Never Quite Enough Time

Every so often I see something cropping up in the press along the lines of children should be given a financial education at school.     Presumably, for anyone not taking economics, that would be alongside everything else that we learnt way back when plus all the newer stuff that has come along like coding and AI.     Inevitably someone (or many) will counter that children should learn this at home from their parents.    Presumably, that would be in between both parents working to pay the mortgage and everything else they now need 2 salaries to cover whilst trying to keep up with whatever it is that the kids are doing on line and trying to feed them something that has some nutritional value.    Realistically, we all know that there is only so much schools and parents can do.  Arguably, some do rather better than others but the online commentators, whilst entitled to their opinions, can’t give an informed opinion on every situation. On that no...

At the time of typing It is Tuesday (at the time of posting it isn’t).     It already feels (ie on Tuesday) like a long week, possibly because the weekend was a watering can watering fest interspersed with treats out.     It is also a 4 day in the office, 1 day WFH week due to a training day cropping into S’s diary.     Thankfully we have a hotel room with air con which helps especially after a pre 5am start on a Monday!     We have friends whose first year of retirement seems to be holidays interspersed with DIY, presumably while they are back just long enough to do the holiday laundry.    For us they will be no point in making such plans, we will be catching up on sleep! Four days away makes things a little tricky on the food front.    This is all the more so at present as I am trying to get the grocery bill down.    This is actually working to a degree though that may just be because my recent weekends have been ma...

Sunday saw us taking my parents to the RHS show at Sandringham.     The show gardens were a lot smaller than RHS Chelsea (think RHS Chatsworth) but it was easier to see things and the ticket price was more manageable! This was, I understand, the first time the RHS has done a show from Sandringham and at a little over an hour away from us it was a no brainer for a trip out.    It was well worth it as can be seen from the few random photographs posted.    I didn’t buy anything but have come away with a wish list of plants, top of which is hydrangea paniculata though that has been floating around for a while now. Saturday, I met with a couple of friends I have known since we were teenagers (and a bit before) which was absolutely lovely though I think our conversation differs somewhat now from when we were 16.    I certainly don’t remember instructions to tradesmen featuring quite so large as a teenager.   I gifted (some might say dumped) st...

Apparently this is a ‘thing’ and strongly advised.     It is not, however, likely to be our ‘thing’ as I don’t see it being in any way feasible, regardless as to my accepting that it sounds, theoretically, entirely sensible.     If the figures were where we would like them we (or, at least, I) would be gone already but as S points out he enjoyed his youth and this is the price to be paid.     We also have stuff we want to do both pre and post retirement.    That comes at a price and we are currently and likely to remain in that trade off between time and funds. As I have mentioned (well ranted) previously the recent widespread projections in the national press as to the minimums required for a comfortable, or even moderate, retirement are not exactly helpful, at best, on the    ‘have I saved enough’ front.    They are quoting net figures, without any housing costs, that are higher than many are earning gross whilst still p...

  The press has been full of the new PM wanting to turn the clock back to the 1970’s pre Margaret Thatcher.     I stress this is not a political post.     Rather it is my immediate personal recollection of that period in time.   Now I was 15 years young when the ‘70s came to an end, which is a long time ago and I am 5 years older than the new PM.    I also preface this with I am not making any claim to being ‘working class” which seems to be fashionable these days.    My parents were young and certainly hailed from working class northern backgrounds but they were qualified teachers which leads to my personal view that my background was and remains at some level of the broad church that is the English/British middle class long before John Prescott proclaimed “we are all middle class now”.   A few of my recollections of the ‘70s: Living temporarily in a holiday flat, over winter, in Skegness between homes.    There was ...