Never the time.....

Hi

Never really get the chance anymore but may all change.

Work is busy. Home is busy. Blogg neglected lol

We are not considering Bucks as a priority anymore potentially Poggio Renatica - yes that's Italy not far from Ferrara where they make those speedy cars that petrol heads drool and lust over.

Lots of questions to ask before we decide it is worth Biggles being boarded for. And its the military so what ever they decide goes really.

Schools need to be researched, housing too then there is the question of what I do with myself for two years. I am not a lady of leisure. I couldn't be. I will need to have structure. Jobs are unlikely. I would like to study at least to give the hours when small one is in school some purpose. However I want any study to have currency when I return to the UK. A working qualification or at least counts towards one.

Completing the  academic modules of a JNC youth and community development MA would be ideal but is it possible??? Is it buggery!

Open University I hear you cry. NO. I do not need any more purely academic and very expensive courses thank you. I would enjoy them but a waste of cash I do not have or which could have a more practical use.  If I am going to do a another HE qual it needs to mean something in the real world and have a function. Not just be for fun or pleasure.

I am too long in the tooth to take two years out of working and do nothing.


I can just about manage to not pay the state pension for two years. I have a few stacked up and its currently 30 yrs contributions to get full whack. I will succeed this target with some to spare so bugger the gov they are not getting anymore. ( They still fecking owe me, the bastards with their austerity measures!)


So I shall return to searching out somewhere that may let me take a few modules that can count towards a post grad or a masters degree.....I am not hopeful.

B is getting info on housing and schools and other such stuff.






 

Price rises! And losing a tenner!

Pah I have lost a tenner already and its not even April!


Rent is increasing by £8 and Weeny's swimming by £1 which when you add in pennies comes to best part of £10!

Now £10 may not be a lot to some but it is to me. So that will be £74 quid spare I have per month in April when I review finances again.

I fully expect day care to increase and tax credits to decrease.

Ho hum. back to the meal planning. petrol expenses going ok. Desperately trying to keep it at £40 per week however I have work journeys to make so it doesn't always work.

My £20-£25 per week for food is going ok. I don't religiously stick to that each week but rather look at a monthly amount. Some weeks are for eg £40 typically at the beginning of the month but the others are then below and just for the perishables really.  Its a Lidl week this week for items that are cheaper in Lidl mostly. Other stuff will wait till next week.


Lets see what the budget brings eh!


Lighter note!

Its residents weekend this weekend and if you have an address in Northumberland and fill out the relevant form this means you get to go to places for free or for half price or two for one.

We are doing free things.

Cragside - home of a geordie genius! Fantastic all day type trip to a massive estate with lots to do.

Either Keilder for Birds of Prey Centre or Lindisfarne- Holy Island.

The tide is right  so may do Lindisfarne and the beach. It will also depend on the weather. Here's hoping. Kielder is a proper trek as the county I live in is vast.

 

Only accessible via a tidal causeway! Ransacked by dem vikings on numerous occasions!

 

http://www.lindisfarne.org.uk/ We get the castle for free and can play on the beach with a picnic.

 

Maze, lakes, watermill, posh house with lots to see, massive play park and lots of walks. You get to take the car round  on a one way system as the estate is so large.


Mothers Day was cool. We went to Sheffield. This meant no cookign for me1 We had a takeaway courtesy of Biggles for his Mum. Cards and little pressies from use. Biggles bought his mum a mobile phone as she wanted. He is in the goodbooks. Its for her birthday too.

Not a mothers day gift type person- like Christmas I like spending time and a hand made card from small girl is worth a million shop bought cards.

Pros and Cons.. Bucks and other stuff

That would be Buckinghamshire and RAF High Wycomb towards the end of the year. We are considering it.

We need to work out if the job is a good promo job for Biggles or not. He is making enquiries. if so it may be a go - er. Question is what do we do. I am looking into re location seriously but as Biggles earns enough for us to be taken out of the Child benefit equation completely it needs some serious consideration.  Small girl and I will be dependent entirely on him till I get myself a job. He will only be there for max 2 yrs. This has implications for my career. Also as he earns a bit it means I will not be able to get funding for alot of future study options.  Also Bucks is in a pish location for future study options such as Social work however i could look into a Youth and Community development masters distance learning through DE Monfort in Leicester if I am employer for a minimum of 12hrs per week in a related position.  Its also ruibbish for commuting at weekends for Biggles. I couldn't visit as he would be living in the officers mess in a room.


Ahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Will see what Biggles brings to the table with his research form other respected military types. He still quite likes the idea of a Italy and working for NATO but this is generally a career and promotion killer.


My pension will be in jeopardy as well. Leaving a local authority pension not great. However as he says if he makes Wing Commander it would be a mute point as hi WC pension would be most excellent.

Small Girl would be happy. The schools are fine locally and till she begins her GCSE's and starts secondary or high school we have some breathing space.  She is not happy that he leaves to go back to London and continues to cry and get upset. I thought she may have got used to it by now but no.

other than that we are planning residents weekend and a visit to Mother Biggles in Yorkshire. Next weekend Sheffield. Weekend after the local tourist attractions are open at cut price or free to residents of Northumberland.  Cragside most def.


It you caught countryfile last night on BBC1 7pm. Thats where we live! Well local to thew place and have even bunked in the old school visitied by that Julia Badbury girl who walks a lot!

 

Back again....

We took in the smoke!

I cooked up 10 meals for Biggles freezer- bolognese, chilli and spicy sausage bean stew as well as cooking when I was there. 

