I managed to take a few photos on Sunday and so I went back to see this lock-keepers cottage in Walsall. There are some leaves on the trees now and although the sun was going lower, I got a different photograph.

I used a few options in PhotoScape to edit this picture, but the main options were the vintage option to make it look vintage. I also used the clone tool to remove a satellite dish. I do wish people who lived in historic buildings would opt for cable!

As I was walking back to my car I took this shot, just because it was an interesting scene and the sun had come out. It’s not very artistic and I could have arranged the shot better. I simply added a little contrast when I edited it. I intend to take more shots of streets because people want to see them. The shot has a little depth because the road goes away from us, but there’s not much in the foreground to give it depth. If you were drawing this picture, you would probably start with a line to represent the horizon, centred vertically. If you follow the dotted line in the centre of the road it goes to the centre point on that imaginary line. The size of everything in the picture gets smaller as it goes away from you towards that point on the horizon. This gives the picture perspective and the eye compares the size of all the objects. A branch of a tree overhanging in the foreground would have given the picture so much more depth.

This photo isn’t very interesting and there is less to give it depth, but the tree contrasts with the rest of the picture.  This picture needs a little cropping off the bottom.

Finally, back to the lock-keepers cottage. You can do lots of edits. You can even put a frame around your picture. Then you can join them all up using PhotoScape, which might be useful for emailing them to a friend or sending them via Skype. Here’s one I made earlier…

That was longer than I thought! If you like drawing or painting, you can also photograph your subject and then use the coloured pencil option in PhotoScape to get some idea of what your drawing will look like.

I hope you like today’s pictures and are inspired to join this Neodigital school of art. Please share your thoughts in the comments box.

This week the share price of Lloyd’s Banking Group went over 60p and so the government has reached the break even price for it’s shares. Royal Bank of Scotland made some gains too, so the government could get it’s 66 billion back that it pumped into those banks.

It renewed my faith in human nature, I knew they would intervene behind the scenes and those share prices would go up. My faith in the greedy, mad, swivel eyed loons is restored.  Anyway, although Royal Bank of Scotland still has a way to go, I bought Lloyds at 30p, so I made a few quid this week…

Head teachers this week were upset with Michael Gove. One head teacher said colleagues felt they were living under a culture of “bullying and fear” as they waited for Ofsted inspectors to arrive. They should try being inspected by some officious prat at the Jobcentre or worse assessed by Atos Healthcare. I know, let’s have Ofsted assessing the sick and disabled and Atos assessing head teachers! Anyway, Mickey Gove’s reply was, “If you think Ofsted is causing you fear I am grateful for your candour, but we are going to have to part company.” At which point, a delegate shouted: “Are you leaving then?” If Agnes Brown had been there she would have said, “that’s nice.”

Denmark won the Eurovision song contest. I voted for the turnip… I mean the swede…

Who was that in the mini-dress that looked like it had been through a shredder? She was good if you pressed mute on the telly…

The Public Accounts Committee heard this week that Google paid £6m in corporation tax in 2011 despite sales of more than £3bn annually, as most sales are routed through Dublin. Miliband wants to take action to stop these multinationals avoiding tax. If we had a lower rate of corporation tax in the UK than Ireland, then they would pay it in the UK on their profits from Ireland. But then Ireland would cut their corporation tax and we would have to cut ours again. That could keep going on until the world abolished corporation tax and no country stood to gain from low corporation or income tax rates. Then we could abolish income tax too! Then we could have an internationally agreed financial transactions tax and a VAT rate that was the same globally. Could an international agreement work?

“That’s nice,” as Agnes Brown would say…

The government’s ‘help to buy’ scheme is stupid. Under the plan, due to run until 2017, the state will guarantee up to 15% of a mortgage on homes worth up to £600,000. They’ll never learn. If you create demand with loose money in the housing market, prices go up. Kids in universities understand the concept of supply and demand governing prices, why don’t politicians and their economist advisers?

There was a plan to use the money to build more council houses, instead. David Cameron seemed to like it. He said, “That’s nice…”

Please comment and share your thoughts…

The river in the picture is the River Tame. This photo was taken last May, but I drove past there yesterday and the flowers are just starting to bloom again. They seem to grow all along the Tame, I’ve seen them at Walsall and Dudley.

