Did I Notice the Budget...?

There was a budget today.  I ignored it.  Cheering all around, not because I ignored the budget, cheering from all on her side, no cheering from those who oppose her.  Tomorrow we will know the actual truth of what she has proposed.  

I Forgot a Title...

Yesterday, though I did not notice, the multi-millionaire man Hunt, known by some as a famous mispronunciation, announced proudly a Budget for the rich.  As always with Budgets I ignore them on the day and await the other side revealing what has actually been announced.  So it is today.  The right-wing media speak of 'growth,' while the 'other side,' not always one party, speak of tax cuts for Hunt's rich friends, like himself, and nothing for the rest.  It may, they say, be a Budget ready to be fixed just in time for the next election.  Whatever, prices will continue to rise, Brexit will continue to harm the nation, the Cabinet millionaires will continue to gain in wealth, wherever it is hidden, and you and me will get little or nothing from the Budget.  Less than two years for this bunch of gangsters to line their pockets, how much more can they get? 

I was interested in the idea of forcing over 50s back to work.  Clearly, a millionaire sitting in a warm office surrounded by well paid lackeys might consider this a good idea.  A man who has dug up roads, fixed railway lines, shoved post through your door, or a woman who has walked miles around a hospital, taught kids, or taken you cash at a checkout may all feel that this is once again the Masters telling the Serfs what to do.  As a serf I know what I would tell these Masters what they can do, and indeed I may help them to do it!  I hope the nation responds accordingly.

So I filled the kettle, I placed it on the power, and went back to playing Solitaire work.  It was several minutes later when I realised I had once again forgotten to press down the 'On' switch!  This has now become commonplace in here.  Also common is the heating the water, filling the mug, sitting down and, several minutes later, wondering why my tea is still standing over there!  

This morning the milk turned sour as I put water (which I had remembered to boil) into the mug.  Thus, much against my tired body's wishes, I trudged up to the shop.  Milk, bread, and with the aid of two vouchers 'Wooster Sauce (home brand) and Organic Oats!  As I left the shop I remembered I had forgotten to take the vouchers out of my pocket and use them as I paid!  The thought had crossed my mind as I placed things in the bag but I still forgot.  Much of this past few weeks has seen me sitting here trying to remember things I must do.  Every so often the cloud clears to allow me to return emails, send off information, contact family, or...what was it again?

I have become used to switching screens on the laptop before hesitating while attempting to remember why I did so.  I am also used to walking through the room and asking, "Why am I here?"

It is common to go through there and do something only to return having not done the actual thing I went through for!   

I have trouble remembering names, though this has always been in this family a bit of a problem.  Age has made this worse and much time is spent staring at a mental image of a face wondering what the name is.  Forgetting appears to have become a full time lifestyle these days, and I would go into this fascinating subject but I have forgotten all the other instances of forgetting.  And forgetting to remember the things you forgot is a sign of forgetting professionalism, don't you think...?

Thursday Jabs

 

 

I received a letter a while back informing me of the latest jab for old people those in their prime.  I laid it aside as you do.  Then there came an email with the same offer.  Then, having ignored the previous mailings I received another letter and email.  I looked into this jab business, being caring about such things.  I went through the Booking procedure, then looked for a nearby jab centre.  Horrified I found there was one in a town 6 miles south, and one in a town 6 miles north!  Our town, the biggest and most important had only a visiting bus and that on a Sunday way down at the 'Braintree Village Shopping Centre.'

I chucked it.  

Later, much later, speaking to the wise elders at the village gate, I was instructed to seek further, as pharmacies were doing this also.  More letters ordering old prime people to the jab house arrived.  This time I obeyed and searched for Pharmacies local.  One up the road, of which I am not keen, was very busy, so I searched for a better place.  I found the place I got the last jab was free, booked myself in, and today I wandered in the rain down to their place, pressed the button on the locked door, grunted in the intercom (why have this if she did not know who was there), entered without being asked what I wanted, was greeted by a young woman, gave my age, received disbelieving looks, told the truth, and was taken through to the nurse.  This delightful black nurse, full of life and thoroughly enjoying stabbing people she said, jabbed me for the Pfitzner and then the Flu jab.  

In spite of warnings I have felt no noticeable difference since then.  There again, as I am always suffering the things they say occur after a jab I am unlikely to notice anyway.  So I am satisfied with the operation.  So simple in spite of what others go through, and not just because of Covid.  I have a friend who's mother is dying, possibly before Christmas.  His wife's mother may have gone before then, a cousin has terminal sickness also, a brother seriously depressed, and his church has several who may not last 6 months.  Another long time friend has just begun dialysis.  

