody wanted it so i bought it , to my surprise when i got there it was a large plastic crate , a huge pile of books on cross stitch , several carrier bags of ribbon etc etc etc . When i opened the crate it was a weird mixture , there is a heap of brand new cross stitch and embroidery fabric all modern , plastic canvas , a bag of dressmaking patterns from the 60s to 90s , full set of knitting needles , 300g of vintage DK bright yellow, lots of little kits etc it really is crammed . I usually just give stuff away to my circle of skint crafters . So is their anyone out there who is skint and has needs? 

Isolation

 Heres an odd fact, i think im forgetting how to talk . I see so few people in the flesh these days and himself just expects yes dear to his endless rambling about rusty crap and aliens . Daughter took me out on Saturday night to see the Peatbog Fairies at Lincoln Drill Hall it was my late xmas present and i struggled being in a crowd then started to lose my voice when we were sat next to the most boring man in the world . He was telling me all about Robert Plant and his love of Genesis ...AAARRGGHHH the band however were very good so not a bad night . First time ive been out in years . So this got me thinking i can go months these days without conversation other than on line , most of my friends have died and im no great age .  what friends used to visit dont come by any more because of fuel costs or have moved nearer their children, in the summer himself used to get a few of his minions passing through but once again death and illness have taken there toll. I suppose im fortunate in that i can amuse myself and im self reliant for most things . I have never had a social life wherever ive lived , it was always work work and more work till himself became ill . The neighbours all keep themselves to themselves , except in the summer when its all sitting outside slugging bottles of wine till all hours , then in a daytime its a ghost village because everyones at work . We have no shop , the pubs all meals for the tourists and the few hardcore bar sitters , they have a community market a couple of times a month in the village hall , which i cant afford to use and the  Post Office van for a couple of hours a week and thats about it. So i sit here counting pennies and mileages in my head most days ...lol   Lifes good but it isnt very intesting  

Everything's Fine

 So i had Mothering Day on Tuesday this year Daughter had gone to Iceland for her birthday so we went out yesterday instead !  I say went out we popped to the garden center for more dead plants and i got  a tray of mixed cabbages for mothers day....lol  Then we went and did her grocery shop , Lidl was very barren of fruit and veg but they had what i needed which wasnt a lot due to cost .  I dont think my daughter grasps life on benefits once you get to the bottom of the pile . we have to save for things like the car insurance and pay it in full because our credit rating is to low to pay it monthly plus its a hundred pounds cheaper if you pay it in full. so a bit of a no brainer ive spent £150 since xmas on grocery bills etc , the freezer is about a quarter full still and the cupboatds are a bit barren , we have managed to insure 2 vehicles MOT them both and that while on basic benefit payments , we now have a payrise and hes blowing it on what he wants, yet again everyday the parcels are arriving , he hasnt got the back pay , but nobody has, so once again it will get dragged to the High Court, take a couple of years blah blah blah etc etc etc. Anyway back to our shopping trip , popped into Asda on the way back for what we hadnt got from Lidl a basket full for me and a trolley full for daughter , just inside Asdas porch it was chaos they had boxes and cages everywhere half pricing all the mothers day flowers and plants hundreds of them , i suppose its a sign or hard times that they had so many left or the fact that the cheapest were £10 . So we went back to my daughters for a drink and shes unloading her shopping into the fridge she goes to chuck a plastic wrapped lettuce and himself practically gave birth , she says her other half wont have anything thats out of date so she had to throw  everything away , so i came home with a huge bag of carrots a full bag of parsnips a bag of baby tomatoes a huge punnet of salad tomatoes with one split one ,a big pack of leeks and a head of broccoli all will be processed into the freezer today , i did point out why dont you just buy loose veg that you need each week , then it wont be dated , but i got the stare . Then i also got 3 out of date bottles of beer , so a whole shopping bag of freebies 

Perspective

 Im not sure if any of you remember the Father Ted scene when Ted was trying to explain perspective to Dougal with a plastic cow. Near Cow far away cow etc . well this week i did a blinder , now im a chronic online auction stalker . But im always broke so i dont win a lot because i tend to only bid a couple of pounds here and there . This time of year is always busy with sales , the auctioneers call it the dying season .  Well bonny bright person i am , i decided to do a wee bit of bidding due to not been able to go anywhere because of the foul weather last week . there was a 2 day auction locally and i had seen a jam jar of buttons in one pile something i have a terrible problem with, i have literally thousands ive collected them for years so i do know their worth and a jam jar full of old ones is worth paying a couple of  quid for and the rest of the stuff could go to the charity shop if i couldnt think of a use for it . Anyway when i went to pick it up the jam jar was a huge sweet shop jar , a huge flowery ancient Dresden planter that can stay , a huge modern farmhouse jug with a chicken on it and various other large pots and plates . i could barely carry it all , serves me right really . i also bought a set of camo clothing that was new and tagged, figuring one of the boys or grandson would claim it another whole £2. Turns out the trousers alone are £150 grandson wants them because it specialist paintballing clothing ??? who knew, i certainly didnt but for £2 how wrong can i go ...buttons anyone?

