Worrying times.

[PaulSB]

The shortages have been blown out of all proportions to sell newspapers imho, we shop at Aldi and never had a problem buying a weeks worth of food for 4.

I would have to disagree with you and feel you unwittingly protect yourself by shopping at Aldi. We use Aldi for the bulk of our shopping and throughout lockdown didn't experience any shortages, queues etc. However our local Tesco and Sainsbury were the complete opposite. Tesco in particular handled lockdown very, very badly with huge queues and significant shortages.

If you visited our local Aldi and Tesco today you will find Aldi well stocked and Tesco has acres of empty space. I think this must be an indication of which is the better managed company.

The shortages are real and far from blown out of proportion. Whether the items which are short represent a crisis is a different story.

 

[cyberknight]

I agree.

The fewer miles you do, the more you should have to pay because you could probably do without a car so there is no need to clog up the roads with one. Lots of us have had jobs where car use is essential and earnings are no more than average, not everyone can sit on their bum in an office all day long and just use the car for a trip to Tesco every Saturday.

although some of us do few miles in the car as the wife and children have multiple health issues and need to the car for mobility , getting to hospital etc and do more cycle miles per year than car miles on top of a manual job thats slowly killing them

 

[PaulSB]

The future looks bleak. Petrol shortages coming this week, empty shelves in shops, big increase in energy prices and food, government planning to charge per mile motoring and who knows what else.
I am getting very concerned and wondering if both of our pensions will be able to cope with it all. Worrying times indeed.

There may well be some shortages but can't see it being too much of an issue for most of us who are capable of or even know what going without is all about. Can't see it putting an awful lot of pressure on your pension but I can see why it may feel like that at times. Watch less news and enjoy life more, would be my advice.

I have no idea of your financial position nor of @gavroche's but I have to say I find your post callous and uncaring. I'm retired and understand what it is to live on a fixed income. In my household we are very fortunate in having two pensions, a third in 12 months time and a fourth which is unlikely to be touched again. We are though far from wealthy, just very ordinary.

I try to run the house on our fixed incomes both of which are below the tax threshold so I fully understand the difficulty of doing this. Fortunately our cash savings are such we can use those when needed. When I retired a major worry for me was I had no capacity to increase income. This proved unfounded but it gave me real concern.

I can fully understand why the OP is concerned if one only has pensions as income and no capacity to supplement these the current price increases will make life very difficult for people. I can't fund the expected £600pa energy increase without dipping in to my savings.

EDIT: I'm not complaining, my household will not have a problem but I can see how some people will.

 

[Venod]

I've got a fridge full of Guinness and steak and kidney pies and have a Raleigh Pioneer in the garage and Peugeot 205 parked out the front. What more could anyone ask for

1991

 

[mudsticks]

I have no idea of your financial position nor of @gavroche's but I have to say I find your post callous and uncaring. I'm retired and understand what it is to live on a fixed income. In my household we are very fortunate in having two pensions, a third in 12 months time and a fourth which is unlikely to be touched again. We are though far from wealthy, just very ordinary.

I try to run the house on our fixed incomes both of which are below the tax threshold so I fully understand the difficulty of doing this. Fortunately our cash savings are such we can use those when needed. When I retired a major worry for me was I had no capacity to increase income. This proved unfounded but it gave me real concern.

I can fully understand why the OP is concerned if one only has pensions as income and no capacity to supplement these the current price increases will make life very difficult for people. I can't fund the expected £600pa energy increase without dipping in to my savings.

There's lots of I'm alright Jack attitudes about.

Particularly complacency from the comfortably retired , or well salaried.

Younger people on low incomes will also be hard hit.

At the very least feeling even more insecure than before.

Shortages are likely to lead to price hikes, in turn making things even tighter.

Increased energy bills, have to be paid somehow.

But they should just work harder, and do even more hours right ??

I'll probably be ok, I live on a farm and I grow food for a living , have a private water supply, have home grown wood for heating.

Am fit and healthy, can get about by bike, I live in a nice part of the world



Doesn't mean I can't be concerned* for those less fortunate though does it?

*When did doing that go out of fashion btw?

Ah yes , it got turned into that routinely sneered at thing 'virtue signalling' didn't it ??

 

[cougie uk]

The future looks bleak. Petrol shortages coming this week, empty shelves in shops, big increase in energy prices and food, government planning to charge per mile motoring and who knows what else.
I am getting very concerned and wondering if both of our pensions will be able to cope with it all. Worrying times indeed.

