Coping with storms.

[Peter Truman]

Try a country of bushfires and floods as quoted by Henry Lawson our favourite Australian poet!

A couple of years ago there was one area hit by both in less than a month!

[ahebron]

I was recently put on to a great weather app for my phone called Zoom Earth by a friend who was sailing a yacht down from McKay to Brisbane, they used it to check on weather as they made their way down the coast
Using the app to look at Australia I see bush fires all over Queensland and heavy rain but never in the same place, often the gap is so small you could see one from the other.
The flora and fauna of Australia are not to be taken trivially.

 

[PeteH]

22 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said:

Incidentally: here's one for debate - a lot of the houses and businesses that have been destroyed by floods had no insurance; some householders interviewed blamed the rising costs of living so they didn't insure. They're calling on the Government to reimburse them. Is there a moral responsibility to assist them financially, and how does that leave those of us who do pay Insurance?

I Know that we are suposed to have a "moral duty of care" for the less fortunate, and I know there are a lot of "genuine" cases. But, you so often get to see in "media" those doing the handwringing, and in the background, there is the all singing dancing T-V, new Leather Furniture, kids with the latest tablets, x-box games, Mum all made up nails expensively "manicured", and (when) there is a second parent both glammed up in the more expensive gear, smoking their heads off. But the basics, the nuts and bolts? are missing, Can`t feed the kids, learn to cook? not just use a Microwave, buy cheaper cuts and peel fresh veg. All the things our parents had to do, back after WW2, and rationing.

So there you go, Old Git ranting.? but how close to the truth am I?

Pete

[trigolf]

I totally agree! Along with the manicured nails and eyebrows,don't forget all the tatoos, that are not cheap nowadays...

[Chris A]

About a month ago, here in France, a minister questioned about the cost of food going up all the time and the problems of the less well off to make ends meet replied that it was far cheaper to prepare food at home than buy prepared stuff. The outcry from some political parties was huge. On the other hand there are regular TV spots pointing out the health & cost advantages of cooking your own food.

[Colin Lindsay]

It's an emotive topic, but I've found from personal experience that those who need the most help - free school meals, free uniforms etc seem to always drive the huge big 4x4s, and a real minefield for parents is to ask the kids in a class what they did for the holidays. "We went to our villa in Spain... we went to Disneyland... we went to our holiday home on the coast" etc etc. 

Not all, it would be unfair to claim that that's everyone, but it's a surprising proportion.

Interesting conversation two months ago in M&S Banbridge: "buy the nice stuff here, the rest we can get from the food bank."

[Iain T]

We make cottage pie for the two of us from best lean mince and with trimmings, electricity it cost £3 total and that's being generous. If we batch cooked it would be even cheaper. There are many filling nutritious dishes but the UK is the box food capital of Europe. One couple whinging about the cost of their mortgage were paying over £600pm for their car?!?! It's life's choices that often causes money problems. 

Iain 

[Colin Lindsay]

Interesting ad on TV at present, where the family are walking towards the airport check-in desk for a holiday but the announcer over the PA asks them to pay their School uniforms / Pet Insurance / dance lessons / hairdressers / toe-nail painting etc etc and the holiday gets farther away with each announcement. I find it hard to sympathise that they can't afford a holiday as well. 

[Peter Truman]

Well across the world We’ve just had 24hrs of on off thunder storms around 75mm of near horizontal rain and hail with quite strong winds this followed the running of the Melb Cup horse race. The patio was flooded and will need hoovering up the dirt 

The pool turned from blue to a shade of green so I’ve just chlorinated it and skimmed the debris off then my sons Husky pup decided to help and fell in! gee they have a lot of hair to dry!

just texted him asking who was picking the grandson and Husky up advising their car was going to get hairy, gives them something to think of whilst at the theatre watching Mamma Mia, Ha!

[Wagger]

All of my working life I had breakfast before setting off. Packed my lunch when there was no canteen. Always a hot meal on returning home, freshly prepared.

Now a large majority set off, buy a junk roadside meal and dump the rubbish out of the window. Of our three children, only two cook at home. Many have forgotted or never learned how to prepare and cook food.

As a kid, we had the 'Luxury' of a kitchen range, always a hot kettle and, if you opened the fire grating you could toast a good slice or a crumpet.

