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... the sky is baby blue, and the just-unfurling leaves ...
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derbyshiredowser



Joined: 11 Feb 2007
Posts: 980
Location: derbyshire
PostPosted: Fri Feb 28, 20 5:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

gregotyn wrote:
as I call it a "wetting" rain-the sort you get soaked in, but can be outside and say "its not too bad".


Over here when we get the rain like that we call it Welsh rain having experienced it many times over the past 60 odd years camping. Hope the kindling machining goes well again, a new phase in your endeavours.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Sat Feb 29, 20 8:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

We had the same here yesterday. Unfortunately I only had a fleece, as it didn't look too bad when I went out and I thought I wouldn't be out very much. Then I had to do a double pick up for food bank at the supermarket so got rather damp. However, we got a lot of fruit and veg for the food bank, so all our clients good a good helping of healthy food this week. Just as well we had plenty as we had 19 groups ranging from quite large families to singles.

Coming home, the roads were all awash. Husband and son did some work in the woods, but gave up and were home before me as it was wet and windy, so not really safe.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45380
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sat Feb 29, 20 9:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

in one of the richest countries in the world just your small patch had about 50? folk needing a food parcel to eat next week?

iirc the food bank charities are banned from talking about the situation meaningfully, the oligarch owned media play the cosy charity theme a little, blame the victims a lot and never mention the realities of why and how this has developed into a major cottage industry since 2010.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Sat Feb 29, 20 10:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

And guess what there was no snow when I got home, but I could see where it had been and was very white on the mountain tops, but our council boys do the roads well here-called overtime!

The kindling people are just starting lambing, so the kindling is taking second place for the farmer and his wife. I am going up there when I have finished here to do the netting up on my own if no one is there to help. My numbers are small compared to their sales; they have 2 outlets who in the "fire time" at Christmas deliver extra 600 nets to each of 3 customers in a week, apart from those who only take 50 at a time. It doesn't do the job as I did-all almost identical nets and hand placed in a net. These fall into the net and when it is full you turn the net holder round, and as the sticks fall into the empty net you take the full net, tie it off and put on the pallet of full nets and the next net is now ready to take off, hey presto an hour later and you have a 100 or so nets, replace the pallet and off you go again. My experience is to feed logs in, otherwise I would get tied in knots-an age thing!

The UK. may well be one of the richest countries in the world, dpack. but the real wealth is concentrated in a very small number of hands. I am not, by any standards, rich, but I have worked one way or another for money, from selling pansy plants and manure as a pre-school boy to firewood now, and never gambled. I see me as doing ok, but I can't justify affording a new car! I guess the 1960's is where it all started from the "gang" who had gone through the war-where austerity was the norm-and progressed to the 60's where it all took off with higher wages, rock and roll and discos! I guess the mini car was the start of mobility for many. My Dad bought a Ford popular, followed by a new Standard 8-the same engine as in the 3 cylinder Massey Fergusson tractor, one of which I have-full circle for me!

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 20 8:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Not quite sure if it was quite as many as 50 Dpack, as there were a number of singles. We had one man who said he wouldn't have come except for his child and the animals, so he is definitely not one who 'expects'. We do get the odd one or two, but the vast majority do only come to us if they are in dire straits, including some of our 'regulars'. We, like most food banks, will only give them parcels for 3 weeks running unless we are asked to do otherwise by a social worker or other responsible person referring them, so they don't get dependant on us. Of course with the roll out of Universal Credit, people are having to wait at least 5 weeks for money, and if they had no savings, anything they did have will have gone on rent, electricity and paying for a phone or other way to contact the Job Centre or DWP or they can't get anything.

Gregotyn, I am comfortably off too, but it was through work like you, although I didn't start until I left school at 18. I think the inequalities started in the 1980s with Thatchers ideas. Hopefully in the future history will see her and her followers for what they were and are.

