FIRETHORN1

Thanks for your kind words Hauxwell. I do enjoy cooking and experimenting and I think I'm still doing quite well at making cheap nutritious meals on a limited budget. I do most of my cooking on my gas hob these days, which is much more economical. I must admit that I do miss oven cooking though - roast dinners, slow casseroles, cake baking etc. It's possible to use cheap-ish ingredients in a lot of oven-cooked dishes, but I'm horrified at just how much more costly cooking in an electric oven is - in comparison with cooking the same dishes for the same length of time in a gas oven.

He's not agreeing with his own comments - he's agreeing with MY comments. He's right about the jabbed too. I'm one of the jabbed.... and I bitterly regret having it

Spot on Daddy. I totally agree. All the stats we have ever been given about Covid are just pure cobblers. It really is an absolute clown world.

When I reach official retirement age I won't be the same - I'll actually be a bit richer than I am now, because I'll then be getting my state pension on top of the workplace pension I'm already getting

Bit of a generalisation there El Cid. I'm a woman and I worked for 44 years. Like you, I preferred to work rather than live off state benefits. Don't get me wrong - I think state benefits are a good thing and I have no problem at all with genuine claimants - like disabled people or those who have to care for disabled relatives - but I don't think that people who are able to work and just choose not to work should be entitled to live off the state for a whole life-time

Point taken El Cid. ..I could have worked for 2 more years until I reached state pension age, but I'd worked full time for 44 years. I was in a pension scheme in my first job for 30 years, I was knackered, I'd never claimed a penny from the state and still haven't. so forgive me for not feeling too guilty for retiring 2 years before state pension age. My oldest friend left school on the same day as me and has never worked a single day. She's claimed benefits for her entire life and now,her benefits package makes her £400 a month better off than I am on my workplace pension. She's not a carer or a disabled person, she just chose never to work

I've never lived on benefits.,,,but many people have no choice other than to do so - ie people like The-Daddy, who have to be full time carers - thereby saving the state more money than they claim in benefits. My own circumstances are that I retired 2 years short of state pension age and am living on a workplace pension, which I paid into for 30 years. It's considerably less than minimum wage, but my mortgage is paid off now and until very recently, my small pension was enough to get by on, without having to use my savings. Now, I'm having to dip into my rapidly dwindling savings, just to cover basic bills and living expenses. Some good tips have been given here. Thanks everyone, My flat is mostly electric only, but I do have a gas hob and a slow cooker. I hardly use my electric oven at all these days, so it's goodbye to roast chicken and Yorkshire puds, but I do make lots of soups and stews in the slow cooker and on the hob. I augment all my meat stews with lentils and beans and add tons more vegetables. I eat lots of porridge and omelettes and make lots of noodle-based stir-fried veg dishes, which are quick and cheap to cook. I wear jumpers and thick socks indoors and wrap myself in a warm blanket in the evenings. It's all do-able. I pay my bills, I'm not in debt. I eat well and stay warm enough, but things that I used to enjoy, like the occasional evening in the pub with friends, or the occasional take-away meal etc, are out of the question now. Like I said, it's do-able, but it's a pretty miserable struggle

With prices of everything going up the way they are these days, I guess it won't be long before those of us on very low incomes will be struggling to either heat or eat! There's not much we can do about mounting energy costs - other than live in cold misery by not turning the heating or hot water on - or by sitting- in the dark without even turning the telly on - but we all need to eat and buy household stuff, like bleach, bog-rolls, washing up liquid, etc....and even that is getting harder and harder to do. Prices have rocketed, even in cheap supermarkets like Aldi & Lidl. I've accepted being able to live without heating or much hot water.. I think I'm pretty good at buying food and household stuff cheaply & I'm good at cooking & eating cheaply and nutritionally - but it's a pretty miserable way to have to live. As good as I think I am at living on the cheap, I'm sure I could benefit from the tips and advice of other people on this forum. Maybe we should start sharing our ideas for living on the cheap - or share our recipes for cheap, nutritional meals

Good to hear this news TheDaddy. My very best wishes to you and your son, both now and in the future.