I am grateful for my limited health problems.

That said, I have been knackered all week.  I took too much out of myself over the weekend and have not stopped long enough since.  At least tomorrow means nothing more than a walk, if I feel like it, to Sainburys.  Then it is sort out the Xmas stuff that has been left all week.  Time to pack and send off I say, before another post strike and before I run out of cash.  Then I plan the online gifts and sort the cards which are ready and waiting.

Good job I got a warning of a 10% rise in my pension.

The Chancellor announced his budget today, I did not bother to listen, already it has been torn apart, or praised to the heights.  As usual after a budget.  The very rich, such as Hunt and Sunak and his wife, are not paying much more, and the banks have saved money in a small move, hidden under everything else.

I am too tired to care tonight.   All will be well.

 

Crash Dive!

aljazeera

You may have noticed movement in the earths superstructure lately.  This was caused by Liz Truss (the Prime Minister no less, stop laughing at the back) who encouraged her Chancellor to drive the nation over the cliff.  It seems Brexit was not enough, we now need to line the pockets of the rich by stealing from the poor.  The usual, but not so bare-faced, Tory approach.  The intention is to 'Drive Growth.'   She did this so well that yesterday, in an unexpected move, the Bank of England stepped in (at £60 Billion or so) to stop all the Pension funds running out of cash and destroying the lives of millions.  The response from the leader, who hid for several days, was "No bother."

Now, she is connected to many organisations based in 'Tufton Street.'  These are the people who drove Brexit, 'Leave.EU,' 'Taxpayers Alliance,' and 'IEA,' all companies of sorts who do not reveal who pays their wages.  This is easy however, it is US billionaires and their friends, those who pushed for Brexit, and made millions, and push now for deregulation of everything, no matter the cost, so they can make more millions.  Liz receives money from most of the backers.  

There is little surprise in these moves, they have been coming, but few expected them to actually happen.  Now the UK is seen worldwide as a 'Basket case,' and not just in the UK.  Corruption at the top is driving this.  Intelligent thought, care for those suffering, and taking responsibility are not on the agenda.  'I'm all right Jack,' however is.  

 

Victorian Budget and Win 11

Windows 11 is sitting on my 'Upgrade' awaiting introduction.  I am not sure if I ought to go ahead with this, I am awaiting news of those who have downloaded it already and review their problems, and there will certainly be problems here.  

TechRadar has already offered help for those who have found difficulties.  It looks a good site for such problems.  There are many other similar sites out there, some however have too many adverts, some seek money, some are dodgy.  

My intention is to wait a bit, see how many folk suffer, and then install.  I suspect this will take all day to finish and then another day restore the lost items and working out what has gone missing.  Normal Microsoft work then? 

I had a bath the other day, and this was a mistake.  You see I normally shower but sitting in the bath I was able to scan around and in this manner noticed all the dirt that has accumulated since I last had a proper clean of this place.  It was not attractive.  So Monday saw me scrub the er, scum, from all around, and then plan to replace the filthy seal which has become somewhat degraded (somewhat!).

However, luck was with me and my dinner made me nauseous so I was forced to stop work.

Overcoming this took until the next day when I went over to the Garden Cafe to meet an old friend, I only have 'old friends' these days, for coffee.  There we did the honourable thing and took all the people we know apart, put the world to rights, and risked frostbite sitting in the gardens.  

To warm up we wandered and we cheerily greeted a volunteer gardener inside a large bush of some sort as we passed, his muffled answer was not quite so cheery, and wandered about the gardens enjoying the fruits of their labours.  We have rarely met, she has been making use of the new freedoms, in spite of Covid still existing, to meet all her old friends, and she has many!  When we worked at the museum have the day was taken up by visits of her old boyfriends!   It was nice to get out for a while.

 

Sunak

     

This Billionaire Sunak was informing the House of how to increase the nations wealth today.  I did not look in.  Too much, far too much, has already been leaked to his friendly media, and they will always make it look good so I have a good idea of what would be said.  Tomorrow, once the clever people have looked it over, we will find out exactly how Sunak has avoided once again taxing his wife's £1.3 Billion company in which he has a share, yet increased charges for everybody else, especially the poorest.  I have realised I no longer require to seek information on Victorian life by researching the books on my shelf, I just need to look at what Boris and his cabal are saying and there it is right in front of me.

 

 

James Cleverly MP.