I might go to Sandwell Valley this weekend to see if there is a display of flowers like this along the Tame there.

Finance Friday | Priorities was yesterday’s blog post. We all need to set our priorities when we are budgeting. Which do you think is more important when the government is spending money, airports, high speed rail or hospitals?

Thrifty Thursday | Walsall Again? was Thursday’s post about finding those bargains.  I’m actually writing today’s post in advance so I can go to the fun day at Walsall’s university campus tomorrow (Saturday).

A trip to Walsall was Wednesday’s post about my trip to Walsall on Tuesday. I know three times in one week! The one good thing that Walsall has is the hospital, I like the Manor hospital, I’m even a member of the trust.

Neodigital Art | What is art? was Tuesday’s post. I was in a philosophical mood after going to the art gallery. There is an arts fest in Walsall in a pub next month too.

Psychology | perceptions of self was Monday’s psychology blog. A lot people have psychological problems these days with the instability of society. You can ask a question by using the comments box or email using the address in the sidebar >>>>

The farce is strong was my Sunday ramble about the government’s latest shenanigans. They should be happy now that the share prices of Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds have gone up this week. See what happens, when they keep their mouths shut for once? 

I’ll be back tomorrow, Sunday; with more rambling and hopefully I can tell you how the fun day at the university went. In the meantime, please comment and share your thoughts.

Can you imagine living in a country where you don’t have any opportunities and struggle to get clean water and enough to eat? Here in the UK, most people are lucky, but there is a lot of inequality. Young people on benefits go into MacDonald’s to eat, just because it’s there. 

Television is great, but it does brainwash young people into thinking they are part of the consumer society and should be able to eat at MacDonald’s, drink Coca Cola and wear expensive trainers. The multinationals actually target young people with their advertising and then avoid paying their taxes and pay young people minimum wages to serve in their image conscious fast food joints.  Should we have financial education in schools? Should we teach kids that MacDonald’s is not for them, that they should drink water and not Coca Cola? Many kids in third world countries would be glad of clean water.

We could teach kids to buy what they need first and recognise what money is surplus to their needs, pays for the luxuries. That surplus income that can be spent on luxuries is getting less and less for many people. After some people have paid their water bill, food bill, rent, council tax, TV licence, phone bill, energy bills and bus fares to the Jobcentre, there isn’t much left. The problem over the years is that councils now charge ‘economic rents’ for council housing on estates that are like open prisons. The privatised water companies and the energy companies have become major drains on people’s incomes. The energy companies are mostly owned now by foreign companies, who recognise a good monopoly when they see one. The BBC thinks the TV licence is a licence to print money. You even have to pay 6 months in advance for a TV licence, they are that powerful, they can get away with anything and often do.

We have to fight back against the monopolies that rob us and become proactive as much as we can. We can demand a fairer society and try to boycott companies that are against the people. Interest rates are pathetic at the moment, but we can try to save money and become more financially secure. It is better than being exploited by pay day loan companies and banks. There are positive signs in society, like peer to peer lending such as Zopa. There is a movement towards Corporate Social Responsibility. I see civic society movements growing. Whenever society, as we know it is threatened, some people try to fight back or at least resist and show support for the fighters.

We can all try to take some responsibility for society and try to make it better. Lots of little things, like driving carefully, shopping around, being kind to people and being aware of the problems can make a difference.

What do you think? Please share your thoughts in the comments box.

The Aldi super-six this week are celery, cucumbers, lemons (3), spring onions, tomatoes (6) and garlic (4). They are all 49p each. That’s the same as last week. I spend ten pounds this week in Poundland, which isn’t difficult.

It’s easy to spend too much browsing in shops that you don’t go in regularly. I tend to just get what I need in Aldi and avoid impulse buys. I do buy pens on impulse. I never had a decent pen when I was at school and the paper was that rough it was like writing on sandpaper. Now if I see a pack of pens that look decent I tend to buy them. I tend to buy notepads too, although I do write a lot of notes.

