Thrifty Shopping

So who else would go to a jumble sale and pick up what i thought was a bit of net curtaining and then realise they had bought a vintage wedding veil 30ps worth of nice , not a clue what i will do with this its very 1950s 1960s . I thought the dressing up box could use it , but the munchkin has once again never shown an interest in anything but his Mike the Knight suit many moons ago . Maybe one of them will produce a grandaughter one day , but i think it will be waiting a very long while .

But my favourite find has to be some booklets of 1930s embroidery transfers , complete with my favourite Crinoline lady , they wont go far i can squirrel these away in my vast collection .I paid far to much £1.50, for them , you can buy an awful lot of out of date spuds with that amount..lol

   

Finally from the Bridge Community Venue , I got a whole carrier bag full of crocheted doilies , theres an awful lot of beautiful tatted ones , a myriad of colours and designs , miles of tatted trim , always useful a whole £1 the bagfull I just need a big dark velvet curtain and i can see a cushion project coming on . I will add it to the car boot hunting list . So thats my thrift budget for the week £2.80

Just need the weather to get that bit better and warmer and i will feel the urge to actually do a car boot myself, theres a winters worth of castoffs to dispose of , once i get motivated . But working seven days a week is a bit of a killer I'm afraid

The Weekly Winge Post

I'm home !!! My first day of being home at a reasonable time , I really am working all hours this week , I should really be getting on with my mountain of data entry chores ready for tomorrow ..stuff it ,im going to winge to you lot instead..lol
Young Baldrick , why ? just tell me why I ever got involved .
One of his mothers relatives has decided that she is going to run everything for him because we are so useless . The first we knew of this was pictures of him in a hot tub swilling beer at this relatives house . She had been to his housing scheme creating, rang Mr Bah Humbug , demanding that we pay his rent that she had just forked out for and take some responsibility for him having no food or benefits . He now has phone credit , pocket money , an xbox etc etc .
We then get a call from his housing scheme to say he hasnt clocked in for curfew and they would have to ring the police , having seen the pictures on facebook we supplied the  phone number . They rang back later to say said relative had fetched him back creating a fuss . When we went down to see him the following day he refused to come and speak to us , so i went for a chat with his keyworker while his dad ambushed him trying to slope off .
It turns out that said relative had turned up with her huge benefits paid for four wheel drive , stinking of weed and with her kids in the car , practically kidnapped Young Baldrick and whisked him away . they have no choice but to let him go because he is an adult , but because she was taking him she had to supply her drivers license to be photocopied , so if she turns up again stinking of weed they will contact the police .
Mr Bah Humbug thinks he told her his rent hadnt been paid to try and scam the money and has informed her his rent is covered by Housing Benefit so dont come to us . He had no food because we deliver it on a Friday morning , if he chooses to sell the food to get drugs and alcohol thats his own fault . He had no phone credit because his internet usage is monitored there but they cant monitor his phone . His own xbox is broken because he took it apart in a bid to fit a warp drive to it or something of the sort . even hes not daft enough to turn down an xbox and loads of free money . He also stunk of weed . He is currently being assessed with a view to independent living , so yes by believing his mothers weeping sob story , someone she admits she hadnt spoken to for years she has made his situation 10 times worse .
She has also changed his doctors , managed to get his Glucoma eyedrops from a walk in center after our GP said they could blind him if his eye pressure has changed , which is why he had an urgent hospital appointment pending .
She found out that you cant just go and open a bank account these days and he cant get a penny because he hasnt yet got a bank account .
So yes i feel i have a right to winge and unburden on you all , its been a cracking week

Jumble Season

So i have a whole week of no lunches because ive spent a whole £5 at the jumble sales yesterday . Really went quite mad i think , Birchwood Scout Hut Cats in Crisis yielded some very nice very heavy and lined red curtains for the big front window , they were on my summer car boot sale list  and cost a whole £2 . The old ones can be washed and go in the next one to get a flat box .

Rather nice petit point evening bag that should clean up really well , resale value very low , thats my excuse for keeping it , 50p . Junk jewellery lucky bag 75p this has bits  of stuff that will go to the car boot , plus it had a couple of gems for my collection , I really can spot a Miracle Brooch at a thousand paces, gilt toned with an agate stone , not one i already have. Plus a silver fake pearl swirly  effort that is growing on me marked Canada .

