What are you all up to
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If folk have baths rather than showers it can be a mistake🤷🏻♂️.If there is 2 of you who shower you will be shocked at the savings. Add to that a big thirsty garden & it’s not good. But good if you have lots of water butts to collect rain water then it’s back to good again👍🏻😊
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I'm even more abstemious than Rufs. Like him, I have two water companies, one for waste water and another for the stuff from the tap. Both come out at £24pm. I obviously drink less tea or perhaps it is the 100L that I bring home from my last site when returning home.
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Pleasantly surprised at our council tax increase. We pay over 10 months and the increase is £3 a month making a total of £1836 per year for band D, no parish rate, but there is talk of becoming a parish. We were told it would be maximum they could it up, but that seems to have been scaremongering. In some ways I wish it was more and they spent it on the potholes and pavements 😤.
Not got the water incoming at present £270 per annum or sewerage, different company, £310. No meter but as you buy a house here it gets a meter as do all new builds. My mum saved an awful lot after we lost dad, when she had a meter, less than £10 a month I believe.
We pay these over 10 months, February and March off, goes back to a young family and single income, 2 months to get straight 😀. Was a nice bunce, in those days there was only the phone bill plus TV licence gas etc which I put away for monthly.
No looked at the census information yet, may do it in next couple of days as I can't think anything will change on house occupancy 🤞.
Was bright, not sunny, earlier but getting greyer as forecast 🙁 no rain expected, but still too wet to be on the ground too long, scaffold boards or similar are only any use on unplanned areas or grass, doesnt work here!
Enjoy your day folks.
Was looking forward to meeting up with folk again after 29th, if allowed, then did the maths as they say, and need to self isolate if we want to see new addition. But that depends on arrival not due date. Hopefully we can see son and DIL before, ie straight off the starting blocks, then give them a couple of weeks to settle as a family whilst we isolate when it arrives! I'll settle for a look through the window if necessary. Timing is everything in our/their case ..............
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Watched a great film last night on Netflix - First Man - the film tells the story of Neil Armstrong and the journey to the Moon Landing. How they achieved it 50 years ago is still mightily impressive.
We were lucky enough in the late 90s to visit Cape Canaveral and walk under an actual Saturn 5 rocket - it was displayed horizontally in a large museum allowing you walk the full length under it with it just above your head. This was not a copy but real deal but one they never used.
Unfortunately, last night was the last time it will be on Netflix at the present time. Catch it sometime if you can.
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It’ll be back, they churn the movies & mix em with newly bought & commissioned👍🏻. Netflix & Now TV are the best of the bunch. Amazon Prime have most of the best movies & series on ‘pay only’ which is a swizz☹️
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Was that the one in Salisbury David?!!!
Beautiful day again, saw three vapour trails yesterday, and been good on the get out and about front this week.
Trip out Monday cancelled but yesterday saw us at Talland Bay, for work, then down into Looe, passing Tencreek Holiday park, for a stroll along Hannafore and a 99 from the kiosk.
Eddystone was clearly visible and cant wait to see it from a BF ferry, preferably from a window seat whilst enjoying some great food and wine.
Today its Gunnislake then over the Tamar and down into Plymouth for shopping, tomorrow, another, medical appointment then on Friday its Talland Bay again and maybe fish & chips from the Coddy Shack in East Looe, near the clubs site.
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had to put Sorento into garage this morning, nearly 8 years old and 9 months out of warranty and it has developed a small coolant leak, typical, but great walk back from Lee-on-the-Solent only problem was the bacon buttie shop was closed, pooch not happy
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I think Council Tax valuations were frozen in 1991. The Institute of Fiscal Studies has looked at the idea of a local income tax https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/14006 But as they point out it would work in some places but not others. So in better off areas it would be a good alternative to CT but in less well off areas it could actually make matters worse in terms of services. You could argue that some of the money raised in well off areas could be redirected to less well off areas but that would take away the localness of the tax. There is obviously a debate to be had re whether property should be taxed by value. But that is similar to the debate on whether the better off should pay more to support the less well off which is the system we follow in this country. Whether we like it or not most of the wealth of the country is tied up in property, some of that wealth almost gathered accidentally by the general increases in house prices. Obviously a different world from the average house owner but would it be fair for some millionaire who owned a £10 million pound mansion in London not to pay a property tax because he has no income in the UK? A local income tax would be fine if everyone in the country was in the PAYE system but so many are not and so you immediately have an opportunity for tax avoidance. So some things that seem simple are often not.
David
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I absolutely agree with you about the situation in Syria ABM. Our youngest son and DIL worked in Syria for a while before the civil war (in fact he proposed to her while they were living there). They made a lot of friends - some they are in contact with and they know they have managed to leave and are safe. Unfortunately others they have lost contact with entirely and have no idea what has happened to them.
Best of the luck with the phone conversation with the diabetic nurse.
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Same here K, if our neighbours knew what we got our house for, they would be astonished, a lot less than your plot! Old, and when we bought it, we knew it would be a long project to restore it. Interestingly, it’s in an old part of the town, just on the outskirts, near our Park and old museum, so houses around are mainly older type, with the odd new insertion as part of a garden grab. So the area is predominantly band B, unless like our neighbours, work has been done, extensions or additions have been carried out, in which case, they have been re rated, mainly D&E. But ours never has, it’s still B, which is a win for us. Never needed to get planning permission for anything we have had done luckily. Next door is a five bedroom detached, two up is a six bedroom detached, they are both E. Little anomalies. 🤫
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Best of luck with the phone conversation with the diabetic nurse.
