Life, the in's and out's of

My Life, Your Life, Our Life

Why is it that I’m forced to pay for a television license! Let face is it is not a TV license, it is a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) license. I did not ask for their signal to come into my home and yet I cannot stop it and the law says if I don’t pay I get a fine or sent to prison to share a cell with Boris the butcher.

Despite all the chaos the banks caused throughout the world with the near collapse of the whole banking system, caused through greed and ignorance the bank now want to increase credit charges, meaning that little old me and you will be worse off by around one hundred pounds a year. Ok so it does not sound that much in the scheme of things but that is another hundred pounds that some pointless institution is taking out of yours and my pocket. Is it not enough that the tax payer has bailed out a lot of these banks and I’m sure we are top of their list to pay back (NOT). The court of appeal has just confirmed the decision of the High Court that bank charges are subject to fairness rules. Although it would seem that making a claims is still on hold unless you’re in hardship, although the banks can easily turn round and say you are not in hardship, in which case you then have to prove it. No doubt the banks will come out on top and find a way around any ruling that does not go their way and drag the process out even longer.

Why is it that the simplest of things always turn into a pain in the neck. When my Insurance was coming up for renewal I had the usual barrage of phone call s from the insurance leeches asking if I want to renew my policy. I tell them leave it for now and I will shop around a bit. As the date approaches I phone them up to talk about the re-newel only to be told that they have already re-newed it as they are NOT allowed to let it lapse. Well it let that go and tell them I want my direct debit on the 23^rd of each month and not the 17^th that it is currently set to, at this point I may have been talking to a moist rag as the guy obviously took no notice. They then try to collect the money from my account on the 17^th (when I have no money in there), which of course is rejected and the bank change me £19.50 and the insurance leeches charge me £12, they then try to take the money out a few days later, which again is rejected and I get another £19.50 and £12.00 charge.

It would seem that not all is a certainty in the world of Mr Blair as his support for the newly created president of the European Council has yet to appear despite his good old chum Gordy telling all and sundry how much of a great bloke he is or to quote him “get real” and grasp a unique opportunity to get a “strong progressive politician” like Mr Blair as president.

Yet again the good old Royal Mail workers are on strike. With the state of the Royal Mail and it losing money and business they should count them self’s lucky they have a job. If the workers at my company don’t get the correct milk should we go on strike? Do you ever hear about our soldiers going on strike because they do not get the correct clothing or equipment, no you don’t and they are putting their lives on the line but they just get on with it and do the job.

How is it a house that cost £35k four years ago now costs £120k, has the house changed in some-way, no absolutely nothing has changed except some idiot decided that new houses in that area are now worth x amount of money and houses in another area are worth this amount. The only people who benefit are the councils because they can charge more in council tax, solicitors, the government with their stamp duty and home information packs and if it’s a new house, the developers.

Housing Development

Humans have done it again as over hunting threatens the existence of the Flying foxes, or Pteropus vampyrus. Researchers say that the bat may be wiped out on the Malaysian peninsula if the current level of hunting continues. Scientist are urging the government of Malaysia for a ban on the hunting. The bats are protected in neighbouring Thailand.

Flying Fruit Bat

The bats have a wingspan of up to 1.5m and are the world’s largest fruit bat. With an optimistic estimate of 500,000 remaining in the Malaysian peninsular, around 22,000 of the animals are legally hunted each year and many more illegally hunted. Shooting usually takes place at dusk as the bats forage and are hunted for food, sport and medicine.

With the price of food increasing, more and more people are going back to the olden days of growing their own fruit and vegetables, but with modern houses having considerably smaller gardens than older houses people are turning to allotments. Allotment shortages have been fuelled by soaring land prices and demand. There are estimated to be around 330,000 allotments in the U.K. but the waiting list can be as long as the waiting time to join an NHS dentists.

Fresh Carrots

Why do council’s make things so hard or is it just me!  They (the council) say on the back of the council tax letters how easy it is to make payments, well have any of them actually tried. Option one ‘pay by telephone’, well this would be great if the telephone number ever worked. I gave up after the eighth try. Option two ‘pay on-line’, the system takes all your details including credit card number all goes through and you are lulled into a false sense of security when it says your payment has been authorised only to get a threatening demand from the devils them self’s saying you have not paid and it would seem that the on-line system did not actually take your money. Option three  ‘pay at your bank’. The bank manages to do their part and take my money but can the council recognise that it’s been paid, of-course not and again it’s another delightful letter from the men with horns and fork’s. You may think that the fourth and final option of a direct debit would be by far the easiest (that is if you trust a council with your bank account details) but no not for the council as they cannot even be bothered to set it up despite filling in the forms. Do the council care, do they bugger!