Then i fitted a bit of work in and drove home via Poterhamworth Booths for a Scout Jumble Sale and Auction , They were practically giving stuff away , so ive acquired 2 big Pyrex roasters one for me and one for the next one to get a flat box , also a large new John Lewis wok , I did kill mine . The auction was hilarious , run by a pair of elderly gentleman , who had no idea what they were selling . Everything was £1 or even 50p . Just a few tools fetched more . If I had storage I could have acquired loads . But I stopped for the giggle.
I even bought what i thought was a gorgeous flowery Joe Brown summer dress , to be told by my daughter , that really isnt you its too girly . Sometimes I just give up , I forget that all my adult life ive had people accuse me of being a bad transexual , comment on how manly i am etc etc .
Maybe thats why i collect little bits of beautiful on my travels , to make up for the fact that it would be money wasted on me . ....oops that does sound rather negative , but really im quite accepting of what life has given me , it gets me from A to B and its better than the alternative

Benefit Porn

Im still here folks a little lackluster and jaded im afraid, but still here . Easter holidays being over I can look back at the dreadful weather , the fact that me and the munchkin managed to get the first broad beans put in on the one good weather day and feeding the five thousand over the weekend .
Not a single crafty pursuit im afraid , painful thumbs disorder , ive even struggled to peel the endless mounds of potatoes required on the bleedin hell we're skint diet plan..lol
Young Baldrick , still no progress , though he does seem to be settling in at his new place quite well , despite the character assassination of some of the other residents by one interfering relative ..lol..
Its an assisted living programme , they all have problems of one sort or another , Young Baldrick may be Special Needs but hes lived rough in Birmingham hes as much a skank as the others there .
This is the problem we are having with his mother and other relatives , hes 20 , yes he does have Special Needs , but hes not going to turn back into a beige specky four eyed kid just because they think he should . Hes had that bit of freedom and hes morphed into an embarrassing skanky mess , complete with manky piercings and they just cant handle it . He looks like the drugged up member of an eighties hair band , its hilarious when he traps his dangling hip scarves in electric doors . Im sorry folks but his mental health problems are far more important than his appearance .
We managed the trip to the GPS that took 5 weeks for an appointment , it took all of 5 minutes , to get a request for a keyworker, and his mandatory two requests for referral , psychology and opthomology , he cant go to another clinic because of the two that have now been put in , he still has a badly healed broken wrist , but that will have to wait . Got to love our GPS they couldnt get him out of the door fast enough , the fact that hes mentally all over the place doesnt mean anything hes still in for a long wait for the psychology report we need to progress his long term care plan .
Still no bank account we have to chase that up today , as that is stalling him receiving benefits , though he has been accepted for housing benefit so we dont have to keep finding his rent , which is a good thing as we have to keep finding food parcels for him . He eats twice as much if hes not here, so we are more than skint at the moment , once again im expecting a summons for court to pin on the fridge door .
Normal service will be resumed eventually i'm sure , work and endless benefit scumbag chores are keeping me so busy i just have tea and nod off in the chair at the moment , i need to catch up with everything im afraid ..byeeeee

Dolly Horrors

We have progress finally on the Young Baldrick Front , hes been rehoused into an assisted group  living programme...TOMORROW

 So now we have to run round on a budget of zilch to get him everything he needs for his new home AAARRGGGHHH.

We even had a phonecall from the bank hopefully progressing his bank account , they sent a letter asking for his ID again but they already had it , it was all photocopied and sent from the bank branch, theyre off to look for it . 

Because he isnt in receipt of any benefits we have had to find his first 2 weeks rent , in other words we have borrowed it from my daughter , its not very likely he will pay anyone back for what we have had to get him . We have also supplied his bedding and a huge food parcel , just got to pop and get pans and a tin opener . 

He had the interview for this place last week and despite all his problems they didnt seem phased at all , he was told it might be a couple of months before they had a place but they rang on Friday and said someone had dropped out who was due to move in this week , if we could raise the rent he could have the place .

Its about 10 miles away in a small market town , theres not a lot to do there ,but that nots a bad thing .

It has been made very clear to him that this is his last chance, if  this  doesnt work out he is on his own. 