The Sunday special buys include a car stereo for 49.99. I’m not sure how to change mine or I would have that. It’s not really something that I need though. There is a lot of Mexican food items on that web page.  I noticed frozen sardines too. I had some frozen sardines from Aldi not long ago, they were awful. If you don’t like bones in fish, avoid those. I can recommend the frozen haddock though, I’m having that for lunch…

The special buys next Thursday (23rd May) include things for the garden like garden tools and a barbecue.  There are some chip baskets, 4 for 2.59; that I might look at. It’s these things that add to your shopping bill!

If you don’t usually use Aldi, then check out their everyday essentials that is the equivalent of value ranges at other supermarkets.

It seems the recession in the Eurozone is the longest in the history of the Eurozone and most other western nations are in recession too.  We might have to be thrifty and frugal for some time. I don’t see the government cutting down on anything but essentials, while we cut down on the luxuries. It’s the same with councils. Road schemes costing millions get the go ahead, while libraries are closed to save a few thousand. If councils employed local people then all these improvements to the roads might not be necessary.

The best things in life are free. I use a lot of free software. I went to Walsall Art gallery on Tuesday, which has free admission. I’m going to a family fun day at the Walsall campus of the University of Wolverhampton on Saturday, if the rain stops too. There’s free ice cream and a free barbecue too! Yes, I’m going to Walsall again, three times in one week. I was given a certificate by the mayor in 2011, I’ll be getting another one for promoting the place if I carry on like this.  Some Walsall yam-yams read my blog yesterday!

You can also have free days out at museums, parks and nature reserves as well as art galleries. Check where you nearest park or nature reserve is and take a picnic. Post it on Facebook and a few friends might join you.

Please use the comment box to share your thoughts on thrifty and frugal living.

I went to the wonderful town of Walsall yesterday.  I used to think Walsall was great. The market used to go up the hill nearly to the church and that street was lined with little interesting shops. Walsall is a shadow of it’s former self.

I used to ride down the Broadway, a wide road (as the name suggests) with a 40 MPH speed limit. Now it’s a wide road with a 30 MPH speed limit, speed cameras and a sign that reads your number plate and tells you to slow down. There are always traffic jams and impatient drivers. There are signs that call it the ‘ring road’. When I first saw those, I thought ‘what ring road?’. A lot of the town centre is now pedestrianized and the streets are a maze that you can’t find your way around even with a sat nav. Walsall also has speed humps on many streets and when they aren’t wasting money on those, they block the ends of streets off.

I remember the arboretum when they had the illuminations in September, that was the highlight of the year. They started making them too fancy though with lasers and so they got too expensive. So the lights went out in Walsall. They have found millions to do some renovations on the arboretum though. I must go and take a look one of the days.

One road I am now familiar with in Walsall is the Birmingham road that runs to Great Barr and that complicated motorway junction. It seems the speed cameras did good business on that road last year. Half the speeding tickets issued in the West Midlands were on that road. Yes, they got me. The adjacent road is the West Bromwich Road, with a 40 speed limit. On the Birmingham road, which is dual carriageway just the same, those little signs say 30! I was caught on the approach to that flyover thing where the motorway is. I was well away from the little sign, passing a truck at 40. I had no chance of seeing a 30 sign. They could put a 30 sign on the speed camera; I saw that, but thought the limit was 40. Besides the fine, people who are tricked like this get points on their licence, which could potentially cost them their business or their job. This could contribute to Walsall being part of the deprived area we call the Black Country.

On a positive note, Merrion’s Wood is on that road and worth visiting. I used to go to Sutton Park, but they have a 30 limit on the Sutton Road now. Only the wide dual carriageway bit, the limit goes to 40 on the narrow part closer to Sutton.

There’s a family fun day at the University campus on the Broadway on Saturday. I’m expecting traffic jams near junction 9 of the M6. It might be worth going to. I want to see the Performance Hub. Come early, I think it’s only on from 10 until 2.

