Well that's ok then, you could have offered it for a school to re-home ... that's what several folk and businesses around here did ... NDN who works at a local school said once it's 'owned' by a school it may well be covered by school insurance too ... I doubt if the families in question would be able to afford contents insurance so that would've been a bonus
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I have a mobile phone, it's 7 years old soon it will need replacing as it will be unable to access banking, e-box (official mail system here) etc.
I have a car, Theoretically I could do without both, I could walk 4km to the bus, catch a bus 50km to the nearest bank branch and bank there, but they charge for in person services. I could walk those same 4km and catch a bus 25km to the nearest council office EVERY WEEK to check my official mails. It would cost more in bus fare than the phone contract does.
We also don't have a landline. all in all having a mobile phone for me and many others is not a choice at all.
Without the car I would have to walk 4km to the local shop which is a spar type thing, much more expensive and a limited selection. it's over 20km to the next shop. There is no home delivery where I live. So yes I could do without the car, but I could no longer do my volanteer work, or get to a major town to buy anything cheaper.
We have 2 dogs and 2 cats, the dogs are 10 years old, should people kill them just because they are poor now?
It is our choice to live like this, I work part time and sell vegetables, he is on disability. it means we have about £1.6k after tax per month for two people in a country where things are much more expensive, heating costs close to 2 months pay, the car costs 1 months pay, insurance is 1 months pay. But again it is a choice, I have a masters degree in a usable subject, and plenty of experience in hospitality. It's probably much easier to be poor when you don't HAVE to be. (and we own the house outright)
We've gone 4 years with just naked lightbulbs hanging in the living and dining room, We just found a pair of shades for the dining room in a charity shop for £5 but we have to wait until next month to drive into town and buy some new longer cables to put them up. The living room still has naked bulbs. That's the choice we make, more time less things.
I can get why very small companies might have to employ people on zero hour contracts but if a large and profitable company is doing it, it smacks of exploitation to me.
I'm generally employed on zero hours contracts. For the sort of work I do, it makes sense. It means I have no certainty about my income from month to month, but I earn a decent amount when I do work so the busy times carry me over the lean months. It's entirely different when you're earning the minimum wage on a zero hours contract. Like so many things, there's a basically sensible structure that is then exploited by greedy people. The result is probably going to be banning them, which leaves people like me with a problem, but that'll be the lesser of two evils.
I really don't think lots of 'it were so much worse when I were a lad' comparisons are helpful. The cost of food is part of a much bigger problem. As Scandi explains, 'back in the day' local services were much more local and accessible without a car. Benefits and wages were paid in cash so you didn't need a bank account. And if you had a bank account you didn't need a smart phone to access it. The cost of internet and phone access, the cost of electricity, and crucially the cost of accommodation are all so much more than they were even 10 years ago. The budget for food is squeezed from every side and people are forced to live on tinned and packet foods, which are much cheaper than fresh food. The cost of boiling a kettle and making a pot noodle is much much less than the cost of making up soup and adding noodles to it. And no one can live on soup for long before they get really very bored and depressed
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
It strikes me that there are too many people like our Tory MP's who don't accept that poverty is a real issue in this country. Also things are going to get far worse, it will take at least 5 years to for the current state to return to normal.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
We've been conditioned to believe what's good for us and what's not. All my life I've been following the latest 'scientific' diet, with the 'science' mostly being sponsored by some food conglomerate.
Three meals a day is a recent phenomenon, brought about by the industrial revolution where the breadwinner would have a hearty meal put on the table (if they were lucky) after work. Before that, humans would eat when they were hungry.
I'm wondering how many people actually experience hunger? I'm not talking about the faux hunger brought on by carb addiction.
We seem hung-up on food these days. Perhaps sometimes it would be wise to give our body a rest from eating, it is after all how we've evolved. We ate when we came across food, we slept when we felt tired, we hunted when we got hungry.
I'm not advocating starving kinds, far from it, but I do think we're now conditioned to have 3 'healthy' meals a day - do we actually need to eat so much?
Are you saying that people aren't really hungry but eat simply because it is their usual meal time? Why would anyone do that? Also, 3 meals per day are nowhere near enough, 4-5 would be more reasonable. But that, of course, depends on your metabolism and eating habits. I can't eat too big portions but I get hungry 3.5-4 hours after eating. (I don't overeat btw, my BMI is on the lower end of healthy and stable.)
I do that to some extent too, of course, for practical reasons. But if I had a big lunch, I either have the dinner an hour or two later, or I have it at my normal time but eat significantly less. But usually, I am hungry before every meal, often an hour or more before. I also often go to bed hungry because I don't want to eat much before bed to prevent problems with insomnia. Obviously, I can't say if I am "truly" hungry. But my hunger feels the same as when I did 24 hours without food or the same as after a full day hike on a light snack only. It's my body asking for food. I generally listen to it and my calorie intake seems to match my energy needs naturally, without any need to diet/limit myself or push myself to eat more.
I think a one-off veg soup or similar can possibly be done for 30p ish per portion as a ‘challenge’ but that’s not sustainable to have that EVERY meal for EVERY day plus some store cupboard basics plus a heat source are required.
There is real poverty in this country, the heart-breaking kind, but there is also poverty induced by poor choices.
Hospitals have been reported to spend between £1 - 3 per patient per meal, and that was deemed to be shocking/challenging/sub-standard.
I think that is a really good point @AuntyRach, hospitals criticised for spending that little on patients food, whilst the poor are told they can manage on 30p. for a meal.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
Posts
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I really don't think lots of 'it were so much worse when I were a lad' comparisons are helpful. The cost of food is part of a much bigger problem. As Scandi explains, 'back in the day' local services were much more local and accessible without a car. Benefits and wages were paid in cash so you didn't need a bank account. And if you had a bank account you didn't need a smart phone to access it. The cost of internet and phone access, the cost of electricity, and crucially the cost of accommodation are all so much more than they were even 10 years ago. The budget for food is squeezed from every side and people are forced to live on tinned and packet foods, which are much cheaper than fresh food. The cost of boiling a kettle and making a pot noodle is much much less than the cost of making up soup and adding noodles to it. And no one can live on soup for long before they get really very bored and depressed
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Also things are going to get far worse, it will take at least 5 years to for the current state to return to normal.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Also, 3 meals per day are nowhere near enough, 4-5 would be more reasonable. But that, of course, depends on your metabolism and eating habits. I can't eat too big portions but I get hungry 3.5-4 hours after eating.
(I don't overeat btw, my BMI is on the lower end of healthy and stable.)
But usually, I am hungry before every meal, often an hour or more before. I also often go to bed hungry because I don't want to eat much before bed to prevent problems with insomnia.
Obviously, I can't say if I am "truly" hungry. But my hunger feels the same as when I did 24 hours without food or the same as after a full day hike on a light snack only. It's my body asking for food. I generally listen to it and my calorie intake seems to match my energy needs naturally, without any need to diet/limit myself or push myself to eat more.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.