We still have the doctors to tackle with him on Wednesday , then the assisted living programme will take over these things . It will give me a break at last which is no bad thing as i am working full time in theory at the moment . 

Sue heres my Horror dolly selection from the box of strange , I remember these from the 60s  

Thrifty Horrors

You know how i need a little retail therapy to keep me happy , well i went and sat in Trevs saleroom the other day just to get away from the house of horrors and i wasted a whole £5 on a box of strange . Really couldnt afford to do it , so i guess im pretty stressed at the moment .

So what did i buy you ask , well errrr in a fit of insanity I bought a very large box of what he said were dolls . Turns out it isnt just dolls , there was something really scary lurking in the box, 15 clowns , weird china headed clowns at that, the sort of thing that murders you in your sleep!!! Next question. does anyone know anything about clowns, not a field i know anything about , theres a couple of boxed ones that may sell when I get the ebay shop up and running and find a friendly post office..lol 

But underneath the clowns was a little box of Spanish senoritas from the 60s and 70s , dolls im more familiar with , they are all little ones which is unusual , so once again they will eventually end up on ebay . More dollies to come as the week goes on , its a very big box and i needed to get away from reality and post about something i love for a change , i feel as if life is just one big gripe and moan at the moment 

Automatic Update

Sorry ive not been around , the real world has been eating my time , I have a new work stream that is a bit of a time eater , I can understand why nobody has volunteered for this stuff...lol...just wish it payed more . Once again im working for pennies , they threw me £20 for fuel the other day ,better than nothing ,but it doesnt go far in rural Lincolnshire .
On the Young Baldrick front theres still no progress, one more week till his doctors appointment . Though he has excelled himself this week , im not taking bets on his survival , death by sibling is looking more and more likely , plus my evil mother has been putting the boot in , her suggestion was to leave him in the woods and forget the trail of breadcrumbs . Meanwhile Mr Bah Humbug is just getting more and more depressed by the situation , we really cant afford to keep him . Plus he is very much a cuckoo in our nest he doesnt live to the standards that we expect etc etc , the constant swearing is driving me mad and the munchkin keeps letting words slip out that he thinks its big and clever to use copied from his uncle, he doesnt think its so clever when i get out the bottle of liquid soap and chase him round the house  Its got to the stage where we have to be careful what we watch on the TV because that just encourages Young Baldrick to start cheering the violence on and laughing at crude and cruel behavior . The look of horror when I popped a Christian Evangelical Freeview Channel on the other night was so worth it , 2 hours later i'd frightened everybody into an early night , I enjoyed the peace and the programme was quite good in a very American Christian way... he he he
Then theres Grandad who lives down the road hes Mr Bah Humbugs ex father in law and his other son lodges there because he can have a big bedroom and quietly keep an eye on Grandad . Grandad has been terminally ill for 2 years , he refused treatment , went off and got on with it , they always seem to be surprised that hes still turning up for his hospital appointments . Hes been a bit poorly , so its affecting my stepson quite badly , he needs out help and support as well . The question of where he will go once anything happens to grandad is a big one . Mr Bah Humbug has always remained good friends with him , so thats more pressure .
So thats enough of human misery for now, heres my sole little crafty effort for the week , cake plates take a 99p clock movement so well ,she  just needs a hanger and i have a crinoline lady clock .

PS ...in theory I have now got the comments problem fixed, please comment and we shall see, I can only apologise on googles behalf for all my comments mysteriously vanishing .