The council have plans for Junction 10 of the M6 because it gets really busy. They’re going to turn it into a ‘hamburger junction’, so it’ll be even more confusing than it is now. They could encourage some traffic to go down the Birmingham Road, by making it 40 and getting rid of the bloody speed cameras. The traffic for the M6 would go that way instead then…

Is Walsall amazing or is it just a maze? Please share your thoughts in the comments box. The art gallery is worth visiting, that is also a maze…

Pictures were drawn by early man, on the walls of caves with whatever he could find. The earliest pictures were probably done with chalk and maybe charcoal. Some artists still use charcoal. Artists tend to be avant garde, the advanced guard, exploring the new frontiers. They search for new ideas and new mediums.

Now we have digital devices to capture, create and manipulate images with. My picture today is of the local Manor House. Art was very different when that was built, but the ideals of the time show in the design of the house.

Art is now kept in art galleries like this one.  You can just about see Damien’s Hirst’s sheep, pickled in formaldehyde, in the foreground. Is that art? Andy Warhol said, art is whatever you can get away with. I don’t really subscribe to that view.

When I returned home from the art gallery on Sunday, I saw two ducks on my driveway and so I photographed them. Yes, I can get away with using this picture today. But is it art?

This is a photo that Carolyn over at a wonder of tech sent me. Would this look out of place in an art gallery? I think not.

I spotted this picture in the art gallery. I like it. That alone, makes it art…

Please share your thoughts on art in the comments box.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The only perception that early man had of himself, was what he saw when he looked at other people. Looking at their reflection in a pool of water was probably quite intriguing. We can see our reflections using mirrors at any time.

Is what we see in the mirror a true reflection of what we look like? We often try to change that image with changes in hair style and clothes, women change that image with cosmetics. The way we look in the mirror also changes with our mood. We have a perception of self and that perception frequently changes. Designer details on clothes change our perceptions of clothes and minor details that we see in the mirror changes our perception of ourselves. Tiny wrinkles become  important, the single grey hair that no one will notice must be hidden.

Mood also changes our perception of ourselves when we look in the mirror, when we are happy we always look better. Sadness and anger make us look quite ugly. Recognition is an important skill for survival and even small babies have in-built pattern recognition abilities. They are able to recognise their mother and respond to their mother. Baby ducks will follow a human that they think is their mother, because that ‘pattern’ was what they saw when they were born.

Our identity, our sense of self, is partly because of what we see in the mirror, but like early man partly what we see in other people. Other people reflect our mood and behaviour. If we are friendly, people are friendly to us. If we are aggressive, others will respond with aggression.  Other people mirror our souls.

We project an image that is dependant on our mood and behaviour. We can try to think positively and behave in a acceptable and non-judgemental way to improve relationships. We can be more aware of our image. Do you want people to think of you as a idiot? Then don’t behave like one! Do you want respect from people? Then show them respect and listen to what they say. Respect their beliefs and culture; encourage them, rather than condemn them.

We live in a sophisticated world where images can be as video or as photos. We not only see what we look like in the mirror, but have to look at passport photos that make us look like criminals. We have Gravatars and profile pictures, much of our background is on the internet for all to see. Even a bad mistake in our past can change the way people perceive us and make us appear untrustworthy or disreputable. In some ways, our entire environment now mirrors who we are. We can be judged on how tidy our home is, how well groomed the garden is; how clean and polished the car is or how well dressed we are. It is our behaviour that we are most judged on though and it is that which we have most control over.

Please share your thoughts in the comments box.

George Osborne is claiming that it was his influence that is bringing Lucasfilm to the UK to make another episode of Star Wars. The Downing Street farce is strong and they’re bringing the film over to the dark side.

In Britain, we are used to the dark side, when the Empire Strikes Back was released in 1980, we had Thatcherism and you don’t get any more evil than that. That earned over a half a billion dollars world wide. I wonder which country the corporation tax went to? Some tax haven on a remote island somewhere where the force is strong for tax evaders? It seems that Ozzie, the new Prince of Darkness has promised tax breaks for this latest film.

Remember C-P30 and R2D2? Ozzie is getting a robot and calling it 2POSH4U. They are trying to get it to behave differently from his neighbour, so he can tell which is which…

It was suggested this week that benefit claimants are sub-human and that they can’t feel things like us normal humans. They can’t appreciate art for example. I dunno, many of them have quite artistic leanings and spend their benefits getting artistic tattoos. I do admit that their appreciation of music is different to mine, though.

