Latest Moan From You and Me 2024

I also worked very long hours, for many many years, but I didn't earn enough to buy loads of unnecessary items. Chance would be a fine thing! I know I'm lucky in being able to buy my first property, having worked very hard for it, but I certainly didn't have spare money. I had to be very careful with my money, and often didn't have a lot for food each week, to ensure I could pay for my mortgage and bills.
My parents were war generation, so I grew up with the whole recycle and re use way of life too. I've never been a big spender in any way, and I'm still carreful with what I do. My car was a big expense, and was a treat to myself, as I was also lucky enough to inherit from my parents. I still see that as their money, not mine though.
There are always scroungers too, and people like the ones I mentioned in that link, but the vast majority of people aren't like that IMO. There are always extremes, in every part of life.

 

Working long hours is a way of surviving for some of the low paid.
I find that wrong when you get unions discussing their members doing 4 day weeks.

If that had happened in places where I used to work it would just mean there would be more overtime available.

 

Gosh, no, I don't dream of anything like an ideal world...I'm not that dim or naive I do think that people under-estimate the power of advertising and the Press and media, though. We'd like to think that we make our own decisions, but the manipulation practised in the West is subtle and very effective at keeping a few people obscenely rich and causing an ever-increasing number to be hovering around the bread-line.
It's true that we can express our opinions, but does it actually change anything? Apparently, in Switzerland a lot of important decisions are put to a referendum. That seems fair.

 

@simone_in_wiltshire, although we appear to have freedom, I think it is a fragile illusion. We only have it as long as what we "choose" to do keeps the wealthy elite at the top. Although we have what looks like free and fair elections, because the choice of who we can vote between is so skewed, it isn't really like that. You only have to look at Starmer and Reeves being welcomed into the Davos set to see that. Although it looks like we have a free press, again it is under elite control. I've been reading about how the BBC was the instigator of the TNI (Trusted News Initiative) just before Covid hit (conveniently) which drew in other world news outlets, Silicon Valley, and, therefore the US military, to make sure the world moved in lockstep and anything not propagating the official narrative was silenced, removed, and labelled as misinformation. It is all very chilling. Yes, not as bad yet as you experienced, but certainly we are on that trajectory ... and the digital age has made it a lot simpler for a very few to wield enormous control.

 

Went out driving yesturday and had to drive down a road which school children use to walk to school, well, i'm amazed at how many children don't look and just step out into the road to overtake slow persons walking on the pavement! good job i drive to the condisions

 

They never seen to teach kids road safety, it seems that is everyone else's problem.
Don't mention when they get a bike.

 

Just been doing a bit of traffic watching (i know it's a sad life but some one has to do it)
2 Quad bikes not legal for road use
2 Tractors + trailars with loads that are not roped/straped so insure with bales that could weigh 1/2 ton each
Same tractors + trailars with no working brakes on the trailars as they have not connected the oil pipe for the brakes but they did conecte the cable for the lights
9 moblies to one ears when driving

All in a hour of watching, i think the standrad of driving is bad in todays world

 

Just on a 10 mile trip to my sisters there are two separate instances where straw bales have come off and smashed into hedgerows.
Straw everywhere, luckily in both cases it appear they went left into the hedge and not right into on coming traffic.

 

Gravity straps are no good at holding on bales

 

Are they like sky hooks?

 

Yes, but different

 

I just had a walk across the fields close to home, and this is what I came across!!





Moan, moan!!

 

Not too far from where I grew up! I think the sweetie factory's still there isn't it? Back of Hillsborough leisure centre? I think it's owned by Cadbury's now.

I bet you remember the smell in town when either Wards or Stones was brewing - one each side of town so you got the whiff whichever direction the wind was from.

 

Ah,I haven’t been round that way for at least fifty years. Somehow I thought the factory had closed, but maybe not.

Yes, the brewery smell was fairly strong. I think the Wards brewery buildings became flats? And as for the Stones brewery…