Escape Plan Needed

Sometimes you bite off far more than you can chew and im afraid the Young Baldrick situation is turning into one of those situations , another week passes and not an inch further have we moved . No progress whatsoever, another 2 weeks till his doctors appointment .
His behavior has been appalling, he admits hes been doing lots of weed and legal highs , I think hes used them to self medicate  and stay calm . We have told his mother on numerous occasions over the last couple of years that he needed psychiatric help , this last week has been spent waiting for the police to  knock on the door , or rather hoping.
He no longer has either of his phones , his dad took them off him . we were informed he has been phoning another autistic teen and showing her him self harming and getting her to join in , then threatening her when she wouldnt and wanting to watch her kill herself !!  The girl has serious issues with self harm and he was well aware of this .We asked her mother to go to the police , but im not sure she wanted to .  He wasnt to pleased when his dad made him strip then laughed at his few pathetic scratches , we have had enough serious psychiatric issues in this family over the years to know real self harm . He then had a meltdown telling us that he hears voices telling him to do these things , mmm not so sure , hes a compulsive liar and will say anything to get away with stuff . His dad has kept his phones with all the messages on to show to the doctor . His lack of concern over what he has done is amazing but its a feature of his condition . Hes also threatened to harm anyone who gets in his way , i had the long lecture yesterday about how good at martial arts he is and how he knows how to kill people , then theres his knife fixation .
I did phone the GPs and explained , they gave us a helpline number but it wasnt much help . Everything seems to be geared towards making excuses for what he does , but the fact is that he is now an adult and hes not had the proper care and help he should have had growing up because his mother blocked it whenever she could, this means we  have to face the fact that he is a danger to himself and other people. But due to the wonderful systems in place and a lack of funding until something bad happens he is our responsibility ...Rant over ....gin needed

Ever Decreasing Circles

Knitting this red tape jumper is hard work..lol
So have i achieved anything on behalf of Young Baldrick?  sadly I think not , lots of things set in motion , but moved forward not an inch .
Yesterday first meeting with a very nice lady at Housing Needs , lots of form filling but nothing can move on till he gets a second proof of ID , we worked through the long list of things that can be accepted and we are awaiting his medical card from the PCT as he hasn't got a gun license or driving license or anything from a professional body . Kind of hard to get these when your partially sighted .
Same thing for opening a bank account and he cant apply for any financial help without his own bank account . AAAARRGGHHH .
Finding out about his benefits is hard work because he cant remember the answers to his security questions , they dont allow for him being special needs unless his Statement of needs is in place and because we cant be his helpers with this without the Assessment of Needs being in place .....we are getting nowhere.
Adult Social Care wont accept anything but a NHS psychological report for his assessment , this is the report they took great glee in telling me will take at least 6 months !!
So in effect he ended up hungry and homeless for a reason , hes been unable to claim any benefits , unable to cope with finding anything out and because hes been flagging up at so many different locations within the aid systems and didnt give permission for them to share information . Nobody has done a thing to help him !! Data Protection Law at his best !!

Positivity Post..Honest

Im trying to come up with a little positivity today , Mr Bah Humbug has man flu , he is not a good patient . got a whole £3 in my purse to last till friday  when i hope to get paid my pittance , once again not what im owed .
The Jumble sale at Tattershall had to be the worst ive ever attended , everything was either holey or stained and the prices were truly bizzare. Only got a Mario Cart dressing gown for the munchkin it went down to 50p once i pointed out the pocket was hanging off and a pure wool denim blue guernsey jumper for a £1 , not sure if i like it , i may disassemble it for the wool when the weathers better, theres a lot of wool in it its huge .
On the Baldrick front whatever chemicals he had in his system seem to be wearing off and were starting to get some of the unpleasantness we know and love , he swears like hes got tourettes and with the seven year old this isnt acceptable , sullen when hes asked to do anything , blanking us all .
He even told one of his brothers that hes got what he wanted moving here and that hes not leaving , his sister can get out and take her screaming brat with her. Really......dont pick a war you wont win little boy !!
From what we can find out his mother hasnt accepted any help when offered for years and now that hes an adult that help is very few and far between . But if help isnt available from somewhere , this could go badly wrong , he doesnt understand other peoples facial expressions or there emotional feelings because he has none himself , he is good at faking emotions he can cry to order and do poor me very well but can get very aggressive if hes caught out . He has actually said to me that i wont like it if he gets angry , the munchkin pointed out that granny doesnt do angry .
I think the house rules are driving him mad
Yes we are early risers but we are busy people
Meals are dished up for you because it has to stretch and you will take all the meat etc and leave nothing for others
No we will not give you money to buy fags ( disgusting habit that we dont sponsor)
There is no money for phone credit for you because we have no money .
We do not buy squash , pop , crisps etc because we have no money and they are not necessary
Do not argue with your older bigger brothers they will tolerate more from you than most , but if you push your luck to far , i will not intervene .
Do not steal from other members of the family , unless you have a death wish .
Yes we peel potatoes , this is now part of you helping , i dont care how long it takes you , your dad however after an hour and 7 potatoes done will have a paddy with you .
Yes you are going to learn to cook clean and budget before we help you get accomodation , this is not negotiable in any shape or form ......see positivity , I knew it was here somewhere ...lol

