Spring flowers in May
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.
Finance Friday | Priorities
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.
Reflections on life
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. (more…)
Normal April showers?
I took this photo a year ago. I look at the sky a lot now in an attempt to predict the weather. The sky looked a paler blue last year, today it’s been a deep blue with white clouds and April showers. We had a very wet summer last year, are we back to normal now?
Ding dong it’s Saturday
I get more local readers at weekends because my blog posts are featured on ‘the yamyam’. There appears to be more and more local bloggers now and they are writing good posts. Anyway, in case any local reader is wondering, today’s picture is of King’s Hill Park, just outside Darlaston.
Finance Friday | Needs and Wants
We all need water and food and we need to keep warm in winter. The divide between what we actually need and what we want is getting a little blurred. Do we really need mobile phones, cars and internet? I think we want these things and a lot more, but we don’t need them. We don’t even need television…
Saturday Review | The week in focus
I’m not too sure about this photograph. It’s different from the usual photograph that I use. It was taken a few evenings ago and has been edited to make it a little more ‘artistic’. It shows what you can do with a digital camera and a little experimenting. I did a few blogs this week too…
Supply and demand in the market
English village
Imagine living in an English country village, surrounded by farms where all the fresh food comes from. You can go to the local farm market in the village and buy fresh food from lots of different farmers. You would probably shop around to get the cheapest meat and vegetables. You might eat whatever is in season and take advantage of availability and low prices. When there was a glut of apples, because of a good harvest. You would be able to buy lots to make chutney and apple pies.
Summer time ends
British summer time ends this weekend. We change the clocks one hour (back) and so the nights will be darker and the mornings will be lighter for a while at least. The colours of nature are changing and the trees and changing colour as the leaves begin to fall.
Money is a unit of exchange, not wealth
We tend to think money is wealth, but it’s not; it’s just a unit of exchange for exchanging wealth. The wealth is the stuff we produce; goods and services. Some things like property will appear to go up in value. The sun appears to rise in the morning, but we know that the sun doesn’t go around the earth. The earth appears flat, but we know it’s not. Money seems to keep it’s value, but it doesn’t really, it goes down in value when central banks increase the money supply. Everyone who has money then loses out and people who have wealth in oil, gold or some other commodities like property, will gain.
Cutting motoring costs by planning journeys
I wrote about motoring costs in last week’s thrifty blog, but my drive down the motorway got me thinking. I sometimes use Google maps to plan a journey and that can save you time and fuel. My journey on Sunday according to Google maps was 12.8 miles and should take about 20 minutes. It took less than that because it was Sunday and so it didn’t seem far. However, I came back on the ‘A’ roads and that didn’t seem too far either. When I checked the shortest route is just 4.3 miles and it should be quicker! On a Sunday it would have been quicker, but on a weekday perhaps not, going through town. You can click that link to Google maps to see what I mean.
Finance Friday
It seems as always that food prices are going up and so we have to try to save a little by shopping around. I have been saving the trays my chicken comes in to ‘recycle’ into seed trays. I’ve bought seed to grow beans and lettuce and I want to grow a few herbs and do a herb garden this year. Even if you don’t have a garden you can grow herbs in a window box or on the window sill; fresh herbs in soup or stew really makes a difference. (more…)
Finance Friday | A part time business
Using your assets
If you own a car that’s one asset that you might be able to use to start your own business. Starting a business can be risky, but starting one part time is much less of a risk. You can always give up your day job when it becomes really successful. A business either has to provide goods or a service of some kind. The more sought after your product is, the better and higher the price can be. (more…)
Finance Friday | Budgeting
Budget 2012
I learned this morning how many people read my blog and in which countries; I was surprised to learn in how many different countries. I have to be honest there were a few, that were unfamiliar! In the UK, later this month, the Chancellor of the Exchequer will present his budget for the coming year. We too have to budget and be careful with our money wherever we live in the world. This is a matter of understanding money and setting priorities; essentials are more important that luxuries and then keeping proper accounts.
The Search for a Better Tax system.
Fairer taxes
I live in Britain but taxation is very similar all over the world. Many countries copied our system! I read an article that proposed a different tax system the other day but it only covered income tax and wasn’t a lot different. We need a fairer system. One that acknowledges social injustice. (more…)
Finance | Saving for the future
I read earlier that the average household in the UK saves around 10% of their income and this compared to Germany where they manage to save twice as much. In China they save an amazing 47% of their income but have no welfare state like us. How can you save when money is constantly devalued by the government? (more…)
