Life on DOWNHAM

[christine]

Splinter - don't get me onto complaining about what the local authority does and doesn't do. 'Weekly' bin collections?  - my daughter lives in Kingston and their household bin is collected once a fortnight - although recycling is collected every week!  I won't go into details about the amount that was waiting to be collected post Easter - and they are only a family of two and a baby. Of course if the bin is full they will not remove anything sitting at the side until the following collection day. Road cleaning? - our cul-de-sac (half of which is tree lined) was swept in early December last year only after I contacted the Council because the road was thick with wet, dead leaves.  According to the Council's website - all roads in the area should be swept at least once in three months, its now nearly five months and guess what.....  I do so remember how clean Downham was - there was always an army of roadsweepers but then, of course, there were no take away places so we were not overrun by pizza boxes and remains of Kentucky Fried Chicken packs!

[Splinter]

If they charged these take aways to clean up after them so bins are paid for it might help a little. But when i go to Canaries they wash down and clean the streets every day and they get charged less than £250 per year for that. This bit wont go down well. But please bring back what was wrongly called `the Poll Tax`. I was better off everybody who was over 18 and working paid. So the more people in a house the more was paid and as they used more facillities it was fair. Now if you are a family all working of 4 or 5 its about £1,300 per year if you are all alone you get a miserly 25% off wich is still £975 i Know who`s worse off.

[christine]

If they charged these take aways to clean up after them so bins are paid for it might help a little. But when i go to Canaries they wash down and clean the streets every day and they get charged less than £250 per year for that. This bit wont go down well. But please bring back what was wrongly called `the Poll Tax`. I was better off everybody who was over 18 and working paid. So the more people in a house the more was paid and as they used more facillities it was fair. Now if you are a family all working of 4 or 5 its about £1,300 per year if you are all alone you get a miserly 25% off wich is still £975 i Know who`s worse off.

We have a lot to learn about cleanliness from our European neighbours Splinter.  Several years ago we went to Paris for a weekend - they have a very ingenious method of cleaning the gutters whereby the water is automatically turned on at various points around the city streets and the gutters are automatically cleaned - clever the French! I again made a complaint about the roads leading out of Horsham, where I live, that were choc a bloc with all kinds of debris - including lots of discarded shoes can you believe - I was informed that it would be dealt with although the road would be closed from time to time to carry out this operation for health and safety reasons - you can guess that it has never been done. Unbelievably Horsham was mentioned a couple of years ago as one of the best places to live in the UK by Kirstie Allsop and Phil Spencer on 'Location, Location' - we have also won 'Britain in Bloom' several times.  Think they need to spread their net wider! Where do you pay £1300 per year for council tax - ours is over £2000 so you can guess why I am always grumbling especially as yesterday I even swept the footpath!

[Splinter]

£1300 is for my end of terrace 3 bed house in Pendragon Road. If i lived on my own there i would have to pay £975 p.a.4 Adults could easily live there and it would work out at £325 each. So this single occupier discount is a load of rubbish then again so is the council. All they seam to need the money for is stupid (diverse) schemes which after all the Press Releases  to show how good they are the next year it closes due to lack of funds. ( youv`e got me on my pedestal again ) And if you saw the wages the top people in the council get !! I think it`s 4 or 5 get more than our PM and he RUNS ? the country. There Area is about 20 Square miles if that. Oh sorry i forgot they must also have a Pension or they will be poor in their old age. SORRY ABOUT THE RANT.

[Pauline]

Splinter - don't get me onto complaining about what the local authority does and doesn't do. 'Weekly' bin collections?  - my daughter lives in Kingston and their household bin is collected once a fortnight - although recycling is collected every week! 

I wish our council would collect the re-cycling bin every week, ours is collection once a fortnight, and my recycling bin is always full to overflowing, and my normal rubbish bin is almost empty. 

[Brenda]

In recent years, the garbage collection service has extended to these 'ere parts, but no way am I going to drag a wheelie bin up a rutted sandy road for 2.39kms.  So, we compost and burn and now I take recyclable goods to my sister's bin in town.  Any other rubbish is piled up until we have enough for a uteload to take to the tip.  But, as you all say, it is astonishing how much rubbish we all end up with. 

Bren

[Splinter]

I recycle as much as i can now, but its a bit disheartening when you read that because there is no money in it now the recycling firms are sending it to land fill sites. So we now have 2 Trucks putting out CO2 i sometimes wonder if the people in charge have got a brain. A good saying is that "Most people drink from the fountain of Knowledge, others just gargle".

[christine]

I recycle as much as i can now, but its a bit disheartening when you read that because there is no money in it now the recycling firms are sending it to land fill sites. So we now have 2 Trucks putting out CO2 i sometimes wonder if the people in charge have got a brain. A good saying is that "Most people drink from the fountain of Knowledge, others just gargle".