Kindling machines are pretty good, but you have to start with lengths of timber, so no good for us. Most of ours is hardwood too, which isn't so good, although it might be a use for our small amount of 'must be useful for something' wood that is too large for stakes and too small for charcoal, if we could find a way to cut and split it efficiently.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45380
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 20 1:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

inequality did not start with thatcher, here was a slight levelling up with the 1948 education act and the 1947 national health one.
from around the mid 19th C there were a few things that added to the "democratic " franchise and a few that prevented the worst excesses of privilege over its subjects .
granted most of the small improvements made over a couple of hundred years were targets of thatchers crew although their primary role was to ensure a population compliant enough to allow their country to be used as a launch platform for the US nukes to keep ww3 mostly in europe.

brideshead vs when the boat comes in
queenie and edmund and baldrick
etc

i went for a few "fictional" descriptions for historical ones try booth for a sniff of victorian london or have a look at a country church for lord and lady wotsits fancy carved stone memorial in the church and the lumpy bit outside with no grave markers of any sort.
etc

for proper inequality compare say harewood house with a jamaican slave barracks or even compare the family rooms to the servants rooms.
compare the lifestyle of the "Dark Knights" of Glamorgan and the miners of the valleys or metal refiners of the port towns.
compare the life style of a fitz and a foundling

for more contemporary stuff the works of anthony sampson give one part of the story over decades which complements assorted reports on the conditions of those who do not run britain.

global data tweaked and presented rather tidily.

twfcitw gets the prize again but the ones that are most equal are still not equal and the inequality is more evenly spread in some than others and the split can give very different levels of "wealth" and/or inequality in different places within a country or even within a city.
it is a fairly crude measure but useful for comparing places and posing further questions.
such as how does gdp vs income spread by country look as well as the gdp itself.

i have a simple metric, is a family at a uk food bank any different economically to a family at any other NGO hand out cos they have no food?
are the reasons for them being there deliberate by design or by deliberate omission of mitigations?

ditto for all the other parameters rather than the simple one of have they got the next few meals?

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Mon Mar 02, 20 8:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I know that inequality was far worse in the past, and because I live in the south of England, conditions are better here than in some other parts of the country, but we are definitely going backwards as far as that is concerned.

I was probably in the most privileged generation as I was born after the 1947-9 acts which gave us free education, including higher education, and free healthcare when it was all fairly new. My parents were born before that, and my father didn't get the chance to go to University because his parents couldn't afford for him to go to grammar school in spite of a partial scholarship. He and my grandfather also belonged to a friendly society so that if they or their family became ill, there was support. Our son didn't get free higher education, but because all our family had always been in work, and had done quite well with education, mainly day release and night school, and hard work, we were able to support him through. He also worked in countryside work through his college years on work experience, voluntary, and then part time, so got a good all round education, although he too worked for it.

Many people aren't a lucky; where they live, using opportunities given, not being able to get work, sickness etc. and they are the ones that need the help now. They need help and encouragement and opportunity, not either being left to sink or being penalised for being sick, lacking the right sort of intelligence, and being told it is all their fault. The gap between rich and poor has been widening, and Thatchers 'there is no such thing as community' and her other measures was certainly a major turning point in things.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Tue Mar 03, 20 7:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

The weather was really lovely yesterday, and when I went out after dark the stars were bright and clear.

Had a problem with one of the other woodland owners claiming they had a right to go through our gate into the other woods, but they were wrong as they were actually on our land at the time, and we are pretty sure their right of access is only to the fence line along the general ride anyway, but investigating. Annoying and has upset us rather as we don't need more access to that part of the wood as we don't want trespassers, and if they are seen then it will be 'we didn't know it was private' from people coming the other way.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Tue Mar 03, 20 3:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

In many ways Thatcher was there saying that we should all be working-but she was not giving things away to help the "people", she was only giving away to get the already haves more, so they would employ more of the "have nots"- people on a poor wage. However "right" I am, it is no where near Mrs T. I have worked one way or another since I left college. I managed to get a job up here for 20 years, (minus one week which cost a whole years worth of redundancy), and that put me on my feet as the shop I had in a lovely little village would not keep me. I had redundancy from there and was glad I had not used the firewood money as it eeked the dole out well and paid off my mortgage. It took a year to get back into employment which was good as I sorted a lot of my house out at the time, so some good came out of the redundancy. I moved to the small-holding and I have been in my current job for some time and happily so, but it is getting harder, I was a late '47 baby so I am getting on a bit now.

