UK or England thread?

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Hopefully I'm sorted for a few days at least although food prices are on the increase

I heard they don't do foodstamps in the UK? That's what we have here in the US. It helps paying for groceries.

Idk about people with low paying jobs. When mum was a young TA in the early 90s it bothered her that she got paid less than unemployed people got in benefits. We also didn't have a council house and we paid more in rent privately but the house wasn't as nice as a council house...

Those of us on disability (government funded not job funded. They assess you and people like me who can't do conventional jobs get one sort of benefit and those who can but need help get another sort which means, I think, you have to job seek but with help not given to regular job seekers) or people who are job seekers (in my experience you do have to prove it and can't be a scrounger like the conspiracy theorists have it) are given money to live on. It's not really enough and I just blew £10 on a week's worth of groceries but it exists.

Thing is you have to have the good sense to budget properly and disability can get in the way of that sometimes. But then again, you can spend it on rent and stuff. And sometimes even people on disability pay or job seeker's do need to treat ourselves to luxuries.

I really want to joke about snow but right now I'm really shivering and idk how I'm going to sleep tonight. I know I'm being a cry baby but... I have three blankets on this bed btw and two layers of PJs on.

I've spent most of the day in my smallish upstairs room, and the ceramic, fan-driven electric heater has been in operation at its maximum setting for about 8 hours in total. A few weeks of this sort of weather, and I dread to think what it will end up costing. I'll have to start spending a few days at least out of the house...

It can cost upto 30p per hours to run a heater, depending on the Kw.

So about £2.50 per day in your case Mr Deep.

Perhaps offer the bill payer some extra money or a treat?

If the bill payer is you then not sure what you can do apart from put more layers on?

Benefits are paid in cash (into bank accounts). Nobody else knows what you get or if you get anything.

^ That's intetesting how it's done differently over there.

My family lives on Foodstamps. They really help a lot for buying groceries. We probably would not be able to eat without them.

I also get disability checks but my mom is in charge of them as my Payee. It's not much to live on at all.

I work 16 hours a week so my top up from the guv is the dif between managing on that and getting a job beyond

what I can cope with.

£2.50 per day for a few weeks sounds manageable, Ms Tem, but I can't help wondering whether my heater might consume a fair bit more than that. In similar circumstances last winter, my electricity direct debit went up from £40 to over £70 per month, and didn't come back down again until August-September. The gas central heating would undoubtedly be cheaper, but my boiler's 30 years old and hasn't been used for several years - I fear a disaster might ensue if I tried to reactivate it....

The UK is just a bloody expensive place to live, full stop. I went to renew my bus pass today, and it's £68 for four weeks. I enquired about a tram pass, and it's almost £1200 for a year. In most other Western European countries, public transport fares are about half these levels.

For approximately 70 years, we heated everything with gas straight from the well. It was part of the contract with the oil and gas company lease and didn't cost us a thing. Unfortunately, the amount of gas has decreased so much that they cut it off and we can't afford to take them to court on it for violating the agreement.

If you are on a low wage or benefits, you might be able to get some help with a new boiler.

I had help from a charity called Warm Front who made sure I had a new boiler and the radiators flushed though.

It is worth googling what is in your area.

I'm listening to The Beatles right now. I'm also going to church hat less to commemorate the 55th Anniversary of The Beatles first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.

I have been watching Hogan's Heros and it has drawn me in.

It is on late at night here on a free channel called Forces TV.

You can say that again. It's a totalitarian sum of money and a public waste of funds to us to keep paying high inflation costs to keep the transport system running. My cost of travel varies as I limit my costs before and after I go out, but sometimes I walk down to the next village to get the bus as my fare has increased. It's nearly six pounds to get a return. If I work that out and I have done, five days a week would cost me 112 pounds a month, because I think the council are building more houses and are cutting the public purse strings for this.
Scrapping the over sixties bus pass for free until 66,is important as it puts more money back in. The T.V licence will make OAPs pay as of June next year, something like 160 quid for the year, which although its costly, I think it should not apply to those who have savings less than six thousand pounds in the bank, because they need help with social care etc.
My gramps is one who should pay, as he isn't trying hard enough to get his money down so he can qualify for the help later on. Stubbornness seems to be an everlasting trait of mankind and, doesn't really get you anywhere in the end.

fish fingers for lunch

I had a vegan burger last night. They take their cooking times seriously; there's no room for an extra 20min in oven.

Bit on the crunchy side (which was both sides).

My search for a full fat organic cow's milk that is lactose free has turned into the hunt for the Holy Grail.

Double cream says it cannot be frozen unless it's wiped up first. What if I'm not going to use it for wiping, can I

freeze it?

I want to separate it out into small portions so that I can use it for poridge for brekie. Apparently double cream has

almost no lactose. I miss poridge