Nothing like crumpet in front of a fire!

[Chris A]

56 minutes ago, Wagger said:

Nothing like crumpet in front of a fire!

That belongs on the other forum 😉

[Gully]

55 minutes ago, Wagger said:

Now a large majority set off, buy a junk roadside meal and dump the rubbish out of the window.

Really? Sounds like a right wing tabloid sweeping generalisation to me! I don't recognise that behaviour amongst my colleagues or see it around either my home or where I work...

Gully 

 

[Iain T]

29 minutes ago, Gully said:

Really?

Yes.

My son in his late 30s goes to McD for breakfast. What I saw yesterday (I went back to my old factory to mod radiator brackets) was the older guys brought their home made lunch sandwiches and the younger one's waited for the sandwich truck. It was the same when I was there 8 years ago. 

Iain 

Edited November 8, 2023 by Iain T

[Wagger]

45 minutes ago, Gully said:

Really? Sounds like a right wing tabloid sweeping generalisation to me! I don't recognise that behaviour amongst my colleagues or see it around either my home or where I work...

Gully 

 

Nothing to do with newspapers, just my observations when I exit the M25 on any sliproad I have travelled on. Somebody dumps this stuff on a daily basis. We even have signs on the A27 here showing a road with the label, "This is NOT a bin".

Perhaps you are luckier than me in your travels. This is supposed to be rural Sussex.

[Gully]

26 minutes ago, Wagger said:

Nothing to do with newspapers, just my observations when I exit the M25 on any sliproad I have travelled on. Somebody dumps this stuff on a daily basis. We even have signs on the A27 here showing a road with the label, "This is NOT a bin".

Perhaps you are luckier than me in your travels. This is supposed to be rural Sussex.

I object to the 'large majority' generalisation. Yes, there are a few who will and do behave in the manner you've described, but if it was a 'large majority' then we'd be considerably deeper in rubbish than we actually are! There always have been and unfortunately always will be litter bugs. It's repulsive behaviour and based on my limited travels in mainland Europe it seems to be more prevalent in the UK.

Gully  

[Gully]

56 minutes ago, Iain T said:

Yes.

My son in his late 30s goes to McD for breakfast. What I saw yesterday (I went back to my old factory to mod radiator brackets) was the older guys brought their home made lunch sandwiches and the younger one's waited for the sandwich truck. It was the same when I was there 8 years ago. 

Iain 

But do a 'large majority' dump their rubbish out of their windows? That was my point. I don't have issue with where people go for their breakfast or sandwiches - it's their choice. There have been greasy spoon cafes feeding construction and transport workers for years - McD's is just another incarnation (albeit with more take-away packaging). I'm not going to dictate to someone where they should go to for their food or pass judgement on their decisions - in this scenario I only care that they don't litter, which the majority do not. Hence my objection to the generalisation.

Gully

[Iain T]

My son would definitely not litter but at the busy Beckton roundabout the roads leading in are full of litter. It's a very busy roundabout hence slow traffic and people just throw rubbish out the window. 

Iain 

[Wagger]

Ok. I was generalising and I dd not mean to cause offence. I was not accusing you either. Yes, litter has always been a problem. Every species drops it. Trees have no choice.

Maybe it is a minority who are irresponsible, but that minority appears to be growing in percentage.

What I cannot understand is the picnickers who go to our local park and leave all of their rubbish behind. Cans, bags, barbeques etc. Some even take it in a stolen shopping trolley and leave that behind. The rubbish must weigh less than what they brought out.

Then there are the poo bags hanging on trees, and I have even been told, "Its ok, there are bio-degradable". I do tell them that will take 50 to 500 years. Can't put into print what the replies are.

I have dogs and like picnics, always clear away behind me except one day when the wind caught a bag and outsped me chasing it. Had to give up at the lakeside.

Wife and me actually take a bag with us, and a grabber and dispose of all in the bins.

Now can we go and enjoy 'Crumpets in front of the fire'?

Edited November 8, 2023 by Wagger

[Wagger]

1 hour ago, Chris A said:

That belongs on the other forum 😉

Sorry Chris if I caused offence, I really should have used the plural. Letting the brain freewheel on a rainy day seems to have landed me in trouble.