Mumsicle

 So despite the endless problems with mummy dearest and the fact that nobody wants to speak to us or reply to messages . The Home manager managed to get the psychiatric consultant to do a block booking with a few patients mother included, he says she has mild to moderate vascular dementia accelerated by her having asymptomatic covid to another type of dementia that i cant remember , not a good sign is it ? But at least he has signed his name to this and hopefully we can now get things moving a bit plus they can get her forcibly medicated by putting her anti psychotics in her food , shes also still refusing to eat a lot of the time because they are trying to poison her !! The home are willing for her to become a full time lodger once her government funding runs out, but its still down to the Social work team at the council to decide where she goes and nothing is certain with those cretins . So once again we wait and see , her money and the bungalow can pay for her care for a good few years yet and her heart isnt going to get any better she needs the anti psychotics to keep her calm for that reason.  My mother may have done some pretty despicable things to me over the years but i wouldnt see anyone in her situation treated badly when there is no need for it  

Wooly

 I made a bit of a mistake today and dragged three big laundry bags  of wool into the living room and the warmth. to sort through , himself just sat there gobsmacked . im happily sorting them into weights for my currant non project , which is hundreds of granny squares for no particular project other than using up odds and ends and keeping my hands moving . During covid i found my hands were so painful i couldnt crochet so now im making up for lost time. He has no idea these are just my odds and ends bags and i already have loads of full packs from long ago hidden away . I buy the odd bit of wool at jumbles and carboots but thats for pennies but most of it is given to me or its from clothing ive unraveled from the jumble. I inherit loads from relatives and friends of my daughter all are more prolific garment knitters. She turned up with a big box the other day which is what i was sorting into the bags any that wernt any use she told me to give to charity which was four or five balls of the lumpy or frilly stuff i cant abide to use .  Best find that i forgot about was a marvelous Aran cable cardi thats complete , it came from my son in laws gran a knitter of merit years ago. i have claimed it not to unravel but to wear...lol ... Its really a good job i dont do 'on trend' in any shape or form .

A friend says whatever i do dont start making twiddle muffs every wrinkly home in the country is infested with them , but garden season starts in the next few weeks so all i will be doing shortly is trying to cripple myself outside and jumble season may well mean i gain yet more wool...lol

Weird

 i had a really odd conversation with himself yesterday .

Youre going shopping , its all arranged , we are meeting the munchkin from school and you can do a big shop . 

Errmm OK

Well ive not set foot out the door for over a week , so i wasnt going to turn that down. But still a bit odd as i wasnt due a shop for another week or so . I checked he hasnt received his back pay...lol  So it was a trip to M&S to hunt for yellow stickers and not a single one did they have apart from one of their huge bags of bruised bananas for 25p , bit odd they usual have a few bargains .  Waited for the munchkin at Asda  got a load of  chopped mixed veg stew packs on yellow sticker at 10p each there was a mountain so i didnt feel any guilt and i will blanch them in the microwave then pop in the freezer . Several packs of mini pork pies and bhajis for the freezer but the food bandit had most of them for his supper . They had mountains of cheap sandwiches i was looking through them for the cheese based ones which freeze well and can be just tossed in the sandwich maker but an old lady was doing the same so i helped her get a basket full and settled for a couple of pasta salads for lunch today .  in fact the thin layer in the bottom of the trolley was all yellow stickers and the yellow basics range talk about advertising your poor , they didnt have a single one of the bulk items i wanted so it had to be a trip to Lidl where i managed to get a case of uht milk and there cheap bog roll, if little else . Somehow i managed to spend nearly £100 on a boot full of very little,  a lot of it is bits to make up a meal,. tins of Asda yellow label corned beef for the fishing season . Have you seen the price of Atora suet these days ? shocking , Asda own make gravy granules , who can afford Bisto ? 

So i achieved little yesterday except spending loads on stuff i didnt need and being visibly poor, isnt it weird that even a trip to the supermarket can label you ?  we are becoming a nation of haves and have nots , defined by whether we have a trolley full of Heinz and Bisto 

Tomato Tomato

 Ho hum here we go again we all going to starve due to the tomato peppers and cucumber shortage , really , i cant think of a less seasonal fruit or veg for February . Even had the food pantry sending an email apology for their lack of fruit and veg . Once again the press is creating artificial images of huge shortages . I even managed to get hoards of hatred for posting on a forum that all you need is a bottle of £1 multivitamins if youre that deprived of vitamins , apparently i have an evil Tory mentality ? I noticed today the panic buying of veg in general has started  before payday weekend , so their will be yet more pictures of empty supermarkets, but this will allow them to hide a huge price hike not that the farmers will see it . I should think supermarket profits will be interesting this year . Out of curiosity how many are buying lots of salad at this time of year ? Is it just vegans getting a sweat on ? Or are most of us still creating soup and casseroles from seasonal veg ?

