Wednesday, January 30, 2008

BUY, sell, buy, sell...gimme the goddamn money!

After living with a hideous bathroom for too long we bit the bullet and got the builders in.
Now we have a bathroom which is the opposite of ugly. Altogether very pleasant.

Not being of the aspirational mindset....we will not be going down the middle class route of giving visitors the guided tour of the new facilities. Nothing bores me more than going to someones house and being shown their new decorating, extension, toilet/microwave/radiator combo.
All very well and good but I don't take part in this keeping up with the neighbours thang.
Life is too short for that shit.

Living with a chemical toilet for four days and having to go to the inlaws for a shower was a pain in the arse.
Still, at least we didn’t have to walk ten miles to collect drinking water.
Always healthy to self-flagellate with some perspective I think.

On a lighter note….is anyone else annoyed that the govt have given 30 odd billion of the money-we the people- paid in tax to a private company, namely Northern Rock bank?

That is outright bloody theft in my opinion.

They want –so called- free markets but when they screw it up they want the govt to come and help them. Seems they only like socialism when they are up shit creek.

I am greatly perturbed by this as 30 Billion could be spent for the benefit of all in so many different ways as opposed to assuaging the panic and dividends of Northern Rock share holders.

This would make one think that one’s money in the hands of a bank is not safe.

This coupled with the financial markets tumbling and the endless wailing of a coming recession in the USA has me thinking that my pension is not safe.

Not a very comforting thought at all really.

www.urbansurvival.com/week.htm is a site I watch as Mr Ure has a rather pragmatic handle on what seems to be unfolding in the world. There are some hard to bend you head around nearly sci-fi aspects going on in relation to his information but read for yourselves. Always healthy to be a sceptic with an open mind, eh?

Getting out of debt and growing my own vegetables are my first two steps on the road to more freedom than I currently have. Yeah, I know using that wording means I am hedging my bets.

It isn’t all doom and gloom though.

The only way is up, baby.

Friday, January 11, 2008

The good life

Has anyone else noticed that food prices are going up?

I realise that the price of oil rising will directly affect food prices.
The price of wheat has gone up. This means bread goes up and also meat as many cattle are grain fed. Ok, not so much here but in most other beef producing countries.

The rush to grow crops for biofuel also locks land up that may have been used for food production.

I don’t like it one bit.

I am going to grow my own vegetables this year, it will entail using over half the garden but the end result means that we shall be mostly self sufficient for vegetables by next winter.

I checked out the price of a site with planning permission….holy smoke!
Waaaaaaaay beyond my purchasing power. PPS14 has a lot to answer for.

A couple of acres is all I ask but it is not to be for the next year or so.
A permaculture approach will produce lots of interesting heirloom veg.

I’m going to have to buy another freezer and learn how to pickle things.
I’ve been practising on my liver but I have yet to put it in a jar.

Hole in one (or one in a hole)

I am in work. Much hilarity has just ensued.

A colleague was just overheard in a phone conversation stating “if you get an orifice big enough you’ll be able to fit it in”.

I am still drying my eyes.

Nothing wrong with a good laugh on a Friday afternoon.
Northern Irish bloggers
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