Step Back Relax and Go Ohm

I need to sleep big time , im starting to get rather testy as the kids have noticed .
Poor Young Baldrick Im sure he thinks hes landed in another world , yes I do get up at 5.30 to start the laundry and have a cup of tea , read the paper , do work paperwork and enjoy half an hours peace.
At this stage of the day it isnt wise to complain about anything at all , really not wise . In fact you are in severe danger of death if this bit of the routine is disturbed. Do not whine that the washer wakes you up and a bouncing seven year old wants a cup of tea and cartoons .
Second cup of tea time is when i clock on and not a moment before !!
Everyone gets up and goes to work , the job center , agency wherever they are heading. Hold conference over who will be here  for  tea and who needs  laundry doing today
Then its washing out , breakfast , get Mr Bah Humbug up help with washing and dressing , some days much more than others. Decide by how lame he is, what he can manage today , once the drugs have kicked in . Then the munchkin has second breakfast with grandad and does his reading while i get dressed and sorted .
Do not moan that you cant get in the bathroom , just wait your turn!!
8am start work phone calls and the first Young Baldrick phonecalls . 8.45 School run .
The fact that i come home settle at the computer and have a nice coffee does not mean i am, unlike your mother , who wouldnt be up for hours anyway, idle and playing bingo !! I am working , hours of research and reporting some days and now trying to sort your mess out . AAARRRGGGHHH
There is a jumble sale tomorrow and i will be going , even though im at work in the outer reaches of civilisation, I really need that half an hour of ME time , I will be going round with a begging bowl for coppers later

It Continues

I had to take the day off work yesterday to continue the saga of Young Baldrick , I managed to flatten my phone battery three times .
My next crafting effort will be a doll resembling his mother with very large pins as a fashion statement...grrr.
I have to say that for the most part everyone has been really helpful , but the problems just keep piling up .
He has a meeting with housing next week , for which as he has no ID, we have had to fork out £24 for a duplicate birth certificate , that was this weeks grocery money .
Social Care were quite helpful on the first call . told us a few more things we need to ring and to contact social care in his old home town.
This is the point where I had  to sit down and just go OHM
Apparently he hasnt got a social worker , he has had one periodically when cause for concern has been raised by various people , this will be the times they have contacted us for information and asked if we would take him to give his mother some respite . But what has happened is , and the very nice lady apologised profusely,as they were aware his mother was "difficult" is that at the point where he left full time education he should have been assessed and restatemented for his adult needs , but because no one requested it they have shut his files and because he is no longer a juvenile they are now locked . So his bleedin mother when the money stopped , promptly chucked him out . He seems to have gone to the YMCA because he thought they would help the homeless . Somebody there had helped him but we cant find out who. But when the scheme he was housed under lost funding at xmas , he was then homeless .That was the point where his mother assured us she had sorted everything out .
The second call to our local Social Care didnt go quite so well. They acknowledge that he is special needs , but because he didnt have a key worker they wont help , he isnt in any danger so thats it , unless they get a statement of needs . The women then took great pleasure in informing me that once he gets the statement he will have to wait 6 months for a psychological report because his juvenile files are shut .AAARRRRRGGGHHH then once we get that because of budgetry restrictions it may be another 6 months before he can receive the help he is deemed to need .
So today im going to ring the nice Autism lady and see if theres any way we will be able to get the reports done quicker privately ...somehow we will raise the funds .

