Another Week Over

So another week, mostly wet, has rolled past, and in between work I've been finishing off painting the garden sign which is now done and sprayed with clear lacquer so all ready to hang up in the better weather, if we ever get any 😠

At least this Off Friday was semi dry enough to at least get outside and mow the lawns and do a little tidying up in the garden. After a walk along to Asda for some supplies. Managed to lose one of the feet off the shopping trolley, probably as I kept kicking it as it hung on the back of the Asda trolley. Why is there never anywhere to pop a shopping trolley, do they assume EVERYONE drives a bloody car? In the end I popped the trolley in the section at the front and somewhere between home and back again it lost a foot, didn't notice until I was putting it away again. I don't use it very often but it is handy when I need to buy quite a lot of heavy items.

So these are the lawns and the very first shoots of the alliums planted in a tub the other side of the yard wall.

On my shopping trip Friday and again on Saturday I couldn't help feeling mightily disgruntled at the over-charged feeling I got when buying my items. It's like the world has gone money making mad. First up was what should have been a ream of paper (500 sheets to you and me) which is now just 400 sheets but still just as expensive, if not more than they used to be. Then having managed to get one pack of 16 Anadin Extra in Asda for £1.50 I bought a second in my local chemist which cost me £3.03 FFS. Talk about a rip-off. All this talk about supporting your local shops and pharmacy - at this rate we can't afford to 😡

Hoping that the pay review info that should be available this week now my boss is back from leave will prove to have been worth the wait. Still an element of Cost of Living on top of a performance rate it will be interesting to see how it stacks up against last year's increase. Which initially was just performance and then we got awarded a set amount on top as Cost of Living which was paid out in November but back dated to April. Along with two lump sums also towards the Cost of Living, although mine, like all part-timers was pro-rated so wasn't quite as attractive as it originally sounded but welcome nonetheless. Pity the bloody tax-man didn't leave it alone though, beginning to feel like they tax every last shred of my money at this rate. Doesn't help having an uber rich Chancellor and Prime Minister, who pays more in tax than most people earn. Obviously they are blissfully ignorant of the daily struggles of their public - bastards. They reckon we are as poorly off as just after the 2nd World War and there are times when it feels like it. Everything you buy is ridiculously expensive from the essentials upwards. I fail to believe that the war in Ukraine is the reason behind it all, I think that's fast becoming the convenient excuse.

No wonder, as annoying as it is, that everyman and his dog are striking to get better pay. With crap pay reviews for the last umpty years and now a convenient freeze on the personal tax thresholds, not likely to be released until the Tories want to woo the public in time for the next General Election, we are well and truly screwed every which way to Sunday by the government and businesses alike. 

There's a slim suggestion that we may start to see some relaxation in the spiralling costs by the end of the year - I certainly hope so, otherwise Christmas Dinner will be chicken nuggets and a mince pie 😉