I watched Casualty last night, which is one of the better programmes on television and realistic. I liked the X-Ray of a broken arm. The kid who drank malathion case, was a little less convincing. I think malathion has a very distinctive smell and would have been easier to identify. I remember a outbreak of nits at the local school and all the kids had their hair washed in malathion shampoo. You could smell them coming…  It was good that anxiety was featured too, especially as it was a doctor who had an anxiety attack. Imagine how people feel when they suffer from anxiety and they have to go to the Jobcentre or an Atos assessment and deal with those servants of the Dark Side. They can’t nick a bottle of diazepam from the medicine cabinet. You have more chance of getting a heart transplant these days than a diazepam…

I liked that singer on The Voice last night. The one with the long false eyelashes. You must have seen her…

Conflicts in the Middle East worsen, Turkey hopes it will all be over by Christmas…

Nurses are saying there is a shortages of nurses in the NHS. David Cameron wants them to work as healthcare assistants before training as nurses. That sounds like another announcement from a prophet who has no idea what goes on in hospitals. Politics is now too much of a religion and based on quite primitive beliefs. Nurses don’t care and claimants are sub-human. There was even a suggestion that disabled children should be put down like animals this week. There are nearly 8,000 employees in the health service earning 6 figure salaries now, that could be part of the reason there is a shortage of nurses. Everyone wants to be a CEO these days. Matrons used to run hospitals, town clerks ran towns and managing directors ran companies. Now they have to be a CEO on a 6 figure salary with a key to the executive loo.

That’s the lot for this week. I have to cook lunch soon… Please share your thoughts in the comments box…

Sometimes, I think as a society we take one step forward and two steps backwards. There are lots of experiments that seem to fail. The big pink box on West Bromwich High Street is still referred to as ‘iconic’, but in reality it’s a failed experiment. They intend to use it as a sixth form college now.

I suppose that will make Sandwell College bigger and more ‘iconic’ and I wouldn’t mind betting that the person in charge gets a new label as chief executive and a big pay rise to boot. I suspect that the M6 toll road isn’t a resounding success either, but will that stop some politicians calling for more ‘private’ roads, hospitals, prisons and schools?

I reflected on life a little with this week’s posts:

Finance Friday | Supply and demand was about market economics, which seems to be the current political religion.

Thrifty Thursday | Saving money in many ways was  Thursday’s post with more thrifty ideas. No matter how thrifty we are, it’s hard to avoid increases in our usual bills, gas and electricity gets dearer, food prices keep going up, but the prices of luxuries seems to drop. Is it time to scrap VAT on gas an electricity? Any one want to bet that Labour will say that is needed because of climate change and they’ll propose reducing VAT on luxuries like smart TV’s, smart phones and tablet computers; all of which are imported. It’s a bloody shame there are no smart politicians!

The midweek ramble was more moaning about the state of this country and to a lesser extent the world.

Neodigital Art | Creative Editing was this week’s photography and art post. That was popular, but the first picture was very creative!

A bank holiday day out was my bank holiday post. We all need a day out sometimes and where I live there are lots of local places to go. People tend to drive past them and past the local parks to go farther afield; strange that…

Spooky was my Sunday ramble about anything and everything. I shall be back with another ramble on life tomorrow. That had quite a spooky picture, hence the title.

It seems that these days we have computers, smart phones, cars with power steering and brakes, but many people still have Victorian values or worse are quite primitive. I read this morning that some people think that benefit claimants are sub-human and don’t feel the same as us. Maybe they lack empathy for people who are less fortunate?

Please comment and share your thoughts.

In theory, competition and supply and demand should regulate prices in a free market. In practice that isn’t the case. There are monopolies and cartels. There can be a lack of competition. There can be government interference in the market, such as the government’s ‘help to buy scheme’; that can distort the property market. An increased money supply can also mean increased demand.

When goods are in short supply, such as wheat and potatoes last year, because of poor harvests, then prices tend to go up. However in the UK, the water and energy industrials have a virtual monopoly and so we see ever increasing bills. They always blame the need to improve infrastructure, but that is investment and investment should come from shareholders.