Only two trucks Splinter - on alternate weeks we have three - one for household, one for garden refuse and one for newspaper! The in-between week sees two collections of household and plastics.  It seems they are also planning a collection for drinks cartons in this part of Sussex so will expect even more trucks. We have spent several holidays in various parts of Spain and, without exception, from the smallest village to the largest town, there are recycling bins in easy to access places where the inhabitants dump their own recyclables so no lorries going up and down all the streets - just one truck to deal with the lot.  Anyway, Splinter, on yer soap box - what's your take on the Budget and what would you do if you were trillions of pounds in the red?!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[Splinter]

My take on the Budget !!! I think that those in power!!! Think we are morons. First those people who earn alot of money in this country dont pay much tax already so it wont change a thing it was done as a political jesture. If you do earn a good income you can see that if your income is 99,000 p.a. you will get your increase in other ways so the extra tax will not have to be paid. Or move abroad.I Think its better to get 40% of something than 50% of nothing. The majority of our deficit will be paid by normal working people on a lowish income and the problem is that this country only has to have another financial problem and we will be up the creek without a paddle. They are also working from the best case sinario to make it look better than it really is. But you and i and i think most people are not stupid we all know what we were told was utter rubbish. Everybody in this country is now in debt to the fiscal world the staggering amount of £7,000 and thats per annum. Every Man, Woman, Child and dog owes this and the only way to pay it back is through taxes or further cuts in our way of life. But the people who caused all this get away free. That includes Bankers, Speculaters and M.P.`s. What we need now is for somebody to stand up and tell us truly the problem and the way it can be fixed, that way it will give us the incentive if we also know that any hard work we do is not going to freeloaders and is to help our children /Grandchildren. OK iv`e had my rant i could write a book on this subject, but i would like to know what this GLOBAL RECESSION is doing to our friends in OZ Speak to you soon John.

[Pauline]

OK iv`e had my rant i could write a book on this subject, but i would like to know what this GLOBAL RECESSION is doing to our friends in OZ Speak to you soon John.

My superannuation has fell into a hole.  I didn't exactly LOSE any money, but it didn't grow as much as it had been.  Here in Perth there are certainly more people looking for work.  Pete works for a shopfitting company, and before the recession they would advertise for carpenters and shopfitters and not get even one enquiry.  Now they are getting at least 2 phone calls a day!  The shopfitting business is still booming, new shops opening everywhere, lots of new 'chain' stores. Strange shops selling only stationery stuff, folders, paper clips all in wonderful designs.  One shop just sells TEA in all flavours. But the strange this is they are always packed and doing a wonderful trade. The shopping centres are still very busy. Here at the University we have had a greater intake this year, people who have not found a job are taking up more education, so they will end up over qualified and still not get a job.
I can honestly say that in all my adult life no government has ever done anything that helps me personally, now our Mr Rudd is giving all tax payers $900 to spend.  The idea being that we all go out and spend the money in the shops.  I think he has been a tad short sighted, my 16yo granddaughter works Thursday evenings and Saturdays, but although she pays tax, when she puts in her tax return she gets it all back, so she won't get the $900.  I think that if they gave to $900 to 16-20yo girls they would go straight out into the shops and blow the lot!  That would 'kick start' the economy!

[Frank (hutchsky)]

We are finding things OK at the moment, I think if you have no mortgage and every thing paid for, apart from fuel and food we seem to manage. I only do volunteer work about 2-3 days a week, my wife works now 4 days a week from 3 because her employer is so busy. I just been offered a Job paying $35.00 per hour, which I don't want, not full time, I might do it on a contract basis? I could even go back to my old employer, so yes work is limited, but if you want to work or just want money (There is a difference) you will survive. I was completely broke 12 years ago, all I had was a bunky car, after a bad time with business partners and ex wife. We live in a lucky country!!

[Dickie eagle]

there is one little ray of light inasmuch as that rogue "sir" Peter who fiddled excessive terminal payments from Northern Rock after he had ruined then will have 50 % taken out of his Pension .   dickie ............

[christine]

I know its of no interest to anyone out there really but after my rant to Horsham DC, a road sweeper turned up this morning - one of the biggest machines you have ever seen - and proceeded to clean my cul-de-sac.  It turned up at 7 a.m. and took quite a long time to finish because it had trouble turning in a confined area!  Now the man who used to clean Woodbank Road in my childhood with his little push along bin and large broom would have done the job in 5 minutes and WOULD NOT HAVE WOKEN ME UP!

there is one little ray of light inasmuch as that rogue "sir" Peter who fiddled excessive terminal payments from Northern Rock after he had ruined then will have 50 % taken out of his Pension .   dickie ............

See also in the paper this morning, dickie, that plans are afoot for Sir Fred Goodwin ('Fred the Shred' of RBS fame) to be stripped of his knighthood.  Wonder whether he will be able to retain that as he seems successfully to have retained his £750,000 annual pension (less tax, of course). 

[Splinter]

The only problem is that his pension ,a large part will be shares so he will only pay 18% capital gains tax and thats on the profits. As i said really rich people dont pay much tax. For example i payed more tax last year than the owners ? of the three largest Department stores in London put together. One wants to be a British Citizen but we wont let him , another has put the whole company in his wifes name and she`s from abroad and the last bought a company that lost money to claim back the tax, the only wont the ground its standing on and when its ok to sell he will do it though a charity he runs . THESE PEOPLE DIDN`T BECOME RICH BY PAYING TAXES. Or they would move abroad. Another Rant i Know. From reading the posts of our OZ friends it seams thing are not as bad there. Do they still do the £10 assisted passage i could show an intrest. ( I wish).