I always add extra to any mince based meal - fillers! grated carrot, oats, extra veg chopped up! It goes that little bit further and its good for you! Dead easy when you have been working long hours to defrost your main and chuck it in the micro wave and add a baked spud, pasta or rice.

Hopefully they will be stretched out! I was generous with portions so he could with added carbs go for two meals esp if he is trying to cut down. This has been explained but we will have to wait and see... I am not hopeful.



We took in the zoo in the smoke. Weeny's choice and Biggles paid! £22 quid each for adult and £17 for Small girl!!!! Bloody buggery shite I nearly choked!   She did enjoy herself however and we spent the whole day freezing though it was!


 Back to the grind we go!!!!

Dancing and swimming and meal planning and work!

We have turned the heating off again! We are back to the oil filled radiator and bed sharing!

Its nearly March for goodness sake! Time to get jiggy with it! Its a use it up from the freezer week !

Meal plan-

 Monday veggie sausages and the last frozen fish piece with frozen chips
Tuesday- steak pie and veg, frozen chicken dinner meal
Wednesday- pizza or eggy bread with beans and beans on toast- possibly a shopping night! so speed is essential!
Thursday- baked potato, beans, cheese, salad
Friday- lasagna with veg - frozen ready made by me!
Sat- Thai Curry - a Saturday staple! Can you tell we like it lots????
Sun- Pasta again I think.... use up the salad. I may make chorizo pasta

I am trying to run down my freezer a little. So am eating the junky quick food this week- All yellow stickered or costing less than £2 for four meals of course! It comes in handy as we didn't shop  much at all last week as we went away on Wednesday.

Its pay day this week so a big - ha ha my version of big shop is in order!

See you later!!!


PS am feeling a bit steam punk and having fun with it!

Having one of them days....where you focus on what hasnt happened, been lost, goals not accomplished and opportunities wasted or missed.....shitty. It will pass.

Demonizing the poor.. bring back the workhouse!

WTF is it with this government!

The bedroom tax, The benefits cap, disabled claimants ''invited''- I shit you not-  to apply for PIP and if you don't no money for you!!!!! Seriously when you look at the bigger picture and see how much revenue this will bring in compared to what they need to get us out of the shit, how much tax avoidance schemes lose money for the common coffers pot, how much banks get away with you realise how much the common garden chav is being made a scape goat!!!

Ok I don't believe that you should get more than 25k to live off from benefits. I understand that bit. But its not a cure all and effects in reality very few famillies overall. Yes its a big number overall   but we are looking at a population here!

The bedroom tax!!! Most council housing stock was built to accomodate famillies. Few houses have one or two bedrooms. If we have smaller places then great but don't penalise if there are no choices of moving to smaller houses. Homes are no longer homes they are temporary. Why take pride in a place when you will be forced to move??? I think most people when there kids have flown the nest properly and are established in their own homes with incomes etc are happy to downsize but kids being kids come and go for a while before they fly the nest for good. I know I went back after uni and then after a marriage break up. Why no mansion tax then??? Bigger houses - bigger carbon foot print potentially! ( yes some folk are green I know).

Am all for getting people to work and pay in, but on one hand they cry lets make work pay and on the other they are looking at getting rid of the agricultura lworkers  minimum wage. This is a travesty for Farm workers- shepherds, tractor drivers, herd managers. Cut benefits and cut wages. Fuck you if you were not born bright and clever with a silver spoon in your mouth . Caring society????? Very.

Hard work gets you everywhere - Yes but people have a ceiling. For some its their top possible achievement to do a labouring job, work in Greggs. Thats it. Some people just aren't bright enough. No matter how hard they try they won't get promoted or become brain surgeons or investment bankers. But pah who gives a jot about them anyway!

And people fall for this moral panic time and time again... its the chav at the end of the street who lies in bed  while you go out to work, its the single mother of 8 kids with different dads who takes your hard earned cash... Yes that 25k in benefits she gets will go along way to paying off the debt from the banks, the tax lost due to loop holes.....

Indolent, insolent poor take thyself to the workhouse !!!

All excuses for minimising state input. Good old Tory aim as ever- one of their foundations actually and gets you so scared of Labour fucking up the economy again that  you keep voting them in.

Actually Labour didn't inherit a great ecomony. They worked with what they had. Brown kept it afloat and pulled the banks out of the shit.  I take it Mr Brown is also responsible for the fiscal cliff in America?? Problems in Iceland???? Ireland, Spain, Greece... yeah all his fault......

DM readers???? Who are they ???Where do they live??? What do they do that makes them so blind??? They are conned along with every other tory voter. yes you r consumption and you rhouse that looks like something out of a catalogue makes you middle class. of course dear! Your furniture is tomorrows bric a brac not an antique or an heirloom! Get real and hope you never fall on hard times!


 

London Calling.....

Yes I did like The Clash.

Off to the smoke on Wednesday. Will be a four day break with Biggles. Free tickets yet again.  Doing little bar seeing friends and taking in parks and the queen. We are off to see the queen again and walk in that big park! Maybe do dinosaurs again.....Flasks and pic nics.

We take very little with us as we can wash clothes there. So just enough for four days.

Could do with some time at home really but you can't look a gift horse in the mush!

Pea soup to be made this evening. Pizza tomorrow. Off to London Wednesday night.

Hello to everyone who reads. I am really ignorant compared to other bloggers who welcome new readers!

Hope you all have a nice peaceful half term.