Am I Really Doing This

When youre awake at 4am reading up on autistic spectrum disorders , you know you have a problem..lol .
Its a problem that isnt going away and is going to need a lot of work .
Yesterday I popped to the doctors with Young Baldrick , now our GPs are spectacularly awful , theres a couple of good ones , theres one who has come straight out of training and should be sent back and to have common sense and people skills added to his programming, then theres an endless stream of odd and awful locums . The backroom staff however are really good , receptionists, nurses pharmacists etc all go above and beyond . So we got his registration sorted , they explained that it could be done rapidly if his old surgery was on the same operating system and they would ring me when they had done it . Meanwhile i explained to the receptionist what the situation was .
Within an hour they rang back and told me it was done , she also told me she thought shed spotted one of the problems hes being having , he hadnt filled a sharing of information form in anywhere , so there was no sharing of information on his condition between social services , healthcare professionals , government etc etc , so we popped back and did that . But they cant fit him in for a month for his assessment , because he needs a long slot appointment with one of the actual full time Drs who will then deal with him full time . Another problem is he will blindly sign anything he is asked to with no question and will agree to anything , another symptom of his condition .
Then rang the Benefits Help at the Council and explained the situation to a lady ive met previously while trying to sort Mr Bah Humbug out . She has registered him as living here , it doesnt affect our situation because he is special needs. She did however point out a few things , if hes on the old system of benefits , his mother will have been getting Disability Living Allowance and maybe Mobility for him still , he will only have been getting Job seekers if and when he managed to claim it and that would be paid to his mother , we are well aware that he cant be expected to deal with money himself despite him thinking he can , so thats not an issue . What is an issue is that he hadnt seen her for over a month !! so thats why he ended up homeless and hungry , his mate who is 17 and just out of care had been looking after him , he is in a flat with a social worker keeping an eye on him and they had thrown Young Baldrick out .
Im beginning to think im taking part in a comedy of errors , the deafening silence from his mother after her abusive phone call speaks volumes about what has been going on
Tomorrow , i have to contact
Housing Needs
Adult Social Care
Job Center Plus


Wish me luck , i think by the time i get this sorted I will be old and grey...ooops i am old and grey already . ( maybe i should have put a line of smileys and little hearts here , but im to old and dumb to figure that out) pass the valium. Im going in !!!

The Saga Begins

Well on this fine and sunny day lets give you an update on a few things .
Young Baldrick is enthroned on the sofa looking clean and fed , his dad however is just sat staring at him and shaking his head . He has morphed into Marilyn Manson , you know piercings black hair great clothing choices ...lol. As a retired goth i see nothing strange in this , embarrassing teens are part of being a parent , My daughter once owned a white Adidas shell suit , that was worse , far worse .
Step one on the path of sorting his life out has begun , spoke to a lovely lady at Autism UK today. ...register him with our GP ask for him to be registered with a social worker for an assessment of needs. then speak to the nice lady again.  see how hard was that ?
What we hadnt bargained for was an abusive phone call from Mr Bah Humbugs ex and her partner , we are now child stealers it would seem ..bless they didnt want him when he was homeless did they .
They got Mr Bah Humbug on a grouchy day so i think he gave as good as he got , shes ringing back later to talk to me , im not having a grouchy day but i can soon arrange an injunction if she persists and i will make sure there are lots of witnesses if she turns up here creating .
Why is it the worse things are the better i find i cope ? mundane has never been my thing im afraid

Duty Bound

Where to Begin ?
We received a phone call Friday night from a very nice lady , who had Young Baldrick at her house in Birmingham , he was once again homeless and her daughter who is also autistic had befriended him and bought him home , she knew him from college . He was in a right state filthy , emaciated and crying . She got him clean ,fed and let him sleep on the floor . Now most of yesterday was spent trying to find out what is going on and what is happening with him . Adult Social Care, couldnt find any record of him , we knew hed had social workers at various stages when hed got into trouble , but it seems that once he reached adulthood aka 18 they just closed his files and filled them , if there was no requests for help , he ceased to matter . They are going to ring him on Monday ...big help there !!

So after much thought , we are going to take him in , that must sound a little strange , most parents and step parents would just leap in a car and fetch him , but because of Mr Bah humbugs disability and the fact that we are in Council Housing and already classed as overcrowded , this could get us another eviction notice . There is also the fact that we are fairly sure that drugs either legal Highs or harder fit in the picture somewhere and we have a seven year old who adores his uncle on the premises .

But what has really pushed the problem is a rather bizarre conversation held with his mother on the phone , as far as we were aware she was helping to sort matters after he was homeless in the New Year . It goes a little like this .
Well I took him to the Housing Department and they said that as he was special needs they would pay me £14 a day if he stayed with us because its cheaper than him being placed in a hostel .

OK, so what happened

He said hed sooner go into a hostel

OK, so did he go to the hostel.

