The Winter of Discontent #2 Food, energy, transport, jobs, housing etc

[HoGi]

Yes with buttons. I also bought the fleece fitted sheets cos cold sheets are the absolute worst in winter!!

Electric blanket is a game changer for warming up sheets.

We have ours on a smart plug so we can put it on for 10 minutes or so before we get in bed and it's lovely. Feels like getting back into bed after going fir a night time wee or similar

 

[GobShyte64]

Been watching we usa you tubers
They have shortages of certain items over there.
The global supply chain is broken so things imported to USA are slowly down..
Shipping is expensive.
USA postal service making cuts
They have shortages truck drivers and some rising gas prices.
Really hard estimate cost living over there as Costs and taxes can vary by state.

Europe is also struggling with rising energy prices and not enough hgv drivers.
Covid has eaten into company profits.

Today it was announced marks and Spencer is shutting down Bristol City centre store which is opposite a closed Debenham think shuts jan our useless labour mayor has not helped matters.
I prefer city centre to out of town cribbs as short more frequent bus ride and cheaper shops.
I get most of my clothes 2nd hand charity shops and jumble sales these days as hardky any fashion shops fan walk into and try clothes on.
I know there's online but for me the fun of shopping is going in.

Vote leave comprised many parties
They never were the government so their promises were hollow.
I think the mainsteam media are really playing on people's fears over shortages.
Our 2 party politics here offers not much of a choice.

Our supermarket operate a just in time system and our supply chains are pretty good compared most countries.
Retailers buy stock least 6months in advance non foods I think we will start see shortages non food products after Xmas in 2022 because will be global shortages on things lielke electronic or anything from Asia.

I don't think covid pandemics over and the sheer amount short staff industries will pay the price of freedom day and pretending covid pandemics is over when infection rise we already the highest in Europe.

Mainstream media are definitely playing into peoples fears. Thats their clickbait and how they get paid. I saw on The Sun yesterday (I didnt read it, just caught the headline) but they had spoken to the scientist that came up with the oxford vaccine and shes already talking about a new virus from India that would wipe out 50% of the population. Talk about doom & gloom. If the media had their way people would believe everything they saw & read & wouldnt leave the house.

 

[Purrrrrrr]

Electric blanket is a game changer for warming up sheets.

We have ours on a smart plug so we can put it on for 10 minutes or so before we get in bed and it's lovely. Feels like getting back into bed after going fir a night time wee or similar

I have gone from an electric blanket as my luxury item, to the teddy bedding. So warm and soft.
I never thought I would give up my electric blanket

 

[eSsExBiRd]

Dunelm have a fantastic range of teddy bedding, onesies, dressing gowns etc. I want their massive teddy snuggle pillow (it looks like it will cuddle you!)

Matalan had theories on offer with 20% off.

Heard on the radio another 4 has companies will go bust today

 

[Maid22]

Electric blanket is a game changer for warming up sheets.

We have ours on a smart plug so we can put it on for 10 minutes or so before we get in bed and it's lovely. Feels like getting back into bed after going fir a night time wee or similar

Agree, I wouldn't be without my leccy blanket, when it's cold in evenings, Ill pop blanket on and watch TV in bed!

 

[HoGi]

Agree, I wouldn't be without my leccy blanket, when it's cold in evenings, Ill pop blanket on and watch TV in bed!

Me too!

 

[JoeBloggs]

Makes me extremely grateful for my sauna of a house, the top of our stairs is like that feeling of getting off a plane. We have to have a 1tog duvet and fan most of the year, I’ve just put our winter 4.5tog and I still woke up sweating last night. No idea why it is so hot either but our neighbours are the same.

 

[Blond3g1rl]

Guys I’m panicking. My local Starbucks hasn’t had its chocolate delivery so I can’t have my morning mocha

Quoting myself. No chocolate at BP wild bean either this morning!!

 

[WilmaHun]

My other half has got one of them electric heated jackets as he works outside a lot. I wore it last night when we nipped out and oh my god it's nice. Might start wearing it round the house to save putting the heating on.

 

[Doctor_Wibble]

Quoting myself. No chocolate at BP wild bean either this morning!!

It's to make sure that when it does finally arrive, you'll be so desperate and grateful that you will happily pay the new and improved higher price.

The lucky chosen ones will also be invited to subscribe to an exclusive guarantee scheme whereby the next time anything runs out, the company promises not to just say sorry and leave it at that, they will say they are deeply sorry. With real emotion.