Is it true that Denmark have now halted their Covid vaccine programme for all people under 50 years old - apart from people considered "vulnerable" due to other underlying health conditions? I heard about this from a guest on the Neil Oliver on hisGB News programme on Saturday - but there's conflicting reports online

i've mostly been banging on about the covid jabs on this thread, because I think these jabs were pointless for most people and actually damaging for many. However, I think it's not just about the jabs - it's about the mass hysteria and total blind panic related to the covid pandemic. I don't dispute that covid was a very real and very wide spreading virus, but the fact remains that the vast majority were in no real danger from it. The mass vaccination programme was pure overkill. Lockdowns and school closures served no purpose in containing or controlling the disease, All it did was to trash the economy and to irrevocably damage children's development and education. As for the mask wearing....what a crock!! Masks gave no protection whatsoever - they just meant that newborn babies were not given the chance to interract with or form lasting bonds with their parents and loved ones, If ever we have a similar oandemic in future , my view is that we learn from the mishandling of this one and we should just let it rip. This would cost some lives - but would save - and maintain the quality - of many, many more lives.

We recently had a very enjoyable - and affordable - day out on a visit to Wentworth Woodhouse. It's a lovely place, with interesting history, very picturesque grounds that are not too formal and really nice views over the surrounding landscape. The staff there are also very nice, helpful & informative. The entrance fee is usually £11 per adult, but this was reduced to £7 on the day we went. My friend has a disabled child. - they were admitted for free. This meant we had a good day out for 2 adults and a child for just £7 - plus the cost of petrol to get there. It was well worth it. There is food and snacks available, but these are quite costly. We took our own picnic lunch to save on costs, but you would need plenty of money if you want to eat/drink there. After our grand day out, we stopped at one of outside kiosks. We had 2 coffees for the adults and a small tub of ice cream for the little 'un - which came to £11.50!

Ok Annie B - I do take your point that science is continuously evolving and that there is no 'end point'. For example, when the vaccine was first rolled out, the AZ vaccine was widely used. The accepted science at the time said it was safe. By the time the boosters were rolled out, the AZ vaccine had been withdrawn - because the accepted science had moved on to the point that there was now evidence that it could cause blood clots in a small number of cases. Unfortunately millions of people had already had the AZ vaccines....and some - admittedly maybe only a few -suffered from the blood clots it caused! It's still too many though - considering that people who were otherwise fit and healthy didn't the vaccine in the first place!

So, Annie B, if you don't do "convinced" and you don't do "accept" can you explain how you reach the answers that you reach after using the "several sources" that you use? Surely you're not "convinced" by and nor do you "accept" any information you find on these nebulous "sources"?

The simple answer to your question hackey lad - Yes. I would accept blood from a vaccinated donor. I've already had the vaccines, my own blood is already poisoned - so there would be little point in refusing!

Don't you think that's a bit hypocritical Delayed? You seem to consider unvaccinated people to be a danger - yet you'd be perfectly willing to be treated by unvaccinated medical staff, or wheeled around by unvaccinated porters etc? And anyway - not all medical staff are still wearing PPE. I've had several hospital appointments lately. The neurological consultant wasn't wearing any PPE - not even a mask, nor were the radiologists who did the scan, nor was the hospital porter or took me to the scanner. The only person even wearing a mask was the person who took the blood from my arm when I had the blood tests

No Makapaka, I've not had it confirmed by a doctor. although the neurological consultant treating me has said that she cannot find a definitive explanation as to why I should suddenly develop small capillary bleeds & lesions on my brain - and she feels that an adverse reaction to the Covid vax is a "likely" explanation. She also told me that she had recently had an upsurge of referrals of people who had suffered stroke-like symptoms shortly after having the vaccines. All of these people were previously healthy and none of them would have been considered to be in the danger zone for strokes, brain bleeds etc. It's also worth considering the cases of Dr Stephen Wright, the musician Zion and the BBC Radio presenter, Alex Shaw. All previously fit and healthy people in their 30's/40's who died after taking the vaccine. In these cases, the vaccine was listed as the cause of death on the official Coroners report and recorded on their death certificates

Thanks HeHasRisen. but that link you posted just brings up a blank screen. Can anyone please tell me the road name/location of Lily's sandwich shop.? Ta

Where is this Lily's Sandwich shop?