I dont know and I dont care , theres a bed here for him , I could have got £14 a day for putting  up with him . Anyway they need to stop pandering to him hes got to learn to live like the rest of us . Theres nothing special about him , hes just an ignorant idle waster .

Well we are picking him up tomorrow, he will come to us .

Send me a text when you throw him out ...bye

So as of today we will have a 20 year old sleeping on the floor , doing cold turkey off whatever he has been taking , theres nowhere to run to from here , we really are 15 miles from anyware. Tomorrow I will start dealing with the authorities over this sorry mess, Didnt need this ,dont want this and it will all fall on my shoulders yet again , im thinking of crowd funding for gin ? as an option maybe ?

Petty Irritations of Life

Its been a strange sort of week , im working all hours so everything is piling up at home , they generally start whinging when they run out of socks so im just waiting for the comments to start . Bless them .
Got my wage slip and once again its not the full amount so the bank will be squealing , they will pay me eventually but WHEN is the question . Meanwhile my creditors are frothing at the mouth . You would think i owed as much as a banker , I totalled it up the other day, if one more company rings and tells me to contact the CAB I will hunt them down , im well aware i dont owe enough to go onto an IVA and nobody can bankrupt me but they do try to threaten it at every turn , im sorry but as a couple we have been living on £40 a week since November , you can threaten all you want , Mr Bah Humbug gets his PIP payments and that just covers essential bills ,they cant include PIP payments in any calculation for income they are for his disability ,  hes had to sub me for fuel as im busy at work so things are more than tight at the moment .
Nearly wee'd myself we have been taken over by some strange American company and my line manager has got a new job title ..Performance Enhancer.
Now heres this weeks HUGE annoyance , I had to cancel my insurance for my car , I got a new to me car from my daughter on her buy it now pay later scheme , mums rates.
  Its just a two door version of my car, same make, same model ,same age , i rang Swintons and they couldnt insure it on the same policy in fact they couldnt cover it at all for business usage ..grrrr . The insurance policy has been running for just over a month , the girl says theres a £25 cancellation fee , fine, bad enough . She turns round then and says that will be £111 pounds at which point i spat my dummy , apparently this is to cover their expenses !!! I will be taking this further !! She then says they wont issue my no claims certificate until I pay this , which will leave me unable to get insurance . It has taken 3 irate phonecalls to get them to admit they are in the wrong and they have finally sent the certificate but i now owe them £135 pounds because im not a customer any more . AAARRRGGGHH
My Swinton story just gets better I thought id check on the van policy with them , the little girl turns round and says it expired on 29th DEC , they hadnt renewed it !!! So ive been driving round with no insurance . I had spoke to them on the 23th Dec and they had agreed to continue it , for this year .

Now this story just gets better , I said please take this months payment of  which she did , then she turned round and said , we can no longer cover you with that policy , this year it will be £859 thats a £300+ increase , we have full no claims its more than the van is worth , I did wonder if it was because Mr Bah Humbug is now officially disabled ? I asked the question and pointed out that would be covered by the disability discrimination laws if that was the case, which she denied  . I told them to forget it we would go elsewhere which we have at over £500 pound cheaper , now we get to the good bit .
She then says that she has to charge a £25 cancellation fee , for what ? they are holding ,my no claims certificate  still  and I am going to try again tomorrow ...wish me luck
The moral of the story is dont insure through Swintons , ive been with them for over 20 years without problems , try to leave them and they will try to commit highway robbery .