 

[that1]

Oh my gosh. You have no idea. The nice people are wonderful. But the nasty ones are awful. As with so much COVID has brought out the worst in people. The demand put upon us is crazy. Burnout is ridiculously high.


There's lots of layers to it. But speaking from personal experience, the part of the job that makes me cry at the end of the day is threatening owners making up lies about me and my colleagues. Happened just last week.

I cry about some of my patients after we loose them, but it's a different emotion.

***
To keep of topic I'm off to buy new bedding, draught excluders and fleece blankets this morning. Oh and probably some new slippers. Mine were lost to the puppy

my vet has been amazing. We adore our puppy but we’ve been to our vets with everything from colitis to vaccines to swallowing objects. Every time its an emergency it feels horrific because we love our dog so much. Vets have helped us when we were having horrible days this year. I’ve always been so grateful for the care and love they’ve given our puppy -but I don’t really feed that back! I guess people are quicker to complain that gush over what a great job you’re doing. Maybe I should be more vocal. But my point is, for every pet owner who yells at you, there are probably a dozen more who are quietly thanking the stars for your work.

I’m also down my second pair of slippers to a puppy!

 

[Tatooine_legend1]

Electric blanket is a game changer for warming up sheets.

We have ours on a smart plug so we can put it on for 10 minutes or so before we get in bed and it's lovely. Feels like getting back into bed after going fir a night time wee or similar

It just makes me realise how fortunate we are to live in this era. I'm 33 and never experienced the hard times that a person the same age as me would have experienced 50 years ago. My dad (75) told me about the family having to wash in the sink or heat up the water and put in a bucket to wash.

My aunt's husband mentioned how he used to often take cold showers. I feel fortunate to have only ever known warm showers and baths. My nan would have washed her clothes with soap and water, scrub them down, then just hang out to dry. Nowadays we have washing machines, dryers, heated dryer, all those fancy detergents etc. I feel sad thinking about how my ancestors lived.

 

[that1]

It appears that most people who become MP’s in the Tory party (although the Labour Party is not immune to this either) have either a silver-spoon background, went to private school, have friends in very high places and have no connection to a world outside of their inner circle. I think the majority of them should never become Members of Parliament, never mind becoming the PM! They simply do not have an idea of how people are forced to live. Forget all of the trotting round nursing homes and council estates for photo opportunities, we can all see through that shite. For the most part, they are patronising and in my opinion, very few have any brains at all. Most of them certainly lack compassion.

Yes, we know there are people who take the piss in life, don’t pay any tax and work on the side of their benefits, but most of them do it to make up the shortfall, to feed their families. It’s the same piss-taking, on a smaller scale, that the wealthy company directors do to avoid paying huge sums of tax. They are able to dress it up better, to make it look as though they are not at fault.

When Tony Blair was PM, he was on his own gravy train. He amassed a wealthy property portfolio, so anyone saying he was a socialist, well, that’s a load of shite. He feathered his own nest and played a blinder really. His Government built very few council houses, yet he seemed to accrue quite a few houses of his own, whilst raking in his salary and enjoying all the benefits of being a PM.

Frankly, they are all as bad as each other. I don’t vote for any of them, they’re all shite. The only one I possibly would vote for is Keir Starmer, or Angela Rayner.

This country is corrupt.

nearly ALL politicians come from a wealthy ( or privileged) background! This isn’t news!

as a profession, a political career is fairly inaccessible to lower echelons of society. One reason being how complex and esoteric it can be. Another being it relies somewhat on who you know, and speaking skills which is fostered better in private education.

at one point (maybe this is still the case) Labour actually had more oxbridge MPs than the Tory party did!

unfortunately, government is run by people who can be bothered to turn up and listen to the complaints of the general population. From local councillors to MPs. It’s boring, tedious and pretty thankless. And I guess if you’re working a 9-5 in a boring job, have to come back to tidy the house and look after the kids - not many people are motivated to do this.

if more of the general population took an interest; turned up to local council meetings, ran for representative roles at a lower level - we’d get better representation at MP level… which would probably mean we’d get better representation at ministerial level. Hell, if more people voted we’d be better off.

but there’s a shocking lack of engagement in politics across the general population which is why we have an elite running the show.

 

[Onecandream]

It just makes me realise how fortunate we are to live in this era. I'm 33 and never experienced the hard times that a person the same age as me would have experienced 50 years ago. My dad (75) told me about the family having to wash in the sink or heat up the water and put in a bucket to wash.