Millie, The scamp tricked me
! Arrangements were for the call to be next Tuesday but, just as I was getting the shopping tackle together she rang me this morning. 
.The net results were, weight good i.e. down 3 lbs over 18 months and that was the last of the good bits !!
Sugar levels variable but TOO HIGH so a change in shopping list demanded { Nursey says she wouldn't have Kellog's products in the house unless starting a fire
due to exceedingly high sugar content }MORE finger-prick blood tests required then as and when ( if
?) figures reduce the same can be done with the insulin requirements. Oh woe Is me, woe is me --I will be spending more time in the supermarkets / shops reading the content lists on cereal boxes than I spend eating the stuff . 
Do so hope you all are enjoying this slow journey to F F Freedom
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I sometimes think about downsizing - not that we can, the house is part and parcel of the farm. It dates from 1500’s with numerous additions over the years. Now there’s only two of us, so we don’t use all the bedrooms (5), but it’s good to know we can have large family gatherings. Or I can hide away in a far off corner. It’s a bit higgledy piggedly - so much so that a friend got lost on her way to her bedroom - with big rooms and smaller useful rooms (box room, hall pantry, top landing etc). So I can’t really begrudge the Band E tax.
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I have just been to our local Co op and saw a neighbour had not seen for months ,They have decided to move to Lincs ,Daughter has got planning permission to have a self contained "granny annex" extention on their house
They bought their house (3 bed 1 bathroom mid terrace) just after we bought ours ,(similar price) and have sold it back to the council at £10,000 under market value for £375,000
It has got us thinking again and ours being end terrace with room for an extention
we have looked at Park Home sites in the past
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Don't forget that value at which a Council Tax band was decided was frozen at 1991 values in England. So providing you lived in the house after 1991 you could have doubled the size of the house, adding of course to it's value but you would still pay Council Tax based on the 1991 valuation. Personally I feel this is very unfair. We extended our house prior to 1991 and our tax band was increased accordingly. One of our neighbours extended his house by a much larger proportion than we did but after 1991 and still pays at his original tax band and over the years I reckon I have paid £3/4000 extra in Council Tax which I am a bit miffed about. Apparently I have no option to appeal because the tax was set correctly according to the rules at the time. It is only when the house is sold that the band is readjusted.
David
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Several pages of posts ago I talked about winning a raffle prize in a Zoom Bingo evening - my husband has just collected it (essential local journey) and it's not a pack of sauages as was suggested - but a 40 cm charcoal kettle barbecue (a Weber look a like). Plus tools.
We're not sure what we will do with it - we have a larger one for home, and a smaller one for the caravan. Maybe keep for big parties!
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Had a pleasant walk around NT Lytes Cary earlier today, not busy and it was good to visit a different place. We sat on a bench in the sun and had a coffee and cake, a lot colder this afternoon so glad we went in the morning.
Last photo shows a field full of ant hills. 🐜
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I've just spent a while on line, Bakers2, trawling thro the different s/markets and the cereals that they sell. Some mark them as anything from 6 to 11 grammes of sugar per serving ~~ it is only when you look rather closer that it becomes obvious that they use different amounts for a " SERVING" ~~ anything from two biscuits / 30 grammes up to 50 grammes. Dammit I need to take a secretary / accountant with me !!
If I get these figures wrong, I can foresee a few dodgy early mornings on the horizon !!
P.S. I forgot to growl & grouse about the manufacturers habit of using the term " No Added Sugar " ~~ in some cases they couldn't add more sugar if they tried without just increasing the size of a serving , mutter, mutter, growl, snarl.
Now I think I'll go and fry up a few Ice cream cones -- empty ones of course.
Brian
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Hi Brian sorry you have had a day sorting out cereals, OH is type 2 diabetes and has own brands of cornflakes nature over here and 1 portion 30g is 2g of sugar as he always looks at sugar levels carefully and usually here done by the 100g, he has quarter of a granny smith apple and 2 small clementines with the cornflakes plus milk used to have grapes but they are getting expensive but has had apples for about 15 years now, he does have 1 insulin dose in the morning and seem to be ok and the doctor is ok with his results. Hope this helps as he said most cereals over here are too sugary even the bio ones.
A cold breezy day here and getting colder through the rest of the week.
Glad you had a good walk around Lytes Cary brue I have memories of doing the edging around the yew trees in the garden.
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You beat me to it, I was going to suggest porridge, not up on sugar levels, thankfully, but it's very good for you and cholesterol levels. Make with milk or water, or a mixture. Quick in the microwave. I have with milled Linwood seeds stirred in and throw a few fresh or frozen blueberries on top. Not sure on their sugar levels, but I know grapes are high.
Of course you could soak oats overnight in milk/water/yogurt, stir in nuts, seeds??
It seems the only way to only have naturally occurring sugars is to start with the basic ingredients and batch cook and freeze so you've something to grab without effort all the time. One of my granddaughter's has several allergies and I'm glad I don't have to shop for her. Our daughter spends ages reading labels like you, but came a cropper recently as she grabbed what they usually have to discover, after a reaction, an ingredient had changed. Never ending... Sadly we have no constant labelling so quick comparisons can be made,.
I know you're very experienced ABM but it's good to hear you comment because it makes me grateful for not having to consider intake in such minute detail fingers and input crossed 😉
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I haven't read the packets, but based on taste Sainsburys Fruit & Fibre seems fairly low on sugar.
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