The Politically Incorrect Immigration Edition

Well lets upset everyone, lets talk about that which should not be mentioned , immigration .
Every newspaper every facebook feed is full of the horrors of the Muslim invasion of Europe , so lets take a look from the perspective of a little old biddy in the fens .
1  Mrs Merkel has aged 20 years in the space of 6 months , she agreed to let thousands of migrants into Germany and didnt get the grateful families posing for the journalists she expected , instead she has ended up with some grateful families and a wonderful bunch of multi racial sex offenders , who dont understand womens rights exist , this is not a cultural difference , this is something that needed to be jumped on very publicly and very loudly by the authorities . But no, they decided to blanket news block the issue and it rather backfired because nobody has yet managed to block the whole of the internet and the truth got out .
2 Skinheads , well thats any bald bloke with a football tattoo tarred with the same brush . Yes there are far right skinheads all over Europe but they are few and far between , the US has the Aryan something or other , we have groups of dodgy blokes who bore everyone in the pub to death with their minority views , they are not getting mass membership enquiries .
3 Despite what the papers say , we actually deport more Americans , Canadians and Australians than anything else . Yes we should deport everyone found guilty of a criminal offense in the UK that is a non national . Regardless of whether they have children born here, own a bleedin cat or have an allotment to tend .
4 The small issue of asylum seekers destroying their passports and pretending to be children . Easily cured if you have a look for their wisdom teeth , but looking is against there human Rights , yes a few late developers may sneak through the check , but the 6ft Libyan beardy isnt going to end up in a childrens home , im sure Bob Geldorf said he had a spare room ?
So in summary lets just state we will welcome asylum seekers and refugees if they just tell us the truth , Europe is full of people who want to help in someway , there is a small very vocal minority who want to waste police time staging pointless demonstrations and having a ruck. Yes we are scared , scared that we are looking down the barrels of world war 3 and scared people do and say foolish things . Political Correctness needs booting out the door and hard core common sense needs to be brought into play ..THE END

This a party political broadcast on behalf of the Old Biddy Party

Cheap Cheap Food

Todays adventures included a trip to the tin factory the little portacabin at Langrick Bridge .
Scary amounts of unhealthy but cheap food have been bought , So what have we hauled home today ?
6 jars of Robinsons marmalade 50p a case  , 12 large tins of spaghetti letters £1, numerous tins of beef curry 50p each, Big breakfast lots of 50p each , 25 packets of tuna in pizza sauce these are some posh survival food packs 25p each, numerous fishy pastes, soup , dates , jam washing up liquid  cappuchino etc etc

These bad boys that they have from time to time , that my daughter saw and said "oh God its dog food season again "  No its not dog bleedin food , its army bulk ration packs . 2.0 kg of mince in gravy , chicken chunks in their own juices and they also do steak in gravy , they have nearly a years date on them and i usually split them down once theyre opened and freeze what i dont use , you can get an awful lot of meals out of one pack the chickens good in whatever sauce you conjure up , these cost a whole £2.75 each .

Now for the good bit  , because we spent so much we were given 12 big family sized tins of marrowfat peas , out of date in the next couple of weeks but perfectly edible for months if not years  and self raising flour was help yourself . As you may have guessed we are back on the bleedin skint
 plan diet, add loads of veg and we wont die .lol  Creative uses for marmalade anyone?

Sunday

Well I made it to the Jumble Sale at the Scout Hut yesterday and it was a regular bloodbath , just heaving with people which was a surprise due to the monsoon . Place had a selection of the blokes with the big bags , the ones who swing round and smack you in the face with them , guess its the penalty for being short ..lol  I was hoping I could show you some pictures but the camera has no batteries and 30 miles for a couple of batteries isnt happening . But I did spend a whole £1.30 making myself happy at the jumble , a posh leather ipad case , some glorious rosy and spot bedding in king size, must be nice because i got a "what the bloody hell is that " from Mr Bah Humbug ,bless him , hed happily sleep in a sack . Then there was a nice mohair mix cardi , that will doubtless get accidentally felted by No One but i wont shed tears because of the cost plus the cat already likes it .
So its a slow Sunday , piles of washing trying to set off down the fen in the icy wind , Chicken stew for tea bubbling away and making me hungry , sorted yet more for the charity shop , sometimes a lazy Sunday is a good thing , I may even ring my mother ,because  im feeling quite positive I could put up with the "you are a useless failure lecture "

Am I going Mad ?

Answer the question.....ive had a funny few days, stomach bug having settled down to bearable with the worst smelly flatulance of all time , back at work properly tomorrow .
So in a fit of preparedness I thought I would log into the company internet to pick up some urgent work they told me about yesterday . That was 3 hours ago !!! and im still trying to log in to the poxy useless , highly expensive corporate system , the chimp from IT has hung up on me 3 times now , if i knew where he was located id hunt him down and insert his mobile slowly and painfully into a random orifice , he just had the cheek to tell me im to old to understand what im doing ..Doh . i think I can spell my name by now , so why does it keep telling me that its spelt wrong ?
Now logged in and the printer has decided its lost a driver AAARRRGGGHHH bloody computers