Women drivers

House to house lifeboat collection this morning. Love to crunch through the yellow, gold, red and brown autumn leaves scattered over the pavements (as long as they’re not wet and slippery!) It may have been a rotten summer but so far the autumn has given a wonderful display of colour.

Wondered where the birds have gone. Food untouched on bird table for last two weeks. Maybe they have found another source, but can’t see many flying around and quite miss the cheery chirping. I have noticed quite a few coloured butterflies despite reading a few months ago that butterflies haven’t been spotted much this year.

Some chores are not too pleasant. Had to clean out a blocked drain today. It’s amazing what hot water and washing powder can do! Was interested to see a television programme about planning and enforcements in England. The laws seem to be much more strict there than they are here. Why can’t we have the same?

Have to go and send out next year’s car insurance. It’s a maze how many different rates there are and no one tells you unless you ask around. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking your particular make of car will cost the same to insure whatever company you use. You can save hundreds of pounds switching to another broker. You may feel it’s too much hassle, but in the end it’s worth it. Some even do special rates for women drivers. Because they are more careful — fact.

Walkies, rain or shine

The weather being so mild, I have been leaving the back door open for the cats and dog. Went into the kitchen last night to get a drink (of coffee!) and got quite a start when I saw a big fat frog sitting in the dog’s drinking bowl. I suppose one of the cats had chased him up the garden and he decided the safest place to be was in the water!

Managed to get him loose in the garden and hoped he would find his way back to the little pond. I had dug the pond for frogs, but sometimes I wonder was it a wise thing to do as in the spring and summer baby frogs seem to be everywhere, jumping on to you when you are weeding, leaping out from flower beds.

But the worst is when one of the cats catches one and the frog screams. I didn’t know they could scream. It’s a truly horrible sound. Usually, it’s quite easy to rescue a frog from the cat.

Hope the weather keeps warm as there is no way I can afford any oil to put heating on. At least now the evenings are getting dark you can go to bed early with a hot water bottle and read a good book. One of the nice things about living alone is you can do what you want without upsetting anyone.

One of the things I like to do is let the dog sleep on my bed. Some people may think this is unhealthy or wrong, but I don’t see anything wrong in it. It is comforting to know she is there. I would recommend keeping a dog to anyone who lives alone. You have to go walkies rain or shine and that has to be good for you.

Keeping busy

The weather had been lovely for while – nearly a week of sunshine. I was able to walk my 14 year old black labrador on the beach, where she so enjoys going for a swim, every day without being blown away by storms. Very unusual as September is usually a month of storms.

Called to see a friend who is overjoyed at the news she will soon be a grandmother. Her days of peace and quiet are numbered! 

Later in the day attended a ‘planning law’ event which was extremely interesting. It was organised by Friends of the Earth and speakers included barristers, Ombudsmen, planning professionals. The nice thing about it was you could ask any questions about planning and there was an expert to give you answers. The planning laws really need to change here – they are much better in other parts of the UK. I’m very involved in planning issues, belonging to a Residents’ Assocation and Friends of the Earth.

You do these things to try and preserve your heritage. To see beautiful old homes destroyed, reduced to rubble and sometimes ugly modern little houses springing up in their place is not very pleasant. You can’t help wondering if they will still be standing in a hundred years, as the old ones they replaced had been, standing proud and imposing, beautiful to look at. The sad thing is they will never be built again.

Letter from NIE

Well my letter has arrived from NIE instructing me to enter a 14 digit  code into my meter. Electricity has gone up 33.3% which means £2.81 onto a week’s electricity. This may not sound an awful lot, but it’s £11.24 a month, £134.88 a year. Does the state pension increase with the rapidity of fuel, electricity and food costs? No, don’t be silly, of course it doesn’t!

So how do pensioners survive? Although £2.81 a week doesn’t sound too bad, it is when your pension doesn’t increase. You don’t get a pay rise, because you don’t have a job. The job you loved and trained for was taken away when you reached 60.

No time to blog anymore, am off to feed a friend’s five month old foal who has a broken bone in his leg. Hopefully he will mend and be able to canter around the fields with his mum. Will keep you up to date …

First Blog. First entry!

There appear to be many young people – and middle aged people – using blogs, but not many pensioners. So here goes.

Being a pensioner is not a great deal of fun. Mostly you are dismissed as ‘past it’. Having no brain, living in the dark ages, not moving with the times, unable to grasp technology, work the video, understand teenagers.

This is all far from the truth. I must admit some technology is more difficult as you get older (but it is also difficult for some young people), especially as it seems to advance day by day. For example, today I hear that we will soon be able to contact our fridge on the way home from work and ask it what shopping it needs! Well, I have to say I think this is ridiculous. What are we doing to our brains when we can’t shop without asking permission from our fridge?! This is heading for all of us becoming robots.

Already we rely too much on machines. With the economic climate and the credit crunch, how would young people cope with doing washing by hand, going without heating, turning off lights, doing away with convenience foods, no take-aways or new clothes on special occasions? These are things pensioners grew up with and are able to cope with now.

Things are getting tight and pensioners will be able to adjust more easily to the cutbacks that have to be made.

I have an electric card meter in my house to avoid getting a big bill every quarter. It makes you more conscious of how much electricity you are using. However, I think it grossly unfair that because you have a meter your electricity costs more. The cost is due to go up on 1st October, but we are told card holders will get a letter on 24th September with a new number. This will increase your costs. However, this is the 25th September and no letter yet. Apparently these were posted out on 16th September? What I would like to know is if you have to buy another card before 1st October, will you pay the increase immediately?

Think I’ve grumbled enough for today.