When not attending to garden tasks what other things have filled your day?

I've always been careful with money, but not to excess.
I have both a debit card and a credit card.
I keep rolling Open Office spreadsheets for both.
All our monthly utility bills etc., are paid by direct debit, both our house and my car insurance I pay annually. (after negotiations!).
I use my credit card frequently, this month there's about fifty items on it, but there is also a direct debit which will clear the balance at the end of each month. I haven't paid interest on anything since I cleared our mortgage in 1998.

 

And that right there @Doghouse Riley is the most responsible thing we can do for ourselves! So full marks to you on all fronts!

Unfortunately, majority of the people these days let things get away from them, (call it laziness, lethargy, or just plain self-neglect). Which is EXACTLY what the financial institutions secretly desire. So they can put everyone in debt, as that's how they profit...

It's a sad thing to watch, never easy. B7t what can I do? If I say something, anything, which would help people break free from this vicious cycle - I get shouted at, where they say things like, you have no idea how it's like with us, walk a mile in our shoes... Well I never said that it's going to be something like a walk in the park. But people need to start somewhere. Or else it's only going to get worse and worse with each new month. The entire system is unfortunately designed to first entrap, then enslave.

Again, I try to help, I always do, such is my nature, (it's how my parents raised me and my siblings). So I try to make people aware, try to open their eyes. But there are limits to what I can do. Ultimately, this battle, and make no mistake as this really is nothing short of a real battle - Can only be won when we become responsible.

So if someone is inherently irresponsible, there's very little we can do to save them.

C'est La Vie...

 

The interest rates on credit cards is extortionate.
But those of our "got to have it now" society are prepared to pay it.

 

Literally like watching a train wreck in slow motion. Or like seeing a giant cruise line ship going under, while we stand on the shore. Unable to do anything - That's how I see it.

It's funny but I'm recalling William Shakespeare's play, The Merchant of Venice. That play was written in 1596, over 4 hundred years ago from today. Proving that such evil practices of financial entrapment and enslavement were just as strong back in those days, as they are today - And yet, the people, or rather I should say sheeple, still haven't learned anything, (and most likely never will)...

 

I gave the smaller of my two jukeboxes a bit of attention today.
The chrome on it is very good, despite its 57 years. It had spent half its life in private hands, when I bought it on e-Bay over fifteen years ago. I had to hire a van and drive up to Newcastle to collect it.



Quite often I see jukeboxes advertised on eBay and the vendors sometimes do their best to hide how pitted is the chrome. It's a shame that so many aren't looked after. Re-chroming parts, costs a fortune.

But on mine, it's nigh perfect.



What lets it down a bit is there are two strips of stainless steel, one above the coloured graphic and the other above the top speakers which are quite marked. They didn't use chrome on these as they were likely to get a lot of wear and it would soon show.



So today, I had a go at the top rail. I gave it a bit of a buff up with fine wire wool wrapped around a drill bit.



It didn't come up too bad.



The other bit is much wider and I think would take too long to make a substantial difference.
So I won't bother as it's not so noticeable where it is.

Both jukeboxes live under their thermal lined dust covers, (hand sewn by me from a pair of old lounge curtains). My wife would have made them for me on her sewing machine, if she hadn't given it away to our daughter thirty years ago!

They have more insulation on top and they have their 60w greenhouse heaters and rechargeable dehumidifiers to ward off damp.



The tea-house experiences extremes of temperatures. Cold in the winter and really hot in the summer. I often leave a door open during the day when it's hot.

I've an extractor fan I can use on a timer and the building has a roof vent. (not being used at the moment, that's why it's where it is) It props up one side of the top panel. I made it from two halves of a dishwasher cutlery basket and a bit of wood. There are two screened vents in the bottom of the back wall, which I cover during the cold months.



When it gets warmer and I'm out in the garden more often, I'll play a lot of records, although I do play a few every week of the year,(use is the best form of preventative maintenance for jukeboxes) . But I'll give them another go in my new ultrasonic record cleaner before I do.

 

I've just inherited a record deck and amp Mr Riley Need to get a new needle for it.

 

They are trying to make cash a dirty thing over here SH, making out that if you accept it you must be either a criminal or tax fraudster.

I end a lot of my YT videos with something like this...



It's also become clear that when your hard earned money goes into a bank account it no longer belongs to you. Try to take out more than £500 and they won't give it to you unless you satisfy them that you're going to spend it on something they approve of. There was a case recently where the bank wouldn't give a chap his own money to buy a car unless he could produce an invoice for the car.

Try to take it out electronically and there are all sorts of barriers (supposedly to prevent fraud) to try to stop you.

The ATM will only let you have £250 a day now. If you want to take out over £1000 you have to book an appointment.

 

Nanny state...

I could now say that how fortunate, that my people gained independence from Britain back in 1947.

But that wouldn't be completely true - Because if you give any government too much power, they first turn narcissistic, than soon become totalitarian. To the point where everyone starts to feel enslaved all over again.



Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.



Such is human nature, which nobody likes to admit, but the seeds of all this evilness are already within us all - They just haven't germinated yet, as we haven't had the opportunity up till now.

I believe what I'm exhibiting is called Misanthropy - Which in a nutshell is basically an extreme hatred for all of humanity...

Perhaps this is why I've always swam against the tide my entire life. I was always rebellious, not like a cantankerous teenager full of senseless rage who's never really going anywhere. But actually venomous to do something about whatever or whoever was bothering me, thus giving myself lasting results. From ostracizing unwanted control-freak intrusive relatives, (before I was a teenager). To making an humiliating examples out of school teachers, as they too never really taught me anything, but were only subjecting everyone to what I call corporate conditioning - All so that whenever you leave school, your free thoughts will be so horribly cut down, that you simply wouldn't be able to think on your own independently. Thus become brainwashed, and fooled into thinking that slavery by authority is actually a most enjoyable thing.

All of which I have resisted, and will forever continue to do so.

I bet the nanny states now wouldn't even allow any of you guys to own and hold any actual precious metals, (which actually is real wealth, not the paper or digital nonsense they control and ate trying to push down everyone's throat).



Nor any firearms and ammunition to defend whatever is yours...



Perhaps owning gemstones is now going to make me public enemy number one!!!

 

Neil Sedaka has died at the age of 86

 

World has indeed lost an irreplaceable and unforgettable legend now...

 

Yes it has, he was a great pianist and song writer, during the covid lockdowns he had a YouTube channel playing his piano and singing, he could still do both.

 

He never got into any controversy, always provided good clean entertainment. So in my opinion he had far better quality of content and class then certain idiots who claim to be musicians and singers, (like former sex offender criminals and gangsters who now become rap stars, who in reality today only provide audio rape of the ear canal).

I remember listening to Neil Sedaka when I was very young, playing with my father's shortwave radio, (I probably hadn't even learned to walk property at the time) - I never knew his name. But later in adulthood when I heard his songs being played. I immediately looked him up. That's how I rediscovered him, thanks to the internet.