Tuesday 23 November 2010

Changing my mind

Tonight driving home from gym, I had a post forming in my mind about the skies in the Fens, inspired by the bright moonlight nights we are having and the clear days when the sun is shining beautifully.

However, things change. I have been incensed instead by the waste I see around me. My children are tucked up in bed tonight (as they should be at 11.30pm!) with blankets, duvets and the odd hot water bottle. We haven't put the heating on yet as the woodburner is blasting heat around the downstairs and when we go upstairs, we leap into bed pretty quickly, and with the blankets and hot water bottles, get warm and toasty pretty quickly too! Another family in the street has two bedroom windows flung wide open tonight because their heating is on too high so they need to let the heat escape. Whilst the more traditional among us wear jumpers in this weather, they like to sit around half-naked - the male members of the family are often seen walking around the house topless. What makes me even more cross is that this is a family in which both adults went bankrupt a while back, and now the whole family lives on various benefits. How is it right that they have enough spare cash to sit on their bums all day and heat a house to such epic proportions on taxpayers' money, whilst other people I know who go out to work and pay their taxes can't afford to do such stupid things - some can't even afford new shoes for their children. The government needs to work hard to redress the balance, and I applaud anything that makes people contribute to society in a positive way, through working and paying their own way, through paying fair taxes, through voluntary work (my personal way of contributing) or just by being more responsible with resources. I work, but don't earn enough to pay tax on my income, but the FH pays tax each month on his pension, and we pay the council tax too, so we are making our contribution, however small.

Rant over.

The fudge has been deemed successful by an independent judge. I took the plunge and gave a little of it away today to a teacher at the school, and to a friend. I will share the recipe tomorrow, and I think that I will have to make more!! I need to find a pretty but cheap way to package it as well....... I am inspired to get on with my eBay plans as my friend has sold a second-hand dolls house on there for £120 and is very pleased. I will be looking into that more after the weekend.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I too see houses with windows open and heat pouring out, we should have eco wardens, like black out wardens! people should not be allowed to waste energy - some people don't care about their environmental impact - as for those who are on the dole and can afford it and those who work, who can't ............I totally share your view!