Busy, busy, busy. Yes that is how things have been for the last few weeks and I am not sure where to start! In fact I have been so busy that I have not had time to make an entry so my apologies to regular readers who thought I had disappeared. The weather has been strange; it has been neither cold nor warm, not overcast or sunny. In fact it has been nondescript. With this in mind I have booked time off work as holiday time to start work on the outside of the house. Imagine my surprise then when the forecast prior to the coming Easter showed heavy rain and thunder and then snow over the period. I reckon I will be stuck indoors watching the rain beat down for the duration of my holidays only for the sun to come out the day I go back to work.
As most people who take in the world news will know, a recession is about to hit us. Billions of dollars have been lost and both pound and dollar have fallen against other currencies. Many people are in negative equity as house prices fall, interest rates go up and they face owing more money at a higher rate than the assets they own. If jobs start going the same way then a return to the late eighties will be more than a pessimistic outlook, it will be reality. What does this all mean for me? Well as the value of my house has fallen and the cost of foreign currency has gone up a place in the sun and early retirement looks as far away as it is possible to be. Land and properties that only two weeks ago would have cost me 30k sterling will now cost over 34 as the pound buys less and less.
The papers have this week focused on benefit Britain and shown that in over 50 towns in England and Wales over 50% of those of working age are claiming benefits and out of work through one reason or another. As usual the figures have been massaged by the government to show less people out of work but do nothing to hide those not working but still claiming benefit. The bill to the country as a whole? Well more than the total bill for running the NHS. It does make you wonder whether or not it is actually worth going out to work when those on benefits will be protected during any economic downturn and those in work will not be.
Regular readers will know that few previous posts of late have not finished without an update on Genghis. He has had his final injections and has been let out on the loose. This morning he wondered out of the house after finishing his breakfast and chased a bird up the Cherry tree at the bottom of my garden. This was at 8-50am and he was still up there howling to get down at 9-15 which is when I have to leave for work at the very latest. I had no choice but to leave him to his own devices and hope he would be back on Terra Firma by tea time. Arriving home this evening I could see him at the back door howling for his tea. He had obviously figured it out for himself how to get down. Pictures will be posted in the gallery over the next week or so.
Until next time………