BWT

This is James Cleverly the local Member for Parliament.  He is a Conservative and recently like all members received a substantial increase in his MP's salary worth around £7000 a year to him.  This means he is now paid about £70,000 a year.  On top of this he remains a member of the London Assembly (or council if you like) for a period earning another £18,000 I think it is for this.  James remains a Major in the Territorial Army (or Reserves as the Conservative government now call it) an organisation he joined after injury forced him out of the regular army. Pay rates for such an officer are around £124 a day (daily rate is normal here) with occasional 'bounties of around a thousand.
As an MP he will be able to claim enormous expenses for almost everything work related, has a 'card' that enables this at good rates, and various subsidised 'tea rooms' in the House of Commons to ease his working day.  James Cleverly will also come into contact with a great many people seeking his advice, some of which may well offer legitimate payment and others may lead to other advantages.  
Nothing wrong, criminal or illegal as far as can be told so far.  Nothing indicates a man who does anything but works hard for his income, a good income and lifestyle which he and his family no doubt enjoy.
My one problem is that recently the Conservative government, the one that allows big business to avoid tax (George Osborne's family firm paid him a bonus of £1500 after avoiding corporation tax for ten years while paying no tax on millions of profits!  He is the Chancellor, the governments money man!), this government that encourages tax dodging has cut benefits for the disabled by £30 a week!
James Cleverly, the man doing so well himself, voted in support of this cut!
How can well paid satisfied members of the House vote to cut benefits from the weakest while doing nicely themselves I ask?  Many of those dependent on vehicles have lost their support and are now trapped in their houses, others are losing equipment that keeps them alive, others suffer everyday losses re foodstuffs and daily requirements.
James Cleverly appears to support this attack on the poorest and it does not sit well with many of us.

    
This morning we awake to the ceaseless chatter re the budget.  George Osborne will start spewing forth his budget this afternoon and we all know what it will say.  For days we have heard it will cut £4 Billion from somewhere and no increase on Beer duty, at least that appears to be the main two topics.  What happened to keeping such things quiet until the day?  One thing we all know is that the rich will not be stopped avoiding tax, this has been ensured by the appointment to the top ranks at the Tax Office of three men famous for advising big companies on tax avoidance.  The cutting of thousands more tax jobs will also follow! 
I will ignore all this.  Each budget day the government party tell us how wonderful this is, the opposition tell us how awful, the facts we discover arrive the next day once various 'experts' (and there are always 'experts' on hand to explain) have studied the results of the changes.  Rarely is it good news.  Only the top elite will benefit once again and the rest will carry the burden.  That's how it is.

Something Happened Today....

....but I am not sure what it was.  I think it may have been what they call'The Budget.'  This is a time when the man responsible for the nations money stands up in the House of Commons and lies in his teeth.  After his long speech, Gladstone's could take over four hours back in the day, the leader of the opposition gets to his feet and offers quotes written out the night before by his friends, even if they don't fit.  They usually do however as most replies to such speeches contain similar words to previous replies, just as most budget speeches are the usual half truths and lies as before.  Most folks stay as they are, some lose a bit, others gain a bit, but the same amount of cash is pushed backwards and forwards and the poorest stay poor, the rich keep their lolly.  Usually these little talks can sound so uplifting, and much cheering from the government back benches ensues.   However within 24 hours more alert folk have exposed the lies, the weaknesses and the dubious nature of what has been offered.  Most of us remain as we were, except of course when it is the last budget before an election, then the chancellor is full of tax cuts, benefit hikes, and anything else he thinks will get him most votes.  With George and his dim PM Dave I doubt they will have the depth of foresight to offer what is required there however.

I myself spent some time attempting to find the 15th century, it appears to have gone missing.  While I can find info regarding individuals it will not connect to the houses I am interested in, which is annoying.  However incidentally I did find a woman living in this house in 1926 who made corsets!  By 1933 a different man was resident and he had been replaced in 1937 by a doctor.  In those days I suspect the house would have offered decent living accommodation plus room for a surgery, one that was paid cash for in those days!  Old medical joke, 
"What did you operate on Jones for?"  
"£100."  
"No, I mean what had he got?" 
"£100."  
The Tories would that day back!
The doctor who used this place as a surgery lost  his father during the war, probably from old age, and he must have done well for himself to be living round the corner in a 'big hoose!'  Probably another successful doctor I imagine.  It's funny the things that turn up when you Google a name.  This does not help me discover info on 15th century houses, or those from other eras but does entertain my little mind. 
  
Oh yes, and the plague in the late fifteen hundreds killed over 800 people in this town, and that with a population of around two and a half thousand.  There were lots of 'doctors' around then also.  
Sleep well!

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