Ideas please, furious with myself.

That makes my blood boil. ..... There should be even more help for retired people who can't afford to heat their homes.

 

How about this Silu, if you can manage to attach it of course.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tobar-Keyfinder-Keyring-Whistle-Activated/dp/B000246JIQ

Now , you're going to tell me you can't whistle!

 

not a problem. Read the reviews on your suggestion! not exactly encouraging as many folk had problems with the devise beeping at the slightest noise. Might try 1 and attach it to my specs rather than the secateurs. Should be an "interesting" look! Thanks Sheal

 

I find that deeply saddening if unaffordable heating costs are to blame i would be inviting her into my home to keep warm and also sitting in her greenhouse with her on good days x
Im forever loosing things,gloves,tools etc ...distraction is usually the cause or thats what i tell myself x

 

It's only a couple of pounds so probably worth a try. Attaching it to your specs could make things a little lop sided.

 

I'm with you on taxes, but "Dickensian working conditions"? Is that the Panoraam (I think?) documentary about a guy who worked there undercover who was stressed out as a result?

 

Panorama, Channel4 and broadsheet coverage all evidencing unacceptable (in my books anyway) working conditions.

 

I saw the panorama program. It said the undercover reporter was knacked / stressed etc. working there

They put a mileage-recorder on him and said he walked 10 miles in a 10 hours shift.

My understanding was that the 10 hour shift was not the norm, and I certainly would not like to walk 10 miles in a shift - but walking miles is what picking goods entails, so no point applying from that job unless you are fit, or want to get fit and not pay gym membership fees!!

The programme starting by showing the bloke fell running - I took from that that he was fit, although they then showed his feet with significant blisters after a week or so's work - how does that compute? I suspect that the fell running shot was just a sham - I don't remember the programme actually saying that the bloke was a keen athlete - if it had done I would have attached much more significance to the allegations that they then made about exhaustion / stress)

So assuming someone is capable of walking a decent distance, why did the bloke say he had to run between picks as he couldn't achieve his target?. Surely 10 miles in a 10 hour shift is 1 mph - which is trivial for walking speed, I would have thought 4 mph would be reasonable to expect for someone doing Picking work. Even allowing for time to stop, scan the barcode, and put the item in your trolley I found it hard to imagine that running would be required.

So I was left with the opinion that it was a very one-sided program (there was some discussion with other employees who said they felt stressed - although it wouldn't be hard to find a few using selective editing), quite possibly jumping on the "not paying taxes" bandwagon making it easy for some one sided reporting to be easily considered as "accurate" and get a decent audience rating. Heck! I watched it!

I have absolutely no knowledge of the conditions there, and I have not ready anything in papers etc., only seen the TV documentary, so just stating my opinion based on that: I can't see how averaging 1 mph picking goods can he hard to achieve, or unreasonable to expect.

 

10 miles per day @ one mile an hour average

Goodness, gracious FFS, one mile per hour average? That's less than dog walking/mobility scooter speed.

 

I agree with all you say Shiney - including not being a lover / defender of Amazon's business practices.