I am still on the sticks at the friend's place with the tractor driven crosscut saw and a "Kindlet" stick chopper, lots of fun. I didn't notice that it was hard work. As the other partner is now lambing, he is glad I can go there as he doesn't want to commit too much time to firewood when there is a ewe lambing. He has a typical old hill farm. The other man who is with him is a lad I knew from his childhood days; he also has ground and 350 ewes to lamb starting soon, so I will be on the kindling machine and netting in a serious way, working with the wife of the farmer in the afternoons. They have 3 orders of 300 nets in the pipeline, and I am hoping I will be there to assist when they need another pair of hands!

You would think other woodland users would know whose is whose in the area MR. Once someone sees a worn area or track they are on it as fast as a rat up a drain! You need more signs around and some maps on posts to show where they must not tread!-best of luck with that.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45380
Location: yes
PostPosted: Tue Mar 03, 20 7:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

thatcher was fronting kleptocrats and those who would use your house as a target to distract from one in utah.
she was put in power by dark forces she did not fully understand until after the 79 election and was then in it up to her scrawny neck.
it is only thanks to lt col petrov i can type this.

she, her backers and her chums were/are vile.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Wed Mar 04, 20 7:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Glad you are getting on well with the log nets Gregotyn; a lot easier than by hand, but I hope they are going to pay you in money or log nets for yourself for all your work. If they have orders for 600 and are in the throes of lambing, they will not be able to do without you.

Husband got made redundant when he was 51, and although he got money for it, which we used to set up the business, it affected him rather badly. He had never been out of work since 15, and always with the civil service, so had no experience of looking for another job. Others were in the same position so not a lot for him. Luckily we are just keeping the business going, but we were hoping to retire at some point, and now can't.

I regret to say that I have very little good to say about Thatcher either. She started all this sorry mess.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Thu Mar 05, 20 4:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Yes they are selling well, in spite of not being bone dry. I am not so worried about the money I need nets of wood, which is what is happening thank goodness. I have really enjoyed doing the work, not hard, and although I thought I would be tired, I wasn't, so happy about that. My customer has taken to them too. They have the same amount in them as the previous nets of mine, but are random in the much larger net, so look more but are not. They don't need any more for the weekend and as I am away, that is good news! I have a small stock at home "in case" when I get home on Sunday. I don't want money-just nets of wood is all I need.
It appears that my Dewalt saw bearings are not going to free themselves in the solution I have put them in, and worse my man who tried to get some for me says that size is no longer available which I find surprising, never mind for now. I will go to our local Bearing man shop and see if it is possible. If not I will surf the net as they tell me to do but not sure quite what they mean-I'll get some tuition from a librarian!
I am away tomorrow for the weekend at my Bridgnorth friends' home. I don't think there is anything special happening, as they never tell me when their birthday's are; I tend to do them well at Christmas and ignore b'days as they would have to remind me! I am lucky in that I can afford to do what I want and retire anytime. What is annoying is that I can retire, but my rates areĀ£1700 per annum or 8 week's pension!

See you all next week!

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Fri Mar 06, 20 7:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Good thing your outlets are happy with the new nets. Surfing the net means looking for what you want. You put the name of the part you want in the search engine and it comes up with suppliers if you are lucky. The problem I find is getting the right combination of words to get the right thing sometimes, but bearings for a DeWalt chainsaw quoting the model number should find them. Have a nice weekend.

cassandra



Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia
PostPosted: Sun Mar 08, 20 7:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Mistress Rose wrote:


Cassandra, your Greens seem to be on the right track. Sadly sometimes they seem to see one side of a picture and don't look at the whole picture, as with many politicians. This can mean that they don't take into consideration the practicalities of working the land in whatever form it takes.



