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 …