Can't see the technology is there for charging by use yet. I'm sure it will come but not until after the old diesel and petrol cars have gone.

We are getting what we voted for.

Let's hope the public get it right next time.

 

[Drago]

Particularly complacency from the comfortably retired , or well salaried.

Don't forget the independently 'wealthy' who worked hard and saved hard all their lives.

You have the same number of arms, legs and eyes as me, and presumably a similarly sized cerebellum - I haven't done anyrhing in life that you couldn't have done yourself.

You make your own luck in adult life, so don't whittle about where your own life choices have left you.

 

[mudsticks]

Don't forget the independently 'wealthy' who worked hard and saved hard all their lives.

You have the same number of arms, legs and eyes as me, and presumably a similarly sized cerebellum - I haven't done anyrhing in life that you couldn't have done yourself.

You make your own luck in adult life, so don't whittle about where your own life choices have left you.

Oh that's good, because I was afraid my post made look rather smug at how comfortably off I am.

I'm doing just fine thanks, perfectly happy with my 'life choices' ta.

And yup where I am can pretty much be attributed to the labour of my own arms legs and cerebellum.

In fact more so than most.
That's what running a successful farm, and other businesses takes, in the main .

Oh and starting from scratch too ..

Not born, or married into it ..

However anyone who thinks that everyone gets equal chances in this life, even as adults is very much mistaken.

And has not being paying attention.

I benefitted from a great state education, free NHS care, when it was high quality stuff, a relatively stable home life, brought up by educated parents who gave me a broad range of experiences, was born with good physical health, and I got me a further education when it was still free - just.

In addition to all the other lucky chances, and help I've had from kind souls along the way.

No such thing as a 'self made' anyone..

That's largely bahoolix, sure hard work helps, I've done lots of that, but there are plenty of other factors.

Anyone who thinks they 'did it all themselves' that there isn't a large dollop of luck in there, and that anyone could do what they did is delusional.

There but for the grace of the Goddess, go many of us.

 

[Dave7]

The shelves in Fortnum and Mason are still stacked with caviar and quails eggs.

No good to me, I don't like caviar.

 

[fossyant]

Did an energy quote with my own supplier last night and it's £40 a month more to fix the deal. I'd like to know the breakdown though, as it's electricity that's the cost in our house, not gas (very efficient 25 year old boiler/house insulation). That said 'leccy' prices will shoot up also as there is a fair amount generated by gas.

 

[Dolorous Edd]

Did an energy quote with my own supplier last night and it's £40 a month more to fix the deal. I'd like to know the breakdown though, as it's electricity that's the cost in our house, not gas (very efficient 25 year old boiler/house insulation). That said 'leccy' prices will shoot up also as there is a fair amount generated by gas.

Looked this morning at my electricity supply. My SSE 1 year fix is coming to an end, and when I click on the link to show me the new fixed deals on offer, all I get is a blank page. And a number of price comparison sites are showing no or very few fixed deals from the big suppliers. Eventually I went for a 1 year fix with E.ON, a 36% increase over my current rate.

Painful, but I see it as insurance - it's not even October yet, so things could get quite a bit worse.

 

[gavroche]

Don't forget the independently 'wealthy' who worked hard and saved hard all their lives.

You have the same number of arms, legs and eyes as me, and presumably a similarly sized cerebellum - I haven't done anyrhing in life that you couldn't have done yourself.

You make your own luck in adult life, so don't whittle about where your own life choices have left you.

I remember one of your post saying that you benefited very well financially from your divorce, mine was the opposite. If it was that easy to be well off, we would all be wealthy. Hard work doesn't always bring big money unless you are totally dedicated to your bank balance and driven by financial gain.

 

[vickster]

Did an energy quote with my own supplier last night and it's £40 a month more to fix the deal. I'd like to know the breakdown though, as it's electricity that's the cost in our house, not gas (very efficient 25 year old boiler/house insulation). That said 'leccy' prices will shoot up also as there is a fair amount generated by gas.

Turn some stuff off

 

[fossyant]

Just checked U-Switch, and the fixed terms are anything from £60 a month more to £120. I'll stick with my current supplier -

 

[fossyant]

Turn some stuff off

We are - not going to heat the shed and conservatory as much this winter (offices).