We have similar issues here with the vegans trying to dictate rural policy. As I have pointed out on numerous occasions farming without animal waste is counterproductive but they buy into the false science of the movement. That's basically why I have rejoined. We need to remind ourselves that if we want representation we need to make an effort to understand the practicalities of farming and soil conservation. My policy suggestion is that we propose linking Regenerative farming to drought recovery funding and incrementally make drought relief dependent on progress toward more sustainable farming measures (not to mention mapping marginal farming district which are mostly Crown Land leases and stopping farming in areas where it causes more problems than is solves.

It's been a busy week for me, what with driving call outs at the last minute which get me home at 7pm, phone calls from my job service provider to announce they have moved to a town which does not have Centrelink (social security) and won't be visiting our district for three months because apparently someone in Perth got us confused with the Oatlands in NSW and decided we were a fire-effected area. As a result I now have to find and print out the relevant form, get it signed, take it to Sorell for their records and then deliver it to Centrelink in a totally different town in the opposite direction. I did as him if he could post the form to me but that was apparently too hard.

On the subject of rain, we had a recent forecast that had one of my tame farmers dancing with glee. As it turned out it only delivered 35mm but that filled my tanks, and as it was a follow-up also moistened the ground a bit deeper than before. Not a drought breaker, but at least they will enjoy some pasture growth before winter.

The Hall had its market today which had its usual dramas, and was followed by the Meeting (which has been rescheduled to the same day to minimise madam's travelling and time constraints). Fortunately the Market Related dramas resulted in her early departure so we were able to greet a new member (who has missed the shouting), and get through considerable business in very short order indeed. The new member brings three years experience with the Red Cross in Cambodia so is a very valuable addition who might be able to set up a multicultural group for all our Asian Brides.

We were also visited by the Chief of Staff of our Local Federal Member who I treated to a tour of the Hall, a presentation of our improved governance, a description of our wish list and who I persuaded to provide a letter of recommendation. In addition the chap who was in charge of lighting at Sydney Opera House who is also married to a friend of mine, popped in and has offered to do our lighting pro-bono (well, we still have to pay for the materials).

We have also paid all our bills, leaving us with a bank balance that will be more than sufficient to address our April accounts with change left over, and that is before we count the Raffle money.

So the ocean liner is slowly but steadily heading in the right direction. And about time too. There has been general agreement to start lobbying our Treasurer to return to her elected duties which has my full support. I will teach her the methods and explain the necessity for record keeping and I am sure her friend (our new member) will encourage her to come on board.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Sun Mar 08, 20 8:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Even in the UK dry farming methods are being used rather more. I am not sure what the long term results will be, but not really something completely new as I learnt about them in geography at school, and husband in rural science, way back in the 1960s. It certainly makes sense to take very marginal land out of farming unless the stock levels can be reduced to make it viable without being unprofitable. When I told our local Green candidate that the wood used for paper pulp was grown specially for that, and should be counted as a crop, he said sadly 'You do try to do the right thing!' Perhaps more of them need to learn more about real life.

It seems really stupid that your Centrelink can't accept either letters or scanned if necessary e-mails. It must cost a lot to do the travelling to say nothing of the fuel it wastes.

Glad you had some rain. We have just had too much this winter. We have no floods round us, but it is awful trying to go anywhere off road, and even some local roads are flooded with winterbournes. (Also called lavants round here.)

It is a pity that Madam hasn't retired to here regular home, but at least you seem to be working round her and getting other members of the committee to understand their responsibilities before they end up getting prosecuted. Well done with getting the lighting man on board; it will make it a much sought after hall for performances by the sound of it.

We went to a concert on Friday evening and had a great time. Fishermans Friends, who mainly sing shanties. A really good performance and we knew most of the songs in the first half so were able to join in. The claim to have made Sloop John B famous, but that was a bit tongue in cheek. It can sound amazing with the right acoustics and a good lot of singers, and their version was pretty good.

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