A increased money supply means there is increase demand for some goods. The demand isn’t for all goods, if you own a television you are unlikely to rush out and buy a new one. You might want to invest the extra money you have though. But what can you safely invest in? The stock market seems inaccessible to many people and unduly risky. Property is more of a safe bet and you can live in a house. Many people ‘invest’ their money in a larger or better house and they perceive these to go up in value. Do houses go up in value or is it the money that goes down in value? Value depends upon desirability and demand. So property does go up in value,  but  not as much as increased prices would suggest. Money is also going down in value with inflation. This makes it very hard for people to save and so it’s hard for first time buyers to save a deposit. This problem seemed to be solved by banks offering 100% mortgages or even 125% mortgages. The banks however got carried away and offered credit cards, loans and many people got in too much debt and weren’t able to repay that debt. Banks crashed.

Is the government’s ‘help to buy scheme’ a better idea? It seems to me to be distorting the market. Prices for homes for first time buyers have already gone up with the increased demand. Low interest rates, again the result of government manipulation, also increases demand. The construction industry will benefit though. Right? It would benefit a lot more if the government would increase the money supply and put the money into social housing. If young people could go into cheap social housing while they saved for their deposits that would be helpful. Those in better jobs would manage to save a deposit and those on minimum wage would tend to stay in social housing. There would be less risks for banks and less market manipulation by government.

The Labour party are talking about cutting VAT if elected to stimulate the economy. Is that a good idea? It would stimulate demand for imported goods, but do we really need to help overseas exporters and manufacturers. Do we really need to make computers and smart phones cheaper? If they were going to cut VAT at all, then the VAT on gas and electricity could be scrapped. They are essentials that we all need to buy. Would demand go up? Would you leave your heating or lights on more just because your bill had been cut a little? No, me neither…

Please share your thoughts in the comments box.

The Aldi super-six this week are celery, cucumbers, lemons (3), spring onions, tomatoes (6) and garlic (4). They are all 49p each. I have to go to Aldi later, I’ve run out of vegetables and eggs…

The Thursday special buys this week include planters and other things for your patio. I quite like the wireless speaker, you can have music with your barbecue. There are twin packs of chickens for 5.99 this week. I had a chicken last week for 2.99; I hope they continue the single chickens.  The Sunday special buys are of more interest to me, because they have lots of car cleaning products, but their website doesn’t give much detail about them. I might look at the car polisher, I hope it’s a battery one and rechargeable.

Please remember that you can’t use a credit card in Aldi and I don’t think they give cash-back like many supermarkets. The service in my local Aldi is good though and if a queue forms they open more tills, unlike some larger supermarkets where things get a bit chaotic when it gets busy. Thursdays and Sundays tend to be the quiet days, hence the special offers.

On the subject of credit cards, there are a few balance transfer cards around now. You can transfer your balance and not pay interest for up to 24 months. You can even transfer your overdraft or store cards onto some. You still need to pay the minimum payment every month without fail or the interest free period ends, because you didn’t keep to the conditions. If you are in debt, you can sometimes pay off a pay day loan like this. Get advice if you are getting into financial trouble. Debts can mount up very quickly as interest is added. Remember too, that your credit card has an interest free period of up to 56 days anyway. I read that that period has been reduced on some Barclaycards by about 6 days, but I can’t find any mention of it on their website. It’s a good idea to make your purchase about the time that your bill is due to get the maximum interest free period. I use my credit card for purchases over £100 for the added consumer protection it offers. Then I pay it off before the due date. I like to earn interest from banks, not pay them interest!

Interest rates are crap at the moment, but you can get better than 4% with Zopa and their new Safeguard scheme. In fact, if you lend over 5 years, you can get better than 5% in interest. To get your money back there is rapid return, that allows you to pass your loan book onto someone else. You are lending out money in lots of £10, so there is a risk, but the risk is relatively small. It’s not as safe as a bank where you money is guaranteed by the government up to £85,000, but banks don’t pay very good interest. Who wants to contribute to their obscene bonuses?

That’s all for this week. If you have a question, you can ask it in the comments box.