Life is riddled with a procession of minor impediments

[radiator]

So the previous owners have refunded us the money we payed for the dog (which will cover about 20% of the surgery costs). My girlfriend takes them at face value and believes it was a genuine mistake, whereas I still half suspect that their guilty conscience got the better of them - I don't think it was a completely calculated move, but I do believe they suspected the injury was serious and it was an 'out of sight out of mind' situation - we know for a fact they didn't have her insured (am I a terrible cynical person?).

Doggie is due to go under the knife on Friday, and tbh the expense doesn't bother me at all. What does is that the poor little mite will be confined to the apartment for weeks so the leg can heal, to start with in a crate or cage so that she can't run around or jump. The complete recovery process will take four months. Feel so awful and the next few weeks especially will be really hard but it's all for the purpose of getting her fit and healthy again. There is also apparently a 50% chance that the other knee will go in the next 18months which would entail having to do it all again . Not the best start to owning my first dog.

Folks: INSURE YOUR PETS. And if you can't afford insurance, don't get a pet - especially a big dog.

We were already going to get her insured, but as this was an existing injury there was nothing we could do.

[Frank]

We were already going to get her insured, but as this was an existing injury there was nothing we could do

... and that's the same way human health care works in the US. Health care in the USA is as fine as you'll find anywhere on Earth, but man do you * pay through the nose for it, and god help you if you're unemployed, poorly paid, or have a pre-existing condition.


* your employer and their insurer

[radiator]

Tell me about it. Luckily we're covered. Great country and all that, but the US health care system is seriously messed up. Even if you buy the argument against universal healthcare (which I don't), surely you still end up paying the equivalent in insurance anyway?

In other minor impediment news, I've just realised that my home cinema system that I had shipped over from the UK is the wrong voltage (and I was sure that I checked, but there's so many things to do when you emigrate I guess I just forgot or misread it ).

Has anyone got any experience of using a step-up transformer? Some people seem to say they're fine whereas others say they're always risky to use and can start a fire.

[TordelBack]

Currently a little peeved at seeing some folk doing a "ooh look for one month I'm surviving only a few pounds a day - like the poorest in our society are - I'm saving money AND raising awareness" - cos currently - I AM having to survive on a few pounds a day.

Jarvis Cocker should sue.

I'm sure it was ever thus, but over the last few years it's been brought home to me that a large chunk of society simply doesn't understand the reality of 'having no money'.

For 'them' not having enough money is always about making choices between saving (usually for something nice), or pensions, or 'treats', or brands/makes/sizes: never heat or food or phone. 

And here I go in my turn making it about me, but whenever I hear stories like this, I always think of an occasion two years back where I was invited to a dinner in a sports club, and politely declined, only to be barraged with assurances of the value, and the importance that everyone be there etc., and no-one seemed to be able to grasp that I did not have €40 and had no way whatsoever of getting €40, and even if I had had €40 there was no way on earth I was going to spend it on myself: my family's weekly food budget at that point was €37, and it was a bloody hard job making that work.  It wasn't as if they didn't know I was unemployed and in debt, I'd had to stop paying my club dues and attending events the previous year, it just seemed they couldn't grasp the idea that it was an impossible sum of money.

And when I finally gave in and firmly told them that there really was no way I could afford it, they started insisting that they'd pay for my dinner.  And at that point I knew they were very nice people, but they really didn't get it.

[M.I.K.]

To be fair, I think it's closer to a single pound per day that they're living off for a month, but now that you mention it... (estimates own average weekly food budget on fingers)... Pfft.

[CrazyFoxMachine]

Well said TB (as always!) and yeah MIK I saw you'd liked it and yes I was exaggerating their mission a little but this line at the end is what really got to me:

"If you are feeling particularly brave you could even join us"

I wish I had the choice - !!

[Old Tankie]

I remember ex-Tory MP and now Times columnist Matthew Parris trying to survive on dole money for a week in the early '80s.  He couldn't do it.  But, even if he had have done, it would still have been nonsense.  It's not about surviving for a week, is it?

Down the town yesterday, saw a lad, probably in his mid-20s, busking, with a cardboard sign saying ex-Army.  Stopped to chat to him, turned out he used to be in my old regiment.  Said he'd left the Army in November and hadn't been able to find any work.  Walked away thinking the world's not fair.  But then, the devil's advocate in me thinks to himself, how do Eastern Europeans find jobs here if they don't exist?

[TordelBack]

It's not about surviving for a week, is it?

That's the thing alright - I know the initial Jobseekers in Ireland is better than in the UK, but it's possible to get by, even have some sort of a life*, for a few weeks, even a good few months: in that respect it serves its stated purpose, keeping you afloat while you find a new job.  Then if you don't... things start to wear out or kids start to grow, and you realise that you can't repair or replace your car, your computer, your phone, your shoes, their shoes, and suddenly having to find childcare or get the train to an interview becomes an insurmountable nightmare, and every upcoming birthday and Christmas a source of dread, every invite to the pub an agony of indecision. Everything is suddenly out your reach, even your friends.   

