Saturday, 1 December 2007

T V heaven, oil hell

well,last night i reserved a  television  on line  at  argos,went   off  to  fakenham  this  morning  to  collect  it.full  marks  to  argos,gave  the  friendly  assistant  the  code number,all  ok,got  packet  batteries  to  take it  just  over  the  hundred pound  total,and  got  £10 argos  voucher  straight away. very  useful.the  t v  was  ready  for  me  in  2  minutes   and  the  whole  transaction   took  5  minutes.  well  done  argos. as  i  had  the  voucher   i  bought  a  new  set  christnas lights  for  outside,will  replace  1  set that  blew  last  year,i  only  had  to  pay  £1.24     lol.

off  to  morrisons,few  bits  shopping  i'd forgotten  yesterday,and  home.  box  unpacked,new  tv  plugged  in,switched  on  and  tuned  in.      great.       mum  happy  with  her  new  toy.  it's  her  sanity,her  one  pleasure  in  life,like  this  thing  here  is  for  me,and  it  was  worth  £100  i  dont  have  and  will  really  have  to  try  and  work  out  how  i  am  going  to  pay,to  know  she  is  happy. she  doesn't   go  out  except  on  a  friday,hardly  sees  anyone  except  me  and  tracey  the  carer  first  thing,so  yeah,i  think  she  deserves  a  little  pleasure,dont  you???

now,just  one  more   thing,  my  mum  is  86,meaning  she  gets  the  £300 winter  fuel  payment,now  that  sounds  a  lot  of  money,but  consider  this.   4  years  ago,we  had  central  heating  installed,and  i  had  a  full  tank  of  heating   oil,1300  litres  at  a  cost  of  £224.        i  ordered  last  week,as  she  got  her  fuel  payment,just  500  litres.cost?? £223.  thats  a  rise  of  2  and  a  half  times  in  4  years.  makes  that  fuel  payment  a  bit  mean  now.  and  it's  only  £200  if  you  60  to   80.  oil  is  still  cheaper for  us,we  used  to  buy  2  cwt  of  coal  a  week,that  is now  £13.50  a  cwt,plus  1  storage  heater  in  her  bedroom,which  cost  then  50p  a  night  to  run,so  if  you  add  that  up,we  would  be  paying  now  over £35 a  week.  electric,gas,oil.  all  gone  through  the  roof.   no  wonder    more  elderly  people  die  in  this  country in  the  winter  than  in  any  other  country.  many  are  scared  to  put  the  heating  on,it  says  a  lot  about  our  society.  old  age  pensioners,senior  citizens,call them  what  you  want,if  there  is  one  near  you,living  on  their  own,PLEASE  be  a  good  neighbour,keep  an  eye  on  them  this  winter,see  they  are  warm  enough.  one  day,it  will  be  us,us  who  struggle  to  cope  with  rising  fuel  costs.sobering  thought.  keep  warm  and  safe   this  winter,take  care  all

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad the TV worked out and yes you mum does deserve some pleasure at 86. the rising cost of fuel is scandalous, and it is a worry that so many pensioners are without suffcient heating etc.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend

Yasmin

Anonymous said...

Morton ,these are the people that kept the country going during the war ,what a struggle then ,so now ,yes your Mum deserves her warmth ,food and Tele ,its not much to ask is it ? Bless you ...love Jan xx

Anonymous said...

Pleased you got the telly for your mum. There is such a thing as fuel poverty, and most elderly folk fall in that category - it's when too much of the income goes into heating.

Anonymous said...

caught up at last lol my u have had a busy week. see you later mort xxx