My aunt's husband mentioned how he used to often take cold showers. I feel fortunate to have only ever known warm showers and baths. My nan would have washed her clothes with soap and water, scrub them down, then just hang out to dry. Nowadays we have washing machines, dryers, heated dryer, all those fancy detergents etc. I feel sad thinking about how my ancestors lived.

And they didn’t complain either, just got on with it. We are very lucky now and we mostly don’t appreciate just how much. I love hearing stories from back then. My mum and dad had 3 kids (my older brothers) with no fridge and no washing machine and my brothers were in washable nappies!!

 

[GobShyte64]

It just makes me realise how fortunate we are to live in this era. I'm 33 and never experienced the hard times that a person the same age as me would have experienced 50 years ago. My dad (75) told me about the family having to wash in the sink or heat up the water and put in a bucket to wash.

My aunt's husband mentioned how he used to often take cold showers. I feel fortunate to have only ever known warm showers and baths. My nan would have washed her clothes with soap and water, scrub them down, then just hang out to dry. Nowadays we have washing machines, dryers, heated dryer, all those fancy detergents etc. I feel sad thinking about how my ancestors lived.

That isnt an ancestral thing. People live like that now. People who can't afford their electric - or they'v ran out of emergency and don't get any money for another 2 weeks so have to make do. People's washing machines break and they can't afford a new one so they handwash their clothes and put them on the airer. Or the gas has gone so they can't have a hot bath or shower so boil the kettle a million times to fill a small bath.

 

[emmer_moans]

My other half has got one of them electric heated jackets as he works outside a lot. I wore it last night when we nipped out and oh my god it's nice. Might start wearing it round the house to save putting the heating on.

I have a question about those as I have been intrigued by them in the past, are they washable?

 

[Princess Baskin]

That isnt an ancestral thing. People live like that now. People who can't afford their electric - or they'v ran out of emergency and don't get any money for another 2 weeks so have to make do. People's washing machines break and they can't afford a new one so they handwash their clothes and put them on the airer. Or the gas has gone so they can't have a hot bath or shower so boil the kettle a million times to fill a small bath.

Those hardships are still felt today unfortunately by many.

It is starting to appear in the press that the base rate is expected to be increased between December and next August putting it up from 0.1% to 0.75%.

Does this worry anyone ontop of everything else that is happening?

 

[ClockworkDolly]

nearly ALL politicians come from a wealthy ( or privileged) background! This isn’t news!

as a profession, a political career is fairly inaccessible to lower echelons of society. One reason being how complex and esoteric it can be. Another being it relies somewhat on who you know, and speaking skills which is fostered better in private education.

at one point (maybe this is still the case) Labour actually had more oxbridge MPs than the Tory party did!

unfortunately, government is run by people who can be bothered to turn up and listen to the complaints of the general population. From local councillors to MPs. It’s boring, tedious and pretty thankless. And I guess if you’re working a 9-5 in a boring job, have to come back to tidy the house and look after the kids - not many people are motivated to do this.

if more of the general population took an interest; turned up to local council meetings, ran for representative roles at a lower level - we’d get better representation at MP level… which would probably mean we’d get better representation at ministerial level. Hell, if more people voted we’d be better off.

but there’s a shocking lack of engagement in politics across the general population which is why we have an elite running the show.

I didn’t say it was news. It was my opinion.

 

[Misssj80]

That isnt an ancestral thing. People live like that now. People who can't afford their electric - or they'v ran out of emergency and don't get any money for another 2 weeks so have to make do. People's washing machines break and they can't afford a new one so they handwash their clothes and put them on the airer. Or the gas has gone so they can't have a hot bath or shower so boil the kettle a million times to fill a small bath.

Yes my washing machine broke this year, luckily in the summer months so could hand wash and then peg out, I couldn't afford to buy one straight away so we had 2 months of hand washing.

 

[GobShyte64]

Yes my washing machine broke this year, luckily in the summer months so could hand wash and then peg out, I couldn't afford to buy one straight away so we had 2 months of hand washing.

My tumble dryer broke a few winters ago. I had just moved into my house. I didnt realise how much I relied on my dryer until it broke. Clothes took 3 days to dry on the airer with rads on in the house. 3 days! I didn't have the money to buy a new one and didnt want to risk buying a 2nd hand one incase that broke not long after so had to save. Took ages and it felt like ages too!