It's the gradual erosion of your capacity to act, to effect change in your life, the redirection of all your energies into trying to keep food on the table or somewhere to live, when what you should be doing is thinking hard and re-training and building networks and fixing things in your life.  Good luck doing that when you can't afford to keep credit on your phone.

And it's just about then they usually cut your benefits. 

It really is the long-haul that matters, not a week or even a year.


*In fact when I first became unemployed it was an incredible bounty, because as the business was struggling I'd been working without regular or any pay for nearly two years at that point: and here they were, giving me money every bloody week!

[Proudhuff]

It's not about surviving for a week, is it?

That's the thing alright - I know the initial Jobseekers in Ireland is better than in the UK, but it's possible to get by, even have some sort of a life*, for a few weeks, even a good few months: in that respect it serves its stated purpose, keeping you afloat while you find a new job.  Then if you don't... things start to wear out or kids start to grow, and you realise that you can't repair or replace your car, your computer, your phone, your shoes, their shoes, and suddenly having to find childcare or get the train to an interview becomes an insurmountable nightmare, and every upcoming birthday and Christmas a source of dread, every invite to the pub an agony of indecision. Everything is suddenly out your reach, even your friends.   

It's the gradual erosion of your capacity to act, to effect change in your life, the redirection of all your energies into trying to keep food on the table or somewhere to live, when what you should be doing is thinking hard and re-training and building networks and fixing things in your life.  Good luck doing that when you can't afford to keep credit on your phone.

And it's just about then they usually cut your benefits. 

It really is the long-haul that matters, not a week or even a year.


*In fact when I first became unemployed it was an incredible bounty, because as the business was struggling I'd been working without regular or any pay for nearly two years at that point: and here they were, giving me money every bloody week!

Well said sir! and its knowing that there is no end in sight, or perhaps there is but its two weeks away and then some fart starts moaning about how their 'savings' are 'only' getting 2%,  or you know you have the big stuff covered for the month but there's a meeting where Coffee is the same price as you planned to spend on the barin's tea...

[Tiplodocus]

Was it Ian Duncan Smith trying to justify his £39 breakfasts?

[The Legendary Shark]

I had no work for three weeks last month and ended up having to go to a food bank.

It is humiating enough to have to approach a charity for food but, when I was told that I had to first obtain a voucher from some local "responsible person" I almost lost it. "I need permission to beg?!!" I blustered, with probably a couple more exclamation marks. My next sentence, which was to be along the lines of "f*ck that - I'll starve!", and with judt the single dignified exclamation mark, was never uttered as the nice lady with odd hair and lipstick on her teeth was apologising that this voucher system hadn't been set up yet and would I like a Hob-Nob?

She gave me a couple of bags of stuff anyway and then explained that you could only claim three times.

Now, I understand that there are people out there who might stoop to conning a charity out of food - but to treat everyone as a potential cheat just grates. You didn't hear Jesus saying, "here, lads - dish these loaves and fishes out to anybody with a voucher," did you? "Suffer the little children with vouchers come unto me." "Give those of us with vouchers this day our daily bread."

Bloody humiliating, so it is.

Back at work now, though, which means I can engage in the slightly less humiliating ritual of rooting through the Bargain Shelves at the Co-Op. (2 for 1 cheese today!)

[maryanddavid]

Has anyone got any experience of using a step-up transformer? Some people seem to say they're fine whereas others say they're always risky to use and can start a fire.

We supply them at work the other way round, ie Step Down.

Things to watch out for, make sure the output voltage is the same as stated on the cinema unit and exceeds the stated wattage on you home cinema unit, its usually written on a little silver seal on the unit. So for example if the unit is 220v 50w (or may be written as 50VA) go for a 60 watt (or 60VA) output transformer.
All transformers have a small risk of fire, just make sure the one you buy is fused with the appropriate amp fuse and the the fuse is replaceable. Some of the cheaper units have a built in fuse, when that goes you will have to replace the whole unit. Whatever shop you buy it off will be able to advise you on the correct size etc, just bring the details of the cinema unit with you.

[Frank]

I had no work for three weeks last month and ended up having to go to a food bank. It is humiliating enough to have to approach a charity for food but, when I was told that I had to first obtain a voucher from some local "responsible person" I almost lost it ... She gave me a couple of bags of stuff anyway and then explained that you could only claim three times. Now, I understand that there are people out there who might stoop to conning a charity out of food - but to treat everyone as a potential cheat just grates

They have to be on their guard, since the Man (or The Mail) has it in for them at the moment - because reporting that charities act charitably proves that nobody is poor and starving in the UK and that everything's alright again. The nice lady who gave you your bags of grub without a voucher was probably praying inside that you weren't about to rush back to Fleet Street and publish details of your haul.

[The Legendary Shark]

Good point. Although it is a source of constant surprise and ongoing frustration to me that people continue to believe what these opinionpapers tell them. It's almost as if papers like the Mail, the Sun and all the rest of them were competing to see which one of them can get the most people at each others' throats...

[Old Tankie]

So, as I understand it, you can only go to a food bank three times.  It's not actually stopping people from starving, it's just postponing it!