Heron had plenty of fruit and veg this morning admittedly no tomatoes cucumbers or peppers but i came away with my usual strange haul of frozen stuff , couple of big bags of bread crumbed  white fish broken fillets a whole £1,50 a tray , most of the Excel range has gone up but what hasnt, theres still odd gems to be had and they will keep us going for weeks . Nearly bought a big bag of Calamari in error i thought they were battered onion rings...lol instead i got a bag of ready cooked sausages , saves having to brown them for sausage casserole, due to electric prices i mostly use the microwave or slow cooker these days . Its weeks like this when i realise what a privilidge it is to have fruit and veg in the garden . Still got a load of leeks that i will pop in the freezer before they go to seed  though something ate the last of the celery ? bit baffling never had that happen before . tons of stuff in the freezer . I even managed to find some lemons for his pancakes yesterday 

Whats Going On

 Been out today partner at dentist did a wee bit of an Asda shop nearly fainted  at the price but id got a few bits of yellow sticker meat that was hidden under the usual mountain of vegan offerings , why has meat become so expensive ? even in the scale of other price rises its not looking good , we really can only just afford it . Popped some bits in the food bank hopper they keep asking for stuff that doesnt need cooking , so i added a load of little jars of spread  of one sort and another , then bulked it up with various tinned soups that were on offer . 

Anyway i had to pop into the local coop to post a parcel , there was a gang of the young new Romanians who appear each spring to work for one of the big farming estates , not much English but always nice polite kids . Anyway they were being stalked by the Coop staff and there was much muttering about them from the older generation then i realised these moaning old gits are probably younger than me !!! what is happening to people these days ?

But the one that had me spitting was i got up this morning?  I had Katy Hopkins in my feeds with a video about the dreadful hotels of foreigners at Skegness , what shitty facebook algorithm thought i would be wanting to see that vile harpy stirring trouble?  is it because im of the age that should be outraged at foreigners everywhere ?  Shes blocked now but i cant imagine how they thought i would want to see her !!!

Garden Budget

 So the munchkin and i popped in to Pennell's the very large very expensive garden center while his teachers were on strike these last week  , i was looking for last years price potting compost before the silly season and ive not been in their since it went upmarket with lots of little shops a huge restaurant and totally scary prices , theyre on a winner really 90% of what they sell is dead in a year so they say so you will keep coming back , i wandered round a bit looking for the plant graveyard every big garden has one all the stuff that doesnt look pretty this time of year and the stuff they will replace by Easter weekend , Theyre were bargains, big dead looking chrysanthemums reduced from 16.99 to 2.00 but if you looked closely many were already shooting from the base , huge potted pinks reduced from 10 and 12 pounds to 2 just need splitting and repotting . Lots of stuff was as dead as a doornail , but among them were some real bargains.  i will try to visit a few more garden places the next couple of weeks and of course B&Q home of the plant graveyard . i buy a lot of plants from the boot sales once they start at the end of March . 

Bargain of the week comes from Wilkos, i ordered some potato sets just the wee 5 packs and a new propagator top because id smashed mine ...more expense lol..Anyway they turned up the next day in a big box which i thought was strange and they had sent me two big bags of potato sets , dozens of them, the invoice said they were 5 packs so someone got it wrong and i shant complain it just means we will have an awful lot of spuds this year or the kids will. 

next strange question does anyone have a walnut tree thats cast a seedling or has nuts i can plant , the ones in the shops are not usually English Walnuts 

Poor 2023

 How tactless can MPs and the Royals get by showing up for photo opportunities at foodbanks and food pantries? It seems that every day theres pictures in the press of them , i just dont understand token support , have the Royals offered a few jewels out of their vault to donate?  30p Lee Anderson MP  running cooking courses maybe?

Anyway i thought today id scare readers away and mention the benefits system, but then i looked at the government website and found out that its so complex that its no wonder that those who qualify have no idea what they should be getting . The Government likes to perpetrate the myth that these payments are so generous that everybody is trying to scrounge them , so how come billions remain unclaimed sat in government coffers ? Then theres the great Housing Benefit scandal , whereby they set the levels for payment so low and havent raised them for years . Many people have to fork out most of the benefits in top up which leaves them with nothing to live on . I noticed the other day that we had a statement and theyre increasing our top up this year and we are in a Council property .  Ho hum . We will manage . Just shant buy any Weetabix ...lol 

I have noticed that theres lots of trying to be useful people jumping on the bandwagon offering cooking lessons and helpful hints , im tickled by those who say shop cheaper brands when if your at the foodbank youve been doing that for a long while . Or the cooking gurus who never factor the cost of actually cooking stuff these days , once again youre hardly going to be shopping for  A rated appliances if youre skint . A sandwich and a bag of crisps may be as good as its getting for a lot of people . In most families its the grownups who are doing without and necking Poundshop vitamins, as ive said in the past oranges are our measure of if we can afford fruit and veg and it isnt an orange each, so i grow what i can , ive still got a ton of leeks and fruit in the freezer for crumbles and my infamous ugly baking . Its been a tad interesting this winter till the DWP sorted their mess out, but we are fine till they convert us to Universal Credit sometime this year. im sure i will find a few informative posts out of that debacle