I was trying to divert myself from dwelling on two siblings, one in care with dementia, the other having palliative care. I have had three appointments myself this week. Luckily, I am ok for another six months.

I'll shut up now.

[Colin Lindsay]

1 hour ago, Wagger said:

Sorry Chris if I caused offence, I really should have used the plural. Letting the brain freewheel on a rainy day seems to have landed me in trouble.

I was trying to divert myself from dwelling on two siblings, one in care with dementia, the other having palliative care. I have had three appointments myself this week. Luckily, I am ok for another six months.

I'll shut up now.

I think we need a 'tongue in cheek' emoji. Or does that belong on the other forum too?  I'll get me coat and Wagger and me can hide for a while. 

[Chris A]

3 hours ago, Wagger said:

Sorry Chris if I caused offence, I

That's ok, I have a fence around the back garden . . .

[DVD3500]

We went shopping in Alsace last Friday and realized  food was on average 2-3 € cheaper per item (not counting wine which was sometimes half the price) all around. It was so much cheaper that it be worth it to drive there to do the shopping (it's about 80 km) especially when you factor in they had products that you can't get here in Germany.... Only thing that was not cheaper but was roughly the same price was meat but you can't get horse meat in Germany... 😄

My American cousins (that's not a euphemism. i r 'merican) seemed to be constantly in debt until they were pushing 40 and usually only were able to get out when they combined financing with a partner.

I have to agree with some of the statements here that they often left for work (often in a gas guzzler), drove to a Starbucks/dunkin' doughnut/McDs got "food", ate out for lunch and were just "too tired" to cook for themselves in the evening. OH yeah, most of them smoked too...

They almost always had the latest gadgets and thanks to social media I reckon they must have been spending several hours a day on said devices.

The worst case though was the man my aunt married. Up until the mid "noughties" roughly 2006-2008 in the US when you got a credit card bill on the lower third of the last page there would be a sentence in roughly 5 times the font size as the rest:

"You owe $20."

Regardless of how high the actual bill was.

In many cases that wouldn't even cover the interest.

He was however steadfastly convinced that paying that 20 $ was all he needed to do. She tried all she could to bring the debt down but when she discovered he had given his card(s) to his grand daughter who was routinely spending 4 figure amounts per month (she even bought a used car with it) she ended up divorcing him because she would have gone bankrupt.

The simple principles of home economics and financing seem to elude many people and it always comes to a head when times get tough.

I think Germany if you have no house insurance they can foreclose on the house, even if it is paid off. I am not sure if that applies when your insurance is not "adequate" i.e. you live in a flood plain and your house sinks.

Personally, in the US my family filed for bankruptcy twice. This scarred me terribly as I almost never want to borrow money. When we bought our house in 2011 I did not sleep for a week even though we had more than enough to cover the payments and all costs. I admit it is a neurotic fear but I sometimes wish I could spread it around so that others might be a wee bit careful with their money...

 

[Wagger]

I understand 'Neurotic fear'.  I was laid off three times between 1991 and 2006. Luckily, I had 'Income protection Insurance' sold to me by a friend who was an IFA. They paid me over £10k and my payments were a mere £2k. Now I just wait for the pensions and watch the smart meter readout like a hawk.

Had my six montthy oncology interview yesterday. My PSA has risen from 0.04 to 0.09. That worries me even though anything below 2.0 is not considered a problem. My mentality tells me that the big 'C' is coming back. Trying to slam the door on these thoughts is very difficult.

Reading the 'Joke' section helps and trying to be constructive with other topics.

[Chris A]

56 minutes ago, Wagger said:

Reading the 'Joke' section helps

Yes, it should get a grant from the NHS

[Iain T]

1 hour ago, Wagger said:

PSA has risen from 0.04 to 0.09. That worries me even though anything below 2.0 is not considered a problem.

Had my 6 monthly test result at 3.93 which is down from my average of around 4.5-5.0. On the NHS app the result said normal which for 60-70 year old it is as 4 and under is normal. However as per my biopsy I know I have a very small area of cancer hence the 6 month "active supervision" tests. Value goes up to I think 5 for more mature ages... Your value is very good but as my consultant said its when the number rises and how quickly that you need to watch. 

Keep posting it's good therapy to talk. 

Iain