Odds and Ends From a Week in Suffolk

I like bullet points!

• Energy Regulator Ofgem may  have capped the unit price that gas and electric companies can charge but I am one of 1.7 million people who have no gas supply and have to buy oil and have no choice but to pay up whatever it costs. I've just ordered a top up of 500 litres and paid just over £338. Last November it was £300 and in June £225. Hope we get a mild spring! Buying more than 500 litres to get it cheaper is not an option as that would mean running the tank to empty - never a good plan.
  

• Inflation is at it highest rate for over 30 years. There is no good news anywhere with regards to prices.

• Had a letter to say my basic pension is going up by £4 a week, won't make a lot of difference as they'll just take more in tax from the County Council Spouses Pension. I am in the 'happy' position to receive just a fraction over the amount of income we are allowed before tax which is currently £12,570 a year.(and will be for the next 4 years - annoying)
  

• When I don't sleep well I turn on the radio and listen to the World Service - it usually sends me off again quite quickly but this week I heard a "fact" about the USA - did you know that 25% of the population there think the last election was fixed by satanic pedophiles! Really?

• Storm Dudley missed Mid Suffolk during the day on Wednesday and it was lovely and mild and sunny for much of the day, if only we'd not had lots of rain earlier in the week it would have made a good day for weeding but the clay soil is soggy and the weeds would have come up with a great clump of mud attached.

• When I wrote about The Hovel in the Hills and Elizabeth West's other books on the 11th Feb., I said I would email the publishers of Patch in the Hills (as Miki had already done) to ask if they would re-print it . This was the reply............................

info@logastonpress.co.uk

Sat 12/02/2022 10:01

Dear Sue,

Many thanks for contacting us, and your request to reprint A Patch in the Forest by Elizabeth West. We are currently reviewing the manuscript files and images and will let you know if we’re able to bring out a new edition.

With all best wishes,

 So you never know, we might be able to purchase a copy for less than £55 sometime in the future.

• Have you ever woken up in the night thinking that the shoes you've just bought are the wrong size? I expect not.                                                                                                                               I sent for some Earth Spirit shoes, 

they're what I've worn all summer every summer for the last many years, really good for wearing without socks and very comfortable  and no shoe shop visit needed and if I can get them online at this time of the year, they are always much cheaper. So when they arrived I didn't even try them on, just checked they were the size ordered and put them in the cupboard. Then woke up wondering if they really were the size I needed. ( I have annoying feet- one bigger than the other and wide).  I even had to get out of bed and try them on.......at 3am! (They were the right size and then I went back to sleep)

 

• Storm Eunice yesterday -one of the biggest storms in decades 65 - 80mph winds - heck. I got as prepared as possible and felt glad I didn't still live at the cottage with the responsibilities of trees liable to fall. The worst of the storm arrived just after noon. Over went the Olive tree in it's pot and 2 large panes from the greenhouse flew out and somehow landed without breaking. The trellis was going back and forwards in an alarming way - tried to prop it up to no avail. Then  I noticed the trellis arch at the corner of the house was leaning more than ever - it's been propped up since I moved in- if it fell it could land on the satellite dish wire or the fence or the newly planted apple tree. So I pulled it down. Texted Brother-in-Law to tell him I had a new collection of jobs for him!
  

This week I am grateful for

1. Not needing to go out during the stormy weather 
2. A cosy safe home
3. Shoes for summer
4. Not too much damage in the wind
   

 Have a good weekend.

 I shall be back on Monday 

Sue