Yes RJRB, my view now is that we should just have relied on herd immunity. I don't believe the outcome would have been significantly different. Of course my view is based on personal experience. I have no cast iron proof that the jab caused my health problems. All I know is that I was perfectly fit and well until I had the vax and I've never been right since. Equally there's no cast iron proof that the introduction of the vaccines significantly speeded up the process of improving the impact and spread of the virus.

Another question I would ask is does anyone know how many/or what percentage of front line Health Professionals remain unvaccinated? Last year, they were threatened with losing their jobs unless they got vaccinated - then this threat was later withdrawn. This must surely mean that these unvaccinated individuals are still doing their jobs? To all you pro-vaxxers on this thread, I wonder what you would do if you unfortunately found yourself ill or injured and in need of urgent medical treatment? Would you insist that the medical staff treating you declared their vaccination status to you, then refuse treatment if they said they were unvaccinated?

The reason I would try to persuade others not to take it is that. at best. it does no good, and, at worst, it does great harm. Fit and healthy people didn't need to have the jab in the first place. No matter how many jabs and boosters you've had, you can still catch covid, you can still get seriously ill or die from covid and you can still spread it. The actual covid odds for the jabbed and the unjabbed are the same - both jabbed and unjabbed can catch & spread the virus, get ill from it or die from it - but the jabbed are potentially going to get other illnesses & health problems that have nothing to do with covid - but which have been directly caused by the vaccine. As I have previously said- I have been jabbed. At the time, I naively thought that I was protecting myself/protecting others/protecting the NHS - blah,blah, blah, but I now know that all I've "achieved" by having the jabs is to damage my health & to help further line the pockets of the big Pharmas.

Oh dearie me AnnieB. You seem to be so utterly convinced that the vaccine is a good thing, that you refuse to even consider - let alone accept - that it may not have been a good thing for many people. In answer to your question, "What if I am wrong"? My answer is that I was wrong! I was wrong to take the vaccine and the consequences to othes are that I have irrevocably damaged my own health to the extent that I am no longer capable of being the good hands-on daughter, auntie & great auntie that I was prior to taking the jab. I was in perfect health before I had the jab and now my eyesight is buggered, I can no longer lift my old mum or even see well enough to feel confident enough to supervise my little great nephews and nieces crossing the road. My balance an co-ordination is shot to hell - I'm afraid to even go a couple of rungs up the stepladder to change the curtains. None of this was a problem before I was jabbed. It's my own fault and I accept that. Nobody forced me to take the vaccine - but I allowed myself to be persuaded and co-erced into taking it anyway . I'm a fool and a ullible, gormless sheep for taking the jabs. I'll never take any more of these jabs and will continue to do my best to prevent others from taking them.

Thanks The_Daddy. I totally agree with you, of course. Most people on here seem to be pro-jabbers, either because they are blindly delusional enough to still genuinely believe in it, or because they are too embarrassed or arrrogant enough to admit that they probably made a mistake. It's comforting to know that there are still some of us who had the sense never to have it in the first place - or who are now humble enough to admit that we allowed ourselves to be coerced into taking it - and now wish we hadn't.

You have my every sympathy trastrick. Your situation seems quite similar to mine, in that you were previously a fit and healthy person.... until you had the vaccines. The pro-vaccine people on this thread will continue to call us "conspiracy theorists" (and other insulting things), but we know our own bodies, don't we?